Criminalising Republican Political Dissidence in Spain
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EXILE AND IMPRISONMENT: CRIMINALISING REPUBLICAN POLITICAL DISSIDENCE IN SPAIN Masterproef neergelegd tot het behalen van de graad van Master in de Criminologische Wetenschappen door 01605851 Souvenir Gema Academiejaar 2019-2020 Promotor : Commissaris : prof. dr. Petintseva Olga Schapansky Evelyn Word Count: 13.847 1 Abstract The Spanish-Catalan conflict has reached heated peaks over the past years, in which Catalan politicians, artists, activists and citizens have been prosecuted, incarcerated and exiled. Academic research on the conflict largely encompasses law studies and the question concerning legality of the 2017 referendum on auto-determination of Catalonia. This research goes beyond strict questions of legality and provides a critical criminological contribution and emic perspective on the conflict as experienced by people on the front line by means of a participatory action research (PAR). Their heterogenous visions on possible solutions are presented. Research results expose an institutional will to intertwine civil disobedience and republican political dissidence with terrorism, rebellion and sedition, in which the Spanish state violates fundamental freedoms of expression and the right to protest. Despite the alarming political crisis, the EU has not interfered nor negotiated possible solutions, labelling the situation as an internal issue for the Iberian country. Keywords: civil disobedience, political dissidence, Spain, Catalonia, referendum, critical criminology 2 Preface This master’s thesis was conducted in order to obtain the degree in Criminological Sciences at Ghent University. I want to thank prof. dr. Olga Petintseva, my promoter, for showing interest in the topic and giving me feedback throughout the course of the inquiry. I also want to thank all the people in Catalonia and Brussels who participated in this process. Even though I would like to give individual credits in this preface, deontological considerations concerning anonymity do not allow me to do this. To all of you: Moltíssimes gràcies a tothom, no hauria estat possible sense vosaltres. Muchas gracias a todos, no hubiera sido posible sin vosotros. 3 Content Abstract ................................................................................................................................................... 2 Preface ..................................................................................................................................................... 3 Content………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………4 1. Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 5 2. Theoretical Framework ................................................................................................................... 6 2.1 Critical criminology and the culture of crime .......................................................................... 6 2.2 Positionality and role of the critical researcher ...................................................................... 7 3. Methodology ................................................................................................................................... 8 3.1 PAR versus Covid-19 ................................................................................................................ 8 3.2 Practical aspects and data-analysis ......................................................................................... 9 4. Catalonia and Spain: a history of disagreement............................................................................ 10 4.1 From civil war to dictatorship ................................................................................................ 10 4.2 Amnesty and oblivion ............................................................................................................ 12 4.3 l’Estatut: catalyst for the revival of a new wave of separatism ............................................ 13 4.4 Referendum of 1-O 2017 ....................................................................................................... 14 4.5 Excesses of the Spanish impediment to uphold the 1-O referendum .................................. 16 4.6 Legality, legitimacy and critical views ................................................................................... 17 5. Criminalising political dissidence ................................................................................................... 18 5.1 “If you see us running, run with us!” ..................................................................................... 18 5.2 Involvement in politically dissident groups ........................................................................... 20 5.2.1 Police violence ............................................................................................................... 22 5.2.2 Judicial charges .............................................................................................................. 22 5.2.3 Opinions on the Spanish state ....................................................................................... 24 5.3 Auto-justifications: why keeping up the struggle? ................................................................ 26 5.4 Europe’s non-response and solutions to the conflict ........................................................... 27 6. Conclusion and discussion ............................................................................................................. 31 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................................... 34 Appendix ................................................................................................................................................ 39 I. Press Release ............................................................................................................................. 39 II. Preambule: the impact of Covid-19 on methodological considerations ................................... 40 III. DMP ........................................................................................................................................... 41 4 1. Introduction “Resistance; if nothing else, it’s a gut-level refusal to bow down and submit. Resisto ergo sum. For anyone who identifies as “critical” or “progressive” or “radical,” this existentially visceral revolt seems an especially necessary stance—an approach usefully animating everyday interactions with authorities and authoritarians, legal or academic or otherwise. For that matter, critical criminology, as a whole, seems constituted around resistance, operating as an ongoing act of intellectual and political opposition to the criminal justice industrial complex and a scholarly subversion of those academics and academic structures that legitimize it.” (Ferrell, 2019) As critical criminologist Jeff Ferrell (2019) states: “I resist, therefore I am”. It was inspired by Ferrell’s work on resistance – combined with a strong belief that legality does not equal legitimacy nor legitimacy equals legality – that I conducted this research. As a critical criminologist it is a duty to speak out against social injustices and to resist rigid authorities that instead of dialoguing, opt straight for excessive state repression. Referring to Ferrell (2019), resisting something or someone does not necessarily dismiss the person or institution the resistance is aimed at for the mere fact of having a different idea, however it subverts that person or institution for repressing, defining and controlling the other. The goal of this master’s thesis is to shed a light on the emergence and subsequent criminalisation of political dissidence, civil disobedient movements and resistance in Catalonia, following the Spanish- Catalan conflict which has reached heated peaks over the past years resulting in prosecuted, exiled and imprisoned politicians and citizens. In concrete terms, it examines how everyday forms of resistance against authorities that are perceived as unjust are criminalised. Instead of focussing on Catalan political elites, the protagonists of this research are everyday people who find themselves in the midst of a political crisis, risking their freedom by speaking their minds. On a macro level, this research aims to expose processes through which powerholders in higher state structures criminalise pacific, non-violent civil movements by creating legal frameworks and a discourse in which repression and even violence against political opponents is justified. Little academic research was found concerning contemporary political dissident movements engaging in civil disobedience in Catalonia. Research on the current conflict mainly came from the area of law studies and encompassed strict legal analyses of the legitimacy of the 2017 referendum on auto- determination, questioning whether this was legal or not. With this research I aim to contribute to the academic knowledge on the topic from a critical criminological perspective, freed from strict legal interpretations yet endorsing social justice. 5 Through participatory action research (PAR), this thesis aims to give a voice to people repressed in the conflict. Five research questions were formulated in order to sketch the criminalisation of Catalan republican political dissidence in contemporary Spain: 1. What is the socio-historical context which led to the current outburst? 2.