Photo credit: Pete Cannell 2017

Scottish solidarity with Catalunya

Pete Cannell of International Socialists Scotland (Scotland rs21) reports back from recent solidarity protests with Calatunya.

On Sunday, as Catalunya voted on its independence in the face of Spanish state repression, Edinburgh saw its third solidarity demonstration in just over a week.  Around six hundred gathered at the Spanish Consulate and marched to the European Commission offices.  

Photo credit: Pete Cannell, 2017

In the preceding week there had also been significant protests in Glasgow and Dundee.  All three protests in Edinburgh had a very strong representation from young Spanish and Catalan workers.  The first protest outside the Spanish Consulate was called by a group of activists involved in organising around migrant workers’ rights, and the others were organised by the Radical Independence Campaign.  The Catalan experience has a resonance for the radical left of the Scottish independence campaign.  For many of those attending, however, particularly many of the young workers from other parts of Spain, the key issue is the defence of democracy and the right to vote and opposition to the authoritarianism of the Spanish state.