Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

Catalunya: A Letter to the Young People in Prison

As millions of people in Catalunya have taken to the streets to fight for the right to self-determination, many have been thrown in prison by the regime. The anticapitalist youth organization Contracorrent (Against the Current) sent this letter to the young political prisoners. “The best solidarity we can send is to continue the struggle to break the chains of this system.” 

IzquierdaDiario.es

November 1, 2019
Facebook Twitter Share

We are young people, just like you. We have certainly marched together in the same demonstrations, the ones that start at the gates of the universities and the streets of our barrios.  Perhaps we saw each other on Monday, walking and singing on the way to the airport. Or maybe we crowded into the subways together, shouting: “Freedom for all political prisoners!”

Some of us demonstrating today are so young that this is our first time in the streets. We have not forgotten how the police ransacked our schools to keep us from voting in the independence referendum on October 1, 2017 (1-0). Today we are mobilizing against a draconian legal judgement meant as a  collective punishment for the Catalan nation.

Perhaps we saw each other as the police used tear gas and beat us with batons, and maybe we helped each other when we fell down and had to resist or flee. Or maybe we recall helping to flush tear gas out of the eyes of people hiding from the police in some alleyway. Most certainly we felt the same sense of outrage when we read about such humiliating episodes in the news, or when we saw images of people being mutilated while the streets ran red with their blood. Or when we witnessed the arbitrary firing of rubber bullets and tear gas, which wounded hundreds of people. 

Today, there are 31 new political prisoners, in addition to the 9 just sentenced by the courts, and in addition to the 7 detainees of the Committees in Defense of the Referendum (CDR) in custody since September 23. Most certainly we felt the same sense of indignation when we saw them wheeled away in blue police vans, and we thought to ourselves: That could have been any one of us.

It could have been Xenia, 22 years old. Her family recounted how the police presented absurd “evidence” against her, such as boule balls, crystals, and keys. The exact same boule balls were used as “evidence” against other young people now behind bars.

To Xavier, Edu, Ferran, Germinal, Jordi, Alvao, David, Robert, Oahu, Marti, Paula, Laura, Joan, and many more, we want to tell you that we are together in the struggle, side by side. We will never stop working for your freedom because we understand the sacrifice you have made for us all. 

In different cities around the country, such as Madrid, Zaragoza, Bilbao, Donosti, or Granada, young people are demonstrating their solidarity with the struggle of the Catalan people and for your freedom.

We are also following the recent upheavals elsewhere, in Chile and Ecuador, where people are mobilizing against neoliberal regimes. They’re also facing massive repression. In the case of Chile, a state of emergency has been declared and the military is in the streets. In Latin America and Europe, our generation is at the same time exhausted and enraged, because our future thus far has been in the hands of repressive capitalist regimes which never stop unleashing their brutality upon us.

The young people are getting organized, the young people of the working class and the people. We are rising up and we will not be silenced. 

This letter was written by a youth group, Contracorrent (Against the Current) .  Even though they tell us we are the future, in reality we have to struggle to make the future our own. We must break the chains of oppression and exploitation. We did not vote for the politicians of this regime and its king. They are the ones who have exploited our families and evicted them from their homes They are the ones who expelled us from the universities with higher and higher fees.

Again, we send you our solidarity, our strength, and our encouragement, to all of you who have been unjustly imprisoned, your families, and friends. We are with you in the streets. You are not alone. We will continue to struggle for all of you until your day of freedom! May our rage be transformed into struggle and organization!

First published in Spanish on October 23 on IzquierdaDiario.es.

Translation: Greg McDonald

Facebook Twitter Share

IzquierdaDiario.es

Our sister site in the Spanish State.

Europe

Despite Threats of Arrest, Refinery Workers in France Refuse to Break Strike

As energy strikes continue, France is faced with a kerosene shortage that’s creating an urgent situation at the country’s airports. With capitalist profits on the line, the government has attempted to force Normandy refinery workers back to work through an anti-strike legal weapon called requisitions. In their first victory, refinery workers forced the police to withdraw in an incredible demonstration of solidarity.

Nathan Erderof

March 24, 2023

“We Need Action Committees Everywhere”: Building the General Strike in France

Workers across France are organizing action committees to build a general strike to take down the Macron government and the Fifth Republic.

Arthur Nicola

March 24, 2023

What’s Behind Xi Jinping’s Visit to Moscow?

Chinese president Xi Jinping has visited Moscow for the first time since the beginning of the Ukraine war, in an effort to strengthen trade relations between the two countries.

Madeleine Freeman

March 23, 2023
Protesters gather during a demonstration on Place de la Concorde in Paris on March 17, 2023, the day after the French government pushed a pensions reform using the article 49.3 of the constitution. - French President's government on March 17, 2023 faced no-confidence motions in parliament and intensified protests after imposing a contentious pension reform without a vote in the lower house. Across France, fresh protests erupted in the latest show of popular opposition to the bill since mid-January.

Battle of the Pensions: Toward a Pre-Revolutionary Moment in France

President Macron's use of article 49.3 to push through an unpopular pension reform bill has opened up an enormous political crisis that has changed the character of the mobilizations against the French government. We are entering a "pre-revolutionary moment" that can change the balance of power between the classes in France.

Juan Chingo

March 21, 2023

MOST RECENT

20 Years Since the U.S. Invasion of Iraq: A Reflection from a Socialist in the Heart of Imperialism

A Left Voice member and anti-war activist reflects on the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq and how he learned to hate U.S. imperialism.

Sam Carliner

March 20, 2023

It is Possible to Win: The Pension Reform Crisis in France

A French socialist reflects on the way forward after Macron invites Article 49.3 to pass pension reform.

Paul Morao

March 20, 2023

“We are your economy”: Trans Youth Walkout and Speak Out

The following is a speech by a young trans person as part of an action called for by NYC Youth for Trans Rights.

Tatiana Cozzarelli

March 20, 2023
Three tables full of food, with signs hung above them. One says "The People's Pantry: FREE FOOD." Banners hung from the tables say "Free CUNY" and "Cop Free School Zone"

CUNY Administration Cracks Down on Student and Worker-Run Food Pantry

Students and workers opened "The People's Pantry" seven weeks ago as part of a broader anti-austerity campaign at CUNY, leading to several direct confrontations with the administration.

Olivia Wood

March 19, 2023