Thursday, October 19, 2006

Chile Supports Basque Peace Process

More international support for the peace process, this time from Chile according to EITb:

Chilean parliament passes statement supporting Basque process

10/19/2006

Among other requirements, the Chilean lawmakers demand that the decision of the Basque society will be respected.

The Chilean parliament has passed unanimously a statement supporting the peace process in the Basque Country on Thursday. Among other requirements, it demands that the decision of the Basque will be respected. The document has been handed in to Basque Premier Juan Jose Ibarretxe in the afternoon.

As soon as Ibarretxe arrived in Chile, he has been welcomed with a pleasant and unexpected surprise, since a delegation of the Chilean Senate has informed him about the statement.

In the text, the Chilean lawmakers show their pleasure for the Basques’ decision to carry a peace process, resulting in a scenario where all rights will be respected.

On the other hand, former Spanish president Jose Maria Aznar tried to persuade Chilean parties not to pass that statement boosted by former president of the Christian Democrat Party of Chile Adolfo Zaldivar.


It should not come as a surprise to find out that Aznar is trying to derail the peace process, after all, his vision of the world is one in which peaceful resolution is out of the question.

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Monday, October 16, 2006

Basque Cuisine

This article was published at EITb:

Basque cooking, one of the best cuisines in the world

This statement is corroborated by everyone who visits this region and eats at a bar, restaurant, steakhouse or cider farm - the food is very good in the Basque Country.

Traditional cooking based on the quality of its products and their simple preparation, with roots in public tradition and in which seafood plays a special part, although we should not forget our tasty meats and local products such as beans, cheese and junket. These and other products complete the extensive repertoire of our traditional gastronomy.

In the seventies, after researching, innovating and extending the repertoire of traditional Basque cooking and after a first contact with French cuisine, a group of young chefs came up with the idea of the so-called New Basque Cuisine, and today some of the leading chefs in this movement are household names. As a result of their experimentation and research, the group came up with new ingredients, new ways of preparing food, new aromas and combinations, creating an exquisite and creative cuisine.

Speaking of the Basque gastronomy, it would be impossible not to mention the Popular Gastronomic Societies, which can be found all over the region. These masculine redoubts represent a unique phenomenon and maintain the attachment to local culinary traditions very much alive. Without them, it would be difficult to explain the deep-rooted popularity of Basque cuisine. In these Societies, men cook for their friends and relatives, making gastronomy the basis for their social relations.

Another of the curiosities of Basque cooking are the "pinchos" or "tapas", small portions served in most bars and restaurants and which represent another opportunity to try the delicacies of our cuisine. The Basque Country offers a wide range of restaurants, steakhouses, seafood restaurants, cider farms, etc., for all tastes and pockets.


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Saturday, October 14, 2006

Gilberto "Gillo" Pontecorvo

Gillo Pontecorvo, the Italian filmmaker who directed the 1965 classic "The Battle of Algiers," died in a hospital in Rome on Thursday. He was 86. The cause of death was not given, but Pontecorvo suffered a heart attack a few months ago, news reports said.

Though Pontecorvo directed only a handful of feature films, which he also wrote, each was a reflection on some of the most gripping human dramas of contemporary history: class struggle in a village of fishermen in "The Wide Blue Road" (1957); the concentration camp tragedy "Kapo" (1960); and the political thriller "Ogro" (1979), about the killing in 1973 of Luis Carrero Blanco, then prime minister of Spain, by Basque freedom fighters.

But he will be best remembered for "The Battle of Algiers," about the bloody uprisings that led to Algeria's independence from France. The movie had been commissioned by the revolutionary government of Algeria and was based on a book by Saadi Yacef, once a leader of the National Liberation Front, who also produced the film and ended up with a starring role as the leader of the revolutionaries.

It was shot on location in the Algiers Casbah, and almost all the characters were played by nonactors, with a mix of locals and tourists in the roles of the country's French residents, which added to the film's documentary quality. On Friday, Yacef mourned the death of Pontecorvo. "It is my brother who died," he said in an interview with the Italian news agency ANSA. "I will never forget him, not only for what he did for Algeria, but for how he was, for his life. He was a patriot."

The news agency also reported that the government of Algeria sent a crown to Rome's City Hall, where Pontecorvo will lie in state until Saturday morning. "The Battle of Algiers" won the Golden Lion at the 1966 Venice FilmFestival, a festival that Pontecorvo would direct for four years, starting in 1992. But what added to the film's legend was that it served over the years as a kind of textbook of urban warfare for the most disparate of audiences, from the Black Panthers to the Pentagon.

It was shown in 2003 to military and civilian experts in the Pentagon's Directorate for Special Operations and Low- Intensity Conflict for them to reflect on the issue of using tactics like torture to combat terrorism. In a 2004 interview with the International Herald Tribune, Pontecorvo said he had found the Pentagon's interest in his film "a little strange."

The most "The Battle of Algiers" could do, he said, was "teach how to make cinema, not war."

Gilberto Pontecorvo was born on Nov. 19, 1919, in Pisa to a bourgeois Jewish family and was the younger brother of Bruno Pontecorvo, the Italian physicist who defected to Moscow in 1950. Gillo Pontecorvo moved to Paris after the Mussolini government passed laws in 1938 discriminating against Jews, and then to Saint-Tropez when the German Army entered the French capital. He joined the anti-Fascist resistance movement in Italy and became a leader of a partisan group in Milan.

According to his biographer, the film critic Irene Bignardi, Pontecorvo was a "man of many lives." He worked as a tennis teacher, deep-sea diver and newspaper correspondent in France before turning his hand to film, which became his lifelong love. In Paris, after the war, he worked as an assistant to the directors Yves Allegret and Joris Ivens and when he returned to Italy he began making documentaries.

"The Wide Blue Road" was his first feature film, "Ogro" the last.

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Friday, October 13, 2006

Another Gehry in Euskal Herria

For those of you amazed by Frank Gehry's architectural wonder that houses the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao I recommend you read this note published by Go Travel Insurance:

Gehry hotel unveiled in Basque country

A new Frank Gehry-designed hotel has been unveiled in Spain's Basque country

The region is already home to Gehry's iconic Guggenheim museum in Bilbao and the new hotel in the town of Elciego, located in an old winery, features similarly striking wavy titanium ribbons.

Eight years in the making, the Hotel Marques De Riscal project very nearly never happened because the Canadian architect was reluctant to fly back and forth from his base in Los Angeles.

However, when he was taken to the oldest wine cellar and drank a 1929 vintage bottle, Gehry reconsidered. "It was very good and after a few glasses I accepted," he said.

The hotel is located in the heart of the Rioja wine region and each of the 43 suites has been designed by Gehry himself. There is a restaurant with a Michelin star, a rooftop bar, a wine tasting corner, a cooking school and an eating area located in an ancient wine cellar.

There are two golf courses located within 35 kilometres of the hotel.


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Visiting Palestine

There is a great support towards the Palestinians in Euskal Herria, that is why I was glad to find this article at EITb:

Basque members of parliament visit Palestine

The Basque delegation will attend several meetings where it will explain the Basque conflict to European representatives and members of autonomous parliaments.

A group of Basque members of parliament headed by parliament president Izaskun Bilbao is in Palestine on an official visit. The delegation is made up of Basque parliament president Izaskun Bilbao Barandica, president of Human Rights Committee Iñigo Urkullu and members of parliament Gema González de Txabarri, Mertxe Agundez, Leopoldo Barreda, Itziar Baztarrika, Unai Ziarreta and Aintzane Ezenarro.

Izaskun Bilbao has committed herself to tackle the Basque conflict at the following meetings: A conference for presidents of autonomous parliaments and another one for European regional assemblies.

Bilbao has arrived in Ramallah accompanied by members of Basque parliament’s Human Rights Committee. They have been welcome at the Palestinian parliament by the deputy president of the institution.

Basque parliament president has expressed her wish that violence will disappear and peace will be established in Palestine. She has also urged Isarael to recognise the Palestinian country and has suggested some steps to solve the conflicts in Palestine and in the Basque Country.

Yesterday the group was welcome by the woman Mayor of Ramallah and they also met several social organisations. The trip will finish on Monday.


Just like the Spaniards and the French must end their colonial occupation of Euskal Herria, Israel must renounce to its genocidal campaign against the Palestinian people.

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Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Behatokia : De Juana's Report

This report comes to us from our friends in Behatokia:

Dear friends,

The case of the Basque prisoner Iñaki de Juana is a violation of several human rights. It is a case of arbitrary detention because of the irregular nature of the extension of his time in prison after having served his sentence in full and being entitled to his release; it is a flagrant violation of the right to freedom of speech, because he is being accused of terrorism for having published two opinion articles that had no criminal content whatsoever; it is an example of justice working at the whim of political interests and special jurisdictional activity; the treatment Iñaki de Juana is being subjected to, in that he is on hunger strike of his own free will and he is being force-fed against his will, is a clear case of inhuman and cruel treatment. This is probably the most flagrant case today, but it is not the only one; Iñaki de Juana’s current situation is but the tip of the iceberg.**

You can find the document attache, or in its pdf version at the address:

www.behatokia.info/docs/Info/dejuana/eng/dejuanaeng.zip

On October 7 a large demonstration marched through the streets of Donostia to demand the rights of Basque political prisoners be upheld.

Specifically, the demonstration demanded:

* the right to be released for the approximately 160 prisoners who are legally entitled to be released,

* the release of the 6 prisoners with serious incurable illnesses and

* the right of the prisoners to be repatriated to jails in the Basque Country


The demonstration, called by organisations from various sections of society, which have come together under the name of the Ibaeta Forum and represent the majority of the Basque organised civil society, was aimed at supporting the prisoners’ struggle for their rights, currently embodied in Iñaki de Juana’s long hunger strike.

After this large demonstration, de Juana decided to give up his hunger strike after 63 days. During this time he was force fed three times, but now, although in a delicate condition, he is recovering at the 12 de Octubre Hospital in Madrid.

However, on the 27th of this month, he will be tried for publishing two opinion articles in the Basque daily Gara, for which the prosecution is requesting 96 years in prison, alleging that through these articles he committed crimes of “issuing terrorist threats” and “membership of an armed group”. Therefore, we believe it is important to continue to follow Iñaki’s situation and especially, to maintain the pressure in view of this trial, which is illegitimate and violates his most basic rights and in view of the possibility of Iñaki being convicted, which would clearly be unjust.

Thank you for your interest,

Behatokia Communication Team


Euskal Herriko Giza Eskubideen Behatokia
Basque Observatory of Human Rights

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Pérez Esquivel and the Peace Process

He is one of the international figures strongly supporting the Peace Process initiated by ETA's ceasefire. This article about him was published by EITb:

Pérez Esquivel: ETA reached the "decision to dump arms"

The Nobel winner who signed a document to boost the peace process in the Basque Country alongside other five important international figures thinks the process is dealing with the "minimum demands" at the time being.

The Peace Nobel Prize winner Adolfo Pérez Esquivel affirmed that, in his opinion, ETA has reached the "decision to dump arms" and tackle a negotiation period "until the solution to problems is found."

In statements for Spanish radio station Cadena Ser, he added he had the feeling that the Government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has the "political will" to get rid of ETA's violence in the nascent process.

Pérez Esquivel regretted that conservative Popular Party, in his opinion, "turned its back" after ETA's permanent cease-fire even if "there was no advance" when they were in power despite having contacts with ETA.

In turn, the Nobel winner said that the process is, at the time being, dealing with "the minimum demands" and noted it has to advance towards "the intermediate" and "the maximum."

Pérez Esquivel is one of the important figures linked to international politics that has signed the "International Declaration to Support the Basque Process." There the signatories "encourage the two sides involved, the Spanish and the Basque, to follow" the undertaken path "without a break and in the complete absence of violence until its causes are completely wiped out."


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De Juana's Gratitude

This article about the decision by Basque political prisoner to end his hunger strike comes to us via EITb:

ETA prisoner says he didn't end hunger strike for health condition

The prisoner affirmed he decided to put an end to his hunger strike as he knew about "the fight under way" in solidarity with him and "the group of Basque political prisoners."

Iñaki de Juana Chaos said in a letter published Tuesday, October 10, by the Basque daily Gara and dated October 8 that his health condition was not the reason why he put an end to the hunger strike he started on August 7. He affirmed that was a secondary issue.

De Juana Chaos specified that he decided to feed "voluntarily" after he knew about "the fight under way" in solidarity with him and "the group of Basque political prisoners," the "countless" petitions he received to put an end to the hunger strike, and the compromise of Basque society while demanding the "return" of all Basque prisoners.

Furthermore, he requested "all Basque society" to "pull out" every Basque prisoner from Spanish and French jails, and voiced his gratitude for the "solidarity" received. He also pointed out that he will retain his "compromise" to fight "for the same principles and values" that led him to start the hunger strike.

For the time being, De Juana is still being treated for physical problems arising from the 63-dy hunger strike.

De Juana started to be force-fed by order of the Spanish National Court on September 19.


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Saturday, October 07, 2006

Ahotsak in Baiona

Member of Basque women platform 'Ahosak' (Voices) Beatrice Molle, speaks at a press conference in Bayonne, southwestern France, Saturday, Oct. 7, 2006. 'Ahotsak' is a new platform composed by activist women of all political parties and trade unions in the Basque Country in Spain and France, and it aims to boost women's presence in the Basque conflict resolution process, towards a democratic resolution. (AP Photo/Bob Edme)

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Gernika Honors 1930's Basque Republic

I believe there is no better place to commemorate the anniversary of the Basque Republic than Gernika.

This is what EITb tells us about today's events:

The Basque government held an extraordinary cabinet meeting on Sunday at the Assembly House of Gernika-Lumo to mark the 70th anniversary of the first Basque Executive of Basque Premier José Antonio Agirre.

At the ceremony, which paid tribute to all the members of that cabinet, Basque Premier Juan Jose Ibarretxe defended a plural and peaceful Basque Country. The event was attended by former Basque Premiers Carlos Garaikoetxea and Jose Antonio Ardanza, and by the 11 councillors of that first Executive.

It was a modest ceremony but extremely symbolic. Ibarretxe read a letter sent by Health Councillor Alfredo Espinosa to Basque Premier Aguirre just hours before he was executed by Franco’s army.

70 years later, Ibarretxe said that we had to commit ourselves to achieve peace and to respect the right of the Basque Country to decide its future.

Likewise, the Basque leader condemned Franco’s dictatorship and pleaded for “defending and respecting the democratic will of the Basques”.

Relatives of those first councillors also said some words. The son of former Basque Premier Agirre underlined that all of them were received due recognition though the ceremony. The Basque police’s orchestra played the Basque anthem at the end of the event.


Now, this is not the first Basque government in history, let me remind you here and now that Navarre was an independent state for over a thousand years.

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Peace Preparations Up North

Here you have a news item by the Scotsman regarding the talks between ETA and the Spanish Government:

OSLO (Reuters) - The Basque separatist group ETA and Spanish officials have been holding secret talks at an undisclosed location in Norway to prepare for official peace negotiations, Norwegian television reported on Saturday.

Commercial broadcaster TV2 cited anonymous sources in the Norwegian government as confirming that the talks were taking place.

Earlier in the day the Spanish newspaper ABC, citing unnamed experts on the peace process, said the talks were focussed on disarming the group, responsible for hundreds of deaths during its four-decade armed struggle for Basque independence.

Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba denied "emphatically" that Spain had begun talks with ETA in Oslo, or was preparing a meeting in the Norwegian capital to start negotiations, Europa Press reported.

"It's not true ... no such contacts exist and not in Oslo," the agency reported him as saying.

ETA declared a permanent ceasefire in March, but peace talks announced in June by Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero have not yet begun.

Spanish media say this is largely because the pro-independence party Batasuna, banned for its links to ETA, has not been allowed to take part in separate consultations on the future of the Basque Country.

ABC said Norway was aware of the talks, but the country's foreign ministry declined to confirm or deny the reports.

"We can't say anything about this," Norwegian foreign ministry spokeswoman Anne Lene Dale Sandsten told Reuters.

TV2 said the discussions were being held in a villa outside Oslo.

So far ETA has not offered to disarm and initial contacts are expected to centre on the location and possible early release of ETA members serving sentences in jails all over Spain.

Norway has a tradition as a peace mediator. It hosted the talks between Israel and the Palestinians that led to the 1993 Oslo accords, which subsequently failed.

In 2002, it helped broker a truce in the two-decade civil war in Sri Lanka between Tamil Tiger separatists and government forces. That deal also broke down earlier this year, but Norway remains involved as a mediator.

(Additional reporting by Ben Harding in Madrid)

We can only hope that Spain really wants a peaceful end to their illegal occupation of Euskal Herria.

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Supporting the Basque Political Prisoners

There is no way around it, Spain's repressive measures must come to an end.

Today, thousands marched to show their support towards the collective of Basque political prisoners in a demonstration called by the Ibaeta Forum, here is the note according to EITb:

Thousands of people have demonstrated in Donostia-San Sebastian in favour of Basque prisoners. Many leaders of banned Batasuna, leftist Aralar and Basque trade unions LAB and ELA have attended the rally summoned by the Ibaeta Forum.

The demonstration has begun at 05:00 pm at the tunnel of the Antiguo neighbourhood. The protest was opened by a banner demanding "Euskal presoak Euskal Herrira. Dagokien eskubide guztiek jabe" (Basque Prisoners to the Basque Country. In Control of all Their Rights), which was carried among others by secretary general of Basque trade union ELA Jose Elorrieta; Batasuna leaders Joseba Permach, Pernando Barrena and Joseba Alvarez; secretary general of Basque trade union LAB Rafa Diez; and leader of leftist Aralar Mikel Basabe. Juan Mari Olano, spokesman of political prisoner and exile support organisation Askatasuna; and lawyer Iñigo Iruin have also taken part at the event.

Relatives of Basque prisoners were at the head of the rally carrying photos of the inmates while the banner followed them. The attendants have chanted several slogans, such as "De Juana askatu" (Release De Juana), "Presoak Etxera" (Bring Prisoners Home), "Pakerik ez amnistiarik gabe" (No Peace without Amnesty) and "Independentzia" (Independence). A photo of Basque prisoner De Juana Chaos recalled his 62 days on hunger strike. Signatures to request his release have been collected at the event.

At the end of the rally, the spokesman of the Basque prisoners’ platform Ibaeta Forum has read a communiqué in Boulevard Street, demanding Spanish and French governments to move Basque prisoners to Basque country jails and to release “six ill prisoners and other 126 that have already served sentence”.

Batasuna

Leader of Batasuna Jone Goirizelaia has requested Spain’s government to end with its policy regarding ETA prisoners, because it is “unacceptable, even more when we are dealing with a peace process”.


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Mundaka's Billabong Pro '06

Basque surfer Hodei Collazo rides a wave during the Billabong Pro Mundaka surf contest, part of the ASP Men's World Tour, in Mundaka, October 7, 2006. REUTERS/Vincent West

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Friday, October 06, 2006

De Juana's Transfer

As he enters his third month on a hunger strike for his liberation according to the law in Spain, Iñaki de Juana has been transferred to a hospital in Madrid.

Here you have the note from EITb:

61 DAYS ON HUNGER STRIKE

Basque prisoner transferred to Madrid's hospital

10/06/2006

Basque prisoner Iñaki de Juana Chaos has been transferred from an Algeciras hospital (southern Spain) to Doce de Octubre Hospital in Madrid on Friday for closer monitoring, news reports said. The health centre is specialised in malnutrition.

The General Direction of Prison Institutions has notified Spain’s High Court that Jose Ignacio de Juana Chaos was to be taken to the Doce de Octubre hospital for specialised treatment because of his deteriorating condition.

Doce de Octubre Hospital counts on specialised facilities to treat the prisoner, who has spent 61 days on hunger strike. So far, Iñaki de Juana Chaos has been hospitalised in an Algeciras hospital. The inmate will be force-fed at the facility just as Spain’s High Court requested on September 19th.

Precisely, the Spanish High Court issued a ruling by the General Direction of Prison Institutions on Monday requesting the transfer of the prisoner from the Punta Europa Hospital to a specialised health centre, when the doctors overseeing his treatment think it would be advisable.

De Juana began his hunger strike Aug. 7 to demand release, claiming he had served his sentence. He was taken to a hospital in the southern town of Algeciras on Sept. 19 and began to be force fed several days later.


Iñaki askatu!

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American Self-Criticism

I said it before and I'll say it again, blog trackers are a blessing.

Otherwise I would have missed this excellent entry by Racer X at his blog Ferdiad - The Warrior Liberal called Bowling for Idiots.

Here you have part of it:

Does anyone know what I hate the most about America? No, it isn’t the fact that the Republican leadership will cover up sexual predation in order to save a political seat. No, it isn’t the fact that our President wants to create a Gulag Archipelago of his own. No, it isn’t even because our government has turned America from being a beacon of light to the rest of the world into the scorn of the international community. What bothers me most about America is the stupidity of its people. Before you click to another site, please allow me to explain. Most of what I speak of, I am afraid, is not the fault of the people themselves, but rather the deliberate work of the elite.

What frustrates me most about the American people is lack of knowledge and ignorance of history. I remember reading a book about Basque Independence last year and how enlightened I felt. (For those asking what is a “Basque,” my point proven). I then changed my MSM IM call sign to “Herri Batasuna,” which is the Basque nationalist political party. A Swedish friend of mine got online and wrote to me, “When did you start studying the Basque independence movement?” At that moment, I was dumbfounded. I realized that most of what I strive very hard to understand is common knowledge to the rest of the world. As Americans, we are blind to world history. As Americans, we truly are isolated in a fairy tale world of ignorance. How many Americans can tell you about the CIA involvement in the overthrow of the democratically elected government of Iran? How many Americans know the name Simon Bolivar? How many Americans can tell you exactly how Fidel Castro came to power and why he commands massive support from the indigenous population? Can you tell me a friend of yours that can speak intelligently about the Islamic Revolution? How many Americans are even able to explain what Apharthied is and how such a disgusting system of government came to pass? What about the Boer war or the Crimean war? How many Americans know the significance of those events? Do you know anyone who can discuss the implications of the Russo-Japanese war and how Russia’s defeat to the Japanese set the stage for WWII? It was the first major military defeat of a white “Western” power to a “colored” enemy from the “Eastern” world. What will the long term effects of America’s folly in Iraq be for future generations? How many people do you know that understand the problems in Northern Ireland? How many Americans know the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? No, I am not talking about the “made for TV” explanation found only in the Bible, but rather the true causes for the conflict?


I recommend you read the whole thing. All I did was to type "basque" at Sphere. If Oliver Stone had had the chance to read it before going to Euskal Herria to show just how dense he is.

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Dream Soccer Match

Basque leader Juan Jose Ibarretxe addresses Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) supporters in September. Ibarretxe says he dreams of a future World Cup rivalry between his region and Catalonia.(AFP/File/Rafas Rivas)

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Thursday, October 05, 2006

Mission to Belfast

From left to right, Reverend Harold Good, who acted as an independent clerical witness to IRA decommissioning, Jon Landa, Director of Human Rights for the Basque Government and Joseba Azcarraga, Basque Minister for Justice walk in Belfast city centre Thursday Oct. 5, 2006. A delegation from the Basque region are in Belfast to meet politicians, police and Government officals on a fact finding mission to understand the Northern Ireland peace process. During a 24-hour visit on Tuesday to Madrid British Prime Minister Tony Blair urged Spain to be patient and determined as it seeks peace with separatists in the Basque region, drawing on his experience in dealing with the IRA. (AP Photo/Paul Faith/PA)

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SNP Supports the Process

Well, this is good news.

The SNP has lended its support to the Basque peace process.

But what is the SNP?

This is what you can find at their web site:

The SNP is a democratic left-of-centre political party committed to Scottish Independence. It aims to create a just, caring and enterprising society by releasing Scotland's full potential as an independent nation in the mainstream of modern Europe.

The SNP was founded in 1934, and has had continuous parliamentary representation since 1967. Currently in the Scottish Parliament we have 25 MSPs and are the Official Opposition in the Scottish Parliament. At Westminster we have six MPs, two MEPs within the European Parliament, and 181 local councillors throughout Scotland.

The party has been at the forefront of the campaign for Scottish self-determination for almost seventy years. The evolution of the SNP has been paralleled by the political evolution of Scotland herself — from an almost totally unionist country to a nation on the brink of independence.

The Scottish people have invested a lot in their Parliament but there is a growing realisation that, although devolution was a job worth doing, it is a job half done.

The SNP exists to argue the case for completing the powers of the Scottish Parliament and returning Scotland to the normal status of an independent country. Independence means Scotland will have a direct voice in Europe and the international community, and the power to tackle Scotland’s social and economic problems by making Scotland’s wealth work for Scotland’s people.


And this is the note they posted at their site:

SNP call for progress on Basque Peace talks

europe

SNP Europe Spokesman Alyn Smith has today called on all parties in the peace process in the Basque Country to begin substantive talks as soon as possible and warned that the peace process risks losing what little momentum has been built up.

Mr Smith is in the Basque Country meeting with Ministers of the Basque government and representatives of the Basque Parliament, as well as other parties. Mr Smith is a founder member of the international "Parliamentarian Friendship Group" established to monitor events and support progress in the peace process where appropriate.

Speaking from Vitoria, Mr Smith said: "I have been struck by just how positive an example Scotland is for the Basque Country. We have achieved the establishment of the Parliament in Edinburgh and set our country on a sure path to change without recourse to violence. As the SNP prepares for government I have been here to stress our support for progress in the Basque Country and to learn from their experience of government.

"The Basque Country has a historic opportunity to make progress. That opportunity must not be missed. Just last week ETA threatened a return to violence, a move that would be heartbreaking when the peace process might be gaining ground. "As a friendly outsider I would not suggest how the Basques should solve their problems, but it is clear to me that the problems of the Basque Country are political in nature, and can only be solved by dialogue.

"The SNP has always been an outward looking internationalist party. Next week Scotland will host a further round of talks in the Northern Ireland Peace Process. Taking the parties to conflict out of their home environment will inspire a more constructive outcome. I look at the positive influence that small northern European states have had, like Norway in the Middle East and Sri Lanka as peace makers. As we look towards an SNP government in 2007 I want to see Scotland join those countries who are able to offer others the support and space needed to reach a peaceful deal and to and play our proper role in the world.

"The Basque Country has, despite the political problems, achieved levels of economic growth and a standard of living for their people that I look at with envy. Scotland has a lot to learn from the world as well as a lot to give, I have been proud to be here to demonstrate the interest and support of the SNP for peaceful dialogue."

Mr Smith also discussed issues to be debated at the European Parliament in Strasbourg on October 25th when the Basque Peace Process will be discussed.


A like these words even more today: "They can take away your life, but they will never take, your freedom!"

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Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Euskadi and the Spanish "Civil War"

This note comes to us thanks to EITb:

The Direction of Cultural Heritage of the Culture Department of the Basque Government will publish a Guide of Documentary and Bibliographic Sources of the Civil War in the Basque Country in 2008. The project is within the plan of the Interdepartmental Commission to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Civil War.

The Culture, Youth and Sports vice-councillor, Gurutz Larrañaga, and the vice-president of Basque Studies Association, Jon Kortazar, have presented this initiative today in Bilbao. Professor José Luis de la Granja Sainz directs the project, which is being elaborated in the History-Geography section of the Basque Studies Association by six Civil War experts who have worked with archives, bibliographies and documents very often.

This source guide covers the whole period of the Civil War, from July 18, 1936 until April 1, 1939 and includes the territories of Alava, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa. However, documentary sources are not limited to these provinces, they also include those in the Spanish State and abroad.

As the managers noted, this publication is "pioneering" since "it hardly has precedents of the Civil War" and "there is no similar guide, so wide, in any autonomous region."

The Guide of Documentary and Bibliographic Sources was designed as "an essential tool" for all historical investigations of this period and facilitates the search of information on Civil War victims, necessary for survivors and their descendants, who requested the compensation passed by a Basque Government Decree.

The calendar designed contemplates the definitive writing of the guide for 2008, with an introduction and several indexes, and the preparation of its edition as a book.


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Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Blair and Rodríguez

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, left, listens at a joint press conference with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero after a meeting in 'La Quinta' Palace outside Madrid, Tuesday Oct. 3, 2006. Blair arrived Tuesday for talks with Spanish leaders on the Basque conflict, with Madrid hoping to draw on his experience in dealing with the IRA. (AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza)

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Blair and the Process

One can never tell if this is good news or bad news.

Lets cut to the chase, Tony Blair is today's Benito Mussolini. He hitched his wagon to the world wide punitive campaign by Herr George W. Bush. He misses the old glories when England was an empire where the sun would never set. All that came crashing down in Dunkirk when the Nazi military spared thousands of English troops trapped in that port.

So, Blair got England to support the US invation of Afghanistan and Iraq. Let us remember here that it is in great part the responsability of England for the present day regional disputes in the Middle East and the Persian Gulf. Who can forget tha the first aerial attacks with biological weapons (what today is called weapons of mass destruction') against civilian populations were ordered by the bulldog butcher by the name of Winston Churchill.

But that was not enough, in the recent rape of Lebanon where hundreds of innocent civilians were murdered by the terrorist Israeli offense forces, it was Blair who supported Bush on his push for a delay in the international demand for a cease fire.

Therefore, to have Blair supporting Rodríguez during the peace process in the Basque Country is a bit worrying, despite the way London has been dealing with the IRA over the issue of the English occupation of Northern Ireland.

Here you have the note that appeared at Yahoo News:

Tue Oct 3, 3:45 PM ET

British Prime Minister Tony Blair passed on tips gleaned from his experience brokering an uneasy peace in Northern Ireland as he backed Spain's current drive for peace in its troubled Basque country.

Blair said the oft-drawn parallel between Northern Ireland and the Basque conflict was on his mind after the watchdog monitoring disarmament of paramilitary groups in the British-ruled province sent a key report to London and Dublin on Monday ahead of key peace talks next week.

"If the report is positive it is a serious demonstration that the conflict is genuinely over," said Blair at the start of a two-day Spanish visit.

The Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC)'s disarmanent report, whose contents were scheduled to be disclosed on Wednesday, will be central to multiparty talks in Scotland on October 11-13 aimed at restoring power-sharing in Northern Ireland, nine years after multiparty talks started in 1997.

Those talks eventually culminated in the Good Friday Agreement of April 1998 which set out a plan for devolved government.

Blair cited the "many ups and downs and difficulties" of seeking peace.

"You need perseverence... patient determination," he told reporters, adding he had enjoyed a good and constructive meeting with his host, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

"Resolving these very long-standing issues is very difficult work," said Blair, who noted that in Northern Ireland as in the Basque country "there can sometimes appear to be a blockage or you can get diverted off the path -- but this is a natural part of the process."

But he added that if the will existed on all sides to progress then peace was achieveable.

"It does happen if you do your best to move forward," said Blair, adding that in Northern Ireland progress had been made once "there was leadership prepared to take risks," a sense among people they want peace and a feeling that in the modern world this type of conflict was "alien to the 21st century."

Zapatero was keen to enlist Blair's support after a planned first meeting this summer between government officials and ETA representatives was postponed prompting further tension amongst Basque nationalists.

The Spanish leader, under pressure from opposition conservatives opposed to any dealings with ETA, said a Basque peace process had become reality six months ago when ETA announced a permanent ceasefire. Zapatero thanked Blair for his input.

"I received much information on the peace process in Northern Ireland and it was very useful to have heard his experiences," he said.

Blair noted the "positive" development of the ceasefire which has held notwithstanding low-level urban unrest since its announcement and also noted the last fatality in the conflict was in mid-2003.

But he warned that ending both conflicts was a "still difficult and complicated process".

On a positive note, today's Francisco Franco, blood thirsty José María Aznar, is not the one calling the shots from La Moncloa.

Besides, one has to wonder what Blair thinks about being a Basque descendant.

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Monday, October 02, 2006

Venezuela's Basque Topic

Some news outlets have been covering the story about an ETA militant being employed by Hugo Chávez.

Here you have the note from The Herald Tribune:

Venezuelan official says no ETA member employed by Chavez's government

The Associated Press

Published: October 2, 2006

CARACAS, Venezuela Venezuela's justice minister on Monday denied that the government of President Hugo Chavez is employing any member of the Basque separatist group ETA.
Jesse Chacon's comments came after opposition candidate Manuel Rosales accused Chavez of flirting with terrorist groups, citing Spain's announcement last week that it was investigating reports that Arturo Cubillas — an alleged former ETA militant — has been working at Venezuela's agriculture ministry since October 2005.
"No member of ETA exists in the government," Chacon said Monday.
The justice minister told reporters that Cubillas has lived in Venezuela since 1989 with his Venezuelan-born wife, who works for the government.
He said Cubillas came to the country along with 10 other "people linked to the Basque problem that existed at that moment in Spain" as part of a diplomatic agreement that year between Venezuela, Spain and Algeria.
"They remade their lives here, and they don't have any arrest warrants out (for them) by any government," he said.
Chacon did not say whether Cubillas was employed by the government, however, adding that he doesn't "know who the agriculture ministry hires."
Spanish Justice Minister Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar said last week that officials were investigating whether any criminal charges are still pending against Cubillas.
Earlier Monday, Rosales, used the revelation to attack Chavez, who he faces in Dec. 3 presidential elections.
"It's not right that we have a terrorist in the government," Rosales told a news conference. "We shouldn't be forging ties with groups that are identified with terrorism."
Chavez has rejected previous accusations that he sympathizes with terrorist groups and has strongly condemned terrorist attacks in Spain, the United States and elsewhere.
Cubillas is wanted by Spanish police for allegedly having belonged to an ETA commando unit blamed for three murders in 1984-85, according to the Spanish newspapers ABC and El Mundo. He was arrested in France in 1987, deported to Algeria and sent from there to Venezuela in 1989, along with 10 other ETA members, ABC said.
Cubillas was detained by Venezuelan police in 2002 but released when they determined that his name was not on a list of ETA members sought by Spain's National Court, the papers said.


Not much to add to what the venezuelan official already stated, only the little irony of Chavez getting this accusation even after he extradited three Basque political refugees right after he occupied the presidential office. And he did so knowing that there is torture in Spain and that Aznar was allegedly one of this sworn enemies.

Rome does not pay traitors Hugo!

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University of Ulster and the Basque Peace Process

This news release comes to us straight from the University of Ulster website:

UU Expert Helps Push for Peace in Basque Region

A University of Ulster academic is helping the search for peace in Spain’s Basque region.

Professor Alan Smith, UNESCO Chair in Education for Pluralism, Human Rights and Democracy was among a group of international experts invited by the Basque Regional President, Juan José Ibarretxe, to analyse and contribute to a peace plan for the region.

The Peace and Coexistence Plan was approved in April and sent to the Basque Parliament for consultation with interest groups.

It has five key points – promotion of human rights; solidarity with victims of terrorism; reparation for the victims of Franco’s regime; defence of civil and political rights; and, prevention of torture and defence of prisoners’ rights.

Each of the group has a particular field of expertise and Professor Smith along with Pamela Aall, vice president of the US Institute of Peace and Ann Hope, a member of the NI Human Rights Commission, studied the part of the plan dealing with the defence of human rights and the role of education in reconciliation.

Brandon Hamber, a clinical psychologist amd honary INCORE Fellow, who helped in the work of transition and reconciliation in South Africa and Northern Ireland, examined the section dealing with terrorism victims.

Pierre Hazan, former correspondent with French daily newspaper, Liberation, and a researcher with the Swiss National Foundation on Human Rights in Geneva, made recommendations on recovering historic memory and reparation for Franco’s regime victims.

Andrea Bartoli, director of the International Conflict Resolution Programme at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and advisor to the UN Secretary General on the prevention of genocide and conflict, analysed the section of the plan dealing with defence of liberties and civil and political rights.

Ciaran O’Maolain, of the NI Human Rights Commission, contributed to the section on torture and respect of prisoners’ rights.

During their visit to the region the group met with the Political Council of the Basque Government to analyse and make recommendations on the plan.

Ends


For further information, please contact:

Press Office, Department of Public Affairs
Tel: 028 9036 6178
Email: pressoffice@ulster.ac.uk


Now, if they could all stop calling it a region, the Basque Country is exactly that, a country, a nation occupied by two foreign powers. Doing so would put everything into the right context.

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Talks and More Talks

This note comes to us thanks to EITb:

Basque Premier Juan José Ibarretxe said that "official talks" between the armed Basque band ETA and the Spanish Government are underway as well as the talks among all the political parties, so he is optimistic about the Basque peace process.

In an appearance at the IV Meeting of the Chamber of Commerce of Bilbao in the Guggenheim Bilbao Museum, Ibarretxe stressed the importance of "sending a message of optimism" on the Basque peace process to the Basques. The Basque president also urged the politicians to be "well-balanced" because "it is not right to send a message of optimism in the morning and a message of pessimism at night."

Ibarretxe said he understands Basques are worried about the peace process but he added he was optimistic as, on the one hand, the "official talks between ETA" and the Spanish Government are underway, and , on the other hand, the talks among all the political parties.

The Basque premier said he is confident the political parties are currently "more mature than ever to deal with the Basque peace process" and, therefore, "make the dream of peace and of political agreements come true."


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Sunday, October 01, 2006

Kilometroak in Oiartzun

Oiartzun was one of the places I was lucky enough to visit during my trip to Euskal Herria at the end of the summer.

So, I was glad to read this note at EITb:

Kilometroak 2006, the Basque schools’ day of Gipuzkoa, is been celebrated in Oiartzun in a festive atmosphere. The event is been accompanied by a wonderful weather. This year’s edition has been organised by the local school Haurtzaroa Ikastola.

The commitment to the Basque language and to the Ikastolas (Basque schools) is so rooted in the Basque society that thousands of people are awaited in the festival in order to enjoy the day and to pay tribute to the ikastolas.

The day will be packed with music and dance performances, as well as sports activities and other kind of attractions.

Organisers aim at getting enough funding to be able to guarantee a wide teaching offer. The takings from this event will go towards the restoration of the school’s facilities and the construction of a new building.

The opening of the festival took place at 09:00 am with the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Principal Arantxa Manterola welcome the attendants, including Basque government’s spokesperson Miren Azkarate.


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