SHOW TRIAL IN SPAIN

British Government must stand up to Spain’s human rights abuses in Catalonia

Spanish Supreme Court ‘show trials’ of Catalan leaders begin

The Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Catalonia, Hywel Williams MP, has said the Westminster Government is implicitly supporting the Spanish state’s human rights abuses of Catalan political prisoners.

The Plaid Cymru MP made the comments on the day the Spanish Supreme Court trial of 12 Catalan leaders begins. The Catalan former civic leaders and politicians face charges of rebellion and sedition for their role in organising the referendum on Catalan independence in October 2017. They could face up to 25 years in prison.

Hywel Williams MP was part of a cross-party delegation of MPs that acted as observers during the referendum. Mr Williams witnessed paramilitary police raiding a school-turned-polling station and seizing ballot papers, whilst other observers and journalists saw violence being used against those attempting to cast their vote.

The British Government has consistently backed the Spanish Government, despite their use of police violence, claiming that “the situation in Catalonia is a matter for Spain to resolve, in accordance with Spanish law and democratic principles.”

The referendum, which took place on the 1 October 2017, offered the choice of independence for the Catalan part of north-eastern Spain, which includes Barcelona. The referendum was approved by the Catalan Parliament – which is autonomous and established in the Spanish constitution – but was deemed illegal by the Constitutional Court of Spain following a referral by the Spanish Government.

Catalan voters were asked "do you want Catalonia to become an independent state in the form of a republic?". The "Yes" side won, with 2,044,038 (92.01%) voting for independence and 177,547 (7.99%) voting against, on a turnout of 43.03%. The Catalan Government estimated that up to 770,000 votes were not cast due to polling stations being closed off during the police crackdown.

In the run-up to and following the referendum, Spanish state police arrested a number of politicians, officials and civil society leaders for their part in organising the ballot. Other politicians, including the former leader of the Catalan Government, Carles Puigdemont, now live in exile. 

Twelve of those arrested will today go on trial, including the former Catalan Foreign Minister and Speaker of the Catalan Parliament.

Commenting ahead of the beginning of the trial, Hywel Williams MP, said:

“Today 12 Catalan leaders go on trial in Spain’s Supreme Court, facing the medieval-sounding charges of rebellion and sedition. Their supposed crime – organising a democratic referendum on Catalan independence in October 2017.

“Outrageously, the Speaker of the Catalan Parliament, Carmen Forcadell, is behind bars charged with the crime of allowing a debate to take place – in a democratically elected parliament.

“It is impossible for us not to see this referendum through the lens of the UK’s current political context. But, for a moment, imagine being one of the 12 political prisoners. Today, they will head into a dock, face a hostile set of judges, knowing that they will likely grow old behind bars for simply following the wishes of those who elected them.

“These jailed men and women are not hooligans or rabble rousers. These resolutely peaceful people are political prisoners, held against their human rights, for believing in democratic self-determination.

“Political differences cannot be resolved by these show-trials. That can only further poison relations between Spain and Catalonia. Dialogue is required and that is what the British Government should be urging its Spanish counter-parts to begin. Instead through their support for the Spanish state, the British Government are complicit in the prosecution of the 12 political prisoners.

“I accept that the British Government has already burned many of its diplomatic bridges with our European neighbours. But I urge them to use whatever influence they have left to encourage a democratic and peaceful solution to this crisis in Catalonia.”

ENDS

STAND WITH CATALONIA

The current struggle in Catalonia, one of Spain's wealthiest and most productive constituent nations, is a long one. Catalonia has a distinct history dating back almost 1,000 years. Before the Spanish Civil War it enjoyed broad autonomy but this was suppressed under decades of Francisco Franco's brutal dictatorship from 1939-75.

When Franco died, Catalan nationalism was revived and eventually Catalonia was granted autonomy again, under the 1978 constitution. A 2006 statute surrendered even greater powers, which boosted Catalonia's financial clout and described it as a "nation", but Spain's Constitutional Court systematically reversed much of this in 2010, to the anger of Catalan authorities.

Angered by having their autonomy watered down as well as by years of recession and cuts in public spending, Catalans held an unofficial vote on independence in November 2014. More than two million of the region's 5.4 million eligible voters took part and officials declared that 80% had backed secession.

Back in 2015 Catalan Nationalists won Catalonia's election and set to work on holding a binding referendum, defying Spain's constitution, which states that Spain is indivisible.  The relative silence from those other centralist states within and without the EU is sadly to be expected. 

There has been a fundamental deliberate failure to understand that sovereignty rests with the people not the state. And in the end the people have the basic right to determine their future, not the politicians in Madrid. 

STANDING WITH CATALONIA

#Catalonia solidarity calls from @AdamPrice and @NeilUKIP as Spain takes steps to stop independence vote

But Mark Drakeford declines pic.twitter.com/pWqWr9kM2T

— BBC Wales Politics (@WalesPolitics) September 20, 2017

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Watch it, share it, speak about it.

NO PASARÁN!#CatalanReferendum pic.twitter.com/z5yuPQQneH

— Catalans for Yes (@CatalansForYes) September 13, 2017

BRECHT IS STILL BRECHT...

It was once famously declared 'Comment is free, but facts are sacred' (C.P. Snow, the editor of the Manchester Guardian, 1872 - 1929). While this principle is still largely still observed, at least by some of the former Fleet Street titles, it should be clear by now that a combination of so called 'Fake News' (or perhaps more accurately news that feels true), vitriolic opinion (disguised as news) with punchy headlines sells rather well (even if sections of the electorate choose to ignore them).

Managed news...

Some people make much of the rise of the so called alt-right which it can be argued can be put down to a combination of a reaction against globalisation, digitalisation, global interconnectivity, nostalgia and desperation. This electorally and emotionally has seen the rise and development over the last 30+ years of what has more recently been described as post truth politics.

Now this is something not confined solely to this island archipelago, the USA and other parts of europe, it is a truly global phenomenon, and one that appears to be here to stay. It is, however, not a relatively recent development, post truth politics has been alive and kicking since at least the late 1960's (if not before) with effective emotional political narratives trumping (to coin a phrase) hard facts relatively regularly. 

Brexit?

New Labour (between 1997 and 2010) while being condemned as 'all spin and no substance' was largely very effective - especially with a dysfunctional Conservative opposition (especially with the support, at least for a while, of the Murdoch press). Across the Atlantic various  politicians have tweaked, exaggerated or obscured their own personal narratives and got away with it for generations long before the current US President won election with a campaign based on emotion rather that facts on 2016.

The recent referendum on EU membership was won by a campaign that played on a combination of emotional rhetoric, questionable promises / pledges and fears (basically 'Take back control', the £350 million pounds a week to be spent on the NHS and fear of immigrants (personified as Turkish accession to the EU) which managed to beat the fact heavy but emotionally dull remain campaign hindered by the fact it was built around the former PM's non personality cult.

Success in the referendum was followed by a rapid series of denials in relation to the extra funding for the NHS and any implied control of immigration to match the fears raised by the run up to and the referendum campaign. The argument (especially since TM's slow car crash of an election) remains firmly about the type of Brexit rather than leaving or staying.

Brecht is still Brecht

Putting Brexit (my spell check kept offering 'Brecht' at this point, which momentarily popped 'Brecht is still Brecht' into my head) to one side, in the UK since Thatcher and Bliar onwards we have seen effective emotionally charged political campaigns succeeding triumphing over dull less emotionally effective or even incompetent campaigns. It is also worth remembering that there is a world of difference between an active free press (the traditional fourth estate) and a well managed press.

All this should raise real concerns as the 'Welsh' media during the recent Westminster general election campaign mostly fell into line with the two party fight line - there was little if a 'Welsh perspective' in the Westminster coverage supplied by the former Fleet Street titles - so no change there then! From an editorial perspective if a newspaper is printed and produced in Gloucestershire what relevance do Welsh issues have? 

The re-emergence of two party politics - as pushed by the metropolitan centric media may in actual fact be a relatively short term feature of political life. Scotland (and the SNP) despite most of the media's best efforts has not gone away. The DUP has also firmly dropped the politics of NI into the public consciousness at least in the short term.

That said Wales, and Welsh issues, by and large do not feature beyond metropolitan tokenism - yet our issues and concerns have not also gone away - it's they just won't get any mainstream media coverage. For those of us involved in political activity this means that we will simply have to work harder, work smarter and talk to (and listen) to more people while actually putting the work in over years, rather than months or weeks prior to any elections.