Catalonian Referendum – The Progressive Wing

Good Morning All!

Quick update on today’s referendum, well perhaps I should say the attempt to hold a referendum, in Catalonia.

The people seemed determined to vote. And the Spanish authorities are definitely not happy about it.

Catalan referendum: Clashes as voters defy Madrid

Catalonia’s independence referendum has descended into chaos, with clashes occurring as police attempt to prevent the vote from taking place.
The Spanish government has pledged to stop a poll that was declared illegal by the country’s constitutional court.
Police officers are preventing people from voting, and seizing ballot papers and boxes at polling stations.
In the regional capital Barcelona, police used batons and fired rubber bullets during pro-referendum protests.

From Winnie Wong (I love her!):

Spanish voters must hold the government of @marianorajoy responsible for these atrocities. #CatalanReferendum demonstrators are peaceful. pic.twitter.com/ALY62h5yU0
— Fred (@WaywardWinifred) October 1, 2017

And before you watch the video below, I must tell you that you might get triggered. The police are tossing people down staircases and pulling them out of the polling stations (a school in the case of this video) by their hair. The people are JUST TRYING TO VOTE. Most of them are not ‘protesting’ and they are certainly not doing anything destructive. Well, not destructive to physical property at least.

Spain's National Police brutalize voters in Catalonia polling center (a school) today in an attempt to suppress #CatalanReferendum vote. pic.twitter.com/jh4xA8u8Bb
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) October 1, 2017

Translation:

“We just want to vote… Stop it!! “

We have a plenty to deal with over here right now ourselves. But if good people all over the world don’t speak up, well, this kind of brutality won’t subside on its own!

Police violence against citizens in #Catalonia is shocking. The Spanish government must act to end it now.
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) October 1, 2017

Now I must head out to continue helping a friend move, that’s where I was all day yesterday. My reward later this afternoon for all of my hard work (my tired and aching body!) will be to be back here later with you all.

Peace!

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magsview

This posted 8:37pm:

Catalans vote to split from Spain amid violent crackdowns at the polls

Of 2.2 million ballots counted so far, about 90% were in favor of independence

The vote risks plunging the country into one of its worst political crises since the end of Gen. Francisco Franco’s dictatorship in 1975. Catalonia has its own regional government, with considerable powers over healthcare, education and tax collection. But Catalonia has long complained that its revenues subsidize other parts of Spain. Catalan nationalists argue the region is a separate nation with its own history, culture and language, and that it should have increased fiscal independence.
The long-running dispute goes back to the brutal years under Franco, whose dictatorial regime repressed Catalonia’s earlier limited autonomy. It wasn’t until 1979, four years after his death, that the region gained full autonomy.

The pic in this tweet encapsulates today’s moment in history, imo:

#RajoyDimisión Foto que resume el día de hoy. Felicidades @marianorajoy Al menos el mundo tendrá claro la clase de democracia que tenemos pic.twitter.com/pXR9IDFRgJ
— 🍏NikolaosDimitratos🐤🐋🐘🐈 (@NikoDimitratos) October 1, 2017

This video is something else!

An ENTIRE town go head to head with the military police #CatalanReferendum pic.twitter.com/nVWYbmHjDB
— ES Sandbe®️g (@TheSandbergs) October 1, 2017

Cristina Crespo‏ @fluteconnection 12h
12 hours ago
Replying to @eriksandberg82

The people are shouting “I will vote”

They confiscated ballot boxes, can you imagine? I wish they showed this to every kid who turns eighteen. Show them how valuable votes are to some people. It’s not often that you see such a vivid example of that on camera.

We need to be vigilant about the voting process we have here. To overturn the will of the people when they vote with paper ballots they have to physically suppress the vote, steal the actual paper. But with electronic voting there is a different kind of thing that can happen, of course.

The face of Spanish democracy today: masked government agents seize ballot boxes and abuse voters in #CatalanReferendum pic.twitter.com/WUcxYwH8SU
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) October 1, 2017

Last one!

https://twitter.com/Hajiklr/status/914512530822877184

polarbear4

nonviolence, tho, will always have more of a chance of winning the hearts and minds, which is what you need to succeed. 😉 not to mention the, um firepower of each side.

I realize that WikiLeaks being in favor of the referendum might be a controversial aspect. And now Russian influence is being asserted.

Catalan referendum stokes fears of Russian influence

“We’re seeing foreign actors gain more of a voice in elections that are important to their interests,” said Ben Nimmo, a senior fellow for information defense at the Atlantic Council, a think tank, who prepared the recent analysis about the Catalan referendum. “But it’s not just state actors. More and more people are realizing that they can have an influence through social media.”

Then again, when I hear things from the Atlantic Council, I take that with a huge grain of salt.

None of us wants to be swayed in our outlook by “foreign actors”. But sometimes the local actors are also suspect.

TheLeftistheCenter

Thats bull these people have been wanting independence for at least decades, for them to say it somehow involves Russia is just propaganda.

god forbid wikileaks or Russia might be in favor of the same thing the people want! geesh.

LieparDestin

We are with you Catalunya’ – the revolt in Spain is bigger than flags and language

Two million Catalans braved the threat of a police boot in the face to demand independence. As with Scotland and Greece, this was a modern, cosmopolitan form of nationalism