Tuesday, May 13, 2014

From Terrorism to Fraud


It is of vital importance that the Government of Catalonia calls a Parliamentary session in order to solemnly declare Catalonia’s political rupture with the highly discredited ‘Spanish Empire’, adhere to the International Law –there is Life outside the ‘constitution’- and set a date for immediate elections to take place, so that the people of Catalonia can finally vote for their Independence with a formal request abroad, to ensure that the world keeps a watchful eye over the whole process. 

In the meantime, our political representatives should assign a prestigious panel of judges who, alongside the process, present before the Tribunal of The Hague a report against the Spanish State for GENOCIDE! Long overdue war compensations should be claimed from: Spain, Germany and Italy. And, at the same time, demand a new Nuremberg to judge the only existing regime which, to this day and in the hands of the Nazis and the assassin General Franco, no-one has yet condemned! 

Once all the cards are on the table, Catalans will cease to feel ridiculed and the ‘hidalgos (Spanish nobles), despots, inquisitors, villains and informers’ from the ‘Imperial Castille’ – the only remaining dregs of their rotten ‘empire’- will once and for all cease to ‘dance mockingly’ in front of us! 

Do I hear you say that things should not be done like this? Do I hear you say that this is not the way to solve things? Do I hear you say we need to maintain certain decorum? And who, then, will talk of substance? One thing is to avoid confrontations with colonizers, whether they appear dressed in civilian clothes or in uniform, and another very different thing is to trivialize the Independence of Catalonia!! It is not a matter of taking us all out to ‘pasture’ every September 11th. What we really need is to have politicians with character, capable of making decisions and able to defend our dignity. The tendency to make a pact, establish a dialogue, reach an understanding or an agreement with the ‘empire’ who, throughout history and at the present time, treats our country as a colony, is only accepted by politicians like Cambo and his ‘political descendants’. And here we must ask ourselves: when facing the truth, where were the ‘fathers’ of the present style of politics they so much praise? 

They were obviously occupying the Francoist ranks, providing funds for the ‘Empire’s national cause for God and for the indivisible and indissoluble unity of Spain’. It is understood, of course, that here there is only one country: Theirs! The rest are just provinces: ‘Conquered land!. 

Furthermore, when that nazi died many of us, willingly or not, swallowed the new idea that we were being driven towards a democracy! Some of us asked ourselves: how could we build a democratic society by following the will of a dictator who shoved down our throats the idea of a monarchy without ever taking it to the ballot box? Now, however, many of us have finally uncovered the farce. 

Meanwhile our politicians still intend to persuade us that we can still negotiate, establish a dialogue and reach an agreement with a people who are yet to condemn the old regime! If they are not willing to repent, how are they going to change their peculiar vision of the imperial Spain? What can we negotiate with people who are proud of their ‘crusade’? When the dictator died, they successfully persuaded us that our executioners had changed; now, however, after thirty-five years of scandals, pedagogies and mockeries, do they really think they can still cajole us? Do they take us for fools? Will the new negotiations be carried out in the same style of servitude like the one that has so far driven us to complete failure? Isn’t it the case that when one fails one tries to rectify the old mistakes? With the succulent salaries they receive and yet they still haven’t been able to shrug off the look of the butler who is proud to serve in a good home? They talk as if they are afraid to open their mouths and thus offend their master. They look like puppets pulled by strings. How was Jesus able to bring down an empire in a world without loudspeakers? 

Just as observed by Carles M.Espinalt in his book ‘The Written Work’ when citing Demostenes: ‘It is not possible to make a powerful speech without a firm intention of throwing a tirade’ Since they are so obsessed with maintaining their social standing, why don’t they learn to speak in public! Telling the truth through big loudspeakers requires standing! Lowering the voice so that the audience won’t hear you is a form adopted only by slaves! 

Therefore, insisting on maintaining one’s standing while, at the same time, offering an open hand, as Mr.Artur Mas said he would do shortly after the parody displayed in the Congress of the Spanish Empire, is an attitude particular of a slave! 

The depth of his talk, if it had any, evaporated in an instant. Or is it perhaps that they do not remember the shooting of people such as Carrasco Formiguera, Ildefons Sunyol or none other than our very own President Lluis Companys? Have they also forgotten that the Spanish language was enforced in our land with spilt blood? 

Is it up to these state terrorists who govern the ‘Empire’ by means of putrefied laws and who protect a corrupted monarchy as well as the will of a bloodthirsty nazi under the umbrella of their ‘sacrosanct constitution’ to legalize a collective survey (not through elections) for the Catalans? With whose moral authority? Have our politicians not understood the command given by the People of Catalonia? Have they not realised that we are offering them the opportunity to redeem themselves for all their wrongdoings? 

Brief: if we Catalans tolerate our political representatives to disgrace themselves in such a way it is only because we have neither shame nor dignity. Our plea aims to neither seek economical retribution, nor any bureaucratic nature, nor are we requesting any kind of protection. We are demanding JUSTICE! In short, when the existing laws are inspired by war criminals, these are not changed or agreed or even re-interpreted; instead, they are opposed! POLITICAL RUPTURE NOW!.













Encarna Parreno

Disciple of Prof. Carles M.Espinalt 
Psychoesthetics
* Translated by Josepa Gomis

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Saturday, May 10, 2014

Again, Hunger strike to defend Catalan language


Jaume Sastre
Jaume Sastre, a teacher at Llucmajor high school in Mallorca, has begun a hunger strike today to demand the government negotiate with the teachers immediately. Sastre, who is a member of the Teachers' Assembly of the Balearic Islands, wants to demonstrate the rejection of the general education community to the government of Spanish Nationalist José Ramon Bauza, who remains determined to implement the controversial trilingualism decree and to crack down on striking teachers. The struggle of the Balearics' teachers began in September last year with a three-week strike and a mass demonstration in Mallorca. Teachers in the islands have always said yes to trilingualism, and believe as many languages kids may learn, the better. But this decree reduces the teaching of Catalan language (which is the own language of the Balearic islands) which is seriously threatened by Spanish government in the Islands.


Mr Sastre is staying at Sa Casa Llarga, a center for the socially excluded. Both Mr Sastre and the Teachers' Assembly hold a press conference yesterday to give details. We will keep informing.

In 2012 education community in the Balearic islands also started a Hunger strike to defend the Catalan languagewhich HC followed.


Pic taken at the school where Mr Sastre was teaching




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Monday, April 28, 2014

Armed Spanish soldiers walking through the town of Esplugues de Llobregat

Some days ago a group of Spanish soldiers walked through the streets of Esplugues de Llobregat fully dressed in combat gear, with camouflage suits and rucksacks and carrying weapons in their hands.

The soldiers were seen at Laureà Miró road, one of the main roads of the municipality. The CUP (Candidatura d’Unitat Popular) from Esplugues de Llobregat reported the presence of soldiers and asked why they were in the streets.

In fact, the presence of soldiers in Catalan villages is an increasingly frequent occurrence. In a recent episode last September, the army set up a campsite at Saldes, at the bottom of Pedraforca, and raised a Spanish flag in a restricted area of the Natural Park. Last May the army also performed military maneuvers in the restricted area of Collserola Park (in the outskirts of Barcelona), which was reported by Televisió de Barcelona (BTV). The Council of Barcelona admitted that they had not been informed of this.

Read this article in French


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Monday, April 14, 2014

UN criticizes the Kingdom of Spain for not prosecuting the crimes perpetrated during Franco’s regime


The UN Rapporteur Mr. Pablo de Greiff has reproached the State for not investigating or prosecuting the serious crimes perpetrated during the Civil War and the Dictatorship and regretted the “huge gap” betweenthe Spanish authorities and the victims of Francoism

After a ten-day visit to Spain, the Rapporteur for the Promotion of Truth, Justice, Reparation and Guarantees of non-repetition, disclosed his preliminary conclusions with a series of recommendations to the Government, including invalidating the Law of Amnesty of 1977 and providing access to Justice to all the victims. 


In a press conference, De Greiff, endorsed the recommendations of the Committee against Torture and the Committee on Enforced Disappearances of the UN, specifically in terms of Justice, which is where the “biggest deficits” are observed. 

Therefore, he asked the Spanish State to suspend the Amnesty Law of 1977 and to make it possible for all the victims of Francoism to access the judiciary by bringing the Spanish laws in line with international standards. 

In Spain it has been argued that “this law is not a full stop act”, although at the end “it has accomplished the function of a full stop act because it has been used to close virtually all the cases brought before the magistrates” . 

De Greiff reminded that countries in which amnesty laws have not been suspended, the courts have found a way to interpret the rules “in such a way that the prosecution of alleged responsible parties has not been obstructed”. 

The United Nations Representative claimed that “it is particularly perplexing” that the State should have not done more for the rights of the victims because “it is not about partisan politics or about redeeming certain political agendas, but about rights that concern everyone”. 

In his opinion this explains the “huge gap” between the State institutions and the victims of Francoism, this being the biggest he has ever observed along his professional career. 

In his report, the Rapporteur urged the Spanish courts to cooperate with the open legal proceedings outside Spain with reference to the open lawsuit in Argentina by more than one hundred associations of victims from the Francoism. 

On this regard he criticized the proceedings by the “Audiencia Nacional” and the “Fiscalía del Estado” for being “apparently aimed” to prevent that the Constitutional Court rules on the Amnesty Law and the prescription of “human rights violations which are so serious” which –he added– “might constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity”.


Pablo de Greiff (EFE)

He mentioned that this is the case regarding the position taken by the “Fiscalía de la Audiencia Nacional” to dismiss the petition for extradition of the two alleged Francoists torturers José Antonio González Pacheco, nicknamed “Billy the kid”, and Jesús Muñecas Aguilar. 

The Rapporteur also expressed his “concern” over the draft law by the Popular Party regarding universal justice that “would significantly restrict” the application of that principle before the Spanish courts. 

On the other hand, the Rapporteur regretted that the authorities have not actually applied a real State policy to make the truth official, “thus more resources are needed to carry out the necessary inquiries on this regard, like updating the mass-graves map which, he stated, is a matter which has barely received any financing from the State”. 

In this sprit, he recommended the strengthening of the Historical Memory Act in order to “fill the gaps” that now exist within, including the exclusion of prisoners and people arrested during the Francoist regime that were sent to labor and concentration camps. 

Moreover he referred to “the ambiguity” displayed when teaching the Civil War and the Dictatorship in schools and he requested the remodelling of El Valle de los Caídos, which is "what the victims demand and deserve”. 

The Rapporteur concludes today his official visit at the Spanish State, where he has visited Madrid, Andalusia, Catalonia and Galicia to meet Foreign Office Minister, José Manuel García-Margallo, as well as several other representatives of the State, of the victims and of the civil society.

Read this article in French

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Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Obnoxious Colonialism

Spanish PP direction member, Sigfrid Soria, calls himself "owner" of Catalonia despite not living or being born there


"I'm a Spanish neither reside nor have I lived in Catalunya; nobody is going to snatch my capacity as co-owner of that wonderful land"
Among his views, makes it clear that Spanish Government,  ruled by the party of which Mr Soria is a direction manager, must stop the autonomy of Catalonia and prosecute some Caalan politicians.


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Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Spain set to reject Catalonia's request for independence referendum

Spain's parliament votes on Tuesday on whether to allow a request fromCatalonia to hold a referendum on independence – a request they are set to reject overwhelmingingly.
The parliamentary confrontation threatens to widen the gulf between the central government in Madrid and Catalan leaders looking to break away from Spain.
On Tuesday, Spanish MPs debate and vote on a proposal from Catalonia's regional parliament to hold a referendum that the Catalan government, lead by Artur Mas, has already set for 9 November.
The Spanish prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, has repeatedly called the referendum unconstitutional, arguing that polls on sovereignty must be held nationally. His position is backed by Spain's constitutional court, which ruled last month that a referendum in the powerful north-eastern region could only take place if changes were made to Spain's constitution.
Tuesday's petition is expected to be voted down by 300 of the 350 parliamentarians, including those from Rajoy's People's party and the main opposition Socialists. Anticipating a no vote, Mas said earlier this week he would not attend the debate.
The vote is only the latest chapter in a political stalemate between Madrid and the Catalan government in Barcelona."From here, everything will continue the same. In the short-term, I don't see any significant changes," political analyst Josep Ramoneda told the Guaridan.
Less than two months ago, in a motion brought by the centrist Union for Progress and Democracy party, Spain's parliament torpedoed the Catalan government's independence drive, voting 272 to 43 to reject Catalonia's "right to decide".
The underlying problem, said Ramoneda, is that Spain cannot offer Mas the two elements he's looking for: a redistribution of power and the possibility that one day Catalonians could decide the region's fate in a referendum.
"Without those two elements we continue in a situation of both saying their piece without heading in any clear direction. I don't see a way out," Ramoneda said.
Regardless of the vote's coutcome, Mas has vowed to push forward with the planned referendum in November. "If they say no, they will say no to a law," Mas said on Sunday. "But they can't block the will of the Catalan people."
The latest polls show that roughly half of Catalans support independence.
If Spanish courts shut down all possibilities of a referendum, Mas is widely expected to use the next elections in Catalonia as a de facto referendum on independence.
Spain's deputy prime minister, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, said on Friday Madrid was open to dialogue, but reinforced the government's position that the final say on independence cannot be limited to Catalans alone. "Spaniards have the right to decide what Spain is. And only the entirety of Spaniards can decide that."
Fernando Vallespín, a political scientist with Madrid's Autónoma University, believes the opposition Socialists may have found a way to break the stalemate with their suggestion to give Catalonia greater autonomy but not full independence. Doing so would appeal to a large demographic in the region, Vallespín said, particularly those who "don't want to leave Spain but want more out of the relationship between Spain and Catalonia".

Source: The Guardian

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