Candidatura d’Unitat Popular (CUP) rally on 10/12/ 2017
To President Mariano Rajoy’s chagrin Catalunya’s election results on 21st December 2017 called by the Spanish government reinstated the majority position for independence in the Catalan parliament. Junts per Catalunya (JxC) Together for Catalonia (the party of Carles Puigdemont, who fled into exile as leader of the parliament following the banned referendum) won 34 seats; Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya the Catalan Republican Left (ERC) won 32; and the green, anti-capitalist Candidatura d’Unitat Popular (CUP) won four. The three secessionist parties forming Junts pel Sí (Together for Yes) coalition won a total of 70 seats in the 135-seat regional parliament compared to the largest single unionist Ciudadanos with 37 seats, leading Puigdemont to declare the results a vindication for the ‘Catalan republic’. Podem en Commun, (allied to the anti-austerity Spanish party Podemos) and advocating the right of the Catalan people to self-determination, scored 8 seats.
It was a show of defiance following Spain’s show of force over the referendum that led to pictures of beaten civilians being sent around the world, as they attempted to decide their regional future at the ballot box on October 1st 2017. It was particularly striking given that after this Rajoy triggered Article 155 of the Spanish constitution which suspended hard won rights to regional autonomy, summarily arrested democratically elected politicians some of whom are still detained, and forced others into exile. The speedy electoral process in the wake of what have been deemed to be human rights violations by the UN, appeared to be almost an afterthought to this, conjuring spectres of the civil war and the brutal repression during the Franco era. The directive failed to cow the electorate and the elected into submission and has restored the Spanish government’s dilemma on how to proceed given a clear mandate by Catalans to have greater freedom in the political and economic sphere.
Two weeks before the vote I accompanied supporters from the newly formed International Ecosocialist Network on a delegation to Barcelona as Green Left International spokesperson. Partying went on as usual that weekend It was hard to know what to make of it given the stakes: Barcelona is fairly evenly split on independence from Spain, the surrounding country districts more committed to secession. Yet over the meetings that we attended it became that this apparently relaxed atmosphere was underpinned by a resolve to demonstrate a model of democratic engagement omitted in the dominant media narratives.
This crisis has forced a re-evaluation not only of Spain as progressive state, but of the EU which has authorised its actions irrespective of the abuses, citing the Spanish constitution. The economic fallout of austerity following the crash of 2010 afflicted Spain disproportionately, and its centralised taxation system reverberated in the more affluent, industrial Catalunya. Corruption scandals in Rajoy’s Partido Popular but also in the Catalan parliament played their part: Its leader for 23 years Jordi Pujol put away a tidy sum after years in office. The impetus for independence gained traction within a more egalitarian tradition and paved the way for a coalition whose king maker became CUP who pressed for the referendum.
The CUP rally that we attended on 10th December 2017 was orderly but ardent as eight of their suspended politicians reaffirmed their commitment to principles of feminism, socialism, and ecological sustainability to the sizeable crowd of thousands. We met CUP at their HQ the following day.
Photograph by Romayne Phoenix
A New Model for Europe
CUP operate a policy of dialogue with like-minded anti-capitalist groups and we were able to speak to their international relations spokesperson: What they are seeking, she told us, is real change and the first step is the Catalan republic. Building a republic would enable them to build it from the bottom up. There is no blueprint, and they are learning by doing. A municipal model seeks change at a local level and is not just about getting members into parliament or local councillors elected. Elected officials have one term which addresses both the problem of corruption and the narcissistic pull of office. Instead there is a dynamic, horizontal model focussed on processes with local assemblies as participatory forums (weekly); the next stage is a territorial assembly (monthly), and finally the general assembly (yearly) with decision making based on consensus flowing upward from the local assemblies. It is a model which builds democratic resilience and involves and informs the electorate, removing the need for dependence on a few individuals.
Our next meeting was with the small Intersindical trade union, like CUP, they find that the point of reference for the European left is Podemos.‘Nationalism’ is understandably viewed with suspicion, however secessionism is not ‘nation state’ nationalism or even cultural or colonial nationalism as manifested in some of Europe’s more troubled movements. The preferred term is independencia. Catalunya’s position near border between France and Spain gives it its unique cultural heritage and language which it shares with the Occitanie, reaching up to Toulouse. It is an inclusive society which has absorbed migrants.
What both groups noted is that what they are not looking for from the European left is organisations seeking to tell Catalunya what its strategy should be. The guiding principle of the diverse groups we met is the right of the Catalan people to choose. As one member of the historic Esquerra Republicana put it in a town square where all the parties set out stalls side by side before the elections: ‘We are a peaceful movement and we are showing Europe the democratic way forward, even in the face of violence and court repression’.
References:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/nov/03/colm-toibin-catalonia-independent-state-point-of-view
https://www.greenleft.org.au/country/catalonia
https://www.newstatesman.com/world/europe/2017/12/scars-catalonia
iecosoc.net 
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