Spain

Catalonia referendum: the insurrection against the Spanish state is reaching a decisive climax

The war without guns between the Spanish state and the 80% majority of Catalan people who support their parliamentā€™s October 1 independence referendum is reaching a climax at the time of writing on September 29.

On October 1, it will become clear whether the Catalans have humiliated the central Spanish Peopleā€™s Party (PP) government by succeeding to vote; suffered a setback because the 10,000 Spanish National Police and paramilitary Civil Guards in Catalonia succeed in closing polling stations; or achieved a mixed result due to only some voters getting into polling stations.

Catalonia: Mass resistance greets Spanish state coup

Forty-one Spanish Civil Guard raids on Catalan government-related buildings and private homes on September 20 led to the arrest of 13 high-level Catalan government officials and harvested a lot of ā€œsuspect materialā€ for the prosecutors charged with stopping Cataloniaā€™s October 1 independence referendum. However, the raid have provoked a mass revolt in response.

The haul included 10 million ballot papers stored in a printery warehouse in the central Catalan town of Bigues i Riells.

Catalan referendum: resisting the Spanish government siege

In 1713-14, it took the troops of Spainā€™s Borbon monarchy 14 months to take Barcelona and end Catalan self-rule. Three centuries later, Catalonia is again under siege, this time from the central Spanish Peopleā€™s Party (PP) government.

Under Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, the Spanish state is concentrating all its firepower on stopping the Catalan governmentā€™s October 1 independence referendum, where Catalan citizens will be asked to vote on whether ā€œCatalonia should become an independent state in the form of a republicā€.

Barcelona: Half-a-million march for tolerance and solidarity, amid contested responses to terror

Half-a-million people marched in the Catalan capital of Barcelona on August 26 to express the profound desire in Catalan society to stay tolerant, open and un-militarised in the face of the August 17-18 terror attacks on Barcelonaā€™s Rambla and in the seaside town of Cambrils.

This was partly because the attacks ā€” claimed by Islamic State and causing 15 deaths and up to 130 wounded ā€” coincided with the tensest moments to date in the fight between the Catalan and Spanish governments over the planned October 1 referendum on Catalan independence.

Catalonia: Muslims march in Barcelona to say ā€˜not in our nameā€™

Thousands of Muslims voiced their rejection of jihadi extremism on August 21, marching through central Barcelona with banners reading ā€œTerrorism has no religionā€, Morning Star Online .

It came in the wake of theĀ , which killed 13 and was claimed by Islamic State.

Spain: Showdown in Catalonia

Cataloniaā€™s regional government has declared it will hold a referendum on October 1 over whether it should become independent from Spain. In response, Spainā€™s conservative Peopleā€™s Party (PP) Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has vowed that the ā€œunconstitutionalā€ referendum will not take place, setting the scene for the biggest crisis in the Spanish state since the 1978 transition from the Franco dictatorship.

Inside Cataloniaā€™s ā€˜urban Zapatistasā€™: an interview with Peopleā€™s Unity List (CUP) spokesperson Quim Arrufat

Quim Arrufat is a joint national spokesperson for the Peopleā€™s Unity List (CUP), an organisation that he has likened to ā€œurban Zapatistasā€ ā€“ in reference to the insurgent indigenous movement based in Chiapas, Mexico ā€“ that is committed to Catalan independence and socialism. Ā 

Spain: Debate erupts in Podemos after first deal to join a PSOE government

On September 26 last year, Podemosā€™s Castilla-La Mancha secretary-general Jose Garcia Molina said that his partyā€™s agreement keeping the regional Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) government in office in the autonomous community had ā€œdied of depression and shameā€.

Left Basque leader Arnaldo Otegi: ā€˜Our path to overcome oppression is peaceful and democraticā€™

As the battle for the right of Catalonia to vote on independence rages between the Spanish government in Madrid and the independence-oriented Catalan parliament in Barcelona, major developments have taken place in one of the most famous struggles for independence on the Iberian Peninsula ā€” the Basque Country.

In Barcelona, the ā€˜Fearless Citiesā€™ gathering brings together progressive councils for pro-people alternatives

ā€œFearless Citiesā€ was the name of the inaugural international municipalist meeting that took place in Barcelona on June 9-11. It was hosted by Barcelona en Comu (Barcelona Together, the radical citizen-based coalition which runs Barcelona Council in alliance with the Party of Socialists of Catalonia).

Catalonia: Could an independence referendum actually happen?

Nothing alarms Spainā€™s establishment more than the prospect of the unity of the Spanish state being threatened by the desire for self-determination of the peoples that live within its borders.

Spain: Socialist Party leaderā€™s shock rebirth unnerves establishment

The plan had seemed so well organised.

Its first stage was executed on October 1 last year when the ruling elite of the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) got the partyā€™s Federal Political Committee (FPC) to force the resignation of general secretary Pedro Sanchez.