Catalonia: Release all political prisoners immediately!

FOR the last four months, repression has been unleashed in Catalonia. 
 

Jordi Cuixart and Jordi Sanchez, officials of democratic associations, were thrown in jail more than three months ago; Oriol Junqueras, who was nevertheless elected as a member of the autonomous Parliament on 21 December, is still being detained.

The deposed President and three other ministerial advisers of his government are still in exile in Brussels, under threat of being thrown in jail if they set foot on Spanish soil; hundreds of mayors, teachers, other workers and activists have been summoned to court and charged with rebellion and sedition, in other words charged with organising a violent uprising against the Spanish State. Catalan autonomy has been suspended under Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution, and it is Rajoy who is governing, from Madrid with his ministers.

What is their “crime”? The Spanish monarchy and its government are punishing them for organising the vote through which the Catalan people freely declared themselves in favour of the Catalan Republic on 1 October 2017.

This brutal repression by the Rajoy government and the monarchy, which began with the huge police violence against people who were voting on 1 October, has the unconditional support of the European Commission, the governments of the leading countries of the European Union (Macron, Merkel, May, etc.), as well as the Trump administration.

On 28 January, the monarchy, the government and – following their diktats – the Constitutional Court went a step further in restricting rights, in violation of their own laws and legal precedents, by forbidding the majority of the autonomous Parliament elected on 21 October to appoint the President of their choice, in the person of Carles Puigdemont.

We are activists of all political tendencies of the democratic and labour movement from the Spanish State and all over Europe. Together with all the workers of Europe, we have seen the vast majority of the Catalan people peacefully and courageously mobilise for the Republic, and we have seen the State respond with police brutality, legal prosecutions and the suppression of their rights. We cannot remain impassive! We unconditionally stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Catalan people for their rights to be respected!

We defend their right to freely decide their own future, to rid themselves of the monarchy and the institutions of the 1978 Constitution, which guarantee the continuity of Francoism.

We defend their right to constitute their own Republic, just as we defend the right of all the peoples of the Spanish State to constitute their own Republics and – if they so wish – to freely form their own union of Republics.

We, activists of the labour and democratic movement from the Spanish State and throughout Europe, call for united action throughout Europe for the following:

Release all the political prisoners immediately!

Cancel all the legal prosecutions!

Freedom for the Catalan people to choose their own representatives!

Hands off the Catalan Republic!

First endorsers

BELARUS

Youri Glouchakov,  « Razam » Social Movement

BRITAIN

Mike Arnott, Secretary Dundee Trades Council - personal capacity  ; Mike Calvert, Deputy Secretary Islington Unison - personal capacity  ; Jane Doolan, Secretary Islington Unison, Unison NEC - personal capacity   ;  Paul Filby, Secretary Merseyside Trades Council - personal capacity  ; Steve Hedley, RMT Assistant General Secretary - personal capacity  ; John Hendy, QC - personal capacity  ; Ian Hodson, National President BFAWU - personal capacity  , Michael Loughlin, Christ Church University Canterbury - personal capacity   ; Henry Mott, UNITE Southwark - personal capacity  ; Nick Phillips, UNITE - personal capacity  ; Nat Queen, University of Birmingham, UCU - personal capacity  ; John Sweeney, trade unionist - personal capacity  

BELGIUM

Salah Azaam, trade unionist  ; Toni Bernardi, Retired Metalworker ; Michèle Corin, SP activist Verviers ; Gaëtan Coucke, trade unionist education ; Sarah De Laet, teacher , trade union representative ; Roberto Giarrocco, trade union representative Public services ; José Hardy, trade union representative Public Service Governmental sector ; Serge Monsieur, president CGSP ALR Vivaqua (pers cap ) ; Laura Moraga Moral, Teacher trade unionist ; Jan Smidt, labour activist ; Claire Thomas, Teacher trade union representative CGSP .

CZECH REPUBLIC

Petr Schnur, CMF, České mírové fórum (Czech Peace Forum)

FRANCE

Gilles Barthes, psychiatrist (76) ; Jean-Michel Boulmé, POID activist (01) ; Cécile Brandely, lawyer , member Lawyers of France trade union (31) ; Oscar Caballero-Ramirez, trade unionist metal industry (17) ; Patricia Cestor, trade unionist national education (92) ; Jacques Châtillon, freethinker (22) ; Katel Corduant, trade unionist (75) ; Christian Delannoy, General Practitioner (59) ; Jean-Michel Delaye, trade unionist , town councillor Brumath (67) ; Laurent Denil (95) ; Claire Dujardin, lawyer , member Lawyers of France trade union (31) ; Stephen Duval, lawyer (69) ; Patrick Farbiaz, Social ecology (75) ; Dominique Ferré, contributor to La Tribune des travailleurs (94) ; Jean-Christophe Giraud, lawyer (69) ; Daniel Gluckstein, POID National Secretary ,International Workers Committee ( IWC ) co-coordinator (93) ; Basile Gonzales, child psychiatrist (76) ; Thomas Gonzales, lawyer (34) ; Nicolas Griffon, General Practitioner (76) ; Pierre Herranz, retiree labour activist , (17) ; Michèle Kauffer, trade unionist (91) ; Christel Keiser, town councillor , POID National Secretary (93) ; Marc Lagier, clinician (37) ; Francis Lopera, trade unionist ArcelorMittal (57) ; Maria José Malheiros, trade unionist (75) ; Alexia Muller, trade unionist (75) ; François Préneau, retiree, trade unionist , member of Ensemble (44) ; Grégoire Privolt, teacher trade unionist (69) ; Jean Pierre Richaudeau, Initiative pour le socialisme ( Initiative for socialism ) (74) ; Paul Robel, General Practitioner (56) ; Olivier Roux, teacher trade unionist (2A) ; Gérard Schivardi, Mayor of Mailhac (11) ; Arsène Schmitt, border zone trade unionist (57) ; Robert Schmitz, trade unionist (75) ; Henri Sick, trade unionist (75) ; Sarah Taconet, General Practitioner (95) ; Marinette Veyssière, trade unionist (79) ; Katia Vidal, trade unionist (66).

Germany

Sidonie Kellerer, trade unionist GEW ; Peter Kreutler, vice-president Düsseldorf SPD Workers Commission (AfA), trade unionist ver.di, trade union representatives committee ; Norbert Müller, SPD, trade unionist ver.di; Peter Saalmüller, SPD, trade unionist ver.di; Heimgard Schüller, trade unionist IG BAU;

Klaus Schüller, SPD Workers Commission (AfA) NEC , trade unionist EVG, Member of the International Workers Committee follow up Committee (IWC ) ; Anna Helena Schuster, shop steward ver.di ; Heinz Werner Schuster, Chair Düsseldorf SPD Workers Commission (AfA), ver.di representative

GREECE

Dimitrios Balaskas, agricultural worker , Nafplio ; Andreas Guhl, editor “Ergatika Nea”, LAE Argolide member  ; Maryse Le Lohé, LAE Papagos-Cholargos member Athens ; Sotiria Lioni, Nafplio ; Eleni Pierropoulou, member Popular Unity (LAE), Papagos-Cholargos, Athens.

HUNGARY

Tamàs Krausz, historian (pers cap ) ; Tamàs Gàspàr Miklos, philosopher, visiting professor, Central European University, Budapest, pers cap ; Judit Morva, activist, Le Monde Diplomatique Hungarian edition (pers cap ) ; Judit Somi, labour activist , contributor to Munkàs Hirlap

IRELAND

Ciaran Campbell, Mandate Trade Union - personal capacity  ; John Douglas, Mandate General Secretary - personal capacity  ; Brian Forbes, Mandate Trade Union - personal capacity  .

ITALY

Bruno Boggio, retiree, political activist ; Luigi Brandellero, worker , Tribuna Libera Editorial board ; Alessandra Cigna, teacher , trade union activist  ; Ugo Croce, self employed , Political Movement for the Repeal  ; Luis Cabases, journalist ; Felice Fazzolari, teacher , Political Movement for the Repeal; Kristian Goglio, teacher , trade unionist  ; Dario Granaglia, worker , trade unionist  ; Monica Grilli, teacher , trade union representative ; Gianni Guglieri, worker , trade unionist  ; Antonio Landro, teacher , trade unionist ; Aldo Mangano, student  ; Andrea Monasterolo, worker , trade unionist  ; Maria Jesus Lopez Montalban, Chair « Amics de Catalunya a Italia » Association  ; Alberto Pian, teacher trade union activist ; Betty Raineri, teacher , trade union activist ; Lorenzo Varaldo, Headmaster , Political Movement for the Repeal; Vanna Ventre, teacher , "Tribuna Libera" editorial board ;

PORTUGAL

Jorge Fonseca de Almeida, « economist ; Jaime Pereira, retiree ; Rui Rodrigues, University Professor ; José Júlio Santana Henriques, trade unionist, retiree ; Lia Santos, teacher e SPGL/CGTP ; Jorge Torres, Saica workers commission , CITE/CGTP trade union rep ; Adriano Zilhão, economist.

ROMANIA

Contantin Cretan, former political prisoner jailed because of his trade union activity.

RUSSIA

Mark Vassilev, historian.

SERBIA

Jaćim Milunović, labour activist .

SPANISH STATE

Miguel Angel Aragoneses Garcia, representative LAB trade union committee (Euzkadi-Basque Country ) ; Lurdes Barba, theater director (Catalonia) ; Patxi Fernández Álvarez, retiree, UGT trade unionist (Euzkadi- Basque Country) ; Eduard Gonzalo, pro-independence militant (Catalonia) ; Jordi Rabella Foz (Catalonia); José Luis Vinatea, deliverer , UGT trade unionist (Euzkadi- Basque Country) ; Felipe Zorita, retired rail worker , UGT trade unionist (Euzkadi- Basque Country)

SWITZERLAND

Michel Zimmermann, Member Geneva Socialist Party , Town Councillor Versoix ; Dogan Fennibay, trade unionist UNIA.

TURKEY

Yasar Avci, Retired Workers Union; Sevim Kacmaz, precarious labour  ; IKP member  ; Sadi Ozansü, Chair Workers Fraternity Party (IKP) ; Furkan Safak, IKP member  ; Birsen Yesilkanat, Health Workers Union .