This is not a news article from Spain under the murderous dictatorship of Francisco Franco.
Neither a note from six years ago when Spain was ruled by an extreme-right party lead by a fascist and genocidal maniac by the name of Jose Maria Aznar, responsible along with George W. Bush and Tony Blair for the murder of dozens of thousands of Iraqi civilians.
No, this is breaking news, it is happening just now, when Spain is ruled by an allegedly socialist party led by a "well intentioned" politician by the name of Jose Luis Rodríguez, responsible along George W. Bush and Tony Blair for the murder of dozens of thousands of Afghan civilians.
Yes, in today's Spain, an authoritarian state that a lot of people fancy calling it a "young democracy", a Basque political party has been banned accused of being the continuation of another political party, Batasuna, a party that six years ago, you read that correctly, six years ago was accused of being ETA political wing without the Spanish government having produced a single piece of evidence to support the accusation.
Here you have it, the article appeared at Yahoo News:
Neither a note from six years ago when Spain was ruled by an extreme-right party lead by a fascist and genocidal maniac by the name of Jose Maria Aznar, responsible along with George W. Bush and Tony Blair for the murder of dozens of thousands of Iraqi civilians.
No, this is breaking news, it is happening just now, when Spain is ruled by an allegedly socialist party led by a "well intentioned" politician by the name of Jose Luis Rodríguez, responsible along George W. Bush and Tony Blair for the murder of dozens of thousands of Afghan civilians.
Yes, in today's Spain, an authoritarian state that a lot of people fancy calling it a "young democracy", a Basque political party has been banned accused of being the continuation of another political party, Batasuna, a party that six years ago, you read that correctly, six years ago was accused of being ETA political wing without the Spanish government having produced a single piece of evidence to support the accusation.
Here you have it, the article appeared at Yahoo News:
Spain's Supreme Court bans Basque party
Tue Sep 16, 8:13 AM ET
Spain's Supreme Court has banned a party in the country's Basque region because of its links to armed separatists ETA, the court's head said on Tuesday.
The court had already banned the ANV (the Nationalist Basque Action) from taking part in Spain's general elections in March, but had stopped short of preventing party members from carrying out other activities.
The court's ruling on Tuesday meant the ANV would be dissolved and its assets seized, court head Francisco Jose Hernando said in a brief statement outside the court.
ANV's 400 or so local councilors in the Basque Region and Navarra, in northern Spain, would be expected to stand down under the ruling.
The Spanish authorities say the ANV has taken over representing ETA from Batasuna, the political wing of ETA, which is already banned.
From Wednesday, the Supreme Court will start to study whether to also ban Basque party PCTV.
Last week, Spain's Constitutional Court also banned a plan by the Basque Country's government to hold a referendum-style vote on the region's future.
Basque Country Premier Juan Jose Ibarretxe, a member of the moderate Basque Nationalist Party, said the region's government would appeal to Europe over the ban, branding it "an abuse of democracy."
Spain's Socialist government has said from the start that the vote would be illegal and could not go ahead.
Ibarretxe has not clarified whether he wants the Basque Country to secede or just obtain more powers from Madrid.
The Basque Country already has autonomy over many areas including health and education, which it has used to promote the unique Basque language.
(Reporting by Inmaculada Sanz, writing by Sarah Morris, editing by Myra MacDonald)
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It means (again) depriving some 1 out of 6 or 7 Basques from our right to vote. In some towns, it can mean nearly all citizens. And it's nothing new: it's been going on for a decade or so.
ReplyDeleteBut it's even more insidious because now we are talking of a historical party which was strongly compromised, not just with Basque self-rule but also with Spanish democacy: a party that did not surrender to the fascists like the PNV did, that fought till the last moment in favor of the Spanish Republic, in spite of being secessionist.
Meanwhile they impose the Spanish flag and the PNV swallows without any shame (Azkuna and all those jelzaleak are so submissive to Spain on the pretext of "legality" that they suck: it's not just cowardice but specially conformism and submission with a folk touch).
En fin. We can just be confident that eventually things will change.