National liberation

Political tensions within the Spanish state have reached a new pitch after the January 23 declaration by the Catalan parliament of Catalonia’s sovereign right to decide its political future. Antagonism is intensifying between the Catalan and national governments and polarisation continues to rise among and within all main political forces.

Michael Coleman is an Australian activist in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle who took part in the second “freedom flotilla” in 2011 that sought to break Israel's blockade of Gaza. After Israel attacked the boat he was on, which was carrying humanitarian aid, Coleman was held for a week in an Israeli jail and deported.

About 7000 people joined the “International Meeting with Social Movements” festival in Barcelona on December 9, which features Bolivia's left-wing President President Evo Morales, the Andean nation;'s first ever indigenous president. The event was largely attended by the Bolivian diaspora, many of whom travelled hours from Madrid and Valencia. However, flags of Catalonia, Palestine and Argentina reflected a broad internationalist gathering.

An estimated 115,000 people marched in Bilbao, in the Basque Country in the north of the Spanish state, on January 12, undeterred by pouring rain and near-freezing conditions.

The Israeli right-wing may not have lived up to expectations, but the real losers of Israel's national elections on January 22 were the Palestinian people. Though they lost ground to more “centrist” parties such as Yesh Atid and Labor, the right-wing Likud-Beitenu alliance remains the largest bloc in the assembly. Although he will remain prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu will probably have to compromise with moderates to form a coalition.

France, the former slave power of west Africa, has poured into Mali with a vengeance in a military attack launched on January 11. French warplanes are bombing towns and cities across the vast swath of northern Mali, a territory measuring some one thousand kilometres from south to north and east to west. French soldiers in armoured columns have launched a ground offensive, beginning with towns in the south of the northern territory, some 300 kilometres north and east of the Malian capital of Bamako.

In an effort to assert control over national resources Bolivia has nationalized two Spanish electricity distribution companies. The measure, on the eve of a new year, comes as an example of initiatives to secure the interests of people. Reuters reported on December 29 that the nationalisation that day of two electricity distribution companies owned by Spanish utility Iberdrola were “the latest move by leftist President Evo Morales to assert control over the country's resources”.

The statement was released the Kurdish Association of Australia on January 11 condemning the assassination of three Kurdish activists in Paris. The Kurdish people have long struggled for self-determination in Turkey, and other states that claim parts of historic Kurdistan. Turkey has responded to the Kurdish struggle with brutal repression and moves to wipe out the Kurdish identity. * * * On the 9th of January, 2013 three Kurdish women activists ― including a co-founder of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) ― were shot dead in the Kurdish Institute of Paris.

Plastic bullets were fired and water cannons were used as rioting erupted again in Belfast on January 12 at loyalist flag protests, Irish Republican News said that day. Belfast has been hit by violent protests and riots in the aftermath of a decision by Belfast City Council to restrict the flying of the Union Jack at Belfast City Hall to 17 days a year.

Tens of thousands of supporters gathered in Caracas today for a huge rally in support of Venezuela's ill President Hugo Chavez. The gathering was in response to the controversy surrounding his absence on January 10, the date set for his inauguration day after he was re-elected for a new six-year term in October.

For the first time ever, the African National Congress (ANC), the ruling party in South Africa, today made the Palestinian call for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) on Israel part of its official policy. Mbuyiseni Ndlozi of BDS South Africa said the decision “by the ANC’s National Conference, its highest decision making body, is by far the most authoritative endorsement of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel campaign”.

The Tamil Refugee Council released this statement on December 14. *** The Tamil Refugee Council (TRC) strongly rejects the claim by the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Australia that Tamils in Australia have terrorist connections. TRC spokesman, Mal Bala, said the high commissioner Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe, had cast unjust and unproven aspersions upon many groups that have spoken out against the murder and persecution of Tamils in Sri Lanka.