On Sunday 350.000 Spanish nationalists and fascists marched in Barcelona. Fascists showed fascists salutes, attacked people and showed the ugly face of the francoist part of Spanish society.
About two and a half hours before the demo of Spanish nationalists and fascists started, we saw the first small groups with Spanish national flags in the El Carmel district.
We took a subway to Plaza de Catalunya and couldn’t believe our eyes and ears; big groups celebrating the Spanish state, the paramilitary Guardia Civil and the Spanish Policia Nacional.
We didn’t know that at that moment but it was just a preface of things to come. At that moment it looked like a strange mix between Spanish nationalists, fascists and people that consider themselves as part of the so-called “silent majority”.
When we came out of the subway station on Plaza de Catalunya we saw a sea of Spanish flags, but we also saw the first organized neo-fascists. This was about 90 minutes before the official demo started.
We decided to check out the route of the demo. In front of Policia Nacional headquarters people were applauding the Spanish cops to thank them for the violent and Fascist police action against people who wanted to vote on October 1. The so-called “silent majority” was applauding, the neo-fascists were applauding, the francoist fascists were applauding. Together they chanted: “Viva la Guardia Civil! Viva Policia Nacional!” Many people raised there arm for fascist salutes and we didn’t see anybody of the so-called “silent majority” that interfered.
That was the point that this demo is a fascist demo. Just like the Pegida demos in Dresden, Germany are fascist demos. Even when parts of mainstream media and parts of the political class like to call these people “concerned citizens” (Dresden) or in this case “silent majority”, these kind of demos have a fascist agenda and people who support this agenda should be called fascists.
After we left Policia Nacional headquarters we walked into a scene where fascists were threatening and offended Catalan cops (Mossos, also not our friends). We documented this scene (We will release a video in the coming days), but had to leave after some organized fascists spotted us.
We had lunch and witnessed an attack by fascists against a taxi driver. Another group that passed by greeted the attackers with fascist salutes. At 04:00pm fascists attacked 3 Moroccan men at Portal Nou (Image below).
As anarchists we are not in favor of any state. But after the police violence on October 1 and yesterday’s fascist horror show, it should be clear that the Spanish state already lost the hearts and minds of most people in Catalonia and even beyond
An other aspect is that the fascist Spanish state could be significantly weakened when Catalonia breaks away and we think that might open new fields for anarchist interventions. This doesn’t mean that people should support the independence movement, that’s a decision people have to take themselves. To be honest, personally we wouldn’t. But it means we could all support anarchists in Catalonia to intensify the emancipatory and social struggle after a possible declaration of independence. At the moment we also should be aware that anarchists in Catalonia could be attacked and could face repression by both states. The new one and/or the old one.
In solidarity, some of the Enough is Enough Team, October 9, 2017.
