Submitted by ziq in Anarchism

CNT statement

Dear comrades,

sorry that I've not been that active on this list lately. As you may or may not know, the events in Catalonia, particularly Barcelona, its capital and second largest city in Spain, have escalated quickly. I'm not sure how much background you need to grasp the complexity of the situation, so feel free to ask.

In any case, the referendum for independence that had beeen called by the regional government for the 1st of October is now in jeopardy, as the Spanish government has sent thousands of police and military police (Guardia Civil) to arrest those organising it and any one calling for it. This is a de facto militarisation of Catalonia, though the tanks haven't rolled in yet. Tens of thousands of people came out on the streets to prevent this from happenning, and there have been tense stand-offs between policee in riot gear and demonstrators for the past two days. Some skirmishes have also taken place. There's talk of a general strike in Catalonia and all parties and organisations are calling for mass civil desobedience.

Now, the situation is complex and constantly changing, but here are some things to bear in mind:

-As always there are a number of competing agendas: the Spanish government are bent on preventing the referendum from happenning, knowing that most catalans would support breaking away from Spain. And if they didn't last week, they surely do know. The Catalonian goverment are bent on having their referendum and, if they win it, declaring independence the following day, literally. Nationalist parties (right, centre and left wing) are very keen on this happenning, as you'd expect. The unions are cautious, but are being swept away by events. As for ourselves, CNT, we are too aware of the old habit of nationalists of using the working class to fight their battles, but comrades in Catalonia can't ignore that their towns have been taken over by military and anti-riot police, that are arrresting their neighbours and relatives. On top of that, far right parties in the rest of Spain are wriggling their hands at the prospect of any move by the Catalan government sending shock waves of Spanish nationalism throughout parts of the Spanish working class. Spain's unity and integrity having always been a rallying flag of fascism in this country, any such rise in Spanish nationalism, as a reaction, would certainly benefit them.

-There've been talks to call for a general strike in Catalonia, as an umbrella for mass civil disobedience. There were a number of meetings called to gather support for the idea, but some unions exppressed their doubts. As we are told, CGT was vehemently against the idea. Regardless of which, their secretariat made a very public announcement that were calling a general strike. There's widespread shock at this behaviour. Telling a meeting of unions that you're against it at night and gathering a press conference next morning to say you're calling a general strike on your own, has been seen as a stab in the back by the rest of the union movement, understandably. That's media point scoring at the expense of unity.

Nevertheless, the general strike has been called and CNT unions will be supporting it. There's consideable debate as to how to approach it, but is also seen as an opportunity to bring some class issues to a purely political movement, this far. Just so you can see the different agendas playing here, the meeting of unions was attended by some well known nationalist politicians, who asked the sydicalists to call the general strike on the 1st of October, referendum day, so that pickets of workers coud be sent to defend polling stations against the military police. This was rejected by many, though some small unions linked to left-wing nationalist parties supported the idea.

As I said, we are moving fast to prepare the general strike, even though it is not yet clear if it will be suppported by all CNT unions in Catalonia, or just some of them. In any case, we expect this "some" to be the vast majority of them. AFAIK, CNT Catalonia see this as a mattter of opposing repression and the militarisation of their towns, rather than supporting any referendum or nationalist drive. But it is sometimes difficult to mark the difference and disentangle yourself from the nationalist discourse effectively. There are also economical issues to be discussed, as the finances of the Catalan goverment have being seized by the Spanish government and it is not clear whether pensions and the wages of public servants will be paid. Also things like health care expenses. Effectively, this is rendering the working class hostage to the power struggles of politicians, again.

I'll let you know how things develop and we'll be putting out statements, info and, eventually, calls for solidarity, if required. But bear in mind that the situation can change overnight and that we are overwhelmed. In fact, it would be brilliant if we had some volunteers to help with translations, reaching out, posting info on forums, etc. as there are not that many CNT people who can help with foreign languages. I seem to be spending an unordinate amount of time on the phone lately, but if you want to try and see if I'm not engaged, you can call me on 0034 647 89 20 44, for clarifications, or whatever. Later in the day I'll be sending some statements that our unions have put out, this far. I'll keep you posted.

In solidarity,

Miguel Pérez por el Secretariado de Exteriores de CNT-España Miguel Perez on behalf of the International Secretariat of CNT-Spain

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