Podemos’ far-left wing supports referendum
Denying the right of Catalan citizens to decide their political future is “denying democracy”, the 'Anticapitalists' warn
Barcelona.- ‘Anticapitalists’, the far-left sector of the alternative-left Podemos party, have announced their support for the referendum on independence, to be held October 1. In a communiqué, the group called for “all the leftist parties in the Spanish State to show their solidarity with the democratic rights of the Catalan people” and accused the Spanish Government of being “authoritarian and corrupt”. The Anticapitalists’ position differs from that of Podemos board. Indeed, the leader of Podemos in Spain, Pablo Iglesias, has said he considers the referendum to be a “legitimate mobilization” but his preference was for a referendum in accordance with Spain rather than a unilateral vote.
“The disobedient celebration of a referendum in Catalonia will contribute to the acceleration of the deconstruction process in the rest of the Spanish State, a deepening of democracy and a weakening of the 1978 regime,” said the document.
The Anticapitalists also accuse the Spanish Government of being “at the service of the main economic powers” and insist that by denying the right of Catalan citizens to decide their political future it is “denying democracy”. They criticize the “deeply antidemocratic position of the Constitutional bloc which proves the Spanish Constitution’s own limits and its incapacity to organize the state through consensus.” In this vein, Podemos’ far-left sector considered that the Spanish Government uses “methods which are progressively less democratic” and insisted that “laws are not beyond democracy”.
“Defending the right to decide is defending a fundamental democratic right. It is obvious that we have profound differences with the political forces which are leading the pro-independence process in Catalonia and which apply neo-liberal policies to the people they vow to defend,” states the communiqué, referring to former liberal Convergència, which has now been renamed the Catalan European Democratic Party (PDeCAT). Nevertheless, the Anticapitalists insist that “a majority of the people in Catalonia are demanding the referendum and it has broad support amongst those sectors which are not in favor of independence”.
Finally Podemos’ far-left wing warned that denying the referendum is “denying democracy” itself and opens the way to “dangerous positions in which voting and deciding become a concession made by the dominant classes rather than the citizens’ rights”.