Both the AI member with whom I talked, and his companion, who joined the last part of our conversation, made clear that they were not allowed to speak on behalf of AI. Furthermore, they showed me their credentials, where this was explicitly stated. Therefore, our talk should not be taken as an official statement of the organization's position. However, I got the impression that this spontaneous street-level exchange provided a very accurate account of AI's position concerning the current struggle between the Catalan ballot and the Spanish bullet. Therefore, I decided to pen a few lines summarizing it. AI has long avoided speaking out on the Spanish regime's continued human rights abuses against Catalan citizens, and is plainly uncomfortable with the internationally recognized right to self-determination (one of the members first denied it existed, and then retracted when I offered to show him a copy of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights), however, it seems ready to denounce the actual use of force against the ballot, although not (yet) mere threats. Thus, being an optimistic, I saw the glass half full, although I must also say that much more could and should be expected from an organization claiming to be a valiant defender of human rights worldwide.
A summary of Amnesty's International position re Spanish coup threats, from an spontaneous conversation with two rank-and-file members in Barcelona.
1.- AI is not currently conducting any campaign in favour of the civil right to vote free from coercion. Although this basic human right is part of their foundational values, they are reluctant to publicly defend it for fear of being accused of politizacion. However, when pressed, they admit that as defenders of human rights they also support the right to go to to the polls.
2.- At first, my main interlocutor said that AI could not defend the right to self-determination, since it was not part of International Law. When I offered to show him a copy of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which I had saved in my laptop, he soon backtracked. Actually, I did not even need to show him, as soon as I made the gesture of opening it, he soon realized that there was no hiding it. He then tried to find a way out, acknowledging that the right to self-determination was indeed part of International Law, but claiming that “the right to decide was not”. The latter is simply an equivalent expression, used for some time in Catalonia but widely seen as meaning the same.
3.- When asked about the constant stream of threats to employ force against Catalan voters, by a number of Spanish politicians and military officers, both AI members said that these were no “real” threats. They seemed to take it as a joke, although one may suspect they were perhaps trying to avoid having to face the uncomfortable reality: a regime threatening voters, not trying to convince them to cast their votes in a certain direction, but simply brandishing the possibility of a coup to prevent them from going to the polls. When asked whether AI was planning to speak out against these coup threats, given that they amounted to a naked violation of some of the most basic human rights, one of them said that the organization would do so only once they materialized. It was not clear whether they meant once a coup actually took place, or once the threats reached a certain undefined threshold. The other AI member, who joined the conversation at this stage, addded that AI would issue a communiqué if force was employed to prevent the normal development of the 11/9 referendum.
4.- Given that today coups can take place under many guises, with resort to varying degrees of violence, I explicitly asked them about AI's reaction should the Spanish regime interfere with the referendum by, for example, launching cyberattacks or deploying police units to steal some of the ballot boxes. They both said that in these circumstances AI's position would be exactly the same and that it would also speak out publicly against such moves.
5.- In general terms, both appeared concerned that the controversy prompted by the Spanish regime's threat to use force to prevent Catalans from voting may overshadow other issues on which AI is currently campaigning.
6.- Just once, the AI member I first spoke to mentioned the Spanish 1978 Constitution as a possible bar to the 11/9 referendum. I must confess I was tempted to ask him whether AI had been founded to defend human rights or that particular piece of legislation. However, I tried a different tack, and it worked. The most substantive bits of this constitution, at least for Spanish nationalists, that is the articles laying down Spain's “unity”, where drafted by the Spanish Armed Forces and delivered to the committee in charge of the text, on a take it or leave basis. Coming just a few years after General Franco's death, the committee just took them and copied pasted them into their draft. With this in mind, I asked him who had drafted the Constitution. At that moment, he averted his gaze, lowered his head, and without daring to look at me straight into the eye, fell silent. There was no doubt: he knew. He was aware those chapters had been drafted by the Spanish military, and therefore, as a member of an organization devoted to the defence of human rights, he could not refer to them as negating two basic rights: the right to life and the right to vote. Needless to say, the former is necessary to exercise the latter.
Conclusions: while reluctant to face coup threats, AI seems ready to speak out should the threat materialize.
What can we conclude from this little episode? First of all, that AI remains reluctant to openly criticize the Spanish regime for using force, or the use of force, to retain Catalonia, which they conquered in 1714. They are more comfortable campaigning on other issues. However, at the same time, as defenders of human rights and familiar with International Law, they understand that they have no option other than opposing a coup. In a way they are trapped, but fortunately, although not as prompty and eagerly as one may wish, they seem ready to join Catalans in opposing a military coup if the Spanish regime persists in threatening to use force to keep citizens away from the polls on 9 November.
When dealing with AI members it is most important to keep calm, stick to the issues being discussed, and avoid entering politics (at no time during our talk did I mention whether citizens should vote to leave Spain or remain, that has nothing to do with human rights, we only talked about the right to vote, not its contents). Good manners and a velvet touch, however, must not prevent us from politely but firmly avoid anybody from misleading us. Self-determination not recognized by International law? No problem, let me take my laptop and show you the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights... The 1978 Spanish Constitution as a bar to a referendum? Who drafted that Constitution? … It is usually not necessary to pursue this further, the mere sign that we know what we are talking about suffices to get them to retreat, ashamed to have tried to dodge the issue. A very simple issue really: people should be able to go to the polls free from fear or force. And once in the polling stations, let them vote whatever they want. It is called democracy.
Finally, when discussing Spanish threats, it is very important to consider the different scenarios. While many imagine, or even refer to, tanks on the streets, that is actually one of the least likely, among others because those tanks are German and Germany, unlike Spain, has squarely left her past behind. However, the regime can still resort to other forms of limited force, less visible and for that same reason much more dangerous. Fortunately, it seems that AI is well aware of this.
Overall, while AI is not as active as it should be in the face of coup threats, and remains reluctant to publicly confront the Spanish regime, they are aware, and openly admit, that there is no way out and they will ultimately have to come out publicly in favour of the Catalan ballot in its struggle against the Spanish bullet. They may not be looking forward to it, but to do otherwise would mean its end as an international organization promoting human rights worldwide.
Alex Calvo, an expert in Asian security and defence, is currently a guest professor at Nagoya University (Japan)
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