Miguel Urbán: The Palestinian Struggle is Our Struggle in Europe
As part of my commitment to bringing justice-oriented voices from Spain to a broader audience, especially in the context of the ongoing struggle for justice in Palestine, I am providing this English translation of remarks made by Spanish activist and Eurodeputy Miguel Urbán at an October 20, 2023 public event in Madrid held in solidarity with the Palestinian people. The event was organized by Anticapitalistas, a socialist confederation in Spain that seeks to promote “an eco-socialist and feminist democracy in which society as a whole controls the springs of economic, political and cultural power.” It featured six speakers as well as a poetry and musical performance. View the full event (in Spanish).
The Palestine solidarity movement in Spain is strong - certainly one of the strongest in Europe - and growing. The country has seen a wide range of solidarity events during the ongoing Israeli bombardment of Gaza, with organizers and protesters calling urgently for a ceasefire, an end to Israel’s genocidal actions against the Palestinian people, and an end to European complicity in those actions.
Text of Miguel Urbán’s remarks
Palestine solidarity demonstration in Madrid. (Photo: John Collins)
First, thank you to all for being here, and especially for continuing to take to the streets to say loudly and clearly, “Palestine will triumph!” and “End the occupation!” Because there won’t be peace unless there is an end to the occupation. I think it is very important to remember that. We can’t go back to a false peace. We can’t go back to caging the people of Gaza and saying that because there are no bombs falling, there is peace.
I was one of the 21 deputies in the European Parliament who refused to vote for a resolution that called for war, that offered a letter of impunity to the State of Israel to continue massacring the Palestinian people.
I think it is important to see that all of this is not only about solidarity with Palestine. It is about much more. It’s also about ourselves. Because we are not only risking the rights of the Palestinian people. We are also risking our own rights here. We are seeing how they are trying to rewrite history…They are trying to curtail the basic rights of mobilization in Europe. This [Palestinian] flag has been banned in some European countries. The right to protest is being prohibited. Why? Because they don’t consider those who are protesting to be Europeans. That’s why. That’s why. They are working within a logic of otherness. That “they” aren’t like “us,” they aren’t white, they aren’t Europeans, they aren’t citizens. They aren’t humans, or they are “human animals.” That logic of otherness is what allows [them to say] - if “they” aren’t human - what does it matter if we kill them? It’s the same logic of otherness that allows us to turn the Mediterranean into a gigantic mass grave, and we practically don’t care.
This is about much more than solidarity with a people. It’s also about us. Because if Europe is doing what it’s doing, it’s because we are allowing it to happen. So we must raise our voices so that the genocide of the Palestinian people, or of any people, will not be permitted. Because if the Palestinian people are under occupation, it is with the money of European firms, the European multinationals. It’s the same here with the Saharawi people. Because the European Court of Justice said that you can’t maintain the occupation of Western Sahara without the plundering of its natural resources by the European multinationals. If Europe didn’t continue considering Israel as a preferred trading partner, if it applied international human rights law, it wouldn’t be possible to maintain the occupation.
Palestine solidarity demonstration in Madrid. (Photo: John Collins)
And this is what we are proposing here. But we have seen that the highest European authorities - the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, and let’s not forget the President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola - traveled to Israel to give the Israeli authorities a blank check. At no time did they talk about war crimes. At no time did they even talk about Palestinian victims. At no time did they acknowledge that according to international treaties, any collective punishment is considered a war crime. And what is happening to the people of Gaza is truly a collective punishment.
Because of this, people said “not in our name,” and social media was inundated with “not in our name.” And some of us were even hopeful that we were going to arrive to the European Parliament - this week we had the plenary of the European Parliament - and at least they (Israel) will get a slap on the wrist. There will be a shift, a pivot. But no. They validated the position of giving a blank check, a letter of impunity, to the state of Israel.
From our parliamentary group, we presented amendments, extremely radical and communist and dangerous things like respecting international law. The text said, “We must put an end to Hamas.” We said, any action must respect international law.”
25 votes, out of 750.
We said, a ceasefire. Let’s call for a humanitarian ceasefire.
65 votes, out of 750 deputies.
Let’s call for what the solidarity movement with Palestine is calling for. What does international law require? In a conflict area, an arms embargo must be applied. Let’s put an arms embargo on the State of Israel.
25 votes.
Let’s apply the commercial agreements that Europe has signed with Israel, which contain clauses saying that human rights must be respected, and if human rights not being respected, those commercial agreements can be suspended.
40 votes.
This is the Europe that really exists in its elites. One that is prepared to outlaw an anticapitalist party in France for expressing publicly its solidarity with the Palestinian people. These are the same ones who come out, like the French Minister of the Interior, to say that [footballer Karim] Benzema has links with terrorism - or, even worse, that he isn’t French! And that his nationality could be taken away.
So all of this is about much more than Palestine. What is being considered is, who has the right to have rights in Europe? And whoever dissents doesn’t have rights. Whoever breaks with the general tone of this Europe doesn’t have rights. Racialized people aren’t first-class citizens. They’re not Europeans. This is what they are telling us in this Europe. Because of this, I say that we shouldn’t have a struggle in solidarity with Palestine, or with Western Sahara, but rather that we should have a struggle of mutual aid among peoples. Because by defending their rights, we are defending our rights. Because by campaigning to change to views and the position of European governments, we are struggling for a different Europe, much better than the one we have now. And unfortunately, it resembles far too much the dark Europe from which we thought we had escaped. We are returning to that logic, in which everything is allowed.
Palestine solidarity demonstration in Madrid. (Photo: John Collins)
So I believe this is the moment to say loudly and clearly, the solidarity movement with Palestine is much more advanced than in other countries. And in addition, I think we have a responsibility. The presidency of the European Council is currently held by Spain. We can demand of the Spanish government, at the very least, that they call for an unconditional ceasefire, break relations with the State of Israel, suspend relations until Israel respects the ceasefire, position itself unequivocally in favor of a solution that includes and end to apartheid and an end to the occupation in Palestine, put an arms embargo on Israel, suspend any preferred commercial agreement with a state that is carrying out war crimes as state policy. We have a privileged moment, not only for holding the presidency [of the European Council], but also because [Pedro Sánchez] needs votes in order to be able to be president [of Spain].
It’s not a coincidence that the majority of the deputies who voted against [the resolution in the European Parliament] were from the Spanish Left. It’s not a coincidence, because of what we are talking about now. But we need to demand more. We need to demand a further step. Not only assume the idea of the two-state solution. No. Because putting in writing is what matters. We need actions. And we need to demand actions from the Spanish government. We must demand of all the parties on the Left that want to invest in a government in this country that they must put on the table the lives of the Palestinian people. Because as I said earlier, this isn’t only about Palestine. This is about us. Because if we do this, we will improve the quality of our democracy in Europe.
The Palestinian people are risking their lives. We are also risking our own future. We are risking European democracy. We saw this with the war in Ukraine. And now it can be seen with the conflict in Palestine. Because of this, it is essential that we continue organizing, that we continue taking to the streets. Remember the announcement that we have circulated - this Tuesday in the Plaza de los Comunes in Peñuelas Street to create an open assembly to continue organizing activities like this one and many more like it. Not only to show solidarity with Palestine, but also to improve our own lives. Our comrades here who weren’t able to get in went into the streets and are making an assembly in the Plaza de Lavapiés.
This is the model - organizing, saying “Enough!”, saying that Palestinian lives matter. Because our lives matter. Because at the end of the say, in this shitty society that we are left with, the great debate is, what is worth more? Their profits or our lives? Let’s struggle for our lives!
More about Miguel Urbán
Miguel Urbán Crespo has been a deputy in the European Parliament as part of the European United Left-Nordic Green Left group since 2015. He was closely involved in the creation of the Spanish political party Podemos and is currently a key figure in the Anticapitalistas confederation in Spain.
