Reactions to Ban on Batasuna

Swiss Info published this article regarding some of the reactions elicited by Madrid's decision to ban Batasuna, a Basque political party:

August 25, 2002 - 5:01 AM

Basques ready for fight

By Daniel Flynn

GUERNICA, Spain (Reuters) - "Long live armed ETA" reads graffiti in the People's tavern where militant Basque separatists were seething over Spanish plans to ban their party.

Casually dressed and eloquent, Xabi and Aitor are young activists in this northern Spanish town for Batasuna, a hardline Basque nationalist party which Madrid says is the political wing of ETA.

"We're not criminals like they say in Madrid," Xabi said. "Batasuna is no intermediary for ETA. There are ex-ETA members in the party, but there are also journalists and teachers."

In his toughest move yet against Basque nationalism, Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar has asked the government-controlled congress to seek a judicial ban on Batasuna under a controversial new law which allows the government to ban political parties which do not condemn so-called "terrorism".

As evidence of Batasuna's complicity, Spanish authorities say they have arrested more than 400 active or former Batasuna members for collaborating with the guerrilla group in the 23 years since the leftist party's creation.

Batasuna shares ETA's aim of a Basque homeland in north Spain and southwest France. Its leaders have refused to condemn the armed group for its bombings, assassinations and murders.

While banning Batasuna is popular among Spaniards weary of ETA violence, lawyers have questioned whether the party can be legally sidelined simply for not condemning violence and warned that such a move could infringe the democratic rights of its 140,000 voters -- a tenth of the Basque country's electorate.

Meanwhile, a high court judge has begun proceedings to suspend the party for "apparently forming part of the terrorist complex led by ETA". The judge, whose evidence remains secret, has imposed heavy fines on Batasuna and the so-called People's Taverns where radical nationalists habitually meet.

"Now, there is a war of words because they have not tried to close the taverns, but when they try to do that, there will be conflict," Aitor said.

AZNAR ACCUSED OF FASCISM

Xabi and Aitor have just spent an hour plastering Guernica with posters of swastikas accusing Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar's government of fascism -- an allusion to the oppression of the Basques by General Francisco Franco's 1939-1975 government.

Once the spiritual home of Basque independence -- where Spanish kings swore to uphold Basque liberty, the mountain town has become a symbol of the suppression of Basque nationalism.

Guernica's concrete streets still attest to the infamous 1937 bombing by the German air force requested by Franco to punish Basque support of Republicans in the Spanish Civil War.

Citing Madrid's ban on several radical social groups in recent years for alleged links to ETA violence, nationalists complain of a return to the cultural repression under Franco.

"There are many people outside Batasuna who are worried by this. Today it's us, but tomorrow it may be other nationalist parties, or schools and taverns," said Xabi.

Moderate nationalist politicians talk of a "corridor of communication" between ETA and Batasuna, but they say a ban will do nothing to ease confrontation.

"The government is trying to raise tensions in the Basque country to discredit the nationalist cause," said Gorka Knorr, vice-president of the Basque country's parliament. "Being hard on the Basques is popular with voters in the rest of the Spain."

ETA has killed 41 people in its most recent wave of bloodletting since an ETA cease-fire collapsed two years ago in the face of government unwillingness to cede further autonomy to the Basque region. ETA is on a list of organisations considered by the European Union and the United States to be "terrorists".

Outbreaks of ETA violence in the past have coincided with a decline in Batasuna's electoral fortunes in the Basque country and fuelled outrage in the rest of Spain.

An ETA bomb killed two people, including a six-year-old child this month in the southeastern seaside resort of Santa Pola. The attack and comments from Batasuna leader Arnaldo Otegi provided Aznar with the political impetus to begin fast-track proceedings to ban the party.

Otegi, a former ETA member, outraged Spaniards by blaming the Santa Pola killings on Aznar's failure to address Basque grievances and by hinting more deaths would follow.

ETA caused further outcry by threatening to target any party that supports or abstains from Monday's congressional vote -- prompting the government to suggest not just Batasuna, but other Basque groups which oppose the ban, were allies of "terrorism."

"ETA is dragging the leftist wing of Basque nationalism into the abyss," warned Josu Jon Imaz, spokesman for the region's ruling nationalist coalition, which distances itself from Batasuna but relies on it for a majority in the Basque congress.

"IF YOU WANT WAR, YOU CAN HAVE IT"

Thousands of Batasuna supporters at a recent protest against the ban in the nationalist stronghold of San Sebastian chanted "Long live armed ETA" and "If you want war, you can have it".

"The Spanish state is encouraging armed struggle by making political activities impossible," the gimlet-eyed Otegi, who served a jail sentence for kidnapping, told Reuters recently.

Otegi compares the "conflict" in the Basque country with Northern Ireland's 'Troubles', saying Batasuna could perform a role similar to the pro-Republican party Sinn Fein by mediating between government and armed militants.

.... ... .