Lucha Occitana
| Lucha Occitana | |
|---|---|
| Occitan Struggle | |
 | |
| Founded | 1971 |
| Dissolved | 1974 |
| Newspaper | Païs Occitan-Lucha Occitana and Occitània Passat e Present |
| Ideology |
Revolutionary Socialism Occitan nationalism Left-wing nationalism Autonomism Antiimperialism |
Occitan Struggle (Occitan: Lucha Occitana, LO) was an Occitan political group, created in 1971 from the Comitat Occitans d'Estudis e d'Accion. It was a group comprised mainly of intellectuals, students and agricultural unionists. The group had a revolutionary, autonomist and Occitan nationalist ideology. LO was headquartered in Toulouse. Lucha Occitana primarily desired the complete decolonization of Occitania as part of the global fight against imperialism. The group desired to lead the working class block, an action which the group thought would contribute to the destruction of the capitalist French state. In 1972 LO signed the Brest Charter.
Lucha Occitana was a fairly active group. They published the newspapers Païs Occitan-Lucha Occitana in Toulouse and Occitània Passat e Present in Antibes. LO conducted an analysis of the Occitan situation. They opposed the independentist views of the Occitan Nationalist Party.
LO expressed these views:
- The existence of an Occitan identity. An identity culturally and linguistically different from the French. An identity opposed and resistant to French cultural hegemony and aculturation.
- There is capitalist and colonial exploitation in Occitania, pursuing the liquidation of the Occitan national minority.
- The French state increasingly oppresses the Occitan lower classes.
- The class struggle takes a specific form in Occitania, which translates into more aspirations than those demanded by the rest of the French hexagon.
LO never had more than 500 militants. The group gained prominence thanks to the demonstrations against the expropriations of Larzac. In 1974 Lucha Occitana underwent an internal crisis and fragmented into numerous factions.
References
- Maria-Ángels Roque (2000): Nueva antropología de las sociedades mediterráneas: viejas culturas, nuevas visiones. Icaria-Antrazyt, Barcelona. (Spanish)