The statement below is being endorsed by a number of organizations that are part of the solidarity movement with Palestine in Catalonia, including the BDS coalition, the Gaza Flotilla (now called Gaza’s Ark), a number of NGOs active both here and there,and Junts/IJAN.
Different actions will take place during the week to commemorate the Nakba and raise awareness within the Catalonian civil society.
On the 1st of June, there will be a day of reflection focused on how to move forward with the solidarity movement with the objective of gathering with other social movements that are being targeted by state repression, and to explain the links between the repression here in Spain and Catalonia with what is going on in Palestine. This will feature IJAN’s work on Israel’s Worldwide Role in Repression, as it has raised great interest in the aftermath of World Social Forum in Tunis.
Stop repression against the social movements
Stop police and military collaboration with Israel
We the social movements organise to fight against a system that throws us on the dole, that evicts a family every 15 minutes, that persecutes immigrants, that imposes worse working conditions on us, that exploits us. We want a dignified and just life for all, and against us the State organises to repress us, and responds to our desire for change with intimidation and violence.
We condemn the growing repression and violence used against the social movements in Catalonia. We protest that this strategy violates democracy and aims to maintain the current injustices.
We condemn the fact that the repression we are experiencing in Cataloniais strongly interconnected with the global repression suffered by the social movements and specifically, with the Israeli military and security infrastructure. The army itself, and private security and military companies that maintain Palestine under occupation, have used the Palestinian people as a massive training and research ground that has enabled them to create companies,industries , products and services that our governments buy and use to control and repress the social movements. These products are sold with the “guarantee”of having been tested in real situations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
We condemn the fact that the governments of the Generalitat de Catalunya and the Spanish State promote economic and business relations with a state that systematically violates international Human Rights legislation. When this collaboration extends to the field of trade in military and security material it is illegal and ethically unacceptable.
For this reason,
We demand that the Catalan Government immediately stop the purchase of anti-riot and security materials from Israeli companies and cancel all agreements signed with RABINTEX Industries and the intermediary companies for the purchase of security and anti-riot material.
We demand that the Catalan Government report on the hundreds of thousands of euros (of our taxes) that it has paid to the Israeli security company “Hancal System Engineering” for assessment in questions of security and control in prisons.
We demand that the Catalan Government immediately withdraw its institutional support for the “Guardian Homeland Security” company, which trains military and police bodies in questions of security in training camps in occupied Palestine and which uses the logo of the Mossos d’Esquadra, the Catalan police force, to publicise its services.
We demand that the Catalan Government and the Spanish State do not authorise companies to import and export military material to Israel (torpedoes, ammunition and diverse armaments),for example Tyco electronics or Indra, with central offices in Barcelona.
We demand that the Catalan Government ensures that the private Israeli companies of the ICTS security mega-group do not undertake tasks of identifying and interrogating travelers in the El Prat airport in Barcelona.
We demand from our universities, the UAB, the UPC and the UPF, and institutions such as ACC10 to cancel their collaboration in research projects with Israel in questions of security and defence.
On the anniversary of the 15th of May 1948, date of the Nakba (the disaster), when Israel forcibly expelled hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their houses, lands and villages, we stand up in defence of justice and dignity, salute the Palestinian people in resistance and send them our solidarity: they are neither alone nor forgotten.
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