Obedience or Force: Spain’s Oppression over Catalonia

[image: Getty](The Real Agenda News) The Superior Prosecutor of Catalonia, handed over to the police instructions to seize all material linked to the referendum.

There is no good government and bad government. There is GOVERNMENT.

Government is not an entity by The People and for The People. It never was and it will never be, because people in government do not serve those who elected them.

One characteristic that all governments share is that they hold the monopoly of force.

Government is a creature that relies on obedience, voluntary or not, and when obedience doesn’t exist, force is always the tool of choice to coerce citizens and to force them to obey.

Compliance with government rules, regulations and policies, no matter how illegal and immoral they are, is of great importance, if the ruling class is to continue squatting on The People. Not one soul should be able to dissent, because the snow ball effect may be catastrophic for the rulers.

The ruling class is so open in the attempt to eviscerate the most basic principles of Western democracy, that it dares to challenge the most sacred right that The People have: Voting.

That is the case of Catalonia.

Whether voting means anything or not, citizens should be able, under all circumstances, to choose among real options what is best for them.

In the case of Catalonia, it is either independence or political, economic and financial subjugation to Spain.

The Catalan people have been under Spanish dominance for centuries, and in their case, it has been too long. Yet, Spain is not just going to let Catalonians exercise their right to vote, for or against independence.

Spain’s oppression against Catalonia extends to the use of force against the Govern, the rightful, constitutionally responsible party that is entitled with the decision to provide its citizens with the possibility to remain as part of Spain, or to choose complete autonomy.

Despite the fact that voting is the most sacred right that citizen possesses, the Catalan Prosecutor’s Office has ordered the mayor of the Mossos de Esquadra, Josep Lluís Trapero, as well as the Civil Guard and the National Police Corps in Catalonia to avoid the “commission of the crime” and to “confiscate ballot boxes” and all material aimed at preparing and holding the referendum on 1 October.

Following a meeting on Monday afternoon, the Office of the Public Prosecutor issued a statement in which all judicial police units must persecute anyone who is involved in preparing and holding the “referendum on illegal self-determination.”

At the meeting, the Superior Prosecutor of Catalonia, José María Romero de Tejada, handed over to the three police commanders the instruction dated 8 September, in which the three are ordered to seize all material linked to the referendum on self-determination of 1 of October.

“Police officers, in order to avoid consummation or exhaustion of crimes, shall proceed directly to take the necessary measures to intervene the effects or instruments intended to prepare or hold the illegal referendum, requisition of ballot boxes, electoral envelopes, polling stations, electoral forms, electoral propaganda, computer equipment, as well as any other material for the dissemination, promotion or execution of the illegal referendum,” says one of the paragraphs of the statement.

In its brief, the prosecution itself recalls that it has the capacity to carry out this investigation outside the scope of any further judicial action and it asks the three commanders for speed and urgency in drafting police reports. That is, it orders them to investigate and locate the material intended to be used by the Generalitat for the celebration of the consultation.

So far, only the Civil Guard has taken steps to locate ballots, and in fact has requested the registration of a printing press in Constantí, which is suspected of having electoral material.

The National Police, on the other hand, assures those responsible that they will work in the same direction and the Mossos d’Esquadra are the only ones who in the last hours have refused to make any statement about this instruction, if they will go to a specific unit of a specific police station to investigate the whereabouts of that material.

In its instruction, the prosecution expressly reminds the Mossos d’Esquadra that “they are obliged to follow the instructions” of the prosecutor, and it also reminds them that “due obedience” to their political leaders “cannot protect orders involving the execution of acts contrary to the Constitution.”

In other words, the Public Ministry reminds Major Trapero that he should not obey orders or instructions from his political superiors if they are contrary to the law.

In this regard, the prosecution’s instruction urges the Mossos to urgently prepare a statement with all the necessary information on the existence or knowledge of any facts related to the preparations for the referendum.

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Spain’s Economic Terrorism against Catalonia

[image: REUTERS/Albert Gea REUTERS](The Real Agenda News) The dictatorship in Spain is blocking funds that belong to Catalonia to prevent the state from carrying out a lawful referendum on independence.

The Executive office, that is, the central government in Madrid, is now regulating the amount of money that flows to the Generalitat, the regional government office in Catalonia, as a way to force the cancellation of the referendum scheduled for October 1, 2017.

The Government has approved to impose a system of control of expenses to the Generalitat of Catalonia whereby, weekly, the inspectors and economic officials from each department must certify that they have not initiated any investment in the preparations for the referendum announced for October 1.

In the event that the Generalitat does not comply with this obligation dictated by the Government, the Executive of Mariano Rajoy will suspend the transfer of money through the Autonomous Liquidity Fund (ALF), of which Catalonia has received 58 billion euros since 2012.

The agreement has been approved by the Council of Ministers and responds, according to the spokesman of the Government, Íñigo Méndez de Vigo, to an initiative to make Catalonia comply with the so-called Constitutional ruling in which the items of the Catalan budget for the independence referendum were canceled.

In the event of initiation of expense filings for the preparation of the Catalonian consultation, the Government will take other measures “before the competent authorities”.

The Government has adopted this agreement, as explained, given the “risk” situation generated by the Generalitat’s intention to organize the referendum, and due to the “uncertainty” for companies and citizens to ensure that “not a single public euro” will be used to fund the referendum.

“The referendum cannot be paid with public money. Rest assured that all Catalans will not have a single euro taken for anything that is illegal,” said Méndez de Vigo.

In Spain, the Government believes that self-determination is illegal and that publicly and openly voting for independence is not a right of the Catalonian people, or anyone else for that matter. They also believe that it is mandatory for the Catalonians to pay taxes to the central government without requesting any accountability from the Executive led by Mariano Rajoy. Only the Government, it seems, determines the present and future of all citizens, as supposed to being the citizens themselves who determine their present and future.

For this purpose, a series of senior officials must submit, individually and weekly, certificates that ensure that records of expenses and payments that may be directed directly or indirectly to activities linked to the referendum, have not been initiated or processed.

Those responsible for sending this information to the Government are the auditors of the ministries, with the certified support of the top managers of the managing bodies, the economic and financial leaders of entities in which there are no delegated interventions, the general director of budgets and the director general of financial policy, insurance and treasury.

With this information, if the Ministry of Finance concludes that funds are being used to fund the referendum, “it will transfer to the competent authorities for the demand of responsibility,” as detailed the Executive spokesman.

“In case they do not comply with the obligation to send that weekly information, the Government will implement the provisions of the ALF agreements, conditioned to the fulfillment of its objective of public services. “It could withdraw the ALF monies, as that is a line to the progress and well-being of the Catalans”, recognized Méndez de Vigo.

The minister spokesman said that “it would be very serious” that this weekly communication did not occur and does not even contemplate it. But he explained that if the payment of the ALF were to be withdrawn, the President of the Generalitat, Carles Puigdemont, would be the one who would have to explain to the Catalans why this situation has been reached.

This is a clear example of what Governments do when their power goes unchecked. They appear to be governing for the people, but when the people challenge that power and seek self-determination, the Government’s immediate reaction is to demand compliance by force.

The entry into force of this agreement is “immediate.” “If a government wants to use the money for other things that are illegal, they will have to be the ones who will pay for it, because they will not pay it with the money of all the Catalans,” he said.

Méndez de Vigo then justified, there is a “right” to “know that nobody uses that money at all for something that is only the pretension of a few.” It is a “preventive” measure in favor of the “security and welfare” of the Catalans “to ensure that money goes where the Catalans want it to go, which is to provide essential public services and not an illegal referendum.”

He forgets to say that at least half the Catalan people do desire to be independent from Spain and that, therefore, the money would be indeed going to a purpose that half of Catalonians approve. He also forgets to mention that the money that is paid in the form of taxes belongs to the people, not to the Spanish Government, so it is the people who dictate what is done with it, not him, Mr, Rajoy or anyone else.

What Spain is doing and has been doing with Catalonia is a clear example that Government is, indeed like fire, a dangerous servant and a fearful master.