Catalonia

Spanish lawmakers voted 180 to 169 to remove Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy, cutting short the second term of one of Europe’s longest-serving leaders currently in power.
The center-left Socialist Party spearheaded a no-confidence vote last week proposing to replace Rajoy.
Rajoy become the first prime minister in Spain’s democratic history to be ousted by parliament after losing the vote, as his administration remains engulfed in a massive corruption scandal.
Rajoy will be replaced by the Socialist opposition leader Pedro Sánchez.

Tomorrow, a no-confidence vote could be held in the Spanish Parliament. The present situation is such that it appears that the sitting Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, could end up losing that vote, as the socialist contender, Pedro Sanchez, is already staring down the barrel of an absolute majority in backing from the members of the parliament. The absolute majority victory of 176 votes would allow Sanchez to immediately assume power, while he is presently expected to see better results than that.

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Ecuador’s government said Wednesday it has cut off WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s internet connection at the nation’s London embassy after his recent activity on social media decrying the arrest of a Catalan separatist politician.
In a statement, officials said Assange’s recent posts “put at risk” the good relations Ecuador maintains with nations throughout Europe and had decided as of Tuesday to suspend his internet access “in order to prevent any potential harm.”
Assange has since gone silent on social media.

© REUTERS/ Russell Cheyne Sputnik – March 28, 2018 Former Catalan Education Minister Clara Ponsati, who has been hiding from Spanish law enforcement in the United Kingdom, said Wednesday that she was going to surrender to UK authorities. “Later on this morning I will attend police station with my lawyer @AamerAnwar & will b arrested & taken […]

teleSUR | March 27, 2018 After five Catalan pro-independence leaders were arrested Saturday, Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro slammed the Spanish authorities over persecution of the Catalan leaders and people simply for independence aspirations. “What’s happening in Spain is shameful, Catalan politicians jailed only for their ideas… whether or not you agree with these elected lawmakers’ […]

-by Reese ErlichDuring a trip to Barcelona, I sat down to read a local newspaper and, although I understand Spanish, I couldn’t fathom a word. The newspaper was in Catalan. Catalonia is part of Spain but has its own distinct language, territory, culture and history of resistance to oppression.It was the Spring of 2003, and I was speaking on a panel with other US journalists opposed to the Iraq War. The conservative government in Madrid supported the US invasion; the progressive government in Catalonia did not.

New year's manure, good Lorde taketh and mock trials + this day in history w/IBM and the Holocaust and our song of the day by The Vaccines on your Morning Monarchy for January 8, 2018.

Despite various efforts by the Spanish central government in Madrid, Polls opened in the province of Catalonia.
Prior to the opening of the polls today, fears were palpable that the vote could lead to confrontations between demonstrators and an estimated 5 million – with some 17,000 police deployed to “maintain public order.”

Spain: Rodrigo Lanza, an Antifa activist from Chile, beat a man to death with a metal rod for wearing suspenders that were the color of the Spanish flag. Lanza is part of the Barcelona squatter movement, a leftist crime ​organization. He previously ​served five years in prison for attacking a policeman who was trying to evict him and other squatters from a building. T​he attack left the police officer as a quadriplegic. [...]

Exclusive: Like many separatist movements, the push for Catalonian independence from Spain results from a mix of historic grievances, cultural pride and economic challenges, as war correspondent Don North describes. By Don North Before embarking for a visit to Barcelona,…Read more →