SPAIN’S MAY 15 PROTEST MOVEMENT CELEBRATES ITS FIRST ANNIVERSARY

May 15 sees the first anniversary of the 15-M protest movement. It was a public protest movement that was angry and fed up with the inaction and corruption of politicians, the bailing out of banks that caused the financial crisis in the first place and those made homeless as mortgage companies had reposed their homes. The latter had lost the roofs over their heads yet still owed the banks huge amounts of money.

The movement started with huge street protests and encampments in Spain’s major cities and town but smaller groups were also to be found in every community. Indeed it was a community movement that coincided with the municipal and regional elections held in May 2011.

The manifesto message of last May was “not a euro more to rescue the banks, education and public health of quality, withdrawal of labour reform, guaranteed access to dignified housing and a universal basic income.”

As the 15-M movement started when socialist PSOE was in government in Spain the opposition centre right Partido Popular tried to jump on the protest bandwagon. However it soon became clear that the PP wanted the camp in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol removed and there were scenes of violence as police removed the encampment in Barcelona’s Plaza Cataluña. In the latter case there is convincing evidence the police acted as agent provocateurs.

Hence it comes as no surprise that now the PP is in government the minister of the interior, Jorge Fernández Diáz, has declared: “in no circumstances will we permit these camps.” It was a clear warning to the 15-M movement that their intention to retake the Puerta del Sol in Madrid and set up other camps in various cities and towns would not be tolerated. “The cities are not campsites,” warned Fernández Diáz.

The world has moved on but the plight of those represented by the 15-M movement has got worse; the banks have received further bailouts; political corruption remains rife, the king’s son-in-law is on trial for misappropriating funds and money laundering with the protests moving from main street to main stream.

15-M has now been joined by other groups such as Democracia Real Ya and all can be expected to stage demonstrations over this period. Their protests are being coordinated online at tomalaplaza.net and via Twitter using #15M and #SpanishRevolution.

It was the foreign media correspondents in Madrid and elsewhere in Spain that brought the news of the 15-M movement to the wider world and have kept them updated on its progress. This led to Spanish residents overseas holding protests outside their country’s embassies and the movement soon spread. The French, Greeks, Portuguese, Italians and indeed Britons, amongst others, would establish their own movements. There are also links to the Arab Spring protests in North Africa.

Since the 15-M movement was born Spain has now had a new centre-right government for six months. Yet what started out as the protests of Los Indignados – The Indignant in town squares has spread to various national protests and a General Strike. The nation is angry and will not be silenced by the threats of a centre right government in Madrid.

(Versions of the above article appeared in The Morning Star, London Progressive Journal, Panorama and other online publications on May 15 2012.)

COMMUNISTS ENTER ANDALUCÍA GOVERNMENT

Today, May 3, will go down in the modern history of Spain’s Andalucía. The PSOE leader José Antonio Griñán will be elected as the president of the Junta de Andalucía with the support of the votes of Izquierda Unida – and the communist dominated far left party will enter government.

The centre right Partido Popular won the most seats, 50, but is easily outnumbered by the left coalition of the socialists and the IU on 59. Hence against all the odds PSOE retains power in Andalucía, Spain’s largest region, when only weeks ago the opinion polls predicted a sound PP victory. In the event the centre right vote collapsed and the left are the predominant grouping in the region that traditionally has always been behind PSOE.

Last week the activists of Izquierda Unida voted by 84.9 per cent to join PSOE in a coalition. It was not clear whether this would just mean the IU giving the socialists support or a full blow coalition. It appears to be the later and hence the communists will have ministerial portfolios.

Just how many will not be known to later this week when Griñán announces his government. He has stated that he will streamline the administration in the Andalucía capital of Sevilla by a third. This move has been backed by the IU’s co-ordination in Andalucía, Diego Valderas. He stated at the weekend that in these times of economic crisis the regional government should be streamlined and efficient.

It is expected that Diego Valderas will become the sole vice president in the administration under Griñán. The IU also hopes to pick up a third of the ministries with employment, the environment and tourism on their wish list. Given the pact between PSOE and the IU the PP are not likely to put forward the name of Javier Arenas for president as he would be overwhelmingly defeated.

Of course the arrival of the IU in a government in Spain will hardly cause a ripple amongst the voters. Many European countries traditionally have far stronger Communist Parties than in the UK albeit they now operate under another name. This is in stark contrast to the five Communist Party MPS who have been elected to the British Parliament starting in 1922 with Walton Newbold. Indeed the IU (a coalition between the Communist Party and environmental groups such as Los Verdes) is the third major political force in Spain, increasing in strength in both the national and regional elections as well as holding numerous town halls.

It is 81 years since Spain elected its Second Republic, an event still commemorated by Communists but at the time the party was in disarray. It wasn’t till 79 years ago, 1933, that the party’s first MP Cayetano Bolívar Escribano, was elected. Bolívar was jailed at the time of elections and left imprisonment to occupy his post in the parliament. However in the modern day it is not unusual for the IU to play a part in the government of Spain’s regional administrations.

PSOE has been shored up in government in Andalucía before by two coalitions with the Partido Andalucista. However the socialist spokesperson Susana Radio is adamant this will be a full on coalition with the IU of the style between the Conservatives and Lib Dems in the UK. The PA was very much sidelined in the coalitions with the socialists but the PSOE – IU coalition will be a united government with an agreed common platform to steer Andalucía through these very troubled times for the region and wider Spain.

Unemployment in Spain stands at 24.4 per cent with the youth jobless at a massive 49.6 per cent. As the IU is likely to take the employment portfolio it will be the Communist Party that is charged with rescuing the region from the unemployment abyss. There can be no tougher baptism in government for the true party of the left: but it is a challenge it has to meet and win as the fate of an entire generation lies in the IU’s hands.

(Photo: Griñán congratulated by Valderas after being elected president)

(The above article appeared in the Morning Star on Friday May 4 2012)

ILLEGAL STRIKES AND ANTI TERRORISM LAWS

On March 29 Spain held a general strike in protest against the new labour laws being introduced by the centre right Partido Popular government. The major protests throughout the country went off peacefully but this has not stopped the CEOE, Spain’s equivalent to the CBI, questioning whether because of the serious risk of violence such “political strikes” should not be made illegal. Whilst in Barcelona, where there was street violence, the two police unions are demanding those arrested and convicted should face the same anti-terrorism laws as are in force in the Basque country.

It was the president of the CEOE, Joan Rosell, who proposed that after M-29 the right to strike should be regulated. If it is a political strike, which the business organisation and the Partido Popular insist it was, then it should be illegal. Probably not wanting to inflame further the current situation, the minister of employment, Fátima Báñez, said she discounted such a move – for the moment. However it is quite clear that the centre right has been rattled by the shows of public anger and opposition so there is a keen desire to stamp down on dissent. This could soon come to a head as the CC.OO and UGT unions have stated they will make further announcements on action if no meaningful talks with the government have been held by May Day.

The Spanish Government is already proposing changes to the penal code that will see “crimes” of disobedience and resistance to authority carry prison terms of between six months and a year. If it does decide to make political strikes “illegal” then it will be only the second European government to do so. The other is the ultra right government in Hungary- but an extreme right wing Francoist response is in the PP’s DNA.

In the current economic and jobs crisis hitting Europe there have been a total of 36 general strikes. Greece has seen 17, France nine, Italy four, Portugal three, Belgium two and Spain just the one previously on September 29 2010 in protest over the high levels of unemployment. The latter was during the socialist mandate so the strike on March 29 was the first both for 18 months and under the new Mariano Rajoy regime.

The protests in Greece have been marked with street violence and that is what happened in Barcelona on March 29. This has led to the SPC police union demanding the application of anti-terrorist laws to those who provoke such disturbances.

The spokesperson for the union, David Miquel, said the law needed to be changed so these violent demonstrators could be treated in the same way as the ‘kale borroka’ – the street gangs that support the ETA movement in the Basque region.

Miquel stated: “If there is an existing organisation and if they cause this chaotic situation in a city, this is the same as urban terrorism of low intensity that it has produced in the Basque region.”

The Catalan region has its own police force, the Mossos d’Esquadra and it is represented by the SME-CCOO union. It slammed the region’s government for being able to cut everything but street violence. In a press release the SME-CCOO said the demonstrators in the centre of Barcelona has used Molotov cocktails and thrown metal ball bearings against the Mossos adding the level of violence was equal to that of the ‘kale borroka’ or the anarchist groups in Greece.

The union says there are very organised groups who use the techniques from the manual of urban warfare and their presence had been detected by plain clothes police.

Of course Barcelona is not new to such violence. On June 23 of last year I wrote in The Morning Star about the 15-M protest movement – Los Indignados. The PP was still in opposition but had swept to power in regions, provinces and town halls making unprecedented gains. It was then that the party's mood changed.

I wrote: “It wanted the plazas cleared. The protesters became a nuisance, an eye-sore, a blight on business. The PP demanded the government take action. But the Indignant held their position and in Barcelona this resulted in bloody confrontations with the Catalan police - the Mossos d'Esquadra - who were accused of infiltrating the 15-M movement and acting as agent provocateurs.” Indeed the actions of the plain clothes police in causing the violence is well documented in photographs, print and on film.

Hence we have the Spanish business confederation, the CEOE, calling for all “political” strikes to be made illegal and the police in Barcelona, who are not shy in provoking violence, demanding the introduction of anti-terrorism laws to deal with street protests. This in a country were labour relations have traditionally been far more peaceful than elsewhere in Europe as can be seen by the strike statistics. At the end of the day it is the Partido Popular government that will have to choose how to respond – but the PP is the child of Spain’s notorious right: expect the worst.

(The above article was published in The Morning Star on Wednesday April 4 2012)

SPANISH JUSTICE IS ON TRIAL

The Spanish High Court judge, Baltasar Garzón, is internationally known because of his attempts to bring the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet to face justice, which were largely thwarted by Margaret Thatcher. However in Spain he has made a career of investigating the cases corrupt politicians and those on the far right would wish to remain covered up.


Hence on Tuesday Garzón stepped into the dock of the Supreme Court charged with investigating the violation of human rights committed during the Civil War and Franco dictatorship. This case has the legal world in outrage as well as human rights groups. How can a judge be tried for investigating crimes against humanity? The far right groups including ‘Manos Limpias – Clean Hands’ who brought the case against Garzón would argue: because he has gone against Spain’s Amnesty Law introduced in 1977.

Amnesty International has labelled Garzón trail as “scandalous”. The internationally respected organization issued a statement before the judge was due to enter the dock on Tuesday. He is accused of obstructing justice by opening an investigation into the crimes of the Franco era and to determine who was responsible for them. If found guilty he faces being banned from office for 20 years effectively ending his judicial career.

The human rights organisation is not alone in its support for Garzón. Human Rights Watch, the International Commission of Jurists and the Asociación por la Recuperación de la Memoria Histórica, have called press conferences to voice their outrage and backing for the judge for the morning when his trial opened.

Amnesty International has spoken out over Judge Baltasar Garzón being placed on trial for seeking justice, the truth and justice for the victims and their families of a massive violation of human rights. It also defends his investigation of the abuse of human rights and says to do so is an international obligation for Spain.

The judge stands accused because he investigated in the High Court the forced disappearance of 114,266 people between July 1936 and December 1951. His right wing action group accusers say he has gone against the provisions of the Amnesty Law passed in 1977. However Amnesty International dismisses this as irrelevant adding whether he infringed the law or not Spain has a duty under international law to uncover the truth of those years. A leading QC I consulted agrees: international has precedence over Spanish law.

The federal co-ordinator of Izquierda Unida, Cayo Lara, attended a protest organised by the Plataforma de Apoyo a Garzón outside the Supreme Court in Madrid as the trial got underway. He told the crowd if the judge is found guilty it will “be a stain on Spanish justice.”

Lara continued: “All international justice has its eyes on what is happening here and they are perplexed because they can’t understand that when other countries have investigated their crimes in their own dictatorships they have resolved them from a democratic point of view – yet in Spain we have these terms and conditions and the person who is in the dock is the one who had the courage to investigate.”

Expressing the views of many Spaniards, especially those of the centre and far left, Lara said the Supreme Court should remember that over 130,000 people are still lying in the gutters of Spain in unmarked graves. He added: “they should judge these crimes rather than the judge so that one day we can have a quality democracy.” Lara concluded: “Black has to become light so clear and sharp and has to defend truth, justice and reparation for the victims.”

The opening day of the trial reached the stage of a judicial farce when the State prosecutor sided with the defence and called for the charges against Garzón to be thrown out. Respected public prosecutor Luis Navajas told the court: “We agree with the arguments put forward by the defence. We ask that the trial be shelved.”

The Supreme Court has adjourned to Tuesday January 31 when it will rule on the petition to have the case dismissed. If it rejects the application Judge Baltasar Garzón is due to give evidence on that day but it will be Spanish justice that is on trial.

(The above article appeared in Panorama (Gibraltar) on Friday January 27 and in the Morning Star on Wednesday February 1 2012)

VOTERS SWING BEHIND THE PCE ON ITS 90 TH ANNIVERSARY

This year the Partido Comunista Español celebrates its 90 th anniversary on November 14 just under a week before Spain holds its general election. The PCE could have reasons to celebrate because whilst the centre right Partido Popular will probably become the government the communists now within the Izquierda Unida coalition could well pick up seats in parliament as the PSOE vote collapses.


The Communist Party in Britain has never enjoyed the success of its counterparts in France, Italy or Spain. Communist MPs have been far and few between with just Walton Newbold, Shapurji Saklatvala, Willie Gallacher and Phil Paratin. It has always been left to the Labour Party to represent the working class in the UK with communists often opting to run on the socialist ticket. True the PCE in Spain has had to reinvent itself and now forms the key component of Izquierda Unida. However the far left grouping has numerous councillors, controls major town halls and has MPs in the regional parliaments. At the 2007 elections it returned 2033 councillors but this year that increased to 2628 giving it 58 mayors and hence control of that number of town halls. This makes the IU the third largest national party in Spain and at the heart of the political process with two MPs and two Euro MPs.

I am giving a potted history of the PCE but there will be disputed versions given its fractious, often violent, history – no surprise given the Spanish and international political scenario over those years. A raised fist salute along the way to Rafael Moreno Marín, the PCE organiser in Arriate, who has given me facts and figures.

The Partido Comunista de España is not only an integral part of Izquierda Unida but also plays a major role in the giant CC.OO union. It was born of a schism in PSOE by members unhappy with the social democratic stance of the party who also wanted to partake in Lenin’s Third International. The PCE was a coming together of the Partido Comunista Español and the Partido Comunista Obrero Español. It was formed on November 14 1921 and duly became a member of the Third International hosting its first congress in Sevilla in March 1922. By September 1923 the party was repressed thought not dissolved by the Miguel Primo de Rivera dictatorship.

In November 1925, PCE leaders joined with Comintern officials and leaders of the Catalonian-separatist Estat Català in endorsing a revolutionary program. By the time the Second Republic was declared in 1931 the PCE was in a much weakened state but its first parliamentarian was elected on December 3 1933. Cayetano Bolívar Escribano was in prison at the time and was released to take his seat.

The PCE remained a small party but started to grow with the formation of the Popular Front government in February 1936 of which it was an integral part. Following the start of the Spanish Civil War in July of that year the PCE, led by José Díaz and Dolores Ibárruri ‘La Pasionaria’, worked tirelessly for the Republic and the Popular Front government. The communists found themselves at odds with the popular social revolution and were seen as one of the major movers behind the Barcelona May Days in 1937 when POUM was suppressed. It is said the Soviet Union wanted the Spanish Revolution put down so as not to upset Britain and France whilst facing the Soviet threat. In the early days of the war the PCE is estimated to have grown from 30,000 to 100,000 members and founded a branch of the International Red Aid.

Needless to say after Franco defeated the Republic in April 1939 the PCE was persecuted and became a guerrilla organisation in some parts of Spain. After the signing of the Molotov – Ribbentrop Pact in 1941 the PCE viewed Germany’s aggression in a neutral mode until it attacked the Soviet Union. A large number of the PCE membership were forced in to exile, many joined Russia’s Red Army. France was also home to other Spanish communists where they started organising during the later period of the Franco era. It was at this time it started organising the CC.OO which with the PCE became the backbone of opposition in Spain.

Dolores Ibárruri “La Pasionaria” played a major role in the PCE leading it as General Secretary until 1960. Santiago Carrillo took over the post which he held to 1982 and it was he who steered the PCE away from its Leninist routes on to the Euro Communist path in the process accepting Liberal democracy and a constitutional monarchy in Spain. Many party members regarded this as a “treason” and formed breakaways yet the party held together, was legalised in April 1977, one of the first steps in the Spanish transition to democracy. Within weeks it had 200,000 card holders.

In the 1977 elections, the first of the transition, the PCE received 10 per cent of the vote and repeated the feat in 1979. However in 1982 it went down to defeat and three years later Carrillo was expelled because of his attempts to follow a social democratic path and the party moved away from Euro Communism.

It was in 1986 during the anti-NATO protests that the PCE joined with other left wing groups to form Izquierda Unida including environmentalists. From 1982 to 1988 the General Secretary of IU was Gerardo Iglesias followed by Julio Anguita from 1988 to 1998. This post was then held by Francisco Frutos until 2009 when he was succeeded by José Luis Centella.

Izquierda Unida, which is still dedicated to restoring the Third Republic, now finds itself at the heart of the debate in the economic and financial crisis. The opinion polls indicate that the centre-right Partido Popular will crush the socialist PSOE on November 20. The result will be a massive blow to the left in Spain yet the IU may well become an electoral home for those on the left who reject the widespread political corruption that has gripped PSOE (as well as the PP). It is also at one with those who support the 15M movement, Los Indignados, as well as those battling to have the law changed with regard to property repossessions. This involves those who have lost their homes after they were reposed by the banks – but although homeless they still face massive debts to the mortgage companies.

What is clear that 90 years on the PCE is still at the heart of the debate and could be one of the big winners on November 20 when it could return between 10 and 15 MPs to Congress, Spain’s lower chamber of parliament.

(Versions of the above article appeared in The Morning Star and London Progressive Journal on Monday November 14 2011).

CALL FOR UN SANCTIONS AGAINST MOROCCO

As peaceful protests take place in over 80 countries around the world against the corrupt financial and political systems one only has to go to the Western Sahara to see the other side of the coin. Since the peaceful protest by tens of thousands of Saharawis last October at the Gdeim Izik protest camp Morocco has been turning up the desert heat. What was the largest ever protest in the occupied territories culminated on Monday, October 10, with Moroccan forces brutally attacking peaceful protesters in El Aaiun. The Polisario claims some 30 Saharawis were injured and many others arrested.


It was against this background that the President of the Republic and Secretary General of the Polisario Front, Mohamed Abdelaziz, called on the United Nations to impose sanctions against Morocco. The purpose is to make Rabat comply with the mandate of the UN and end its colonial policy in Western Sahara.

Mohamed Abdelaziz wrote to the UN Secretary General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon denouncing the situation of terror, siege, abductions and imprisonments, which take place in the occupied cities of Dakhla and El Aaiun and all the occupied territories of Western Sahara at the hands of Morocco.

The president wrote: “It’s clear that Morocco does not respect the provisions of international humanitarian law, clings to continue its flagrant violations of human rights in Western Sahara, which is under direct UN responsibility, pending decolonization and exercise of inalienable right to self determination and independence.” He then went on to urge the imposition of sanctions against Morocco to fulfil the UN mandate which affirms the right of the Saharawi people to self-determination.

Mohamed Abdelaziz also drew the attention of the UN Secretary General to the situation of the family of Saeed Dembar to recover its rights as well as finally being able to bury their son who was brutally murdered by Moroccan police on December 23, 2010

The various peaceful protests by the Saharawi are an attempt to show their deep frustration over the lack of political progress in the Western Sahara to the outside world. The only meaningful activity in the region is Morocco’s plundering of their natural resources.

The Saharawis have now lived through 36 years of illegal colonisation; nearly 20 years of waiting for a referendum on the status of Western Sahara. The referendum is demanded by international law and promised by the UN yet nothing has happened hence Mohamed Abdelaziz’s strong letter to the Secretary General.

The Saharawis are not totally alone and both Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have accused the Moroccan authorities of allegedly torturing many Saharawis. Amnesty International’s 2011Report accuses Rabat of “beatings, electric shocks and threats of rape.” It adds the detainees face military courts on trumped up charges after forced confessions.

As the protestors in New York, London, Madrid and around the world receive front page coverage in the press the authorities in Morocco maintain a media blackout in the Western Sahara. Morocco has banned the entrance to Western Sahara of media and independent observers as well as the Spanish International Association for the Observation of Human Rights (AIODH) from visiting Saharawi human rights activists held in prisons in Morocco. However the Saharawi voice has not been silenced and cries out for justice.

(A version of the above article appeared in the Morning Star on Friday October 21 2011)