Spain Punishes Basque Politicians

Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon charged 44 Basque politicians with membership of the militant separatist movement ETA, which the the fascist Spanish government calls a terrorist organization.

All were members of three banned separatist parties -- the Communist Party of the Basque Country (PCTV), Basque Nationalist Action (ANV) and Batasuna. Among those charged are the mayoress of the northern town of Mondragon, Maria Inocencia Galparsoro, as well as Pernando Barrena and Joseba Permach, leading figures on the radical left.

The charges are a new example of how Spain violates the civil and political rights of the Basque people, specially those who work towards the self determination and the eventual independence of Nabarra (the historic Basque Country) currently occupied by Spain and France.

Spain's Supreme Court banned two further nationalist parties from regional elections earlier this month using a so called Law of Political Parties, a Franco era style law that allows Madrid to ban any political party that demands and end to the long colonialist rule of the nations abducted by Spain's statehood, meaning that there is no truly democratic elections in Spain, a country ruled by a king elected by Francisco Franco since the death of dictator.

After more than one hundred thousand votes where declared null by Madrid, the ruling Basque Nationalist Party is expected to lose power in the Basque Country to a coalition of the two parties that represent Madrid's colonialist rule, the PP and the PSOE -- ending an unbroken run of Basque nationalist governments going back to 1980.

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Spain Bans D3M and Askatasuna

Like I mentioned in the previous entry about how the UN has unmasked Spain as a human an political rights' violator, yet Zapatero has ordered two more Basque political parties banned.

You can read about it at this article found at Google News:

Spanish top court bars two parties from Basque polls


MADRID (AFP) — Spain's supreme court backed Sunday a government request to bar two Basque pro-independence parties from regional elections next month, judicial sources said.

The justices "have annulled the candidacies of the D3M and Askatasuna" in the March 1 elections, the sources told AFP.

The government and prosecutors charged that Democracy Three Million (D3M) and Askatasuna have links to the armed Basque separatist group ETA and its political arm Batasuna, which the court outlawed in 2003.

Anti-terrorist Judge Baltasar Garzon is to hand down a separate decision Tuesday on whether to suspend the parties' political activities.

Radical Basque separatist parties draw support from approximately 10 percent of Spain's Basque voters.

Spanish courts blocked two radical Basque parties, PCTV (Party of Basque Lands) and ANV (Nationalist Basque Action), from running in legislative elections last March over alleged links to ETA.

What Zapatero want is for the candidate for his own party, Patxi López, to win the elections so they can both dismantle what Basque society has built in the Basque autonomous community for the last 30 years.

Funny thing, the Zapatero's PSOE deployed the terrorist group known as GAL but somehow his party is not being banned, talk about Apartheid.

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EU Endorses Apartheid

Eighteen years ago the world celebrated the end of the Apartheid regime in South Africa, yet, today, the European Union decided to endorse Spain's own brand of political, civil, and human rights violations' state policy. In doing so the leaders of the EU deprives a large percentage of the Basque electorate of their representation which means that those who call the shots in Europe can care less about democracy.

This article was published at Nasdaq's web page:

Spanish Government: EU Adds Two Basque Parties To Terror List

MADRID (AFP)--The European Union has added two Basque separatist parties and two recently arrested ETA leaders to its list of groups and individuals supporting terrorism, the Spanish government said Tuesday.

The Communist Party of Basque Lands, or PCTV, and the Basque Nationalist Action, or ANV, will join the armed Basque separatist group ETA and its political wing Batasuna on the roster, the interior ministry said in a statement.

The E.U. also added 13 ETA members to its terror list, including the group's suspected military chief Aitzol Iriondo Yarza and his predecessor Miguel de Garikoitz Aspiazu Rubina, both of whom were arrested in France recently, it added.

Spain's Supreme Court voted in September to outlaw both the PCTV and the ANV in a decision based on a 2002 law allowing the exclusion of parties that back terrorism.

Both parties are suspected to have served as a front for Batasuna in elections.

Spain's top antiterrorism Judge Baltasar Garzon suspended their activities for three years in February, barring them from running in Spain's legislative elections in March.

Now, lets wait and see if twenty years from now the EU will remove Aitzol and Mikel from their terrorist list, just like the USA did with Nelson Mandela a few months ago.

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March Against Banning of Political Parties

Demonstrators on Saturday marched through the streets of Bilbao, the financial capital of the Basque Autonomous Community, to protest a Supreme Court decision last month to ban two Basque independence parties. The protesters walked behind a large banner which read "Freedom for Euskal Herria," using the Basque language name for the Basque Country.

The march was organised by left-wing Basque nationalists to protest the court's decision to ban the Basque Nationalist Action (ANV) and Communist Party of Basque Lands (PCTV) because of their alleged links to Batasuna.

Among those who took part in the march was the president of ANV, Kepa Bereziartua, and the former spokesman for Batasuna, Arnaldo Otegi, who was released from jail in August after spending just over a year behind bars.

Batasuna has been banned as a party since 2003 when the Francoist government of Juan Carlos Borbon created a law that is in fact a throw back to his benefactor's regime of death and terror.

The Basque Country already enjoys considerable autonomy but most Basques want to secede from Spain and France and regain the sovereignty they enjoyed for hundreds of years.

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Political Prisoner Released in Myanmar

In Yahoo News they posted a news article regarding the liberation of a political prisoner by the name of Win Tin, a journalist.

Here you have it with, some comments:

Longest-held political prisoner freed in Myanmar

2 hours, 39 minutes ago

Myanmar's longest-serving political prisoner, journalist Win Tin, was freed Tuesday after 19 years behind bars and vowed to continue his struggle to achieve democracy in the military-ruled country.

The Basque political prisoner Joxe Mari Sagardui "Gatza" has been incarcerated in Spain for 28 years. Spain is also a military-ruled country due to the fact that Juan Carlos Borbon (the true ruler) has a military education and acts as the commander in chief of Spain's military forces. Every four years the Spaniards are allowed to vote for Borbon's second in command, a mere minister.

Win Tin's release came as part of an amnesty granted Tuesday to 9,002 prisoners around the country. It was not immediately clear how many of those released were political prisoners. Amnesty International said last month there were 2,050 political prisoners in Myanmar.

Spain sentenced members of two Basque organizations seeking amnesty for the Basque political prisoners to 10 years of incarceration. So, far from considering the release of political prisoners Spain is actually expanding the amount of Basques in Spanish jails.

The amnesty came just days ahead of the one-year anniversary of the junta's deadly crackdown on anti-government protests that were led by Buddhist monks. The U.N. estimated at least 31 people were killed when the army fired on peaceful protesters in the Sept. 26-27, 2007 crackdown, sparking global outrage.

The 78-year-old Win Tin said he would continue to wear his light blue prison uniform as a show of protest against the junta, which has ruled Myanmar for 46 years.

"I have to continue with my unfinished task of trying to achieve democracy in Myanmar," Win Tin told reporters at a friend's home in Yangon after his release from the notorious Insein Prison. He appeared alert and healthy despite recent reports that he is ill.

Asked how it felt to be out of prison, Win Tin replied, "I will be happy only when all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi, are released."

A longtime journalist and poet, Win Tin became active in opposition politics and helped found Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy opposition party in 1988. He was a close aide to Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who is currently under house arrest.

Win Tin was arrested on July 4, 1989, during a crackdown on opposition politicians. Tried in a military court, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison for allegedly being a member of the banned Communist Party of Myanmar.

Last week, Spain banned two Basque political parties, including the Communist Party of the Basque Lands (EHAK for its initials in Euskera, the Basque language).

He was most recently sentenced in March 1996 to an additional seven years' imprisonment for writing to the United Nations about prison conditions and for writing and circulating anti-government pamphlets in prison, which authorities characterized as "secretly publishing propaganda to incite riots in jail," the statement from London-based Amnesty said.

Iñaki de Juana was sentenced to an additional two years of imprisonment for writting to articles of opinion regarding the prison conditions for Basque political prisoners. Today Spain asked the Interpol for the whereabouts of Iñaki de Juana citing a letter read the day of his liberation from jail. Spanish authorities characterized the letter "as terrorism apology". London-based Amnesty is keeping quiet about the rabid persecution against de Juana even after he completed his jail sentence beyond the grace time given to all other prisoners in Spain.

The United Nations and international rights groups had repeatedly called for the release of Win Tin and referred to him as the longest-serving political prisoner in Myanmar.

The United Nations has never called for the release of Basque political prisoners in Spain and France. The United Nations has never referred to Joxe Mari Sagardui, Nathalie Meningon and Briggitte Mohnhaupt as the longest-serving political prisoners in Europe.

While incarcerated, Win Tin had two heart attacks, a hernia operation and suffered from high blood pressure, diabetes and spinal inflammation, according to international media groups.

The infamous Guardia Civil tortured Basque journalist Peio Zubiria who suffered of Ankylosing Spondylitis, then a judge ordered him imprisoned. Just last week Martxelo Otamendi who was arrested along with Zubiria during an operation against Basque newspaper Egunkaria took his own torture demand to Strasbourg. Many Basque political prisoners who suffer of terminal illnesses have been denied the early release as marked by Spanish law.

State-controlled media announced the prisoner amnesty Tuesday, saying that freedom was granted to prisoners around the country who exhibited good "moral behavior."

"The government is trying to transform these convicted prisoners into citizens who can contribute to the building of a new nation," the Myanma Ahlin newspaper said, adding they were released "so they could participate in the fair elections to be held in 2010."

Spain puts Basques in jail for contributing to the building of a new nation, the Basque Country.

The elections are part of the junta's long announced "roadmap to democracy," which will give voters the first chance to cast ballots since 1990.

Critics say the roadmap is a sham designed to cement the military's power.

In 1990, Suu Kyi's opposition party won a landslide victory that the junta refused to acknowledge. Instead, the generals stepped up arrests and repression of dissidents. Suu Kyi has spent more than 12 of the past 19 years in detention, mostly under house arrest.

The government often grants prisoner amnesties to mark important national days, but usually most of those released are petty criminals.

Good thing Spain is considered to be a democratic state while Myanmar is largely seen as a military dictatorship.

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Spain Bans EHAK

Another day, another Basque political party banned thanks to a law that reminds us that Francisco Franco's ideology is alive and kicking in Spain.

The main stream media, as usual, has been repeating the same header: "Spain bans another party for ties with ETA".

Therein lies the problem, when they say another they point to the fact that there has been other bans, which takes us to the first Basque political party banned in "democratic" Spain: Batasuna.

Yes, Batasuna was banned back in 2003 accused of being ETA's political wing. Five years later and the Spanish government has been unable to produced one single piece of evidence to support the accusation, despite having seized documents and computers the night that their para-military forces raided Batasuna's headquarters and offices all over Euskal Herria.

The case ended up in Strasbourg and a verdict regarding if Batasuna is or is not ETA's political wing has not been reached, yet, Spain bans EHAK stating that they took over Batasuna.

Here you have The International Herald Tribune's article regarding the most recent case of Apartheid like repression by Spain against the Basque people:

Spain: another Basque party banned

MADRID, Spain: The Spanish Supreme Court has banned a Basque nationalist party on grounds that it is linked to the armed group ETA, the third ruling this week against pro-independence groups in the troubled region.

The court outlawed the Communist Party of the Basque Lands on grounds it is a tool of Batasuna, the banned political wing of ETA.

The move announced Thursday night means the government will shut down the party's offices and seize its assets. The nine party members who hold seats in the Basque regional parliament will retain them but will be stripped of party affiliation.

Earlier this week the court outlawed another pro-independence party, Basque Nationalist Action, and Gestoras Pro Amnistia, an advocacy group for jailed ETA members. In both cases the court cited links to ETA.

The Communist Party of the Basque Lands won its seats in the 75-member Basque Parliament in 2005. Prior to that election, Spain's opposition conservative Popular Party had pressed the Socialist government to file suit and have the party banned under a law devised specifically to go after Batasuna, which was outlawed in 2003.

The Spanish attorney general refused, however, saying there was insufficient evidence. Conservatives complained that this allowed ETA to retain a voice in the parliament.

In 2006, the government negotiated with ETA after the group declared a cease-fire. The peace talks failed and ETA resumed violence in a matter of months.

In January of this year the government did move against the Communist Party of the Basque Lands and Basque Nationalist Action, asking the Supreme Court to declare them illegal.

The Popular Party welcomed the latest Supreme Court ruling, but said it came too late.

The party's spokesman on judicial affairs, Federico Trillo, said the conservatives will ask Attorney General Candido Conde-Pumpido to appear in Parliament and explain why the government now felt the two parties had to be banned, but did not think so in 2005.

"Those who have had an unexplainable and unexplained change of criteria must assume their political responsibilities," Trillo said Thursday night.

Notice how Spain's politicians haggle about the issue of timing when in reality they work together when it comes to removing the political options for the Basque society to excercize its right to have political representation.

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Think Gaur Euskadi 2020

They say it is a long term plan when they know that their political referent (I was going to say ally but that term implies equal conditions) the PSOE is plotting to put Patxi Lopez in Lakua as soon as possible. And the PSOE holds all the cards: Urkullu is an ideological heir to Imaz and we all know just how negative Imaz was for Basque nationalism, the PP is crumbling down and the PNV unleashed the Spanish state's reign of terror on the true nationalist parties (Batasuna, ANV, EHAK).

So, taking those variables into consideration I present to you this article appeared at EITb:

Politics

PNV's event

PNV presents its long-term project

06/15/2008

Under the name 'Think Gaur Euskadi 2020', this project expects to lead Basque society’s future. The Basque Premier has said that the Basque referendum proposal is "of great significance".

Basque Nationalist Party PNV has presented 'Think Gaur Euskadi 2002' project at BEC (Bilbao exhibition Center), which has been set in motion today and ends in December. This project expects to lead Basque society’s future.

The president of the ruling Basque nationalist party PNV Iñigo Urkullu has faced this challenge renouncing neither objectives nor principles and on the basis of the party’s unity.

Mong the questions that PNV members have been able to ask during the event, there have been many references to the referendum that Basque government wants to carry out in October. In this respect, Basque Premier Juan Jose Ibarretxe Ibarretxe has assured that his referendum proposal is "of great significance".

Right to decide and Basque people

Ibarretxe has defended that "the right to decide" and "the existence of the Basque people" are "two basis" of "great importance more and more each day" among Basque society.

In his opinion, citizenship observe "with total normality and no dramatics" the fact that they will be questioned and will have to answer those questions". "Political parties are the ones observing with dramatics and nervousness", he added.

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Spain's Fascist Measures Anger Basques

This note appeared at Yahoo News:

Spain hurts ETA but crackdown angers Basques

By Ben HardingMon Mar 3, 8:23 AM ET

The mayor of the Basque town of Hernani is defiant. She will not be voting in Sunday's election because her party has been banned, but she says Spain cannot ignore separatists' calls for independence.

Marian Beitialarrangoitia enraged many Spaniards when she publicly applauded two suspected members of the Basque separatist group ETA, who had been accused of bombing Madrid's airport in a 2006 attack that killed two people.

Her views are more extreme than most in Spain's northern Basque Country, but even moderate nationalists here are angered by what they see as bullying by the Socialist government as it struggles to court voters in Spain's heartland ahead of the March 9 poll.

Beitialarrangoitia described her actions, repeatedly broadcast on television in January, as an act of solidarity with men she said were tortured, and who should be innocent until proven guilty.

"You can ban us for centuries, you can persecute and jail people but the ideology of 200,000 people is not going to disappear tomorrow," she said in her office, a few kms inland from the chic resort of San Sebastian.

Pictures of imprisoned members of ETA hang from balconies in the pretty square opposite the town hall where she works.

The status of the Basque Country -- a region of green hills falling to a coastline of coves and inlets near the French border -- is the most venomous issue in Spanish politics.

Many Spaniards believe Basque demands for greater autonomy threaten the nation's unity. Millions have marched across the country to condemn ETA guerrillas, who have killed 821 people over four decades in a violent campaign for independence.

Under fire from the opposition for going soft on ETA, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero launched a crackdown on the guerrillas and their allies after peace talks broke down following the Madrid bombing.

This month, Beitialarrangoitia's Basque Nationalist Action party and another group were banned because of their links to ETA. Strikes were called by the radical left, buses were torched and dozens of people were arrested in the region.

"Why don't they just leave the Basque Country in peace?" said retired Bilbao resident Roberto, who declined to give his last name. "We are more than capable of surviving on our own."

Political football

Zapatero won power in 2004 because of widespread indignation that the conservative Popular Party (PP) government falsely blamed ETA for bomb attacks on Madrid trains in which 191 people were killed. Al Qaeda claimed responsibility.

Now, Zapatero's government is leading the polls ahead of the PP, which has focused its campaign on the weakening economy and on calls for more controls on immigration. It has also accused Zapatero of talking to ETA and then lying about it.

Zapatero says the PP's criticism is political opportunism and damaging to the creation of a united front against ETA.

If he wins the election by a narrow margin, he may have to strike deals with moderate nationalist parties in the Basque region and nearby Catalonia in order to form a government.

Inigo Urkullu, president of the moderate Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), says both sides are playing political football with the region, and using ETA's violence as an excuse to avoid the deeper issue of Basque demands for self-determination.

"There is a deliberate effort to confuse ETA's aims with those pursued by democratic Basque nationalism," said Urkullu.

The PNV, which runs the regional government, does not explicitly call for independence but wants Basques to vote in October on whether to start a debate about the status of a region that has its own language, traditions and culture.

Zapatero has said such a vote would be illegal.

"Why is it possible for Kosovo to be independent, or Estonia or Lithuania -- countries the same size as the Basque Country -- and not the Basque Country?" Urkullu said.

The more separatist tone from the PNV in recent years comes as ETA's strength and influence declines.

"ETA have had a bad year operationally ... but in the political sphere they could say 'look, moderate nationalism is adopting our position,"' said journalist Florencio Dominguez.

ETA on its knees

Sources in the security services say ETA or "Euskadi Ta Askatasuna" -- Basque Homeland and Freedom -- has never been so weak.

Hundreds of "etarras" have been arrested in the last decade, reducing most fighters' experience to months rather than years, and a crackdown in France's southwestern Basque country has deprived the group of a base to hide and practice bomb-making.

"A terrorist cannot exist on his own," says Dominguez, who has studied ETA for 30 years and written several books on the group. "He needs a supply of weapons, financing and contact with other members. There are many now who can't even make a bomb."

Despite its vow to "attack on all fronts" after it ended a ceasefire last June, police restricted ETA attacks last year to their lowest level, outside a ceasefire. It is a shadow of the group that killed 234 people between 1978 and 1980.

As attacks have diminished in number and strength, so ETA's ability to intimidate people in the Basque Country has faded, said Pello Salaburu, a former rector at the University of the Basque Country, outside the region's biggest city, Bilbao.

The guerrillas lost much local support after they kidnapped councilor Miguel Angel Blanco in 1997. He was shot dead after two days despite huge protests demanding his safe release.

"Before, there was a very strong sector behind them and another, larger, group of people who didn't disagree with what they were doing, or at least turned a blind eye," said Salaburu.

"This has changed completely," he said. ETA's Marxist brand of nationalism was also increasingly at odds with the wealthier Basque society, he added.

The strength of Basque nationalism and pride in the region's history, language, even genetic differences, should not be confused with an urge to break with Spain, he said.

"If you put the question (to Basques) directly: 'do you want independence?' I believe, with absolute certainty, the answer would be 'no."'

(Additional reporting by Vincent West and Marco Trujillo; Editing by Clar Ni Chonghaile)

Funny how "reporters" like Ben Harding always stick to the drivel spurted out by Madrid's Propaganda Ministry. They always remind the readers about the death tally by ETA but they never quote the thousands of Basques murdered by Madrid over the last decades. They have no ethics, they are not professionals, they are fakes.

One more proof of this is how Ben Harding dismisses the torture suffered by Igor Portu and Mattin Sarasola but right afterwards he states that EHAK and ANV have ties to ETA, something the Spanish High Court is yest to prove, that is why both parties were prevented from the present electoral process but not banned. Innocent until proven guilty.

Regarding Salaburu's last sentence, then why does Madrid opposes a referendum with such venomous attitude? Let the Basques say no to independence, but let THEM say it.

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Sinn Féin's Solidarity

This note comes to us thanks to An Phoblacht:

MEP welcomes start of International Solidarity Week with Basque Country

SINN FÉIN MEP Bairbre de Brún has welcomed the start of International Solidarity Week with the Basque Country.

Speaking on Tuesday, 19 February Bairbre de Brún said:

“I welcome the start of International solidarity week with the Basque Country.

“Sinn Féin has argued the need to revive the Basque Peace Process. The banning of Batasuna and jailing of political representatives including democratically elected representatives is an impediment to this.

“We are now concerned that the Spanish administration has begun the process of banning two other parties, EHAK and ANV. This will further impede any search for forward progress, which requires that every effort be made to improve and encourage dialogue between all of the parties in the Basque County and the Spanish government.

“Central to this is the rights of voters to have access to parties and political representatives of their choice.

“I would once again repeat the call for genuine dialogue and engagement. This can be the only way forward if a proper process of conflict resolution is to be put in place.”

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EHAK and Ibarretxe

This note comes to us via EITb:

Politics

Meeting

EHAK members meet Basque Premier

02/02/2008

According to sources linked to the Basque leftist party EHAK, the meeting showed the “tension between the Basque leftist movement and the nationalist party”. EHAK had previously criticized Basque premier’s silence.

The Basque Prime Minister Juan José Ibarretxe met Friday several members of the Basque leftist party EHAK, who showed him their opposition to the banning process of their party.

The meeting was celebrated at the Basque Parliament and was attended by the Basque premier Juan José Ibarretxe, the spokeswoman for EHAK Nekane Erauskin, and the EHAK members of parliament Julián Martínez and Itziar Bazterrika, sources linked to EHAK reported.

According to the same sources, during that meeting the tension between the Basque leftist movement and the Basque nationalist party PNV was intense. A few minutes before the meeting, EHAK spokeswoman Nekane Erauskin had criticized Basque premier’s “serious silence” about the ban of their party. Erauskin said that they do not trust him anymore.

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Inquisidors Against EHAK and ANV

The wheels of apartheid and authoritarianism against Basque society were set in motion yet again, this time the Spanish Inquisidors have decided to finally open fire against two Basque political parties.

Here you have the note from EITb:

Politics

Bans

Prosecutors to take legal actions against ANV and EHAK members

02/01/2008

Apart from taking legal actions against the parties itself, the public prosecutors will also request to accuse ANV and EHAK members.

Spanish High Court prosecutors requested Friday the judge Baltasar Garzón to ban all the activities of the Basque leftist parties ANV and EHAK before February 11, deadline to present the list of candidates to stand in the March 9 election.

The prosecutor requested the ban of all political activities, the closure of all the offices and the participation in the votes of the two Basque parties.

Spain’s director of Public Prosecutions Cándido Conde-Pumpido said last week that the request to outlaw the two Basque parties, Basque Nationalist Action and the Communist Party of the Basque Lands, is based on arguments that say both parties are part of Batasuna, which was outlawed by the Supreme Court in 2003 on grounds that it is part of the armed group ETA.

The Spain's Public Prosecutor's Office tried to show that Batasuna, in order to get around this ban, turned to two little-known, practically dormant parties and had them field candidates.

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Outlawing Democracy

In a political move that would remind people of authoritarian regimes led by infamous tyrants like Hitler, Suharto, Batista or Mussolini, Spain has started the process to outlaw two more Basque parties.

Here you have the note appeared at Earth Times:

Process to outlaw two Basque parties moves on in Spain

Posted : Tue, 29 Jan 2008 09:50:05 GMT
Author : DPA

Madrid - Spanish state prosecutors on Tuesday filed a request at the Supreme Court for a ban on a Basque political party on the grounds that it had links with the militant separatist group ETA. The prosecutors requested the court to suspend the activities of the Communist Party of Basque Lands (EHAK-PCTV) and to bar it from contesting the Spanish parliamentary elections on March 9.

The request was one among several steps planned by judicial parties to seek a ban on the EHAK-PCTV and a related party, the Basque Nationalist Action (ANV) as successors of Batasuna, which was outlawed in 2003 as the political wing of ETA.

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's government on Friday authorized the state judicial service to launch measures against the two parties.

The EHAK-PCTV has nine legislators in the Basque regional parliament.

The ANV is represented on the municipal level, with more than 400 councillors in the Basque region and neighbouring Navarre.

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The Basque's Will

This note comes to us thanks to EITb:

Politics

Rally in Bilbao

"The Basques's will can not be falsified"- PNV, EA, EB

01/25/2008

The three parties in the Basque Government appealed the Basque citizens to attend a rally on Saturday in Bilbao to defend the Basque institutions.

The three Basque parties in the Basque Government PNV, EA and EB Berdeak appealed to the Basques to attend a rally on Saturday in the Basque city of Bilbao to protest against the sentence in the "Atutxa case", to support the Basque institutions and to say clearly that the Basques' will can not be falsified by anybody."

"The political will can not change as it pleases to those who think they are the only interpreters of the law, twisting it at their own will with total impunity backed by the state and near the edge of the democratic control", Iñigo Urkullu, leader of the Basque party PNV, said in a press conference together with the leaders of EA and EB.

EA leader Unai Ziarreta denounced the sentence in the "Atutxa case" means a "direct attack" to the Basque parliament and the separation of powers and added the court ruling reveals the necessity of a Basque judicial system "free of ties", as well as the necessity to "activate politics and dialogue without exclusions".

Javier Madrazo, leader of the communist party EB, said the sentence was a "true blow to the institutions" and asked the parties PP, PSE-EE, EHAK and Aralar to think why they are not supporting the rally.

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Lukewarm Criticism

The web site called Earth Times has published an article that contains the reaction to the Audiencia Nacional to punish Juan Mari Atutxa, Gorka Knörr and Kontxi Bilbao for refusing to disolve Sozialista Abertzaleak back in 2003.

Here you have the note:

Spanish court criticized for sentencing Basque politician

Author : DPA
Category : Legal (General)

Madrid - Spain's Supreme Court has barred a former president of the Basque regional parliament from holding public office for refusing to dissolve a radical separatist party in 2003, media reported Tuesday. Juan Maria Atutxa, as well as two former vice-presidents of the regional parliament, Gorka Knorr and Kontxi Bilbao, were barred from holding public office for two years and ordered to pay fines of up to 108,000 euros (156,000 dollars).

The three were charged with refusing to dissolve Sozialista Abertzaleak, a successor of Batasuna, regarded as the political wing of the Basque separatist militant group ETA, in the regional parliament after Batasuna was outlawed.

The court's decision will most affect Bilbao, who remains in the Basque parliament while Atutxa and Knorr have retired from active politics.

Atutxa's moderate Basque Nationalist Party PNV, which governs the region, as well as the far-left Izquierda Unida and Basque Socialists on Tuesday criticized the court's decision as politically motivated or incorrect.

A different criterion was applied to the Basques than to banker Emilio Botin, a complaint against whom was rejected because charges had not been filed by prosecutors in addition to a private party, as was the case with the Basque politicians as well, critics argued.

The Spanish judiciary is now widely expected to ban the ANV and PCTV-EHAK, two parties which have emerged as the new successors of Batasuna, to prevent them from contesting the March 9 general elections.

The problem being, Spain is yet to prove that Batasuna is ETA's political arm, years have gone by and the Audiencia Nacional has not presented any evidence to support their bogus claim. So, if Batasuna has not been taken to court how can Sozialista Abertzaleak by guilty?

And therefore, how can Atutxa, Knörr and Bilbao be guilty too?

Spain's justice system is weirder than the Twilight Zone.

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Suffocating Democracy

Under the rule of the socialist Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Madrid decides to expand its repressive measures against the Basque people by abducting the politic rights of ample sectors of the electorate by threatening with banning two more political parties.

Here you have the note appeared at EITb:

Politics

Likely to be banned

ANV, EHAK accuse governing Socialists of choosing "repression"

01/15/2008

ANV reiterated that "it will stand" in the Spanish parliamentary election on March 9. EHAK have made an appeal for protests against a possible banning.

Basque left-wing parties ANV and EHAK accused the governing Socialist party PSOE of choosing "repression" as several Spanish media report that the two Basque parties might be barred within the next two weeks from any political activity.

In a press conference in which there were no questions, a spokesman for ANV denounced the Spanish Government wants to "criminalize" the Basque party "for expressing a loving attitude towards a certain sector of the population." He also denounced the Spain's High Court might use the "words of the Mayor of Hernani Marian Beitialarrangoitia, exercising her freedom of speech" as evidence to outlaw ANV.

"The Government's injustice seems endless" the ANV spokesman said as he pointed out that "this can only happen in a country very ill and weak in democratic values".

In a separate press conference, spokeswoman for EHAK Nekane Erauskin appealed for the "capacity to fight repression back" and asked the Basques to protest against the "activation of the judicial and police reins" to ban EHAK.

She also denounced that the Basque parties PNV, EA, EB and Aralar take advantage of the law of Political Parties despite saying in public they are against it.

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More Political Apartheid

This note about Spain's next move against the Basques' political rights appeared at EITb:

Politics

According to Some Spanish Media

Spanish High Court could outlaw Basque parties ANV, EHAK soon

12/24/2007

According to the Spanish newspapers El País and Público, Spain's Attorney General is to present the demand for the process to start following police reports that point out links between Batasuna and ANV and EHAK.

Spain's Attorney General might present a demand to the High Court to outlaw the Basque left-wing parties ANV and EHAK, Spanish newspapers El País and Público reported on Monday.

According to these two newspapers, the demand would follow police reports that say a bank account received and distributed funds between the members of the Basque political parties, Basque Nationalist Action ANV - Communist Party of the Basque Lands EHAK, and the outlawed party Batasuna.

This financial connection between Batasuna and the two other political parties is enough evidence to start proceedings to declare both the ANV and EHAK parties as illegal themselves, El País reports.

According to Público, the investigations are still ongoing and are expected to be completed by the end of the first week of 2008.

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Against Franco's Legacy

This note appeared at EITb, a poll shows that the majority of Basques oppose the Franco style Law of Political Parties that the Spanish stablishment created with the sole purpose of banning any Basque political party that upholds their compromise with the Basque people to pursue the self determination of Euskal Herria.

Here you have it:

Politics

Basque Socio-Meter

60% of citizens of Basque Community, against banning parties

12/20/2007

They are against the banning of Basque leftist parties EHAK and ANV, opposite to that, 20% would support it. On the other hand, violence is still the main problem of those polled.

According to the Basque socio-meter, almost 60% of those polled say they are against the banning of Basque leftist parties EHAK and ANV and 20% of the citizens would support that measure. Half of the citizens of the Basque Community are also against the decision to imprison the members of outlawed leftist party Batasuna.

Basque armed group ETA’s terrorist attacks made the Spanish Government to argue again about the necessity to outlaw ANV and EHAK, because they have the same ideas as the already outlawed Basque party Bastasuna, But public opinion opposes this kind of initiatives. Some years ago, the majority of the Basques opposed the banning of Batasuna and now they do the same with the parties mentioned above.

Almost 6 out of 10 of those polled are against the banning of ANV and EHAK and that opinion is almost unanimous among nationalists (82%). Non-nationalists are more divided: only a third of them say they are against it.

Opposite to that, a fifth of the citizens of the Basque Community would support the banning of those two political parties.

Violence, the main preoccupation

Violence is again the main preoccupation of the citizens due to the end of cease-fire and ETA’s terrorist attacks.

Apart from violence, housing and unemployment are the most mentioned problems of the Basque community.

Almost half of them support Basque premier’s proposal

Almost the half of the citizens of the Basque Community support Basque premier’s proposal to call for a referendum in 2008 in order to ask the citizens whether they support or not self-determination right. A third of those polled would not support that referendum.

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Milakabilaka Rally

This note comes to us thanks to EITb:

Politics

"Dialogue, respect and peace"

Thousands rally in Bilbao Milakabilaka rally

02/03/2007

Prominent members of several fields of the Basque society and political parties attended a silent rally for peace called by an association in favour of peace and dialogue in the Basque Country.

Thousands of people attended a silent rally in the Basque city of Bilbao calling for dialogue, respect and peace in the Basque Country. People attending the rally included several prominent members of several fields of the Basque society such as writers Joan Mari Irigoien and Hasier Etxeberria, former Athletic Club Bilbao goalkeeper Jose Angel Iribar, representatives from the nationalist political parties EHAK, Batasuna, EA and Aralar and members of the trade unions ELA and LAB.

The protestors assembled at the well-known Guggenheim museum and marched until the area known as Paseo de Uribitarte. Some boats followed the protestors along the river including one of them led by the Basque skipper Jose Luis Korta.

The rally was called by Milakabilaka, an association in favour of peace and dialogue in the Basque Country. A bus will visit all the Basque cities and towns taking photographs of all the people who want to join Milakabilaka.

.... ... .

Batasuna's Analysis

EITb has published a note about how Batasuna is assuming its responsability in the future of the Basque Peace Process. The political party also calls on the other parties to do the same. Finally, it decries the attempt by the PP to outlaw EHAK.

Here it is:

Batasuna's explanation

Leftwing nationalism's reflection, collective - Batasuna's Permach

01/18/2007

The Basque leftwing nationalist movement assumed part of its responsibility in an attempt to push the process following the Madrid airport attack, but rejected that all responsibility is on the movement, as Joseba Permach noted Thursday.

Permach assured that the reflection of leftwing nationalism is "collective" and criticised the attempts to "pass the buck" to the nationalist movement while all parties have to reflect on the matter. Likewise, he warned that trying to outlaw the Leftwing Nationalist group in the Basque Parliament is "an error."

In an appearance in Donostia-San Sebastian, Permach referred to the statements voiced by Batasuna spokesman Arnaldo Otegi and LAB union's secretary general Rafa Diez, to affirm that when leftwing nationalism voices a reflection, it's "collective" and not just "personal views."

The Batasuna leader noted that, following these statements, agents are trying to "dodge the issue" and "pass the buck" to leftwing nationalism event if what is necessary is a "collective" reflection by every political party.

Likewise, he denounced "the attempt to outlaw" the Leftwing Nationalist group in the Basque Parliament and denounced the "return" to conservative PP and socialist PSOE's policies to try to wipe out leftwing nationalism, saying it is a "big error" and does not work.

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To Ban Basque Parties

The fake democracy known as Spain (a Parliamentary Monarchy by the way) is aiming its guns at another Basque political party.

Here you have the note from EITb:

Basque parliament

Conservatives will promote ban on Leftwing Nationalist group

Conservative opposition PP's spokesman in Parliament, Eduardo Zaplana, met Tuesday with the Popular Group of the Basque Chamber to analyse Monday's session in Spanish Lower House dealing with ETA's latest attack. There, he requested a ban on the Leftwing Nationalist group.

In an appearance for the media, PP spokesman affirmed his party will support the Antiterrorist Pact meeting announced Monday by the president of the Spanish Government, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. Nevertheless, he warned that they won't "take part in a pretending exercise, nobody must be mistaken."

Asked if his party would be ready to modify the Pact to include such parties as Basque Nationalists or Catalan Nationalists, who criticised the preamble of the Pact, Zaplana said that "if somebody wants to change it, he must voice it in public."

He also noted that, with this meeting, the Government has "a chance to correct" his antiterrorist policies starting proceedings to outlaw the Communist Party of the Basque Lands, which has nine members of parliament in the Leftwing Nationalist Group, because they didn't condemn ETA's latest attack.

Thus, the conservative spokesman announced that his group will raise a proposal in Parliament so that the Government gives the two Ecuadorians killed at Barajas airport a posthumous golden medal, builds a remembrance symbol at the terminal, and defines special measures to compensate those affected by the attack.

There you have it, Banana Republic politics at work.

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