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    Josep Savall

    Picture of Josep Savall

    Josep Savall

    Josep Savall is a writer and activist from Barcelona, Catalonia. He took part in one of Europe’s most audacious acts of civil disobedience, the October 1, 2017 Catalan independence referendum, organized in a grassroots, anarchic, and leaderless way by ordinary citizens. The referendum was a success: more than two million people voted for independence, despite brutal repression by 6,000 Guardia Civil officers specially deployed by the Spanish government to quash the vote. In the days that followed, Catalan politicians, who had initially been overtaken by the people’s initiative, reclaimed control of the process but, faced with state threats and pressure, withdrew rather than enforce the mandate. Ironically, or perhaps predictably, these same politicians were later imprisoned, with Spanish courts using police claims that voters had met beatings with “looks of hate” as the legal justification for their sentences. Savall writes from Catalonia on moral responsibility, political courage, and the uncompromising power of collective action.

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