Committees for the Defense of the Republic

Committees for the Defense of the Republic

Basic data
Type of association	nonprofit organization
ideology	Independence advocate
Political orientation	Transversal
origin	Spain
history
Former name	Referendum Defense Committees
founding	September 2017 in Catalonia
Members	255 local CDRs

The Committees for the Defense of the Republic (from the Catalan Comitès de Defensa de la República , abbreviated with the initials CDR ), also called "District Defense Committees", formerly Committees for the Defense of the Referendum, are amalgamations of groups at local, district or Country level established in Catalonia in September 2017 primarily to defend the independence referendum that took place on October 1, 2017 and later the Catalan Republic proclaimed on October 27 . These alliances consist largely of members of political parties, independence organizations and private individuals who advocate an independent Catalonia, actively support this goal and want to defend it “village by village and district by district”.

History and background

The CDR came into being in September 2017 as groups of volunteers from various independence associations with the initial aim of ensuring the implementation of the referendum on independence on October 1st (1-O), which was to be suspended by the Spanish Constitutional Court . The main impetus for the establishment of these associations came from the left independence party ERC , but members of other organizations such as the youth of PDeCAT , members of Òmnium Cultural and the Catalan National Assembly ANC also joined.

After the 1-O, the committees were the protagonists of the demonstrations and protests against the National Police and the Guardia Civil and were converted into strike committees for the general strike of October 3rd.

In the meantime, Catalans living abroad have come together in CDRs in many places, for example to organize information events and demonstrations and thus to draw attention to the situation in Catalonia and to provide information about it. Various initiatives have also been founded parallel to the CDRs, such as the Catalonia Solidarity Committee. At the end of November, fans of FC Barcelona also launched their own CDR, the CDR BARÇA.

There is an ongoing judicial investigation by the Spanish National Court of Justice into the implication and support of the CDR by the Russian Intelligence Service in destabilizing Spain.

National organization

Following the declaration and subsequent suspension of independence by Carles Puigdemont and the threat to apply Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution , ninety representatives from each local CDR met in Sabadell to coordinate future mobilizations. During the event, which was attended by around two hundred spectators, it was denied that the organizations were affiliated with the CUP and their transversal character was emphasized.

structure

According to the lists that the organization keeps updated, there are 255 territorial groups, distributed across different counties and neighborhoods (a number of 175 was given in a press release after the 4th official meeting on November 4th), distributed throughout the territory of the Catalan countries , mostly in the Autonomous Province of Catalonia, but also in the Balearic Islands and the Province of Valencia .

The communication went on to say that the organizational and operational parts were merged, quickly but effectively, and that they were in direct contact with other independence organizations and trade unions .

The structure is transversal and unites members of various organizations and parties with the same ideology. The individual local and neighborhood assemblies can act completely independently and are not obliged to accept proposals at national level. The individual groups coordinate themselves, represented by a democratically elected person in charge at the local level, and also elect a spokesperson for participation in the national assemblies.

Mobilizations

October 1, 2017

In the days leading up to the October 1st referendum on Catalonia's independence , the AMPAs and neighbors of each polling station began self-organized activities after the end of Friday classes to prevent the schools from being sealed by the Mossos d'Esquadra .

At the last minute, when many citizens had spontaneously organized themselves to occupy hundreds of schools, various independence organizations and institutions close to the Catalan government also called for the schools that were supposed to act as polling stations to be open all weekend occupy. Previously, it was only recommended that queues in front of the polling stations as early as 5 a.m. on Sunday morning with the aim of preventing them from closing, as the judge of the Supreme Court had ordered. Following this call, a wide variety of leisure activities were carried out in the schools from Friday afternoon and throughout Saturday.

Throughout the day of the referendum, hundreds of citizens stayed in the schools they voted in to protect them from the Policia Nacional attacks that took place in many polling stations during the day. A few hours before the polling stations were closed, despite the presence of hundreds of citizens, there was another call to “defend” the schools in order to prevent the police from confiscating the full ballot boxes or disrupting the counting. During the day the Policia Nacional closed some polling stations.

All of this mobilization was organized by the various independence organizations and parties, but the committees to defend the referendum , which had recently been founded by the citizens , also played a very large part in the implementation and coordination.

3rd October 2017

On October 3rd, the strike committees of various unions , such as the CGT, CNT, COS, I-CSC and IAC, called for a general strike . The reasons for the protests were the violation of human rights and the deterioration in working conditions in various workplaces, caused by the tough crackdown by the Policia Nacional and the Guardia Civil during the so-called "Operation Anubis". The aim of this was to prevent the referendum scheduled by the Catalan government .

The committees to defend the referendum had organized themselves, just like two days before, early in the morning and blocked important main roads in the country at various points. The main motorway to and from Barcelona, the AP-7, was blocked at various points in the Girona and Penedès region , the AP-2 near Molins de Rei, the C-32 near Sitges and the C-25 at Vic. Around 15 main roads and access to France and Andorra were interrupted before 8 a.m. There were traffic jams of up to 10 km on the affected motorways. Furthermore, traffic in the city center of Barcelona was severely affected by numerous demonstrations .

November 8th

The protests proclaimed on November 8th by the Inter-CSC union were primarily directed against the deterioration of “social rights”, the increasing job insecurity and against the Legislative Decree 15/2017, passed by the Spanish government , on the departure of companies from Catalonia to other autonomous regions of Spain to facilitate.

That day showed that the CDRs are able to coordinate such an action and it was possible to demonstrate that control of the country is crucial and that it is possible with only a few thousand people, both all major transport routes in Catalonia and its borders Affecting Valencia, Aragon and France.

In the early hours of the morning, numerous CDRs blocked several motorways and national roads. The most serious blockades occurred on the AP-7 at Borrassà (Alt Emporda), near the Figueres tollbooth, in order to affect the border indefinitely. These blockades were maintained until around 10 p.m., forces from the Policia Nacional and the Mossos d'Esquadra arrived at the blockades. Those in charge of the CDR then decided to end the strike in order to avoid violent confrontations with the police. In spite of everything, some demonstrators remained on site, which were then removed by the police.