As Catalonia today fights for its freedom, it should not be forgotten that the current government of Spain are the direct political heirs of Franco and that many of their ministers have personal and family connections to his rule. Rajoy, Spain’s current Prime Minister, started his political career in 1981 by joining the People’s Alliance, a party founded in 1979 and led by 7 of Franco’s ministers to carry on the Francoist legacy. The People’s Alliance became the major component in the now governing People’s Party.
That is the essential background to the extreme Spanish nationalist dislike of freedom for Catalonia, and far right nationalist moves to declare the Catalan referendum illegal.
This is a good day to think of Euan MacColl’s updating of Jamie Foyers, to remember those Scots who fought alongside the Catalans against fascism at the Battle of the Ebro.
Faur distant, faur distant, lies Foyers the brave
Nae tombstone memorial shall hallow his grave
For his bones they lie scattered on the rude soil o Spain
An young Jamie Foyers in battle wis slain
He’s gane frae the shipyaird that stauns on the Clyde
His haimmer lies idle, his tools laid aside
Tae the wide Ebro river young Foyers has gane
Tae fight by the side o the people o Spain
Thair wisnae his equal at wark or at play
He wis strang in the Union till his dying day
He wis grand at the fitbaa, at the dance he wis braw
Young Jamie Foyers wis the flouer o thaim aa
He cam hame frae the shipyaird, took aff his warkin claes
O, A mind the time weill in the lang simmer’s days
He said, “Thinknae lang, lassie, A’ll come back again”
But young Jamie Foyers in battle was slain
In the fight for Belcite, he was aye tae the fore
An he focht at Gandesa till he couldnae fight more
For he lay owre his machine gun wi a bullet in his brain
An young Jamie Foyers in battle was slain
Faur distant, faur distant, lies Foyers the brave
Nae tombstone memorial shall hallow his grave
For his bones they lie scattered on the rude soil o Spain
An young Jamie Foyers in battle was slain
When the BBC was smugly quoting the current Francoist government of Spain as the bar to Scotland’s entry into the EU, I was longing for somebody to give just a little of this historic perspective. But of course, the mainstream media never did.
Great post Craig and yes my Spanish comrades in the European Parliament would always point out the fascist history of their PP MEPs! We forget how recent the Spanish Civil war was and how many died including young Scots in the International Brigade. Paul Preston’s recent book is rightly called ” Holocaust” 600,000 people died in the civil war. The little village of Frigiliana where I am spending xmas lost over 300 people murdered by the fascists in one day! ps Craig Euan McColl was a Ewan mind you his real name was Jimmy Miller!
Craig.
You tube video you might like for our Independence, from Catalonia.
Solidarity with scotland from all around the world.
There will not be a 55 45 split in their vote!
Many people from all over the British Isles joined the International Brigade, not just Scots. There were Welsh, Irish and – whisper it – English too. I have to say that two of England’s most prominent participants, Laurie Lee and George Orwell, wrote far more vividly and effectively about the conflict than Ewan MacColl ever could.
Voting is brisk, with no interference from the police. Catalonia’s vote will be administrated, overlooked and counted by volunteers, not state employees, a clever move indeed to keep within the law. Still, the ‘fascistas’ filed complains to have it stopped.
“The citizen participation process on independence has kicked off at 9am on November 9 despite the temporary suspension of the Constitutional Court. Finally, the 1,317 voting centres hosting 6,695 polling stations have opened their doors without major incidents, as has been confirmed by the Catalan Government. Long queues of voters were waiting to cast their ballot in a festive atmosphere from early morning. The vote is being run by 40,930 volunteers, but the Catalan Executive is actively behind the process. During the day it will offer turnout figures and it should announce the results on Monday.
The ballot boxes are located in high-schools run by the Catalan Government or in municipal centres in small towns and villages. A delegation of international observers is monitoring the process. Several Spanish nationalist parties and organisations have filed judicial complaints asking for the vote to be stopped and members of the Catalan Government to be arrested. In addition, the Public Prosecutor Office – obeying the Spanish Government –asked the Catalan Police to identify the volunteers opening the voting centres, but the Catalan Government refused to do so as they had authorised volunteers to access public venues.”
http://www.catalannewsagency.com/
viva catalonia
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_parties_in_Catalonia
Any autonomy there.
Egalitarian or non egalitarian?
How about this who can should help those that can’t.
Thanks for this post.
And thanks to it, I’ve just spent an hour or so wandering the web where I discovered, first, this lovely rendition of Jamie Foyers by Larsa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRdKk9wbiHg
and then, possibly an even better one, that’s part of a CD made in 2011 of songs which commemorates the contribution of Scottish volunteers to the International Brigades called “From Blantyre to Barcelona”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4jacqL1LtY
Not sure if the CD is still available but you can listen to the tracks on youtube.
Craig – when you are appointed Ambassador of Scotland – I shall remain a member of the International Brigade.
We shall then have meetings and discussions ranging the “linguicide” legislated under Franco to the genocide of that time. It shall thereafter be resolved that we shall continue to work for peace in the world and global justice for all.
Aluta continua!
Good luck to the Catalonian’s, I hope their mock poll for independence, ends with a yes vote. It must be difficult for them with government forces in their faces.
I hope they have the passion of Dolores Ibarruri, who said “Its better to die on your feet, than live forever on your knees.”
There’s a wonderful statue of Dolores Ibarruri, on Glasgow’s Clydeside, created by Arthur Dooley, in memory of the 543 volunteer’s who died, 65 of whom, were from Glasgow.
I’ve met his wife. She’s very nice. Their daughter Kirsty got her head chopped off in a diving accident in Mexico. (Justice for Kirsty). Co-incidentally we nearly went to the same place (Cozumel), but they cancelled the booking at the last minute, so we went to the Maldives instead. The tsunami missed (seriously they woke us up at 2:00am), and both our kids got their PADI’s
“Kirsty MacColl – A New England”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0Zvu_id_ew
Craig’s off to Westminster Then???
Tony
According to the BBC:
He [the Spanish PM Rajoy] said the spirit of the age was integration…
Which is pretty much what the SNP say. But they just hate their English, Welsh and Irish neighbours and want to integrate with the Poles, Germans, Romulans and Bulgars, instead, while having much less influence over the policy of the central government in Brussels. But it will provide lots of lovely jobs for the boys.
Further, Rajoy is reported to have said:
If Catalonia’s parliament does pass a law allowing a “consultation vote”, Spain’s constitutional court is widely expected to declare it “illegal”.
Pretty much as a British court will decide if Scotland holds another independence referendum while declaring that the result will be binding, i.e., to be followed by UDI.
I’m English with Spanish parents. Most of the Catalan nationalist movement is simply based upon economic selfishness. They are richer than the rest of Spain and thus want all that money to themselves. This isn’t a nasty position to take, it is just selfish because it leaves the poor regions of Spain with even less chance of surviving economically. I don’t know how anyone who is on the left can really support it? The bulk of the swing in recent years is base economic selfishness, which makes sense for Catalans, but it is not particularly an honorable position.
What a dick CanSpeccy is.
Esteban
As is the case selfishness. How we can sit on the sofa and draw welfare and allow others to work and yet
incredible position the left holds elitist in nature and insistent our rights to sit on the sofa if we want. All positions are elitist and not communal in our present dichotomy.
Esteban, is it down to the Catalans that consecutive Spanish Governments have failed their people in the rest of the country?
Is it Catalans who create massive white elephants, roads that go nowhere, speculative housing bubbles, a false economy that can’t survive without tourism?
Why is it that Spain’s poor justice system and politicians have failed to deal with its fascist leftover Constitution?, with Government ministers calling hard working people ‘criminals’ for daring to want to go it alone?
please do tell us.
Esteban
My limited understanding of the situation supports your point. As an old romantic fan of radical decentralisation I would love to think otherwise but it does appear that Catalan independence is currently driven by economics rather than reform.
Viva Andalucia¡
Fuck me. Just seen Craig is running for parliament again.
Remind me, what is the SNPs position on NATO and the monarchy?
“Remind me, what is the SNPs position on NATO and the monarchy?”
Adding the EU, BRICS and TPIP for good measuring of progress toward democracy. Independence could be a beginning or more likely, ‘meet the new boss, same as the old…’.
Ben
The king is dead! Long live the king!
Pity the American people for imagining that they have just elected the new Congress. In a formal way, they of course have. The public did vote. But in a substantive way, it’s not true that they have chosen their government.
This was the billionaires’ election, billionaires of both parties. And while the Republican and Democratic Party billionaires have some differences, what unites them is much stronger than what divides them, a few exceptions aside. Indeed, many of the richest individual and corporate donors give to both parties. The much-discussed left-right polarization is not polarization at all. The political system is actually relatively united and working very effectively for the richest of the rich.
There has never been a better time for the top 1%. The stock market is soaring, profits are high, interest rates are near zero, and taxes are low. The main countervailing forces — unions, antitrust authorities, and financial regulators — have been clobbered.
Think of it this way. If government were turned over to the CEOs of ExxonMobil, Goldman Sachs, Bechtel, and Health Corporation of America, they would have very little to change of current policies, which already cater to the four mega-lobbies: Big Oil, Wall Street, defense contractors, and medical care giants. This week’s election swing to the Republicans will likely give these lobbies the few added perks that they seek: lower corporate and personal tax rates, stronger management powers vis-à-vis labor, and even weaker environmental and financial regulation.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-sachs/understanding-and-overcom_b_6113618.html
Phil; Someone said ‘put a knife in my back six-inches in, then when you withdraw to just three inches….that’s progress’ or wtte.
“nevermind, there’s a future, still”
This is all true, I don’t dispute the terrible governance of Spain.
I think we are entering dangerous times if the answer to all of this, whether in Britain or in Spain is nationalism and separatism. This isn’t an answer to any of those problems? Should every country plagued with governmental problems fix this by dividing into regions/new states.
You may wish to wrap it up as some sort of liberation, but popular support for Catalan independence is sheer selfishness about not wanting to share the wealth of that part of Spain with the rest of the Spanish people (similar to Lega Nord in Italy). Now this is a fully understandable position for Catalans to take, just as I understand why the middle classes may vote for tax cuts; they will without a shadow of a doubt be wealthier. The consequences for poor regions of Spain is that the lives of people living there will be made even more miserable. This is nothing to celebrate.
I am interested in the Catalonian result. Like Scotland it will be close. Hopefully the independence of certain areas will work well in opposing US/UK hegemony worldwide. One thing that intrigues me is how Scotland, the People’s Republic of Donetsk, Catalonia and other breakaway states will stop communications interceptions from US/UK interception stations at GCHQ, Menwith Hill and elsewhere when Angela Merkel could not do it.
This is tangential but important to Craig as a human rights’ advocate. Lawyers have, it seems, had their telephone conversations with clients intercepted for years. We know this now thanks to a FOI raised by Reprieve. (I hope good people wh comment here will continue to support Reprieve whcih does sterling work.)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/11213755/MI5-and-GCHQ-documents-allow-spying-on-lawyers.html
You may wish to wrap it up as some sort of liberation, but popular support for Catalan independence is sheer selfishness about not wanting to share the wealth of that part of Spain with the rest of the Spanish people (similar to Lega Nord in Italy).
Will the wealthy EU states willingly continue to share the wealth with the rest of the EU as well? This blogger is doubtful:
“I hope they have the passion of Dolores Ibarruri, who said “Its better to die on your feet, than live forever on your knees.””
_________________
Ah yes, “La Pasionaria” – whose primary passion (idealogically, of course) was for Uncle Joe Stalin, to whose peculiar outlook and modus operandi she remained loyal unto and beyond Uncle Joe’s death….
Lucky for her that she only arrived in the Soviet Union after the purges that swept to their deaths so many of the European communists residing there in early and mid 1930s…
And lucky for the Spanish people that – unlike the Polish, East German, Bulgarian, Romanian, Czechoslovak and Hungarian Communists groomed in Moscow during the war years – she never made it back to Spain after 1945.
@Esteban
They are richer than the rest of Spain and thus want all that money to themselves.
Change Spain to UK and there you have the prime reason for Scotch independence, don’t you? Plus Anglophobia.
In addition, some claim that an “independent” Scotland would have a more moral foreign policy than the UK.
But since the Scotch independentists say that once shot of the UK they would join the EU, then they must expect to find themselves just as much in thrall to the New World Order program for global empire as they are at present, within the UK.
UKIP, of course, unlike the EU, condemns the Anglo-French bombing of Libya and British intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan.
What the independentists also ignore is that the EU has its own tendency to equalize income, which will only intensify as the consolidation of the EU superstate proceeds. Then citizens of an “independent” Scotland will not only find most of their laws made in Brussels, but will see their fast declining oil royalties go increasingly to help their brothers in Bulgaria, Rumania, Greece, and a Nazified Ukraine.
“I’m English with Spanish parents. Most of the Catalan nationalist movement is simply based upon economic selfishness. They are richer than the rest of Spain and thus want all that money to themselves. This isn’t a nasty position to take, it is just selfish because it leaves the poor regions of Spain with even less chance of surviving economically. I don’t know how anyone who is on the left can really support it? The bulk of the swing in recent years is base economic selfishness, which makes sense for Catalans, but it is not particularly an honorable position.”
______________
Agree entirely. A “Yes” voter said as much on the BBC’s Radio 4 6pm news a couple of hours ago (“why should we Catalans have to give money to Spain?”)
Ingo
“Why is it that Spain’s poor justice system and politicians have failed to deal with its fascist leftover Constitution?, with Government ministers calling hard working people ‘criminals’ for daring to want to go it alone?
please do tell us.”
___________________
While waiting for Estaeban to tell us, perhaps you could tell us what is fascist about the present Spanish Constitution?
When answering – I’m sure you’d wish to back up your assertion – you might like to cite the articles od said Constitution which you consider to be fascist.
Muchas gracias.
“As Catalonia today fights for its freedom, it should not be forgotten that the current government of Spain are the direct political heirs of Franco and that many of their ministers have personal and family connections to his rule. Rajoy, Spain’s current Prime Minister, started his political career in 1981 by joining the People’s Alliance, a party founded in 1979 and led by 7 of Franco’s ministers to carry on the Francoist legacy. The People’s Alliance became the major component in the now governing People’s Party.”
__________________
A cunningly written introduction which attempts to tar the present Spanish govt with the brush of Francoism (that’s the Franco who died 39 years ago).
But interesting and it would be even more interesting to have you define and flesh out a few of your claims:
1/. In what way(s) is Catalonia not “free” (except in the sense that it is not independent but part of Spain)?
2/. What do you mean by saying that the present Spanish govt are the “political heirs of Franco”?
3/. How many Spanish ministers are there and how many of them have “personal and family connections” to Franco’s rule? What do you mean by the expression “personal and family conncections”?
4/.Would you agree that the last few Spanish govts under Franco contained ministers of widely different (as to degree, I mean) Conservative outlooks.
5/. On the assumption that you agree with Nevermind’s description of the current Spanish Constitution as a “fascist leftover”, how would you explain the fact that the Spain had Socialist govts for a good many of the post-Franco years?
Thanks.
The original ‘broadside’.
Broadside ballad entitled ‘Jamie Foyers’
http://digital.nls.uk/broadsides/broadside.cfm/id/20866
How Ordinary Scots in Bygone Days Found out what was Happening
http://digital.nls.uk/broadsides/index.html
For info.
JOHN PILGER TO LAUNCH ‘THE CONTRADICTIONS OF MEDIA POWER’.
Q&A on the ABC of media power with John Pilger to mark the launch of Professor Des Freedman’s new book, The Contradictions of Media Power.
Tuesday 18 November, 6-8pm, in the Lecture Theatre, Ben Pimlott building, Goldsmiths, University of London, Lewisham Way, New Cross, London SE14 6NW
FREE to attend but registration is essential
http://www.eventbrite.com/e/qa-on-the-abc-of-media-power-with-john-pilger-and-des-freedman-to-launch-the-contradictions-of-tickets-14013463647
JOHN PILGER TO SPEAK ON INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM AND PROPAGANDA
The Centre for Investigative Journalism and The Logan Foundation will stage a landmark conference on investigative journalism on December 5-7 at the Barbican in London.
Speakers include Seymour Hersh, Julian Assange, John Pilger, Sarah Harrison and Charles Lewis.
Details here: The Logan Symposium
http://logancij.com/