The UPG (Galizan People’s Union) condemns the repression unleashed against the Catalan people and upholds the right to self-determination

The  UPG (Galizan People’s Union) condemns the repression unleashed against the Catalan people and upholds the right to self-determination
01/10/2017/

The violent repression carried out by the Spanish regime on Sunday 1 October intended to prevent the Catalan people from freely deciding its own future only served to fully expose the absolutely authoritarian and anti-democratic nature of the Spanish political system which does not hesitate to unleash police repression to deny basic rights and civil liberties, especially to thwart the exercise of the right to self-determination.

As we have repeatedly stated in the past, it is not Mariano Raxoi’s government and the People’s Party who  are not solely to blame for this anti-democratic conduct, but the Spanish State itself, i.e. the political regime born out of the Transition and the Constitution of 1978, falling back on the would-be legality of a constitutional text which states that the “Spanish people” is the exclusive holder of political sovereignty, thereby effectively denying the right of nations such as Catalonia and Galiza to decide freely over their own future.

It is also important to remember that all of the Spanish political parties publicly declared themselves to be against the referendum held on 1 October, despite its having been called by the Catalan government, democratically elected by the people and in  accordance with the legislation passed by the Catalan Parliament; some, such as the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) and Ciudadanos lent the Spanish government their unconditional support, while others, such as Podemos and the United Left (IU) attempted to deglegitimise the result of the ballot under the pretext of ‘a lack of guarantees’ which, as was to be expected, they laid at the door not of the Spanish but of the Catalan Government.

Trying to camouflage the denial of the right of Catalonia to decide for itself and to become a sovereign State if that is the will of the Catalan people behind the fiction of a referendum agreed on with the Spanish regime which, as they know full well, never was and never will be possible, is the lowest of political shams and shows the true colours of the so-called left-wing organisation in Spain which have already made it clear that their claim to ‘break’ with the regime is nothing more than hot air and demagoguery because, when it comes down to it, they too in practice deny the sovereignty of the nations within the Spanish State, be it Catalonia or Galiza.

What the independence process and the referendum in Catalonia effectively did was to expose the true face of the Spanish political system and its so-called ‘democracy’. Denying basic rights and freedoms is how the Spanish regime responds to the will of our nations to be free. No state which violates basic rights and the freedom of expression, opinion, assembly, information and the right to decide through a ballot, resorting instead to violence to curb these rights, can be considered to be in any way democratic.

There will be some in Galiza who think that none of this has anything to do with us. Nothing could be further from the truth. The basic social, economic, cultural and linguistic, problems, etc. which affect our country are rooted in the political dependency we suffer and the denial by the Spanish State of our capacity to decide freely over our own affairs and interests. It is vital for the Galizan people to breaking free of this yolk in order for us to be able to build a better future of welfare, prosperity and freedom for ourselves.

Indeed, above and beyond the basic need to defend democratic rights, all of our nations have a vested joint interest in ending oppression and domination by the Spanish State. It is clear that the national question, especially in the light of the situation in Catalonia, is the key decisive factor which is shaking the foundations of the Spanish political system. For that reason, we must actively defend democracy and the right to self-determination and redouble our efforts to explain to all of those around us why, more than ever, Galiza needs to achieve national sovereignty.

The ongoing attack on rights and freedoms in Catalonia is an attack on the rights and freedoms of all of those who live within the confines of the Spanish State and all of the nations still part of it and who yearn to be free. It is, therefore, essential to defend democracy and the right of the peoples to decide, to exercise our right to self-determination and to build independent, sovereign states of our own. Today, by defending the freedom of Catalonia, we are also defending the freedom of Galiza and all people.

We know that no amount of repressive violence by the State will ever be enough to crush the sovereign will of the Catalan people who took to the polls en masse throughout the country and who has already gained its own Republic. Today we reiterate our wholehearted support for Catalonia as it democratically exercises its right to self-determination. And we also once again repeat our commitment to continue strengthening the self-organisation of the Galizan people and to continue working for a truly democratic break with the old regime, paving the way for full national independence and a sovereign State of our own: the Republic of Galiza.