Esquerra pushes for an anti-racist agreement for the election campaign

Esquerra’s parliamentary group has entered a motion calling the Government to further an agreement to make the election campaign free of all racist speech that vilifies migrants in Catalonia. Esquerra means to reach a grand pact to reaffirm the political parties’ commitment to combating racist pronouncements, while making it extensive to civil society and the media.

As the draft makes clear, the agreement seeks “to safeguard the fundamental rights of all and to defend the democratic values of respect for diversity.” Likewise, the motion presented by Esquerra is to confirm the commitment by the Parliament of Catalonia against hate speech, as the Catalan chamber has already expressed on several occasions since the beginning of the legislature.

Considering the forthcoming municipal elections to be held on the 28 May, the Esquerra Republicana parliamentary group considers it necessary to convey the consensus of the Catalan chamber to the local communities. The motion thus means to renew the pact reached in 2019 to guarantee a responsible election campaign regarding respect for migrants.

To make the rejection of far-right hate speech effective, the Government’s work on other fronts must also be emphasized, such as the bringing to bear of the Law of Equal Treatment and Non-Discrimination, the establishment of preliminary reception services, the Anti-Racism Plan and the support for Human Rights Defenders.

In the same vein, Esquerra presented just a few weeks ago an anti-fascist municipal agreement proposed to other parties. This agreement puts in writing the commitment not to win mayorships after the municipal elections by accepting the votes of parties that spout fascist speech, and to work together along with civil society to coordinate the response to hate speech.