LIKE many other republicans I have spent several Christmases in prison. It’s not a nice place to be at any time, but especially over Christmas. I was reminded of this a few days before Christmas when I had the opportunity to hold a video conference with two of the imprisoned leaders of 'Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya' (ERC) – the main pro-independence party in Catalan.
 
Oriol Junqueras is President of the ERC and Raul Romeva is the former Foreign Minister of the Catalan government. Both are currently serving prison sentences of 13 years and 12 years respectively in Lledoners prison, Catalonia.  Declan Kearney MLA joined me in the conversation and also in attendance was Marta Rovira, the ERC’s General Secretary, who is currently exiled in Switzerland, and Jordi Solé, the ERC's Secretary for International Affairs.

The imprisonment of the two comrades arose from the peaceful and democratic independence referendum that was held by the government of Catalan in October 2017. The Spanish state reacted violently. Our television screens were filled with images of Spanish Civil Guards firing plastic bullets at Catalan citizens trying to vote, and violent scenes of heavily armoured police batoning defenceless and peaceful citizens – some of them lying on the ground, many of them women, some elderly.
 
The 2017 referendum was the culmination of almost two decades of Catalan efforts to achieve greater autonomy within Spain. Catalan leaders tried to engage successive Spanish governments in a dialogue but their efforts were rebuffed. They were frustrated at every turn by an intransigent central government and the courts.
 
Rather than engage in a process of dialogue to resolve this constitutional crisis the Spanish government chose to arrest and imprison senior Catalan politicians. Oriol Junqueras and Raul Romeva are among those who received lengthy prison sentences. Despite their unjust treatment and imprisonment both men were in good spirits when we spoke to them and clearly determined to continue their struggle for freedom and independence.
 

SOLIDARITY: Independence struggles linked over centuries - Ireland and Catalonia
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SOLIDARITY: Independence struggles linked over centuries - Ireland and Catalonia

Our conversation lasted an hour. Declan and I expressed Sinn Féin's ongoing solidarity with all of the political prisoners, those leadership figures still in exile, and the right of the Catalan people to independence.
 
We also expressed our support for the Amnesty Bill currently being proposed by Catalan Independent representatives.
 
The connections between the people of Ireland and of Catalonia go back a long way. In 1920 Máire Ní Bhriain, a member of Cumann na mBan, travelled to Catalonia as part of the republican outreach seeking support for the Irish cause in Europe. Writing after the death on hunger strike of Terence MacSwiney the Lord Mayor of Cork, Ní Bhrian recalled: “In Barcelona and in Catalonia generally there was the deepest sympathy for Ireland and when Terence died the papers there were full of articles about him and Masses were offered for him in many churches which were crowded to the door… The Catalans always cherish the desire for separation from Spain and their aspiration for independence is the bond between them and us.”
 
A doll dressed in traditional Catalan clothing was sent from the people of Catalonia to MacSwiney’s young daughter Máire.
 
Last year the doll was refurbished as part of an exhibition on MacSwiney by Cork public museum. The Spanish government needs to return to the negotiating table. The international community, especially the European Union, has an obligation to ensure that Catalonia can pursue the course of self-determination without fear of suppression.
 
In the meantime find below the names and addresses of imprisoned Catalan leaders and political prisoners. Take a few minutes and send them a solidarity card – a letter – a book. Show them they are not alone and not forgotten.
 
Dolors Bassa Coll
Centre penitenciari Puig de les Basses
Mòdul de dones
Raval disseminat, 53
17600 Figueres
(Girona)

Jordi Cuixart i Navarro
Centre Penitenciari de Lledoners
Mòdul 2
Carretera C-55, km 37
08250 St Joan de Vilatorrada
(Barcelona)
 
Carme Forcadell Lluís
Carme Forcadell i Lluís
Centre Penitenciari Wad Ras
Doctor Trueta, 76
08005 Barcelona
 
Joaquim Forn i Chiarello
Centre Penitenciari de Lledoners
Mòdul 2
Carretera C-55, km 37
08250 St Joan de Vilatorrada
(Barcelona)
 
Oriol Junqueras i Vies
Centre Penitenciari de Lledoners
Mòdul 2
Carretera C-55, km 37
08250 St Joan de Vilatorrada
(Barcelona)
 
Raül Romeva Rueda
Centre Penitenciari de Lledoners
Mòdul 2
Carretera C-55, km 37
08250 St Joan de Vilatorrada
(Barcelona)
 
Josep Rull i Andreu
Centre Penitenciari de Lledoners
Mòdul 2
Carretera C-55, km 37
08250 St Joan de Vilatorrada
(Barcelona)
 
Jordi Sànchez i Picanyol
Centre Penitenciari de Lledoners
Mòdul 2
Carretera C-55, km 37
08250 St Joan de Vilatorrada
(Barcelona)
 
Jordi Turull Negre
Centre Penitenciari de Lledoners
Mòdul 2
Carretera C-55, km 37
08250 St Joan de Vilatorrada
(Barcelona)
 
 


UN opportunities 


AS 2020 came to a close most of the public and media focus was understandably on the outcome of the Brexit negotiations and the increase in the number of people across the island of Ireland testing positive for the Coronavirus.
 
However one other event also deserves attention. As of January 1 the Irish government holds one of 15 seats on the UN Security Council. In June of last year a secret ballot among the almost 200 member states saw the Norwegian and Irish governments win two non-permanent seats on the Council. They will hold these influential seats for the next two years.
 

The Irish government campaigned for the seats on the basis that it will defend and promote human rights and peace. Its success in winning the Security Council seat provides a unique opportunity to make a positive impact in world affairs, international relations and in peoples’ lives. There is a significant number of armed conflicts and international disputes which urgently need a positive engagement by the UN, including in the Middle East. The plight of the people of Palestine is crying out for justice.
 
Poverty, hunger, and water scarcity is also on the increase. Almost one billion people do not have access to clean water and climate change is set to make this dire situation worse.
 
The government also has a responsibility to use this unique opportunity to defend the Good Friday Agreement – which is an international Treaty lodged with the UN – to defend the peace process and to use this crucial international forum to insist that the British government honour its GFA commitments on human rights, legacy matters, and the role of civic society which it has so far refused to implement.
 
Most importantly, in a forum which places great emphasis on self-determination and self-government (the UN has grown from to 51 states in 1945 to 193 today) there is an onus on the Irish government to use this forum to articulate the desire for a United Ireland. As the debate for the referendum on Unity continues to grow the government now has within its grasp at the United Nations an unparalleled opportunity to further that objective, democratically, peacefully, and inclusively.


The Brexit border
 

AN hour before midnight on New Year’s Eve the Brexit deal was finally done – sort of. Four and a half years after the Brexit referendum the little Englanders and the DUP party who campaigned for Brexit got their way. The British state left the EU, including the people of the north and of Scotland who voted to remain.
 
Of course, it didn’t quite work out the way the DUP wanted. Instead of a ‘United Kingdom’ waving goodbye to Europe they now have a deeply disunited kingdom with Scotland battering at the gates of independence; Welsh nationalism on the rise; and the demand for a referendum on Irish unity growing across Ireland.
 
In addition the north remains in the EU’s single market for goods and will apply EU customs rules at its ports under the watchful eye of EU officials. There are now export checks and regulatory differences between the north and Britain. Full responsibility for this rests squarely with the DUP.
 
It will take a while for the dust to settle on the mess that has been created by Brexit but a mess it is.
 

Ireland’s interests north or south were never a consideration in the English, or the DUP support for, the decision to leave the EU. Indeed, Ireland only became an issue in the Brexit negotiations when Sinn Fein ensured that the issue of the Good Friday Agreement, and avoiding a hard border, would be a central objective of the EU negotiators. However, there is a way out of the chaos that will unfold in 2021. It is rooted in the Good Friday Agreement – the people of the north have the right to choose which union we want to be a part of: a new union between all the people of the island of Ireland or the old failed unacceptable and imposed union with England.
 
One thing is certain. There will be a referendum on Irish unity. There are no ifs about it, though resistance from the usual suspects, to a referendum will continue. It is now a matter of when that referendum will be held. So those of us who want self government need to increase our efforts, and intensify the sensible call for the Irish government to initiate ways to plan how we will agree our future.
 
Better still, we need to start planning that future now.
 
 
Stay safe...
As the pandemic surges out of control the under investment in health services north and south on this island is obvious for everyone to see. The good news of the vaccine must be tempered with a resolve by all of us to follow the health advice and to minimise contact with others until the vaccine is administered. When we eventually put this horrible pandemic behind us we must also be resolved to ensure that a fully resourced and accessible public health service becomes a reality.