Pro-independence parties win votes in Spain’s Basque Country

 

Inigo Urkullu, the candidate of the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), casts his ballot at a polling station in the northern Spanish Basque village of Durango, October 21, 2012.

Source: Press TV

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/10/22/268080/basque-separatists-win-votes-in-spain/

Nationalist and separatist parties have won the regional elections in Spain’s northern autonomous region of Basque Country, with the winners expected to call for a referendum on independence.

The moderate Basque Nationalist Party came top in the Sunday elections in one of Spain’s 17 autonomous regions, winning 27 seats in the 75-member regional parliament.

The left-wing separatist EH Bildu coalition, which campaigns for an independent country within the European Union, won 21 seats. The two parties jointly took almost two-thirds of the parliament seats and brought an end to the rule of the socialist government that took office three years ago.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s center-right People’s Party retained its majority in his home province of Galicia, despite the government’s unpopular harsh austerity measures.

The prosperous Basque region, which is home to 2.2 million people, has been racked by decades of separatist violence.

The poll results are expected to lead to more anti-government sentiments, which has been under fire over its austerity measures and public spending cuts and tax hikes.

Public protests have grown in Spain over the speculation that the government will seek a Greek-style European bailout to keep its borrowing costs in check.

Over the past few months, anti-austerity demonstrations have turned violent in Spanish cities such as Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia, as well as in rural mining locations in the north.

Battered by the global financial downturn, the Spanish economy collapsed into recession in the second half of 2008.

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Catalonia Independence from Spain: When Will We See Tanks in Barcelona?

By: Esther Vivas

Original Source: Socialist Project
http://www.socialistproject.ca/

Source: Global Research

http://www.globalresearch.ca/catalonia-independence-from-spain-when-will-we-see-tanks-in-barcelona/5308313

Independent Catalonia? Over my dead body and those of many other soldiers.” It was with these words that on August 31, retired infantry lieutenant-colonel Francisco Alaman Castro referred to the possibility of an independent Catalonia. And he added: “We will not make it easy. Although the lion seems to be sleeping, they have no interest in provoking it too much, because it has already given enough proof of its ferocity over the centuries. These plebs are not up to much, if we know how to confront them.”

In the current verbiage that some politicians have adopted, these statements are not the only ones that we might call “undemocratic,” “putschist” and “anti-system.” After the demonstration on September 11,[1] the UPyD spokesperson[2], Rosa Díez, called on the government to suspend the autonomy of Catalonia if the region used money from central government aid “to finance its secession.” Not to be outdone, the MEP (representing the Popular Party, in power in Madrid) and vice-president of the European Parliament, Alejo Vidal Quadras, requested that a brigadier-general, preferably from the Civil Guard, take charge of the “Mossos de Esquadra”[3] to curb the independence process.

The El Mundo newspaper, in its editorial of September 27, demanded from the government “a penal response to the challenge launched by Artur Mas” who has called for a referendum on self-determination in Catalonia. El Mundo urged the government to amend the Criminal Code to “punish by imprisonment any call for an illegal referendum.” And for good measure, the extremist “Reconversion,” platform, whose leaders are Alejo Vidal Quadras and José Antonio Ortega Lara, demanded that if such a referendum were to be held the government place Catalonia under tutelage, on the basis of articles 161.2 and 155.1 and 2 of the Constitution.

Role of the Military

And that’s not all. The Spanish Military Association (AME), composed of former members of the army, has threatened Catalan president Artur Mas with a Council of War and has warned those who promote “the breaking-up of Spain” that they will have to answer before a military court on charges of “high treason”. Nothing more than that! It speaks volumes about the present situation when a conservative politician such as Artur Mas, enmeshed to the marrow of his bones with the powers of finance, especially with the La Caixa and Aberti banks, who is leader of a party as un-subversive as the CiU[4] elicits such reactions. What will happen then when it comes to someone on the left, who is opposed to the interests of the employers and is a sincere defender of the right to self-determination?

In the light of the above, I ask myself a question. If all of this was happening, for example, in a Latin American country, how would it be characterized? The BBC has published a long report that makes the link between the threats to Catalonia and the “pact of silence” introduced during the Transition.[5] And this is quite right. The Amnesty Law of 1977 guarantees immunity to those who committed crimes against humanity under the Franco regime and during the Civil War. These individuals are still there, and today they are raising their heads again, without any restraint.

At a time where the Hispanic Titanic is taking in water on all sides, with a crisis which worsens each day and scaffolding that is creaking everywhere, it is the true nature of the regime that is revealing itself. And so are the limits of a transition that has been so beatified that it has prevented people from seeing the reality for decades. All of a sudden, the mask of “democrat” has fallen from their faces. Crises have at least the advantage of clarifying things.

Limits to Democracy?

According to them, democracy is a good thing as long as it does not go beyond a certain framework. As a result, all those who disturb things, whether it is these “hooligan” Catalan independentists or these “dangerous” 25S activists, must be quickly silenced. Broadcast television images of police charges? What a scandal! People will become indignant and will demonstrate even more. Solution: limit the right to demonstrate and the right to be informed and the business is settled. The president of the Popular Party group in the European Parliament, Jaime Mayor Oreja, and the Delegate of the Madrid government Cristina Cifuentes have understood this well.

The current crisis is not only an economic and social crisis, but really an unprecedented regime crisis that calls into question the state model that came out of the Transition, its “pacts of silence” and the very shaky democratic system that we have today.

In the middle of this mess, we must support all democratic demands that come up against the monarchical corset of the Transition, starting with the right of the Catalan people to decide its own future. Who is afraid of such a referendum in Catalonia? Those who are not willing to accept its result. We should not, however, let the Spanish chauvinist fury against Mas make us take such a politician – whose only achievement in government is to have reduced social rights and taxes for the rich – for a herald of democracy and freedom. On the contrary, we, Catalans, will have a better life when we get rid of Mas, his squire Felip Puig and their team.

Infantry lieutenant-colonel Francisco Alaman Castro said that “the current situation resembles that of 1936.” That is quite a declaration of intent. Today, as then, our democracy, our rights and our future are threatened. What is at stake is important. When will we see tanks in the streets of Barcelona? It would not be the first time. But there is one thing I am sure of: the people will not remain silent. The most important thing will be not to make any mistake about who the enemy is, and while we fight against the badly recycled Francoists, we should remember that the interests of the majority of the Catalan people have very little to do with those of the Messiah Artur Mas. •

Esther Vivas is an activist in a variety of social movements in Barcelona and maintains a blog at esthervivas.com.

Notes:

1.on September 11, 2012, at the call of the Catalan National Assembly (ANC), constituted on March 10, 2012 in Barcelona by 269 Catalan municipalities, nearly two million people marched for the right to self-determination and independence.

2.Unión Progreso y Democracia (Union, progress and democracy) is a political party of the radical populist Right, founded in 2007, which defends an uncompromising Spanish nationalism.

3.Catalan police, responsible to the Generalitat (regional government).

4.Convergència i Unió (Convergence and Union) is a federation of centre-right Catalan political parties.

5.Transitional period between the death of General Franco in 1975 and the adoption of the new Constitution establishing a “parliamentary monarchy” in 1978.

Catalonia - Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalonia

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UK PM Cameron to sign deal greenlighting Scottish independence referendum

 

David Cameron (R) shakes hands with the First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond (Reuters / Toby Melville)

Source: Russia Today

http://rt.com/news/scotland-independence-referendum-cameron-453/

UK Prime Minister David Cameron is set to sign a historic deal with Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond to hold a separation referendum in 2014. The signing followed give-and-take negotiations over the vote on whether Scotland will leave the UK.

Cameron and Salmond will finalize the agreement in Edinburgh on Monday, launching a 100-week battle over the future of the United Kingdom.

The 35-clause deal will greenlight Scots to vote on a single, yes-or-no issue: Whether Scotland should leave the UK. Salmond’s negotiator, Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, shelved the possibility of a second question on the ballot asking voters whether they would support partial succession, with much greater powers for the Scottish parliament. Whitehall insisted on an all-or-nothing referendum.

Michael Moore, Secretary of State for Scotland in the UK, agreed to other points pursued by the Scottish National Party (SNP), which dominates the Scottish government. These issues included allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to vote, and empowering the Scottish parliament to decide the date, the question and the franchise of the referendum.

“We've compromised, as have the Westminster government in these negotiations, but I'm very satisfied indeed that the outcome of these negotiations is the guarantee of a referendum made in Scotland,” Sturgeon told BBC One's Sunday Politics Scotland program.

"I think it's a good agreement. I believe it will now allow us to put up in lights the big issues about the big debate… on what is best for Scotland,” Moore told Sky News, adding that the referendum would be “legal, fair and decisive.”

Proponents of independence will have to campaign hard to swing public opinion in their favor: The latest poll by NS BMRB suggests that a majority of Scotts, 53 percent, favor staying in the UK, while only 28 percent want to separate.

The SNP’s call for separation from the UK comes amid rising sentiment in Scotland that the country’s national interests are being undermined by the government in London. Scotland joined with England and Wales in 1707, and participated in the British monarchy before that.

While a majority of Scots want more powers for their own government on issues like economy and defense, the prospect of full independence is viewed more skeptically.

Even if it declares independence, Scotland will likely retain Queen Elizabeth II as its monarch, as does Canada, Australia and other members of the British Commonwealth.

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