By Steve Halpern
Recently
Judi and I spent a week Barcelona, which is the center of the nation of
Catalonia (Cataluñya). Today, Catalonia is ruled by the Spanish government.
Before our trip, I did some reading about the history of this region. Then, in
the middle of our vacation the entire city of Barcelona erupted in protests.
Two
years ago elections were held in Catalonia where the issue of independence was
on the ballot. Millions voted in those elections and the result favored
independence. The Spanish government didn’t recognize that election.
While
we were in Spain, the Spanish courts sentenced nine of the people who organized
those elections to up to 13 years in prison. This action, perhaps, would have
been analogous to sentencing the commander of the revolutionary army of the
United States, George Washington, to prison.
Those
actions provoked the uprising in Barcelona. The protests closed the street in
front of the hotel where we were staying, as well as the airport. As a result,
our flight home was canceled, and we had an extra day in the city.
Throughout
my adult life, I’ve supported the liberation of nationalities that have
experienced routine repression. In the United States, I’ve supported movements
that defend Black, Native American, and Latino rights. I’ve supported the Irish
independence struggle, as well as the struggle for the liberation of
Palestinians. I happen to be Jewish and have joined in protests against
anti-Semitic acts. Given my history, I was interested in the background to the
Catalonian independence movement.
The history of Catalonia
When
we think of the history of the continent of Europe, much of that written
history started with the 600-year Roman Empire. The Roman language of Latin is
the root language of the nations of Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, and
Romania. Britain was also a colony of Rome, and many English words have Latin
origins. However, English is also a derivative of the language of the German
tribes of the Anglos and Saxons.
The
Catalan language of is also a unique derivative of Latin. Before the Romans
invaded what is now Catalonia there was a tribal people known as the Laietani.
The Romans were the ones who established the city of Barcelona because of its
rivers and deep-water port.
Because
Barcelona is a port city, a considerable amount of wealth was created because
of commerce. The commercial economy of Catalonia conflicted with the feudal
regimes that dominated Spain for centuries. During feudal times Catalonia
experienced more or less autonomy from the central Spanish royal government.
We
might keep in mind that Spain was a dominant colonial power in the Western
Hemisphere. Initially Spain took vast amounts of gold and silver from its
colonies in Mexico, Peru, and Bolivia. Because Spain never developed a large
manufacturing base, much of the wealth taken from the Americas went to the
manufacturing centers of Britain, France, and Amsterdam. By the 1700s Barcelona
also became a manufacturing center based in textiles. Many of these textiles
were made from cotton taken from the slave labor camps in the Americas.
Barcelona and Philadelphia
I
happen to live in Philadelphia in the United States. I noticed that there are
some similarities between Philadelphia and Barcelona. While Barcelona has a
population of about 1.7 million, the population of Philadelphia is about 1.5
million. Both these cities were at one time centers for industry. Many
surrounding areas of both these cities consists of agriculture. Most of the factories
in both these cities have closed and moved to nations where workers receive
between $1 and $10 per day.
As
in all capitalist cities, a tourist might visit the commercial areas without
ever coming in contact with the less affluent areas. Clearly there are
neighborhoods in both Barcelona and Philadelphia where people struggle to have
the basic necessities. There are also areas in both cities where people live in
opulence. While Barcelona is in the most affluent region of Spain, Philadelphia
is the poorest of the large cities in the United States.
Visiting
the docks of Barcelona, people will find rows of super-sized yachts, each worth
extravagant amounts of money. In Philadelphia there are the two Comcast towers
worth about $2.6 billion. The CEO of Comcast, Brian Roberts, lives on one
entire floor, and this residence might be worth as much as $27 million.
One
big difference between Barcelona and Philadelphia is the international
character of both cities. When I was growing up, I had very little contact with
people from other nations. Today that environment has changed dramatically, and
people from Asia, Latin America, Africa, and the Caribbean are a big part of
the population of the Philadelphia.
However,
Barcelona is a much more international city. While people of this country
routinely visit different areas in the United States, the people of Europe
routinely visit the entire continent. Just by walking down the street in
Barcelona, we came in contact with people from all over the world. We also
learned that there are many people who work in the city who were born in other
nations.
The Spanish Civil War
During
the 1930s Spain became a republic and the government gave increased autonomy to
Catalonia. Then, General Francisco Franco organized a rebellion against the
government that was supported by the fascist government of Germany.
The
British author George Orwell volunteered with the republican forces that
defended the Spanish government against Franco. Orwell wrote about that
experience in his book titled, Homage to
Catalonia.
Orwell
lived for a time in Barcelona and had the following impressions. In Spanish
there are two words for the word you. There
is the formal usted and the familiar tu. Orwell reported that while the
republican government held power, the word usted
was never used and everyone used the familiar tu. Everyone from the highest commander in the army to the lowest
ranking soldier had the same salary. The church had been linked to the former
ruling powers, and many Catholic buildings were destroyed. Orwell didn’t see
religious markers in the graveyards.
However,
food, as well as armaments were in short supply. Some of the rifles were
decades old. While the people had food to eat, that food was oftentimes
difficult to come by. Yet, the fascists had the aid of the German Air Force
that was a huge advantage.
However,
the primary difficulty of the Republican Army was the lack of clarity about the
fact that this was a revolution aimed at liberating workers and farmers. In
those days, workers toiled at jobs for long hours at furious paces for a wage
that barely sustained them. Most farmers didn’t have enough food to sustain
themselves throughout the year. These conditions were worse than those
conditions in other European nations. Workers and farmers in Catalonia
experienced conditions that were more analogous to the working conditions in
India and China in those years.
After
the Republican forces were defeated, Franco ordered the murder about 35,000
people in Catalonia. This was because Catalonia was a center for the resistance
to his rule. People were then required to worship the Catholic religion. All
forms of Catalonian independence and nationalism were repressed.
The new reality of Catalonia and other oppressed nationalities in the
world
Then,
in 1978 a new government came to power that gave some degree of autonomy to
Catalonia and other nations within Spain. Today, the language of Catalan is
used in municipal and government buildings.
One
of the reasons why the Spanish government is so determined to hold on to
Catalonia is because this region is one of the most affluent in Spain. Taxes
from Catalonia subsidize projects throughout Spain. This means that those taxes
also enrich some of the most affluent people who routinely profit from the
labor of workers in this region.
We
might consider that profits derived from the labor of oppressed nationalities
contributes to the super-profits of capitalists throughout the world. Millions
of African Americans migrated away from the states where Jim Crow segregation
was the law, to states where many toiled in horrendous conditions in factories.
The
most industrialized area in Canada is in the Quebec Provence, where
French-speaking people were routinely discriminated against. The most industrialized
area in Ireland is in the North, and Britain continues to rule that section of
the island. Today, Israeli corporations are moving to the occupied West Bank to
take advantage of the lower costs of operating in the area where Palestinians
live.
Understanding
these facts, we can say that working people have an interest in supporting the
right of self-determination of oppressed nationalities. While these
nationalities have a clear interest in controlling the governments where they
live, capitalists routinely profit from discrimination against those
nationalities.
Russia,
before the revolution in that country, was known as a prison-house of nations.
The Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and the Jewish ghettos were just some of the
nations that experienced routine repression. Vladimir Illyich Lenin argued that
the only way for the Russian Revolution to be successful was for a
revolutionary party to ardently support the right of self-determination to
oppressed nations.
After
the revolution the new nation had the name, Union
of Soviet Socialists Republics. This name signified a union of republics
that had a common interest in advancing a socialist program. As a result, in
the first years after the revolution there was a flowering of culture in the
nations that had been oppressed in the past. That movement was stifled by the
Stalinist regime that betrayed the revolution after the death of Lenin.
We
can also say that there are nations in the world that are not oppressed. Adolf
Hitler was a fascist who argued for a German national movement that would
dominate the world.
While
all Presidents of the United States promote a nationalist message, President
Trump has been more open in his America First rhetoric. This same message has
been promoted by union officials who have argued for a “Buy American” campaign.
Working
people in these nations organize to defend our interests from the routine
corporate drive to maximize profits. In the process of defending our rights, we
also defend workers who are victimized because of their nationality.
In
other words, we gain nothing by identifying as “Americans.” I identify as
working person who lives in the world. Understanding this, I support the
struggle to defend oppressed nationalities all over the world.
Today,
the protests in Catalonia have been joined by protests, in Chile, Uruguay,
Lebanon, Iraq, and Hong Kong. Autoworkers have been on strike against General
Motors for about one month. To the best of my memory, we haven’t seen this
level of international protests since the movement to stop the United States
government’s war against the people who live in Southeast Asia.
My
opinion is that the only way for these struggles to begin to be resolved is to
put in place workers governments that make human needs a priority over
corporate profits. Today, the nation of Cuba has that kind of government.
While
people all over the world have been protesting over cutbacks and repression,
Cuba has made education and health care lifetime rights. While Cuba is a
relatively underdeveloped nation, Cuban infant mortality is significantly lower
than the United States. This is because pregnant women and children routinely
get regular checkups. Cuba has about three times more doctors per capita as the
United States.
Ironically the flag of Catalonia was consciously designed to be similar to the Cuban flag. This was to symbolize the similarities between the Cuban and Catalonian struggles for independence.
So,
while many people bemoan the fact that Donald Trump is President, the
demonstrations of working people all over the world, as well as the example of
Cuba, gives us reason to be optimistic for the future.
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| Flag of Catalonia |
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| Cuban National Flag |
