Cup Manifesto Against Repression & For A Political And Democratic Solution

It is worthy to remember, last monday 9 political and social Catalan leaders were condemned from 9 to 13 years of prison. This is the centre of the debate we face.

These have been imprisoned and condemned until 13 years. A harsh verdict of prison, of political nature, as a response  to the organisation of a referendum.

Since 2006 until now, the state and its constitutional and judicial institutions, but also political have closed systematically down all doors to politics:

• They did not accept a statutory reform of the autonomy within the Constitutional framework, that they cut even after it was approved by the Spanish Congress and passed by a referendum (constitutionally sanctioned).
• They did not accepted either a bilateral negotiation of infraestructures and its management either the finances.
• They did not accepted social, environmental laws – tens of laws passed by wide and plural parliamentary  majorities.
• Finally, they did not accepted either a consult (9th of November 2014), either a referendum of self-determination (1st of October 2017) – that came with lots of petitions in all levels of the administration.

Meanwhile, the authoritarian drift, no only in Catalonia of Catlan Countries, but around the Spanish state, has been terrible: sentences against singers and journalists in the exercise of their freedom of expression; imprisonment of activists and unionists of social rights.

And now, after imprisoning political leaders, forcing others into exile, and imprisoning and forcing into exile political activists, now they have forbidden through the Constitutional court and through threats of prison, to talk, simply to talk about sovereignty and self-determination inside of the Catalan Parliament. Because the massive protest, disobedient and peaceful is criminalised and forced.

All this let us without any tool to give a political answer or institutional to all the huge challenges by the economic, social and global environmental crisis that we are facing right now. This is a social call.

The spanish government prefers to ignore the social majority and to give police responses to popular mobilization.

The Catalan government has not been up to the situation, actually has helped the Spanish state to this repression.

The proposal of the Catalan President Torra this Wednesday to exercise the self-determintaion this term has been immediately undermined by his partners in government (JxCAT and ERC).

But the problem is much deeper.

• The Parliament is empty of power and the capacity to give political answers to the situation.
• The people has understood this and is overflowing everything.
• It is mandatory that mobilisation continues.
• We want to contribute to these mobilisations.
• These situation has easy political ways out.
• There is only political will needed to propel.

It is a matter of political will for those who really hold the power, which is the state.

It is not the Catalan government who can assume this situation – not this one, either any other coming from new elections – because it is tightly tied by the state – under an ongoing threat of the state of exception of article 155 of the Spanish Constitution. Or, what is even worst, the Catalan government and the parties that hold it they do not have any intention to overcome these limits and they continue to obey the impositions of the state.

The elections are neither a solution now.

The government has shown sufficiently its incapacity and they cannot have the support of CUP. Those who propose elections right now want to demobilise and calm the people, which is the only one that can move from this situation.

We do not call for a table of Catalan parties. We either call – now- for new elections which would be a breath of fresh air for the Spanish state.

The institutions are empty, blocked and threaten, and the state dismiss a way out that is not repressive.

For all this:

We launch a call to all public elected members of the country to support a permanent mobilisation and to require an International Table for Self-determination, Amnesty and Freedom which has to make possible these particular measures:

• The end of repression
• The freedom to apply social and economic policies without restrictions by the state
• The exercise of self-determination
• The solution to this situation is the people deciding freely.

These proposals are not the way to start. But from the point of view of CUP, these demands have to be concretized:

• The Self-determination for the Catalan Countries.
• The absolute amnesty for all political repressed people.
• The withdrawal of all police and military forces of the state.
• The disbandment of the BRIMO of the Mossos d’Esquadra.
• The end of the social apartheid and the end of the estrangery law.
• The immediate suspension of all the evictions.
• A minimum salary of 1.200 euros and the equality in salaries between men and women.
• A shock plan against sexist violence.
• A public and free university: the abolition of taxes in universities.
• Nationalisation of water, light, energy and telecommunications, the end of externalisation of public services.
• The end of the payment of the public debt.

For all these reasons, we call for:

• to give continuity of mobilisations, with the hope that they can be massive, transversals and peaceful, together with popular assemblies in every town or neighbourhood to prepare them. 
• to all the elected positions of all democratic forces of the country, deputies, counsellors, mayors to meet in an Assembly of Elected Positions this monday 21st of October to establish a manifesto of demands that we direct to the international community to find a democratic solution recognising the self-determination right as the way out to this cul-de-sac created by the state.
• to journalists, lawyers, elected positions around the world to come here, and to meet with political and civil organisations in defense of human rights and to make a call for an International Table for Self-determination, Amnesty and Freedom.