Given all they were up against, Craig Murray underscores the importance of their victory in Spain’s general election.
By Craig Murray
CraigMurray.org.uk
The Spanish general election in Catalonia was a stunning victory for the Catalan separatists, their best election result, achieved despite their leadership being exiled or political prisoners and despite an avalanche of mainstream media propaganda against them.
Four of those elected are currently in jail.
The Spanish state has reacted by declaring the two major separatist candidates — Clara Ponsati and Carles Puigdemont — ineligible for the European Parliament elections.
Election night TV graphic showing Catalonia in yellow. (Twitter)
The Catalan Republican left won the biggest share of the vote, which negates the continued false propaganda being put about Catalonian independence being a right-wing movement. Over 60 percent of the vote in Catalonia went to avowedly left-wing parties.
It is further worth noting that there is a very plain correlation between the geographical location of the 3.6 percent of the vote that the neo-fascists of Vox gained in Catalonia, and the Spanish occupation garrisons in the country.
You will struggle very hard indeed to learn any of the above facts from British mainstream media; I had to get them all from Catalan sources.
Map of Catalan municipalities shows the victory of pro-independence parties, in yellow and pink. (@IND_LOC Twitter)
The Guardian has published 55 articles in the last three years boosting Ines Arrimadas, the leader of the Catalan branch of the right wing “Spanish” Citizens party, including at least three op-eds written by Ines Arrimadas herself. The Guardian has sought relentlessly to portray public opinion in Catalonia as anti-independence, and Arrimadas as its true representative.
Yet in the Spanish general election, Arrimadas’ party got only 11.6 percent of the vote in Catalonia. The right-wing nationalist Spanish parties, the fascist Vox, the Francoist PP and Arrimadas’ foreign security service promoted Citizens, got a pathetic 20.1 percent of the vote among all three, in a stunning Catalan rejection of Spanish nationalism.
Citizens started life as an astroturf effort to help counter the left-wing and anti-EU populism of Podemos. To that end it was funded and assisted by the German foreign intelligence service, the BND. It remains a favorite tool of foreign intelligence services, particularly MI6 which of course sees the links between Catalan and Scottish nationalism. Hence the peculiarly active link between Ciudadanos and MI6’s print media mouthpiece, the Guardian.
Protest march in Barcelona in support of nationalist politician Puigdemont, April 15, 2018. (Òmnium Cultural, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
It is impossible to correlate directly from party results to potential referendum results, as a number of parties including Podemos and the Greens hold ambivalent positions on independence, and a percentage of voters will have a view on independence that differs from the party they support. For example, a small but significant number of Socialist Party supporters of PM Pedro Sanchez, also support Catalan independence.
Given the thuggish violence of Francoist paramilitary forces against the ordinary voters in Catalonia’s referendum, given the imprisoning and exile of its peaceful leadership, given the extraordinary Madrid dictated barrage of MSM propaganda, the Catalan nationalist victory in the general election is a wonderful triumph for the human spirit. Now you won’t hear that in the MSM.
Craig Murray is an author, broadcaster and human rights activist. He was British ambassador to Uzbekistan from August 2002 to October 2004 and rector of the University of Dundee from 2007 to 2010. This article first appeared on his website.
Ciudadanos is a Stalking Horse for the PP in Catalonia. It’s a right-wing Fascist party in Catalonia for people who are Spanish Imperialists. and would love nothing better than to see minority nations and languages in Spain die 0ut…what after? Portuguese? Read history. A large part of the Spaniards have their heads stuck in the year 1801. The Empire is long gone so why try to play as if it exists in 2019 in Iberia? Get over it.
How does what “they were up against” differ from what “we the people” – the majority of us, anywhere else in the world, are up against?
In this writer’s opinion, at this point in time, our predicament is far worse than “theirs” in Spain, in that a modicum of Democracy still exists in Spain, whereas in Britain and the U.S., for example, it is nothing but the sham of supremacist posturing, as cover, for the continuing power grab.
Chattel slavery in the U.S. may have come to a close more than 150 years ago, yet it was still 60 years, or so, behind the international trend.
Wage slavery however, in the U.S., and more so, internationally, has not ended. In fact, worldwide, it has suffered a dramatic reversal. If it even be possible at all the situation globally is far more dire than ever, given the dominance of overall U.S. power.
This is what “we” in unity with “they (are) up against”.
Isn’t this what Julian Assange and other whistle blowers, and journalists are attempting to tell us.
Once again historically, what it is coming down to are the forces of light – the ideals of an impartially shared democracy, pitted against the elite dark forces’ attempting the implementation of totalitarian capitalism.
More Light CN, thank you. I began following Craig Murray when I learned of his involvement in the Seth Rich Drama suspecting that he was somehow exceptional, and have read his blog since that time. He’s truly special, I encourage all to follow him at the web link at the end of the article. His commenters are also vibrant and worth reading.
One only wishes that America could organize a truly unfettered election. I’m thinking that the results would be equally surprising…
The MSM in the USA doesn’t even notice in real time when a candidate trots out on stage thanking voters for her primary “win” as the polls are still open in places like California and voters have yet to vote. The MSM in the USA is unread, unschooled, and unskilled at knowing facts that others see and do not miss. The MSM in the USA only cares for dollars for themselves and are not interested in fair elections or the constitution or the people of the country. Without a competent MSM, we the people will perish. The MSM doesn’t see that the lonely Wikileaks team is fighting for the lowly MSM’s survival, for without actual news with factual content, the MSM will perish sooner than we will!
And as much as the MSM in the USA piles on with the racist “Twitterverse” in slagging Julian Assange to prove that, they to, are with the stupids, they do not have the decency to show respect for all he has gone through for them and us!!
Hi Bob-
The failure of the MSM propaganda machine is heartening. We can only hope that it is duplicated in the USA over the next couple of years. I’m still hopeful that Tulsi Gabbard can mount a viable campaign despite the empire’s wishes for corporate sponsored warmonger from column B. I suspect her only real hope is to abandon the DNC dominated Dems, go Green, and make a very loud noise doing it. Getting her to the televised debates for the general election is when we’d have a real chance for meaningful change.
This comes as no surprise. The Guardian, a founding member of the ii, no longer has any integrity. They are DINOs. Democracies in name only. They probably need a taste of the spreading of democracy that they have been doing for a while now. Not to mention hypocrites. They insist on self determination in places like Kosovo but not in Crimea and Catalonia. Nobody is fooled.
Yes many of you are fooled. Unlike anglomedia, the spanish media wrote about the former catalonian rebel leader going to celebrate the 300 years anniversary of british freemasonry
And in addition having a 33 grade freemasonic handler.
This is Britains ol’ game of splitting rival countries. Catalonia is more profitable so by taking it away from Spain the usual culprits will come in and loot the rest.
What if all rich regions providing export-incomes everywhere would quit the other regions?
Thank you for this most informative and spirit-lifting article, Craig Murray.
Few of the articles which I have read in the alternative media, here in the U$, have matched or even come close to the perspective and history which you provide.
Even a drop of hope feels like a torrent, in the cesspool of the sewer slime of fascism that is now breaking out all over the place. It is a real cause for celebration, that the idea of a more equitable distribution of the available ‘goods’ of the world is still alive and on the negotiating table.
This is good news. Maybe a trend!
The U.S. had an election that had Five Eyes, MI6, CIA and FBI all trying to disrupt, they failed as well, even though the same media powers mentioned in this article were complicit in their efforts.
Perhaps democracy isn’t completely dead.