Sunday, February 27, 2005

Truth Comission?

What truth?

The only truth here is that self serving judge Baltasar Garzón is back on the saddle, trying to go for that Nobel Prize that he saw scurrying away after the Egunkaria blunder.

After decades of life in the lime light thanks to his clownish indictment against Augusto Pinochet and Osama bin Laden that had more than one weekend human rights "activist" fooled, Garzón decides to tackle the pesky issue of Francisco Franco's dictatorship crimes.

He called for a "Truth Comission".

Too little, too late.

The crimes have prescribed, as usual, Garzón's timing is conveniently off.

But the whole thing begs the question.

Are Fraga Iribarne, José María Aznar and all the other former Francoist and neo-Francoist ministers gonna be questioned for their refusal to condemn the Franco era's crimes?

Fat chance!

I was not going to write about this, the whole thing is a travesty to prop Garzón. But then I read this:

Garzon burst onto the scene in Spain shortly after becoming a High Court judge 17 years ago by investigating a secret, paramilitary unit known as GAL that killed 26 people and kidnapped several others in the 1980s to fight the outlawed Basque separatist group ETA.

ETA is reviled in Spain for killing more than 800 people since 1968 in pursuit of Basque independence, but Garzon was applauded for taking on the anti-ETA death squads, resulting in the conviction of a former interior minister and 11 other officials.

Unbeliavable!

The author of the article skips saying anything about all the crimes commited by Franco and his junta against the Basques, not even bothers mentioning the fact that Franco was a Hitler puppet and that his regime was shunned and considered illegal all the way till 1955 when the USA decided they needed a few crummy military bases in Spain.

But he manages to include the infamous "800 killed by ETA" line that is reserved for anything that has to do with a bit of news coming from the Basque Country, be it a political rally in Bilbo or a wine tasting in Baiona.

Well, is plain and simple, if the Allied Forces had delivered their promise of freeing the whole of Europe from Fascism, if the USA had not gone to bed with Franco over a few bases, if pressure had been applied against Franco for his murderous campaign in Euskal Herria, there would be no ETA today.

Add the crimes of ETA to Franco's legacy.

Garzón is making all this noise because he knows the crimes have prescribed, but it doesn't matter, idiots around the world will think he really stands for human rights and justice, and after all, that is all he wants.

The complete article is at Yahoo News.

You can also read it here.

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In The Mean Time, In Iruñea

Bilbo was not the only city in which the Basques expressed their opinions.

In Iruñea, the capital city of Nafarroa, thousands demonstrated to push for the recognition of Euskera throught the whole of the province.

Seems like the organizers were greatly satisfied with the response to their call:

Thousands and thousands of people braved the cold in Iruñea (Pamplona) yesterday and supported the rally organised by the Oinarriak platform (an association of 15 organisations working for the standardisation of Basque in Navarre). People went out into the streets (between 12,000 and 15,000 of them, according to the organisers) to demand that the Basque language be officially recognised all over Navarre. Irantzu Onko, a member of the platform, said afterwards she was “delighted” with the response by the public to the call made by Oinarriak, but added that there “is still much work to be done”.

Unlike the one in Bilbo, seems like this one had a lighter tone:

It was a festive atmosphere all along the route of the march thanks to the musicians who had joined it. The demonstration was led by Basque dancers. Members of the Amaiur dance company carried flags of Navarre and red, white and green Basque flags or ikurriñas. They were followed by the main banner of the march carried by Oinarriak members. It said: Euskara, ofizialtasuna Nafarroa osoan (Official Recognition for Basque throughout Navarre).

One thing though, no matter the tone, both were as important.

You can read about it at Berria.

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Yesterday in Bilbo


Bilbo Posted by Hello

Yep, when they said thousands, they meant thousands.

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Saturday, February 26, 2005

Euskera On The Map

There is an excellent review by Helena Drysdale on the book "Empires of the Word; a language history of the world" by Nicholas Ostler.

It contains this jewel:
It makes good sense to consider the world from a linguistic perspective. A common language gives people not only a means of communication, but also a peg on which to hang their identity, their shared history and sense of future. Most nation states are recent impositions on top of much older linguistic communities. The Basques have been fighting for years to reunite their ancient linguistic unit, which straddles the borders of modern France and Spain. And Britain and America's "special relationship" is based above all on a shared language.

Hopefully the you-know-whos won't find it offensive and call the Basques racist for what Mrs. Drysdale said.

Here is the note at The New Stateman-Books.

You can read the whole article here also.

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Thousands March for Justice

They all gathered in Bilbo, their objective, to demand a stop to the repressive dragnet that has seen hundreds arrested.

Of course the PP was against the demonstration, and as usual, they said there could be violence.

Those fellas at the PP know what they mean, after all, they have deployed a low key violent campaign against the Basque society for decades.

But there was no violence, because there is no need for it, as long as the Ertzaintza does not decide to use their rubber bullets and their water canons.

There is a few striking quotes by some of those who attended the demonstration, here you have them:
"We are here to defend the civil and political rights of the whole of Basque citizenry," said Mariano Ferrer, an organizer.

"Garzon ignores the presumption of innocence and individual rights," pointed out Jose Etchevarria, 38, lawyer and demonstrator.

Marina Lopez, 38, declared, "these macro-judgments are the negation of justice and strike against democracy."

The note appeared at Canada.com's News.

You can read the whole article here also.

UPDATE: Here is the note by Berria in regards of the demonstration in Bilbo.

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Friday, February 25, 2005

New Oak, Ancient Symbol


Gernika Posted by Hello

Basque premier Juan Jose Ibarretxe looks at the new Oak of Guernica during its official presentation in Guernica, northern Spain February 25, 2005. The six tonne, 19 year old, 12m tall Oak (Quercus rober) is a descendent of a line of trees under which, it is said, early Basque parliaments would gather. It replaces its 150 year old predecessor, which died last summer. REUTERS/Vincent West

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A World Wide Problem Actually

It was nice of the European Parliament to call the shutting down of Egunkaria a problem. They messed up a bit, because it is not only an European problem, it is actually a world wide problem for Basque culture and language is a legacy of all humakind.

It was two years ago when the dark forces led by Aznar came down on a frontal attack against Euskera, stomping all over the human rights of an entire nation. They used their usual excuse, the newspaper Egunkaria had ties to ETA.

Because for people like Aznar, Garzón or del Olmo, anything and everything Basque has ties to ETA.

Two years later, no hard evidence, as usual.

A group of European Parlamentarians spoke out :

In a press briefing about seven MEPs denounced the closing down two years ago of “the only newspaper in the Basque language”, called for the paper to be opened and reiterated that the basic rights that lie at the very heart of Europe have to be respected. A total of 22 MEPs signed a statement calling for the closing down of the paper to be suspended. They include Gerard Onesta, the deputy speaker of the European Parliament, and the presidents of three political groups in the Parliament. Jens-Peter Bonde, a Dane and a co-president of the Independence and Democracy Group, Monica Frassoni, an Italian and a co-president of the Group of the Greens, and Graham Watson, the president of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe. Josu Ortuondo, the EAJ-PNV MEP, underlined the seriousness of closing down a newspaper, and the rest concurred with him. “We are here to demand that basic rights be applied in the Basque Country, too”.

And well, just like Hillel Halkin said, there is a touch of hypocrisy in the way episodes like these are addressed by the European Union:

Important media representatives were unfortunately not present. “If the Turks were to close down a Kurdish paper, this press room would be full,” said Gerard Onesta, the deputy speaker of the European Parliament with regret. And Monica Frassoni, the co-president of the Group of the Greens, reiterated this: “The problem of freedom of expression is well known in many countries in Europe, even though not much is heard about it. However, the risks are there, as we can see from the closing down of Egunkaria. Terrorism is the excuse given to justify many things. We have to keep an eye on this. The closing down of Egunkaria is not exclusively a Basque problem, it is also a European problem. It’s under our responsibility.”

And hopefully, the village idiots will not accuse the Basques of being racist for something a Scot said:

They were keen to stress the need to respect diversity within Europe, as the Scot Ian Hudghton put it: “I can identify myself with the wishes of the Basques that their identity should be recognised”.

This information appeared yesterday at Berria.

You can read the whole article here also.

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Thursday, February 24, 2005

Slight Advantage

Well, they extracted a tie away from home, now they have to go get it all at their own field.


Vienna Posted by Hello

Austria Vienna's Sasa Papac (L) challenges Athletic Bilbao's Andoni Iraola during their UEFA Cup Round of 32 first leg soccer match at the Ernst Happel Stadion in Vienna February 24, 2005. REUTERS/Robert Zolles

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Wednesday, February 23, 2005

A Basque Oscar Dream

Nacho Vigalondo's short film titled "7:35 In The Morning" was nominated to an Oscar for best short film a few weeks ago.

EITB reports that Miren Azkarate, who is the Basque Culture councillor, will attend the ceremony to show support:

The Basque culture councillor Miren Azkarate and the vice-councillor Gurutz Larrañaga will attend the Oscar Awards ceremony at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles next Sunday 27 to support the short film 7:35 in the morning by Nacho Vigalondo, nominated to best short film (live action).

The short film, produced by the Basque production company Ibarretxe and company, was subsidized by the Basque Government. It is the second time a film with a subsidy by the Basque Government is nominated.

And remember, Alejandro Aménabar, who is a Chilean of Basque background received nominations also for his film "The Sea Inside".

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Oteiza, the Master

There is a pretty good article about Basque sculptor Jorge Oteiza at Artdaily.com today.

I find his sculptures to be mesmerizing and intriguing.

Here is an attempt by Artdaily.com to describe it:

Oteiza is unquestionably one of the leading Basque artists of the 20th, although exhibitions of his work have been few and far between. Highly personal and quite unlike the work of any other artist of his generation, his art is difficult to define. While in retrospect his later works appear related to American Minimalism —a movement that emerged after the Basque artist’s creative career had effectively ended—Oteiza’s sculptures are rooted in the avant-garde movements of the early 20th century: Cubism, Expressionism, Surrealism, Neoplasticism, and Constructivism in particular. What Oteiza shares to a great extent with other artists of the postwar period is a sensibility that may be defined as abstract, spiritual, and humanist.


Sede Posted by Hello

You can read the whole article here also.

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Tuesday, February 22, 2005

Larre Speaks Out


Larre Posted by Hello

Larre: “We have a tremendous lack of pride in our Basque identity”

Emile Larre was born in Baigorri (Lower Navarre) in 1926. He edited the weekly magazine ‘Herria’ for many years and still contributes to it. He is a member of the Royal Academy of the Basque Language, a promoter of extempore Basque verse-making in the Northern Basque Country and is currently the parish priest of Donibane Garazi (St. Jean-Pied-de-Port) in Lower Navarre.

If you are interested, read this feature and interview at Berria.

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Monday, February 21, 2005

Miyuki and Eneko


Eneko Posted by Hello

Basque teacher Eneko Etxebarrieta (R) and his wife Miyuki Okabe, a telecommunications engineer, get ready to ride their tandem bike after a press conference in Madrid February 21, 2005. The couple will try to become the first tandem bike riders to ride 120.000 kilometres around the world. The adventure is expected to last ten years and will take them to 80 different countries. The two adventurers have been named special United Nations representatives and will do educational and cultural field work on their journey around the world, gathering data and posting it on a website. REUTERS/Susana Vera

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Saturday, February 19, 2005

Eating Humble Pie

Once again Athletic de Bilbao mops the field with the star-studded Real Madrid.

There was only one team today, and that was the eleven led by Etxeberria. Real Madrid talks the talk, but they don't walk the walk, and tonight the millionaires and their Neanderthal fans are eating humble pie.

As usual, the referee tried to tilt the balance towards the Merengues, to no avail, there is only one way to win when you play football, and that is to play like if there is no tomorrow, and love the shirt you are doning.

To round up a magnificent day for the Basque football teams, the Real Sociedad defeated Sevilla at their Anoeta Stadium in Donostia. Hopefully tomorrow Osasuna will follow suit.


Starbusters Posted by Hello

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Friday, February 18, 2005

Guilty Pleasure II

A gift that keeps on giving.

A couple of days ago I posted a comment on an essay by Hillel Halkin from the Jerusalem Post titled "Intifada, Spanish Style".

Well, last night while surfing the Blogosphere I found out the Barcepundit's reaction to it, which was as you can expect less than welcoming. He was also short of words, this time he refrained from his long parrot-like disertations. Something rubs me the wrong way when it comes to this fella, his blog published in Spanish is by no means as venomous against the Basques as his blog in English.

Almost as if he tailors his blog in english to satisfy the neocon and fundamentalist Christian readers.

Or could it be that he knows that if he publishes that non sense in Spanish he knows that anyone that speaks that language and that is more acquainted with Spain, Euskal Herria and Catalonia can easily demolish what he is saying?

Either way, he comes across as one of the hypocrite Europeans that Mr. Halkin mentions in his essay.

Now, lets point out something very important here. Hillel Halkin is a Jewish author that lives in Israel, and he delivered this scathing indictment against Europeans in general and Spaniards in particular.

Do you remember what John Rosenthal said about the Basque right to self determination?

Do you remember how he stated that he had no knowledge of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Jewish community?

Well, John has been publishing a series of posts in which he tries to deny that the IDF murdered the Palestinian boy Mohammed Al-Durah.

Check his posts here, here, here and here.

Why would someone that does not know anything about Jewish history suddenly become a passionate apologist of an Israeli military fully engaged in murdering defenseless Palestinian children?

For more info about this chek "The Bart Simpson Defence" at Lawrence of Cyberia.

Sounds like John knew he was in trouble when I questioned him about his statement that Basque nationalism is racist. That is why he denied being Jewish, that is why it took so long to come up with a convoluted response that by the way, included Herzl quotes. You can't go more racist that Herzl.

What is a real shame is that even so called liberals and moderates lend credibility to this Anti Basque Coalition of the Willing and the Righteous**. Just check the post that the Barcepundit is linking at his English edition of his blog.

To them, the ones that are supposed to stand for truth and justice, the ones that refuse to learn from history, a kind reminder in the words of Reverend Martin Luther King Jr:

"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends"

** God I hope something like this doesn't actually exist.

*For the scoop on this link I want to thank The Probligo

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Adams Meets Otegi


Adams Otegi Posted by Hello

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, left, and Arnaldo Otegi, leader of the outlawed radical Basque party Batasuna, considered to be ETA's political wing, smile before their meeting at the Basque parliament in the northern Spanish city of Vitoria, Friday, Feb. 18, 2005. (AP Photo/Alavaro Barrientos)

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No Euskera for You!

On one more dramatic turn of events, the defendants in the case against the Basque youth organizations were told not to speak Euskera, since Spanish is the official language in Spain.

Berria tells us that this comes as a result of the inability of the interpretors to do their job correctly what the defendants are saying:

“Article 3 of the Spanish Constitution says that Spanish is the official language and only those who cannot speak it are entitled to an interpreter. All of you can speak Spanish here, so you will have to speak in Spanish! That is the language you have to use in this trial!” Judge Alfonso Guevara pointed out during his outburst provoked by a fit of bad temper that whoever decided to speak in Basque could find that it affected their right to defence, because of the “personal decision” taken by the judge himself.


These fellas are being accused of supporting terrorism just because they are Basque and they are active in politics, they are speaking Euskera because they are making a point, now a judge tells them that if they speak their own language, a language that can be considered an endangered language, then they should not expect justice to work for them 100%.

The accused already know that if you are Basque justice in Spain does not work 100% for you.

You can read the whole article here.

Also, for complete coverage by Berria follow this links:

Translation vs Right to Proper Defence

Indictees Say Jarrai and Haika Have no Links with ETA

Judge Dismisses Defence's Request and Gets On with Trial

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Adams Meets Ibarretxe


Adams Ibarretxe Posted by Hello

Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams (L) shakes hands with Basque premier Juan Jos Ibarretxe before a meeting in the Basque city of Vitoria, northern Spain, February 18, 2005. Adams was in Spain to promote the Spanish translation of his book 'Memorias politicas - El largo camino de Irlanda hacia la paz' (A farther shore, Ireland's long road to peace.) Adams said on Wednesday he believes efforts are under way in Spain to launch a peace process in the Basque country. REUTERS/Vincent West

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Adams in Gazteiz


Adams Gazteiz Posted by Hello

Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams (R) greets schoolchildren outside the Basque Parliament following meetings with Basque Premier Juan Jos Ibarretxe and leader of the outlawed pro-independence party Batasuna, Arnaldo Otegi, in Vitoria, northern Spain, February 18, 2005. Adams was in Spain to promote the Spanish version of his book 'Memorias politicas - El largo camino de Irlanda hacia la paz' (A farther shore, Ireland's long road to peace). Adams said on Wednesday he believes efforts are under way in Spain to launch a peace process in the Basque country. REUTERS/Vincent West

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Thursday, February 17, 2005

Long Road to Peace


Adams Carod Posted by Hello

Sinn Fein's president Gerry Adams (L) shakes hands with pro-independent Left Republican Catalonian party politician Josep Lluis Carod-Rovira after a meeting in Barcelona, Spain, February 17, 2005. Adams was in Spain to promote the Spanish version of his book 'Memorias politicas - El largo camino de Irlanda hacia la paz' (A farther shore, Ireland's long road to peace). REUTERS/Str

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In Behalf of Haika, Segi and Jarrai


Support Posted by Hello

A man holds up a banner as a fellow protester (red shirt, front) shouts slogans as the two men burst into the plenary room and disrupt the parliamentary proceedings, at the regional parliament in Vitoria, February 17, 2005. The two protesters shouted slogans in favour of Basque nationalist left youth organizations, and held up banners, while at least five others shouted slogans from the public gallery. Members of Basque nationalist left youth organizations Jarrai, Haika and Segi are currently being tried at Madrid's High Court, accused of being members of the Basque separatist group ETA or of aiding and abetting ETA. REUTERS/Vincent West

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In Support of Youth Organizations


Arrest Posted by Hello

Basque police detain a woman following a disruption in the regional parliament in Vitoria, northern Spain, February 17, 2005. Two men burst into the plenary room and disrupted the parliamentary proceedings, shouting slogans in favour of Basque nationalist left youth organisations, and holding up banners, while at least five others shouted slogans from the public gallery. Members of Basque nationalist left youth organisations Jarrai, Haika and Segi are currently being tried at Madrid's High Court, accused of being members of the Basque separatist group ETA or of aiding and abetting ETA. REUTERS/Vincent West

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Wednesday, February 16, 2005

Gerry Is Ready

On an interesting developement, Gerry Adams from Sinn Fein says he is ready to aid the Basque peace process.

There is a number of discrepancies in the way the international community reacts towards the different conflicts around the world that pit a former colonialist power with those that long for their self determination. Places like Puerto Rico, Kurdistan, Kashmir, Tibet, East Timor, Brittany, Corsica come to mind.

The article addresses that in this paragraph:

Parallels have often been made between the Basque conflict, which has cost more than 800 lives in the past four decades, and strife-ridden Northern Ireland, where thousands more have died as Republicans have sought to secure an end to British rule while loyalists have endeavored to retain links to London.
This is what Adams have to say:
"Dialogue is the way of resolving problems. You don't kill problems," said Adams, who noted that politics often involved "a lot of hypocrisy,"
All I can tell you is, this peace process needs all the help it can get, mostly after disastrous performances like that of Mexican president Vicente Fox last week.

You can read the entire article here.

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Tuesday, February 15, 2005

Guilty Pleasure

This one really comes as a surprise.

Hillel Halkin from the Jerusalem Post recently penned an essay in which he points a finger at Europe's hypocrisy when it comes to how the right to the self-determination of the nations without state is approached by the big powers.

Mr. Halkin tell us about the German term Schadenfreude, and how it has a Hebrew translation in simha le'eyd. He was unable to come up with an English translation, well, I'm here to help him out, it is called "guilty pleasure".

And just like the Spanish arrogance and double standard gave him a "guilty pleasure", he also provided me with one, since I do not approve of the present occupation of Palestine by Israel and the brutal repression of the Palestine people, I was not expecting a writer from Israel to come up with the best reasonings in behalf of the Basque right to self-determination in a long time. He even makes fun of something I derided earlier at this blog:

Spain, declared Spanish prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, would never agree to an independent Basque state, even if that's what a majority of Basques wanted. Spanish territorial integrity would never be compromised.This, mind you, from a country that has been, like all its enlightened European neighbors, preaching to Israel for years about the need for Palestinian statehood. How could we Israelis be so obtuse as to thwart the Palestinian right to national self-determination?It turns out that what's urgent for the Palestinians is out of the question for the Basques. How come? Because the right to national self-determination, apparently, does not apply to Europe.
Mr Halkin points out the obvious for those who do not want to see:

SPAIN, ON the other hand, is a huge country. The Basque region is a tiny and remote part of it. An independent Basque state could not by any stretch of the imagination jeopardize Spain or harm its vital interests. What possible reason, besides pigheaded nationalist Spanish pride, or the worry that someone else (the Catalans, say?) might be encouraged, God forbid, to want self-determination too, do the Spanish have for opposing it?
After referering to the fact that the Palestinians are an Arabic people and that Arab language and culture are not about to disappear, he uncorks this one:

The Basques are the exact opposite. They speak a language that is unique (although some linguists think it is distantly related to Burushaki, which is spoken by a few thousand people in an isolated valley in Pakistan) and have a history that is unique, too, being directly descended, according to current theories, from the first homo sapiens to inhabit Europe some 40,000 years ago. All other European peoples are Johnny-come-latelies by comparison; when you see a Basque, you may be looking at the progeny of Cro-Magnon man.
Unlike some people comfortably living in the USA, Hillel Halkin does understand what "ethnic nationalism" really means, and he goes on to tell us the clear and present danger of the elimimation of Basque culture from the face of Europe:

Already today, the Basque language is not spoken by most Basques; Basque culture and folklore are in danger of disappearing, too. If the Basque region continues to be an appendage of Spain, they are likely to vanish entirely. What is the one thing that can save them? A Basque state, in which all the institutions of government - the bureaucracy, the educational system, the media - are put at their service. It is a sad fact that without such institutions behind them, languages and cultures have little chance in the modern world.
Finally, he puts the often paraded Basque violence into context, and this comes from someone that has experienced violence in Jerusalem due to a long armed conflict.

True, even Schadenfreude has its limits. If the Basques were to vote at some future date for real independence, and Spain tried forcibly to quash it, the inevitable results would be the vigorous revival of the Basque terror that has been quiescent in recent years and the outbreak of mass violence - in short, a Spanish-style intifada. Enjoying the spectacle of that would mean adding more malice to my pleasure than I'd like. Meanwhile, though, I can't wait to see what happens next. There's nothing like seeing a hypocritical country hoisted by its own petard.
You can read the entire article here.

The Jerusalem Post requires free membership to access its articles.

One last thing, that hypocrisy he talks about is not endemic of Europe only, it is thriving in the USA and Latin America also.

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Saturday, February 12, 2005

From Biarritz to Donostia


Rugby Posted by Hello

Biarritz players tackle Leicester's Lewis Moody (C). The European Cup quarter-final tie between Biarritz of France and Munster of Ireland will be staged at Real Sociedad's football ground in the Spanish Basque city of San Sebastian on April 3.(AFP/File/Adrian Dennis)

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Friday, February 11, 2005

At The Kursaal


Kursaal Posted by Hello

Basque premier Juan Jose Ibarretxe attends the opening ceremony of Spanish Red Cross at San Sebastian's Kursaal auditorium in Spain February 11, 2005. REUTERS/ Pablo Sanchez

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Demonstration in Lazkao


Lazkao Posted by Hello

Demonstrators protest over the arrest of Basque Benedictine monk Juan Jose Agirre by Spanish police in front of the monastery of the town of Lazkao in Spain's northern Basque region, February 11, 2005. Agirre, 75-year-old librarian at the monastery, said Spanish police detained him in his monastery for questioning over suspected links with Basque separatist group ETA but then let him go free. REUTERS/Pablo Sanchez

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Juan Jose Agirre


JJ Agirre Posted by Hello

Basque Benedictine monk Juan Jose Agirre talks on the phone after Spanish police let him go free after being detained in his monastery for questioning over suspected links with Basque separatist group ETA in the town of Lazkao in Spain's northern Basque region, February 11, 2005. Agirre, 75-year-old librarian at a monastery said he denied any connection to ETA during questioning by 10 to 15 policemen. REUTERS/Str

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Saturday, February 05, 2005

Eternal Rebels

I just came across this text at a site called the Greenpepper Project, it is called "Anti-Authoritarians" and it is sort of a history of the Basque revolts in a nutshell, here you have it:

The Basques and Spain: a Historical Primer for Anti-Authoritarians

By Tom Howard

Little is known of the mysterious origins of the Basques, a people living in the mountainous provinces of Viscaya (Bizkaia), Alava (Araba), Guipuzcoa (Gipuzkoa) and Navarra (Naforroa) in northern Spain and Labourd (Lapurdi), Basse Navarre (Naforroa Beherea) and Soule (Zubera) in southwestern France along the Bay of Biscay. These seven provinces are collectively referred to as the Basque Country, or Euskal Herria. Some speculate that the Basques are remnants of the original, indigenous people of Europe who pre-dated even the Celts. Their language, Euskera, does not belong to any known language family and has long been the source of sustainable cultural identity. In fact, the only word Basques have for themselves in Euskera is "euskaldun," or "person who speaks Basque." Today, there are roughly 3 million inhabitants of Euskal Herria. Over the past two hundred years as the often brutal forces of colonialism, capitalism and globalization swept other peoples aside, the Basques have sought to preserve their unique culture and identity while embracing the world, rejecting isolation as they fiercely maintained their autonomy.

In 1804, residents of the city of Bilbao (Bilbo) in the province of Gipuzkoa launched a revolt against military conscription which became known as the Zamacolada, named after the wealthy Basque landowner, or jauntxo (same definition and pronunciation as the English word, "honcho") who initiated the plan. During Napoleon Bonaparte's invasion four years later, Basques in Naforroa waged an effective guerrilla campaign against much larger French forces. One reason the Basques remained loyal to the Spanish crown was due to the preservation of their regional autonomy through a system of laws known as the fueros, written in 1526.

After the death of the Spanish king in 1833, the newly elected Spanish legislature, or Cortes, sought to abolish the fueros and establish a strong, centralized constitutional government that resembled the French model, although it stopped short of removing the monarchy. Additionally, the Cortes instituted a series of secular reforms including the abolition of the Inquisition in 1834, but in calling for an end to regional autonomy, the stage was set for conflict. The First Carlist War lasted from 1833 to 1839. On one side, controlling the legislature and drawing on the new power of urban centers were the Liberals (the first to use the term in its present sense). On the other side were the Carlists, or supporters of King Carlos. Most Basques aligned with the Carlists who promised to restore the fueros, but often were split between "the farm" and "the street," or the rural and urban dwellers. In 1837, a Basque general advocated mutiny by Basque soldiers on both sides. In the end, the Liberals had won.

The true winners of the First Carlist War were the industrials and the Industrial Revolution transformed the iron ore rich Basque provinces of Spain from 1840 to 1870. Karl Marx considered the Liberals bourgeois hypocrites and wrote approvingly of the Carlists as anti-capitalists, yet the Carlists themselves were virulently anti-communist and pro-church. They were also increasingly restless from their defeat and in 1844, the Liberal government established the infamous Guardia Civil to control the rebellious pro-Carlist provinces.

The Second Carlist War lasted from 1872 to 1876 and began as a Basque revolt. Its bloody battles produced another Basque civil war and by 1876, another Carlist defeat. The Liberals proceeded to strip the Basques of any shred of autonomy. Two distinct Basque political identities developed in the years that followed, one exemplified by the Basque nationalist Sabino Arana and the other by the Basque academic Miguel de Unamuno.

Sabino Arana was regarded by many as an unstable, racist hothead. Miguel de Unamuno was a scholar, a university professor who authored novels, books and essays. Sabino Arana's definition of Basque-ness was genetic and social Darwinistic; he saw the Basques as racially and genetically superior to Spaniards. Unamuno, however, came to identify more with Spain than with the Basque Country, preferring Castellano to Euskera. Arana is widely credited with beginning the Basque nationalist movement, creating new words in Euskera like Euzkadi for the "Basque homeland," aberri for "fatherland" and azkatasuna for "liberty." He developed the ikurriña or Basque flag and founded the Basque Nationalist Party or PNV. Arana's supporters often took to the streets shouting, "Down with the army! Die Spain!" Unamuno, though, openly supported the fascist Falange movement in later life, criticizing it only after the Fascists came to power. It was Arana's ideas that would most dramtically shape the course of Basque history.

When the Second Spanish Republic came into being in 1931 after a failed military dictatorship, few Basques called themselves Republicans. Carlists had more in common with the Fascists and Spanish Monarchists, except that they demanded Basque autonomy. The Liberals were staunchly capitalist and generally shunned the socialist reforms of the Second Republic. In the industrial centers of Bilbo and San Sebastian (Donostia), a third force was rising, that of a growing Socialist labor movement. Best known among these Basques was Dolores Ibarruri, La Pasionaria, a Communist elected to represent Asturias in the legislature. She was known as a firery orator who dressed entirely in black and gave the Republic its motto during the Spanish Civil War: No Pasaran! They shall not pass!

The PNV were not leftists and the Monarchists even approached them for help in a coup against the Republic. Jose Antonio Aguirre, PNV's head, rejected the proposal. Aguirre himself refused the entire phraseology of leftist or rightist, positioning himself and his party only for Basque rights. This rejection brought the Basques the enduring emnity of the Spanish right. In 1936, Generalissimo Francisco Franco, with military aid from Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, launched a coup d'etat against the Republic setting off the Spanish Civil War.

On April 26, 1937, one year into the Civil War, Nazi bombers of the Condor Legion targeted the marketplace of the Basque town of Guernica (Gernika). There were perhaps only 10,000 people in Gernika that day, but the Basque government estimated that as many as 1,700 civilians died in the crowded market. Franco's forces occupied the town three days later and denied that it had been bombed at all. Later, the Fascists said that only 200 people had been killed and Franco continued to deny the bombing, insisting that the Basques had dynamited themselves. It was not until 1970 that Franco admitted the bombing of Gernika, but denied any wrongdoing. In 1998, the German government officially apologized to the Basque people for its complicity in the attacks, which the Spanish government has yet to do. To date, all government documents relating to the massacre are sealed as state secrets.

The Basques continued to resist the onslaught of the Fascists, but were poorly armed and equipped. After the capture of Bilbo, Franco's forces arrested 16,000 Basques and executed at least 1,000. There were summary executions of any POWs. 2,000 Basques were among the 20,000 Republican veterans held in Nazi concentration camps during World War II. Between 1938 and 1947, nearly 22,000 Basques were executed by the Spanish government and at least 100,000 held as political prisoners. Many Basques fighters escaped Spain only to join the Resistance in France during the Nazi occupation. Basques felt a profound sense of betrayal when the United States allied with Franco during the Cold War and young Basques increasingly questioned the effectiveness of the conservative PNV. Franco's bloody repression brought only increased resistance from the Basque people and encouraged a new and militant groups calling for Basque independence, including the group known as ETA.

It was formed by Basque technical school students in 1952 as Aberri Ta Azkatasuna, or "Fatherland And Liberty," but in the Gipuzkoan dialect of Euskera, an "ata" was a "duck." In 1959 the name changed to Euzkadi Ta Azkatasuna, or "Basque Homeland And Liberty." Its acronym, ETA, appears to be everywhere in written Euskera because "eta" is the standard dialect's word for "and." The original founders saw ETA primarily as an anti-fascist, Marxist national liberation movement. Marxism was embraced primarily because it was the antithesis of Francoism. ETA's founders also redefined the nature of Basque identity, declaring that anyone who spoke Euskera could be considered Basque.

One of ETA's first actions was the 1961 derailment of a train carrying Fascist veterans of the Civil War to Donostia to commemorate the 1936 coup d'etat. No one was injured, but the government detained and tortured one hundred Basques in response. The first death linked to ETA was that of a Guardia Civil officer who pulled over one of ETA's leadership, Txabi Etxebarrieta. In response, the Guardia Civil hunted down and killed Txabi. The Spanish government and nearly every media outlet routinely mentions the 800 or so deaths attributed to ETA in the past 36 years but never mentions the deaths and injuries inflicted by the government.

In the 1960's, the Guardia Civil routinely "disappeared" Basque university students. By 1973, ETA had killed 6 people. From 1968 to 1973, the Guardia Civil killed 14, shot and wounded 52 and arrested and tortured over 4,000. Between 1956 and 1975, 11 States of Emergency were declared putting the Basque Country into a virtual state of siege for the period. Additionally, general strikes and other resistance to Franco's regime were numerous and sustained throughout the second half of his rule, not only in the Basque Country but also in Catalonia, Andalusia, Galicia and elsewhere.

ETA's first car bomb killed then Prime Minister Admiral Carrero Blanco, Franco's hand-picked successor, in 1973. A common joke at the time was, "one more pothole, one less asshole." In 1975, ETA killed 38 people, the Guardia Civil only 33, so Franco ordered the execution of 5 political prisoners to even the score. The next year the Guardia Civil killed 18 people, the year after, 16. In 1976 ETA killed 18 people, some of them Guardia Civil officers attempting to remove booby-trapped ikurriñas. During Franco's forty year reign, speaking Euskera and displaying symbols like the ikurriña was punishable by imprisonment and torture. Thousands of political prisoners were held. ETA split into two groups, ETA militar, which carried out attacks and ETA politico-militar, which carried out kidnappings and ransoms. The activities of the second group often targeted Basque business owners and were largely unpopular, but at the same time, the Guardia Civil were attacking folk festivals.

In 1977, two years after Franco's death, the government declared a general amnesty for political prisoners after heavy pressure from human rights' groups. The transition government of Franco confidant Adolfo Suarez had changed little in reality and after a few weeks, the arrests began again. In 1978 a new constitution was written which allowed for a certain level of regional autonomy in the Basque Country and Catalonia but did little to address those regions' concerns. Also in that year, the pro-independence Herri Batasuna, or Popular Unity party was founded as an off-shoot of the PNV. Its leaders were immediately arrested by the government and its activities suppressed, although it was not banned outright. HB candidates consistently polled 15-20% of the vote. Between 1978 and 1980, ETA killed 80 people in a bloody campaign of bombings and murders. The Guardia Civil responded by killing 41 people. Additionally, 35 people were killed by what the government describ ed as incontrolados, or "uncontrollable" right-wing elements of the military and police.

For many life-long Fascists, the transition away from Franco was more than they could bear. On February 23, 1981, a failed coup threatened to return Spain to Fascist dictatorship. In its aftermath, politicians like Felipe Gonzalez of the Socialist Workers' Party, or SWP, decided that for Spain to remain stable, the military and Guardia Civil must be placated. The SWP swept to power in 1982 and promptly brought Spain into NATO and the European Economic Community, the predecessor of the European Union. The government also instituted a series of draconian anti-terrorism laws, the first of which suspended habeus corpus indefinitely. ETA increased their activity and splinter groups appeared.

Another remarkable, but often overlooked aspect of the the late 1970's and 1980's in Spain was the emergence of an effective anti-nuclear and environmentalist movement. A project to build a nuclear power plant at Lemoniz, near Bilbo in Bizkaia, was abandoned in 1982 after ten years of demonstrations, some with tens of thousands of protesters and after 250 attacks, many carried out by ETA. The anti-nuclear and environmentalist movements have drawn a deal deal of support from Basques. Still, the war between ETA and the Spanish state, or of the Spanish state against the entire Basque people, tends to overshadow such accomplishments due to its brutality and intensity.

Between 1982 and 1987, 27 murders occurred (26 of them in French Basqueland) of civilians loosely affiliated with Basques nationalists or Basque industry. Many suspected Gozalez's government to have sponsored these killings, a fact which Gonzalez repeatedly denied. The group responsible turns out to be a collection of right-wing mercenaries: Italian neo-fascists, mob hitmen, Portuguese colonialists, right-wing French veterans of Algeria's war for independence and former Spanish policemen. The group was known as GAL, or the "Antiterrorism Liberation Group." In 1986, France became concerned with the terrorism it saw as now having crossed its borders and agreed to arrest and extradite wanted Basques living in Spain, despite the fact that others who had been extradited had been tortured. With the extradition agreement in place, GAL ceased its activities and disappeared from the scene. Fifteen government and police officials, including the Minister of the Interior, the governor of Viscaya (Bizkaia) and the director of state security were convicted of running GAL in 1989 but only received light sentences since the judges decided the prosecution could not prove that GAL was an armed terrorist group. ETA attacks increased.

A key player in the GAL scandal was Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon. Garzon lead efforts to lay the blame squarely at the feet of Felipe Gonzalez and pursue harsh sentences for those involved in the GAL affair. More recently, he won international fame for attempts to try Pinochet for abuses during the Chilean dictatorship. However, Garzon also headed efforts to eradicate Basque independence parties and Basque-language newspapers. Enthusiastic in his prosecution of foreign dictators, Garzon refused to question the abuses of Spanish officials unless they were Socialists. Not a single case has ever been brought to trial against officials in the Franco dictatorship for forty years of murder, torture and other human rights abuses, nor has any trial sought to uncover the abuses perpetrated after Franco, with the exception of GAL.

By the mid-1990's, ETA shifted its focus from Guardia Civil and military officials to politicians from the Popular Party, a newer incarnation of the Fascist Popular Alliance founded by members of Franco's dictatorship. Other targets included tourist destinations. In 1996, after fourteen years in power and rocked by a massive corruption scandal, Felipe Gonzalez's Socialist Workers' Party loses to Jose Maria Aznar's Popular Party. Within a year, the entire 23 member political leadership of Herri Batasuna, representing 200,000 Basque voters, was jailed for sentences of 7 years each in a show trial, accused of aiding and cooperating with ETA. Herri Batasuna tried to air a videotape of ETA's demands during a political campaign in order to push for negotiations with the group. By 2002, Batasuna would have its assets seized and be declared a part of ETA. By March of 2003, Batasuna would be banned indefinitely and the pro-independence Euskera newspaper Egunkaria 0 would be shut down. By May of 2003, both the United States and the European Union, at the request of Aznar's government, would declare Batasuna a terrorist organization. Having failed to stop ETA, the Spanish government would instead strike at any who called for Basque independence.

In 1998 a slight change occurred. For the first time in its history, ETA called for a cease-fire. This coincided with the historic Good Friday Peace Accords in Northern Ireland. The Aznar government reacted by dismissing the idea. To justify its far-reaching powers and immense funding, Spain's security apparatus needed enemies. To negotiate with ETA, either directly or through an intermediary, meant losing its reason for existence. Aznar knew this. For ETA, negotiations may have only seemed politically expedient, but either way turned out to be fruitless. After fourteen months, during which ETA attempted to open negotiations with the government but were repeatedly rejected (the two sides met once, in Geneva in 1999, of which Aznar's government was similarly dismissive), ETA ended its truce by detonating two car bombs, one in Vitoria (Gasteiz) in the Basque province Alava (Araba) and one in Madrid. The conflict continued, but by 2004 showed signs of tapering off with only 3 de aths attributed to ETA in 2003.

By the March 11, 2004 bombing in Madrid, Aznar's government, weakened by criticism of the Iraq War and its handling of the November 20, 2002 Prestige oil spill off the coast of northern Spain, may have already been looking for an excuse to emulate the memory of Franco. Immediately after the attacks and with little evidence, Aznar's government began blaming ETA. When it became apparent that Al Qaeda and not ETA was most likely responsible, voters responded to the PP's manipulation by voting Aznar's party from power. It has widely been speculated that Aznar's party may have been considering a coup d'etat, a charge that Arnaldo Otegi, head of the banned party Batasuna, made on March 19, 2004 when he said in an interview that his sources informed him of a plan to revoke Basque autonomy, place the regional Basque police force Ertzantza under direct government control and conduct mass arrests. Had Aznar's insistence that ETA was behind the Madrid blasts been ta ken at face value, this may have been the result and Spain may have once again narrowly escaped a return to fascism. Currently, Aznar's successor, Socialist Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has ruled out negotiations with ETA on the grounds that they are a terrorist organization while ETA has suggested them.

Two demands that have resounding support among all Basques are that the Guardia Civil be withdrawn and that the Spanish Constitution of 1978 be revised to grant greater regional autonomy. With a ratio of 7 police officers for every 1,000 civilians (New York City, with a police department of 40,000 has a ratio of 5 for every 1,000) the Spanish Basque Country remains the most policed area in Europe. Zapatero's government may wish to resolve this conflict once and for all, or it may turn once again to the policies of Gonzalez and Aznar. The latter seems likely. Throughout whatever may occur, it must be kept in mind that while ETA's actions receive attention, they do not represent the whole of Basque identity, merely one part of one chapter of a long history.

In 1997, the Guggenheim built a new museum in Bilbo. Euskera is gaining ground as a spoken and written language as Basque culture continues to flourish. There is even an Indymedia Euskal Herria with a website in Euskera, French and Spanish. Basque anarchists have been active in solidarity with Palestinians, in local struggles for the environment and squatters' rights and in larger, anti-globalization struggles. Fernando Perez Gorraiz, one of the Thessaloniki Seven arrested at the EU Summit in Greece is Basque. Their history replete with examples of resistance and a fierce belief in autonomy and liberty, the Basque people have outlasted Carthaginians, Romans, Visigoths, Moors, Hapsburgs, Bourbons, Bonapartists, Nazis and Franquistas; they will almost certainly outlast France, Spain and the European Union.

That, in itself, is something to be admired.


Sources of interest:

The Basque History of the World, by Mark Kurlansky. 387 pages. Penguin Press, 1999. — an indispensable book.
http://www.baskinfo.org — a website in Dutch with English news updates.
http://www.euskojustice.org — International Basque Organization for Human Rights (English and Spanish).
http://www.breakthechains.net/btcconference/basque.html — Report on the Break the Chains workshop on the Basque Struggle (English).
http://euskalherria.indymedia.org — Indymedia Euskal Herria (Spanish, French and Euskera).

Note: Throughout this piece, words in Euskera, or Basque, when different from the commonly known names, will be included afterwards in parentheses. Euskera pronunciation may at times seem difficult to the English speaker, but here are some tips: z is pronounced similar to a hard s, tx is pronounced as ch and tz is pronounced roughly similar to ts. In most instances, Euskera names have been used instead of their Spanish or French counterparts.


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Friday, February 04, 2005

Garzón In Trouble

You are not going to read it in the English published media any time soon.

I highly doubt that the so called pundits are going to mention anything at their "liberal" blogs.

But you can read it here.

And if you speak and/or read Spanish, you can read it at La Jornada.

Just a couple of days ago the now infamous Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzón presented his book "A World Without Fear". In it, he informs that the Spanish Government lied after the terrorist attack in Madrid on M-11.

We are talking about Baltasar Garzón here, the guy that indicted Augusto Pinochet and Osama Bin Laden.

We are talking about an insider that took the repression against the Basques all the way to Latin America, specifically Mexico and Argentina, because his master at the time, Prime Minister José María Aznar ordered him to do so.

We are talking about a guy that the Spaniards once nominated to a Nobel Prize.

Now this individual is in trouble, his colleague Spanish Judge Eduardo Fungairiño is accusing Garzón of "disclosing secrets", and has indicted him for it. This individual Fungairiño is closer to the PP than Garzón is, you do the math.

And by the way, Garzón is not my favorite cup of tea, but he just proved me right regarding my stand about Aznar being a professional liar.

I wonder what those that said that the Spaniards were cowards for voting the PP out of power in March have to say now that someone like Garzón puts it on print that the PP indeed lied.

UDPATE: EITB published the case against Garzón in English.

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Thursday, February 03, 2005

BIC's January Newsletter

We got this information this morning via email:

Dear sympathisers of BIC,

Here you will find the new Monthly digital BIC-Newsletter. Please take a look also in our Shop on our website, you will find some English material for sale and some documents in English as well, for example the Anoeta- proposal of the left-wing Basque independence party Batasuna.

We will give information evenings explaining this proposal with a new DVD by Batasuna and we will also talk about the current situation in the Basque Country and the new campaign of the Basque political prisoners. We will be the 17 of February in Nijmegen, the 18 in Amsterdam and the 28 in Utrecht. Please check our Monthprogram for the addresses. The infos will be in English.

Cheers
BIC


Monthly digital BIC-Newsletter nr. 1, period 1 until 31 January 2005

1) Basque political prisoners

2) Initiatives from Euskal Herria to come to a political solution of the conflict

3) Repression in the Basque Country

4) ETA

1) On the last day of the year 8000 people in 60 villages throughout the whole Basque Country hit the streets to ask attention for the more then 700 Basque political prisoners. 50 people demonstrated outside the largest prison in Madrid, Soto del Real. According to the prisonhelporganisation Etxerat 2004 showed a worsening situation, with 712 political prisoners more then ever in the history of Euskal Herria, spread around over 88 different prisons in 6 countries. Many critics were also for the Basque political parties who are not doing anything to ‘end the suffering of the prisoners and their relatives’, meaning the isolation and the dispersion policies.

The Basque prisoners collective EPPK gives out a statement at the 4th of January where they announce to take action and that the Basque prisoners in Mexico, Belgium, some in France and Spain, 37 people, started the first ‘estaffette’ and until 13 January won’t leave their cells. The prisoners all sent a letter to their prisondirector to tell their motives. They demand recognition of their basic rights as prisoners, but also the status of political prisoner and want to be involved in the process to come to a political resolution of the conflict in the Basque Country.

Prominent artists, writers and politicians from France demand at 7 January the release of the singer Peio Serbielle from Zuberoa, who was arrested in the French-Spanish police operation at 3 October last year in Béarn. Serbielle is now 700 kilometres from his village in prison and declared that he gave shelter to people, apparently ETA-members, out of humanitarian reasons and was taken before a judge at 9 November. There was said he didn’t pose any ‘danger’ and that his trial wouldn’t take place before the end of 2006.

At 8 January 32.000 people demonstrate in Bilbao for the transfer of Basque political prisoners to the Basque Country. The parties Batasuna and Aralar and the unions ELA and LAB supported the call from the pro-amnestia-movement. At the head of the demonstration were 100 ex-political prisoners and after them the relatives and friends of the 712 Basque political prisoners walked with photo’s of them.

The Basque political prisoner Iñaki de Juana Chaos, who was to be released at 9 February because he finished his 18-year sentence, hears at 10 January that he will not be released. Judge Fernando Grande-Marlaska De Juana wrote 2 opinion articles in the leftwing Basque newspaper GARA, for which he now is accused of being ‘ETA-member’ and ‘making terrorist threats’. De Juana was convicted for ‘helping’ in an attack in 1986 in Madrid were 12 members of the Guardia Civil were killed.

A similar case is that of the Basque political prisoner Edorta Sainz-Lobato, who should have been released on 13 January after 17 years, but on orders of judge Javier Gomez-Bermudez had to stay behind bars until the ‘measures of shortening the sentence’ are fully investigated. It is no coincidence; the Spanish juridical system and the Spanish Minister of Internal Affairs Jose Antonio Alonso look for measures to prevent Basque political prisoners to be released after serving their sentence. The Spanish Minister of Justice Juan Fernando Lopez-Aguilar said ‘they are not to be released before they shown remorse’. At this moment there are 100 Basque political prisoners who can be released according to the Spanish law, after serving ¾ of their sentence. Also the shortening measures won by working in the prison or good behaviour work not for them. Another example is Filipe Bidart, who was due for release in February 2003. At this moment there is a campaign for his release, among other through the French-Basque website www.filipeaska.com

2) The in May 2003 banned local election platforms of the left independent movement say in a statement at 13 January that 80 chosen councillors have failed to take their seat or left in at a certain moment. They announce that the coming week more councillors will give up their seat and that the 472 council seats where the left platforms are entitled to according to shadow-elections in May 2003, will be requested by them.

At 15 January 1000 people, among them 40 majors, attend the establishment of Euskal Herriko Laborantza Ganbara (the Agricultural Chamber of the Basque Country) in the French Basque province Behe Naffaroa. After years of campaigning and the refusal of the French Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Basque farmers in France made their own representation.

3) At the end of December the Spanish Parliament took a law into effect that the Spanish army, eminent present in the Basque Country, can be deployed against ETA. The army asked for such a law for a long time, but after the attacks on 11 March by Islamic extremists in Madrid it is there. The Basque Country suffers already for years from military manoeuvres, such as parachutists landing in villages and asking people for their identity-papers, or full-scale practice bombardments in Naffaroa. In 1981 the army helped to close the border between Spain and France, the river Bidasoa, that runs also as a border between the Basque Country.

The Public Prosecutor Enrique Molina of the Audiencia Nacional in Madrid demands at 4 Janaury alltogether 654 years imprisonment for the 42 accused youngsters in the case against the left independent Basque youth organisations Jarrai-Haika-SEGI. According to Molina the youngsters, who all had public functions in their organisations, are all ‘member’ or ‘co-operatives of ETA’ and he concludes that because the organisations have the same goals and even are a ‘financial unity’. From 10 of the 42 the where-abouts are unknown. Against Asier Tapia Molina demands 111 year and 10 months in prison because of the press conference he gave at 6 March 2001 after the arrest of 15 Haika members at the orders of judge Garzón. Tapia called to react on this arrests and Molina now holds him responsible for ’22 acts of terrorist street violence’, that followed on the arrests, and demands on top of that 24 million euro for the damage. The trial has to take place quickly now, because in March 2005 the terms of 4 years ‘research arrest’ is over and the first youngsters should be released. In the village Lekeitio, where 3 of the accused used to live, 125 people went onto the streets to protest against the charges.

Several days later 7 of the accused responded on a press-conference, where they were literally backed by 80 people representing all kinds of social organisations, on the charges of Molina: “This is apparently the price we have to pay for our work against job insecurity, for our struggle for better education and linguistic rights, for the alternative life-style in the social centres and for our fight for equal rights for the sexes”, they said.

The Spanish Ministry of Internal Affairs published at 5 January their figures about ‘anti-terror’-operations in 2004. The Spanish security forces arrested 74 suspected ETA-terrorists and another 57 were arrested in France, and 4 in Belgium. Probably they added Luis and Rakel to Jon and Diego, but the first were dismissed from prosecution and not extradited. Also 3 members of GRAPO were arrested, 1 member of the Italian Red Brigades and 1 IRA-member. And 131 arrests of Islamic extremists. Concerning ETA the police claims to have dissolved 2 ‘terrorist cells’, 3 networks working on recruitment and infrastructure and various ‘leaders’ were apprehended. 2004 was the first year since 1999 without dead victims by attacks of ETA.

Against the spokesman of the Basque anti-repression organisation Askatasuna, Jean François Lefort, who was arrested at 7 December, the European Arrest Warrant comes into effect at 14 January. Lefort however is a French citizen and the Spanish Justice didn’t come with any evidence until now.

The Public Prosecutor Juan Moral orders at 17 January to judge Garzón to prosecute 36 members of Batasuna because of ‘belonging to ETA’. Also the Herriko Tabernas, de leftwing people’s pubs, remain closed and the accounts frozen (also Batasuna’s). In 2002 Batasuna was accused of damage after streetriots, and the goal from Moral of both measures is the covering of the debt of 24 million euro. Garzón produces at 25 January a document of 267 pages in which he explores the same thesis as in the case ‘18/98’, in which he accuses all kinds of sectors of the left independent movement of ‘ETA-membership’. The 36 are all in one way or another, according to Garzón, connected to ETA and they committed their ‘crimes’ by the use of the Herriko Tabernas. Some of the accused Batasuna-members are also member of the Basque parliament and thus cannot be prosecuted and that’s why the judge asked the Basque High Court to prosecute them.

The International human rights organisation Human Rights Watch publishes at 27 January a 65 pages document about Spains measures against terrorism. Heavy criticism is given by HRW on the since November 2003 possible lengthen of the notorious ‘incommunicado-detention’ to 13 days. Also the safeguards against abuse, maltreatment and torture are by far not sufficient and the Spanish authorities fail to conduct proper investigations into torture complaints. And the rights of terror-suspects are violated and the terms of 4 years in ‘research- imprisonment’ is totally out of proportions, also because the inmates are subdued to isolation in most of the cases. The recommendations of HRW are not really a surprise and are in fact a repetition of every year’s recommendations of Amnesty International and the United Nation. They demand direct access to a lawyer when arrested, the possibility of a private conversation with that lawyer, presence of juridical help during all steps in the trial, the reduction of the admission of secret prove, the trial has to be held within 2 years and last but not least the guarantee for the conditions during imprisonment at the police.

At 28 January the French police arrests Araitz Zubimendi, Ibon Arbulu and Unai Berostegieta in Baiona and Ziburu, on orders of judge Garzón. Details about the accusation are not known yet, but it is to be expected that the European Arrest Warrant is put into effect on them. Garzón filed an international arrest warrant at 16 April 2004 against Zubimendi, a former member of the left-wing party Sozialista Abertzaleak, for her role in SEGI, in which case she didn’t show up. The arrest warrant for Arbulu, former councillor in Bilbao, dates from 30 April 2003, when the Guardia Civil wanted to arrest him at home in the police operation against Udalbiltza, the self organisation of councillors in Euskal Herria. The arrest warrant for Berostegieta dates from 24 April 2003, accused of ‘member of ETA’s recruiting organisation’.

4) Halfway January ETA sends a statement to the Basque daily Berria, were they emphasise to agree with the ‘Anoeta’-statement of the left-wing independence party Batasuna of 14 November last year. ETA thinks a ‘broad carried, specific process of dialogue’ has to be put in motion to solve the political conflict. ETA is ‘fully prepared’ to participate in such a process.

At 18 January a car bomb of ETA explodes in the area Neguri in Getxo, the damage is quiet heavy and one officer of the Basque regional police Ertzaintza is wounded. The Basque left-wing newspaper GARA received a warning call half an hour before the explosion and the caller also said were the owner of the car could be found, tied to a tree. It was the 6th ETA-bomb in that area since 1999, where directors, politicians and known journalists live.

The rumours of talks between representatives from Spanish government circles and ETA are strong, for sure after Batasuna sent a letter to the Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero urging him to negotiate.

At 30 January an ETA-bomb explodes near a hotel in Dénia, 2 people get wounded. ETA warned before the explosion.

This overview is written by the Baskenland Informatie Centrum from The Netherlands. You can contact us at baskinfo@xs4all.nl and you can check our site at www.baskinfo.org
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Etxeberria


Etxeberria Posted by Hello

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Wednesday, February 02, 2005

Next Stop: Referendum

After going through the moves (it amuses me when they call it a defeat, as if the outcome could have been different) and having to go to Madrid to present the plan for a new political relationship with Madrid, Ibarretxe decided to continue forward and called early elections and a referendum.

Personally, I liked this part a lot:

"No-one who calls themselves a democrat can deny our right to decide for ourselves," Ibarretxe told a news conference after an emergency cabinet meeting. "We can only co-exist with Spain by our own free will."

I wonder if those calling the Ibarretxe proposal a seccecionist plan realize how much they sound like Milosevic.


Ajuria Enea Posted by Hello

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Never Again

Despite the bombings of Durango and Gernika.

Despite the Graf von Spee shelling Bilbo day and night.

Despite how important was the contribution of the Basques to the resistance groups in France that rescued Allied pilots, political disidents and Jewish refugees.

Despite all the Basque farmers that were killed by Franco's forces for aiding people fleeing France.

Despite all the Basque smugglers that gave their lives to lead people escaping from the Nazis through the mountains.

Despite a 14 year old Basque boy being tortured because his father was found to be helping Jewish children out.

Despite all the Gudaris that died either in death camps, in Normandy, in Gascony, fighting the Nazis until liberation day in Paris.

Despite all that, no Basque leader was invited to take part in the commemoration acts in Oswiecim last week.

Realpolitiks stink.

And it is happening again.


Auschwitz Posted by Hello

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Tuesday, February 01, 2005

Devolution?

From all the articles that I read today about the refusal by the Spanish Parliament to green light the Ibarretxe Plan, the one at Deutsche Welle is the one that called my attention the most.

If Europe is moving towards a new definition of nation, if the European Union is bringing down the old concepts of what it meant to be a nation and states are doing away with borders and their own currency, if all that is viewed as natural evolution, how can the bid by the Scots, the Basques and the Irish to get more autonomy and still be an integral part of this new Europe can be considered devolution?

If anything, this nations without state are actually a step forward in relation with the rest of Europe.

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The Basque History

Oh boy...

The usual suspects are going to hate The Independent for publishing Mark Kurlansky's words today.

Here is a little sample:

In the idealised new Europe, economies are merged, citizenship is merged. But those who support the idea deny that countries will be eliminated. There will simply be a new idea of a nation - a nation that maintains its own culture and identity while being economically linked and politically loyal to a larger state. Some 1,800 years ago, the Basques told the Roman Empire that this was what they wanted. Four centuries ago, they told it to Ferdinand of Aragon. They have told it to Francois Mitterrand and Felipe Gonzalez and King Juan Carlos.

Check out the whole article, is rather informative, and it demolishes much of the propaganda dished out by more than one so called "liberal" blogs.

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