The Brest Charter was a document signed by several European far-left separatist groups in February 1974, in

Brest Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus **Brest Region **Brest Airport **Brest Fortress *Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria *Břest, Czech Republic *Brest, France **Arrondissement of Brest **Brest Bretagne Airport ** Château de Brest *Brest, ...

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

.Cullen 151 The Charter advocated for a Europe of independent socialist states and affirmed “the right of the oppressed people to respond to counter-revolutionary violence with revolutionary violence.” The initial signatories were the

Official An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their ...

branch of the

Irish Republican Movement Irish Republican Movement is a dissident republican vigilante group founded in April 2018. They formed as a splinter group of Óglaigh na hÉireann, after they went on ceasefire in 2018. See also * Republican movement (Ireland) The republic ...

(represented by Eoin Ó Murchú), the

Breton Democratic Union Breton Democratic Union (french: Union démocratique bretonne, br, Unvaniezh Demokratel Breizh, UDB) is a Breton nationalist, autonomist, and regionalist political party in Brittany (''Bretagne administrée'') and Loire-Atlantique. The UDB adv ...

(UDB), and the

Galician People's Union The Galician People's Union ( gl, Unión do Povo Galego) is a Galician nationalist and communist political party, and is one of the registered political parties of Spain. The party publishes the magazine ''Terra e Tempo'', and the secretary genera ...

(UPG). Herriko Alderdi Sozialista signed the charter a few weeks later. Other signatories included

Cymru Goch Cymru Goch (, ''Red (political adjective), Red Wales'') was a left-wing Welsh nationalism, Welsh nationalist political party, founded in 1986 and fought for what it described as a ''Free Socialist Wales''. Background Following the collapse of th ...

,Cullen 158

Socialist Party of National Liberation The Socialist Party of National Liberation ( Catalan: ''Partit Socialista d'Alliberament Nacional'', PSAN) is an independentist and communist party active in Catalonia. The PSAN was created in 1968 following a split in the more leftist sector of ...

, Catalan Workers Left, Su Populu Sardu,Coluzzi, Paolo. ''Minority Language Planning and Micronationalism in Italy: An Analysis of the Situation of Friulian, Cimbrian and Western Lombard with Reference to Spanish Minority Languages''. Peter Lang, 2007 and Occitan Struggle. At the time, the Charter attracted little attention within the Official Republican Movement, which was more focused on establishing links with the Soviet Union. The Charter was reaffirmed at a gathering in

San Sebastián San Sebastian, officially known as Donostia–San Sebastián (names in both local languages: ''Donostia'' () and ''San Sebastián'' ()) is a city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality located in the Basque Country (autonomous community), B ...

in November 1977.Cullen 164 The Official Republican Movement, which was moving away from

armed struggle War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

, did not send a representative to a follow-up meeting in 1978.

References

Sources

*Cullen, Niall. ''Radical Basque Nationalist-Irish Republican Relations''. Routledge, 2023. Political charters 1974 documents Stateless nationalism in Europe Secessionist organizations in Europe Left-wing nationalism 1974 in politics International socialist organizations {{europe-hist-stub