Each night at 10pm las Cacerolas begin across the small city of Lleida – noise protests for Catalan independence, generated by kitchenware that is banged loudly outside flats in an action being repeated across the nation.
On Sunday, Catalonia votes in a highly contested referendum to declare, or not to declare, independence from Spain. In reaction, Spain has attempted repeatedly to prevent the vote, calling it illegal. More than 4,000 Guardia Civil, members of Spain's state police, along with military police are stationed on ships in Barcelona's harbor. Catalans expect them to disrupt the referendum, with thousands more already patrolling the streets.
The tradition of las Cacerolas originated in South America as a way to show social unity against authoritarianism, with relative anonymity. Much can be read of the smashing together of wood, ceramic and metal. The way the noise ripples out each night speaks of the growing surge of support for independence – shown vividly also in mass, spontaneous protests.
On Sept. 20, thousands poured into Barcelona's streets, an immediate and peaceful response to Spain's decision to storm the Catalan offices of state, including the economic and foreign affairs departments. Many of those organizing the referendum have been arrested and more detentions are expected before Sunday's vote. The Spanish state has shut down websites, arrested elected officials, banned pro-independence pamphlets and frozen people's bank accounts.
Crashing kitchenware, at its heart, depicts the cacophonous relationship binding Catalonia with Spain. Madrid's attitude towards the Catalan independence movement has long been to criminalize it, starting well before last week's armed raids and arrests. In late 2015, Spain's ruling Partido Popular, led by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, helped galvanize the movement by clamping down on protests and refusing to seek dialogue or compromise.
Sunday's referendum was called unilaterally, in late 2015, after pro-independence MPs won a majority – and a mandate – in Catalonia parliamentary elections. Until recently, support for independence has not surpassed the 50 percent mark in opinion polls. But many feel Rajoy's tactics of intensifying repression may finally backfire to provoke a solid Yes result.
Barcelona University Occupation
"When the repression increased in the Wednesday raids [of September 20], even arresting those organizing the referendum from their homes, we saw that Spain had created an unofficial state of emergency," said Marta Rosique, spokesperson for the new Universities for a Republic, a network of students, academics and workers that formed this summer.
Speaking to Occupy.com in the courtyard of University of Barcelona, which students have been occupying since Sept. 22, Rosique said, "The student moment reacted in an improvised way. It gave the platform Universities for a Republic a proper role to mobilize the movement."
Initially the network arose as a pro-independence voice, but Rosique explained that the increasingly heavy-handed approach by Spain encouraged other people to join it who just wanted the vote to happen – even people intending to vote No to independence.
The university building has now become a hub to organize and campaign ahead of Sunday's referendum. Banners are painted in the school's corridors, and outside there are tables with queues of people finding out where to vote, since many official websites were taken down. Every night between 200 and 400 people stay here. There is also a stage that hosts packed concerts and discussions.
On Tuesday evening, WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange spoke to the crowd via video feed, suggesting ways that people could circumvent Spain's attack on internet freedom, including the use of free apps to encrypt messages, like Signal and Telegram.
"Last Saturday, we did something very positive: we distributed 1 million ballot papers to voting stations across Catalonia," added Rosique. “This shows no matter what the Spanish state and police does, we will have a referendum. We have the capacity to make it happen and a lot of people are helping."
We Are Defenders
On the day of the university occupation, La Fede, a network of over 100 lawyers, human rights and global justice organizations, and social movements joined under the call We Are Defenders, or #SomDefensores, of offer Catalan society democracy tools to defend themselves. These include a legal guide, channels to report violations of human rights and a how-to manual on protecting personal online freedoms. The manual has also been translated into English.
The network has penned an open letter and called for others to sign on. Part of the letter reads: “The referendum is a mechanism to make the existing political conflict visible and transform it. The repressive response of the Spanish State in order to prevent it, with judicial and police actions against democratically elected Catalan institutions, is a serious setback in terms of guaranteeing human rights and individual and collective freedoms in Catalonia, and a deterioration of democracy and the rule of law as a whole. These actions are unacceptable within the framework of democratic states.”
We Are Defenders also swiftly organized trainings for legal observers of Sunday's vote. At a press conference on Thursday, they presented a report on violations of human rights in Catalonia, which they sent to the United Nations. The report will be published shortly on La Fede website.
Without Spain's draconian actions in recent weeks, all of these pro-democracy groups – which are not necessarily pro-independence – would not be fighting for the right to vote. But taken in tandem, the common view in Catalonia now is that Spanish aggression has encouraged a surge of support for independence.
Once again, Rajoy is galvanizing the opposition
One of the core arguments for Catalan independence is that Spain governs as an undemocratic state. Rosique told Occupy.com: “The 1978 transition to democracy was never a true transition. We knew we lived in a fascist state, but they tried to cover it up. Right now, in two weeks they have clearly shown what lies behind the Spanish state. They do not believe in democracy and will never believe in democracy.”
In Catalonia and across Spain, masses are opposed to Rajoy and his Partido Popular. Their indignation has focused on the government's severe austerity programs and endemic corruption. Millions participated in the 15M/Indignados protests of the squares in 2011. Many more have become engaged in self-organized networks, from social centers to hacking groups. Growing swathes of the population are also engaged in radical municipalist movements or have supported the Podemos party, which broke through Spanish state elections to hold influential seats of national and regional power.
Some of these people also support independence, where many previously had not. What is undeniable is that Spain's crackdown on democracy in Catalonia has provided a unifying message for society to rally around. Through the powerful Cacerolas now ringing out across the region, the sound of independence is getting nearer.
3 WAYS TO SHOW YOUR SUPPORT
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