Update on Catalan Struggle for Independence from Spain

The Catalonia Trials: Justice or Vengeance

Al Jazeera (2019)

Film Review

This documentary examines the arrest and imprisonment of nine leaders of the Catalan Popular Assembly for holding an independence referendum in 2017. In a region where children were historically forbidden to speak their native tongue (Catalan) in school, the movement for Catalan rights and independence has a long history.

Catalan public opinion is evenly divided over the independence issue. Nearly 50% of the population voted or tried to vote on the 2017 referendum. Most opponents of independence boycotted the ballot. Of the 43% who successfully cast votes, 90% opted for independence.

On the day of the poll, national police raided many polling stations, confiscating ballot boxes and trying to drag voters away.

Following the failed referendum, the Catalan Popular Assembly voted to declare independence and was suspended by the Spanish government. Twelve assembly leaders were arrested and spent 17 months in prison before going to trial. Other leaders, including Carlos Puigemont, the former Catalan president, fled to northern Europe to avoid arrest.

Spain’s center left socialist government, which took power in June 2018 opposes Catalan independence. For some reason, they are allowing members of the right wing Vox party to participate in prosecuting the Catalan leaders.

In April 2019, the socialist government fell, because Catalan members of its governing coalition refused to support their proposed budget. Because the Catalan independence movement is as strong as ever, several of the imprisoned Popular Assembly leaders stood in the new election. Four, who were elected, were let out of jail to take their oath of office before the new government suspended their right to take their seats.

They were also elected (along with two exiled Catalan leaders) to the European Parliament, as well.

Although the trial ended June 12, 2019, the verdict isn’t expected until fall.  See New York Times

All 12 face a potential 17-year sentence for rebellion.

The Basques: Spain’s Other Separatists

 

The Basque History of the World

by Mark Kurlansky

Penguin (1999)

Book Review

The Basque History of the World is a history of Basqueland, a semi-autonomous region in the Pyrenees straddling the French-Spanish border. Despite the recent declaration of independence by Catalonia, there is surprisingly little attention on historical efforts by Basqueland, to break away from Spanish rule. Like Catalonia Basqueland, which has its own unique language (Eskuera), has been a major industrial and economic powerhouse for the rest of Spain.

Global Mercenaries, Traders, Shipbuilders, Navigators and Bankers

Historically the Basques were traders and mercenary soldiers dating back to the 4th century BC. The Greeks hired them, as did Carthage in their war against Rome. Although Basque was technically “occupied” by the Roman empire for nearly 400 years, the Romans demanded no tribute (taxes) and exerted no military oversight.

In the 7th and 8th century, the Basques became Europe’s leading shipbuilders (which they learned from the Vikings) and iron mongers (which they learned from the Celts). They were the world’s first commercial whalers, establishing whaling stations as far distant as Newfoundland and Labrador. In the 9th century, they also dominated the European trade in salted cod, fishing off Iceland, Norway, Britain, as well as Newfoundland.

Beginning in the 15th century they were sought after by many European explorers (including Columbus and Magellan) as pilots, navigators and seamen.

They were also the first capitalists, financing their shipbuilding via private venture capital. In 1999, when this book was published, they were still global leaders in banking.

Unconquerable

Neither the Moors (in the 8th century) nor King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella (in the 15th century) succeeded in conquering Basqueland. Owing to the immense wealth the Basques generated, they paid no duty on foreign goods imported through their ports. Until 1876, they paid no tax to Madrid and were exempt from serving in the Spanish military. French Basqueland fared far worse after the French revolutionary government eliminated France’s three Basque provinces in their campaign to erase ethnic identities.

Spain was so poor when the second Spanish Republic was declared in 1931, only Basqueland and Catalonia (thanks to their strong industrial base) enjoyed a European standard of living. Both regions demanded full autonomy as a condition of supporting the Republic.

Following the successful coup of Spain’s fascist dictator Francisco Franco in 1939, the Basques provided the only organized resistance against his regime. They also played an extremely important role in the French resistance to Hitler’s occupation of France.

Role in Downfall of Franco Dictatorship

In 1973, ETA, the Basque armed militia assassinated Franco’s second in command, and Basque and Catalan leaders began meeting secretly to plan Spain’s transition to democracy.

Franco’s death and the fall of his government in 1975 would prove disastrous for the Basque economy. The dictator had been heavily subsidizing archaic Basque factories, which were totally unable to compete with modern European industries after Spain joined the EU.

In 1998, after uniting with Catalonia to win constitutional guarantees of legislative autonomy (for both Catalonia and Basqueland), ETA unilaterally renounced violence. This followed a 16-year battle with the GAL, an undercover police/paramilitary operation that engaged in extrajudicial assassinations and torture against Basque nationalists.

 

 

 

The 1936 Spanish Revolution – A Pro-Capitalist View

The Spanish Civil War

BBC (1983)

This is the first of two posts concerning the 1936 Spanish Revolution – which the US and its western allies refer to as the Spanish Civil War. This BBC documentary offers a more or less conventional pro-capitalist interpretation of events. Tomorrow I will post an alternative view by Spanish anarchists who actively participated in the revolution.

Ironically, although Spain was the birthplace of guerilla warfare,* Stalin (the only foreign leader willing to sell them arms) forced the Spanish Republic to engage in a conventional war against overwhelmingly superior forces.

Owing to the massive grassroots mobilization behind the Republic, guerilla warfare would have had a far greater chance of success (as it ultimately did in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan).

When Franco ultimately crushed Spain’s first republic in 1939, it would result in a brutal fascist dictatorship lasting 36 years.

Part 1 describes

• the non-violent fall of the Spanish monarchy in 1931, resulting in the establishment of Spain’s second Republic
• land reform of a semi-feudal system in which landless peasants lived in virtual slavery
• the creation of 10,000 non-church schools in a country with 50% illiteracy
• declaration of emancipation of women and home rule for Catalonia and the Basque region

Part 2 describes

• the 1934 takeover of the Republic’s governing coalition by fascists, who repealed most land and other reforms
• the success of socialists, communists and anarchists in winning back the government in 1936 as the United Front
• the move by 60,000 landless peasants to retake 3,000 farms they lost between 1934-36
• the coup launched by Franco and thousands of Arab troops and Spanish legionaries from Spanish Morocco
• how the grassroots resistance led by Spain’s one million anarchists became a revolution, in which they formed revolutionary committees to organize and arm the resistance and seized factories, which they turned into workers cooperatives, and to redistribute food and other necessities which they distribute to the poor.
• how effective civilian resistance held back Franco’s forces, confining them to regions to the north and west of Madrid for nearly three years.

Part 3 describes

• how Mussolini and Hitler supported Franco with arms, funding and troops, while western Europe and the US signed a pact of “non-intervention” – allowing Roosevelt to sell Texas oil to Franco but prohibiting any western country to supply fuel or arms to the Republic.
• how only the Soviets came to the Republic’s assistance by selling them weapons (for Spanish gold), providing air cover and coordinating the International Brigades – 40,000 international volunteers from more than a dozen countries (including most of Europe, Australia and the US).

Part 4 examines Franco’s background and that of the right wing groups that supported his coup.

Part 5 examines life inside the revolution and how Stalin’s agents and supporters in the Republican government systematically crushed it – by murdering anarchist leaders and launching a formal battle (lasting five days and leaving 500 dead) against anarchist forces in Barcelona.

Part 6 covers Franco’s final defeat of Republican forces after Stalin withdrew his support for the Republic (to pacify Hitler). It also examines the irony of Stalin and the communists forcing the Republic to wage a conventional war they couldn’t possibly win – in the country that invented guerilla warfare.

---

*The term was first used in 1808, when Spanish guerillas repelled Napoleon’s invasion of Spain. It refers to the use of a small, mobile force competing against a larger, more unwieldy one.

 

 

 

 

Catalonia: Economic Reform from the Ground Up

Autogestio: Adventures into the New Economies of Catalonia

Enfable (2015)

Film Review

Autogestio* begins with an update on Spain’s modern Robin Hood Enrique Durand. In 2008, Durand borrowed a half million pounds (around $700,000) from 38 banks and donated it to various Spanish anti-capitalist organizations. When he defaulted on the loans, the banks took him to court, where he called numerous expert witnesses to explain no banks had lost any money because they created the loans out of thin air. Despite the fact this is where all money comes from – banks create it out of thin air – the court dismissed the witnesses and Durand went into hiding.

The documentary is based on a June 2015 visit Devon activists made to Durand’s home region of Catalonia to study Cooperativa Integrale Catalonia (CIC). The latter is a coalition of work and and mutual aid co-oporatives created by Catalonian activists seeking to build an alternative economy outside the corporate money system. Many of the activities CIC engages in are technically illegal, such as occupying abandoned land and buildings as living space or to grow food, start cooperatives or provide various community services. However through the years, they have discovered a number of creative ways to turn these squats into legal tenancies.

At present there are 26 local currencies in use in Catalonian communities. Some have been created by CIC and some by other eco-groups seeking to strengthen their local communities. The beauty of local currency is, unlike fiat (bank-created) currency, it can’t be spent outside the community that creates them. This means it can’t disappear into the pockets of billionaires or distant corporations.

In addition to promoting the use of local or “social” currencies for local transactions, the CIC promotes the use of Fair Coin for national and international transactions. Fair Coin, a type of cryptocurrency,** is an eco-friendly alternative to Bitcoin.

The filmmakers challenge the popular misconception that the Bitcoin isn’t central controlled like fiat currency. In actuality, Bitcoins are controlled by a handful of people who have computers powerful enough to “mine”*** Bitcoins, by unlocking the algorithms needed to create new block chains. These and other individuals are constantly speculating in Bitcoins, driving up their value. Because they can’t be traced, they are also widely used on the Dark Web to pay for illicit drugs and other activities (such as hired assassinations).

Unlike Bitcoins, it’s impossible to speculate in Fair Coins because their value is carefully regulated by a network of cooperatives to main a relatively stable value. Fair Coop, the group that monitors and regulates Fair Coins, was started by Enrique Durand and anyone can become a member.

At present Catalonia is seeking independence from Spain – via national referendum or otherwise. See Catalonia Independence Referendum

---

*Autogestio is a Catalan word meaning collective self-management.

**A cryptocurrency is a digital or virtual currency that uses cryptography for encryption for security.

***Bitcoin mining is the process through which bitcoins are released into circulation. It involves solving a computationally difficult puzzle to discover a new block, which is added to the blockchain, and receiving a reward in the form of few bitcoins.

Anarchism and the Spanish Civil War

The Last Great Cause

V.G. Tenturini

Search Foundation (2010)

Book Review

The Last Great Cause is a virtual encyclopedia of Spanish political history, starting from the Napoleon’s invasion in 1808. Although I was chiefly interested in the history of Spanish anarcho-syndicalism, the book also provides a comprehensive overview of the fascist coup Franco launched in 1936, the International Brigades who fought (unsuccessfully) to save the second Spanish Republic, the so-called “transition” following Franco’s death in 1975 and more recently efforts by the crusading Spanish jurist Baltasar Garzon to achieve justice for tens of thousands of victims of the Franco regime.

Venturini begins by identifying unique features of 19th century Spanish society that provided fertile ground for a major anarchist movement. Among these were Spain’s failure to achieve industrial revolution (except in Catalonia), the absence of a Spanish middle class and strong separatist movements in Catalonia and the Basque region of Spain. Unlike socialism, which historically develops among middle class intellectuals, Spanish anarchism had its origin in the working class.

The Rise of Spanish Anarchism

In 1868, a group of disconnected generals led the first major effort to depose the Spanish monarchy. The same year, Mikhail Bakunin, known as the father of collective anarchism, sent his disciple Giuseppe Fanelli to Spain to organize Spanish farm laborers. Within five years, the number of anarchists in Spain totaled 50,000.

The resulting “glorious revolution” produced in the First Republic. It lasted eleven months before the monarchy was restored.

Spanish history between 1902 and 1929 was marked by profound political and economic turmoil. During the early 1900s, Spanish anarchists merged with the Syndicalist* movement. In 1911, they formed the CNT.** CNT membership grew from 14,000 to 700,000 by 1919. In 1917, the CNT joined forces with the UGT*** to stage the first general strike.

In 1929, continuing popular unrest would lead to Alfonzo XIII’s removal from power and the creation of the Second Republic in 1931.

The Forces Backing Franco’s Coup

From the outset, the Republic faced powerful opposition from the Catholic Church, the Spanish military, wealthy landholders and Spanish and European Banks. Spain was embroiled in virtual civil war from 1933 on, as the forces of reaction engaged armed thugs (as the Falange Espanola) to thwart governmental efforts to carry out land and other democratic reforms.

These forces of reaction also assisted in planning and implementing the fascist coup Franco launched in 1936. The Republic was at a clear disadvantage in resisting the coup, owing to the major support Franco received from fascist Germany and Italy and the covert support he received from Britain and the US.  According to Venturini, Britain, which had major business interests in Spain, directly aided Franco with intelligence and naval support. American oil companies also provided him with oil (while refusing to sell it to Spain’s legitimately elected government), and Ford and other US manufacturers supplied him with trucks.

The International Brigades

Venturini estimates 40,000-50,000 volunteers from 53 countries participated in the International brigades. When Franco captured Catalonia in January 1939 500,000 Republican soldiers and civilians fled across the border to France. Many of the anarchists joined the Maquis, where they played a vital role in liberating France from the Nazis.

Venturini emphasizes that no allied troops fought in the South of France – that these regions were liberated by the Resistance – in many instances before the liberation of Paris.

---

*Syndicalism is a type of economic system in which industries are owned and managed by the workers.
**CNT Confederación Nacional del Trabajo National Confederation of workers.
***The Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT, General Union of Workers) is a major Spanish trade union, historically affiliated with the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE).
****Rural guerrilla bands of French resistance fighters.