What the Spanish state is doing in Catalonia: Please read and share

Mural of my neighbourhood's CDR

Dear friends and family! I'm writing this to tell you how things stand here in Catalonia these days. I know that your media don't always tell you the truth, so, if you have ten minutes, I encourage you to read what we have lived here recently.

This Tuesday, the 10th of April, the Spanish police and the Civil Guard arrested an activist from one of the so-called Committees for the Defence of the Republic (CDR). These civil committees were constituted all over Catalonia in order to defend the Catalan Republic, declared on the 27th of October last year. Even if you don't support the secessionist cause, what is clear is that the CDRs have ALWAYS demonstrated peacefully and avoided violence, only offering peaceful resistance when blocking main roads or removing tollgates at toll points on motorways. This is quite clearly a case of civil disobedience, however the Spanish state, which controls the courts, will accuse the CDRs of terrorism and use of violence!

This is one of the many cases of abuse of power which we have witnessed in Catalonia and in Spain recently. There are rappers who have been sentenced to prison for insulting the Spanish king or allegedly glorifying terrorism - such is the case of Valtònyc, César Strawberry or Pablo Hásel. Amnesty International expressed its deep concern over this clear attack on the freedom of speech, however the current strict laws called Ley Mordaza allow Spain to even accuse Tweeter users of exalting terrorism and send them to jail. Two leaders of civil organizations ANC and Òmnium, Jordi Sànchez and Jordi Cuixart, were jailed in October on accusations of sedition, which, again, would need to involve violence. I will repeat once again: There has been virtually NO VIOLENCE in any of the numerous demonstrations which I have participated in since October. There has been a lot of violence from the state, though: I've seen peaceful protesters getting beaten up by the police, or police vans coming at high speed and trying to knock down some of the protesters. What kind of a state sends the police against its citizens who take to the streets peacefully?

Apart from this, several politicians, including the vice-president Oriol Junqueras, are imprisoned on charges of rebellion, while others, such as the president Carles Puigdemont or Anna Gabriel, took up exile in other countries to avoid the severely biased Spanish justice. Most of you must have already read or heard that the German authorities released president Puigdemont since they did not consider his offense rebellion as there was no violence involved in the disobedience. The Spanish authorities are upset about it, but the truth is that only they interpret it as rebellion by inventing the violence. We have also seen the case of puppeteers jailed for supposedly glorifying terrorism, and the actor Willy Toledo being accused of offending religious sentiments for insulting God and Virgin Mary! It's not a joke, it's Spain in the 21st century! What used to be considered a liberal democracy is now converting into an authoritarian state, which deals with political problems by means of force. Spain is slowly acquiring some characteristics of the fascist country it once was, which is well explained by the Catalan youtuber cuellilargo (In Spanish).

"Freedom for political prisoners" sign. Source: Òmnium Cultural

What is worse is that the ruling Popular Party (PP) are themselves a synonym for corruption and abuse of power. The party stems from Alianza Popular, founded by a minister in the Franco fascist regime, and it seems that certain views have not changed at all. There are more than a thousand corruption charges against PP politicians. The president M. Rajoy himself has accepted money illegaly, and two important PP figures are currently involved in a university degree falsification scandal as their titles were simply bought. PP are this country's mafia, they have their people in the universities, media and private corporations. Currently we are seeing that the separation of powers between the legislative, executive and judiciary systems, so important in any democracy, does not exist in Spain. Several judges who were in charge of investigating PP's corruption cases have been sent elsewhere, while judges who are reported to have close ties to the party have been appointed in their place. If that sounds like a conspiracy theory to you, please ask me for more details and I will gladly provide them to you.

This government believes that the unity of Spain is above everything else: Above human rights, above democracy and freedom of speech. It's no longer about independence, it's about defending these extremely important values. Whether you agree with the Catalan struggle for independence or not, you will surely understand that Spain's way of dealing with the problem is deeply authoritarian and imperialist. Please share this and take a position by our side, what we fight here today could be your problem tomorrow in your country!