Vol. 81/No. 41      November 6, 2017

 

Protests hit Madrid move to impose rule
over Catalonia

 
The Spanish rulers have moved to impose direct rule over Catalonia, sacking the region’s elected president along with his entire cabinet. This is the latest in a series of attacks by the Spanish government on Catalonia’s autonomy and the Catalan people’s national rights.

Hundreds of thousands have taken to the streets in Barcelona and across the province protesting Madrid’s autocratic decrees, imprisonment of independence advocates and thuggish police assaults.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy proposed Oct. 21 that the Spanish Senate remove Catalan President Carles Puigdemont, run Catalonia’s ministries directly from Madrid and sharply limit the legislative powers of the Catalan parliament. The Senate will vote on Oct. 27.

Rajoy said he has to invoke these measures to “restore the rule of law, co-existence and the economic recovery.”

Madrid will also take charge over Catalonia’s police force and the public TV channel to “guarantee political pluralism, social, cultural and territorial balance,” as well as “respect for the Spanish Constitution’s principles and values.”

Madrid hopes to quell a movement for self-determination that has been growing in recent years. The clash came to a head Oct. 1 when the Spanish government sent thousands of police and troops to attempt to stop a referendum on independence it had ruled unconstitutional. The violent crackdown left more than 1,000 people wounded, but failed to stop the vote. More than 2 million people turned out, roughly 40 percent of those eligible to vote, with a vast majority in favor of Catalonia separating from Spain.

At the same time, the majority of Catalans didn’t vote, many boycotting because they didn’t agree with breaking away from the rest of Spain. Especially in the working class, while many oppose the brutality of the Spanish government, they don’t see separation as the road to defend themselves from the assaults on living standards by the bosses and their governments in both Madrid and Barcelona.

The Catalan parliament will meet Oct. 26, the day before the Spanish Senate, to decide on their response to Madrid’s dictates. They could refuse to cede office, deepening the crisis.

Puigdemont signed a declaration of independence Oct. 10, but suspended it within moments, calling for dialogue. Madrid has ruled out talks unless the Catalan president acknowledges that both the declaration and the referendum violated the Spanish Constitution.

On Oct. 16, Jordi Sánchez and Jordi Cuixart, leaders of two main pro-independence groups, were imprisoned on sedition charges for organizing and mobilizing people to take part in the referendum. Tens of thousands have taken to the streets demanding their release. Madrid has threatened further arrests.

Going into the Oct. 27 vote in the Senate, Rajoy has won the support of the Socialist Party in taking this next step to stop Catalan independence. Eight out of 10 senators come from either his Popular Party or the SP, so ratification of the seizure of the reins of government there is a formality.

Rajoy has been emboldened by broad support from governments within the European Union — of which Spain is a member — including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron. Capitalist rulers across the EU have no interest in more divisions in an already splintering union, underlined by the outcome of referendums Oct. 22 in the north Italian regions of Veneto and Lombardy, both approving autonomy by large margins.  
 
 
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