The Spanish State and catalonia might be resolved. In many campaigns internationally stretching from the un to vietnam war protests in america to Current Events in hong kong students have been in the vanguard of protest catalonia its no different with students from the university of barcelona camped out for weeks in support of the imprisoned independence campaigners alex joined them to discuss their campaign. Well here in the very. Instead of attending to the studies the students. Can say the university well if you doing. Well this is were here as a reaction to a sentencing made by the. Spanish Supreme Court which had sentenced some of our political leaders to jail for giving us a referendum so that we could terminate our future as a people. Were going to be here until you can see what our demands are the amnesty of our Political Prisoners of all Political Prisoners. A free a dignified future and the end of oppression. And tomorrow will be a week determined to stay here. Are you doing your lectures at the same time you having discussions so as. Well as a political message so of course theres a social aspect to this camp everything has a basis in the fight that all of us here share we organize everything from. Debates between the different people who are here camps to different speakers who come in tell us about all sorts of different issues we have people and talked about different ways of protecting ourselves and also we had people come and talk to us about the situation in kurdistan and south america to a different bites that are. Going on. In the rest. Situation and looking to the way to one of the well we believe that our fight. Is part of a more global issue. Involves many other people who are also oppressed by different. Oppressive regime that we think is important even though what were here fighting for. Is a more concrete issue but it seems to be pretty overwhelming from the young people. Theyre very hopeful that theyll be a better future. And very the to stay here until this secure future. But a former British Ambassador can you explain to our viewers why despite the public sympathy for the cattle and cause which is evident across many countries theyve had little or no support from individual european governments or for that matter from the institutions of the European Union it really has been quite striking that there has been. Very brittle support for the cattle on the diplomatic front and in particular within the European Union and its been extremely striking that there has been no support for from the commission over council or parliament and particularly at the time of the violent suppression of a catalan referendum all 3 of those European Union institutions came out in fairly strong support of the actions of the Spanish Government saying it was all part of the rule of law i do think perhaps the catalans will have better prospects in the in the council of europe and strasburg i remember back in 2017 the then acting head acting president of the council me there is strong statement of condemnation of the actions of the spanish authorities might strasburg be a better vehicle for cattle on canvassing for support than the brussels struggles burgers is going to be more hopeful because of course strasburg and the council of europe are particularly tasked with institutions of Good Government questions of selfdetermination and questions of of human rights so it is very much in the main and also they have no economic Remit Service stability or the currency or the future of a spanish economy is not not so much their concern so yes there will be more the chance of eventual address from the council of europe and of course for me Court European court of. Human rights which is a council of Europe Institution not a European Union institution but these things grants lonely and remember of course the government still do have great influence on many of the representatives within the council of europe so if you were advising the Catalan Government at the present moment or did the wider catalan cause how would you tell them to frame the diplomatic offensive to try and tighten round the shut doors of getting from morse of the countries in europe. I would tell them primarily to look outside europe i would tell them to go to the developing world the g 77 countries as we call them and in diplomatic speak and to flame. Catalonians desire for independence. In respect of the right of selfdetermination and the top the United Nations of the United NationsGeneral Assembly one of the relatively few crumbs of comfort that catalonia has received in terms of International Support has been the refusal of a number of jurisdictions south of us the european arrest warrants that Spanish Government taken out against their cameras long against clock but saturday in scotland whats your reading of the situation and know that the Spanish Government of come back with a new improved version of the rest what are they going to get their way or all the jurisdictions continue to hold out against the porting these people well im still extremely hopeful that the judicial systems of european states who will be business tend to be the spanish efforts because you know plainly there beaches here of of freedom of speech of freedom the same leave it out of selfdetermination and plainly spain is trying to get still more Political Prisoners after imposing absolutely vicious sentences on on people who are campaigning for up to terminations so you know courts tend to take a more decent if you abuse things than politicians do so i am hopeful particularly here in scotland that the courts will will resist these politically motivated divest want but i will say that im fairly disgusted that the prosecuting authorities who are of course much. More susceptible to political influence are taking forward the left wants to the courts at all. Around here in scotland should be thinking this is plainly a politically motivated they should not be saying but with charges the equivalent of a u. K. Charge of treason which is remarkable thing which for the crown here in scotland is resting his case upon this is still a very grave and worrying situation so every summer i mean that the cattle are in store tremendous support for the way they conducted themselves peacefully joining the 2017 what i thought end of this one of the cattle and elections for the 1st statement from arabs leading in the spanish elections in catalonia theres clearly a substantial majority in favor of a referendum if the case for independence is much more evenly divided so what exactly does the cattle and politicians to the cattle and cause do to progress their desire for a referendum well i think they have to have to keep on doing what theyre doing and of course they have to be obvious that catalonia is a nation it has its own language it has its own Political Institutions and it has a long history of p. B. s autonomy so all these are factors they have to work upon but its going to be a hard road you know where they are facing state willing to use extreme violence against them and allowing no form of democratic expression so to keep to the path of nonviolence as time goes on is going to be extremely difficult for an emerging new front and the struggle for catalonia is the the social media obviously havey li used by the cattle campaigners know that they feel according to the Catalan Government that the Spanish Government taken powers to virtually interrupt wipeout course down the internet or across barcelona what fears would you have that this might be a tactic used by other governments internationally its quite remarkable. Archival to see a european government taking these kind of draconian powers weve just seen precisely this kind of action done in iran in the last couple of weeks to stop protests there and weve seen similar things before in hong kong and other parts of china you dont expect to see it in europe but ultimately if the Spanish Government is going to seek to suppress. Catarrh the independence by by means of repression its going to have to take more and more draconian steps to crush Civil Societies so im not in the least surprised click. Thank you very much indeed thank you. Join us after the break when alex discusses the catalonia movement with the leader of one of the Grassroots Organizations who provided the engine for change and the baileys province. And. The European Unions tendency to believe that is and only it represents europe has long been a major gripe for russia but as the e. U. Experiences significant internal difficulties it is studied to reassess what it is and what it stands for what does that process mean for the countries sharing the continent with. Its community there are people who believe that its ok to sell fractional food on my table its really hard there are no jobs and you see that ive got kids that ask and as a parent. I can come up with lots of arguments theres a lot of conflict in the game between the 2 most of the conflict i would say revolves around money and most of them money is made. Close one on each of those he knows each other is Good Business the state of california alone makes 6000000000. 00 a year of the prison complex just to get some point in your life where. You dont care and one of my cares about your so your care might anything. Welcome back the catalan struggle for independence that had huge currency and Enter National terms but few really understand the intertwined nature of the various organizations supporting a move towards independence the castle i believe in is represented not by one Political Party but by theory and much of its influence comes up words from grassroots cultural and citizens organizations alex caught up with el Offender Police in barcelona leader of the council on National Assembly welcome back to the show thanks thanks for inviting me again but tell the viewers about what is the catalyst National Assembly thats not a parliament this is a Grassroots Organization that they are simply is not a parliament its a civil so Society Organization that was created in 2012 and that has a single aim is to fight for Catalan Independence through democratic and pacific means and needs the ideological the diverse so we can have. Our membership leftists people all people that are more center right its a very diverse and what sort of activities does the National Assembly what support does it provide to the Independence Movement while the 1st thing that we did and that was rendered darst famous was to organize a big big demonstration in 2012 during the Catalan National day so one of our activities is mobilizing Civil Society organizing large demonstrations but weve been doing many other things like campaigning for the yes through independence when we had the referendum in 2017 and also during the participatory process in 2014 so giving arguments in favor of in the pendants and we do that through also our experts economies lawyers and different experts that are also are part of the. The association so youre looking to support independence supporting can the some politicians not not just in Political Parties and Government Office but floor all the institutions of of catalonia yes because this is something that we realized in october 2017 is like the power is not only in the formal institutions in government the power and the Spanish State power. Has. Is spread in other institutions of the Civil Society especially in business institutions we saw that in october when they some of these institutions participated in the Fear Campaign so what we said is that if we want to succeed when we do another attempt to declare independence and this time it has to be definitely if attempt we have to be more prepared and we have to have more power in these type of institutions. We have to these institutions shouldnt be corroborating. With the Spanish Power in the sense that they are collaborating in not respecting the will of the catalan people are the decisions of the Catalan Parliament they have to be a police neutral since we last spoke on the show last year the sentences a been handed down for the independence campaigners name people sentenced collectively to almost 100 years of imprisonment. What does been the impact of these draconian sentences on the Catalan Independence movement the society is really just i think by this verdict and by the sentences and also the reaction of the spine is a state by doing more repression by using. And again the police that is acting quite violently and also with an imprisoned. Political repression but by sending of these youngsters to pretrial detention again we have no 45 people in pretrial detention in jail so. The situation is quite complex and complicated. But how does the national cattleya avoid being drawn in to cleave in self iowans which one of your greatest. Promotional points in World Opinion the speed lissas an example like gandhi. For totally peaceful protests here its difficult when they have just condemn the leader the former leader of the catalan National Assembly and that of another association to 99 years of jail when that what they were doing in september 2017 was trying to calm down protest and send people home and saying no no no lets stop the protests now. And they have been condemned for sedition for these Peaceful Demonstrations so its very difficult. To do that the students the young people do not react to that saying oh see what happens when you do things peacefully no. The Central Government will and the institutions and the judge is going to come then you as if you have where had used violence you know sorry so its difficult but we have to try we have to try to to to keep our own track of nonviolence which doesnt mean exactly pacifism is not exactly the same because nonviolence is and their strategy that implies an action its not doing nothing its acting against these oppression against the state that is violating fundamental rights. Trying to we can eat by acting by using sometimes even civil disobedience but under strict principles of nonviolence so we have to hold so what youre saying are the principle of the castle our National Assembly unambiguously is nonviolent. Action but nonviolent action at all types yes the principle of a cut on a National Assembly is an ambiguous unambiguously nonviolent action but you yourself have come under investigation recently as have many others in catalonia how does it feel given what youve seen happening to many of your colleagues you yourself are no under investigation for what you may have said or may not have said in a television or radio interview they asked me if all these clashes at night were having a negative impact on the movement and i said i was trying to make a reflection so i said yes but it is true also that they make visible the conflict in the International Press because the world is the use and normally the the press at at that just more importance to negative news than positive names so i was trying to make a reflection and know im under investigation for having appeal to violence so these these limitation on the freedom of a speech that we are enduring must feel must be quite intimidating for people i mean that is the demonstration of 9 people incarcerated for long sentences theres other people on the vest a geisha that must be quite an intimidating atmosphere for people in the National Movement and in catalan yes it is intimidating we we have to deal with new experiences that trying to fight for our i. D. s in a context of political repression. Now theres been news recently that the Spanish Government are taking moves to have new powers to intercept social media and stop social Media Communication given that one of the great strengths of the catalog movement has been the ability to mobilize and organize using inventively the social media how big or asyut do you see that latest move to the way you organize it is a big threat in fact the website of the catalan National Assembly in 2017 was already cut or stopped without a warrant but then as they didnt do it right we were able to recovery. With these new decrease of the Spanish Government no they they are allowed to do it without a warrant so its going to be its going to introduce more limitations to for activity because they are going to try to put you in jail for trying to make into practice these political objectives and also they are going to let me tape the movement so that you cannot spread your ideas freely to make this be a strange way an opportunity to mobilize supported and else with spain because governments which move against the social media effectively potentially moving against large sections protect the younger populations into the social media is all encompassing in the lives of many people the wally of the idea of governments taking a license to intercept and to and to blow up peoples communications yes its true and this is something that really we are trying to do or like in our campaigns in into in the International Arena for instance the fact that the what they did in the web site for her to name a. The movement. In these websites only china russia and spain have tried to block any web being. Deposited in that in that in that plays nothing to talk about africa and attempt as well but the number of countries have tried you know an economist this as well as. A non Party Political activist. What should impression of how the cattle out economy has performed during a period of great instability can you see damage to the economy all of the upsides to catalonia being a place which is widely reported in fact we are in a Global Economy and what the facts more strongly look at their own economies the International Economic context so during the period of turmoil of the catalan referendum declaration of independence and the Fear Campaign the catalan economy grew at a pace that was. Stronger than that of the average spanish economy or even the average euro european economy. And no. And cheering as the rest of europe a period of recession probably but did to that that the fed has a couple in the economy not the political conflict what now for the catalan National Assembly been how do you intend to progress your campaign and how hopeful are you offer of success in the meacham town we would like to restart again the campaign on the arguments in favor of in the balance because what happens with police gov repression is that you are only talking about that of the people that are detained the people that are of being investigated and youre still you stop talking about what more. You in the 1st place to defend in the penance for your country and i think its important to to put this argument again because now we have more arguments than we had at the beginning a few years ago or when the catalan National Assembly west created we had arguments in the a social arguments economic arguments cultural and linguistic arguments to defend the. Catalan state for catalonia but now we have more arguments we have we have seen how it is to live in a Spanish State that is willing to evolve violate fundamental rights in order to preserve unity of spain who would like to. To continue to be part of a state such as this one so we have to wrap these things up our game and try to try to campaign again with the strong arguments for independence so the Grassroots Campaign goes on yes thank you thank your son. In our cities in catalonia we have thought to explain the nature of the movement for Catalan Independence and the tough reaction of the Spanish State against these ambitions inevitably this is largely featured the views of the catalan campaigners as the new Spanish Government are reluctant to engage in anything other than the briefest of statements. Inconclusive i come of the spanish election provide some basis for dialogue with Prime Minister sanchez short of the numbers required to secure his position in the courtis and the largest Catalan Independence party that you are see opening the door to support in exchange for talks however any move to a peace castle on ambitions will be priced on by the right wing opposition who selects his success has been largely built on a hardline approach towards catalonia it will be interesting to see if the circle can be squared because a continued constitutional standoff seems neither to the benefit of catalonia or spain and i next thursday is general election polling day in the United Kingdom im with political coverage tickly levy so it will present a compilation of the highlights of some of our sure stick to International Issues however the following week we summon once again our Prestigious Panel of political pundits who examine the postelection landscape in the United Kingdom and what might be the spectres of christmases yet to come but until then from alex and me and all that the shoe is goodbye and we hope to see you all next thank you thank. You. Because theres plenty of Survival Guide books stacey just like most of the stores simply have all the services. You should know there are you going to get them back. Oh heck no. Repatriations came to the rescue 7 years. Ago of the separate cars kaiser report. Thinking of getting a new gun the ones we got in here shes thrown around why is he didnt know until he was trapped in this tiny little wired how much you can use a crate with him he will just. Freaking out and she will want to spray him anywhere near and thousands of breeding dogs are caged in in human conditions on puppy farm i mean 67 years you know theyve been locked up in a cage outside you see no protection from the weather the heat you know the courtier the rain the snow the thunder nothing they have no protection. Particularly you. Know its true kids. Across the us cruel puppy mills are supported by dog shows and pet stores most of the puppies that are coming from these large Scale Factory farming kind of operations are being sold in stores even giant a Good Businesses are involved like ogling mom santa there has been a shocking amount of organized opposition to adverts to increase the standards of care for dogs bred in commercial breeding for so many most of that opposition is coming from huge agricultural groups and industries that have nothing to do with jobs dont buy dog. You know world of big partisan movie lot and conspiracy its time to wake up to dig deeper to hit the stories that Mainstream Media refuses to tell more than ever we need to be smart we need to stop slamming the door. And shouting past each other its target for Critical Thinking its time to fight for the middle for the troops the time is now for watching closely watching the hawks. France is crippled by a nationwide strike over pension reform plans with protests in the capital descending into violence. The Russian Foreign minister rejects germanys claims that moscow has not been cooperating with an investigation into the murder of a georgian citizen in berlin. And twitter faces fresh censorship accusations after a change to do its terms of service leads to fears of shadow ban it