Spain

Pepe Escobar: The future of the EU at stake in Catalonia

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– The future of the EU at stake in Catalonia:

A new paradigm has been coined right inside the lofty European Union: ‘In the name of democracy, refrain from voting, or else’

By Pepe Escobar October 2, 2017 

Fascist Franco may have been dead for more than four decades, but Spain is still encumbered with his dictatorial corpse. A new paradigm has been coined right inside the lofty European Union, self-described home/patronizing dispenser of human rights to lesser regions across the planet: “In the name of democracy, refrain from voting, or else.” Call it democracy nano-Franco style.

Read morePepe Escobar: The future of the EU at stake in Catalonia

Catalan President To Declare “Gradual Independence” On Tuesday

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– Catalan President To Declare “Gradual Independence” On Tuesday: 

In the latest twist ahead of tomorrow’s much anticipated “next step” announcement to be made by the Catalan secessionists, which is still to be formalized, Spain’s EFE newswire reports that Catalonian President Carles Puigdemont has reportedly drafted a declaration of “gradual independence”, that will be “gradually effective” and which will plan to start a constituent process.

The declaration, which will cap what El Periodico dubbed “the most critical moment for Catalonia” will allegedly insist on Catalonia’s wish to negotiate with central government and the need for mediation, although in an indication that Puigdemont may be back tracking from his hard-line “binary” stance, EFE adds that the Declaration won’t lead to parliamentary vote, and as such may be non-binding.

Read moreCatalan President To Declare “Gradual Independence” On Tuesday

Spanish Government Issues Veiled Death Threat To Catalan Leader

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– Spanish Government Issues Veiled Death Threat To Catalan Leader:

In a quite shocking escalation of the rhetoric in Spain, a spokesman for the ruling People’s Party just issued a (barely) veiled death threat to the President of Catalonia.

“Let’s hope that nothing is declared tomorrow because perhaps the person who makes the decalartion will end up like the person who made the declaration 83 years ago.”

For those whose Spanish history is a little shaky, here’s a reminder:

Read moreSpanish Government Issues Veiled Death Threat To Catalan Leader

Spain Teaches Catalonia a Lesson about the Power of Money

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– Spain Teaches Catalonia a Lesson about the Power of Money: 

Within 48 hours this week, Catalonia, Spain’s largest regional economy, lost three of its seven biggest homegrown multinational corporations and several large national companies — if only on paper — to cities in other regions of Spain.

The first important company to “leave” since Sunday’s referendum was mid-sized pharmaceutical company Oryzon Genomics SA, which announced on Wednesday that it was departing Catalonia for Madrid. The same path has been traveled recently by firms like Derby Hotels, Unico Hotels, WPP and Schibsted.

But it wasn’t until Banc Sabadell, Spain’s fifth largest bank, announced that it was changing its registered company address to Alicante, a provincial city on Spain’s south-eastern coast, that the threat of a corporate exodus from Catalonia began to be taken seriously.

Read moreSpain Teaches Catalonia a Lesson about the Power of Money

Hundreds of thousands rally against Catalan independence in Barcelona

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– Hundreds of thousands rally against Catalan independence in Barcelona:

Hundreds of thousands of people rallied in central Barcelona on Sunday in opposition to any declaration of independence from Spain, waving banners that said “I am Spanish,” “Catalonia is Spain,” and “Together we are stronger.”

Police said around 350,000 people took to the streets of the Spanish capital, though organizers put the figure closer to 930,000.

The rally, designed to defend the unity of Spain, was organized by the Catalan Civil Society (SCC) group, with the slogan‘Let’s recover our common sense!’

“Everyone has the right to say their opinion. [Until] today I had the impression that [people] who were against independence couldn’t speak. Today is a great day when everyone in Catalonia can speak,” a French woman living in Barcelona told RT.

Read moreHundreds of thousands rally against Catalan independence in Barcelona

“You’re On Your Own!!!”

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A (planned) financial collapse & hyperinflation, (planned) civil war, which will be directly followed by (planned) WW3 is coming our way…

… and we will be on our own.

Related info:

– We Are On Our Own

– The Jewish Supremacist Doomsday Cult That Connects Trump and Putin

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“A fortunate few will be able to band together with other individuals of similar beliefs. Decentralization in full efflorescence will obliterate many of the current buffers—particularly the welfare state—between actions and consequences, meaning individuals will be forced to take responsibility for what they do, whether they want to or not.”

– You’re On Your Own:

If the world seems incomprehensible now, just wait…

Within a twenty-four-hour span the Catalonian people voted 90 percent in favor of secession from Spain, despite the Spanish government’s effort to violently squelch the referendum, and a man in a Las Vegas hotel room opened fire on a concert, killing fifty-nine and wounding over 500. There’s no tangible connection between the two incidents, but they illustrate incipient forces still gathering steam that are transforming the world.

Read more“You’re On Your Own!!!”

How Catalonia separatists pulled off vote despite crackdown

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– How Catalonia separatists pulled off vote despite crackdown:

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — The ballot boxes arrived from France under the cover of night, were stored in homes and improvised hiding places, and then secretly shuttled to polling stations right under the nose of police.

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H/t reader squodgy:

“It will end in tears.”

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Spain’s top court halts Catalan secession parliament meeting

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– Spain’s top court halts Catalan secession parliament meeting:

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Spain’s Constitutional Court on Thursday ordered Catalonia’s parliament to suspend a planned session next week during which separatist lawmakers wanted to declare independence — further fueling Spain’s worst political crisis in decades.

Catalan regional authorities previously have ignored Constitutional Court orders, so it was not immediately clear if the session would go ahead and if all parties would attend. The court said its order could be appealed but also warned Catalan parliament speaker Carme Forcadell and other members of the speakers’ board that they could face prosecution for failing to halt the session.

Speaking to reporters, Forcadell called the suspension a “violation of freedom of speech.” “I won’t allow censorship to enter Parliament,” she said without clarifying if the meeting would go ahead or not.

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H/t reader squodgy:

“Getting worse.”

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Nigel Farage Blasts EU, Juncker Over #Catalonia: #Spain Violates Article 2 of Lisbon Treaty

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– Nigel Farage Blasts EU, Juncker Over Catalonia: Spain Violates Article 2 of Lisbon Treaty:

Nigel Farage made his best speech ever in the European Parliament.

Farage called the Catalonia crackdown a foretaste of EU political suppression.

Watch and enjoy.

Full Transcript:

Read moreNigel Farage Blasts EU, Juncker Over #Catalonia: #Spain Violates Article 2 of Lisbon Treaty

Spain: Rajoy may be losing control of the Police Forces he is relying on for his brutal oppression of Catalonia

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https://twitter.com/Ian56789/status/915657440070381568

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It’s Time to Question the Modern Nation-State Model of Governance

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– It’s Time to Question the Modern Nation-State Model of Governance:

I typically try to avoid news on Sundays, but I spent much of yesterday in complete awe of the extraordinary strength and fortitude of the Catalan people in the face of totalitarian violence from the Spanish state against citizens attempting to vote in a peaceful referendum. Before you start telling me about how the vote is illegal and goes against the Spanish constitution, let me be perfectly clear. That line of thinking is entirely irrelevant to the point of this post.

Specifically, I believe humanity is reaching a point in its evolution, both from a consciousness perspective as well as a technological one, where we’ll begin to increasingly question many of our silly contemporary assumptions about how governance should work.  The primary one is this absurd notion that a nation-state should be seen as a permanent structure of political governance which only becomes dissolvable in the event of violent revolution or war.

Read moreIt’s Time to Question the Modern Nation-State Model of Governance

Spanish Showdown: Catalonia To Declare Independence “In Days” Puidgemont Says Despite King’s Condemnation

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There has been a civil war prophesized for Spain prior to WW3.

Will the Catalan independence movement be the trigger?

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– Spanish Showdown: Catalonia To Declare Independence “In Days” Puidgemont Says Despite King’s Condemnation:

As reported previously, in a sternly worded address to the nation, Spain’s King Felipe VI condemned organizers of Catalonia’s independence referendum for having put themselves “outside the law” and said the situation in Spain was “extremely serious”, calling for unity. In his address, King Felipe VI said Catalan leaders who organized the referendum showed their “disrespect to the powers of the state” adding that “they have broken the democratic principles of the rule of law.

“Today, the Catalan society is fractured,” the king said, warning that the poll could put at risk the economy of the wealthy autonomous north-eastern region and the whole of Spain. He said that Catalonia’s authorities, “have placed themselves outside the law and democracy, they have tried to break the unity of Spain and national sovereignty”. Offering firm backing to the Spanish government of Mariano Rajoy, Felipe said it was the “responsibility of the legitimate powers of the state to ensure the constitutional order.”

Felipe also said the Catalan government had “systematically violated the law, demonstrating a disloyalty that is inadmissible” and “undermined the harmony and coexistence in Catalan society”

But he stressed that Spain “will overcome difficult times”.

Read moreSpanish Showdown: Catalonia To Declare Independence “In Days” Puidgemont Says Despite King’s Condemnation

Caught On Tape: Spanish Civil Guard And Catalan Police Fight At Polling Station

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– Caught On Tape: Spanish Civil Guard And Catalan Police Fight At Polling Station:

After reluctantly complying with orders to shut down polling places, it appears the local Catalonian police have had enough of the Spanish Civil Guard’s brutality. To wit, videos have surfaced showing members of the local police – known as the Mossos – clashing with Civil Guard officers as they try to stop federal police from storming polling stations and attacking peaceful voters.

Public support for the Mossos has remained high despite the crackdown following the terror attack in late August, and video that emerged earlier showed crowds clapping for Mossos officers as they entered a polling station. One video published by the Spain Report shows Civil Guard riot officers physically pushing Mossos officers as they move to enter a polling station in the town. The Mossos officers resist and push back and an angry confrontation ensues for several seconds.

Earlier, Catalan firemen were caught in tape being beaten by Civil Guard officers armed with clubs as the Catalonians tried to protect civilians attempting to vote.

Read moreCaught On Tape: Spanish Civil Guard And Catalan Police Fight At Polling Station

The Results Are In: 89% Of Catalans Vote For Independence

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– The Results Are In: 89% Of Catalans Vote For Independence:

Update (6:30 pm ET): In further proof that Spain’s brutal crackdown on today’s Catalan independence referendum only helped bolster the seccessionist cause, the regional government announced that voters had overwhelmingly voted in favor of independence, with 89% voting to separate from Spain.

The regional government has promised to officially declare independence within 48 hours.

Read moreThe Results Are In: 89% Of Catalans Vote For Independence

Spanish police fire rubber bullets near Catalan voting site

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And as I’ve told you before …

Spain has been predicted to have a civil war just prior to WW3.

Civil war has also has been foreseen  in the U.S., Germany, Italy, France, Britain prior to WW3.

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– Spanish police fire rubber bullets near Catalan voting site:

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Spanish riot police smashed their way into polling stations to try to halt a disputed independence referendum on Sunday and fired rubber bullets at protesters outside a Barcelona polling station. Several people were injured.

The officers fired the rubber bullets while trying to clear protesters who were trying to prevent National Police cars from leaving after police confiscated ballot boxes from the voting center. The Spanish government has ordered police to stop the voting process, saying it’s illegal.

Catalan officials said 38 people were treated for mostly minor injuries. An AP photographer saw several people who had been injured during the scuffles outside Barcelona’s Rius i Taule school, where some voters had cast ballots before police arrived

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H/t reader squodgy:

“Democracy at Work ~”

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Catalonia’s Dark Days Ahead

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– Catalonia’s Dark Days Ahead:

The next 72 hours could be crucial not only for Catalonia, but also for the rest of Spain and Europe. For now, the cards are overwhelmingly stacked in Madrid’s favor. The central government enjoys the outward support of all European institutions, key Western partners and has the full power of the law on its side as well as the full arsenal of state repression at its disposal.

After confiscating millions of ballot slips and thousands of ballot boxes, and launching what Wikileaks’ Julian Assange has termed the “world’s first Internet War” against Catalonia, freezing telecommunications links, occupying telecoms buildings and censoring hundreds of websites, the Rajoy administration has made it logistically difficult, if not impossible, for the region to hold a credible referendum.

Read moreCatalonia’s Dark Days Ahead