Ignasi Bernat from the left wing Catalonia Popular Unity Candidacy party (CUP) will be in Derry tomorrow to discuss the struggle for independence.
In a historic breakthrough for the left, 10 CUP members were elected as MPs to the Catalan parliament in 2015. The CUP are anti-capitalist, socialist and feminist. Their goal is to build a new republic nurturing solidarity and equality. CUP activists have been at the centre of the mass mobilsations defending the right of the Catalan people to vote for indepedence from the Spanish State in the recent referendum.
In response to the demand for independence and respect for democracy, the Rajoy government has used the Guardia Civil to beat people off the streets, arrest leading activists and detain cabinet ministers of the Catalan parliament.
Catalonia is experiencing an explosion in participative democracy that started long before the referendum. For CUP members, this is not centrally a struggle for nationhood or a flag but is fundamental to the future of both the Catalonian and the Spanish people. Self-determination is viewed as a struggle for local neighbourhood democracy and redistribution of wealth to properly fund public services.
The meeting is hosted by People Before Profit in the Northern Counties Building, 22 Waterloo Place and starts at 7pm, tomorrow, Wednesday November 22nd. All welcome.
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