After the demonstrations and protests last October against the genocide in Gaza and against the beneficial Catalonia-Palestine party of November 19, Catalan civil solidarity with Palestine remains alive and well prepared, since next January 29 the Concert-Manifesto x Palestine will be celebrated, a macro-event whose organizers know as “a call to act, to put on the body and give it to the face; not to forget or call; to decide, once again, that in Palestine we stake the future of humanity.”
Unfortunately, the future of humanity is not only at stake in Palestine. Israeli ultranationalist imperialism in Gaza (and the West Bank) is not particularly distinct from Russian ultranationalist imperialism in Ukraine, which threatens on the ground not only Ukrainians and, by extension, their Eastern European neighbors, but also European civilization itself and world peace.
Catalan institutions are aware of this challenge and, in 2025, they have sent a signal on this subject. On February 26, the President’s Council of the Catalan Parliament approved a declaration on the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with the support of all parties except the Catalan Alliance, CUP and VOX. This statement accused Russia of continually and systematically violating the most fundamental norms of international humanitarian law, by indiscriminately bombing the population and critical civilian infrastructure, and endangering the security of the European continent.
According to these fervent supporters, the commitment to democracy, the rule of law, the European project and human rights is inherent in the “spirit” of Catalonia, which would therefore be convinced of the necessity and urgency of broadening its support for Ukraine, to make it more effective, more predictable and sustainable over a long period. Accordingly, the Parliament reiterated its unwavering solidarity with the Ukrainian people and their leaders as well as its support for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders.
This “unbreakable” solidarity invoked by the Junta de Portavoces in February did not have much continuity throughout the year and was not particularly practiced by Catalan civil society. The Trump-Putin summit in August went unnoticed among anti-fascist activists, who were likely organizing vacancies on the ground in a literal sense. In November, Trump’s far-fetched peace plan (release from capitulation) provoked no tangible reaction in the streets. In short, Putin’s veiled threats of a war on a European scale do not seem to have disturbed many consciences. The dramatic European Council deliberations on saving Ukraine last week are pure esotericism.
It will be time to find out why Palestine remains in the candelero and why Ukraine alone generates indifference. But a day like today would be a good time not to forget the Ukrainians, who put their bodies to work defending European civilization while here we happily eat our turros.
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