Simon Harris's Blog, page 4
October 20, 2017
Julian Assange “Catalonia: Most Significant Change of Relation Between People & State Since Fall of Berlin Wall”
Since the beginning of September, Julian Assange has been the most vocal international supporter of the Catalan independence process. He really sees the big picture in terms of the knock on effect a successful independence push can have but he also grasps the historical, political and cultural background. Furthermore, he has a strong understanding of the role of the left and who an independent Catalonia could to for support on an international level.
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As Catalonia Plans Independence from Spain, Julian Assange Advises Organizers on Secure Messaging
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ny0HHSm8EUw
Julian Assange on Twitter
https://twitter.com/JulianAssange
As Catalonia Plans Independence from Spain, Julian Assange Advises Organizers on Secure Messaging
https://www.democracynow.org/2017/10/10/as_catalonia_plans_independence_from_spain
Creative Commons Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/
Full Text of Julian Assange’s Statements
1. The Spanish state security is repressive toward the Catalonian population, make it easy for them to understand the structure of Catalonian society—who speaks to who, what do they speak about, who’s important, who’s not important, etc. So, you protect yourself, you protect your friends. If you protect your friends, you protect your community. If you protect the community, you protect the whole society.
In a situation like this, where there is serious repression developing against people who are trying to communicate their political desires, then, actually, we have a responsibility. A burden falls upon us, those people who understand, to try and teach everyone else.
2. I don’t have a position on independence itself. I think that’s a matter for Catalonians. But that is precisely the point. They are 7.5 million people. They clearly form a people, under that definition, and therefore they have a right to self-determination. And that can either be provided for by the Spanish state, or if it cannot be provided for within the Spanish state, then they have a right to make their way outside of the Spanish state.
But I wanted to speak about significance, because most Americans will think, “Well, it’s Spain. It’s some regional issue involving Spain. Why does it matter?” This is the most significant change of relationship between population and state in Western Europe since the fall of the Berlin Wall. And its effects will spread all over Western Europe and into the United States and, because it’s Spain, also substantially into Latin America, Spanish-speaking Latin America.
3. The conflict that—the conflict that is occurring, let’s just background a little bit. Barcelona is the capital of Catalonia. People will be familiar—perhaps more familiar with that city than the region. That’s very interesting. That, in some sense, reflects the suppression that has been happening in Catalonia over many years. So, there has been this struggle for Catalans to maintain their language and culture over 300 years of Spanish colonialism of various forms. And this really became—it’s been severe over a long period of time. For example, the language being banned as each new technological development came along, so, for example—or cultural development. Plays, for example, banned. When the printing press became cheap and accessible, printed writing banned in Catalan. When the telephone entered in the late 19th century to Spain, speaking Catalan on the telephone was banned. Under Franco, speaking Catalan in public banned. Teaching it in school, likewise banned. And then an attempted ethnic dilution of Catalonia, pushing Spaniards from other provinces, such as Andalusia, into the Catalan population to try and dilute them. So, they have had this struggle for a long period of time. They are a distinct culture. Somewhere perhaps between French and Spanish, the language is perhaps closer to—closer to French. OK. So that’s the grounds, a very long-term struggle, an independent culture trying to gain self-realization.
I think that looked at—looked at it correctly, that World War II began in Spain. It did. It began as a proxy war in Spain. That was the Spanish Civil War. And now, we have a perception, English-speaking Westerners have a perception, that the fascists lost World War II. That’s false. That’s false. They won World War II in Spain. Franco won in Spain. And he continued on, with U.S. backing, up until 1975, when he died peacefully in his bed. There was not a revolution in Spain. There was not an occupation that set the reset button on the existing families and institutions and class structure in Spain. Franco died peacefully in his bed. And an example of the rollover that then occurred is that seven of his ministers went on to found the party that would become what is now the ruling party, PP, in Spain, which is headed up by Prime Minister Rajoy. So, those facets of undealt-with Francoism penetrated into the systems of the judiciary, the bureaucracy and, significantly, into the culture. And those are what have led to this conflict, this impasse.
Let’s look at it. You’ve got a population that is becoming more powerful in Catalonia, for one reason or another, relative to the state of Spain. Now, that would normally mean that the state of Spain has to engage in some kind of negotiation process. It has to be nicer to Catalonians, make them feel more comfortable, make them feel not as scared, give them some kind of concession, increase autonomy, etc., a confederation, something like that. Instead, the response has been to react to this political condition over the last 10 years with judicialization of politics. “No, we say it’s illegal, fundamentally illegal, for Catalans to increase their self-determination, and therefore it’s not going to happen.” That brittleness, that judicialization of politics, comes from the—in my view, comes from the remnants of how the ’78 regime was formed in the transition from Franco, with the U.S. ushering in that process with the king. So it’s now led to this impasse.
There’s another factor, as well, which is the right-wing government of Rajoy is in a very weak position. It was only elected on 20 percent of the vote—sorry, 20 percent of the population. It’s a minority government. And it has been wracked by corruption scandals. Every few days, there’s news of that corruption scandal. And Prime Minister Rajoy was forced to testify, about a month ago, in relation to one of those corruption scandals. This is very, very serious. It’s equivalent to Barack Obama or Donald Trump being forced to testify about a corruption situation.
4. So, the government is, instead of trying to negotiate or conciliate with the struggle for Catalonian independence, is instead taking a maximally hard line and instead provoking moves towards Catalonian independence, including, as you mentioned, just yesterday, threatening to arrest the president of Catalonia and even perhaps have him killed, end up like the previous president who declared independence, who was shot by a Franco firing squad.
5. I mean, this is—it’s pretty tiresome. You know, you see the so-called left in Turkey. Do they support Kurdish independence, or do they oppose it? They oppose it. You see so-called left in the socialist party in Spain. Do they support Catalan self-determination, or do they oppose it? They oppose it. So the same thing happens everywhere. The mainstream left, if you like, the equivalent to the Democratic Party in the United States, well, their ambitions are most fulfilled, their personal or group power is most fulfilled, by merging with the state itself, and therefore they become an—they become part of the state apparatus. But the only way to keep the state honest, in an ultimate calculation, is that people have the right to say that they’ve had enough, as individuals, to leave, and as a peoples or an area, to push toward secession or some kind of new deal. So, I find that, yeah, a bit—frankly, a bit distasteful.
6. Interestingly, the U.S. mainstream press and the U.K. mainstream press is substantially supportive of the Catalan effort. That’s either because there’s no U.S. or U.K. interests in the matter, and therefore journalists are simply free to write what is most appealing and interesting to their readers, or because there is a slight U.K.-U.S. interest. A new state, of course, will need new friends, will need new arms, will need new intelligence. The U.K. is in its Brexit negotiations, and so the EU having another thing to deal with can, yeah, lessen the capacity of the EU to bully the U.K. during its negotiations.
October 18, 2017
Why the independent Republic of Catalonia will be a reality before the weekend!
The Catalan independence process faces another key moment as the second deadline that the Spanish government gave Carles Puigdemont to retract last Tuesday’s declaration of Catalan independence expires at 10 am this morning (Thursday October 19th). Given the amount of support for independence amongst his support base and amonst the pro-independence bloc in the Catalan parliament, it’s virtually impossible for Puigdemont to consider taking any steps back. It’s also worth pointing out that in all the TV footage we see of him speaking with other politicians or leaving meetings he always looks extremely calm and relaxed and determined to finish the job he set out to do.
Anything but a full retraction will push the Spanish government to start the process leading to the eventual invocation of Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution. This process begins by the government drawing up a list of proposed measures that they will then send to Senate to be debated and voted on, which will take anything from a week to ten days.
I’ve heard that there are two possible sets of measures being considered. The first is the softer option, which will involve the Spanish government taking over the Catalan police and key departments, such as the Treasury and education, and then calling autonomous elections for some time around Christmas. However, going on previous behaviour, a tougher set of measures seems likely with the Spanish government completely taking over the Generalitat and running the Catalan government from Madrid.
Whatever the proposed measures are, it is inevitable that they will trigger an almost immediate response from Puigdemont, who will probably call a parliamentary session to either make a statement or take a vote on a formal declaration of the start of the independent Republic of Catalonia. The fact that a formal declaration is inevitable became clear, when in a meeting last night Puigdemont’s party PDCat, who are much softer on the issue of independence than Esquerra Republicana or the CUP, gave their full support to whatever statement Puigdemont chose to make.
What will happen next?
This is a very interesting question because if Puigdemont formalises the declaration of independence before the weekend i.e. later on today or tomorrow, the Spanish government, in theory at least, willl be powerless to act because Senate won’t be able to approve Article 155 for a week at least.
I don’t want to underestimate the Spanish government because apparently there are over extra 6,000 Spanish National Police and Civil Guard deployed in Catalonia, who have been relatively inactive since the referendum on October 1st and are probably looking forward to some action. Furthermore, the Spanish government have various financial measures in place that could be used to make life difficult for the Catalan government. In fact, in an interview the other night Vice-President, Treasury Minister and leader of Esquerra Republicana, Oriol Junqueras claimed that effectively Article 155 had been in force for some time as the Spanish government was doing everything it could to make government impossible in Catalonia.
However, the fact that Article 155 can’t be triggered legally until later in the month should give Puigdemont and his government some breathing space and a chance to put well-laid plans in action. Having lived here for 30 years and in that time come to admire, the Catalans a great deal, I simply cannot believe they haven’t thought about exactly what’s going to happen.
The underlying philosophy of the Catalans is a concept known as “Seny”, a form of ancestral Catalan wisdom or sensibleness. Seny involves well-pondered perception of situations, level-headedness, awareness, integrity, and right action. In fact, a National Geographic anthropologist defined seny as “a kind of refined good sense and self-realization” so you’re not telling me that they haven’t got this planned to the finest detail.
As I said in a previous article, I imagine that the citizenry will be mobilised to defend key government offices and departments, including the Palau de la Generalitat, where President Puigdemont is apparently already in residence, having sent his Romanian wife and their children to stay with her parents in Romania. Following Tuesday night’s massive candlelit vigil in Barcelona, pro-independence supporters have already been forewarned of flash demonstrations planned for tomorrow (Friday), which could be used to mobilise people to specific locations. On Saturday, another mass demonstrations is planned in Barcelona, which should give another show of strength and peaceful civism to the world at large.
Furthermore, given the recent judicial process against the Catalan chief of police, Josep Lluís Trapero, the citizenry is unlikely to receive anything more than strictly “keeping order” policing from the Mossos d’Esquadra. The Spanish government has made it clear that they are antagonistic to the Catalan police so just as happened on October 1st, they will be unwilling to participate in acts of violence against their own people.
In fact, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Major Trapero gives the order for his men to be loyal to the Generalitat rather than the Spanish government. This could well provoke the Spanish National Police and Civil Guard into action. However, as I mentioned before there are only 6,000 Spanish police in Catalonia compared with around 18,000 Mossos d’Esquadra. It will be interesting to see how this aspect plays out.
Finally, the issue of international sympathy is going to become increasingly important. Slovenia has already said that it will recognise Catalonia as soon as the declaration is formalised and I imagine the Baltic states will follow suit quite quickly. Similarly, regional parliaments, such as the Scottish and Flemish Assemblies are likely to pledge support, and political parties will be tabling motions in their respective parliaments around the world.
The Catalan independence process is also really going to put the European Union between a rock and a hard place. If it allows Catalonia to secede, Spain is likely to need a bail out, which will put heavy pressure on some of the richer European economies, particularly Germany. If it allows Spain repress Catalonia, the EU’s hypocrisy and lack of democratic values will come increasingly evident and probably cause an increase in Euroscepticism across an already sceptical Europe.
They might not do it publicly but privately EU politicians are bound to put pressure on Rajoy to allow an agreed and binding referendum in Catalonia. It really is the only way to break the deadlock. However, bear in mind that once independence is declared there might be no going back so they would be well-advised to act quickly.
Candlelit Vigil on Diagonal/Passeig de Gràcia in Favour of Catalan Pro-Independence Political Prisoners
The second report of the evening was for the candlelit vigil in protest against the the imprisonment of pro-independence campaigners Jordi Sànchez and Jordi Cuixart without bail yesterday. Tens of thousands of people turned up in yet another peaceful and civic protest, showing once again that the will of the Catalan people for independence from Spain. By turning this into a legal and violent battle, it looks clear that the Spanish government is backing a loser.
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October 17, 2017
Early Evening Barcelona Demo in Favour of Catalan Pro-Independence Political Prisoners Sànchez and Cuixart
There was an early evening demonstration planned to take place at 7 pm outside the Spain Government Delegation on Carrer Mallorca but few people showed up, probably due to more publicised Candlelit Vigil set to take place on Diagonal/Passeig de Gràcia an hour later. Furthermore. the government buildings were heavily protected by the Mossos d’Esquadra probably because they feared any violent responses to the imprisonment without bail of Jordi Sànchez and Jordu Cuixart would be directed against the representatives of the Spanish government in Barcelona.
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Reply to Rocking MrE’s “How Secession Is Exploited By The Left” Re Catalonia
Although I enjoy Rocking MrE’s channel, I think he’s wrong here mainly because he confuses his dislike of the Scottish and Welsh secessionist movements and their respective parties, the SNP and Plaid Cymru, with what’s happening here in Catalonia. I accept his points that the left are a danger to Catalan independence but he is too quick to draw analogies with what happened in the lead up to the Spanish Civil War, which is unwise unless you have in depth knowledge of 19th and 20th century Catalan history. Similarly, the complaint that Catalans want to be part of the EU is overly simplistic.
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Rocking MrE’s oroginal video: How secession is exploited by the left
October 14, 2017
What Will Happen If Carles Puigdemont Ratifies the Declaration of Catalan Independence and Spain Invokes Article 155?
Catalonia is facing yet another precipice moment at 10 am tomorrow (Monday 16th October), which is the deadline that Spain has given the President of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, to withdraw or ratify the declaration of independence he made on Tuesday October 10th and then quickly suspended in order to allow time for dialogue.
The threat hanging over Puigdemont is that if he does not fully withdraw the declaration, Spain will refuse to engage in any kind of dialogue and will invoke the very vague Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution, which basically allows the Spanish government to take whatever means necessary to put government in Catalonia back on a Spanish legal framework. Before considering what the triggering of Article 155 might entail, let me first try and predict what I think Carles Puigdemont is going to say.
Last Tuesday’s Speech
Firstly, let me say that I think the clear and assertive declaration of independence followed by its almost immediate suspension was a masterstroke by President Puigdemont, particularly bearing in mind that a document confirming the declaration of independence was signed by all 72 pro-independence members of the Parliament of Catalonia at the end of the evening.
The events of Tuesday evening confused almost everyone. Catalan supporters of independence went from euphoria to depression in a matter of seconds and, at the end of the evening, even they were uncertain as to whether independence had been declared or not.
Similarly, the Spanish government was left uncertain about how to react and this bought precious time. A simple declaration could well have brought about the immediate invocation of Article 155 and suspension of autonomous government in Catalonia and subsequent violent police repression of the disorganised protesters, who would inevitably have opposed the suspension. The suspension of the declaration not only left time for dialogue but also gave the supporters of Catalan independence a chance to regroup and prepare themselves for the next stage of the process.
The Spanish government did have a meeting of the Council of Ministers and took the first steps in invoking Article 155 but this only gave Puigdemont a chance to leave them in an even poorer light, when he tweeted out “You ask for dialogue and they reply by putting Article 155 on the table. Understood.”
The international community and the media all clearly saw that the Spanish were being intransigent. EU President, Jean-Claude Juncker in a speech in German said in a speech in German that the EU would not be mediating in the conflict between Spain and Catalonia over Catalan independence because “only one of the parties was prepared to enter into dialogue”. Most people saw this as a refusal to help Catalonia but in actual fact, it was a recognition that only the Catalans were prepared to commit to mediation.
What Will Puigdemont Say Tomorrow?
The consequences of Puigdemont’s clever speech last Tuesday mean that I am confident that he won’t withdraw the declaration of independence but without moving too far forward he will try to gain more moral high ground. I imagine he’ll word some kind of official statement along very similar lines to those used in his original speech, focussing on the idea that according to the will of the Catalan people he, as their servant, doesn’t have the right to withdraw the declaration of independence and reiterating the offer of dialogue and once again that it still won’t come into effect.
I also imagine he will echo the unfortunate words of Spanish government spokesperson, Pablo Casado, who just before the parliamentary session last week mentioned former President of the Generalitat Lluís Companys without being fully aware of the history. He said that the anniversary of Companys declaration of independence on October 6th 1934 had recently passed and that he hoped history wouldn’t repeat itself meaning that he hoped that Carles Puigdemont wouldn’t declare independence and subsequently be imprisoned as Companys had been in 1934.
However, I don’t believe that he realised that on October 15th 1940, which means the anniversary is today, after having been captured by the Gestapo in France and extradited to Spain, Companys was shot by a Francoist firing squad on Montjuïc in Barcelona. I’m sure Puigdemont will mention this in whatever statement he makes because the story of Companys not only reminds the international community that Catalonia’s push for independence from Spain has been going on for a very long time but it will also warn Spain not to overreact because the police already overstepped the mark on referendum day and now everyone is watching.
So what is Article 155 and how will Spain put it into effect?
In plain English, Article 155, which has never been invoked before, means that if a self-governing community, like Catalonia, has acted in any way to undermine the interests of Spain, the national government will “take all measures necessary” to force it to meet its obligations to the state.
Here is the actual wording of Article 155 in the Spanish constitution:
“If a self-governing community does not fulfill the obligations imposed upon it by the constitution or other laws, or acts in a way that is seriously prejudicial to the general interest of Spain, the government, after having lodged a complaint with the president of the self-governing community and failed to receive satisfaction therefore, may, following approval granted by the overall majority of the senate, take all measures necessary to compel the community to meet said obligations, or to protect the above mentioned general interest.”
It adds: “With a view to implementing the measures provided for in the foregoing paragraph, the government may issue instructions to all the authorities of the self-governing communities.”
The procedure for the invocation of article 155 is also important because its not immediate. The Spanish government has to submit a list of measures to the Spanish Senate, which are then debated and put to a vote, which will be approved because the Partido Popular has an absolute majority in the Senate. However, apparently the procedure is likely to take at least 5 days, which takes us once again at least to the start of next week, during which time the Spanish National Police and Civil Guard cannot act against Catalan politicians and political institutions.
The measures that Rajoy is likely to present to the Senate are the immediate suspension of the Catalan government and the calling of autonomous elections for some time before Christmas. This will be accompanied by the start of judicial procedures against most of the main pro-independence politicians for sedition.
How Will The Catalans React?
Once the invocation of Article 155 has officially begun, and I suspect it will be during the Senate debate, Carles Puigdemont will make another call for dialogue and international mediation and then will make a formal Declaration of Independence with no ifs and buts. I’m reasonably certain that the declaration will be made from the Parliament of Catalonia although the balcony of the Palau de la Generalitat on Plaça de Sant Jaume would give the declaration a symbolic appeal because this is from where previous declarations of independence and other important announcements have always been made.
Whatever the location, there will be a massive number of pro-independence supporters in attendance, I’m talking tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands, making it impossible for the Spanish police to act against the Catalan government. These activists will then be deployed to protect other key government locations by the leadership and the Republic of Catalonia will begin to function.
There might be a few violent incidents between Catalans and Spanish police and perhaps a Catalan martyr or two but the EU, only concerned for its own survival, won’t allow the Spanish government to deploy the military. In fact, Spain’s most important weapon will be its ability to suffocate the Catalan economy, at least initially.
However, although there’ll be a few hiccoughs and occasional inefficiencies and shortages, businesses will continue to work and people will realise that the world hasn’t come to an end.
A few countries will recognise Catalonia immediately and that number will grow over the following months. I don’t exactly know when but finally Catalonia will be recognised by larger countries and the major international institutions. A new country, the Republic of Catalonia, will have come into being.
October 12, 2017
Tension Mounts as Spain and Catalonia Face Off Over the Catalan Independence Referendum
One of the main reasons why I think I’m qualified to report on the situation in Catalonia is because I’ve lived here for 30 years. This means that I understand the people and culture and more importantly the language. If you really want to understand the Catalan point of view on independence, you have to read websites like Vilaweb, ElNacional or ElMon as well as personal blogs and websites, which almost exclusively in Catalan.
I make no bones about my pro-Catalan bias but given that until the recent upsurge in interest in the Catalan question, most of the foreign press were based in Madrid and only spoke Spanish, getting at least some of your information from me will actually provide you with a more balanced view of things. If you’re not here or even if you are and don’t understand the language it’s very difficult to understand the nuances of what’s happening.
The second video in the lead up to the referendum discusses the predictable reaction from the Spanish government to the Catalan Referendum Law passed by the Parliament of Catalonia.
The Spanish government’s Council of State met in the morning and sent the Law of the Referendum on to the Spanish Constitutional Court, which duly declared it unconstitutional. They also announced that they would be bringing criminal charges against the main instigators of the bill, probably the speaker of the parliament, Carme Forcadell, and the President of the Generalitat, Carles Puigdemont among others. The rationale being that the politicians knew that they were acting unconstitutionally but went ahead anyway.
The Spanish government was maintaining its stance that the referendum would not go ahead. As the Spanish government and judiciary was against it, it was clear that at some point the Spanish police and military would get involved.
The reaction in Catalonia to this perceived clampdown was also predictable as various town and city mayors and councillors came out saying they were willing to help organise the referendum in their area. At that point, around 560 out of 700 or so town councils had already expressed their willingness to get involved. This showed that the majority of Catalonia was prepared to act illegally, an obvious problem for the Spanish government.
The other thing that happened in the Catalan Parliament was that the Law of juridical transition and foundation of the Republic was passed, which is the second law required to set up the Catalan Republic after the referendum.
October 11, 2017
The Catalan Referendum Law and Some Background to the Catalan Independence Movement
This is the first of a series of posts looking back over the past couple of months in Catalonia based on the videos I make for my YouTube channel, which will hopefully reactivate this blog.
The truth is that over the past year or so I had become tired of the Catalan independence process and very sceptical of whether the pro-independence politicians had any intention of keeping their word and bringing the process to its logical conclusion.
My dwindling interest was also in part due to my disagreement with some of my former left-wing pro-independence friends over the issues of immigration and Islam. I haven’t really discussed this in my current clutch of videos but I am worried about what Esquerra Republicana and the CUP might do to an independent Catalonia. I know their opinions and I’m very worried that, if in power, they’ll pursue an open door policy and turn Catalonia into the Sweden of the south of Europe.
However, as events have picked up over the last couple of months, I’ve realised that Catalonia is stuck between a rock and a hard place. The attitude of Spanish politicians and the media and therefore, most Spaniards towards Catalonia is that of an owner towards a slave and until the country escapes the whip hand of an often cruel master, we’ll never be able to decide our own political future.
So my concerns over immigration have to be put to one side until after independence, when hopefully I’ll become a Catalan citizen and be able to put forward my opinions in the political arena. Without sovereignty, and hopefully borders, Catalonia will always be controlled by policies imposed from outside, which are liable to change without warning.
At the moment that Spanish government takes a reasonably strong anti-immigration line. However, the economic situation could change at any time and Spain would be forced to accept EU migrant quotas in return for a bailout. Given that Castile is not keen on accepting migrants itself, I fear that Catalonia would end up being the chosen destination for many of them and my virtue-signalling friends would welcome them with open arms thinking they’d got one over on Madrid.
Anyway, it was the Law on the Referendum of Self-determination that got me focusing on Catalan politics again for the first time in months. It was passed by the Parliament of Catalonia on September 6, 2017, after more than 11 hours of heated debate. The law was passed by the 72 votes of JxSí and the CUP and the traditional battle lines on Catalan independence were drawn once again as CSQEP abstained and the rest of the parties, Ciudadanos, PSC and Partido Popular, left the chamber.
Here’s the video I made the following morning.
In the video, I divide the actors involved into three groups: the Catalan pro-independence parties, the Catalan anti-independence parties and finally, the Spanish government and the rest of Spain and complain that the event was a pretty poor show with everyone hurling the word democracy around and claiming that their opponents knew nothing about it.
The Catalan pro-independence parties were angry because they believe they have a democratic right to hold a referendum and vote on whether they want to be part of Spain or not, while the anti-independence parties were upset because some of the parliamentary procedures were skipped by the pro-independence speaker of the parliament, Carme Forcadell. They claimed that the pro-independence majority were behaving undemocratically and in a discriminatory way to the anti-independence parties. Meanwhile, the Spanish government and the rest of Spain claim that a referendum on independence for Catalonia is unconstitutional and therefore illegal.
The two relevant clauses of the constitution are Article 1.2 which states that “National sovereignty resides in the Spanish people, from whom the powers of the state emanate” and Article 2 which states that “The Constitution is based on the indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation, the common and indivisible homeland of all Spaniards, and recognises and guarantees the right to autonomy of the nationalities and regions that comprises it and the solidarity between all of them.”
Based on these articles, it is unconstitutional for a part of Spain to hold a referendum on anything which would affect the whole of Spain, which is indissoluble and indivisible.
In the video I also give some background to the Catalan Parliament, which is made up of 135 deputies. The largest bloc is the coalition Junts pel Sí (Together for Yes), which comprises the centre right/liberal PDCat, the left-wing SNP-style Esquerra Republicana and a few independents, who have 62 seats, and so are dependent on the far left CUP, who have 10 seats to reach a total of 72 seats, which is over the parliamentary majority of 69 and so get legislation through. I express my dislike for the CUP, who I describe as being similar to the Socialist Worker party and quip that it’s a bit like having Antifa in Parliament.
It was surprisingly that the Law of the Referendum was passed then. Actually what happened was the 11 members of the fence sitting CSQEP abstained whilst the anti-independence parties left the chamber.
I go on to make the point that whether you agree with independence for Catalonia or not is almost irrelevant because is an issue that, like it or not, isn’t going to go away. Catalonia has been trying to break away from Spain for about 400 years.
The first attempt came in the Reapers’ War of 1640 to 1659 then Catalonia and Castile were on opposing sides during the War of the Spanish Succession from 1705 to 1714. It was following defeat in the latter war that Castile effectively annexed Catalonia and abolished its laws, charters and political institutions, and for many people, the end of the war marks the creation of modern Spain.
After a long period of subjugation a movement known as Political Catalanism began to appear towards the end of the 19th century. This led to an early attempt at autonomous government in the Mancomunitat or Commonwealth of Catalonia, which lasted from 1914 until it was abolished in 1925 by Spain’s first 20th century dictator, Miguel Primo de Rivera.
During the Second Spanish Republic just before the Spanish Civil War, Catalonia tried declare independence in 1931 but the left-wing Spanish government persuaded the Catalan leader Francesc Macià to back down in return for the restoration of the Generalitat, which had been abolished in 1931. Macià’s successor as President of the Generalitat, Lluís Companys, made another independence attempt in 1934 and was arrested. In many respects, the issue of Catalan independence was one of the cause of the Spanish Civil War, which lasted from 1936 to 1939.
Franco’s victory in the civil war led to another period of Catalan subjugation and when he died in 1975 the Catalans had hopes of their nationhood being recognised. However, in a process known as Café para todos (Coffee for everyone) 17 Autonomous Communities were created in 1978 as a way of diluting the Catalan and Basque claims. The Catalans accepted this because Spanish democracy was very fragile at the time and there was the threat of another military coup.
By 2003, when Spanish democracy was well-established, the Catalans decided to have another go and began drawing up a new Statute of Autonomy. The text was passed by the Catalan Parliament in 2005 and after a few modifications it was approved by the Spanish Congress of Deputies in Madrid. It was then passed by the Catalan people in a referendum later the same year.
However, the Partido Popular took the Estatut as it was known before the Spanish Constitutional Court and after a long drawn out process the text was returned with almost all the reforms either deleted, modified or deemed inapplicable. This events was in many respects the start of the modern independence movement and it provoked the first major demonstration under the banner of “Som una nació. Nosaltre decidim” (We are a nation. We decide.)
It was at this point that people like me and my friends began to take the idea of independence seriously. Up until that point, a little more recognition and protection for the Catalan language and a slightly better tax deal would have been sufficient. However, the Constitutional Court decision and the anti-Catalan hate campaign led by the Partido Popular, which backed by many so-called socialists, made many of us realise that there was no dealing with Madrid.
This really took off on La Diada or National Day of Catalonia on September 11th 2012, which was the first major event organised by the newly-formed Catalan National Assembly. 1.5 million people took to the streets of Barcelona under the slogan “Catalonia. New European State” and since then every year the demonstrations have been of a similar size. Had Mariano Rajoy’s ruling Partido Popular been prepared to make some concessions in 2012, the independence movement would have disinflated but they weren’t and now the problem will only be solved by allowing Catalans to vote.
It was clear to me that the Spanish Constitutional Court would declare the Law of the Referendum unconstitutional because this is how the Spanish government and judiciary have reacted for the last five years. The Catalan and the Spanish are at loggerheads. They hold two completely opposing positions and there is little to be done without one side backing down.
With the referendum planned for October 1st and the Catalan National Day on September 11th marking the start of the campaign, no solution to the problem was on the horizon. I was also concerned that there could be violence for the first time on September 11th.
It was also evident to me that whatever happened the referendum wouldn’t be the end of the independence process and predicted that the only way to remedy the situation was through international mediation. I also predicted that the Spanish police would behave violently on the day of the referendum.
June 12, 2017
Lying Media Describe Plural Crowd At UK Unite Against Hate March In Manchester As Far Right
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Links
UK Against Hate Rebel Media
https://www.therebel.media/uk_against_hate
Mancunians fight against hate as EDL march through Manchester city centre
http://metro.co.uk/2017/06/11/mancunians-fight-against-hate-as-edl-march-through-manchester-city-centre-6701947/
Police Being Awkward With Tommy Robinson Before UK Against Hate March Manchester, 11/6/2017.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbB2vJwywhc
Tommy Robinson speech in Manchester Unite against hate
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_6vDL2tHoE
Azad Ali Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azad_Ali
‘Fake News’ BBC Whitewashes ‘Anti-Racist’ Violence, Brands March by Gay, Sikh, and Black Speakers ‘Far Right’
http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/06/11/antiracist-bbc-fake-news-reports-unite-against-hate-peaceful-march-far-right/
Tommy Robinson Twitter Feed
https://twitter.com/TRobinsonNewEra
June 11, 2017
Who Are The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) And Why Theresa May’s Tories Have Joined The Ranks Of The Undead
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Links
Simon Harris's Blog
- Simon Harris's profile
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