[WSMDiscuss] International Manifesto in Support of Catalonia’s Right to Freedom as a People

[Krishna Roy]

In solidarity!

Krishna Roy

On Tue, 1 Jun, 2021, 2:36 AM Jai Sen, <jai.sen at cacim.net> wrote:

> Monday, May 31, 2021
>
> *Catalonia in movement…, **Sovereignty in movement…, Freedoms in
> movement…, Justice in movement…, International solidarity in movement…*
>
> Since 2017, the ceaseless criminalization of the political will of the
> people of Catalonia by the Spanish state has led to the prosecution of
> nearly 3,300 people. A repressive operation against an entire people that
> involves a violation of fundamental rights such as the right to freedom of
> expression, freedom of association, freedom of assembly and political
> representation. This has been condemned by the Council of Europe’s
> Commissioner for Human Rights, several United Nations Member States – in
> the framework of the Universal Periodic Review – and also non-governmental
> organizations such as Amnesty International, the World Organization Against
> Torture and the World Jurist Association, among others.
>
> The electoral results of the 14th of February [2021] elections, where the
> pro-independence forces have achieved a historic result with an absolute
> majority in seats, and this time also in votes (52% of the total), ratify
> the will of the Catalan people to become an independent state as expressed
> in the victorious 1st of October 2017 referendum. A claim the international
> community can no longer continue ignoring.
>
> *We, international personalities, activists, intellectuals, and
> representatives of political and social organizations from various
> countries have observed the arbitrary actions of the Spanish authorities
> with concern and express our support for the aspiration of freedom of the
> Catalan people. For these reasons, the signatories of this manifesto call
> for a resolution of the political conflict between Catalonia and Spain,
> based on the following points*…
>
> *International Manifesto in Support of Catalonia’s Right to Freedom as
> a People*
>
> *The Bullet*
>
>
> https://socialistproject.ca/2021/05/international-manifesto-support-catalonia/#more
>
> May 31 2021
>
> In the 14th of February elections to the Parliament of Catalonia, 52% of
> Catalans voted in favour of parties that call for Catalonia to become an
> independent state. This is an irrefutable victory for the Catalan
> pro-independence movement, after years of mass mobilizations that
> culminated in the October 1st, 2017 referendum on self-determination. The
> plebiscite was carried out in support for the creation of an independent
> state in the form of a republic, winning by a landslide despite the harsh
> repression exerted by the Spanish police in an attempt to stop it, and
> which led to more than 1,000 injured, some seriously.
>
> As a result of those events, nine Catalan civic and political leaders were
> put in pre-trial detention. In October 2019, they were handed down
> sentences of 9 to 13 years prison for charges of sedition and embezzlement,
> some for having organized the referendum, and others for calling for
> peaceful demonstrations. The president of the Catalan government, several
> members of the cabinet and other elected officials had to go into exile in
> Belgium, Scotland, and Switzerland.
>
> The 2019 trial of the Catalan pro-independence leaders in the Spanish
> Supreme Court in Madrid was plagued with serious non-democratic
> irregularities. Before the sentence was made public, the United Nations
> Working Group on Arbitrary Detention called for their immediate release and
> for reparation for their arbitrary detention. Belgian justice recently
> ruled that the Spanish Supreme Court was not the competent authority to try
> the Catalan leaders, adding that in Spain “the presumption of innocence is
> at risk of being abused.” Moreover, several international human rights
> organizations drew attention to the absence of the principle of
> contradiction in the trial, the provision of irrelevant evidence to the
> case during the trial, and the lack of a right to appeal. Several members
> of the Catalan government and political leaders are still in exile in
> Belgium and Switzerland.
>
> In response to the disproportionate sentences, mass demonstrations took
> place in October of 2019, which were severely repressed, leading to a total
> of 594 wounded (70 of them journalists) and the arrest of 194 protesters,
> 28 of whom were taken into pre-trial detention.
>
> Since 2017, the ceaseless criminalization of the political will of the
> people of Catalonia by the Spanish state has led to the prosecution of
> nearly 3,300 people. A repressive operation against an entire people that
> involves a violation of fundamental rights such as the right to freedom of
> expression, freedom of association, freedom of assembly and political
> representation. This has been condemned by the Council of Europe’s
> Commissioner for Human Rights, several United Nations Member States – in
> the framework of the Universal Periodic Review – and also non-governmental
> organizations such as Amnesty International, the World Organization Against
> Torture and the World Jurist Association, among others.
>
> The electoral results of the 14th of February elections, where the
> pro-independence forces have achieved a historic result with an absolute
> majority in seats, and this time also in votes (52% of the total), ratify
> the will of the Catalan people to become an independent state as expressed
> in the victorious 1st of October 2017 referendum. A claim the international
> community can no longer continue ignoring.
>
> We, international personalities, activists, intellectuals, and
> representatives of political and social organizations from various
> countries have observed the arbitrary actions of the Spanish authorities
> with concern and express our support for the aspiration of freedom of the
> Catalan people. For these reasons, the signatories of this manifesto call
> for a resolution of the political conflict between Catalonia and Spain,
> based on the following points:
>
>    - Respect for the fundamental rights of the citizens of Catalonia,
>    including freedom of expression, freedom of association, freedom of
>    assembly and political participation and representation.
>    - Immediate release of all Catalan political prisoners, and an end to
>    the repression and all legal proceedings against activists and political
>    and social representatives of the Catalan pro-independence movement. State
>    authorities must publicly apologize to victims of arbitrary repression,
>    including the exiles. All these victims must receive reparations.
>    - Respect and recognition of the right to self-determination of the
>    people of Catalonia according to the United Nations International Covenant
>    on Civil and Political Rights, as exercised in the October 1st, 2017
>    referendum.
>
> See full list of signatories
> <https://int.assemblea.cat/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/210514_International_Manifesto_Support_Catalonia_freedom-1.pdf>
> .
>
>  *International Support for Catalan Self-Determination*
>
> *Catalan National Assembly*
>
> A collection of signatures in support of Catalonia’s right to freedom as a
> people, coordinated by the Catalan National Assembly, brings together 120
> personalities and entities from around twenty countries all over the world.
> The signatories call for an end to Spanish repression, respect for the
> fundamental rights of the victims of repression, the release of prisoners,
> and recognition of the right to self-determination of the people of
> Catalonia.
>
> One hundred twenty international personalities from more than 20 countries
> around the world, including members of the European Parliament, academics,
> activists and social and human rights organizations, have supported a
> manifesto promoted by the Catalan National Assembly.
>
> Acknowledged figures such as Nobel Peace Prize laureate Adolfo Pérez
> Esquível (Argentina), the former president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, the
> president of Sinn Féin, Mary Lou McDonald (Ireland), the former leader of
> the Bloco d’Esquerda and historian Fernando Rosas (Portugal), the Member of
> the Parliament of the United Kingdom and President of the All-Party
> Parliamentary Group on Catalonia Hywel Williams, or the former Vice
> President of the European Parliament José Pacheco-Pereira (Portugal), as
> well as representatives of civil society such as the “Madres de la Plaza de
> Mayo”(Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo), the European Language Equality Network
> (ELEN), the Székler National Council and various associations in support of
> the Rif people, have all contributed their signatures to the document.
>
> The manifesto
> <https://int.assemblea.cat/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/210514_International_Manifesto_Support_Catalonia_freedom-1.pdf>
> [see above] denounces the judicial persecution to which elected political
> leaders and Catalan activists are being subjected for their participation
> in the organization of the independence referendum of October 1, 2017, as
> well as the victims of repression at the hands of the Spanish authorities
> in the time since then, especially during the protests against the October
> 2019 sentences.
>
> In addition, the manifesto mentions the 2019 opinion of the Working Group
> on Arbitrary Detention of the United Nations, which calls for the immediate
> release and redress for the Catalan political prisoners. It also highlights
> the lack of respect for the presumption of innocence of the prisoners, and
> the lack of competence of the Spanish Supreme Court to try them, as well as
> other human rights violations that occurred during the trial, as denounced
> by various international organizations.
>
> In this sense, the signatories of the manifesto denounce “the
> criminalization of the political will of the people of Catalonia by the
> Spanish State, which does not cease, and which has led to the prosecution
> of nearly 3,300 people,” as well as “violations of fundamental rights such
> as the right to freedom of expression, freedom of association, freedom of
> assembly and to political representation”, as condemned by the Commissioner
> for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Member States of the United
> Nations in the framework of the Universal Periodic Review, and
> non-governmental organizations such as Amnesty International, the World
> Organization Against Torture or the World Organization of Jurists, among
> others.
>
> The text highlights that the electoral results of the 14 February 2021
> elections, in which the pro-independence forces achieved a historic
> absolute majority in seats, and this time also in votes (52% of the total),
> ratify the will of the Catalan people to become an independent state,
> expressed in the victory of the referendum of October 1, 2017, a claim to
> which the international community cannot turn a blind eye and remain
> impassive.
>
> For all this, the signatories demand respect for the fundamental rights of
> the victims of Spanish abuse, the release of prisoners, an end to
> repression and respect and recognition of the right to self-determination
> of the people of Catalonia. •
>
> This statement first published on the *Assemblea Nacional Catalana*
> <https://int.assemblea.cat/news/over-a-hundred-international-personalities-and-organizations-show-support-to-catalan-self-determination/>
> website.
>
> ____________________________
>
> Jai Sen
>
> Independent researcher, editor; Senior Fellow at the School of
> International Development and Globalisation Studies at the University of
> Ottawa
>
> jai.sen at cacim.net &  <jsen at uottawa.ca>jsen at uottawa.ca
>
> Now based in Ottawa, Canada, on unsurrendered Anishinaabe territory (+1-613-282
> 2900) and in New Delhi, India (+91-98189 11325)
>
> *Check out something new** – including for copies of the first two books
> below, at a discount, and much more : **The Movements of Movements
> <https://movementsofmovements.net/>*
>
> Jai Sen, ed, 2017 – *The Movements of Movements, Part 1 : What Makes Us
> Move ?*.  New Delhi : OpenWord and Oakland, CA : PM Press.  Ebook and
> hard copy available at PM Press <http://www.pmpress.org/>; hard copy only
> also at The Movements of Movements <https://movementsofmovements.net/>
>
> Jai Sen, ed, 2018a – *The Movements of Movements, Part 2 : Rethinking Our
> Dance*.  Ebook and hard copy available at PM Press
> <http://www.pmpress.org/>; hard copy only also at The Movements of
> Movements <https://movementsofmovements.net/>
>
> Jai Sen, ed, 2018b – *The Movements of Movements, Part 1 : What Makes Us
> Move ?*  (Indian edition). New Delhi : AuthorsUpfront, in collaboration
> with OpenWord and PM Press.  Hard copy available at MOM1AmazonIN
> <https://www.amazon.in/dp/9387280101/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1522884070&sr=8-2&keywords=movements+of+movements+jai+sen>
> , MOM1Flipkart
> <https://www.flipkart.com/the-movements-of-movements/p/itmf3zg7h79ecpgj?pid=9789387280106&lid=LSTBOK9789387280106NBA1CH&marketplace=FLIPKART&srno=s_1_1&otracker=search&fm=SEARCH&iid=ff35b702-e6a8-4423-b014-16c84f6f0092.9789387280106.SEARCH&ppt=Search%20Page>,
> and MOM1AUpFront <http://www.authorsupfront.com/movements.htm>
>
> *SUBSCRIBE TO World Social Movement Discuss*, an open, unmoderated, and
> self-organising forum on social and political movement at any level (local,
> national, regional, and global).  *To subscribe, simply send an empty
> email to wsm-discuss-subscribe at lists.openspaceforum.net
> <wsm-discuss-subscribe at lists.openspaceforum.net>*
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.openspaceforum.net/pipermail/wsm-discuss/attachments/20210602/ae038d81/attachment.htm>