The first Internet war (And the bad guys are winning!)
“Freedom of speech is one of the key tenets of a democracy. But are you really speaking if no one hears you?” That was the conclusion of a post about government and freedom I wrote yesterday and events in Spain come to illustrate how swiftly and heavy-handed authorities can shut you down be when they don't like what you're saying.
Spain's region of Catalonia is holding a referendum on independence tomorrow, a move branded illegal by the government in Madrid. Consequently, Spanish authorities have proceeded to shut down sites associated with the organization of the referendum, telecommunication companies' buildings were occupied by the police and IT managers have been arrested, in what Wikileaks' Julian Assange has called 'the first Internet war'. Acting on Spanish authorities request, the mighty Google has deleted an app used to direct people to their polling stations, which are at this hour being occupied by police forces. Over 750 mayors who support the referendum were summoned for questioning and face being arrested. Speaking of Internet, it's worth mentioning that Pirate Bay founder Peter Sunde has stepped in offering anonymous hosting to Catalan referendum websites.
“What is happening in Catalonia in the most significant Western conflict between people and state since the fall of the Berlin wall,” Assange tweeted Saturday.
Shadow of Generalissimo Franco
Over the years, we've heard about Twitter or Facebook being blocked in countries like China, Turkey or Iran. Today we are talking about Spain, which is by all standards a Western democracy. It doesn't matter where we stand on this issue, by democratic standards the people of Catalonia should be allowed to have their say. A few years ago, Scotland held a similar referendum and the independence bid failed. The Spanish authorities didn't want to take any chances and are using force to shut down the people, full knowing they can do so unpunished. Or even criticized. Here, in Europe, German chancellor and EU de facto leader, Angela Merkel, has made it clear years ago she doesn't approve of Catalan independence. For the people of Barcelona this is a stark reminder of the tragic fate of Lluís Companys, the man who proclaimed Catalonia's independence in 1934 and became president. In 1940, Companys was arrested by the Nazi. He was then tortured and executed by general Franco's henchmen.
“The level of political repression in Catalonia at the moment is of a severe and arbitrary character not experienced since the days of the Franco dictatorship”, reads a protest letter signed by 70 American, Canadian and Mexican academics, led by Noam Chomsky.
Catalonia's independence bid could potentially lead to unrest in other European countries, inspiring other regions to go the same way, but at these point this seems less dangerous than what's happening in Spain right now. Keep in mind that the people of Catalonia have never used violence to attain their goal. They asked for a vote, which is what democracy is all about. What happens on Sunday in Catalonia is a test for the state of Western democracy and if force prevails this might have consequences for us all.
I still do not understand why catalonians are not permitted to vote, it would be less costly for the central government than the police-prohibition situation that will happen tomorrow. Besides, the more voting is banned, the more it is desired to vote.
I read comments Rajoy is committing political suicide by the crackdown on the Catalan movement - hopefully no one else will have to die for his stupid actions.
On the contrary, Rajoy is going to come out reinforced from this. The rest of the Spaniards, many of them from the Catalonia region, have been waiting for a long time a strong response to the secessionist thread of the local government of the Catalonian region. Now finally Rajoy does a strong response (although not strong enough for many Spaniards and the army should have been deployed also and it has not been). So most Spaniards see now Rajoy as a strong leader that can avoid an illegal secession of one region of Spain. This will give him an absolute majority in the next elections.
I disagree, the Spanish dont see Rajoy as a strong leader but rather the only short time answer to the strong movement developing from the left. It is a question of time that the young Spanish start voting when they come due age, and they will never vote for Rajoy.
Read my comment below and you will understand. It is a secession and no country can allow a seccesion. The reginal goverment of Catalonia will end up in prission like the last time they did this and which developed in the Spanish Civil War. Let's hope that the Catalan people don't provoke the second Civil War.
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CATALONIA IS SPAIN: some politicians want an illegal secession from Spain, ILLEGAL FAKE VOTING!
Imagine that Babaria in Germany wants to separate from Germany, or that Provence wants to separate from France, or California wants to separate from the USA.
Do you think that Germany, France or the USA would allow such secession to happen?
Obviously not, because they are integral parts of their countries, the same than Catalonia is an integral part of Spain since the times before the Roman Invasion of the Iberian Peninsula.
If such an attempt of secession would happen on those countries, they will apply the law to stop it and the police and even the army to enforce the law because that is the reason of being of the police and the army.
That's exactly what is happening in Spain, the law, the Spanish Constitution and the orders from the Judges are being applied to stop an illegal voting instigated by the insurgent regional government in Catalonia.
The police is closing the places where the illegal voting is attempted and seizing all the illegal material, but the police are finding resistance and violence from some people with wounded people and police as result. The police need to use the proportional force when required to complete the work that the judges have ordered them with to enforce the law.
Catalonia is an integral part of Spain and it will always continue to be, that is not negotiable.
In the S.XX the secessionist took us to a Civil War, we are now heading to a similar situation so a future second Civil War in Spain is unfortunately now possible. We hope that this time the international community, Europe, and the UN supports the democratic government of Spain to reject the insurgent secessionists and avoid war.
Catalonia already had an autonomous government with more powers that the government of Scotland have
But what the politicians from the Catalonia region want is not self-governing, that they already have, but complete secession from Spain and that is utterly impossible.
Spaniards are very friendly and peacefull people but we cannot allow some local politicians to execute a secession are steal part of Spain from all the Spanish people.
CATALONIA IS SPAIN
The constitution from Spain allows the independence of any of its parts.
The state of Spain can not allow Catalonia to leave Spain, because that would force the rest of Spain to leave the European Union (due to economics), thats not my opinion, its the opinion of a PP exminister.
The last time that Catalonia declared independence, which was in the 1930s, the Spanish civil war came (1936) and the dictator Franco allowed the nazis to take the president of the Catalonian republic and they tortured and killed him. I was not there, but apparently Catalonia has been forced to be part of Spain a few times in history.
You called democracy - I came!
Really great information that is relevant to the world @ladyrebecca it seems like the people need to realize that the governments are out of control and working to take more and more freedom from the taxpaying citizens. The conditions aren't exactly the same in Texas, where i live, but government agents are working to take the heritage of Southerners who stood up against the crooked US government in the Civil War as i covered in my blog that was happily featured this week. Best wishes to Catalonia :) i followed you, please follow me back as it looks like we both see the government is trouble