Party review: Radical left-wing and pro-independence CUP

Barcelona (CNA).- Radical left-wing and pro-independence CUP wouldn’t rest after an independent Catalonia is established; they fight for full sovereignty, from Spain but also from the EU’s policies and capitalist dictates.  Often compared with Greek party Syriza, this candidacy started its path on the local level. The social movements and their fight for social justice are in its DNA. Since 2012, they have had representation in the Catalan parliament and their influence and popular support has grown exponentially since then. The CUP’s bid for the upcoming 27-S elections is clear: an independent Catalonia (‘Països Catalans’ is  the term they use, which includes Valencia and the Balearic Islands) is just the first step to start to build a more equal, more fair and much more free society.

The CUP’s position regarding the upcoming Catalan elections, scheduled for the 27^th of September, is as clear as it is ambitious: they bid for independence to change it all. They claim the exceptional nature of the elections, which are set to be a ‘de facto’ plebiscite on independence, and openly support an independent Catalonia. The candidacy’s roadmap after the elections is also explicit: they are for a unilateral declaration of independence. “We are fed up of symbolic declarations” said CUP member Anna Gabriel at a press conference held this Monday at CNA headquarters.

Independence to change it all

However, according to the CUP, equally important as being independent from Spain is “achieving full sovereignty”, one of its members (the CUP refuses to use the word ‘leader’) Antonio Baños stated. “Holding a flag doesn’t mean being sovereign” he said and added that being fully sovereign implies “getting rid of the EU dictates and focusing on the social emergency rather than paying the international debt” he outlined. “We are on the bad guys’ side now”, he said, referring to the EU, “the side that closes its frontiers and responds to migrant crises with racism”. According to this politician, the CUP “doesn’t distinguish between economic migrants and war refugees; they are all victims of a violent and unfair system”.

The CUP’s ideology is also anti-capitalist, which is according to Baños, being “for life, as capitalism is the opposite of life”. He said that the economy “has to serve the people” and not the other way round, adding that “it doesn’t mean we are against companies; we want industrial areas and bid for prosperity, as we want people to work and have better lives”, but underlining that “we need to change the productive models. It is all about sizes and labour rights”. 

Disobedience, the first step after the 27-S elections

The first step after the 27-S elections, in the event that pro-independence candidacies have a majority, is to unilaterally declare independence from Spain. “We are fed up of symbolic declarations” said CUP member Anna Gabriel at a press conference held this Monday at CNA headquarters. "We have to disconnect from Spain and this implies disobeying its laws", she added. Following this, when asked about the roadmap of the unitary pro-independence list ‘Junts Pel Sí’, Gabriel stated that she couldn’t see any “clear commitment to disobedience in the ‘Junts Pel Sí’ programme” and added that “they mention they want to have a dialogue with the Spanish government and we have no hopes for this”. She outlined that “disobeying means listening and following the people’s mandate. And the people urge independence”.

A decisive force

Many polls point to the CUP as a deciding force in the 27-S elections, as their pro-independence position may align with ‘Junts Pel Sí’ and achieve a pro-independence majority of seats in the Catalan parliament. Gabriel highlighted that the CUP’s mission is not only about “investing Artur Mas or not” and stated that CUP is not an “accessory party”. She admitted that they don’t support Artur Mas nor the centre-right pro-Catalan State two-party coalition CiU’s policies, “there’s a risk that during the electoral campaign people will forget about what CiU did when it was in charge” referring to the cuts in social spending and the corruption scandals that surrounded the coalition.

Regarding hypothetical scenarios after the elections, Gabriel is sceptical about the polls and warned that “polls are too often oriented to have an influence on people’s votes”. She added that everything is open and that there “could be surprises”.