The President of the Catalan National Assembly, Elisenda Paluzie met with representatives of the Scottish civil society, worker unions, members of the Scottish National Party and the Scottish Green Party, and took part in an event with journalists organized by Assemblea’s Scottish branch, on the political situation in Catalonia and Scotland and seldom independence movements
This week, a delegation from the Catalan National Assembly, led by President Elisenda Paluzie, visited Glasgow to hold several meetings with representatives of the Scottish independence parties and its civil society. As part of her visit, Ms. Paluzie also took part in an event on the struggle of Scotland and Catalonia for independence, organized by Assemblea’s foreign branch in Scotland. The aim of the visit was to better understand the current political processes and the situation of the Scottish independence movement, especially regarding the possibility of a second referendum for 2023, and to strengthen the links of cooperation between the two independence movements.
On Wednesday morning, Ms. Paluzie met with Glasgow City Council Councilor and Deputy Leader David McDonald of the Scottish National Party (SNP) and one of the SNP’s promoters of the Catalonia friendship group. During the meeting, Mr. McDonald highlighted the links between the peoples of Scotland and Catalonia and put himself at the disposal of Assemblea to promote new initiatives in support of Catalonia.
Ms. Paluzie also met with Stuart Graham, co-convenor of the work branch of Glasgow’s UNISON workers’ union, an organization that has carried out solidarity actions with Catalonia on several occasions. During the meeting both addressed new joint actions of solidarity and denunciation against the repression against Catalan independence, and Ms. Paluzie stressed that Assemblea works very closely with trade unions and civil society organizations to promote social rights in an independent Catalonia.
The following day, Ms. Paluzie met with the co-convenor of the Scottish Green Party – currently in the Scottish government in coalition with the SNP, James Puchowski. They discussed the respective situations and future prospects of the Catalan and Scottish independence movements, and Ms. Paluzie was later interviewed by the journalist of the Scottish newspaper The National, Greg Russell.
In the afternoon, the president of Assemblea was one of the speakers at the conference “Scotland and Catalonia: The struggle for independence in contemporary Europe”, organized by Assemblea’s Scottish foreign branch. The event was moderated by Scottish journalist Greg Russell and counted with the participation of Chris Bambery, journalist, writer, author of “A People’s History of Scotland” and co-author of “Catalonia Reborn”.
In the context of the conference, Ms. Paluzie stressed the importance of the 2017 self-determination referendum, which was “a victory for the pro-independence movement”, emphasizing that the state’s response and human rights violations of The Spanish state that came after “have strengthened the arguments in favor of independence”, which adds to the cultural, linguistic, economic, or quality of governance.
In relation to the current challenges of the independence movement, she emphasized the importance of the need to prepare Catalan civil society for “a new act of unilateral sovereignty, implementing it and being strong enough to defend it”, since “a referendum on self-determination agreed with the state will never take place.”
Journalist and writer Chris Bambery highlighted the shortcomings of the Spanish judicial system, as judges of Spain’s main courts “are elected according to political criteria and make political decisions, which also explains the reasons for the Court’s decisions Constitutional Court against the laws approved by the Parliament of Catalonia ”. A fact that, according to Bambery, “should not happen in Europe.”
In this line, he stated that the Spanish institutions “are direct heirs of Franco’s dictatorship”, and that they also inherited its political culture, a fact that “led them to make mistakes in relation to the Catalan case, which, for example, British authorities would never have committed”.
You can watch the event here.
The visit of the President of the Assembly to Glasgow is part of the international work that the Catalan National Assembly is constantly carrying out to raise awareness of the struggle for the independence of Catalonia and to gain support abroad. In this regard, Ms. Paluzie also visited Sardinia and Occitania in late November to continue this work and strengthen relations with civil society and pro-independence political parties in both territories.