Joint statement from October 26, 2017 by CGT, Solidaridad Obrera and CNT about the situation in Catalonia.

Originally published by CNT. Translated by Enough is Enough.

Note: Enough is Enough is not organizing any of these events, we are publishing this text for people across the US and Europe to be able to see what is going on and for documentation only.

Read all our reports about Catalonia; here.

Joint Statement by CGT, Solidaridad Obrera and CNT About the Situation in Catalonia

As signatory organizations, unions at state level, we share our concern about the situation in Catalonia, the repression that the state has unleashed, including the diminution of rights and freedoms and the rise of a stale nationalism which is appearing again in much of the state.

We defend the emancipation of all the working people of Catalonia and the rest of the world. Perhaps, in this context, it is necessary to remember that we do not understand the right to self-determination in a statist way, as nationalist parties and organizations proclaim, but as the right to self-organization of our class in a given territory. Thus understood, self-determination passes more by control of production and consumption by workers and by direct democracy from the bottom up, organized according to federalist principles, than by the establishment of a new frontier or the creation of a new state.

As internationalists, we understand that solidarity among working people should not be limited to state borders, so we are not really concerned where these are drawn. What we do find very disturbing is the reaction that is being experienced in many parts of the rest of the State, with the enthusiasm for a stale Spanish state, which is more reminiscent of past times, brewed by the media and in line with the authoritarian drift of the government, notable after the imprisonment of persons for summoning acts of disobedience or the application of article 155 of the Constitution. We do not forget that this nationalist outbreak lays the groundwork for further cuts in rights and freedoms which we must be prevent. The shameful unity of so-called “democratic forces” in justifying repression shows a gloomy picture for all future dissents. It seems that the post-Franco regime that governs us for 40 years, close its ranks to ensure its continuity.

This regime, which has existed and exists in Catalonia as well as in the rest of Spain, feels that its own survival is at stake. Questioned extensively and plunged into a deep crisis of legitimacy, it is alarmed because of the accumulation of open fronts. The threat to the territorial integrity of the state is compounded by corruption scandals, the monarchy’s stigmatization, the questioning of (bank) rescues and cuts that have been applied to the population, discontent with slavery in the workplace derived from the last labor reforms, the extension of retirement age and the economic reduction of pensions, etc. The constant calls to defend the constitution must be understood as foul to rebate and deal with this true existential crisis that besieges the state. The danger is that in the process, repressive behaviors such as those seen recently in many Catalan cities will be sanctioned and become standard. The worst …

Obviously, we do not know in what sense the events will decant. We will remain attentive to what happens, ready to defend the interests of working people throughout the State. We will oppose the repression and the normalization of right-of-way attitudes, which are already perceived, with all our forces. Of course, we will not allow ourselves to be used by the strategies of political parties whose objectives are extraneous to us. At the same time, we will not stop encouraging the mobilizations of the working class when they finally decide that the time has come to shake off the dictatorship of political and economic elites who have spent too long managing the territory to serve exclusively their own interests. As trade union organizations, libertarian and combative, we will be on the streets, in the mobilizations, as we have shown on many occasions, against repression, cuts in rights and freedoms and against corruption.

The Catalan crisis may be the brink of a dying state model. Whether this change is in one sense or another will depend on our ability, as a class, to take the process in the opposite direction of repression and the rise of nationalisms. Let us hope that the final result will be more freedoms and rights and not the other way around. We risk a lot.

FOR RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS! AGAINST REPRESSION OF WORKING CLASSES!

CGT – Solidaridad Obrera – CNT, October 26, 2017.



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