Monday, September 29, 2003

IBO : Xarlo Etxezaharreta Kidnapped

Here you have another demand for the immediate liberation of Xarlo Etxezaharreta, abducted in Hegoalde by the Spanish secret service, this one from the International Basque Organization for Human Rights:

September 29, 2003

Basque Journalist snatched off the street

Sunday night in Abadiño finished off a day of festivals. XarloEtxezaharreta was escorting a visiting friend around the region and was about to drive his friend home. Suddenly, strange men surround all, and Xarlo was put into a car and driven away. No charges read, no explanations given. None are needed when the victim is Basque and the arrestor is the Spanish Guardia Civil. All the more frightening is that Xarlo is from Hazparne,the northern Basque region, and is a French citizen.

Xarlo's friends were stranded and frightened, not knowing at that time who these men were or why they took Xarlo. His family was contacted and was confused, having thought of no apparent reasons for his arrest.

Sixty two year old Xarlo Etxezaharreta is the editor of the Basque political magazine Kale Gorria. This magazine writes commentary on politicians and organizations in Spain and the Basque region. In its previous incarnation, Ardi Beltza, Spanish authorities accused the magazine of being part of the terrorist group ETA because its articles were critical of politicians and those in authority. The magazine’s editor at the time, Pepe Rei, was imprisoned and later released due to lack of evidence.

Xarlo is also a member of Udalbiltza, a political group that spanned all regions of the Basque country. Udalbiltza was an organization made up of politicians and others from hundreds of city and town councils of the Basque region within Spain and France. They regularly met and discussed ways of working together politically, to advance Basque cultural and political causes. Spanish authorities did not like Udalbiltza. Here was an organization of Basque politicians, spanningborders, working together legally to change their political landscape. In order to stop this, the authorities called Udalbiltza an "integration of ETA" They outlawed Udalbiltza, and asked the United States to add them to their list of terrorist organizations. The US, owing a favor to their Iraqi War allies, did just that.

It was because of Xarlo's participation in Udalbiltza that he was arrested and held incommunicado this past Sunday night. Xarlo now joins the ranks of the dozens of politicians and journalists currently being held for the same reason: that they dared to work in a legal manner to change their political reality in the Basque Country.


International Basque Organization For Human Rights
PO Box 225 Corte Madera, CA 94976
www.euskojustice.org


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ADV : Free Xarlo!

Xarlo Etxezaharreta has been abducted by the Spanish secret police following an arrest order by Baltasar Garzón.

This is the press release by the Asociación Diáspora Vasca (Basque Diaspora Association) demanding Xarlo's liberation:

INTERNATIONAL PROTEST BY THE BASQUE DIASPORA ASSOCIATION OVER DETENTION OF ONE OF ITS MEMBERS

The Basque Diaspora Association, which groups Basque citizens and Basque descendants who live in twenty countries around the world, denounces the arrest yesterday (September 28th, 2003), on what amounts to abduction of Xarlo Etxezaharreta, natural and resident of Hazparne (Northern Euskal Herria, under French administration) on thetown of Abadiño (Southern Euskal Herria, under Spanish administration).

After being taken to an undisclosed location by his abducters in plain cloths, sketchy information indicate that Mr. Etxezaharreta was abducted following orders of Judge Baltasar Garzon Real. It is believed at this time while awaiting confirmation that he will be accused of colaborating with the armed Basque group Euskadi ta Askatasuna (ETA), also as being involved with Udalbiltza, organization of Basque representatives elected in formal elections, but criminalized under judicial investigation ordered by Garzon Real himself.

At this time we denounce the blatant abduction by Spanish police officers. The operative by the law enforcement agents mirrors the one that took place recently in Venezuela, where Jose Ramon Foruria Zubialdea was abducted and illegally turned into the hands of the Spanish police despite him holding the Venezuelan citizenship. This took place last week, and it has its precedents on the illegal prodedures that ended up on the unlawful deportation against Basque citizens Sebas Etxaniz Alkorta and Bittor Galarza.

At this time, the Basque Diaspora Association does everything in its power to make sure that the Argentinian authorities do not give up to the demands by the Spanish government to extradite Jose Lariz, on preventive detention after being shamefuly expelled from Uruguay by the local authorities. On a heart lifting note, Mexico's government rejected ten days ago the extradition process against Lorenzo Llona, closing a judicial process that was corrupted by political quagmires and judicial treacheries under the lead of Garzon Real.

Xarlo Etxezaharreta is the director of Basque magazine "Kale Gorria" and he is an important and beloved member of the Basque Diaspora Association. From the everyday contact with him we admire his deep love towards everything Basque, his profound loyalty towards Euskal Herria, his solidarity with all the oppressed peoples, his sense of humor and his exemplary family life.

Xarlo Etxezaharreta joins Miriam Campos who was previously arrested and is today in jail under a sentence ad hoc instructed against her by Garzon Real. Miriam Campos who belongs to the previously mentioned organization Udalbiltza is part of our association too, which entitles us to be character witnesses of her high moral and human standards. Despite this, the Spanish executive/judicial tandem keeps her behind bars.

The abduction of Mr. Etxezaharreta is blatant example of the repression against the Basque people by the Spanish state. The way the case developes will demonstrate the degree of permisivness and complicity by the French state, Mr. Etxeharreta is under French jurisdiction due to the fact that he is a Basque citizen who was born and lives on territory under French administration.

In broadcasting this new abuse without borders against the Basque people, the Basque Diaspora Association appeals to the sensibility of individuals and organizations working in the defense of human rights, human rights which include the right to self determination of every people in the world. We also ask from the people reading this statement to express within their own space and means their rejection to this new abuse and display of excessive force by a state.

Asociación Diáspora Vasca
29 de septiembre de 2003

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Friday, September 26, 2003

Good News or Bad News?

I don't know if this is good news of bad news, but it happened and you can read it at Yahoo! News.



Spain's Basque government vows to push regional autonomy one step further

2 hours, 7 minutes ago Add World - AFP to My Yahoo!
VITORIA, Spain (AFP) - Spain's autonomous Basque government vowed to pursue a controversial plan to change the region's political status to one of "free association" with the rest of the country, prompting furious criticism from Madrid.

The president of the Basque government, Juan Jose Ibarretxe, told the regional parliament in Vitoria that the "new statute of free association" -- which essentially pushes autonomy one step further -- would be based on the "respect for the right of the Basque people to decide their own future".

He also offered to debate the issue with Madrid, but stressed that the Basque government intends to put the plan to a referendum regardless of the outcome of its talks with the central government.

Should Ibarretxe's project succeed, Euskadi, the Basque name for the region in the country's north, would be freely associated with the remainder of Spain by the will of its inhabitants rather than by the current constitutional arrangement that granted the region its autonomy, under the so-called 1979 Statute of Guernica.

But the plan will have to run the gauntlet of furious opposition from a right-wing Spanish government which derided it as "separatist and secessionist."

Ibarretxe, of the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV -- in power in Vitoria since 1980), first drafted the plan a year ago. He revealed Friday that the Basque government was set to approve the project on October 25 and that it would be put to a vote in the regional parliament in September 2004.

After that, the Basque government would seek to hold six months of talks with the central government in Madrid with a view to modifying the region's autonomous status.

In Madrid, the conservative government of Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar immediately warned it would oppose the plan, insisting that it "seeks to break apart the political and constitutional framework" of Spain, said government spokesman Eduardo Zaplana.

Zaplana insisted the Basque region already enjoyed "a level of autonomy unknown in Europe."

He described the plan as "legally impossible (to implement) in Spain as in Europe" and said the government was "categorically opposed" to the whole idea.

He warned that Madrid, which believes the plan is a move towards full independence, would go through the courts if necessary to knock down any proposals that did not abide by the Spanish constitution.

Ibarretxe meanwhile said that as the region's lehendakari or president, he would seek to ensure that the referendum would go ahead with an "absence of violence" and "without exclusion".

Alluding to the violence by armed separatist group ETA, whose commandos have killed about 800 people in the past 35 years, Ibarretxe said he wanted to cut out "a cancer that does terrible harm to the Basque image throughout the world."

He added that the plan "is decisively going to contribute to slamming the door on violence and expel ETA from our lives."

Ibarretxe's reference to an all-embracing vote was seen as a reference to the banning earlier this year by the Spanish judiciary of Batasuna, ETA's political mouthpiece.

Ibarretxe said last year's sinking of the Prestige oil tanker off northern Spain, a catastrophe that polluted the whole of the north coast, as well as the war in Iraq -- supported by Madrid but not by the Spanish population at large -- justified his mission to give the Basques greater control over their own affairs.

He called both issues "two significant examples of the great chasm, the divorce that exists between Basque society and the Spanish government.

"The enthusiastic support of the Spanish government for the war against Iraq ... is an illegitimate, unjust and erroneous decision ... adopted without United Nations approval, against our European allies and against the will of Basque society," Ibarretxe charged.




A few things though, as usual the reporter sins of siding with the oppresor, first of all, Batasuna is accused of being ETA's mouth piece, this is something that neither one of the two formations has ever proclaimed, therefore for the time being, and since you are innocent until proven guilty, the reporter (if he was a true journalist of course) should say something like "Batasuna, the alleged mouthpiece...".

Second, the Basque plea for self determination is not illegal, it is actually consecrated by the UN charter that defends the right of any people on the earth to seek their self determination, the reporter fails to explain that to a public that may not understand that artificial states are bound to fragment sooner or later, like for example Yugoslavia.

Third, the name of the Basque city is Gazteiz, Vitoria is the way the invaders call it, you would think that out of respect the reporter would use the right name.

Remember, the guys that got upset are the same ones who not too long ago denied the Holocaust, just in case you feel like siding with them.

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Wednesday, September 24, 2003

Euskara's Woes in Navarre

Today at Berria:

UPN’s language policy denounced again by Europe through the EBLUL

The general assembly of the European Bureau for Lesser Used Languages has condemned the changes to the bylaws approved by the Iruñea (Pamplona) City Council “because they will have great influence on killing Iruñea’s bilingual landscape”

Alberto Barandiaran – IRUÑEA (Pamplona)

The European Bureau for Lesser Used Languages (EBLUL) has continually denounced the language policy of the UPN (Union of the Navarrese People), and has called on the Iruñea City Council to review the direction it has taken, and to bring it in line with the model specified in the European Declaration on Regional and Lesser Used Languages.

In the general assembly held in Helsinki on September 13 representatives of lesser used languages from the whole of Europe denounced the decision adopted by the Iruñea municipal council to modify the Basque language bylaws, and passed a resolution declaring that this measure contravened the foundations of the language policy of the European Institutions “in both the spirit and the letter.”

In a municipal council meeting this month the City Council, with the votes of the UPN and the CDN (Convergence of Navarrese Domocrats), approved the abolishing of the A and B level language profiles for its staff and the separation between Basque and Spanish on the printed forms and public signs. As far as the EBLUL is concerned, these changes “will have great influence on killing Iruñea’s bilingual landscape, and on restricting the relations Basque speakers have with the administration.”

The resolution states that “Basque is the only language in danger in this community and for this reason it should not have to suffer the damaging consequences of these reforms.”

Mitxel Etxebarria, who represents the Basque Country in the EBLUL, highlighted the fact that the new resolution rejects the UPN’s language policy. “Europe has said that language policy does not go down that road.”

On February 3, 2001, the EBLUL passed a similar resolution entitled “Résolution Basque”. At that time the government headed by Miguel Sanz had just passed a decree restricting the use of Basque, and this caused an outcry.


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Tuesday, September 23, 2003

Movie About Galindez

If you watch this movie you will find out that the CIA conspired with two dictators (Francisco Franco of Spain and Rafael Trujillo of Dominican Republic) to murder the Basque diplomat Jesús Galindez.

Here you have the info about the movie from the Toronto Film Festival's web site:
The Galindez File

The Galindez File, from Spanish director Gerardo Herrero, is a somewhat odd little film, with certain merits. It is a fictionalized account of the effort to discover the truth about the fate of Jesús de Galindez, a political refugee from Franco's Spain, who disappeared in New York City in 1956. Before he settled in the US, Galindez had lived in the Dominican Republic and become a firm opponent of the Trujillo dictatorship in that country, writing exposés of the regime's misdeeds.

In Herrero's film, based on a novel, an American researcher, Muriel Colber (Saffron Burrows) is pursuing the Galindez story in the 1980s. Muriel's determination to get to the bottom of things, unbeknownst to her, arouses concerns in US intelligence circles. It turns out that the CIA had assisted in the kidnapping of Galindez by the Dominican authorities, who proceeded to torture and murder him.

In the course of her pursuit of the historical truth, Muriel turns up evidence that points to Galindez' own unsavory political operations. She discovers that this "freedom fighter" was busy informing on a variety of leftist movements in the US on behalf of the FBI. A Basque nationalist, Galindez was presumably attempting to establish his "anti-red" credentials with Washington at the height of the Cold War. Why did another wing of the American state then conspire in his death? Apparently because Trujillo "filled many pockets" in the US Congress.

Aside from the performance of Burrows, who is not a great actress but conveys considerable integrity and sense of purpose, the film is useful for pointing out not merely the complicity of American intelligence in the crimes of the Trujillo gangster regime, which will hardly come as a surprise, but the agency's unhesitating readiness to liquidate US citizens who threaten its operations. Another point in the film's favor is the barbed depiction of Muriel's advisor, a "leftist" professor, who is quite easily pressured by the CIA into betraying his former student (and lover).


And still the USA dares to put Batasuna, a Basque political pary, on its list of "terrorist organizations".

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Will Someone Listen?

Here you have an analysis about the Julio Medem documentary by Amagoia Mujika published at Berria:
A daring, sincere proposal

‘La Pelota Vasca’. It was very well received the day before yesterday when it was shown for the first time; there are many views on it, but they nearly all coincide with Julio Medem’s proposal: dialogue is the way

Amagoia Mujika

Julio Medem’s proposal should not take us by surprise, but in a country where opinions are silenced and manipulated, the documentary ‘La Pelota Vasca’ (Basque Pelota) has caught us unawares; perhaps we, and other people, detect some gaps in it, each one misses people on his or her own side, but you can’t deny that it has brought many voices together, and that it is a sincere and daring stab at what is going on in this country. The person who went to see the premiere the day before yesterday is grateful for this; let us hope that the politicians present realise what point Medem was making: Ladies and Gentlemen, here we have a serious political problem, and dialogue is the solution.

The pelota player hurls the balls against the wall as if they were bullets; the tug-of-war participant wants to leave the opposing side exhausted; the heads in Asier Altuna’s ‘Topeka’(*) continually hit each other, and all this is interspersed with writers, politicians, thinkers, police officers, priests and victims... Shots of the Basque countryside and “images of primitive situations” together with Mikel Laboa’s “Gernika” songs are used to weave the themes together and reduce the tension.

Before the screening the attitude of the people was open, and when Julio Medem appeared on stage he was met with a round of applause, a gesture of audience solidarity for what has happened to him recently. The premiere began with the words of Bernardo Atxaga, and as the documentary progresses you realise that it is not specially directed at the Basque people, everything that appears is in some way familiar, but it could be an appropriate document for an international audience; it provides a historical perspective, it mentions the Carlist wars, the loss of the “fueros” [the ancient Basque laws and privileges], the Franco era, the transition and the current situation.
(*) Short film depicting rams fighting and the audience’s reaction.


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In Artozki

More information about the resistance movement against the projected dam in Itoiz:
Resistance against the Itoiz dam continues in Artozki

Today, 22nd September, is the eighth day of resistance in the village of Artozki, to prevent its demolition to make way for the Itoiz dam. Despite a big scare on Friday, when four vans of riot police entered the village with rubber bullet guns and batons, the village is still standing and full of life.

Today, 22nd September, is the eighth day of resistance in the village of Artozki, to prevent its demolition to make way for the Itoiz dam. Despite a big scare on Friday, when four vans of riot police entered the village with rubber bullet guns and batons, the village is still standing and full of life.

Friday's police incursion was met with an impressive show of passive resistance, with people chained in concrete barrel lock-ons across the road, and people resisting on rooftops, tripods and locked on to the houses. They pushed and batonned the people they found in the square and violently moved the barrel road block with people still locked to it. After filming everyone the police finally agreed to talk to a mediator, told her they were just there to disconnect the electricity, and left. A generator arrived soon after, and Artozki still lives!

This weekend the town celebrated a week of resistance with a fiesta, with residents of the village and neighbours from the surrounding areas affected by the dam.

A week ago, when residents left their homes with tears in their eyes, no one could have imagined that the houses would still be standing and the village alive with festivities one week later. Around 250 people took part, with traditional Basque dancing, giant puppets, games and food, as well as debates and discussions about the dam project and the continuing resistance.

Around 80 people took part in the discussions, where the previous residents of the village made it clear that they have not voluntarily left. The six families who remained living in the village to the last were forcibly removed from their homes. They gave their support and thanks to the people who have stayed to defend the village and denounced the fact that they have spent 18 years living under the threat of the Dam.

Over the past week the current occupants of the village have been subjected to constant police harassment, with road blocks on the incoming roads, police incursions into the village and low flying helicopters buzzing us and filming the inhabitants (and exploding our straw puppets with the wind they create!)

At noon today, for example, a van of Navarran Policia Foral drove into the village square, and six riot police got out, waving rubber bullet guns and batons, wandered around the village and then left again. They are testing the level of resistance in the town and how quickly the defences can be activated.

We are still expecting them to try to evict any day now. We are not dropping our guard and we repeat the call to action - come help the resistance in Artozki!

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No Englishness Gene

Now we know where the Irish and the Welsh got their strong will and determination, read on:



Facing the past

Are we descended from the Vikings, Saxons, Romans or Celts? For centuries, many believed our physical features revealed our origins. But are the British simply a breed apart?

Investigation by Richard Girling
So: there is no gene for Englishness, Irishness or Scottishness. And yet we all came from somewhere and, in a society increasingly disconnected from its roots, we are ever more desperate to find out where. This means reaching back through the millennia, identifying our earliest likely ancestors and tracking their progress through history. As it happens, wherever they go, migrants leave a distinct genetic footprint - the Y chromosomes that are passed down unaltered from father to son across the generations. By matching these between existing populations, scientists have uncovered a small but vital piece of evidence. The modern people closest to the ancient Britons, whose tribal lands also included England, are those of Ireland and Wales. By comparing their Y chromosomes with others, we can start to make connections.

Mark Thomas, of UCL's Centre for Genetic Anthropology, explains: "When we look at the Y chromosomes in Wales and Ireland, we find a very close match with the Basques." Other genetic evidence, he says, "strongly suggests that the Basques are the descendants of the Palaeolithic inhabitants of western Europe prior to the arrival of farmers between 9,000 and 6,000 years ago". It is reasonable therefore to conclude that the Basques took refuge in the Iberian peninsula when the freeze was at its maximum, then moved northward behind the thaw to become the first people to recolonise Britain after the last Ice Age.

Did they then survive to become the Romano-British and later be overrun by the Saxons? Or were they displaced earlier by other, more sophisticated newcomers? "We do not know," says Chris Stringer, the head of human origins at the Natural History Museum, "whether they were supplanted by later influxes of farmers, and by Bronze and Iron Age peoples, or whether they simply embraced the new technologies as they developed. This is a matter of fierce debate."


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Monday, September 22, 2003

A Basque Ball With Spark

Some people just can't handle the truth, and no I am not quoting Jack Nickolson, check out this information straight from Donostia:

"Basque Ball" sparks bitter debate

Fiachra Gibbons, arts correspondent in San Sebastian
Monday September 22, 2003
The Guardian
The most controversial Spanish film in decades had its premiere last night despite a government campaign to ban it. "The Basque Ball", an emotional documentary by the acclaimed director Julio Medem, urges the government to reopen talks with Basque extremists. It received a five-minute standing ovation at the San Sebastian Film Festival after convulsing Spain in an ugly debate over whether it should be outlawed.

The ruling rightwing Popular party refused to cooperate with the film, and has kept up a ferocious assault on what it termed Basque-born Medem's "suspicious enterprise".

But many anti-secessionist Basques have rallied to the director's defence, with the socialist mayor of San Sebastian, Odon Elorza, claiming the clock was being turned back to the "time when the man with the little moustache [General Franco] covered women's breasts, had the bottoms of nudes in museums draped and eliminated all 'red' films".

He added: "It is one thing to criticise a film, but it's another to do all you can to make sure it is never shown."
Medem, the director of "Sex and Lucia", and "Cows", claimed he was not a nationalist, but despaired at the division that the lack of talks was causing in the Basque country, where half of the inhabitants were "immigrants" from the rest of Spain.

Advocating talks with the separatist group ETA or its supporters, however, has been a heresy since the prime minister Jose Maria Aznar's government banned its political wing Batasuna last year and closed down a string of cultural groups, which it claimed were fronts for its terrorist activities.

The ban has revived support for the party, whose vote had plummeted to 10% after Eta broke a 14-month ceasefire in 1999, alleging that Mr Aznar had sabotaged peace talks.

The culture minister, Pilar del Castillo, led the attacks on festival organisers, and refused an invitation to see the film. He condemned Medem for blaming Mr Aznar's "Spanish ultra-nationalism" as much as the terrorists.

"When you start from the position that a legally constituted government voted for by 10 million people is one pole, and the other is a terrorist group, that puts you in a delicate position," he said.

But far from taking a pro-nationalist line, the film, for which more than 70 of the autonomous region's politicians, intellectuals and victims of violence were interviewed, makes extremely uncomfortable viewing for Basque nationalists, never mind ETA.

The author and academic Maria Delgado said: "There is no comfort in the film for Basque nationalists, but neither is there for the government."

Meanwhile, a film about another murky chapter in Madrid's ties with the Basques, is also making headlines.

"The Galindez Mystery", starring Harvey Keitel and Saffron Burrows, recounts how the CIA allegedly colluded in General Franco's kidnap, torture and murder of the former Basque prime minister Jesus Galindez, who was living in exile in the US after the Spanish civil war.


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Saturday, September 20, 2003

IBO Press Release: Freedom of Expression

PRESS RELEASE - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Freedom of Expression takes another hit in the Basque Country

September 19, 2003

Recent events in the Basque Country again point to a dire lack of respect for freedom of speech on the part of Judge Baltasar Garzon of the Spanish National High Court. On Monday, September 15th, Spanish police detained three people and closed down three establishments in connection with an authorized demonstration that took place in Donostia (San Sebastian).

The three people, Juan Joxe Petrikorena, Inigo Balda and Ainhoa Inigo were detained and accused of organizing a demonstration that took place on August 10th under the slogan "No apartheid. Autodeterminazioa" (No to Apartheid. Self-determination). Permission for the demonstration was originally denied but then granted upon appeal. The three establishments closed are claimed to be the places where the organization of this demonstration took place.

The International Basque Organization for human rights (IBO) decries this latest denial of basic human rights by Judge Garzon and the Spanish state. This is only the latest of human rights abuses that have taken place in the past months - including the closure of Egunkaria and the arrest and torture of editors, journalists and directors of that newspaper.

For more information, please contact:

International Basque Organization For Human Rights
PO Box 225
Corte Madera, CA 94976
415 924-2151
www.euskojustice.org


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Donostia's Honorees

This note appeared today:
San Sebastian to Honor Huppert, Penn, Duvall

Isabelle Huppert, Sean Penn and Robert Duvall will be honored with lifetime achievement awards at the 51st San Sebastian International Film Festival.
Films scheduled for screening at the festival, opening Thursday in the seaside town of Donostia (San Sebastian) in the Basque Country, included Joel Schumacher's "Veronica Guerin," starring Cate Blanchett, and Jacques Rivette's "The Story of Marie and Julien," starring Emmanuelle Beart.

Winners will be announced on Sept. 27.

Kevin Costner's "Open Range," starring Duvall and Annette Bening, will be shown out of competition.

Festival director Mikel Olarcegui said organizers cast a wide net, searching for quality films that might be overlooked and for fresh talent.

"At San Sebastian, we want to discover high-profile emerging talents that later become cult directors," he told The Associated Press.

The festival seeks dramas, comedies and other genres that share, Olarcegui said, "the difficulty living in a world full of contradictions."


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Friday, September 19, 2003

Llona Walks Free

The Spanish inquisidors and the main stream media are quite upset over the liberation of the Basque political refugee Lorenzo Llona in Mexico.

This is how Reuters, a media outlet close to the fascist government in Madrid covered the story:

Mexico frees ETA suspect sought in Spain killings

MEXICO CITY, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Mexico freed a suspected member of the armed Basque separatist group ETA who is wanted in Spain for three killings more than 20 years ago, while six other ETA suspects await extradition, government officials said on Thursday.

A Mexican judge denied Spain's request to extradite Lorenzo Llona Olalde, the foreign ministry said.

Llona Olalde, who according to local news reports had been on a hunger strike for 21 days, was arrested in April in the central state of Zacatecas at Spain's request.

He had taken Mexican nationality and been a legal resident of Mexico for 10 years, according to migration officials. But his defense argued he was already in Mexico when a 1981 ETA attack in the Basque town of Tolosa killed three people.

The foreign ministry said in a news release on Wednesday that the judge's decision was based on a "profound and detailed analysis" of the extradition request.

Six other ETA suspects arrested in Mexico in July in a joint operation by the two countries are still awaiting a judge's decision on extradition.

The six Spaniards, arrested along with three Mexicans, are believed to have channeled funds to and from the ETA and helped exiled members hide their identity.


Once again the trained monkey at Reuters who penned this article forgot about one fundamental principle in democracy, the presumption of innocence. The Mexican judge decided that Madrid's junta was unable to sustain its accusation against Llona Olalde, therefore there is no basis for an extradition, period.

On top, he insults the six other Basques by calling them Spaniards.

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Tuesday, September 16, 2003

Evictions in Itoiz

Here you have an article that denounces what's going on in Itoiz:
Evictions for the filling of the Itoitz dam continue

Itoizekiko Solidariak, 2003-09-15 19:31

On Monday 15th September the second wave of evictions and demolitions will begin around the Itoiz Dam. Below is a communique from Solidari@s con Itoiz. For more information about the Itoiz Dam go to www.sositoiz.com, and keep watching Indymedia for news updates on the resitance that is taking place.

On September 15th the second wave of evictions and demolitions of towns affected by the Itoiz dam will begin. This time the villages sentenced to death are Artozki and Muniain. These villages, like those already destroyed, reflect a way of life enjoyed by our ancestors, based on respect for the natural environment upon which they depend. The destruction of these villages and the alternative proposed by the powers that be clearly represent the development model that they want to impose on us.

The beautiful houses, built stone upon stone, which have stood for centuries, will be replaced with concrete pre-fab bungalows for urban tourists. People will come from the cities to relieve their stress on golf courses fed from the waters of the Itoiz dam and built upon the ghostly remains of what was, in its day, a place full of life.

The fields, worked for many generations with natural compost, will be replaced by massive monoculture plantations on the Mediterranean coast - chemical fertilisers sucking the life from the land and the water, both privatised by agri-business multinationals.

The peaceful life that they breathed in these villages will become compulsive consumerism, stress and individualism. Gone the self-sufficiency, communial ties and respect for your fellow villagers and environment. In its place a violent and aggressive way of life which exploits people and increases inequalty and injustice in everything it touches. Of all that which once was they will save only a few vestiges, dissected remains to be shown to tourists in the ethnological museums - the only remaining testemony to a once vibrant way of life.

In Cancun the multinationals and powerful governments are conspiring, through the WTO, to sweep millions of small farmers and indigenous peoples from their path. These campesinos hold the key to the people's power to feed itself. They are a real barrier to global business whose sole concern is to increase the profits of the few, condemning millions to hunger. Likewise, in Navarra, the tyrannical neo-feudal government is destroying villages which are the guarentors of the people's right to produce its own food and to live in harmony with nature and without exploiting anyone.

The Spanish National Hydrological Plan, of which the Itoiz dam forms a part, will be the biggest ecological, economic and social disaster in the history of the Spanish State. It will exacerbate the already serious territorial imbalance, creating more depopulation of the interior areas, if that were possible. Meanwhile the coastal areas lose what little is left of their ways of life, to prostitute themselves to tourism and the urbanising plague which, little by little, is annhilating the essence of both people and places.

We are also fighting against the Itoiz dam because it is a death threat to the people who live down river. According to an internal document of the Confederación Hidrográfica del Ebro, geological subsidance and recent filtrations in the rocks make the failure of the dam a very real danger.

We demand life in the Irati valley, with development in harmony with nature and the peculiar way that woman, man and river have forged an existence here amidst the mountains for thousands of years. We are calling for a future for this valley without interferences, without impositions and without death sentences. So far this is all that we have received from theives such as the Urralburus, Aragones, Burgos, and Sanz, all of whom have clear intersts to be served by the dam and by the Navarra Canal. This latter infrastructure project does not justify the destruction in Itoiz, on the contrary, it will mean expoitation of Navarra for decades to come.

These private interests have bypassed everything and destroyed the hopes of the Irati valley to have a dignified future as part of Navarra. We cannot let them take this from us. This is why we are mobilising and we will keep mobilising until sanity wins over the concrete monstrosities and bottomless pockets.

We want to save the River Irati so that she always runs free. We want living villages and rivers, not skeletons and mummies.

NO MORE DEMOLITIONS
NO TO THE CLOSING OF THE ITOIZ DAM
DEFEND MOTHER EARTH
FREEDOM FOR IÑAKI


Solidari@s con Itoiz

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Friday, September 12, 2003

Everyone Quiet! Do You Hear It?

Published today at Berria:
A muffled cry

Children exiled during the Spanish Civil War congregated nearly 70 years later in Bilbo yesterday; they were brought together by a documentary made about them; it was an emotionally-charged event

Irune Berro – BILBO
At the Euskalduna palace in Bilbo yesterday, Steve Bowles, the British film maker, presented his Gernika Generation documentary near the building where the Basque Government organised the evacuation of Basque children –today the Hotel Carlton– and not too far from Gernika, which suffered the most intense bombardment of the Spanish Civil War. The documentary features the testimonies of seven children exiled during the Spanish Civil War. And four of the seven attended the presentation: Jesus Urbina, Andres Gonzalez, Juanita Prieto and Begoña Ballestero. Emeterio Paya also took part in the documentary; as a child he was sent to Mexico and died not long ago. So he was given a special mention, a simple tribute.

Urbina, Gonzalez, Prieto and Ballestero recalled hair-raising experiences. And they were very moved. But they were satisfied. They know that their testimonies will last forever and that they will rekindle the short historical memory of the Basque Country.

Steve Bowles, the Director of the Gernika Generation documentary said, “When I was a child my parents put the Gernika painting up on the main wall of our living room; apart from this, we had taken some children who had escaped from the Basque Country to the United Kingdom into our home; that was why when I saw the images of the camp close to Liverpool at the film library of my town, I didn’t have any doubts: I had to make a documentary about the children who had had to leave their country because of the Spanish Civil War.” So sooner said than done. But not immediately. Bowles spent five years on the documentary. He gathered together numerous documents in the Basque Country, France, the United Kingdom, Russia and Mexico and then conducted some in-depth research. Bowles spoke to about 200 war children in all. He chose seven people, seven stories depicting the experiences of thousands of children. The documentary was shot mainly in the Basque Country and Mexico.

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Wednesday, September 10, 2003

To The European Court

This note appeared on Berria yesterday:

Law of Political Parties prompts BAC Government to go to the European Court

They allege that the Constitutional Court’s judgement has infringed certain articles of the Convention on Human Rights

Ivan Santamaria – GASTEIZ (Vitoria)

The Government of the BAC (Basque Autonomous Community of Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa) is to file a suit against Spain with the European Court of Human Rights because of the Law of Political Parties. The cabinet of the BAC Government adopted the decision yesterday and will be filing the suit with the Strasbourg court today or tomorrow. Believing that the Law of Political Parties contravened certain basic principles of the Constitution, the BAC Government took it to the Spanish Constitutional Court. This Court rejected the BAC Government’s appeal in a resolution dated March 12, 2003.

The BAC Government has argued that both the Law of Political Parties and the judgement of the Constitutional Court infringe certain rights established by the European Convention on Human Rights. In view of this, it has requested the court to sanction Spain and oblige it to take the necessary steps to suspend not only the law and the judgement, but also all the actions based on them.

The arguments to be put forward by the BAC Government in Europe to defend its appeals are as follows: there was no impartial judge and the trial was not fair; both the principle of criminal legality and the right to free association have been broken. These rights are in fact enshrined in Articles 6, 7 and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

In the BAC Government's view, Batasuna [the outlawed left-wing Basque nationalist political party] did not get a fair trial, because the Spanish Constitutional Court did not accept the objection filed by the BAC Government against Manuel Jimenez de Parga, the Constitutional Court’s Presiding Judge. The BAC Government is of the opinion that there was a “public and clear” lack of impartiality in order to decide on the Law of Political Parties. In this respect the appeal recalls that five judges of the Constitutional Court were in favour of accepting the objection.


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Taking Batasuna's Case to Court

Published yesterday at the European Union site:

Basque government to challenge Batasuna party ban in EU rights court


The government of Spain's autonomous Basque region on Tuesday announced it would challenge at the European Court of Human Rights the Spanish law which banned the radical Basque separatist party Batasuna.

The move comes after Spain's constitutional court rejected a previous challenge to the new political parties law, adopted last year by an overwhelming majority of national deputies, which allows the banning of political parties deemed to support terrorism.

Acting on a request from Jose Maria Aznar's conservative government, the Supreme Court in March issued a permanent ban on Batasuna's political activities because of the party's alleged links to the armed militant group

Announcing the challenge before the Strasbourg court, the Basque government said the 2002 law "violates the precepts of the European Convention on Human Rights".

A spokesman for the regional government said the political parties law fell foul of three separate articles of the convention, breaching the right to a fair trial and freedom of association.

The Basque administration is led by the moderate Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), which consistently condemns ETA violence.

But Carmelo Barrio, spokesman for Aznar's People's Party in the Basque parliament, dismissed the latest legal challenge as a move in support of "those who justify violence".

ETA has been blamed for the deaths of more than 800 people in the course of its three-decade campaign for an independent Basque homeland.


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Tuesday, September 09, 2003

The Etxebarrias

On of them hails from Venezuela, the other one from Euskal Herria, they both ride for Basque team Euskaltel, at today's stage they pulled the 1-2 at the Tour of Spain.

Here you have the note from Yahoo News:
Venezuelan leads an Etxebarria 1-2 in Tour of Spain

8 minutes ago Add Top Stories - AFP to My Yahoo!
BURGOS, Spain (AFP) - Venezuelan rider Unai Etxebarria of the Euskaltel team won the fourth stage of the Tour of Spain, a 151km ride from Santander.

Spaniard Isidro Nozal grabbed the overall race lead on Tuesday from ONCE teammate Joaquin Rodriguez.

Etxebarria crossed the line on his own, beating a seven-man breakaway, headed by teammate and namesake David Etxebarria, by 44 seconds.

Colombian Felix Cardenas, who has the best climber jersey, came third with the main bunch headed by German sprint ace Erik Zabel about a minute and a half behind the winner.

Nozal made the most of being in the breakaway group to take the overall lead by 50 seconds.

A first and third-category climb about 90 kilmetres from the line allowed the riders to make their bid. The main group came within a minute of the leaders with about 50km to go but could not close the gap.

Italian sprinter Alessandro Petacchi made it known to his Fassa Bortolo team-mates that he did not have enough strength in his legs to challenge for the stage win and they gave up the chase.

With 19km to go, Unai Etxebarria attacked moments after David Etxebarria had also attacked, and none of the other riders reacted in time.


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Marching for Equality

Winds of change blow in Ondarribi as women demand their right for equal treatment during the celebration of the Alardes.

Here you have the note from Berria:
The Women march along San Pedro Street

Yesterday, the mixed Jaizkibel company succeeded in marching for the first time without any problems at all; they needed the protection of the Basque Autonomous Community police throughout, but hardly any whistles or insults were heard and there was no trouble

Asier Azpilikueta – HONDARRIBIA (Gipuzkoa)
In the end about a hundred women and men of the Jaizkibel company managed to march along San Pedro street yesterday; it was the first time since the start of the controversy over women’s participation. So the Jaizkibel company was delighted when it had completed the “Alarde” or military parade (*), despite the fact that it had needed the protection of the “Ertzaintza” [Police force of the BAC, the Basque Autonomous Community of Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa].

The Jaizkibel company tried to hold its parade as normally as possible. So, at around 09.00 hours at the start of the traditional parade [with only men as soldiers], the Jaizkibel company members went off to get Garoa Lekuona, the “kantinera” [a woman who used to provide the soldiers with drink in former times]. Txaro Arteaga, the chairperson of “Emakundea” (the BAC Institute for Women), and Mertxe Agundez, the acting ombudsperson of the BAC, were there to express their support and solidarity.

The Jaizkibel company had planned its march for 11.00 hours in the morning.

Permission for the march had been obtained from the Interior Department of the BAC, but could not set out at the appointed time, because the traditional parade had not yet finished. Once those who opposed women’s participation had left, the mixed company set off. It was greeted with an enthusiastic round of applause as well as shouts in support of the Jaizkibel company, the “kantinera” and equality. The Jaizkibel company was protected throughout by about sixty police officers. In fact a large number of them had been deployed in Hondarribia yesterday to prevent trouble.

The parade made its first stop next to the town’s walls. There the captain, Ixabel Alkain, stood on a chair and gave orders to her company. Then, to turn the parade into more of a demonstration, some of the women opened out a banner: “Emakumeak alardean. Por un alarde publico y no disciminatorio” (Women in the “Alarde”. In support of a public “alarde” without discrimination).

(*) The parade takes place every year to commemorate the town’s resistance against the French troops in the 17th century. Traditionally only men have been allowed to participate as soldiers.

Men and women are created equal.


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Monday, September 08, 2003

Interviewing Eoin Ó Broin

An interview with Eoin Ó Broin, the author of the book "Matxinada":

Interview with Eoin Ó Broin

An Phoblacht: When and why did you decide to write a book about the Basque country and its youth movements.

Eoin Ó Broin: During 1997 and 1998 I was the National Organiser for Sinn Féin Youth. At that time we were developing a number of international relationships with youth groups in England, Wales, South Africa, Catalonia and the Basque Country. The strongest and most interesting youth movements were in the Basque Country and particularly an organisation called Jarrai (To Continue). It seemed to me that they understood that in order to mobilise large numbers of young people, you had to take a youth-centred approach. In fact, they were mobilising thousands and thousands of young people, through a very effective mix of radical politics and popular culture.

After several visits to the Basque Country I realised that in fact Jarrai was just part of a much broader and diverse youth culture, involving networks of illegal radio stations, youth houses, rock bands, campaign groups, language groups and students. So around 1999, I decided to write a short pamphlet about all of this, to make people in Ireland aware of the radical Basque youth movements. However, after a while I realised that a bigger book was needed, in order to provide the reader with a history of Basque nationalism and an account of the present conflict with the Spanish and French states.

AP: So Matxinada is about more than the youth movements?

EÓB: Yes, while the primary focus is on the youth movement, I thought that it was important to provide the reader with a political and historical context in which to understand developments in youth culture. I also felt that while there is a lot of solidarity with the Basque struggle among Irish republicans, a lot of it is not based in any detailed understanding of the situation. This is primarily because there is a lack of reliable information on what is happening there. So about half of the book is devoted to the general situation.

There is a short introduction discussing existing literature and journalism on the Basque Country. There is a history of Basque nationalism from the end of the 19th century through to the death of Franco. The longest of the general chapters is an account of the conflict from about 1976 through the Socialists' period in power and covering the government of Aznar right through to 2003.

AP: Is this the first book to deal with this subject and period?

EÓB: Yes, in fact it is. Nobody has written about the youth movements at all, not even in Basque or Spanish, which is rather strange. Given the drift by young people away from politics right across Europe, you would think that someone would be interested in the Basque situation as an anomaly. I also think that it is very strange that no standard account of the recent conflict exists in English. If you go into any bookstore you will see a lot of introductions to the Palestine/Israel conflict, or indeed to the situation in the North of Ireland, but nothing on the Basque Country. So Matxinada is the first book to write about the youth movements and the first English account of political developments from 1976 to 2003.

AP: How have you separated your own political views from those in the book?

EÓB: I haven't. I think it's very important that this book is written from a standpoint of solidarity with the Basque independence movement and the radical youth movement. I make this very clear from the very beginning of the book and make no apologies for that. Most books have biases or take political sides in one way or another. For me, the question is just to be honest about where you position yourself. Having said that, I have tried to make sure that a wide range of political actors are quoted from the left and right of the Basque spectrum to the left and right of the Spanish state. The analysis is one which most radical left nationalists would agree with, but that doesn't mean that I exclude voices from other political positions.

I have also tried to present information which you would never find anywhere else, especially about state violence and repression, or the question of political prisoners. So Matxinada is neither an objective nor an academic book, it is a book written by a political activist about other political activists.

AP: So what have been your sources of information?

EÓB: I have relied on three main sources of information. Firstly, a small but valuable amount of historical research by specialist historians of Basque affairs. Secondly, lot of primary source material such as newspapers, reports, magazines, etc. And thirdly, I carried out about 30 interviews with spokespersons for a wide number of organisations and campaigns in September and October 1999. These interviews form the basis of the two chapters on the youth movements.

AP: I understand that some of these activists have been arrested since 1999?

EÓB: Yes, that's correct. 15 of the 30 interviewees have been arrested since 1999. Of these, about ten are still in jail, awaiting trial, while the others have been released on bail and are also awaiting trial.

The charges against these young people are really incredible. They are political activists like myself, but they are being accused of a whole assortment of things, primarily around the question of 'supporting an armed organisation'. However, their real 'offence' is to be politically active in the radical youth movements.

The strength of these movements is scaring the Spanish government, to the extent that since 1999, they have enacted three sets of laws primarily aimed at intimidating young people away from radical political activism. Most have spent between one and two years in jail. In effect this is a form of internment without trial, although in a more select form.

Organisations such as Jarrai are being banned, their national executives jailed. A new organisation springs up in its place (such as Haika), which in turn is banned and their new national executive is arrested. This has happened three times, with Segi the most recent victim. Despite all of this repression, however, Segi continues to organise and mobilise; it's quite incredible actually.

AP: The book also deals with recent events?

EÓB: Yes, there is a chapter that goes from 1976 through to this year. It traces the political life of Spain after the death of Franco and the rise to power of the socialist administration of Filipe Gonzalez.

These were very bad years for the Basque Country, particularly because of the state-sponsored murder gang GAL. However, much of this chapter focuses on the consequences of the rise to power of the right after 1996. The present government of Jose Maria Aznar has unleashed a wave of repression since 1997, starting with the imprisonment of the national executive of Herri Batasuna and the closure of the daily newspaper Egin in 1997 and 1998.

More recently he has overseen the closure of the Basque language daily newspaper Egunkarria and the illegalisation of Batasuna. This year's local elections, held a few months ago, were the first to take place since the death of the dictator which saw a political party banned. There have also been a large number of political demonstrations banned, under the most spurious grounds. In fact, last weekend saw the first State of Exception declared (for 30 minutes) since the mid 1970s. A State of Exception means that it is illegal to congregate in groups of more than two people. And this measure was taken to prevent a peaceful demonstration against the illegalisation of Batasuna.

The more you think about it, the more incredible it is that at the start of the 21st century, in the European Union, a member state can erode the most basic civil liberties without a sound from the international community. The right to free speech is gone. The right to freedom of assembly is gone. The right to vote is effectively gone. It's frightening and has serious implications for us all. If one EU member state can do this, then so can the rest.

AP: How do you see the political situation in the Basque Country developing in the coming period?

EÓB: It's hard not to be pessimistic at the moment. This autumn will see the beginning of what is known as the Macro Sumario, which is the large legal case against a number of political organisations. That will be followed by a slightly smaller set of proceedings against the various youth organisations that have been banned. These trials will last for a while and could see a large number of political activists receive large jail sentences.

In addition, the newspaper Gara, which replaced Egin after it was closed, is beginning to attract the attention of the Spanish authorities and some of its staff fear the worst. With no political party, no newspaper, no youth organisations, what the Spanish government are doing is closing all of the political means of expression and organisation that the left nationalism movement has at its disposal. This can only lead to more confrontation with the state and greater levels of violence.

I really think that the next number of years will be very hard ones in the Basque Country. There will be a lot of arrests, more torture, more legal sanctions and in turn more violence. It is almost inevitable.

AP: So the Basques need support more than ever?

EÓB: There is no doubt about it. In some ways, it is a little like Ireland during the early 1980s. Aznar's government is like Thatcher's in that regard - solely focused on repression and more repression.

If the political situation is going to change at all, then there needs to be more international pressure exposing the reactionary ways in which Aznar and his allies in the Spanish judicial system are dragging the Basque Country and indeed Spain into deeper cycles of conflict. There needs to be a realisation that what is going on in the Basque Country has implications for us all. So the Basques need our solidarity more than ever.

There is a determined effort in the international community to isolate and criminalise Batasuna and the political expression of left nationalism. Sinn Féin can play an important role in making sure that that doesn't happen. Irish republicans must continue to hold to the belief that exclusion, criminalisation and censorship are not acceptable, and in its place we must promote dialogue and respect for civil and human rights for all people.

AP: Finally, what do you hope your book achieves?

EÓB: There are two things really. Firstly, I hope that it enables people to understand the situation in the Basque Country a little better. Like I have said, solidarity can sometimes be based on romantic ideas, not reality, but it is important that when we support a people in struggle it is on the basis of the facts. Secondly, I think that all struggles have somthing to learn from others. And we have a lot to learn from the Basques, particularly in terms of their radical youth culture. These objectives might be a little grand, but if even in a small way people learn a little, then the book will have been worthwhile.

AP: One final question, what does Matxinada mean?

EÓB: You will have to read the book to find out.

Eskerrik asko Eoin, we certainly need more people like you in this word.

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Sunday, September 07, 2003

Matxinada

There is a new book about rebellion and insurrection against occupying powers, here you have the info:

MATXINADA, Basque Nationalism & Radical Basque Youth Movements

North Belfast councillor launches Basque book

An Poblacht

Sinn Féin councillor for North Belfast, Eoin Ó Broin, made his publishing debut last week. After several years of research, Matxinada, Basque Nationalism and Radical Basque Youth Movements, was launched at the Cultúrlann, on Belfast's Falls Road. The 300-page book, published by Left Republican Books, is the first work to chart both the country's youth movements and the last 30 years of conflict. To a packed audience, Queens Sociology lecturer Bill Rolston introduced a short video demonstrating some of the activities detailed in the book. This was followed by a reading from the book by Ó Broin.

Speaking at the launch, the author said: "Despite being the site of the last remaining armed conflict in Europe, little is known about the Basque Country, its people and its struggle for independence. Moreover, the last 30 years have seen the emergence of a vibrant and radical youth culture at a time when young people across Europe are turning away from politics.' O'Broin's book sets out to provide the reader with an introduction to Basque nationalism and a chronology of the last 30 years of conflict between the Basques and the Spanish and French states. It also provides the first history of the various organisations and expressions which constitute the contemporary radical Basque youth movements

Following the Belfast launch last week, Matxinada will be launched in Dublin on Thursday 18 August at 7pm in Connolly Books. Launches will also take place in Derry, Galway, the Basque Country, and Scotland in the coming weeks.

Matxinada, Basque Nationalism and Radical Basque Youth Movements, can be bought at the Sinn Féin bookshops in Belfast and Dublin or at other good bookstores. The book costs £10 or ¤15.


Dear readers, you do not need to buy the book, matxinada means popular revolt and they were called that way because back in the XVIII these rebellions would be led by the iron workers and their patron saint is Saint Martin known in Basque as Saint Mattin or Saint Matxin.

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Friday, September 05, 2003

Batera Seeks to Create Jobs

This effort to improve conditions in Iparralde is worth publishing about.

Here you have it:
Batera’s demands could create 5,000 jobs

Experts have examined the possible consequences in the area of employment if the Forum’s four demands are met


Eneko Bidegain – BAIONA

“How and why do certain elected representatives, despite being in the minority, insist on opposing our four demands and thereby go against the interests of the people of this country?” With this question Jean-Noel Etxeberri launched Batera’s campaign yesterday morning. “These people will have to explain themselves publicly.” Batera aims to hold the Deputies, Jean Grenet and Daniel Poulou and other “important” elected representatives, who are against a Basque department, responsible for opposing the creation of 5,000 jobs in the Northern Basque Country [under French jurisdiction].

According to the research the Batera forum has commissioned from a number of experts, if the four demands (a Basque département, the recognition of the Basque language, the département’s own university and a chamber of agriculture) were met, 4,920 jobs could be created directly or indirectly in the Northern Basque Country. The Batera forum has been meeting with economists, trade union leaders, university people, people involved in the Development Council, people working in Basque language and cultural activities, etc. They were asked to calculate how many jobs would be created in five years, if the four demands were met.

They concentrating on measuring the number of public sector jobs that would be created, because they have “objective data” for calculating this. They admitted that coming up with figures on the jobs that could be created in the private sector was more difficult, but they did, however, put forward some hypotheses regarding the jobs in the chamber of agriculture and the university.

Jean-Noel Etxeberri admitted that the study presented by Batera does not represent “the absolute truth.” “We have been working on modest hypotheses. They could be lower than what they might actually turn out to be. Moreover, we have not gauged the other benefits that could result from the creation of new jobs.” Batera does not want to resort to “demagogy by giving inflated figures”.

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Tuesday, September 02, 2003

Manu Chao's Concerts Cancelled

When Spain is exposed in all of its intolerance, it usually reacts like this:
A muzzled musician

The organisers have cancelled the concerts Manu Chao and Fermin Muguruza were due to put on in Malaga and Murcia in the wake of declarations made by the Association of Victims of Terrorism


Ainara Gorostitzu – DONOSTIA (San Sebastian)

The organisers have cancelled the concerts Manu Chao and Fermin Muguruza were scheduled to give as part of the Jai Alai Katumbi Express tour today in Malaga and the day after tomorrow in Murcia, after declarations by the Association of Victims of Terrorism (AVT) that the Basque musician had “rather radical ideas on the independence of the Basque Country”, and a request that permission not be given for any civic centre to be used. The people responsible for the Malaga and Murcia concerts have done their utmost to persuade Chao to perform without Muguruza, but the musician had said from the very start that he would not agree to anything of the kind. Metak, the company that recorded Muguruza’s latest work, has criticised the attempt to make Chao perform without Muguruza, describing it as “despicable, because the two work in cooperation with each other.”

Basque music bands have previously experienced difficulties in some areas of Spain for political reasons; the Soziedad Alkoholika and Su ta Gar bands, for example, have been on the receiving end of violations on the right to freedom of expression.

The venue for today’s concert was due to be the Municipal Sports Centre of Malaga, which bears the name of the former Popular Party city councillor Jose Maria Martin Carpena (killed by ETA [the armed pro-Basque independence organisation] in the summer of 2000). Daniel Portero, the spokesperson for the AVT, declared last weekend that if Muguruza performed right there, it would “destroy the dignity of one of the victims of terrorism,” and the two concerts have been cancelled as a result of these declarations.

Malaga City Council recommended to the organisers that the concert should be held “at a more appropriate venue”; nevertheless, they had decided to call it off “to avoid trouble,” according to the coordinator Alfredo Guerisoli. And in Murcia, as soon as Antonio Gonzalez Barnes, municipal councillor responsible for the city’s fiestas, had heard the AVT declarations about Muguruza, he said that under no circumstances would he agree to a “known militant of Batasuna [the outlawed, left-wing Basque nationalist party]” performing at a venue belonging to the city council.
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Monday, September 01, 2003

The Basque Struggle Will Continue

CELTIC LEAGUE PRESS INFORMATION

BASQUES SHOW THAT 'TO CONTINUE' THE STRUGGLE REQUIRES YOUTH


Moves towards greater self-determination, following the development of parliaments and assemblies in Wales and Scotland and the peace process in Ireland, have been complemented in recent years by a resurgence in institutional support for the culture and languages of the Celtic countries.

Even in the smaller Celtic countries, Kernow and Mannin, where the language and culture had been almost extinguished the transformation has been rapid and continues to gather pace. Educational opportunities for young people which provide an insight for them into their culture in some instances through the medium of their language are now more readily available.

On the political front however the involvement of young people in the National struggle is not pronounced. There are notable exceptions. In Ireland the republican movements have always attempted to foster strong youth involvement and in Wales a policy of activism in relation to language promotion has encouraged the participation of young people particularly in campaigning language groups.

Overall however as one surveys the political scene across our six Celtic countries it is clear that young people are as detached from Nationalist politics as they are from politics generally.

There is however one corner of Europe where the National independence movement has generated a parallel youth movement which has effectively mobilised the support of young people through a mix of radical politics and popular culture. Indeed that youth movement has become so effective that it now faces sanctions as draconian as in mainstream Nationalist politics.

I refer to the Basque country where the clear advantage of mobilising young people to support the national struggle has been achieved by adopting a youth-centred approach.

'Jarrai' (To Continue) one of the larger Basque youth organisations is not simply an adjunct to National independence parties such as the now outlawed Batasuna it is a "much broader and diverse youth culture, involving networks of illegal radio stations, youth houses, rock bands, campaign groups, language groups and students".

Sinn Fein Councillor (youthful) Eoin Ó Broin has just published a major work on the Basque youth movement, "Matxinada - Basque Nationalism & Radical Basque Youth Movements". This should be required reading for all those currently active in National movements in the Celtic countries.

What the Basques have succeeded in doing could provide an insight to mobilising a new generation of young people to support political and cultural independence for the Celtic countries.


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