Remembering Xosé Manuel Beiras: A Life of Anti-Colonial Resistance

• The death of Xosé Manuel Beiras marks the loss of a prominent Galician republican, intellectual, and political figure.
• Beiras is defined by his staunch anti-colonialism, which viewed Galicia as an exploited internal colony within the Spanish state.

Intellectual Foundations

• Influenced by 1968 global revolutionary movements and economists such as François Perroux and Latin American dependency theorists like Celso Furtado and Raúl Prebisch.
• Found mirrors for the Galician condition in the works of Frantz Fanon and Albert Memmi, focusing on the psychological and sociological impacts of colonization.
• Deeply inspired by national liberation struggles in Algeria, Vietnam, and Cuba, as well as the Non-Aligned Movement.

Political Career and Resilience

• Led the clandestine Partido Socialista Galego (PSG) and later helped found the Bloque Nacionalista Galego (BNG) and Anova-Irmandade Nacionalista.
• Faced severe depression following electoral defeats during the Spanish transition but found personal and political renewal through his partner, Aurichu Pereira, whom he credited as his emotional anchor.
• Championed assembly-based, ecological, and socialist politics, always maintaining an internationalist outlook.

Global Solidarity and Legacy

• Maintained strong ties with the Global South, showing solidarity with Zapatista movements, the World Social Forum, and leaders such as Hugo Chávez, Evo Morales, and Lula da Silva.
• Renowned writers like Eduardo Galeano praised him for his intellectual courage and integrity.
• Remained active in his anti-colonial stance until his later years, notably criticizing the Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank in 2013.
• Lived by the motto, "I fight without hope, and precisely for that reason, it is certain that I will never desert," reflecting a lifelong commitment to struggles even when victory appeared unlikely.