catalonia
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Spanish army threatens to intervene in Catalonia as ministers are jailed By Paul Mitchell and Alex Lantier
The threat of domestic military intervention in Spain, amid a state of emergency in neighboring France and escalating demands for Internet censorship in Washington, is the product of a mortal crisis of capitalism. After a quarter century of escalating militarism and austerity measures since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, and particularly since… Continue reading
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Catalan Premier Appeals To EU As Opposition Mounts To Madrid’s Crackdown By Alex Lantier
Workers in Catalonia and across Spain face an attempt by the Spanish ruling elite to seize the Catalan regional state apparatus, purge the public service and crush all opposition to the EU’s agenda of austerity and militarism by mobilizing tens of thousands of Guardia Civil and soldiers. The danger of bloody police-military repression in Catalonia… Continue reading
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Spain Imposes Military Rule in Catalonia to Preempt Independence Bid By Alex Lantier and Alejandro López
Yesterday’s events mark a historic collapse of democratic forms of rule in Western Europe and a return to authoritarianism with far-reaching implications. The Spanish political set-up created 39 years ago, in the so-called Transition from the 1939-1978 fascist regime established by General Francisco Franco, has burst asunder. With the full support of the European Union… Continue reading
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Spain Moves Toward Military Rule In Catalonia By Alex Lantier
In a menacing speech to the Spanish Congress on Wednesday, Popular Party (PP) Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy stated that, in response to Catalan regional Premier Carles Puigdemont’s speech affirming the October 1 independence referendum, he was preparing to invoke Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution. This provision allows Madrid to suspend the authority of the… Continue reading
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Catalan Premier Affirms Right To Independence From Spain, But Delays Formal Declaration By Alex Lantier
Speaking Tuesday evening before the Catalan parliament in Barcelona, regional premier Carles Puigdemont announced that Catalonia would secede from Spain, in line with the result of the October 1 Catalan independence referendum. However, he put off a formal declaration of independence for now and requested negotiations with the central government in Madrid. The Popular Party… Continue reading
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Don’t Cry for Me, Catalonia By S. Artesian
Either the secessionist wave mobilizing hundreds of thousands in Catalonia is being generated by the conflicts and antagonisms intrinsic to capitalism in general as expressed in the particular conflicts and antagonisms embedded in the capitalist relations of Catalonia with the rest of Spain, or…or nothing, because then the critique of capital, and historical materialism have… Continue reading
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Catalan Independence: Out of Madrid’s Frying Pan, Into the NATO Fire? By Tony Cartalucci
Media on all sides surrounding the recent Catalan referendum for independence from Spain focused on Madrid’s security crackdown on voters. However, what is not being mentioned about Catalonia’s ongoing bid to achieve independence, who is leading it, and what their plans are for the region should they succeed, is just as important. Continue reading
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Cataluña Libre? By Peter Koenig
Yesterday’s historic vote – the Referendum decided by the Government of Cataluña, called illegal by the neoliberal Rajoy Government of Madrid – turned into an event of abject police violence against masses of unarmed voters. The Referendum may have been illicit according to the Spanish Constitution, but voting in a referendum as an expression of… Continue reading
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The future of the EU at stake in Catalonia By Pepe Escobar
Fascist Franco may have been dead for more than four decades, but Spain is still encumbered with his dictatorial corpse. A new paradigm has been coined right inside the lofty European Union, self-described home/patronizing dispenser of human rights to lesser regions across the planet: “In the name of democracy, refrain from voting, or else.” Call… Continue reading
The New Dark Age 