Between 13 and 15 December 2024, Socialists for Independence were invited by the Communists of Catalunya to participate in their third party congress. As part of that delegation, David Green reports on the deepening of links that took place over the weekend between Scotland and Catalunya.
Alongside our delegation at the congress, there were various leftist and pro-independence parties represented at the congress, including Sinn Fein (Ireland), and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), as well as diplomatic representations from various Latin American states.
On the Saturday, the international delegation were taken on a walking tour of Barcelona, exploring the city’s urban development alongside the gradual attempts made by the Spanish state to bring Catalunya under its tutelage. The tour cumulated with a visit to several sites of consequence during the Spanish Civil War. After lunch, the delegation was also taken to La Model prison, used during the period of Franco’s rule to imprison and torture political prisoners.
At the same time, SFI were also able to establish new relationships with other parties and groupings at the conference. We were very pleased to be introduced to members of the Galician Nationalist Bloc (Bloque Nacionalista Galego, BNG), a broad, leftist coalition of forces in Northern Spain with political representation at multiple levels in of government. We are hopeful that over coming months this relationship can be similarly deepened.
Although the BNG adopts a more cautious position on Galician independence compared to the outright pro-independence position of the Communists of Catalunya, both groups have much in common with Socialists for Independence. Beyond our concerns for the right of self-determination of our respective peoples, we all understand the need for leftist forces in our own countries to link this to the struggles of everyday people’s lives, not least in the face of rising right-wing, nativist, nationalist, and fascist forces.
In identifying the shared nature of our struggles, our delegation left Barcelona feeling confident and excited about further cooperation with Galicia and Catalunya.
David Green
I am a trade unionist, founding member of SFI and regular participant in meetings of the European Left.