I agree with Michael and Sean. There was no violence in the Catalonia Government's expression of self-determination. With these over-reactions, things could very well heat up. We may see the rise of terrorist tactics like those used by ETA.
Catalonia
Mon, 2018-03-26 20:22
#202
laine lowe
Mon, 2018-03-26 20:50
#203
I agree with Michael and Sean. There was no violence in the Catalonia Government's expression of self-determination. With these over-reactions, things could very well heat up. We may see the rise of terrorist tactics like those used by ETA.
I hope there will not be violence. Ironically violence now would be the counter over-reaction. But support from the people could become unstoppable.
I think the what-ifs of Ireland are hard to establish given the cultural changes that took place over the next few generations. Regardless, it was stupid of the British to act as they did and some of the 1916 martyrs expected them to knowing the result.
Now it is also true that the overreaction in Spain is not in the face of violence and it is also in a time where such a reaction would be tolerated even less than 100 years ago. Spain, thinking that a crackdown is the solution is making a dreadful and yes, risky mistake.
The reality is that in 2018, in Europe it is hard to imagine holding back public opinion for long. Fear from the government is not a tactic that is likely to work for long and it will drive people who might have favoured a united Spain away.
Mon, 2018-03-26 21:58
#204
Spain Jails Secessionist Leaders, Issues International Arrest Warrants
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/03/26/spai-m26.html
"The 69 page judicial statement presents the most spurious charges against the Catalan leaders..."
Scotland Must Defend Carla Ponsati...
"It is sickening that Spanish courts continue to jail and remove from political life, Catalan politicians who are the victors in democratic elections. That the European political class and media is almost entirely complicit and supportive in this truly vicious repression of the Catalan people has shocked many of us to our core..."
Tue, 2018-03-27 13:45
#205
Spain Jails Secessionist Leaders, Issues International Arrest Warrants
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/03/26/spai-m26.html
"The 69 page judicial statement presents the most spurious charges against the Catalan leaders..."
Scotland Must Defend Carla Ponsati...
"It is sickening that Spanish courts continue to jail and remove from political life, Catalan politicians who are the victors in democratic elections. That the European political class and media is almost entirely complicit and supportive in this truly vicious repression of the Catalan people has shocked many of us to our core..."
Scotland is in an interesting position since it believes in self determination. To turn over anyone to Spain for belief in this same principle is more than problematic. It is hypocrisy. So, yes. The same is true of the UK which has also accpeted self-determination as a principle.
Thu, 2018-03-29 00:15
#206
"In 1940 the elected president of Catalonia, Lluis Companys, was captured by the Gestapo, at the request of Spain, delivered to them and executed. Today, German police have arrested the elected president of Catalonia, Carlos Puigdemont, at the request of Spain, to be extradited."
Thu, 2018-03-29 12:31
#207
"In 1940 the elected president of Catalonia, Lluis Companys, was captured by the Gestapo, at the request of Spain, delivered to them and executed. Today, German police have arrested the elected president of Catalonia, Carlos Puigdemont, at the request of Spain, to be extradited."
those who pointed to the fact that a majority did not vote in the referendum vote and that support for independence was not that high calculated that indpendence was a long shot. Thanks to the stupidity of the national government of Spain that is changing. I would say that with every reaction of the Spanish government they increase the odds that Catalonia will be independent.
Let's recognize what this means because I am not a nationalist. I learned to dislike all nationalist movements as being in the way of progress for people -- something like religion -- ways to divide and distract. This is the part of Spain that is rich. The stupidity of the national government will severely damage vulnerable people all over the country.
Thu, 2018-03-29 11:46
#208
"As Irish Republicans prepare to remember those who declared Irish independence in Easter 1916 we send solidarity to our friends in #Catalonia who face massive repression from the Spanish state. The EU needs to wake up." - Matt Carthy MEP (* see vid attached*)
Sat, 2018-03-31 15:51
#209
The Arrest of Catalan President Carles Puigdemont: Another Step Toward A Police State in Europe
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/03/27/pers-m27.html
"While the EU is increasingly breaking apart, its member governments cooperate ever more closely on the issue of building a police state. The cooperation between Berlin and Madrid in the Puigdemont case recalls the darkest period in European history."
Tue, 2018-04-03 07:51
#210
'#Wake Up Europe & Help Catalonia'
"German politicians visit Puigdemont in prison."
Tue, 2018-04-03 19:53
#211
Explosive Social Conditions in Spain Behind Moves Toward Police State
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/04/03/spai-a03.html
"The arrest and detention of former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont in Germany, on the request of Spanish authorities, represents a sinister attack on political opposition. It marks another step toward police-state rule in Europe."
Tue, 2018-04-03 19:59
#212
The arrest and detention of former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont in Germany, on the request of Spanish authorities, represents a sinister attack on political opposition.
Would you do me a solid and repost this in the current Venezuela thread? It would be great to be able to talk about attacks on opposition with your commitment. "Police state" would be even better.
Tue, 2018-04-03 20:26
#213
You're trolling in support of a declared and ongoing US regime change operation against Venezuela, condemned by the UN. Fuck off.
Tue, 2018-04-03 20:46
#214
You're trolling in support of a declared and ongoing US regime change operation against Venezuela, condemned by the UN. Fuck off.
I'm only asking you to be consistent. Is that just "not in the cards", NDPP?
Fri, 2018-04-27 15:30
#215
'Free the political prisoners!': April 15 Barcelona demonstration
Fri, 2018-04-27 15:52
#216
Spanish Constitutional Court suspends Puigdemont's candidacy for president
The Constitutional Court is slow, but it gets there. Today it has accepted to consider the challenge to Carles Puigdemont's investiture as president of Catalonia which had been planned for 30th January. It's been three months since a planned debate which didn't even end up taking place, but the court has finally decided to consider the Spanish government's challenge. This affects any decision which aims to invest Carles Puigdemont as president. The resolution voids any action, resolution, agreement or path related to the candidacy to invest the president from exile at the same time as the Parliament of Catalonia is working on modifying its rules for a hypothetical new nomination of Puigdemont.
Mon, 2018-04-30 12:35
#217
Blockade or Return to Normality?
quote:
With spring, the thaw has arrived. The street is heating up again in response to the repression under the baton of Judge Llarena in a sort of judicial Causa General.[2] An entire generation of Catalan pro-independence politicians is being hounded by jail or exile. The CDRs have taken center stage again. First, through confrontations with BRIMO and ARRO (anti-riot and support units of the Mossos d’Esquadra, the Catalan police), that are once again displaying their most brutal face. Then by road blocks and slow marches and by an “operation return” on Holy Week, in which they opened toll barriers on various highways. Massive and decentralized civil disobedience actions like those launched previously, which (perhaps because they have affected the interests of a stock-exchange listed company such as Abertis) have unleashed a new criminalization campaign by the Prosecutor’s Office, the newspaper La Razón, and the jerifaltes past and present of the PSOE such as Ábalos or Solana.[3] The arrest of the activist Tamara Carrasco by the Audiencia Nacional[4] has proved that these spaces for popular self-organization are the target and the huge mobilization of April 15 was seen as the great milestone of this spring.
However, with the attempt to install Jordi Turull as Catalan President the countdown to new elections has begun.[5] A complicated tactical dilemma is superimposed: the second investiture, more complicated still without a clear strategic horizon and with the repression hanging like a Democles sword over the Catalan parliament and the new President. Recent weeks have forcefully revived the hypothesis of installing Puigdemont among such actors as the CUP or the ANC (after the latter’s renewal of its leadership) who are relying on the strategy of blockade. The legitimacy of the independence movement to propose the candidate that it considers as the bloc that won the December 21 elections should not be questioned under any pretext. However, the debate should be focused on whether this is an adequate tactic for advancing the struggle for self-determination. To where does the hypothetical institutional blockade lead? Who is really being worn down?
A new frontal clash with the state would now occur without resolving any of the weaknesses that were expressed in the post-October 1 period, which allowed the state to gain the upper hand: the need to broaden the social base in favour of the Republic and to overcome the lack of counter-powers capable of sustaining the conflict over time without leaving anyone behind. Accordingly, the tactic in the investiture debate should be linked to the need for sovereign power to reorganize and explore new ways to force the state to sit down and give concrete form to the rupture with the regime. The other main position in the investiture debate, fundamentally embodied by the ERC, which consists of installing an effective “governance,” suffers from the opposite risk because it seems to abandon the path of institutional disobedience and poses a certain return to normality.
Mon, 2018-04-30 12:39
#218
..more
quote:
It is safe to say that the independence movement today does not have the strength to bring about an independent republic. But it may have the strength to keep open the challenge to the regime and to force negotiation that fights the outcome longed-for by the state — a regressive shutdown and isolation of Catalonia with the conflict festering within. In this context, regaining control of the Generalitat can be another tool in the democratic conflict but the solution does not go through the narrow margin of effective management of an autonomy already achieved prior to the implementation of article 155.
How to find a way that does not hang on the blockade or on a return to normality? What role does disobedience play in this? As the CDRs have been implementing, disobedience must be able to mount actions, campaigns and mobilizations that do not normalize this barbarism and that continue to involve grassroots activists, unlike the pre-October process. On the other hand, institutional disobedience must abandon the phase of symbolism and rhetorical declarations and develop a strategy that prepares the ground to lead in better conditions to another crisis situation.
One of the major challenges of Catalan politics is to think out a social and economic program capable of resolving simultaneously the obstacles and material weaknesses expressed in the post-October 1 period, and the precarious conditions and poverty afflicting the popular classes. That is to say, the pro-sovereignty movement has to stop promising an Ithaca of social rights[6] and put in place mechanisms to guarantee them in conflict with the state. To achieve this, it is essential to recover the spirit of October 1 and 3 when one could sense the possibility of a subject that went beyond the independentism of the last decade with the ability to create spaces of mass self-organization in defense of self-determination. However, a certain tactical rigidity has not helped to maintain that unity and give it a political embodiment with the possibility — who knows? — of reversing the situation.
Fri, 2018-05-18 17:15
#219
Quim Torra is invested new president of Catalonia, substituting Carles Puigdemont
The Catalan Parliament has invested Quim Torra as the 131st president of Catalonia. The abstention of CUP's four deputies agreed by the party's Political Council this Sunday guaranteed the majority of 66 deputies from JxCat and ERC to 65 votes against from Ciutadans, PSC, Comuns and PP. The Parliament's speaker, Roger Torrent, shortly after 2:30pm this afternoon, proclaimed the result in favour of the fourth candidate JxCat has had to present after the Spanish state has prevented the proposals of Carles Puigdemont, Jordi Sànchez and Jordi Turull.
The vote, a voice vote as defined by the Parliament's rules, in this second round needed only a simple majority to pass. It included delegated votes from Puigdemont and minister Toni Comín, awaiting decisions in Berlin and Brussels on their extradition warrants, and from the deputies being held in Estremera and Soto del Real prisons, Oriol Junqueras, Jordi Sànchez, Jordi Turull, Josep Rull and Raül Romeva....
Sat, 2018-06-02 19:46
#220
Mariano Rajoy Ousted as Prime Minister After No-Confidence Vote
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has been forced out of office after a no-confidence vote was passed in the country's parliament.
Socialist leader Pedro Sánchez, who lead the motion after Rajoy's party was implicated in a corruption scandal, is likely to become prime minister.
Rajoy is the first prime minister in modern Spanish history to be defeated in a no-confidence motion.
The vote is the second advanced by Sanchez against Rajoy in a year.
The motion received the support of six parties, including the progressive bloc of Podemos, the Basque Nationalist Party, the Catalan European Democratic Party, the Republican Left of Catalonia, and United Left, among others.
During the debate Thursday, members of these parties demanded Sanchez ensures a national discussion on self-governance and pro-independence movements, respect civil liberties, and policies to protect Spain's welfare system and repeal neoliberal reforms.
Despite repeated calls by Sanchez for Rajoy to resign, Rajoy announced Thursday he would not step down. However, Rajoy conceded defeat before the no-confidence vote according to Reuters, telling according to deputies: "Mr Sanchez will be the head of the government and let me be the first to congratulate him."
The Basque Nationalist Party, whose five seats were crucial for Sanchez securing enough parliamentary backing, withdrew support from Rajoy after dozens of people linked to his center-right People's Party (PP) were sentenced to decades in jail in a corruption trial....
Sun, 2018-06-03 04:21
#221
‘Racist’ Catalan president vows to build republic as Spain vetoes ministers
I post below, with thanks, two articles by Barcelona-based correspondent Dick Nichols that were first published in Links, International Journal of Socialist Renewal. Nichols reports on recent developments in the Catalan struggle for national self-determination, and assesses the ideology of the newly installed prime minister Quim Torra. Highly recommended reading for socialists in Quebec and Canada, in particular, seeking to understand the politics of a certain conservative nationalism that is prevalent in movements for independence led by pro-capitalist political parties....
quote:
Torra: ‘xenophobic, racist and supremacist’?
Who, then, is Quim Torra, Catalonia’s 131st president (and tenth of the modern era)? Inés Arrimades, leader of the opposition and head of Citizens in the Catalan parliament, gave her opinion on March 14: “We have before us at the head of the Catalan government a person whose ideology is perfectly clear from his articles: an ideology that defends xenophobia, that defends an exclusionary identity, defends populism.” Arrimades quoted from a 2012 piece from Torra called “The Language and the Beasts”, in which he said:
“You look at your country now and you see the beasts talking, but they are of another kind, scavengers, vipers, hyenas, beasts in human shape that drool hatred … against everything that the language, the Catalan language, represents … [T]hey recoil from everything that is not Spanish and in Castilian.”
Arrimades quoted another line from Torra: “Our nation is threatened by the avalanche of immigration with being dissolved like a sugar cube in a glass of milk.”
Barcelona mayor Ada Colau had previously commented on Facebook:
“For me and millions of people it is important to know if someone who is standing as a candidate for the presidency thinks that there are first and second class Catalans according to where they were born or what language they speak.”
Wed, 2018-09-19 15:39
#222
More than 1 million march in support of Catalan independence, political prisoners
More than 1 million people marched in Barcelona on September 11 in support of Catalonia’s struggle for independence from the Spanish state. The day is marked each year as Catalonia’s national day, commemorating Barcelona's capture by Bourbon forces in 1714 during the War of Spanish Succession.
Thu, 2018-09-20 12:05
#223
What Is It?
To understand the CIC and what supposedly makes it a “post-capitalist” cooperative in more than ambition, Dafermos says that the “revolutionary activist” character of the cooperative is essential, as is an understanding of its “Open Cooperativism” philosophy, which distinguishes it from both conventional businesses and mainstream cooperatives. According to Dafermos, “the main objective of the CIC is nothing less than to build an alternative economy in Catalonia capable of satisfying the needs of the local community more effectively than the existing system, thereby creating the conditions for the transition to a post-capitalist mode of organization of social and economic life.”(Dafermos, 2017). This mission is what, in my opinion, has lead to the complex organizational structure of various committees, self-employed members, exchange networks and autonomous initiatives, as members experiment with different facets of the economic and social transition from capitalism.
A traditional business-oriented worker cooperative would look at a market, search for a good or service that they could provide and build their business up from there, eventually expanding into other markets if possible. This is the “lean-startup” approach which currently dominates entrepreneurial circles in North America and elsewhere. The CIC takes this supposedly conventional wisdom, and does something entirely different, instead rapidly prototyping and supporting multiple, often wildly dissimilar business models (from hackerspaces to organic farms) and projects at the same time, with the goal of experimenting with and disrupting as many industries as possible and promoting open cooperativism within their sphere of influence.
The main work of the CIC core membership is to facilitate and fund the expansion of these projects through the system of democratic committees and assemblies the CIC uses to govern itself via consensus processes. These committees are:
- Coordination – General administration and internal organization of CIC. Closest thing you’re going to find to an “executive” anything with the CIC
- Reception – Onboarding and training of new members
- Communication – outgoing comms, promotion, handling information requests, inter-cooperative networking
- IT – manages CIC servers, website and software development & support for all members
- Common Spaces – Facilities management for the AureaSocial building in Barcelona which CIC uses as its headquarters
- Productive Projects – facilitates connecting members to jobs and promoting cooperative projects
- Economic Management – provides support to self-employed members as well as manages the finances of CIC as a whole.
- Legal – Legal support to the CIC committees and its many at-large members
- Catalan Supply Center – a regional food and craft industry distribution network made up of “rebosts” or local pantries managed autonomously by various groups. The committee mostly focuses on managing the supply chain for this network as a cooperative public service.
- Network of Science, Technique and Technology (XCTIT) – develops, prototypes and licenses machines and softwares use by CIC projects and affiliated cooperatives.
Thu, 2018-09-20 12:09
#224
..more
quote:
Basic Income
The members of these committees, according to Dafermos, see themselves less as business-owners and more as activists. So that they have adequate free time to effectively participate, the cooperative supports members financially with a limited “basic-income” salary, paid both in Euros and a local electronic currency called “ecos”. The basic income is meant to be distributed on a basis of need for members to participate fully, and is adjusted accordingly. The highest reported amount for a member’s basic income was 765 Euros + 135 ecos per month. I did not find in the report a breakdown of how many members receive basic income, but based on the participant numbers for each committee, as of late 2017 at least 45 people recieve a good deal of their income through the program. And that is just for management. Many more people are supported by the cooperative’s many projects and programs, either in self-employment or one of many “Autonomous Projects of Collective Initiative”. The basic income program was launched after the start of CIC. Previously all members were volunteers.
Auto-Ocupados
Being self-employed, operating a private practice or a small business in Spain can be prohibitively expensive or otherwise unavailable to those without legal status or financial means to pay the fees on registration and invoicing (the minimum fee is 250 Euros per month). One of CIC’s main services is to manage legal entities that self-employed individuals and collective autonomos in Catalonia can use to surmount these barriers. All of their invoices are processed through the cooperative system, which uses membership fees of 75 Euros (adjusted for income) every three months to sustain itself. There are around 600 self-employed members, but few of them choose to be closely involved with the organizational work of CIC.
Territorial Economic Network
This component of the CIC includes some 2,500 members engaged in various kinds of work connected to the economic system managed by the CIC. The primary unit of this network is the local exchange network and its various nodes, including the consumer-run rebosts (pantries) of the Catalan Supply Center, assemblies who manage the production and distribution of ecos digital currency and the “autonomous projects of collective initiative”, independent projects and businesses that the CIC is involved in through active membership, collaboration and financial/material/legal support. These include:
- A cooperative office building, AureaSocial used by CIC as its headquarters and shared with various other cooperative ventures within the CIC’s network
- CASX, a financial cooperative dedicated to providing support and interest-free financing to cooperative ventures, and ultimately aimed at attracting widespread consumer investment through a cooperative savings program
- SOM Pujarnol, a rural bed-and-breakfast and housing cooperative
- Calafou, a settlement occupying an abandoned industrial village which now produces machine fabrication, professional music recording, handmade soap, lodging and software and event hosting for concerts, festivals and conferences
- MaCUS, a collaborative machine shop which supports artists, traditional and modern craftspeople and livelihoods by allowing access to a wide range of industrial machines, including everything from a woodshop to a music studio and 3-D printers.
Thu, 2018-09-20 13:08
#225
..they have a english page
Sun, 2018-11-25 21:01
#226
..3 min video
Colorful clash of protestors and police in Barcelona
Protestors opposing a march by police association JUSAPOL in Barcelona, Spain doused police lines with paint and powder before being violently dispersed.
Pro-independence protestors and antifa activists clashed with Catalan police at a rally to oppose a manifestation organized by JUSTAPOL (Spanish National Police and Guardia Civil Union) in support of the operation against last year’s referendum on Catalonian independence.
Tue, 2019-02-12 11:02
#227
The trial gets underway in Madrid. Recent demonstrations against Catalonian self-determination featured a strong turnout by far-right parties and organisations...
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/12/trial-of-catalan-separatis...
Tue, 2019-02-12 14:09
#228
English version of statement by Carles Puigdemont, defending peaceful activism in favour of self-determination:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/feb/12/spain-trial-catala...
Tue, 2019-02-12 15:23
#229
Pointless trial. Will be appealed to European court and after feeding Catalan independence Spain will be humiliated. Hard to see any upside for those against independence...
Tue, 2019-02-12 15:54
#230
Spanish state vs Catalonia: putting a political trial on trial
On February 12, the trial of 12 Catalan politicians and social movement leaders involved in the October 1, 2017 independence referendum is set to begin in the Spanish Supreme Court.
The leaders face sanctions as harsh as 25 year’s jail for their alleged offences — rebellion, sedition and embezzlement of public funds.
It is the first of three trials. Other defendants, including former police chief, José Lluís Trapero, will face the National High Court. Those members of the Catalan parliament who allowed discussion and voting on the referendum enabling law will face the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC in its Catalan initials).
quote:
The pressures on Marchena
Judge Marchena and his magistrates will have a hard job. On the one hand, they know that the function of the trial is to make it clear to the people of Catalonia that the Spanish state does not tolerate challenges to its unity. Any exercise, even symbolic, of the right to self-determination by Spain’s constituent nations will be treated as a mutiny to be crushed, with participants jailed, stigmatised and confronted with economic ruin.
That’s already the case with former Catalan premier Artur Mas and three of his ministers. For allowing a purely indicative consultation on Catalan statehood on November 9, 2014, Mas has been barred from holding public office until 2020 and been hit with a fine of nearly €5 million by the Court of Public Accounts (presently being appealed).
On the other hand, given Spain’s status as a member of the European Union, the trial of the Catalan leaders has to at least appear to meet standards of fairness, impartiality and independence. Otherwise it is almost inevitable that any sentence it brings down will be struck down by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
In 2018, the ECHR upheld nine out of 10 appeals against Spanish court decisions, most notably in the case of Basque left-nationalist leader Arnaldo Otegi. The leader of the Basque left pro-independence coalition EH Bildu was found not to have received a fair trial in a case in which he was found guilty of affiliation to the banned military-terrorist organisation Basque Homeland and Freedom (ETA).
Tue, 2019-02-12 16:00
#231
..the trial can be followed here.
Live Blog | Catalonia on Trial: The Spanish State vs. The Catalan 12
This blog focusses on the trial in the Spanish Supreme Court of the 12 Catalan social and political leaders, who face up to 25 years jail for alleged offences of rebellion, sedition and embezzlement of public funds.
During the trial, it will be updated daily or more frequently if needed.
Wed, 2019-02-13 16:54
#232
Criminalising political opposition in Catalonia
quote:
The criminalization of political opposition is not merely confined to the prisoners currently on trial, but is in danger of becoming a routine response, part of the modus operandi of the Spanish state. We noted how such practices were targeting the anti-capitalist left in an article in Red Pepper last June. This relatively hidden, ongoing targetting has continued. Three weeks ago, the left-wing mayors of the Catalan towns of Verges and Celrà were arrested in a dawn raid along with a journalist from the magazine La Directa and 13 other activists. They were arrested for organising peaceful protests demanding the release of political prisoners who are on trial this week. One of the most striking thing is that these 16 arrests were not ordered by a court – as is normal in such cases – but by a highly secretive unit of the Spanish national police dedicated to gathering intelligence on threats to the state.
The mayor of the Verges, Ignasi Sabater, is getting used to this treatment. Several months ago he was brought in front of a court and accused of “hate crimes” and “discrimination” against “the Spanish nation and the corps of the Guardia Civil.” Bizarre as it might seem, his experience is not unique. Numerous ordinary people who have dared to condemn police violence – or even talk about it in public – have been hauled in front of the judiciary, facing prison for “hate crimes” against the Spanish state.
The formal charge may seem bizarre, but it is an increasingly frequent one in the Catalonian conflict. Some witnesses have been charged with such “hate crimes” for posting Facebook statements and teachers have been charged with the same offence for daring to discuss the violence of the Spanish National Police and the Guardia Civil in school classrooms. If this article was to be published in Spain, it is quite possible it would be defined by the authorities as a “hate crime.”
Thu, 2019-02-14 10:20
#233
Thanks for the blog - is there a blog in Castillian and Catalan? This is for a friend currently in Argentina - she is of Basque origin and lived in Catalonia when she fled the dictatorship.
Thu, 2019-02-14 11:49
#234
Thanks for the blog - is there a blog in Castillian and Catalan? This is for a friend currently in Argentina - she is of Basque origin and lived in Catalonia when she fled the dictatorship.
..try here. select language.
Thu, 2019-02-14 11:54
#235
Moltes gràcies.
No, unfortunately I don't speak Catalan (Sol Zanetti does) but can read it to some extent because it is somewhere between Spanish and French, and there is also a strong Italian or Corsican input for historical reasons.
Fri, 2019-02-22 11:43
#236
Thousands Rally in Spain to Protest Trial of Catalan Separatist Leaders
In Spain, thousands of protesters rallied in the northeastern region of the country Thursday, calling for the release of 12 secessionist Catalan leaders who are on trial on charges of rebellion. In Barcelona, more than 13,000 people took to the streets.
Cristina: “Nobody should be judged for their political ideology in a democracy. I think it’s unacceptable that the government keeps going on about the constitution and does not allow these people to be free. That is why I am here.”
At the trial, Catalan leaders have denied the charges against them, which stem from the 2017 independence referendum and the Catalan Parliament’s declaration of independence. Jordi Sànchez is the former president of the Catalan National Assembly.
Jordi Sànchez: “I consider myself a political prisoner, and I believe that this is a political trial. I believe it’s my obligation, as a citizen who wants to tell the truth in a court that presents itself as being impartial, to prove this innocence. And I am convinced that everything I am accused of by the prosecution is absolutely false.”
Sat, 2019-03-02 17:03
#237
Tue, 2019-03-26 14:15
#238
Witnesses rejecting cross-examination allege 'conscientious objection'
The two witnesses who rejected the cross-examination by the far-right Vox party in the independence trial last month have challenged the 2,500-euro fine imposed by the Supreme Court.
According to the Spanish law, witnesses have the obligation to respond to all questions with no exceptions, unless they are under investigation in a separate case.
Former far-left CUP MPs Eulàlia Reguant and Antonio Baños have filed an appeal before the court alleging "conscientious objection."
For Reguant and her lawyer, answering to questions by "a sexist and xenophobic party" were a "moral damage" for her.
Vox is acting as private prosecutor in the proceedings against 12 pro-independence leaders in Spain's Supreme Court.
"The best we could do was not to answer to a party such as Vox," said Reguant. "It was a matter of antifascist commitment and ethics."......
Tue, 2019-03-26 17:19
#239
Witnesses rejecting cross-examination allege 'conscientious objection'
The two witnesses who rejected the cross-examination by the far-right Vox party in the independence trial last month have challenged the 2,500-euro fine imposed by the Supreme Court.
According to the Spanish law, witnesses have the obligation to respond to all questions with no exceptions, unless they are under investigation in a separate case.
Former far-left CUP MPs Eulàlia Reguant and Antonio Baños have filed an appeal before the court alleging "conscientious objection."
For Reguant and her lawyer, answering to questions by "a sexist and xenophobic party" were a "moral damage" for her.
Vox is acting as private prosecutor in the proceedings against 12 pro-independence leaders in Spain's Supreme Court."The best we could do was not to answer to a party such as Vox," said Reguant. "It was a matter of antifascist commitment and ethics."......
Given that Vox is basically an update of the Falange, they had no alternative. Here's a link to a BBC story that pretty much tells us all we need to know about these reptiles:https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46043427
Wed, 2019-03-27 16:29
#240
In January, Ignasi Sabater, the left-wing mayor of the small Catalan town of Verges, was arrested in a dawn raid. In the same police operation, another mayor, a journalist from the magazine La Directa, and thirteen other activists were rounded up and arrested because they had organized peaceful protests to demand the release of political prisoners. Sabater was pulled before a court and accused of “hate crimes” and “discrimination” against “the Spanish nation and the corps of the Guardia Civil.” Similar charges were leveled against politicians, teachers, and firefighters. Many ordinary people who have dared to condemn police violence — or even talk about it in public — have been hauled in front of the judiciary, facing prison for “hate crimes” against the Spanish state. A shocking development, this, in twenty-first-century Europe.
quote:
Yet we can see similarly incredible scenes today. Last week the Spanish courts continued their show trial of Catalan leaders charged with “sedition” for their role in organizing the October 2017 referendum. Some Spaniards have shown their solidarity with the prisoners: on March 18, one hundred thousand people marched in Madrid to demand an end to state repression and support Catalans’ right to determine their future. Yet if on that march leftists from the capital, trade unionists from Asturias, and rural laborers from Andalusia all took a clear stance, the Spanish state’s disdain for basic democratic standards has taken many observers by surprise.
Yet we can see similarly incredible scenes today. Last week the Spanish courts continued their show trial of Catalan leaders charged with “sedition” for their role in organizing the October 2017 referendum. Some Spaniards have shown their solidarity with the prisoners: on March 18, one hundred thousand people marched in Madrid to demand an end to state repression and support Catalans’ right to determine their future. Yet if on that march leftists from the capital, trade unionists from Asturias, and rural laborers from Andalusia all took a clear stance, the Spanish state’s disdain for basic democratic standards has taken many observers by surprise.
It seems most media do not know how to analyze what is going on, and so most do not bother at all. But if we do want to grasp the situation in Spain and Catalonia, we have to look beyond the last eighteen months. And first of all, we have to know something about the configuration of Spain’s ruling elites, and the peculiarities of the state and its institutions. Only by investigating the social, economic, and political legacy of the democratic transition of the late 1970s can we truly grasp the shocking state repression we see in 2019.....
Thu, 2019-10-17 06:22
#241
WATCH: Catalan Leaders Sentenced To 100 Years in Prison
https://twitter.com/Omniumintl/status/1184024412565200896
Weep For Catalonia, Weep for Liberalism in Europe
"The vicious jail sentences handed down today by the fascists (I used the word with care and correctly) of the Spanish Supreme Court to the Catalan political prisoners represent a stark symbol of the nadir of liberalism within the EU. That an attempt to organize a democratic vote for the Catalan people in pursuit of the right of self-determination guaranteed in the UN Charter can lead to such lengthy imprisonment, is a plain abuse of the most basic of human rights..."
Thu, 2019-10-17 15:47
#242
The Jailing of Catalan Nationalists: Spanish Govt Builds A Police State
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/10/17/pers-o17.html
"...Their arrest is an integral part of a fascistic campaign whose principal targets are the Spanish and international working class. The EU and all its member states are directly implicated in the plotting of the Spanish ruling class. The ruling in Catalonia is only the sharpest expression of the drive to undermine democratic rights and suppress protest across the European Union (EU) amid a resurgence of strikes and political protests against EU policies..."
Thu, 2019-10-17 15:50
#243
This, when Spain is governed by a party which has the gall to call itself "socialist".
Sat, 2019-10-19 07:31
#244
Barcelona Mayhem: Clashes With Police as 'Half a Million' Pro-Independence Supporters Rally Amid General Strike (photos & vid)
"A huge crowd with Catalan flags has paralyzed central Barcelona as people from all over the region protested the harsh prison sentences for pro-independence leaders by the Spanish court and called for parting ways with Madrid. The police estimated that at least 525,000 turned up in the centre of Barcelona, local media cited law enforcement. 'Independence', 'the streets will be ours!' and 'Freedom for political prisoners!' were among the chants heard at the massive gathering.
Some of those involved in clashes with police were said to be right-wing thugs, who actually oppose Catalan independence. Footage from the scene showed people carrying Spanish national flags and giving Nazi salutes..."
Sat, 2019-10-19 07:37
#245
#Catalunya
https://twitter.com/hashtag/Catalunya?src=hash
"Spain is sowing an unimaginable hatred. Appalling police thuggery in Catalunya..."
Sun, 2019-10-20 20:25
#246
Spain will probably lose Catalonia the same way Britain lost Ireland: through over-reaction.
In 1916 there was little support for the rebels but the executions created enough support for the campaign that follwed to be successful.
The sentences are so long that support will probably continue to rise.
Serious mistake for them.
Wed, 2019-10-23 11:56
#247
Since when is wsws supporting the right to national self-determination? They are vicious opponents of it here in Québec, to such an extent that they systematically tar the labour, student and other social movements here.
Sun, 2019-10-27 07:57
#248
Fierce Clashes in Barcelona as Pro-Independence Demonstrators & Police Face Off (and vid)
"Around 10,000 people swarmed the streets of Barcelona in a pro-independence protest. Several videos sparked accusations of police brutality. The city has been gripped by protests since Oct 14, when Spain's Supreme Court sentenced a group of Catalan politicians responsible for carrying out the 2017 independence referendum to lengthy prison terms..."
Mon, 2019-10-28 16:08
#249
Catalonia after the sentence: the tsunami of protest driving Spanish politics
October 28, 2019 - The emotional gap between the 75%-80% of Catalans who uphold their country’s right to self-determination and the Spanish elites and parts of Spanish society that just want to see it wiped out was already enormous before October 14. But on that day, when the Spanish Supreme Court condemned nine Catalan political and social movement leaders to a total of 99.5 years jail, it probably became unbridgeable.
Since October 14, in bars, restaurants and public transport across Catalonia, there has been practically no other topic of conversation than the Spanish court’s vindictive sentences against the twelve leaders of the October 1, 2017 independence referendum and the torrents of protest that the verdict has provoked.
An immediate indicator of the profound indignation the verdict caused was that every last social, recreational, scientific, artistic and sporting organisation— from the most to the least political, from Barcelona Football Club to the Catalan Association for the Defence and Study of Nature— immediately issued statements condemning the sentences.
Only one business association, the ultra-establishment Development of National Labour, called for the verdict to be respected. The Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, now run by a pro-sovereignty group that had a shock victory in its most recent management elections, not only condemned the sentence but called for a “forthright response” from citizens, saying it would respect strike action protesting the judges’ decision.
The popular outrage exploded in demonstrations involving hundreds of thousands of people. By the end of a tumultuous first week of revolt (October 14-21) they had occupied Barcelona airport, imposed road blocks on major highways, demonstrated in massive numbers outside Spanish government offices and marched on Barcelona from five provincial cities in columns up to five kilometres long. The most notable feature of these actions was the involvement of young people—the so-called “sons and daughters of October”.
The final act in the first week of anger was a general strike that was followed by many more workers than those directly affiliated to the pro-independence unions calling it, and a mass demonstration in the Catalan capital’s city centre, estimated by the municipal police at 525,000 but in all likelihood even larger.
The initial week of demonstrations was also marked by battles in central Barcelona between the Catalan Police, (the Mossos d’Esquadra) and Spanish National Police (CNP) on one side and groups of mainly young people, infuriated with the verdict and frustrated with the strategy of the mainstream independence movement and parties, seen by them as “getting nowhere”. By October 16, a double dynamic seemed to have set in: peaceful mass protest by day and clashes between police and demonstrators by night.
The pictures of burning rubbish containers and police charges against the demonstrators provided the screens and pages of the Spanish national media with practically all its coverage. At the same time, it described Francoist groups who attacked pro-independence demonstrators in Barcelona as “constitutionalists”, “citizens with Spanish flags” or “citizens defending the unity of Spain”.
After seven days of these convulsions, news began to emerge of the state of mind of the CNP officers who had been thrown into Barcelona to help quell the protests. In the words of one of their Whatsapp messages, cited by the radio Canal SER: “This is a bloody war. You can’t imagine what’s going on here, it’s a bloody war.”
However, the Spanish media’s coverage of burning barricades and police charges—perfect distraction from peaceful marches of hundreds of thousands of people—also helped stir a counter-impulse within the Catalan sovereignty movement itself. It led to the emergence of peaceful sit-downs as a tactic to separate the police from the groups behind the burning barricades.....
Sun, 2021-10-31 16:33
#250
Catalan parliament officially recognises Rojava administration
“Today is an important one for us, because we would like to think that if the Kurds say that the only friend they have is the mountains, from today forward they have another friend, which is the Catalan people.”
With these words, Eulàlia Reguant, MP for the left independentist People’s Unity List (CUP), ended her October 19 presentation to the Catalan parliament of a resolution that extended official recognition to the Autonomous Administration of North-East Syria (AANES), commonly known as Rojava.
The Catalan parliament is the first in the world to formally recognise the AANES.....
