For the
self-determination of our bodies and our peoples, for the freedom of Catalonia
and for an authentic constituent process breaking off from the 1978 regime (*)
Feministes
Indignades is a
network of women, lesbians and trans born out of the Acampada, i.e.
occupation, of Plaça
Catalunya during the
citizen uprising of May 15th 2011, 15M, to reject the coup d'etat by
financial markets, the International Monetary Fund and the Troica, that
impoverish and kill people by implementing reforms and austerity policies and
slashing rights. As for the Spanish state, in August 2011, PP-PSOE (the main
right and left wing political parties in Spain) violated people sovereignty
with a reform of the article 135 of the Constitution (supposedly not
reformable) to fix a limit to the public deficit.
We,
Feministes Indignades, practice and support feminist civil disobedience
against laws and unfair and illegitimate policies: in May 2011, we disobeyed
the eviction order of Plaça Catalunya, given by the regional government
Ministry of Interior, a Convergencia i Unió (CIU) government (Catalan
nationalist right-wing party), and the interdiction by the Central Electoral
Committee, to occupy squares and streets during the electoral day of reflection
before the municipal elections. In June 2011, we disobeyed the markets and
politicians' order, by surrounding the Parliament of Catalonia to oppose the
first pack of austerity measures led by CIU. Since 2012 and until now,
we have supported the campaign for abortion rights, that calls for feminist
disobedience against the abortion law counter-reform initiated by Minister
Alberto Ruiz Gallardón (former Minister of Justice in the Spanish government),
which eventually was not approved, and against rights being taken away from
minors under 18, who would have had to inform their parents or legal guardians,
to exercise their right to abortion.
We, Feministes
Indignades, are a diverse network, sharing different political tendencies
and visions: some of us feel independentists, other federalists, some of us do
not believe in state of any kind, be it Spanish or Catalan. Some of us question
the sovereign process, some of us have actively participated and contributed to
it. Many others do not think this is what matters most and are declaring to be feminists
in resistance.
Some of us
are outraged because we are migrants and the law Ley de
Transitoriedad (e.g.
establishing nationality rules in the independency context), prevents us to vote in the referendum,
snatches away from us our agency to be political subjects, infringes our right
to participate and worryingly reminds us of the racist Ley
Española de Extranjería (law re. foreign nationals).
We defend the
effective exercise of civil, political and social rights and freedoms, and are
in resistance against capitalism, racism, heterosexism, patriarchy,
fundamentalisms and fascism. We support people in resistance and believe in the
self-determination of our bodies and peoples.
We want to
bring down the patriarchal, capitalist and racist pact of the 1978 regime.
From our
resistance, we want to participate in constituent processes enabling feminist
democracies in which we can all participate (natives and migrants).
We denounce,
That the
measures with which the Spanish state has chosen to respond to the call for a
Catalan referendum on 1st October, 2017, has violated fundamental rights such
as: the right to a fair trial under a competent, independent and
impartial tribunal, the right
to intimacy, the right to the inviolability of the home, communication privacy,
the right to freedom of expression and information, and the right to freedom of
assembly and demonstration.
Among some of
the most serious events that have taken place in the last few days are:
- the
prosecution of more than 700 mayors for having enabled the organisation of the
referendum of 1st October in municipal facilities, imposing fines counting in
millions to all the members of the Court of Auditors in the Catalan Government
and threats to school principals that would have offered these facilities for
the referendum.
- shutting
down the web page of the Generalitat (Catalan government) and violation
of citizens' rights to express their opinions through the internet, freely and
openly, which cannot be censured or limited.
- search of printing
houses where material for the referendum was printed out and requisition of 1,5
millions leaflets and posters, among which figure official publications from
the Generalitat.
- search of
media offices and identification of journalists.
- ban on conferences
and debate meetings on the right to decide in various places in the state -
(Madrid, Vitoria/Gasteiz, Zaragoza...).
- effective
suspension of the autonomy of Catalonia and deployment of a state of exception
without declaring it.
Detention of advisors,
workers from the public service accused of sedition, economic intervention
(Catalan Tax Agency, Department of Economy and Tax Office, Institute of Catalan
Letters), intervention of Mossos de Esquadra (Catalan police) and
imposition of a unique command under the Spanish Interior Minister, search of
Catalan administration facilities and IT equipment. The Spanish state is
applying de facto the article 155 of the Constitution.
- illegal
attack by the police at the Headquarters of the political party Candidatura
d'Unitat Popular and encirclement of the facilities for seven hours by the Policia
Nacional. Permissiveness with generalised abuse by the police such as the Guardia
Civil, Policia Nacional, Mossos de Esquadra and local police. Deployment of
a state of exception de facto, with the arrival of 6,000 national police
officers, civil guards, and with semi-military type of equipment (water
cannons) to spread fear and terror among the Catalan population. All of this
paid for with our tax money.
- Sedition
charges for anyone participating in the demonstrations against our rights and
freedoms being threatened.
- In
addition, we would like to warn that over the last few days, fascist groups
have been able to demonstrate without any issues, not even the presence of the
police in the streets of Barcelona, and they have committed at least one
assault, as well as threatening and insulting various individuals.
For all of
this,
We call for
mobilisation, active and non violent resistance and feminist disobedience to
defend civil, political and social rights, and the right to self-determination
of Catalan people, for all individuals living in Catalonia (regardless of where
they are and are coming from) to be able to freely decide their future.
We
celebrate the massive response and determination of the Catalan society, to
refuse the state of exception that limit our basic rights and freedoms. Since
20th September, we have been mobilising without fear and we are encouraging
everyone to carry on doing it. The streets will always be ours!
On 1st
October we must
be able to vote, and this is only the beginning. We call for a transparent,
horizontal, constituent process, radically democratic and popular, where we can
all build a republic free from patriarchy, racism, capitalism, fundamentalism
and fascism. The feminist practice and knowledge have built resistance and
proposals to enable new feminist democracies where we can all participate,
whether natives or migrants.
We support
the call for a general strike from some unions, organisations and social
movements on 3rd October, and we call for a social strike, of care and
consumption; a strike where we can all participate.
We call for
international feminist solidarity. In Catalonia, it is not only the future of
the referendum that is at stake, but the possibility of independence or a
republic. What is also at stake is the rights and freedoms of people living
under the 1978 regime, that is showing its most authoritarian and
anti-democratic face in Catalonia.
We encourage
you to disseminate and extend solidarity and sisterhood to confront the fascist and
fundamentalist derive of the Spanish state. We need your support to change this
political, legal and police assault against us and Catalonia, and attempt to
re-shape the conservative 1978 regime, in a feminist opportunity to take it
apart from the bottom up, here and everywhere.
Feministes Indignades, anticapitalists,
antiracists and antifascists.
Barcelona, 28th September, 2017
(*) The
1978 regime was born after the death of Franco, based on a constitution agreed
between francoists and the political forces of the transition, which imposed a
constitutional monarchy. The monarch was directly nominated by the dictator,
Francisco Franco.
