François Alfonsi, Jill Evans and Ana Miranda are all members of the European Free Alliance (EFA), a group of only seven Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) who represent stateless nations and regions. François Alfonsi is a long-standing campaigner for Corsican autonomy and works for U Partitu di a Nazione Corsa (Party of the Corsican Nation). Jill Evans is a member of Plaid Cymru (The Party of Wales), a left-wing nationalist party advocating Welsh independence. Ana Miranda grew up in Galicia in northern Spain, and now represents the region in the European Parliament. She is a member of the Bloque Nacionalista Galego (The Galician Nationalist Bloc), a left-wing nationalist coalition that campaigns for Galicia’s right to self-determination. Given their credentials it should come as no surprise that these three advocates for minority self-determination recently returned from a trip to the Occupied Palestinian Territories. I attended an event in the parliament this week to hear all about their trip.
I won’t go on to explain what they did there because, helpfully, they made a film of their trip. It is very well put together and makes clear the impact of the occupation on the everyday lives of Palestinians in the West Bank. Through a series of interviews with Palestinians, NGOs, and politicians from Israel and Palestine, the three MEPs explore what it means to be ‘living under occupation’.
The QCEA Blog 