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[insan]

Catalans vote for independence from Spain
More than 96 percent of votes in Arenys de Munt were in favour of Catalonia becoming an independent state within the European Union, a municipal spokesman said.

Monday, 14 September 2009 08:16

Inhabitants of a small Spanish town voted on Sunday for the region of Catalonia to secede from Spain in a poll which, though symbolic, adds to pressure on the minority Spanish government as it struggles to combat recession.

The referendum in Arenys de Munt came as Spain's socialist government braces for a court ruling by Spain's Constitutional Court to overturn a special statute setting out the boundaries of Catalan autonomy within the Spanish state.

Many Catalans, including Catalan members of Spain's ruling Socialist Party, feel that such a ruling would ignore legitimate aspirations of a people with hundreds of years of separate identity and which retains its own language.

More than 96 percent of votes in Arenys de Munt were in favour of Catalonia becoming an independent state within the European Union, a municipal spokesman said.

"This is a triumph for democracy," said local mayor Carles Mora, who got round a court order forbidding municipal authorities from organising the non-binding vote by holding it outside official offices. About 40 percent of the town's 6,500 eligible voters participated in the referendum.

Leading members of Catalonia's independence movement converged on Arenys de Munt for Sunday's vote.

A few dozen members of the far-right group the Falange. a powerful force during Spain's 1930s Civil War but now marginalised and weak, waved Spanish flags and made fascist salutes from behind a large police cordon protecting them from a much larger jeering pro-independence crowd.
http://www.worldbulletin.net/news_detail.php?id=47188

[insan]

I often say that the Spaniards are the ones who constantly give us reasons to want independence. I also often say that the Spaniards will never let us be. The multi-national Spain that some would like is be more difficult to achieve than independence.
Why?
Because independence we can get by our own will (without them wanting it) while a multi-national federal system can only be achieved with their collaboration and they will NEVER give away the power they’ve got over us voluntarily.
There are many signs that prove that the Spanish mentality in power today still is the imperialist one. A mentality that does not want to embrace the multi-cultural or multi-national reality of Spain.
Up till now there were 148 laws imposing the use of Spanish language in commerce. Only one law protects the Catalan language within the Catalan territory. But this law is not even being applied (perhaps because our politicians are afraid that by applying this law the hatred in Spain against Catalans would increase even more).
The fact is that the Spanish authorities this year have developed three new laws in order to reinforce and impose the hegemony of Spanish language in Spanish territory.
We all thought things would get better with democracy, but in the ‘democratic’ Spain of today this mentality hasn’t changed much. In fact the linguistic laws are pretty much the same as in times of the dictator. Everything must be in Spanish language. The other languages are not taken in consideration.
This mentality is causing a lot of trouble to develop a normal life in Catalan language; this attitude is a constant threat that is slowly bringing our mother tongue to extinction. I don’t have to say that the only and best way to get rid of this mentality is independence.

http://independentcatalonia.blogspot.com/

[insan]

Monday, 14 September 2009
Spain forbids the exercise of democracy by the Catalans and allows the renaissance of fascist violent groups
CATALONIA THE NEXT STATE IN EUROPE

Initially, the Local Council of Arenys de Munt (Catalonia) had decided to celebrate the first plebiscite for the Independence of Catalonia on September 13th. In that session, the political representatives of this city, democratically elected by its citizens, considered that it was an elementary exercise of democracy. This initiative has begun to spread and, at this moment, more than 50 other Local Authorities in Catalonia are interested in celebrating similar plebiscites.

Once the call for this plebiscite was published, all Spanish alarms sprung out and important politicians -from PSOE and PP, including Spanish vice-president, Mrs Maria Fernandez de la Vega, argued that this plebiscite was not to be celebrated because Spanish law does not allow to do so.

At the same time, Falange Espanola, violent group supporting Fascism that, must be remembered, was the only political party allowed during the Francoist dictatorship (1939-75), pretended to demonstrate on the very same September 13th in Arenys de Munt, coinciding with the plebiscite. At first, the Catalan Home Council rejected the application but Falange Espanola appealed to the Spanish justice.

Equally, the Spanish government, by hand of the State Lawyer, started legal proceedings against the call for this plebiscite. Not long after, it was known that the lawyer for the State, Mr Jorge Buxade Villalba, had been candidate for Falange Espanola in the period 1995-96.

These two proceedings had resulted in the cancellation of the agreement by the Council of Arenys de Munt by the Judge Emilia Gimenez Yuste, thus impeding the consult. On the same September 9th, Judge Pilar Rovira del Canto authorized the protest by Falange Espanola, revoking the decision by the Home Councillor of Catalonia.

"Spanish democracy", on one hand, forbids the democratic right of plebiscites and on the other authorizes the demonstration of fascist and violent groups that bear sad memories for the Catalans. Catalans only know too well what dictatorship and fascism mean. The World judged Nazi Germany's crimes. Germany has asked for forgiveness a thousand times, Germans feel ashamed of this stage of their History and Nazi groups are illegal. But the World has not judged Francoist regime, nor has any Spanish government ever apologised. Spain is full of politicians and public officers that belonged to that regime and do not feel guilt from having belonged to it. Furthermore, political parties like Falange are legal in Spain.

http://independentistesestranger.blogsp ... cy-by.html