MANIFESTO

A majority of the people in Catalonia have repeatedly expressed their will to democratically exercise their right to decide their political future. As the precedents in Quebec and Scotland show, the best way to resolve political conflicts of this nature is to use the most basic tool democracy has to offer: voting.

However, the use of the judicial system to resolve a political crisis has only brought growing repression and no solution. On 14 October 2019, Spain’s Supreme Court convicted two civil society activists and seven political officials with prison sentences of between nine and 13 years, for a total of 100 years, which only further entrenches the conflict. The UN’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) called for the immediate release of these prisoners and for all charges to be dropped last year, defending the rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression. The world’s leading human rights organisations have criticised the legal decisions and the many human rights violations that have taken place.

It is time for dialogue with a responsible approach from all sides. Therefore, the undersigned urge the Spanish government and its Catalan counterparts to enter into unconditional dialogue in order to find a political solution enabling the citizens of Catalonia to decide their political future. For dialogue to succeed, political repression must end, and there should be an amnesty for those prosecuted.