Freedom for Catalonia!
Visca la Terra! | 11.09.2007 10:12 | Culture | Social Struggles | World
Catalan Countries are a little nation without sovereignty, in the east of the Iberian Peninsula and south of the Pyrenean mountain range. There are 4 important capitals: València, Palma de Mallorca, Perpinyà and Barcelona.
They have a population of about 12 million people and their native language is CATALAN.
In Catalonia,more than the 40% of the population is in favour of independence: we demand complete national sovereignty for the Catalan Countries, that is total political independence from France and Spain.
Politically the Catalan Countries are, at the present, 3 Autonomous Communities within the Spanish state plus a region of the French state. They have 3 parliaments, which, however, have little legislative power, and 3 autonomous government called Govern Balear, Generalitat Valenciana and Generalitat de Catalunya. They became part of the Spanish state in 1707-1714. In those years, the army of the kingdom of Castlile invaded the Catalan Countries and from then on they were no longer a sovereign state.
Until the present, the Castilian kings, at first, and then the different Spanish governments and dictatures have tried to eliminate the Catalan cultural identity and create animosity between the Catalans and the rest of the people in the Iberian Peninsula. Nevertheless the Catalans have managed to keep their language and traditions alive and we, the Catalans, continue to claim the sovereignty that was ours but was taken from us by armed force.
In Catalonia,more than the 40% of the population is in favour of independence: we demand complete national sovereignty for the Catalan Countries, that is total political independence from France and Spain.
Politically the Catalan Countries are, at the present, 3 Autonomous Communities within the Spanish state plus a region of the French state. They have 3 parliaments, which, however, have little legislative power, and 3 autonomous government called Govern Balear, Generalitat Valenciana and Generalitat de Catalunya. They became part of the Spanish state in 1707-1714. In those years, the army of the kingdom of Castlile invaded the Catalan Countries and from then on they were no longer a sovereign state.
Until the present, the Castilian kings, at first, and then the different Spanish governments and dictatures have tried to eliminate the Catalan cultural identity and create animosity between the Catalans and the rest of the people in the Iberian Peninsula. Nevertheless the Catalans have managed to keep their language and traditions alive and we, the Catalans, continue to claim the sovereignty that was ours but was taken from us by armed force.
Visca la Terra!
Comments
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???
11.09.2007 11:54
no nations
National Liberation & anarchism
11.09.2007 13:43
Top down, the main struggle is primarily against the dominant militaristic empire.
Bottom up, the main struggle is primarily for personal liberty.
In between, that is where the line shifts case by case.
Any state is a power structure that should be opposed. The less powerful state, the less oppressive, and the more local, should be opposed just as the most despotic empire. It is also an intermediate transition state that should be welcomed by anyone who opposes tyranny.
It is a matter of priorities. Chavez may deserve a good kicking, but not when Bush is still threatening Venezuala. Until that the time Bush is reviled in primary schools as a genocidal maniac, then Chavez deserves at best silence and hopefully tactical support. I can see why for people living in Catalonia a non-racist Catalonian government would be preferable. Local fascism should be opposed as we oppose Empire, but don't confuse national liberation movements with local fascism. For most people it is a necessary first step.
For instance, the only peaceful long-term solution for the 'Holy Land' is the 'no-state solution', but before that occurs it will have to pass through a '2 state solution'. Most anarchists support that position yet on the surface the creation of one more state may seem contradictory. It is not, it is reducing the malign influence of an unjust state to a less malign influence. If the majority of people in any region want legal self-determination as a transitory stage then anarchists should respect that.
Don't concede nationalism to the racists. Being proud of the history of those who happen to live near you is illogical but it reduces the problem to more managable chunks. Consider yourself your own liberated head of state and work for the liberation of the other 6,500,000,000 of us.
Danny
Fuck the catalonian countries
13.09.2007 18:20
kacho