Help Catalonia : A message from Libya

a Monday, November 11, 2013

Help Catalonia has received the following statement from the All for Tamazight as an Official Language in the Libyan Constitution:

"For the Amazigh people (the native people of North Africa), it's not hard to understand the suffering of the Catalan people.

We fully know what you guys are talking about, for we live with worst haters.
Best wishes.

Best wishes for Catalonia!".

It is really nice to receive such kind words from the Amazigh people or other nations who help Catalonia.

We will not forget them when we will be free.


http://www.helpcatalonia.cat/2013/11/a-message-from-lybia.html

Help Catalonia : Over 3,000 people plant starred flags on 300 peaks all over Europe

a Tuesday, November 05, 2013

Last August, a friend of mine –my trekking mate- told me about the project “Estelades al cim” (“Starred flags on the summit”), and I naturally joined in. It was a perfect opportunity to combine two things we like a lot: mountaineering (although we are “small mountaineers”) and the struggle for Catalonia’s independence.

Since we hadn’t been very active in August, we decided to climb a low peak –the Puig Estela (2,013 m), near St. Joan de les Abadesses- to unfurl our “estelada” there, at the same time as thousands of other Catalans were doing so on other summits.

On the 8th of September we set out without knowing if the weather would allow us to reach the top, but it didn’t rain, and up we went slowly but surely. Halfway to the summit we came across a friend from Barcelona who had also joined “Starred flags on the summit”, so our small group went from two to seven people who wanted to see their “estelades” waving in the wind.

Although we could see the Taga from the Puig Estela, it was too cloudy for us to spot our friends and their flags there. But it was really exciting to think that all over Catalonia, and even beyond, many other Catalans had joined us and our flag. The power of a people!

Blandine was in one of the 400 expeditions that took part in the project “Starred flags on the summit”, which was organized by a group of friends such as Eloi and Xavier. “Help Catalonia” talked to them a few days after the simultaneous trekking trips.

Do you feel the project was a success?
Yes, a great success, because in spite of the bad weather everyone was very enthusiastic and showed a very positive attitude. We’re already considering doing it again next year!
So we can say you had a good idea. Where did it come from?

We do a lot of trekking and mountaineering, and people often plant the “estelada” or the Catalan flag or some other flag on the summit once they get there. And on one of our trips we thought: “Why don’t we tell everyone who climbs a peak on Catalonia’s national day to plant an ‘estelada’ there and take pictures with it?”

And the idea ended up crossing borders.

Yes, it was done on over 300 peaks in Catalonia, Eïvissa, Minorca, Majorca, French Catalonia, Denmark, Scotland, England and Switzerland combined.

Catalan

http://www.helpcatalonia.cat/2013/11/over-3000-people-plant-starred-flags-on.html

Are Catalan Companies Really Transferring to Madrid? By Help Catalonia

a Saturday, October 26, 2013



First, it was Mr Enrique Ossorio, the Economy Minister of the Autonomous Government of Madrid, last August 19th. He was smart and polite. He only "remarked" that 1,060 corporations had left Catalonia in the last 3 years to go to Madrid. A couple of days later, the right-wing daily La Gaceta took another pot-shot: "Catalan Money Flees to Madrid"


Spanish unionism is showing a serious lack of arguments in the debate on Catalan independence, in every aspect. But this lack is particularly dramatic in the economics area. The plundering that the Catalan economy has to bear is so huge and has lasted so long that is hard to hide, and the Catalan people have realized what the situation is.

That's why the words of Mr Enrique Ossorio at the press conference last August 19th are surprising. He said that according to a study by market intelligence firm Axesor, "over 1,000 corporations left Catalonia for Madrid over the last 3 years because of the attractive policies for the corporations put in place by our (Madrid) region". Nothing further was necessary. The allusion to the "independence process in Catalonia" was clear to everybody. And a couple of days later La Gaceta reinforced the idea by talking about a "massive exodus of corporations", the "financial and commercial isolation of Catalonia" and "jeopardised investments"

Let's do some analysing

A – 1,060 corporations leaving Catalonia for Madrid in 3 years means an average of 353 corporations a year. Taking into account the efforts of Spain's "radial policy" (everything starts and ends in Madrid) and also the policy that puts Madrid at the centre of everything (high speed trains, motorways, AENA Spanish Airports and Air Navigation Authority) that Spain has applied for centuries, but that has been racked up in the last 30 years, one can't really say that the rate of corporate transfer has been successful. Because the reality is that the radial model (everything in the centre: Madrid) is designed to oversize Madrid -the capital of Spain is a kind of economic resources hoover- at the expense of the peripheral Spanish regions, which are far more active and dynamic in economic terms. And not to mention the ethics of someone who brags of stealing corporations from other regions, with the implicit unemployment and poverty. But no one is complaining about that in Spain. If it were Catalonia bragging about attracting corporations from other parts of Spain, things would be very different.

B – If we take the total number of corporations that have taken flight for Madrid in the 3 years in question, Catalan ones represent 20% of the total, much in line with the Catalan share of Spanish GDP. So nothing out of the ordinary there. When Mr Ossorio remarks specifically that Catalan corporations are going to Madrid, frightened by the independence process, one presumes, is Mr. Ossorio saying there are also independence debates going on in the regions of Castilla-La Mancha from which 679 companies have migrated to Madrid, Valencia (784), or the super-Spanish Andalusia (763)? But nothing has been said about the flight of these corporations. Or did Mr. Ossorio shrewdly take advantage of the situation to drop the bomb and get his 15 minutes of fame? Two days later La Gaceta was less subtle. This lack of rigour by the Spanish media and politicians, including some Catalan unionists, is exasperating. Oh, and how many corporations migrated from the rest of Spain to Catalonia? No data about that...

C – An in depth examination would be necessary to assess the qualitative details of the composition of this minor transfer of businesses. There are cases of corporate re-structuring (Coca-Cola's Spanish partner COBEGA), others motivated by mergers & acquisitions (Arbora-Ausonia acquired by Procter & Gamble, Schlecker's Spanish business acquired by DIA, both moved to Madrid because the head offices of the acquiring companies were there), and there are probably some cases related to the inheritance and donation tax burden, greater in Catalonia because of the economic plundering by the Spanish administration. This higher taxation causes the wealthy to move their tax residence to Madrid or other regions (through property holding companies). Even CEOs themselves may be tempted to move to Madrid, since the tax pressure there is lighter on their personal income – it is a cruel paradox that in Catalonia taxes are higher due to the fiscal deficit and also due to the economic pressure from the Spanish Government, which leads to loss of business and jobs. Could it be that some transfers of corporations to Madrid are motivated by fear of the independence process? There is freedom of opinion and movement, but it is surely a real minority within this minority. Suggestions, such as La Gaceta's, that the transfer of 1,060 businesses to Madrid are motivated by the fear of independence of Catalonia are once again proof of demagoguery against Catalonia, which we are unfortunately used to. And since this independence process started on September 11th, 2012, should the fear of the independence process be a factor for transfers in 2010 and 2011?

D – How many companies are there in Catalonia? As per data provided by the Statistical Institute of Catalonia (IDESCAT), at the end of 2012 there were over 592,000 businesses in Catalonia. If we also consider the facilities of companies with head offices outside Catalonia, the figure rises to 602,000. If we take into account that according to the Spanish Statistics Institute (INE) there were 3,199,000 corporations in Spain at the same date, we reach a couple of conclusions:

1) Catalonia accounts for 18.5% of the total number of companies in Spain and 18.8% of the facilities. A leading position.

2) It is not pleasant to see any corporations leave, but a loss of 353 a year represents 0.05% of the companies in Catalonia. A total of 1,060 in 3 years.


Making a headline of that is a bad joke. Besides, as pointed out above, we should also take into account how many came from the rest of Spain, as well as the type of companies that left Catalonia and the reasons for doing so.

E – The rigour of the Spanish Internal Revenue (AEAT) tax audits in Catalonia may be one of the true causes for the departure of some corporations. It is common knowledge amongst tax advisers and consultants how different tax audits in Catalonia are than in the rest of Spain. If a unionist-leaning newspaper like La Vanguardia reflects the question  then we must consider that this is most likely true. Contrast that with the fact that most tax avoidance is concentrated in the very large corporations with the advice and counselling of the most important law firms, all politically well-connected, and mostly based in Madrid. Another clear example of how the Catalan economy is harmed. It is more than likely that instead of fear, what many entrepreneurs and CEOs of Catalan companies feel for independence is eager impatience, to rid themselves of this inequitable tax treatment and the legal uncertainty that goes with it.


F – The economic data shows a very different reality to that depicted by the Madrid region's Minister of Economy and by La Gaceta. Catalonia accounts for 25% of Spain's exports – the leading region—and in 2012 the number of Catalan exporters reached a new record, with 46,000 Catalan businesses exporting their products worldwide, with an increase in 2012 (one year) of 2,732 companies, nearly three times the number (1,060) that left for Madrid in 3 years—again apart from not knowing the kind of companies that left.


G – To show how weak and false Mr. Ossorio's and La Gaceta's reasoning is, the Financial Times, no suspect of Catalan nationalism, has placed Catalonia as the second European region in attraction for foreign investment during the first half of 2013, right in the middle of the independence process. Another thing to consider is that Barcelona is the most important cruise base in the Mediterranean, the 4th busiest in the world. Rather an unlikely effect of fear of independence.


So, again we face a case of demagogues aiming to cast shadows of doubt and discredit on Catalonia and its economy. Responding to this kind of endless inflammatory, groundless attacks is becoming a tough task that requires too much energy. So probably in the future we should simply preclude this kind of statements arising from the groundless arguments of Spanish unionism.

As the renowned economist Oriol Amat says in a tweet, "If you invest more in a region and you boycott the port, the airport and the railway in another... you encourage more companies to go to the former". In fact, it is a miracle that with the Spanish Administration against it, Catalonia continues creating jobs and businesses. But we can't bear this situation for much longer.

Àlex Furest
Economist

                                                                     









http://www.helpcatalonia.cat/2013/10/are-catalan-companies-really.html

Help Catalonia : Catalan Business Circle Study: Spain Cannot Overcome Crisis

a Monday, October 21, 2013

A study concludes that Spain has no capacity to overcome the crisis  and is drawing itself into economic breakdown

 

“There is no light for Spain at the end of the tunnel” asserted economics Nobel prize winner Joseph Stiglitz. This has been borne out by the Cercle Català de Negocis, the Catalan Business Circle in a set of Studies carefully analyzing macroeconomic data on the Spanish State, collating forecasts made by international bodies governing the global economy.

 

The resulting scenario is certainly distressing: in the current year, 2013, Spain has to place debt on the market equivalent to 20% of its GDP, a figure that could go up to 114% of GDP by 2020 and reach 129% by 2030, according to European Commission forecasts. This sustained increase of debt will bleed all the investment potential of the Spanish State, which will have to concentrate its efforts on satisfying all the resulting financial costs.

 

Furthermore, Spanish society is undergoing accelerated aging: by 2021 there will be 9.3 million people over 65. This means that pension expenditure will go up from the current 10% of GDP until it reaches between 20% and 30% of GDP by 2050.

 

A state with this kind of debt, suffocated by interest payments and pension commitments, will hardly be able to find the necessary funds to fuel its productive economy, which means keeping the same unemployment rate or even making it higher. It is a vicious circle.

 

What horizon then for the coming decades? A persisting decrease of GDP per capita that by 2020 will be five points lower that in 2005, and which in twenty-years' time will drop 16 points; increasing emigration —the second wave in three generations— of mostly young people; and an increasing tax burden to be borne by the remaining labor force. In 2010 there were four workers for each pensioner, but according to estimations there will be only two in forty-years' time. The conclusion is pretty obvious: Spain is heading for another default, the twenty-fifth in its history.

 

A Catalan State, on the other hand, would be more than viable economically. That is what numerous indicators point to and many international experts certify. Some relevant data to back it up: in 2011 the balance of trade stood at 3,9% of Catalonia’s GDP whereas in Spain they had a negative -4,2%. An independent Catalonia would take fourth place in the European ranking of GDP per capita.

 

The CCN goes further and maintains that Catalonia’s independence would act as a trigger for Spain. According to the CCN, there are now two different economic models coexisting in the Spanish State which are incompatible:  the Catalan one, based on flexible innovative SMEs with great exporting capacity; and the Spanish model which is based on large corporations operating mainly in regulated sectors and focusing their international efforts on South-America.

 

Without Catalonia, Spain could fully develop its economic strategy, CCN says, while also taking advantage of the infrastructures set up by the new independent Catalonia in order to internationalize its economy.

 

The fundamental thing for the CCN is that Spain, without Catalonia, will stop acting politically on economic matters (currently in constant conflict with Catalonia as a region) and concentrate on reactivating its own economy.

Further information:

Andreu Mas, 677 225 051.

A/e: amas@nautiluscomunicacio.com

Núria Roura, 673 436 937.

A/e: nuria.roura@nautiluscomunicacio.com

 

To contact the CCN: comunicacio@ccncat.cat

Cercle Català de Negocis website: www.ccncat.cat

CCN Twitter: @CCatalaNegocis

 

CCN sustains that Catalonia’s independence will have a positive feedback on Spanish economy

 

 

 

http://www.helpcatalonia.cat/2013/10/catalan-business-circle-study-spain.html 

Spanish Nationalist Demonstrate in Barcelona (evening) 12O . By Help Catalonia

a Thursday, October 17, 2013

llustrated by:

Jordi Borràs
Photographer and illustrator

 http://www.helpcatalonia.cat/2013/10/spanish-nationalist-demonstrate-in.html

How to sell Catalan products in the United States . By Help Catalonia

a Thursday, October 17, 2013

The main destination for Catalan exports outside of Europe is the united States. In the current year, exports to the United States have gone up to almost 12%, a fact that responds to the demand of an integrated and homogenous market with more than 300 million consumers.

Penetration into the north-American market requires quality products and a good preparation to compete in a highly competitive environment. Therefore Catalan companies have at their disposal two services to facilitate the promotion and sales of their products in the USA.

Catalan Wines USA helps Catalan cellars to introduce wines to the United States, a country were the market has been growing for 17 years in a row. It is a logistics as well as a commercial solution to facilitate the wine distribution or to enlarge the commercial network in the USA. The service, which can get subsidies from the European Commission, offers an active search of importers, distributors and other agents involved in product positioning in the north-American market.

Up to 80% of participating cellars in the three previous editions are already selling or have found an importer in the USA. The next edition will start next June and the deadline for applying is open until the 10th of May. Do you want to know more about the next edition of Catalan Wines USA?

The success of this initiative has led to the creation to Catalan Gourmet USA, a novel logistics and commercial service for gourmet Catalan products. With the participation of six Catalan companies, Catalan Gourmet USA was presented at the renowned Chef José Andrés restaurant Jaleo last 22 of April in Washington, and gathered up to 100 importers, distributors, chefs, delicatessen chains and restaurateurs from the United States. The service facilitates the joint shipping of products from Catalonia, its homologation and their promotion and commercialization.

The 2014 edition of Catalan Gourmet USA plans to hold activities in Atlanta, Seattle and Philadelphia.

These are to examples of the services offered by the Business Promotion Center which helps companies to work together to reduce costs, increase their visibility and multiply the capacity of penetration of quality Catalan products into a complex market such as the United States.

http://www.helpcatalonia.cat/2013/10/how-to-sell-catalan-products-in-united.html 

Lluís Companys' Legacy By Help Catalonia

Companys is sitting while he waits in the living room. They tell him that someone just knocked on the door. “Lluís, les allemandes sont arrivées!” (Lluís, the Germans are here). Calmly, he turns the page of the book he is holding and keeps reading. The members of the German police find him in his chair, reading Vies des saints (Lifes of Saints). Being as he is a liberal politician, of strong unionist convictions, his reaction is profoundly telling. He could have fled many days ago, but he's tired. Besides, he has important reasons for staying in France. His son, Lluïset, ill with schizophrenia, disappeared from the French mental hospital he was in after a bombing by the Germans forced it to be shut down. What will men be capable of when they give themselves to hatred...

Lluís Companys

Companys knows that he has made a few mistakes, that his reputation is destroyed, even (or especially) among Republicans and Catalanists. He has many doubts, hopes, and regrets. How many friends did he lose? He is far from home, the Catalan Government is gone like the wisps of smoke of a cigar, and he, who used to feel all-powerful at the Monumental not even three years ago, is now just one more refugee. However, he knows deeply that human beings do not only have one earthly life, but that there is another life after death, the final journey that makes heroes and martyrs of the defeated. Companys accepts his own destiny. He will lose his life but will reach immortality, and he will be a part of history. All his sins shall be forgiven. The day will come when teachers in schools will explain with excitement to their eager but slightly bored students the last hours of his life; his journey to the border as a prisoner of the Nazis; the harsh conditions on his trip to Madrid; his stay in prison; his torture; the illegal proceeding around his trial; the death that catches him unshod while he screams with his face to the wind Per Catalunya! in a futile but patriotic act. His time will pass and soon no-one who remembered him will be alive, but he will remain in the memory of those who will come after him, forever stoic, standing up straight in front of the firing squad in the early hours of the day.

After they are done unloading their guns on him, the firing squad lieutenant goes to finish him off (he just wasn't dying), and on top of that, the cocky officer steals from him his blood-stained scarf as a war trophy, for which he will be discharged from the army. The President of the Generalitat is dead. The cycle of hatred and violence will not be over until later, but the last traces of Republican legitimacy are physically dead. So it dies a defeated president, but a martyr is born. Many Francoists would have rather let him rot in jail, where he would not cause any trouble, like a slowly vanishing candle in the darkness. Alas, nobody listened to them, blind as they were from their thirst for revenge.


Bernat Roca, Historian

__________


Lluís Companys i Jover (1882 - 1940) was the 123rd President of Catalonia, from 1934 and during the Spanish Civil War. He is the only incumbent, democratically elected  president in Europe to have been executed, and seventy-two years later the the court martial  which sentenced him to death has not been revoked. This is Help Catalonia 's homage to him.


http://www.helpcatalonia.cat/2012/10/lluis-companys-legacy.html

Franco-fascism on the march in Spain: Is the government doing enough? By Help Catalonia

a Monday, October 14, 2013

Critics say Spain's fascist threat comes not from small groups like those set to march in Barcelona Saturday, but from the radical fringe that is part of Spain's governing Popular Party.

by

Andrés Cala

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Extreme, neo-fascist groups in Spain are preparing for a show of force during this weekend’s nationalist holiday, and Spanish authorities are keeping a close eye on the situation.

But experts worry that the real fascist concern in Spain is not from small extremist groups, but rather from growing public displays of fascist sympathies by a small part of the conservative government's constituency – and even among elected officials.

“Spain has not been ‘de-Francoized,’ as Germany has been de-Hitlerized,” explains Félix Ortega, a sociology professor and expert in public opinion in the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. “There are still Francosymbols even in my university!”

An alliance of radical right groups – including violent neo-Nazi ones – have mobilized to travel from around the country to Barcelona to protest Catalonian nationalism on the October 12 "Día de la Hispanidad," or "Hispanic Day," holiday. Authorities said Thursday they plan to prevent violent groups from entering Catalonia.

The holiday march is held annually, and is normally small and peaceful. But the nationalist undertones of Hispanic Day – which originally commemorated Christopher Columbus’s discovery of the American continent until was renamed in 1958 by the fascist regime of General Francisco Franco – make it a flashpoint.

Five groups – including violent neo-Nazi cells and a political party that the Supreme Court is considering banning – in July formed a common platform called "Spain on the March." Its leaders have warned they will resort to violent acts if required to preserve Spain’s territorial unity, which they feel threatened especially by regional independence aspirations.

National and regional officials and security services have since increased security ahead of Saturday's march. Barcelona authorities this week denied access to part of the route the marchers had requested in order to reduce the risk of violence and clashes with pro-independence marches.

And in Catalonia’s parliament on Friday, the chamber passed a motion to characterize fascism, Franco, and Nazis as ideologies “inciting violence and hate” – which would have given authorities more power to prosecute them. Although members of the Popular Party, which governs Spain but is a minority in the Catalonian parliament, walked out on the motion, it ultimately passed with the support of other parties.

The weekend march is not an isolated incident. As Catalonian plans to hold a referendum on independence move forward, the extreme right has re-energized, even if it remains small compared to the resurgent movements in Greece, France, and elsewhere.

Last month, a dozen radicals forced their way into a library where Catalonians were commemorating their own national day, injuring several people and tearing down Catalonian symbols. Police arrested them in the aftermath.

The real concern

Police estimate there are about 10,000 members involved in violent extreme right groups. They lost political representation in parliament in 1982, seven years after Franco died. But they didn’t disappear. They melded into the now governing PP.

The concern is not so much over the very small group of violent groups, which authorities constantly monitor. These are mostly contained, experts agree. The real problem is in from those within the government's ruling party that sympathize ideologically – even if they condemn the use of violence.

“I’m more concerned about complacency and permissive attitudes in the PP than I am about these reactionary groups,” Dr. Ortega says. “The PP has many faces. Is it an extreme right party? No. But the extreme right is part of the PP. And they now they have to tender complex electoral messages to different constituencies, including the extreme right.”

Catalonian secessionist plans have united the traditionally fragmented nationalist forces and radical fascist groups. And the extreme right is part of the constituency of the conservative PP, with some experts estimating as much as 10 percent of the party sympathizes with radical ideology, although it’s impossible to contrast.

The political heirs of Franco merged with the PP, which is ideologically a center-right party. And amid the eurocrisis, they could gain more political clout that could be significantly more dangerous than the violent groups, experts warn.

The government has been criticized by the opposition, regional governments, and human rights groups for condoning fascist public support among its own followers – which even if small in number, were unheard of until recently – even if violent groups are suppressed.

Such criticism arose again on Thursday, when PP legislators voted down a motion like that in the Catalonian parliament to criminalize public support for fascism, Franco, and the Nazis. The PP said the move was unnecessary, because such a ban is already implicit in the law.

“They publicly condemn it, but they clearly tolerate it,” Ortega says.

Franco nostalgia

The crisis has brought an unprecedented public display of Franco nostalgia, with some public officials and members of the PP openly making the Nazi salute, displaying the former regime’s flag and other memorabilia, and posting pro-Franco messages on social media sites.

Municipal, regional, and even country legislators have reminisced about Franco’s era, mostly subtly, though some have openly said those killed by Franco’s forces deserved it.

On Thursday, the PP mayor of a Madrid suburb tweeted that he would send some "skinheads" to target the Socialist Party as part of a broader public debate. He later said he was just joking.

The mayor of a small town in Galicia showcased the picture of the dictator in his office and played the fascist anthem – that is, until a small bomb partially damaged the municipal building early Monday. Although no one has claimed responsibility, anarchist groups are suspected.

And earlier this month, a small town governed by the PP near Madrid allowed a fascist group to put up a stand in a public school exhibiting Franco-era and Nazi memorabilia. Officials later apologized and said that they weren’t aware of the stand.

The government and the PP leadership so far have limited their reaction to condemning violence and pro-fascist displays within its ranks. No officials have been reprimanded. “The problems are not majors or councilmen. It’s that high-ranking legislators and ministers condone this,” says Ortega.

Additionally, the PP is trying to revise history to paint a rosy picture of the Franco dictatorship, while blaming the deposed and democratically elected left-wing government for the brutal Spanish Civil War that ended in 1938.

The PP-controlled parliament last month voted down proposals from opposition parties that would have penalized pro-Franco propaganda and banned pro-Franco political parties.

“It’s true that this is not Greece or France, where the extreme right has become a political power,” Ortega says. “But you never know, especially if it seems that the PP tolerates it.”

 

 

http://www.helpcatalonia.cat/2013/10/franco-fascism-on-march-in-spain-is.html 

 

Spanish Police Union Call to Participate in Anti-Independence Rally . By Help Catalonia

a Friday, October 11, 2013

Can you imagine your country's police calling for participation in a political demonstration? Can you imagine those who have the monopoly of violence abandoning neutrality to defend a radical position? This is happening now in Catalonia. Collusion of parts of the Spanish police force with political ideologies has often been denounced, but the case of Spanish police goes beyond anything seen before in democratic Europe.

The Unified Police Union (SUP) press release has called for participation in the rally against Catalonia's independence that is to take place in Barcelona on Saturday, October 12th. The SUP is the largest union in the Spanish police. The Spanish police, together with the army, have the monopoly of violence in Catalonia. If anyone believes that the independence process in Catalonia, without international mediation, will end without violence is wrong. However, threat of violence is only used by one side.

It's in your hands to prevent the use of violence against the Catalan people by the Spanish armed forces. They already have the weapons and it seems that nobody is going to stop them. Help Catalonia.

 

 

http://www.helpcatalonia.cat/2013/10/spanish-police-union-call-to.html 

Spanish Officials to Face Prison Terms Under Russian Law Against Nazism. By Help Catalonia

a Monday, September 23, 2013



Spain is fast becoming a rogue state, a country acting against the most basic values of the international community. Proof of this is the way in which her leaders approach the memory of the Second World War. This could, however, see some in Russian prisons, if they persist in publicly praising Hitler and Nazism. While the civilized war remembers the men and women who defeated the Third Reich, and makes sure their deeds are not forgotten, so that evil does not rise again, Spanish politicians award medals to Nazi units, while they keep thousands of monuments and street names praising Fascism.


The memory of the Second World War has always been a sensitive issue. Veterans and their families have often gone to great lengths to preserve the memory of the great struggle against Nazism, and now that not that many old warriors are left, there is a growing sense that we have to keep working to make sure that our children never forget. In looking at those years, we cannot but recognize the enormous sacrifices of the many countries making up the coalition that defeated Berlin and Tokyo. Among them, the peoples of the former Soviet Union, who born a heavy price, in terms of life and material destruction. Without them, it is difficult to imagine the complete defeat of Hitler’s Germany. This does not imply that we approve of their political system of the times. The contribution of the Armed Forces and the civilians of the Soviet Union is, however, something no historian disputes.

A Spanish Government official delivering an official diploma to a member of the Wermacht

 

Unfortunately, recent years have been witness to a certain tendency by some people and organizations to cast a doubt on this, in an attempt to tarnish the memory of the millions of Soviet soldiers, sailors, airmen, and civilians, who gave their all in the long, harsh road to Berlin. This is one of the factors behind the draft legislation currently being considered by Russian lawmakers. What comes as an even greater shock is to see a government of a EU country join such dark forces and publicly defend the actions of the Wermacht, paying homage to one of its divisions.


Which country may that be? Sorry, no prizes, the answer is too easy: the pariah of Europe, Spain. At a public ceremony in May this year, the Spanish Government delegate in Catalonia granted a diploma to the “Blue Division”, that is to the Wermacht’s 250 Division. This is the unit that Franco sent to the Eastern Front, but let us make no mistake: it was fully integrated into the German Army, as a look at their uniforms, for example, makes clear. Furthermore, each and every member of the division made a public oath of allegiance to Hitler, although Spanish censorship hid this little detail at the time.

When news of this pro-Nazi event came out, the Spanish Government not only refused to fire Maria de los Llanos de Luna, the Spanish Government's delegate in Catalonia, but instead publicly backed her. Among others, Spain’s interior minister spoke out in her support. This proves once more that, while other countries recognize the sacrifices in the life and death struggle against Nazism, Madrid takes a completely different view. Spanish leaders wish Hitler had won. For them, it is not the veterans who marched to Berlin who deserve respect and recognition, it is not the civilians who endured years of deprivation to rid the world of Hitler. Instead, it is those who fought for him, those who swore loyalty to him, and those who brought destruction and mayhem, who deserve praise. They are the ones getting a diploma from the government.


Spain has no diplomas to offer to Allied servicemen, Spain has no diplomas to offer to the veterans of the Battle of the Atlantic, for the civilians who suffered the Blitz, or for the valiant sailors in the Arctic convoys. It is no coincidence that, when a monument to Churchill was unveiled in Barcelona on 15 December 2012, no representative of the Spanish Government attended. Had it been a monument to the Fuhrer, they would not have missed it. Where was Ms Maria de los Llanos de Luna that day? How dare she not pay homage to Churchill?

Fortunately, Catalonia has made it clear that she will not support any such views. As the main victims of Franco’s dictatorship, following three long years of war in which he enjoyed the support of the German dictator, Catalonia will not join in any homage to the Wermacht and on anything tainting the honour of those who valiantly defeated it. In order to make this clear, and to tell Maria de los Llanos de Luna that there is no place for Nazi propaganda in today’s world, the Catalan Parliament has voted to call her to appear before the chamber and explain why he payed homage to the Wermacht.

However, while welcome, this move is not enough. This is why it is interesting to ask ourselves the questions whether the draft legislation currently being discussed in Russia will be applicable to foreign officials. Press reports on the matter seem to point out that it will. Furthermore, while the final text is not yet known, the draft bill from the Federation Council offers some instances of "rehabilitation of Nazism and glorification of Nazi criminals and their accomplices". This comprises, among others, "the restoration of the rights, the issuance of state or public awards and the provision of other state and public incentives for Nazi criminals and their accomplices, the public justification of the Nazi ideology and practices, and the public promotion of the Nazi ideology or any other public actions glorifying Nazi criminals." The underlined action is precisely what the Spanish Government delegate to Catalonia did, she issued an award to Nazi soldiers. So, should this bill finally be enacted into law, and should Maria de los Llanos de Luna award another diploma to the Wermacht’s 250 Division, she would be committing a crime under Russian law. The applicable punishment could include not just fines, but also up to two years of correctional labour, up to five years of compulsory labour, and from two to five years in prison.


Our advice for the Spanish Government's delegate to Catalonia is therefore: don't spend your holidays in Russia. You could be in for a nasty surprise.

This deplorable incident is a reminder of yet another reason why most Catalans want to leave Spain. It is very simple, just to be able to look at an Allied veteran in the eyes and say “thank you”. In other words, in order to belong to a normal nation. A nation where Churchill, not the Nazis, are praised and paid homage to.

Alex Calvo is a Professor of International Relations and International Law, Head of the IR Department, and Postgraduate Research Director, European University (Barcelona Campus). An expert on Asian security and defence issues, he got his LLB from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS, University of London) and is currently doing an MA in Second World War Studies at the University of Birmingham. He is a former teaching and research fellow at the OSCE Academy in Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan).

http://www.helpcatalonia.cat/2013/09/spanish-officials-to-face-prison-terms.html