Towards democracy and against repression in Catalonia

Sep 29, 2017

ELA defends the freedom of the people and international solidarity and for this reason, it supports the right of the Catalan people to decide about their political status. ELA also congratulates them because, having exhausted all the attempts to cover the conflict bilaterally, the Catalan institutions, taking on popular demands, have decided to move forward unilaterally to let the people decide.

At its last Confederal Congress (June, 2017), ELA approved a resolution whereby:

a) It acknowledges the Catalan people as a sovereign people.

b) It supports the holding of the referendum on the 1st of October and the fact that it should be politically binding.

c) It demands the Spanish State to stop harassing the Catalan organisations and institutions that support the referendum and to let the citizens express themselves freely, peacefully and democratically.

d) It demands the Basque political parties not to support the political parties and institutions that are threatening those who defend the self-determination of Catalonia with all the means in their hands.

e) It urges the European Union to immediately acknowledge the decision emerging from the referendum vote on the 1st of October.

In recent years, the significant resolve by the Catalan institutions and citizens to move forward in the democratic decision about their political future has not found any channels for dialogue with the Spanish Government, led by the PP, which has placed all the State’s machinery (including the political use of the judiciary authority) to repress the Catalan people. This is a very serious anti-democratic spiral, without any parallel in Europe, which only leaves one possible way out: the unilateral exercise of the right to decide with all its consequences (acceptance of the result and, if such is the case, declaration of Independence).

ELA has expressed its full solidarity to the citizens of Catalonia, represented by the president of the Generalitat, Carles Puigdemont, and by the president of the Parliament, Carmen Forcadell. A delegation of ELA, headed by our secretary general, Adolfo Muñoz, met with both representatives on the 21st of September, just when the Spanish State intensified the repression against the exercise of democracy in Catalonia.

ELA, along with other Basque trade unions, has shown its concern about:

- The de facto application of the “state of emergency” in Catalonia, where fundamental freedoms are being restricted, such as the right to assembly, the right to demonstrate and the right to information.

- The de facto suspension of the Catalan autonomy and the intervention of the public accounts.

- The repression, arresting and processing of public officials and organisations from civil society with accusations as serious as sedition.

Given the systematic refusal to dialogue of the Government of the PP, in spite of the continuous offers made by the Catalan institutions, Catalonia must follow its own path.