The Fat Lady Still Isn’t Singing

  by Les May

IN the period between 2* July and 12 August there were 30,041 new infections reported by the government. The average number of infections per day was 733. If the number of new infections was more or less stable we would expect there to be an equal number of days with above the average number of infections in the first half of this period and in the second half of this period. In fact there were just three days with above the average number of infections in the first half 3 July to 22 July. In the second half 24 July to 12 August there were 17 days. The middle day of the period, 23 July, there were above the average number of new infections. The total number of Covid19 deaths in this period was 2395. This figure is almost 8% of the number of new infections reported.*

If the average number of new infections remained at 733 per day, by Christmas we can expect there to be about 96,000 new infections reported in total which may translate into another 7,200 deaths.

The figures above are predicated on an unchanging rate of new infection. But if one compares new infections figures between the first (3 to 22 July) and the second half (24 July to 12 August) it is clear that the average daily rate has changed from 631 to 833. In other words the daily number of new Covid19 infections is rising again.

It is the rate at which the numbers are rising which is important not the actual numbers. So long as the rate of change is in the so called ‘linear phase’ this can be classed as (very) unfortunate; if it enters the so called ‘exponential phase’ this will be a disaster because we will have a rerun of what we experienced in late March and April, and we can kiss goodbye to Christmas.

If we are going to learn to live with the virus and not just watch others die with the virus we need to change what we are doing and become more proactive. Getting rid of the virus, before it gets rid of us, isn’t ‘Boris’s problem’, it’s our problem too.

Doing whatever is necessary to halt Covid19 infections would have another beneficial effect. The methods which are effective in reducing the likelihood of becoming infected against Covid19 are the ones which are effective in reducing the likelihood of becoming infected with Influenza. And we may just need them.

https://www.cdc.gov/flu/spotlights/2019-2020/cdc-prepare-swhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_fluine-flu.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_flu

*My choice of start date was not arbitrary, it was the first day of the government’s updated method of reporting new infections and close to the day on which most meeting places were reopened.

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Hong Kong is exporting its protest

 techniques around the world

by Mary Hui3 hours ago

The “Be Water” nature of Hong Kong’s protests—fluid, flexible, and fast-moving—has taken on a new form half way across the world in Catalonia: as a tsunami.

After a Spanish court on Monday (Oct. 14) handed down lengthy jail terms to nine Catalan leaders for their roles in a 2017 secession attempt, tens of thousands of Catalans took to the streets to protest against what they saw as heavy-handed political persecution and blatant repression of the region’s political rights.

The protesters were answering the call to action from a group called Tsunami Democràtic, which launched in September (link in Spanish) urging mass peaceful and civil disobedience actions in order to safeguard Catalonia’s freedoms. Following the sentencing, protesters quickly gathered at plazas and on streets across the region, cutting off major thoroughfares and blocking traffic before heading en masse to their next target: Barcelona’s El Prat airport. As they set off from the city center, a group of youth shouted, “We’re going to do a Hong Kong!“

https://twitter.com/tsunami_dem/status/1183753972609355781

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Catalan News: Pro-independence ERC party's win

IT was a historic general election for the pro-independence Esquerra party (ERC), which increased its number of seats to a record 15 in the Spanish parliament.

Winning six more seats than in it did in the last general election in June 2016, it is the first time since the 1930s that ERC has come first among the Catalan parties.

With the Junts per Catalunya party (JxCat) coming in with seven seats (one less than the last election), it means the pro-independence bloc in the Congress has an unprecedented 22 seats.

This could be significant, as Pedro Sánchez's Socialists, who won the election with 123 seats, may need the support of the pro-independence bloc to form a government.

Next among the parties in Catalonia came the Catalan Socialists (PSC), who went up five seats to 12, although the leftwing En Comú Podem party (ECP) was unable to maintain its good showing from three years ago, dropping from 12 seats to seven.

The unionist Ciutadans party (Cs) held on to its five seats, while the also unionist People's Party (PPC) lost five seats, dropping to just one.

It was also an historic night for the far-right Vox party, which entered parliament for the first time with one seat in Catalonia, and a further 23 in the Spanish wing of the party.

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Broken Politics on the Iberian Penisular

 by Brian Bamford

BROKEN-up politics has characterised Spain since the successful rise of Podemos and the Citizen's Ciudadanos party in the 2015 election.  After that the two-party system was over.  Now with the far right VOX party gaining 24 seats in yesterday's elections there is a real fragmentation in political life which mirrors events elsewhere in Europe.

This election came less than a year after Spain’s then prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, was defeated in a vote of no confidence owing to corruption in his Popular Party.  The leader of the socialist party (PSOE), Pedro Sanchez, then formed a minority government with the help of the Catalan separatists, leading his critics to accuse him of being too friendly with the independentistas.  

  

However, Sanchez was unable to hold this informal coalition together and last February he called a snap general election when he was unable to get a national budget through the Cortes parliament when the Catalan nationalists witheld their support owing to the problems over Catalan independence.

The issues of independence, identity and Spanish unity flavoured the election.  And yet, the most significant consequence of these elections was the fragmentation of the right and the centre right.  The most damaged party in these elections has been the conservative Popular Party, which has lost votes to both the far Right VOX and the more centrist Ciudadanos Citizen's party.

  Catalan Independence

The Catalan independence conflict originally came to a crisis in October 2017 when the Catalan separatists held an unconstitutional independence referendum, which drew 40% of eligible voters but saw a 90% vote to secede.  Three weeks later, Carles Puigdemont, the region’s president at the time, declared independence — leading to Spain’s deepest constitutional crisis since its return to democracy.

As a result, the Spanish government, then led by the Popular Party, fired the Catalan parliament, wrested control of the region, began arresting the movement’s leaders and called for fresh regional elections.

While separatists criticized the government for cracking down, some on the right argued the Popular Party was too soft on the independentistas.

Fragmentation of the Right

Consequently some Popular Party voters turned to VOX, which seeks to suppress regional autonomy in Catalonia.  A xenophobic party VOX echoes Franco’s nationalist rhetoric and follows the populist trend seen in recent years across Europe, stoking fear of immigrants and demonizing feminists.

On the other hand some other former Partido Popular voters seem to have drifted towards the centrist Citizen's Ciudadanos party.

The Catalan crisis and the rise of Vox have changed the debate in Spanish politics.
'This is not an election about the economy - a different situation from what we have seen in more than 20 years,' says Juan Rodríguez Teruel, professor of political science at the University of Valencia.

Despite widespread concerns about unemployment - which remains high in Spain compared with its European neighbours - it barely featured during the campaign and was raised during the debates only briefly

But Prof Teruel warns that the surge for Vox is coming at the expense of other right-leaning parties - the PP or Ciudadanos. And for the first time since the 1970s, the right is 'very fragmented' - something that could benefit opponents on the left.

'The main reason now to vote for the left-wing electorate is to avoid the potential coalition among right-wing parties,' Prof Teruel says. 
 
Ciudadanos, meanwhile, could feasibly support a coalition with the Socialists, despite publicly dismissing the idea.

'I'm not sure they could keep this position if the numbers give the potential of a coalition,' Prof Teruel says.

'The pressure on Ciudadanos will be very, very high.'

*********

Inside Spain!

" ALGO NECESARIO" - Something Necessay!
by Carlos Beltran

IT IS necessary to await the triumph of the motion of censor presented by the Partido Socialista (Socialist Party) against Mariano Rajoy (the leader of the Partido Popular [Conservative Party]).  It's complicated to grasp that the Partido Socialista doesn't have any alternative, still less anything to lose.  For the motion to really succeed the important thing is to put all the parties before a mirror.

Or to vote against Rajoy, and his corruption and his anti-social policies:

The result was 180 votes in favour of the motion of censure; 169 votes against and one abstention.  That was ten votes  more than Ranjoy got when he was chosen two years ago - two years of cuts and corruption that it would have been possible to abstain in the election of Ranjoy in 2015.

This amounts to a rejection of Ranjoyand the Partido Popular, rather than support for Pedro Sanchez.  Yet for Sanchezit is an opportunity to dismantle the most aggressive policies of the reactionaries in the Partido Popular, in respect of pensions. civil liberties, labour laws etc. 

On th theme of the Catalans; the most important thing now is to look for the broadest consensus to take forward this issue; yes with their 84 deputies the left have to confront the block of 169 right-wing deputies.

From my point of view and the tenor of the composition of of the Government, it is an agony and it brings in a period of hope and pleasure and at least we have a President who speaks English. A government with a majority of women; a government which as a dialogue with the trade unions and social protection; social justice; and the reduction of tension in Cataluña: this isn’t a panacea but it is better than to abandon the country to a situation of obscurantism and a lack of common decency of those who believe they own the country. Yet don’t forget the Partido Popular have the most seats in the Congress; there is division of the Left, and there is the problem of Cataluña.

But yes, ‘there is a road to travel’ with pot-holes that are difficult to navigate.

*************

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 .

Homage to Bob Smillie in Year of Orwell?

N,V. Editor:  A few days ago Quentin Kopp, son of George Kopp the commander of the POUM military unit in the Spanish civil war, mentioned the contraversial death of Bob Smillie at the the hands of the communists when he wrote to  Tameside Trade Union Council, which is now affiliated to The ORWELL SOCIETY, to relate the following news:

'We have been informed that Barcelona wants to make 2018 the year of Orwell and will be arranging a special series of plaques, which will comemorate his time there.  Despite the political uproar in Catalonia it appears to be still going ahead. Since we received this invitation we have learned that a Spanish researcher has found the graves and a lot of the records relating to the death of Bob Smillie. We plan to incorporate taking a small scuplture to Valencia to put in the Cemetry at the same time, which will be between the 14^th and 18^th April.'

Below is a report in THE SCOTSMAN in 2003 about Bob Smillie and George Orwell:

THE SCOTSMAN

It's time the Left faced up to the truth about Orwell

 Published: 01:00 Monday 23 June 2003

Read more at: https://www.scotsman.com/news/it-is-time-left-faced-up-to-the-truth-about-orwell-1-653034

FEW people in Scotland today remember Bob Smillie, but there was a time when his political murder by Communist Party agents during the Spanish Civil War was a cause célèbre.  During his lifetime, Orwell - otherwise Eric Blair, hence the silly Guardian pun - was vilified and lied about by the left-wing establishment for denouncing communism and its British fellow travellers as totalitarian enemies.  He came in for personal attack for two reasons.  First, he had been a leftist himself and had put his life on the line fighting against Franco in Spain: he was wounded and nearly killed.  If there is one thing the Marxist left can’t abide it’s one of their own exposing where the dead bodies are buried - literally, in Smillie’s case.  Second, Orwell’s brilliant prose - spare, honest, gripping - is some of the best anti-totalitarian propaganda ever written, be it the satire of Animal Farm or the Blade Runner world of Nineteen Eighty-Four.  So much so, that his works remain permanently in print and, more importantly, read.  That’s why I think Orwell, from the grave, will be proud that he is still upsetting the unthinking left.

However, it is ironic that today’s character assassination is being led by the Guardian, which Orwell singled out for praise in his Spanish Civil War memoir, Homage to Catalonia, for its exposure of the lies being spread about the democratic Spanish left during the war (they were accused of being fascists) by the manipulative communists.  Sixty-five years later, the Guardian is claiming that Orwell secretly informed on fellow writers and academics, including the Scots poet Hugh McDiarmid, whom he thought might be communist sympathisers.  And all because he was besotted by a woman called Celia Kirwan, who worked for the shady information research department at the Foreign Office.  Thus, says the Guardian, did the inventor of Big Brother turn into the monster he created (much like the liberal, free-market Manchester Guardian of Orwell’s day has become a public-sector advertising sheet).

The Guardian’s innuendo is false - which brings us back to murdered Bob Smillie.  He was the 22-year-old grandson of Robert Smillie, the leader of the Scottish miners.  The younger Smillie was a member of the radical Independent Labour Party (ILP).  Under its charismatic leader James Maxton (a hero of Gordon Brown), the ILP was resolutely pacifist.  But Franco’s attempt to overthrow the democratically elected left-wing government in Spain in 1936 changed all that.  Thousands of idealistic foreign volunteers, including Orwell and Smillie (then a student at Glasgow University), went to Spain to join the International Brigades to fight fascism.  There was only one problem - the communists.  While Stalin was prepared to arm the Spanish republican government against Franco, he was not in favour of a radical Spain, lest it got in the way of his plans for an anti-Hitler alliance with France and Britain.  The Soviet secret service (NKVD), including in its ranks many foreign communist militants, effectively took over republican Spain.  Anyone on their own side who got in the way was labelled a fascist, arrested, then shot.  That included supporters of the largest left-wing party in Spain, the Anarchist CNT.  But it also included the Catalan nationalists and ordinary social democrats, whose party was forcibly merged with the communists.  When, in May 1937, the Anarchists and the POUM - the Spanish partners of the ILP - objected to all this, the communists concocted the lie that these organisations were in league with Franco, and used military force in Barcelona to suppress them.  Orwell, who had been recovering from a bullet wound in the neck, escaped to France.  But Smillie was arrested by the NKVD at the border while on his way home to conduct an anti-fascist speaking tour. He was taken to a prison in Valencia and held incommunicado despite protests from the ILP in Britain. Subsequently, the communists announced Smillie had died on 13 June, 1937, from peritonitis. His body was immediately buried before anyone could see it.

Leading ILPers, such as John McNair, who was the party’s general secretary for 20 years, believed he had been deliberately shot (as were many POUM leaders).  Maxton went to Valencia to try to find out, but to no avail - the local communist press called him a fascist too.  Whether Smillie was executed, or died of deliberate neglect, he was the first foreigner associated with the International Brigades to become a mortal victim of Stalinist repression.  He should be a Scottish hero, but decades of Stalinist propaganda in the Scottish Labour movement have buried his memory.  Smillie’s death led Orwell to break with the romantic left of his day and denounce Stalinism, and with it the closed, self-certain mentality that supports such false utopias.  As a result, he was excoriated by the left. Even today, the Guardian is happy to run a front-page story implying that one of the 20th century’s greatest writers was merely a British equivalent of Senator McCarthy, and only then because he wanted to get his leg over.  The truth is that Orwell had seen his friends murdered and, unlike lazy, middle-class intellectuals in Britain, he was prepared to defend democracy in a typically robust way. By the way, that supposedly shady Foreign Office unit was actually set up in 1948 by the Labour foreign minister Ernest Bevin to counter Soviet propaganda - there were numerous communist agents inside the Parliamentary Labour Party. Orwell was advising on who would make a poor choice as a counter-propagandist. As to his assessments, consider McDiarmid, whom Orwell calls "reliably pro-Russian". Orwell died in 1950. In 1956, as Soviet tanks crushed the Hungarian uprising and there were mass defections from the British Communist Party, McDiarmid rejoined it. Is this not all ancient history?  No: Orwell’s warning that "totalitarian ideas have taken root in the minds of intellectuals everywhere" is still in force as long as there are those happily inventing utopias to impose on the rest of us. We need to remain robust in defending freedom, and that is done best by remembering people such as Bob Smillie.

In Spain in the past few years, there has emerged a popular movement to uncover the true facts about those who disappeared during the civil war.  The Association for the Recovery of Historic Memory wants the Spanish government to dig up and identify the corpses of the 30,000 people believed to have been executed by the fascists.  Why stop there? What about the executions in Spain by the communist secret police?  The time has come to solve the mystery of Bob Smillie’s death.  Where is he buried? Was he shot in the back of the head with a Mauser machine pistol, the method of choice of the NKVD?  Or was he just allowed to die in agony of peritonitis?  And who were the Scottish Comintern agents who informed on him?  Perhaps the Guardian has started a trend.

******

BARCELONA REPORT::

A struggle for regional autonomy

by Martin Gilbert

MY wife Joan and I were there from 12th November till 19th on a brief holiday. Easy to find:- interesting food, beautiful buildings especially the and amazing Gaudi ones and cosmopolitania.  Much less easy to find:- developments in the conflict there, their root causes and possible lessons for left libertarians.

Barcelona is the capital city of Catalonia. It has it’s own culture and language, distinct from Spain.  It is the wealthiest of Spain’s regions. Catalonia has been a part of that country for hundreds of years but time has not stopped the longing for independence from Madrid.  Many Catalonians oppose independence citing gloomy prophesies of economic suffering. Equally worrying forecasts were made about Brexit ruining London’s financial district.  Doubting such fears a multi-million pound office block is planned for “the city” by one such firm.  Another worry for the anti-independence people is that other provinces might also fall from Madrid’s power. Brussels is as much to blame for that reaction as Madrid.

Feeling sorry for the locals, Joan and I found that tourist bookings were 40% down on previous years.  Great bars and restaurants almost empty. We can blame media hype about cops beating up those trying to have a referendum months ago.  What happened was that Madrid sent in it’s own cops to do it.  That is because the central government could not trust the local Barcelona cops who are paid by that city.

Then as now both both sides have been using increasingly hostile language. Pro-independence Catalonians feel that their contribution to the civil war was all about that struggle.  Maybe what we heard was too emotive but I can only report what I heard. But the problem comes as much from Brussels as Madrid.

On the t.v. we saw big Euro boss Jean Claude Juncker. His body language and the subtitles clearly showed one message “there will be no regional autonomy, there can be none – I have spoken”.  Arrogant, pig headed or just doing his job???  

Throughout Europe there are requests and demands for regional autonomy in different forms, Solidarity is needed across the continent for these struggles.  We need a new international brigade. This time with anti-militarists, thinkers, negotiators and street performers.  Please visit Barcelona soon to up-date the above report. 

 

Also, take a look at freenorth@hotmail.co.uk who share some ideas raised

above.

martin gilbert, December 2017

Catalan Leader to Exorcist Tune

THE Spanish state broadcaster has been asked to explain why it ran the theme music to the 1973 horror film The Exorcist under a clip of the ousted Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont.

The theme is taken from Mike Oldfield's composition Tubular Bells.
It was played under Mr Puigdemont's voice in RTVE's flagship current affairs programme Informe Semanal last Saturday.
RTVE's own professional standards council said this was bad practice.
It started an investigation to find out who was responsible.

Informe Semanal - the title is Spanish for Weekly Report - has been running for 43 years on national television.
Last week it focused on the Catalan crisis. At about four and a half minutes in to the programme, Mr Puigdemont's clip came on, edited with Tubular Bells underneath.
Mr Puigdemont was saying that he and others were aware they might go to jail but would fight extradition.

Since the last government of Catalonia held a banned vote and declared the region independent, Spain's government has imposed direct rule, sacked the government, detained some Catalan leaders and called a snap election.

Reasons for the Catalan Crisis

'The elections in February [19]36 was celebrated with [the former Catalan President, Lluís] Companys* and his [Catalan] government [still] in prison, later what followed was the proclamation of the Catalan republic inside the federal Spanish republic.  Then with the victory of the Popular Front [parties] came amnesty [for Companys and the other Catalan politicians].  How it is that history repeats itself, unfortunately with other parameters, but without gun shots, physical violence, and despite the social break (the catalan society is divided in two parts)" '

Carlos Beltran:  former representative in the Madrid CGT / CNT 

GERALD Brenan, the anthropologist and historian (who lived in Spain from 1919 until his death in 1987), in his book 'The Spanish Labyrinth' (1962) wrote:
'Both linguistically and culturally Catalonia was originally an extension of the south of France rather than a part of Spain and, under the rich merchant class which ruled it during the Middle Ages, it acquired an active, enterprising character and a European outlook very different from that of its semi-pastoral neighbours on the interior plateaux.'

More recently in 2006, after lengthy negotiations a Socialist PSOE government had agreed a Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia that devolved further powers to the Catalan region in 2006.

This statute was put to a vote in the Spanish and Catalan parliaments and it was endorsed in a referendum in Catalonia.  At that stage, support for Catalan independence stood at just 14 percent. The conservative People’s Party (PP), then in opposition, promised to reverse the statute unilaterally and took the issue to the Constitutional Court. In 2010, the court struck down a large part of the statute.  The response in Barcelona was a huge demonstration of more than a million people under the slogan  'We are a nation. We decide.'

The following year, Rajoy’s PP won an outright majority in the general election.

As a consequence, the Catalan government and its supporters were annoyed and attempted to negotiate with Rajoy about what should happen next.  Rajoy refused to engage.  The results were to drive up support for independence, increased success for separatist parties in regional elections, the first of a series of attempts to hold a referendum on independence, and the replacement of the Catalan government’s centrist leader Artur Mas by the more radical Carles Puigdemont.  Thus it was Rajoy and his refusal to negotiate that almost single-handedly brought about the election of a majority-separatist government in Catalonia in 2016.

Meanwhile, a Madrid judge has jailed eight MPs involved in the Catalan government that had declared independence.   


Now with television channels showing images of police vans with flashing blue lights said to be taking the former ministers to different prisons, Catalans took to the streets in anger and disbelief.
There were protests in front of the Catalan parliament in Barcelona, the regional capital, with police estimating a crowd of 20,000.  Others gathered outside town halls across the region including 8,000 people in both Girona and Tarragona.

Marta Rovira, a lawyer and Catalan separatist lawmaker, briefly broke down in tears as she spoke to reporters in Madrid after the announcement of the detentions.
'The Spanish state is a failed state, a state that has failed democratically," she said. "I'm convinced we won't surrender, we won't, we will fight until the end.'

Carles Puigdemont, the fugitive former president of Catalonia, on Sunday handed himself over to Belgian police before a European arrest warrant invoked by a Spanish judge triggered his capture and detention.

Today, the Belgian vice-premier and interior minister stated that Madrid had overreacted and all efforts must be made to ensure that Mr Puigdemont and his colleagues get a fair trial if he is returned to Spain. Jan Jambon, who criticised the “silence” of the European Union on the issue, said:  'I am just questioning how a European Union member state can go this far and I am asking myself whether Europe is to have an opinion on this.'

*   Lluís Companys i Jover (Catalan pronunciation: [ʎuˈis kumˈpaɲs]; 21 June 1882 – 15 October 1940) was a leftist politician. He was the President of Catalonia (Spain), from 1934 and during the Spanish Civil War.
He was a lawyer and leader of the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) political party. Exiled after the war, he was captured and handed over by the Nazi secret police, the Gestapo, to the Spanish State of Francisco Franco, who had him executed by firing squad in 1940. Companys is the only incumbent democratically elected president in European history to have been executed.^{[3][4] [5]}

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CNT / CGT union's statement on 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...

...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.

CGT – Solidaridad Obrera – CNT, October 26, 2017. Original article in Spanish here. Translation made by and reposted from Enough is enough.

Free North Campaign

 NORTHERN REPUBLIC

Bulletin of the Free North Campaign

The Free North Campaign is a socialist, republican campaign group that

calls for ever-greater autonomy and self-government for the North of England. We do not support any single political party but stand in solidarity with progressive independence and regionalist movements around the world. We believe in the radical devolution of political and economic power away from

the London-centric elites to localcommunities and municipalities.

SOLIDARITY WITH CATALONIA!

The Free North Campaign sends its support and solidarity to the people of Catalonia in their historic struggle for freedom and independence from the Spanish state.Irrespective of

whether the October 1st referendum was legal or not (in the eyes of the Spanish government and courts), the violent response of the Madrid government must be condemned as a criminal act

.

The European Union must also be condemned for its predictably inadequate response to the oppressive Francoist tactics of the Rajoy government and the national police force.

The EU has demonstrated that its main concern is protecting the interest of Europe’s ruling elite, rather than defending the citizens of Europe.  During the Scottish referendum,  the British establishment used a combination of fear and insincere sycophancy to encourage Scots to vote No.  In contrast, the Spanish state broke bones, smashed heads open, stole ballot boxes and closed polling stations.  Anyone who was undecided about Catalan independence before the referendum can surely no longer be ambivalent about the issue now.

Catalan Nationalism contains liberal, conservative and left-wing shades of opinion. Our political sympathies naturally lie with those on the left; in the Catalan Parliament this is represented by the Republican Left of Cataloniaand the anti-capitalist Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP).

Fundamentally any region which seeks to separate itself from a repressive and reactionary state deserves the support of progressives. Independence alone will not inevitably lead to social and economic justice, but it can significantly speed up the pace of radical change and deal a decisive blow to the ruling class.

******

The Free North Campaignwelcomes all supporters who broadly

agree with our principles. 

Email us at: freenorth@hotmail.co.uk

and followthe twitter account @Free_North.

For a ‘Council of the North'

Political leaders from Leeds, Merseyside, Manchester Newcastle and West Yorkshire

met recently to discuss forming a body to speak on behalf of Northern interests.

Andy Burnham, the metro mayor of Greater Manchester said:

“If the North is to get the investment it has been promised, and fulfil its vast potential, we must come together, work together, and speak with one voice. “Today’s meeting was an important step

towards achieving that. The North of England is getting organised and can no longer be ignored.”

Steve Rotheram, the metro mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said:  

“The UK is simply too London-centric and we need to be inventive and determined if we are goingto off-set its disproportionate influence andshare of national resources.”

Puigdemont's Catalonia statement in 15 sentences

from La Vanguardia

Sergi Quitian , Barcelona

10/10/2017 20:00 | Updated 10/10/2017 20:27

The President of the [Catalan] Generalitat, Carles Puigdemont , appeared on Tuesday October 10 before the plenary of the Parliament and at his own request to report the results of the referendum on independence on 1 October .
The speech has been studied to the last detail in the last hours and has been controversial until the last moment in a meeting that have maintained the parliamentary groups of Junts pel Yes and the CUP and that has caused that the president Puigdemont requested the delay one hour from the beginning of the session.
Finally, at 19.00 in the afternoon and before all the deputies of the Parliament and more than 1,000 journalists, Puigdemont has assumed the mandate to turn Catalonia into an independent State in the form of a republic while at the same time asking the House to suspend the application of the DUI to open a process of dialogue.

'I assume the mandate of the people that Catalunya will become an independent state in the form of a republic '

'The Government and myself propose to the Parliament to suspend the effects of the declaration of independence to establish a process of dialogue '

'What I expose today is not a personal opinion, derives from the results of 1-O '

'The 1-O Catalunya held a referendum on self-determination in extreme conditions, amidst attacks on people who queued to introduce their ballot '

'The images of 1-O will remain in our memory forever, we will never forget it '

'We must all take our responsibility to de-escalate the situation. I will not contribute with the word or with the gesture to increase it '

'The votes favorable to the Estatut were 145,000 less than that obtained the yes to the independence the past 1-O '

'Millions of citizens have come to the rational conclusion that the only way to guarantee coexistence is for Catalonia to become a '

'From the point of view of self-government the last seven years have been the worst of the last four decades. There has been a lamination of skills and a shocking contempt against the language, culture and way of life in Catalonia '

'Catalan demands have always been expressed peacefully and from majorities obtained at the polls.'

'I ask for an effort to know and recognize what has brought us here. We are not criminals, we are not crazy, we are not abductees or coup. We are normal people who want to express themselves '

'We have nothing against Spain or against the Spaniards, on the contrary, we want to find ourselves better. To date the relationship does not work '

'Police repression and disqualification have been the response of the Spanish state to a peaceful demand '

'The polls have said yes to independence and this is the way that I am willing to go .'

There is a plea for dialogue that crosses all Europe, which already feels called '

Catalan situation stirring up Spain's troubled past

on NEWS EUROPE

by Mary Fitzgerald

October 7 2017 2:30 AM

NATIONALISM is such a prickly question in Spain that the country's national anthem is only one of a handful in the world to have no words, or at least no words that are acceptable to everyone.  The 'Marcha Real' (or 'Royal March') once had lyrics approved by General Francisco Franco, their fascistic overtones reflecting the nature of his dictatorship.  But the anthem has been played without words since 1978 when Spain embraced democracy three years after the general's death.

It is impossible to observe what is currently happening in Spain - with the clash between Madrid and Catalans seeking independence triggering its most serious political crisis in years - without seeing ghosts of the country's past, and particularly the long decades of the Franco era.

"Espana una, grande y libre" (Spain, one, great and free) was the slogan of the Franco regime as it sought to centralise the country through authoritarianism after it emerged from a civil war so bloody a large part of its history remains unexplored.

The post-Franco democratic transition saw Spain carved into 17 autonomous regions but the question of how autonomous they should be has been fraught ever since.

While the 1978 constitution gave control of services including education and health to regional governments, ultimate power was vested in Madrid.
Several parts of Spain chafed under this set-up, and some chafed more than others, particularly the Basque region and Catalonia where the sense of regional identity is particularly strong and rooted in distinctive languages as well as history.

Grievances from the Franco era play a key role in shaping narratives in both regions, the resentment towards Madrid is partly rooted in those historical experiences and can sometimes take a disturbing turn.
I remember one elderly man who helped found ETA, the armed group that transformed the Basque push for autonomy into a violent campaign, telling me they would never forget what Franco had done to their region. Among other things, he claimed Franco had tried to "dilute the blood purity of the Basques" by resettling people from other parts of Spain there.

For many Catalan separatists, similar memories of the Franco years are key to their antipathy towards Castillian nationalism.
But just like not every Catalan is in favour of independence, not every Spaniard troubled by the separatist push shares the worldview of the protesters in Madrid recently filmed making arm salutes while singing Franco-ist anthems.

Among the many who do not fit the lazy categorisations employed by too many on all sides of the current debacle is a Spaniard I know who was born in Extremadura near the Portuguese border - historically one of the country's poorest regions - grew up in Madrid and later lived for several years in Barcelona as an adult.  He is a filmmaker and his politics are of the left.  Having made his home in several countries over the years, if anything he would describe himself as citizen of the world. Several members of his family died fighting Franco's side during the civil war, others were among the war prisoners used to carve out the massive Valle de los Caidos (Valley of The Fallen) memorial near Madrid where the general was eventually buried.  I remember visiting the site with him some years ago and seeing how the monument is a place of pilgrimage for those still nostalgic for the Franco era while representing something very different and unsettling to others.

Nationalism leaves this Spaniard cold for all kinds of reasons, including his country's turbulent past, but what is happening in Catalonia also worries him.

The actions of police who used rubber bullets and batons to stop people voting in last Sunday's referendum shocked him, just as the Catalan insistence to hold the ballot despite Madrid banning it as unconstitutional concerned him.
'There is much politicking at play and few signs of politicians facing up to their responsibilities whether in Madrid or Barcelona,' he says.

He's been arguing with Catalan friends. "Emotions are running too high on all sides, it has fed the extremes."
What he dreams of is a Spain united in its diversity, one where the appeal of hard-line nationalists - whether Castillian or regional - would gradually wear away.

But the question of a singular national identity continues to elude Spain decades after Franco tried to impose one through a dictatorship entwined with Catholicism that sought to erase regional languages and cultural diversity.  Many argue it is an impossibility.
For now, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has offered all-party negotiations which raises the prospect of some kind of agreement that would give Catalonia more autonomy, but not independence.
The police violence of last weekend has fanned the hardline Catalan separatists, however, so a peaceful solution is not guaranteed.  And watching closely will be separatist movements elsewhere in Spain and far beyond its borders.

M/c Communist Party Commemoration:

Mrs Brown's Boys

‘From Manchester to Spain’: a commemoration of the life of George Brown; 2pm-4pm at the Waldorf Hotel, Gore Street, Manchester M1 3AQ; organised by the George Brown Commemoration Committee, Greater Manchester Communist Party and local IBMT members.

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LAST Saturday, the Manchester communists held a commemoration to George Brown who died fighting for the republican government in Spain during the Spanish Civil War.  

The event was introduced by Liz Payne, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Britain,

Slimmer and less charismatic than Boris Johnson, but with a similar shade of hair and equally plummy-voice, she introduced the event which with 30-odd in attendance was notable for its lack of young people.
Charles Jepson, a cheeky mustachioed J.P. from Blackburn, gave the talk on George Brown stressing his Irish roots and Communist Party connections.  It seems that George was distressed about the support for Franco prevailing in Ireland at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War.  The Roman Catholics were he said concerned about the attacks on the churches by Catalan and Spanish anarchist trade unionists.  Mr. Jepson himself taught at a high class Catholic school in Lancashire, and has sympathies for the IRA.
Mr. Jepson did not mention George's brother Michael Brown who was one of the earlier volunteers in the Spanish conflict, but who is sometimes classed as a 'deserter'. 

One account describes Michael experience thus:
'While Michael Brown was among the first group of British-based volunteers, arriving before the International Brigades were set up. He joined the No. 1 Coy. XIV Battalion at Lopera in late December 1936, a battle where the newly arrived volunteers were brutally attacked by the fascist troops. Having gone through this battle, Michael returned to Britain,...'

Tameside TUC & its enemies

The Tameside TUC booklet to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Spanish Civil War, first published in 2006, which interestingly was immediately confronted by elements in the Manchester International Brigade Memorial Trust such as Mike Luft who initially tried to suppress its production, but when they failed it went on to described Michael Brown as living in Harperhey, Manchester as follows:  'Deserted in December 1936, declaring:  'this isn't a war, this is bloody madness.  I've had enough.'

Tameside TUC's booklet states:  'George Brown from Platting, Manchester:  Secretary of Manchester Communist Party Branch.  Political commissar in Spain.  Killed at Villanueva de la Cañada in July 1937.'

Mr. Jepson said George Brown was wounded in Madridand he pointed out George Brown was a well-established leader of the workers’ movement in Manchester, who is on record as being the most senior member of the Communist Party of Great Britain to be killed in action in Spain.  He was a full-time worker for the Party and a member of its national leadership, the Central Committee.
The mood music in George Brown's birth place the Irish Republic in 1936, was supportive of Franco, and the Irish Brigade (Spanish: Brigada Irlandesa, "Irish Brigade" Irish: Briogáid na hÉireann) fought on the Nationalist side of Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War.  The unit was formed wholly of Roman Catholics by the politician Eoin O'Duffy, who had previously organised the banned quasi-fascist Blueshirts and openly fascist Greenshirts in Ireland.
Jepson said that all this seeing General Franco as a saviour of the Roman Catholic Church disturbed George Brown, and he backed the 320 volunteers – both resident in Ireland or members of the ‘Irish Diaspora’ from the far-flung corners of the globe -  were part of a 45,000 strong army of private individuals from all walks of life resolved to stem the rise of fascism.  The majority of these volunteers served with the International Brigades, others were involved with various militias, and still more were engaged in medical and other support services. Over 55 different nationalities were represented.

'Sentimental Tripe' !

Another speaker talked about his aunty Evelyn Jones who was George Brown's wife, and who later after Georges death married Jack Jones, the man who later was to become the leader of the Transport & General Workers Union.  She was for a time a member of the Communist Party, and had been a Comintern courier during the Spanish Civil War.  
The talk was of interest but given that 10,000 police from other regions of Spain had been moved into Catalonia on the eve of the Catalan referendum the whole event had the feel of a Sunshine Club for elderly folk.  I was put in mind of what George Orwell wrote in his review of 'Volunteer in Spain', the book by international brigader John Sommerfield:  which Orwell described it thus:
'it may seem ungracious to say that this book is a piece of sentimental tripe; but so it is.'  
Sentimental tripe dogs these commemorations of the International Brigade Memorial Trust to this very day, as we witnessed last Saturday, and as we experienced when Tameside TUC published its own publication which tried to give a fair and balanced account of the local contributions of the international brigade volunteers in the struggle against Franco's fascists.  The problem with the International Brigade Memorial Trust is that it tries to present the British contingent of the International Brigade volunteers as a kind of cavalry, which stood in defence of democratic values between the people of Spain and Franco's fascists and the Moors.  In playing up the contribution of the international brigade at the expense of the Spanish working-class it often borders on hispanophobia.

Why was Spain the first country to seriously resist Fascism?

Ignazio Silone wrote in his book 'School for Dictators':

'Compare the respective attitudes towards fascism of the Spanish workers and the Germans.  The difference in national character can explain only part of the different way of reacting to the enemy's attack.  The growth in big industry has been a powerful help in reinforcing the tendency of Germans - workers included - towards zusammenmarschieren (mass-man marching together).... Individual initiative has been reduced to zero.'

The fact is the Spaniards were the first to seriously resist fascism because of the history and rural roots, which allowed anarchism to develop in cities like Barcelona to influence the labour movement.  We see the effects of this today in the general strike that is now taking place against the police brutality that took place during the Catalan referendum.
Pedro Cuadrado who was in the republican police in Barcelona in 1936, and later lived in Bolton, said that Barcelona was the first city to halt the march of fascism.

Because many, if not most of the members of the International Brigade Memorial Trust are super-annuated former British communist party members, they have difficulty understanding a cultures such as that of the Catalans and the Spaniards.