Madrid Exports Political Persecution

This article was published at VHeadline:

Spain continues vendetta against ETA in Cuba, Venezuela and N. Ireland

Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Spain refuses to let go of laptop accusations against the Basque ETA armed group and Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and alleged Venezuelan connivance and collaboration.

What is clearly emerging is that Spain wants Venezuela and Cuba to hand over ETA members residing in their countries.

Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos has announced that the writ against ETA and FARC members allegedly plotting to kill Colombian presidents in Spain has been sent to Cuba and Venezuela via the Spanish ambassadors, who have been given the task of ensuring the collaboration of both countries in hunting down ETA.

In Cuba the main target is Jose Angel Urtiaga Martinez whom 15-minutes-of-fame Spanish Judge Velasco claims is ETA's representative to the FARC. Another is alleged second in command, Jose Miguel Arrugaeta San Emeterio. Both men are charged with relaying explosives training.

Moratinos has declared that the Spanish executive is acting in full cooperation with the autonomous legislative power and Congress. All three institutions have clubbed together on this one.

Yesterday, Moratinos took off his government's mask, saying Chavez has "collaborated in extraditions and has demonstrated his disposition to accompany the Spanish government's efforts to eradicate, combat and defeat ETA."

Meanwhile, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere affairs, Chilean-born Arturo Valenzuela has tuned into the Spanish-Colombian campaign against Venezuela and rebel organizations, declaring that Venezuela has given "some assistance" to the FARC who are receiving specific types of help from different groups.

Spain, Colombia and the USA will be attending the inauguration of right-wing crusader, Chilean President Sebastian Pinera, who has made a great fuss inviting Venezuelan opposition leader, Antonio Ledezma to the event.

President Chavez said he will not be attending the inauguration but his name will be top of the agenda in corridor meetings.

Update: a "Don't Extradite the Basques" campaign has been set up in Northern Ireland against the British government's decision to allow the extradition of former ETA prisoner and hunger-striker, Inaki de Juana, who has been living in the North for the last two years.

The Sinn Fein party is organizing the campaign and the party's euro-deputy, Bairbre de Brun said Inaki was being pursued for his political ideas and extradition to Spain should be dropped.

De Brun argued that both the British and Spanish governments are ignoring important political initiatives in the Basque Country to resolve the conflict.

De Juana spent 21 years in a Spanish jail, of which 17 years were in solitary confinement.

Last year an ad hoc committee in Venezuela succeeded in stopping the extradition of another ETA member.

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Basque Society Shows its Solidarity with Political Prisoners

Thousands of people marched through the Basque city of Bilbao on Saturday to demand that rights for the Basque political prisoners are respected by both Madrid and Paris. The protest was called by leftist Basque nationalist groups, including Etxerat, an association of family members of political prisoners which accuses the governments of Spain and France of punishing relatives and friends by holding the political prisoners in prisons far away from their homes.

A judge in Madrid earlier Saturday rejected a legal move to ban the march by an extreme right group called Justicia y Dignidad. But he ruled that the participants must abstain from showing expressions of support for ETA. As a result, the marchers did not display photographs Basque political prisoners, unlike in a similar march one year ago.

The demonstrators marched peacefully across the Basque financial capital Saturday evening behind a banner reading "Basque prisoners, back home", and chanted "Basque prisoners to the Basque Country" and "No peace without amnesty."

Basque political prisoners are dispersed in prisons throughout Spain which makes it difficult for them to receive visits from family members. On Friday, Spain's Supreme Court ruled that the Basque regional government had exceeded its authority by providing aid to families of prisoners being held outside of the region to allow them to visit their loved ones.

The aid was awarded between 2003 and 2009 by the Basque Nationalist Party, which held power in the region until last May when it was replaced in elections by the Socialist Party. The fascist regime that rules in Madrid has murdered thousands of Basques since 1936 in a futile attempt to hold on to its illegal occupation of Euskal Herria.

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Basque Language on Trial

This entry was posted at the Irish Basque Solidarity Committees blog:

Trial against Basque language newspaper Egunkaria begins

On 3rd February 2003, the Spanish police ordered the definitive closure of Euskaldunon Egunkaria, the only daily newspaper published in the Basque language. This was followed by the arrest of ten people. All of them were well known and respected Basque language and culture activists, journalists and writers. One of them is a Jesuit brother.

They were held incommunicado for five days under the anti-terrorist law. Some of them were imprisoned and others later released. One of them, the newspaper’s director, told journalists at the prison gates he had been savagely tortured. His words and his shattered appearance shocked Basque society.

The operation was ordered by the Spanish National Court on the grounds that Egunkaria allegedly formed part of a wider group of businesses and organisations controlled by ETA – the old “all is ETA” motto.

Immediately after the closure hundreds of protests took place across the Basque Country, including what was probably the largest demonstration ever to take place in the country two days after the closure.

Nearly four years later on 15th December 2006, the National Court Prosecutor determined that there were no grounds for the case and requested a stay of proceedings.

Despite this, six months later a court hearing was officially announced.

In the hearing it was concluded that only five of those arrested would finally go to trial: Joan Mari Torrealdai, ex-President of the administrative council of Egunkaria; Iñaki Uria, ex-Managing Director; Txema Auzmendi, former Administrative Council Secretary; Martxelo Otamendi, ex-Director; and Xabier Oleaga, former deputy director.

The trial begun yesterday Tuesday 15th in Madrid, with the accused facing sentences of between 12 and 14 years in prison, in addition to a further 14 to 15-year ban from practicing journalism. For the last months many support events have been organised and the presence of the leaders of the majority of Basque political parties and trade unions and education, culture and language movements’ representatives at the gates of the Spanish National Court yesterday was proof of the broad support they have in Basque society.

The hearing began with the testimonies of the accused who stated the newspaper was created by the Basque language grass roots movement to fill the crucial vacuum of a newspaper written in the national language and without any intervention by ETA.

They also told the court how they had been subjected to torture while detained incommunicado but the judges ordered them not to talk about this.

Aside from the accusations that form the basis of Tuesday's trial, there are further charges of attempting to falsify accounts and defraud the Treasury, of which eight defendants stand accused.

They could face up to between 13 and 26 years in prison and possible fines of between 21 and 33 million euro. The date for this trial is yet to be announced.

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Boise and the Egunkaria Case

This article about how the trial against five Basque journalist has affected the Basque community in Boise has been published at The Idaho Statesman:

Terrorism trial hits home for Boise Basques

Katy Moeller

BOISE, Idaho — A terrorism trial on another continent is hitting close to home for some Boiseans.

A journalist familiar to many in the Treasure Valley's large Basque-American community is one of five former employees of a Basque-language daily newspaper scheduled to go on trial Tuesday in Spain.

Martxelo Otamendi and the others from the paper Euskaldunon Egunkaria will be tried in Spanish National Criminal Court, which is where cases of alleged terrorism are handled.

Some Boise-area Basques say they believe Otamendi's only crime is being a vocal Basque nationalist - not a member of the terrorist group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna - which means "Basque Homeland and Freedom" and is known as ETA.

Many thought the question had been resolved in Otamendi's favor.

The trial comes more than six years after Otamendi and the others were charged and after a major shift to the left in Spanish government.

"I have real concerns that it came out of a time that was known to be repressive," Boise Mayor Dave Bieter said. "Why are they prosecuting years away from any of the accusations? ... If the case were strong, he'd have been prosecuted a lot sooner than this."

The public prosecutor in Spain opted not to pursue the case. But in the Spanish legal system there is also a private prosecutor who takes part in criminal procedures as a victim. The private prosecutor is taking the case to trial.

Otamendi has developed friendships in Boise over the past two decades, during which he has visited three times.

His first visit came in 1989, when he came to work on a two-month project with a local TV station.

He returned to Boise in 2005 for Jaialdi, a national Basque festival that's held every five years and attracts Basques from all over the world.

In 2002, Otamendi stayed at Bieter's house while he was in Boise covering the Idaho Legislature's memorial supporting self-determination for the Basques of northern Spain and southern France.

"He stayed in a room over our garage, not exactly luxury accommodations. I can't really recall how it came about," said Bieter, who at that time was a state representative in the Legislature.

Bieter said he and others were surprised that a nonbinding joint memorial by the Idaho Legislature would become an international news event.

"Somehow (Otamendi) saw that as news before anybody else really did," Bieter said. "Then it really did become news. AP picked it up. The Spanish ambassador threw a fit."

It even attracted the attention of President George W. Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice.

Otamendi spent a week to 10 days interviewing members of the Idaho Legislature, including Bieter and Pete Cenarrusa, a Basque-American and former longtime Idaho secretary of state.

About 15,000 Basques live in Idaho, making it one of the largest Basque populations in the world outside the Basque Country.

Bieter's father was a professor at Boise State University. His family lived in the Basque Country for a time while dictator Francisco Franco was still in power. During a visit during early 2001 or 2002, Bieter was surprised by what he saw.

"It had become repressive again. I saw a lot of instances of that," Bieter said. "The Guardia Civil, an arm of the government, the submarine gun and jackboot guys were all around again. They came down real hard on demonstrations in the cities in the Basque Country. ... They were rounding up big groups of people."

On Feb. 20, 2003, Judge Juan del Olmo of the National Court of Spain shut down Egunkaria, the only daily newspaper published in the Basque language and dedicated to the lives, politics and culture of the Euskaldunak, or Basque people.

To Basques, journalists and human rights advocates around the world, the shutdown of the newspaper appeared heavy-handed.

"There is a freedom of the press issue that's really concerning," Bieter said.

Another Basque newspaper, Egin, was closed in 1998 under similar circumstances, with journalists accused of colluding with ETA. At least one journalist there was convicted, but earlier this year, more than 10 years after the "precautionary closure" of Egin, the case against the paper was dismissed.

"They could reopen it now, but the damage they have caused to the freedom of press cannot be healed at all," said Alberto Santana Ezkerra, director of Basque studies at Boise State University.

Paddy Woodworth, a former reporter for the Irish Times newspaper and author of "The Basque Country: A Cultural History," agrees.

"I believe that if there are serious charges against a medium of communication, sufficient to justify the precautionary measure of closing it down, they should be heard within weeks, not years," he said. "Otherwise the state is very open to charges of suppressing press freedom."

Last year, after Egunkaria had been closed five years, the group Reporters Without Borders called on Spain to drop the years-long prosecution.

"The alleged links between certain members of Egunkaria's staff and ETA have never been demonstrated, despite five years of judicial investigation," the press freedom group said. "The Spanish government's fight against terrorism is legitimate, but it must be done without violating free expression."

Spain's approach to that fight is an important part of the story, Woodworth and other experts said.

"The background is important," Woodworth said. "An anti-terrorist strategy from Madrid ... says that everything and everybody who shares any of ETA's aspirations is in reality a member of ETA, a very dangerous and undemocratic doctrine."

The policy begun under the conservative Partido Popular has been continued under the socialist worker's party, Partido Socialista Obrero Espanol, he said.

Journalists at Egunkaria were suspected by Spanish authorities of receiving both financing and direction from the armed Basque separatist group.

Otamendi vehemently denies the charge. After his arrest in 2003, he told the Idaho Statesman that he was tortured by the Spanish Guardia Civil during a five-day interrogation. He was released on $30,000 bond.

Basques angry about the loss of their paper pooled their money and opened the newspaper Egunero immediately after Egunkaria was closed. Four months later, the larger daily newspaper, Berria, was launched, with Otamendi serving as its editor.

Santana Ezkerra, the BSU professor, is among those in the Boise area who are keenly interested in the fate of Otamendi and his former co-workers at Egunkaria.

Santana is originally from the Basque Country. He said the terrorist group ETA turns 50 this year.

"They are weaker than ever, both in terms of popular support and in military terms," Santana said.

He said there are many reasons for the weakening of support for ETA among Basques, including a new generation that doesn't remember Franco and a population that is wealthier and less interested in conflicts with the Spanish government than in the past.

"ETA is dying," said Xabier Irujo Ametzaga, a professor of Basque politics at the University of Nevada, Reno. "The biggest part of Basque society is against the use of violence."

Santana has met Otamendi at cultural events, but doesn't know him personally. Still, he feels strongly that Otamendi is not a terrorist.

"I'm sure that he's not a member of ETA," Santana said. "He's a journalist. If he wanted to be a member of ETA, he could easily get a machine gun. His weapons are paper and printer."

"His editorials were not supporting ETA," said Santana, who was a regular reader of Egunkaria.

Santana and others say the shuttering of the only daily Basque-language newspaper was a huge blow. More than 3,000 people pitched in money to open Berria. It's available online.

"The Basque language is the main pillar of the Basque culture. It is a very important issue for everyone in the Basque Country," Irujo said.

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Irish Solidarity with Basque Youths

We learned about this video hosted at YouTube thanks to an entry in solidarity with the Basque youths abducted by the Spanish regime published at the Éirígí Sligeach blog:

In the early hours of Tuesday morning [November 24], 34 young Basque pro-independence activists were arrested in a massive operation by Spanish state forces.

The Spanish government has intensified its efforts in recent years to smash the Basque left pro-independence movement and its legitimate demands for national self-determination. Political parties, youth movements, newspapers, cultural organisations and prisoners' support groups have all been banned and their members imprisoned. In Ireland, two well-respected Basque political activists have been fighting extradition proceedings by the Spanish government.

This is the reality of ‘democracy’ in an integral part of the European Union. This Saturday, November 28, protests will take place in Belfast and Dublin in solidarity with the Basque struggle and the latest victims of Spanish state repression. éirígí encourages all republicans and socialists to attend.

• Dublin: GPO, O'Connell Street, 12pm
• Belfast: An Chultúrlann, Falls Road, 2.30pm

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New Statement from the Gernika Network

This statement was published at the Gernika Network's blog:

STATMENT of the Self-Determination GERNIKA NETWORK. 26th November 2009

More than two years ago, and exactly 70 years after the bombing of Gernika, we, elected representatives from different European countries, created the Gernika Network for Self-Determination of the Basque Country. The objectives of this network are: To promote at international and Institutional level the acknowledgement of the right to self-determination of the Basque Country. And to lobby in favour of a dialogued solution to the existing political conflict.

Political situation in the Basque Country has not improved in the last two years. Massive detentions of political leaders, long jail sentences against political activists, the use of torture, armed actions by ETA, police occupation, several sabotage actions against property and people, illegalisation of political parties.... are the tragic consequences of the conflict after the failure of the negotiating process.

On this current scenario the Abertzale Left has shown again its commitment to overcome blockades and find solutions to this tragic conflict. Fortunately today, we are in a position to acknowledge positive steps towards a resolution of the conflict. Last Saturday, 14th of November, the Abertzale Left presented what they called "A first step for the Democratic Process: principles and will of the Abertzale Left". In this document the Abertzale Left commits itself to a "democratic process" that "must be developed in a complete absence of violence and without interference, by the use of exclusively political and democratic means". It also considers that multiparty talks process "has to be conducted in accordance with the Mitchell principles ".

The document continues stating that " The resulting agreement should guarantee that all political projects could not only be defended with equal opportunities and without any pressure or external interference but they could also be implemented if that was the desire of the majority of the Basque citizenship, expressed though the available legal
procedures. "

We, members of the Gernika Network would like to welcome and applaud the initiative of the Abertzale Left. We believe that this statement facilitates a positive scenario for dialogue and agreement.

All parties involved in the conflict, and specially the Spanish State, should react positively to the initiative and should engage themselves in a multilateral agreement that is based on dialogue, peaceful and democratic means and entitles the Basques to decide upon their future freely.

We demand the immediate release of Arnaldo Otegi and all members of the Abertzale Left arrested last years because of their political activities, including former MPs, local elected representatives and former MEP Karmelo Landa whose release has been urged by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.


We regret the new police operation against dozens of Basque youth activists. A peaceful and lasting settlement within the Basque Country will only be achieved when all citizens' civil and political rights are accorded full and proper respect.

Finally, we, MPs and elected representatives all over Europe, renew our compromise to work nationally and internationally for a peaceful and democratic solution to the conflict in the Basque Country. Therefore we call for all our colleagues around Europe and America, MPs and elected representatives, to promote a democratic peace process that will solve the ongoing conflict in the Basque Country based on the Basques rights to decide about their future.

Seems like the Spanish brutality displayed in the last couple of weeks has finally awakened the groups that support the Basque right to self determination.

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Segi Representatives in Ireland

Yesterday after reading an article regarding the result of a poll that showed that not only the majority of the Basque youth considers itself, well, surprise suprise, Basque, but that also supports full independence from Spain (and France) we made a comment about how being young and restless can be dangerous if you also happen to be Basque. Well, at the Ógra Shinn Féin blog they have published this note about the visit to Ireland by representatives of the Basque youth group Segi:

Segi activist speaks out against repression

Emma Clancy

Representatives from the Basque pro-independence youth organisation Segi visited Belfast from 13-15 November to participate in the Ógra Shinn Féin National Congress.

One of the Segi representatives spoke to An Phoblacht about the criminalisation of the pro-independence movement by the Spanish government; the recent Batasuna call for a democratic resolution to the Basque conflict, and the need to build solidarity between the Basque and Irish movements for independence. (As Segi has been banned by the Spanish government, the representative will remain anonymous.)

“As Ógra Shinn Féin celebrates 100 years of the Irish republican youth movement since the foundation of Na Fianna Éireann, we in Segi are celebrating 30 years since the formation of our predecessor organisation Jarrai,” the Segi representative told An Phoblacht.

“Segi is a revolutionary socialist, feminist, pro-independence youth organisation. We organise young people across the Basque Country in struggles for their rights – for national rights and language and cultural rights, but also to improve their living conditions, housing, and their rights in the workplace or on campus.

“But while we celebrate three decades of struggle for Basque independence and socialism, our movement is coming under increasing repression.”

Segi (formerly Haika) was declared illegal in 2005 by the Audiencia Nacional (National Court, a Diplock-style political court in Madrid).

The court ruled that, while it was an “unauthorised” organisation, it could not be considered “terrorist” because it had no connection to political violence. But in 2007 the Spanish Supreme Court revised the ruling – despite there being no new evidence – and declared Jarrai-Haika-Segi to be a terrorist organisation.

“Now more than 100 of our comrades are in prison,” the Segi woman said.

“Now you can be jailed for eight years simply for membership of our organisation.

“The repression by the Spanish state against the youth movement is not only arrests and imprisonment, although these are its most obvious forms. The criminalisation goes much deeper and broader; it is structural.

“There are continual attacks against youth centres, youth demonstrations and gatherings. They are targeting not just pro-independence activists, but all community activists who provide leadership to strengthen their communities.”

The representative said that this year judgements have begun being handed down by the Spanish courts against Segi activists.

“Many have been held in ‘pre-trial detention’ since 2005 – four years being the maximum amount of time a person can be jailed before trial under Spanish law. The average sentence most young activists are receiving for their political activism is six years in jail,” she said.

“You can see the impact of the criminalisation campaign here in Belfast where Basque youth activist Arturo Beñat Villanueva is fighting extradition to Spain charged with membership of the youth movement.

“Each time a Basque political activist is arrested, the police come in the early hours of the morning and hold the person in incommunicado detention for five days, during which they are interrogated and often tortured.

“In many cases, police have forced the prisoners to sign statements saying they are members of a banned organisation, and judges will use these statements to convict the prisoners, even if is the only ‘proof’ offered by the prosecution.”

The activist said Segi “reaffirms its full support” for the proposal by Batasuna for a democratic resolution to the Basque conflict through a process in which the Basque people’s rights are recognised.

Continues...

As always, we want to thank the solidarity of our Irish friends and their commitment to the defense of the Basque people's human and political rights.

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Benat Won't Be Extradited

Good news from Ireland, Benat will not be extradited according to this entry at Ógra Shinn Féin's blog:

Ógra Shinn Fein welcomes Belfast court decision

Ógra Shinn Féin have welcomed a Belfast court decision which has thrown out a case against Belfast based Basque Arturo Villanueva Arteaga (Benat) seeking his extradition.

The Spanish was seeking Benat due to his alleged membership of pro independence Basque youth group, Jarrai. The judge said that there was lack of specific details about attendance at meetings, interviews or other evidence that Mr Arteaga was in Jarrai.

Jarrai were deemed ‘illegal’ by the Spanish Supreme court in 2005 and deemed ‘terrorist‘ in 2007, as was the current pro independence youth movement, Segi.

Although the warrant claimed the wanted man carried out violent and coercive actions from 1994 to 2000, Judge Burgess held there was no reference to dates, locations or targets of any alleged attacks which would allow anyone to link them to him.

The warrant claimed that Benat had been a member of Jarrai in 2000, yet it wasn’t until 2005 that it was deemed ‘illegal’.

Explaining his case, Benat said that he had always worked "politically, peacefully and publicly" in defence of Basque rights, and he criticised the way the Spanish dealt with these kind of political cases, which is not the right way and breach any kind of principles.

"Not just myself, but many different lawyers and international bodies, year after year, have been calling attention to the Spanish authorities to improve on matters of human rights and judicial rights for any legal cases relating to the Basque conflict."

Continues...

We are gland to learn that this time Madrid has seen its plans to silence another Basque voice foiled by the Irish justice.

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The Boomerang Effect

More information about what is going on in Euskal Herria thanks to our Irish friends, this time at the blog published by the Irish Basque Solidarity Committees.

BOOMERANG EFFECT AGAINST SPANISH ATTACKS

-Forceful response to attack against the Basque pro-independence movement.

On Tuesday 13 October, 10 prominent activists, including Batasuna leader Arnaldo Otegi and former general secretary of the LAB trade union Rafa Diez, were arrested and accused of trying to "reorganise the leadership" of the Basque pro-independence left movement. Five of the 10 were arrested in a raid on the national headquarters of the LAB union in Donostia.

On Friday Judge Baltasar Garzon sent Otegi, Diez and three others to jail, accused of "membership of a terrorist organisation" and of trying to reconstitute the pro-independence Batasuna party on the "orders of ETA". Batasuna was outlawed in 2003.

Hundreds of people took to the streets and students organised strikes in the aftermath of the arrests.

A massive protest was held on Saturday 17 October in Donostia/San Sebastian to protest against the Spanish government's new wave of arrests against the Basque pro-independence movement.

More than 37,000 Basques protested against the arrests under the slogan "For liberty, all rights for all” in a very significant demonstration of unity among Basque society. The demonstration had been called by the majority of trade unions and supported by all Basque nationalist and progressive political parties.

The demonstration was the largest in the Basque Country in many years and even the pro-Spanish media had to recognise the huge success.

Statements of support also came from across the world like the World Federation of Trade Unions and the European Free Alliance. In Ireland, Sinn Féin MEP Bairbre de Brún and the Irish Basque Solidarity Committees cqalled for an end to such repression and the immediate release of those arrested and told the Spanish government they need to engage in dialogue with those they seek to demonise and criminalise. “This is the only way to reach a lasting settlement in the Basque Country” they concluded.

The Dublin Basque Solidarity Committee organised a protest outside the GPO on Sunday.

Batasuna responded to the arrests by saying: "The aim of these arrests is to stop political initiatives that the Basque pro-independence movement was due to activate - political initiatives to resolve the ongoing conflict and to create a democratic scenario for the Basque Country."

On Monday 19 the Basque pro-independence newspaper Gara published extracts from a 36-page debate document presented for discussion among the grass roots by Batasuna’s leadership. This discussion and its practical conclusions is what the Spanish government seems to fear and what they wanted to prevent with last week’s arrests.

In the document a new effective strategy is suggested. Batasuna’s leadership wants to promote a democratic process without any violence and external interference.

The latest arrests are part of the Spanish government's ongoing campaign of repression against political, social, labour and cultural organisations that are in favour of self-determination for the Basque Country. The central thesis of this criminalisation campaign, as formulated by Judge Garzon, is that “everything that surrounds ETA is ETA” , that is, any group or individual that shares ETA's goal of Basque independence, regardless of what methods they use, is part of ETA.

This process has often been led by politicians and the media but is given a 'democratic' cover and institutionalised by the Spanish courts through a series of judicial rulings initiated by Garzon in 1998.

The repression against all expressions of Basque nationalism has escalated dramatically during the summer, with the Madrid government working in concert with the Spanish chauvinist coalition government that took power in the south-west of the Basque Country in March.

-Another sucessful display of support to the Basque language.

Up to 100,000 people attended the annual day long festival to support the Basque language schools in the province of Navarre. This year’s edition was organised by the local school of Lakuntza with the slogan “Txikiak, handi” (The small ones are big).

Young and old came from across the Basque Country to enjoy lots of different activities like gigs, sport, food, street animation, workshops, cultural displays... 3,000 volunteers worked hard to make sure everything went well.

The money raised will help to build a new building for the Lakuntza Basque medium school.

These massive festivals are organised in each province of the Basque Country every year and become both a great way to fundraise for the vitally necessary Basque medium schools and to promote the Basque language.

Each year a different school organises the festival. It takes around 300 volunteers working for two years to organise it.


-Largest ever demonstration against High Speed Train.

12,000 people demonstrated in Baiona in the north of the Basque Country last Saturday against the construction of a new High Speed Train railway.

Over the last few years different plans to build High Speed Train railways across the Basque Country have been opposed by large sections of Basque society with the pro-independence left movement at the core of the protest campaigns.

ETA has also intervened with small bombs and the killing of a main contractor.

The High Speed Train would put the Basque Country’s future at risk due to the environmental destruction and huge consumption of energy and public funds.

-More political trials and more arrests.

Last Friday seven members of the Pro-Amnesty movement were arrested and taken to prison to fulfil the remaining sentences imposed against them by the Spanish Supreme Court for their political work against repression and in favour of the Basque political prisoners. They had been waiting for the outcome of their appeal.

Another 13 members of the movement were already in jail after all of them were sentenced to between 8 and 10 years in prison. Basque political prisoners do their time to the full.

The hard sentence has been understood within a context of political repression aimed to weaken the pro-independence movement and prevent new political developments that could take the Basque Country to a new scenario of peace and democracy.

Last week the first of a long list of trials began against alleged members of Segi, the pro-independence youth organisation. Over the last two years 16 police operations were launched in different parts of the Basque Country and 123 local youth activists were arrested, of whom 69 reported being tortured and 91 were imprisoned. All of them were well known youth movement activists in their towns involved in cultural, political and social public work.

Demonstrations, fasts, strikes, massive press conferences...have been organised recently to denounce these show trials and support the youth.

Two alleged ETA members were arrested by the French police on Monday 19 in Britanny. The Spanish media portrayed them as members of the ETA’s political office and tried to make conections with last week arrests of 10 prominent pro-independence activists.

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Basque Unions Lead the Way

This article was published at Indymedia Ireland:

Trade unions lead Basque society as they respond to Spanish State repression

Cormac Mac Gall

Spanish police attacks answered by moblisation of Basque working class and expression of wider Basque society solidarity in massive demonstration

After a Spanish police raid on the Donosti/ San Sebastian headquarters of the pro-Independence Left trade union LAB, arrests there and elsewhere of trade union and political activists, the Basque trade unions of LAB, ELA, ESK, STEE-EILAS, EHNE and Hiru led Basque society in an expression of resistance to Spanish state repression. The six trade unions between them represent over 70% of the Basque workers in the south of their country,. The protest on Saturday of well over 37,000 displayed a level of Basque unity not seen for ten years in which the whole pro-Basque spectrum of Basque political and cultural organisations were represented.

The numbers of those present at the Donosti/ San Sebastian demonstration on Saturday could not be precisely arrived at, given that people were still in the tunnel as the head of the march reached its destination; but the whole bay was packed and 37,000 was agreed as a conservative estimate. It is thought that many people were also prevented from reaching the city in time for the demonstration as Spanish Police operated many road blocks (around 30 between Bilbao and Donosti alone).

The recent train of events that led to this huge demonstration began on Tuesday when the Spanish police raided the Donosti headquarters of LAB, the pro-Independence Left trade union that represents just under 20% of the Basque workers. The police arrested five people inside, one of them Rafa Diez, ex-President of the union and another being Arnaldo Otegi. Five other well-known political activists were arrested elsewhere. Each of the ten was a well-known political activist and some of them were also active in the trade union movement.

All were taken to Madrid under the orders of Baltazar Garzón, the notorious judge of the Audiencia Nacional (special no-jury national court dealing with charges of “terrorism”). The ten were arrested under Spain’s anti-terrorism laws and Garzón’s interpretation rulings of the same legislation in which, for example, many political activists have been considered to be working for the same ends as the armed group ETA (e.g. a socialist independent Basque state) and to be “coordinating their political activities with them”. The ten were originally held incommunicado, raising fears of the kind of torture that many previous detainees have reported, but after a few days all gained access to their lawyers. After they appeared before Garzón and made their statements, some were released on bail but others, including Otegi, were sent to prison to await trial in the Audiencia. One was set at unconditional liberty after three days in detention in Madrid, as he had been in prison during the time of the alleged offences.

The arrests followed a week during which 20 alleged activists of Gestoras Pro-Amnistia (Basque anti-repression organisation) or of Batasuna (banned main political party of the Izquirda Abertzale movement), after a process of a year, had their sentences of eight to ten years confirmed in the Audiencia Nacional and their roundup by police was initiated. None are accused of any act of violence or of damage to property, but of political “collusion with terrorism”.

During last week small demonstrations were held at the workplaces of the ten detained on Tuesday, including factories, an office and a school, as well as in their home towns. Workers also gathered in front of the LAB headquarters in Donosti to demonstrate their solidarity, also in Bilbao, Gastheiz/ Vitoria and Iruňea. On Wednesday and Thursday, a number of meetings were held in Basque trade union and political circles and a joint press statement was released by the six trade unions calling for a massive demonstration of protest on Saturday. They also called for the immediate release of the ten, an end to Spanish state persecution of political activists and LAB had already called for international expressions of solidarity. During Saturday’s demonstration the union leaders also called for the repeal of Spain’s Law of Political Parties, under which many organisations of the Izquierda Abertzale (Basque pro-Independence Left) have been banned or prevented from fielding candidates in elections, and called for solidarity with the political prisoners.

SOLIDARITY WITH POLITICAL PRISONERS A CRIME?

The issue of the approximately 765 political prisoners is one on which the actions of the Erzaintza (pro-Spanish ‘Basque’ police) caused much conflict during the traditional festivals of the past summer months. The Audiencia Nacional declared that the displays of large photos of the prisoners, whether on balconies, in taverns or held by their relatives at vigils, were “glorifying terrorism” and therefore illegal. As the Erzaintza moved in to tear down photos and harass the weekly relatives’ vigils, clashes took place but afterwards copies of the photos appeared everywhere, including even on the walls of the house of one of the local leaders of the repressive campaign. Solidarity demonstrations were banned and took place anyway, answered by police riots with clubs and plastic bullets and also riots by Basque youth throwing stones and burning rubbish bins.

THE LAST STRAW

For many less politically-active or conservative Basques therefore, Tuesday’s police operations were clearly the last straw. Apart from the united call and action of the Basque trade unions, smaller political groupings of the Basque Left such as Izquierda Unida, AE and ARALAR all joined in the calls and in the demonstration on Saturday. The conservative Basque nationalist party PNV, which holds the majority of seats in the Basque Autonomous Parliament of three of the four provinces under Spanish rule, declared on Friday that they would be sending their entire executive council to support the demonstration and did so; however they declined from making any statement whatsoever, even to explain why they were attending. Many people famous in Basque society in the arenas of sport, culture, media and performing arts were also seen on the demonstration and many were willing to be interviewed, expressing their abhorrence at the lack of democracy in the Basque Country under Spanish rule.

INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY

Messages of solidarity came in and were posted on LAB’s web page from the World Federation of Trade Unions, from trade unions and union socialist currents from Latin America, various parts of Europe and even Madrid, also of course from trade unions in Asturias (northern Spain, next to the Basque Country), Galicia and Catalonia (each of these also have their own trade unions), Canaries etc. Conspicuous in their absence were the two main Spain-wide unions Comisiones Obreras and UGT, who have been losing ground to more militant and also separatist trade unions in the Spanish state.

The Irish Basque Solidarity Committees also sent messages of solidarity and on Sunday a protest took place in O’Connell Street in which Basque and Irish flags were flown and large placards were displayed carrying messages such as:

“Franco lives on in the Spanish Government!” “Spanish Government represses Basque’s Freedom of Speech! Freedom of Assembly! Freedom of Press and Media!” “Hands off Basque Trade Unions!”

Other placards opposed the extradition requests for two Basques living in Belfast (Arturo Villanueva and Inaki de Juana), and asked what had happened to Jon Anza (an ETA militant who disappeared in France in April, believed by many to have been kidnapped, tortured and killed by Spanish undercover squads with French state collusion. The protest was organised jointly by Dublin Committee and Ógra Shinn Féin. The demonstrators met with expressions of support from passing pedestrian and motorised traffic but the reaction of tourists from the Spanish state were more mixed. Some were enthusiastic in their support, such as a group of Catalans and another of Asturians, but another group accused the Basques of being “terroristas” and condemned the protestors for supporting them. They were answered with cries of “Viva la libertad para todos!” (long live freedom for all!).

REPERCUSSIONS IN THE BASQUE COUNTRY AND FURTHER IN THE SPANISH STATE

According to Izquirda Abertzale spokespersons in Batasuna (banned in the Spanish state but not in France), Askapena (international expression of Basque anti-repression) and LAB, also commentators in GARA (Basque daily newspaper), the police attacks have boomeranged on the Spanish Government and also made collusion with them (i.e. by the PNV) more difficult. Indeed, the press on Monday reported the Spanish Labour Party in the Basque Country asking the PNV to make up their mind on which side they stand.

The project of the pro-Independence Left to forge a pan-Basque alliance under its leadership (or at least substantially influenced by it) and thereby to challenge Spanish hegemony, would seem to have taken a significant step forward.

We found out about this article thanks to Infowars Ireland.

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A Reckless Farce

Last night, once again, the Spanish police arrested prominent Basque pro-independence leaders and activists: Arnaldo Otegi, Rufi Etxeberria, Rafa Díez, Arkaitz Rodríguez, Sonia Jacinto, Miren Zabaleta, Mañel Serra, Txelui Moreno and Amaia Esnal. Once again, a reckless and short sighted Spanish government orders the detention of political leaders that could only accuse of one thing: to labor in behalf of finding a solution to a political conflict. Once again, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba have received the priceless support of several media outlets and journalists that throughout Sunday used their news notes to thinly disguised their announcements that such an operation was about to take place.

Throughout these last few months Madrid has been trying to bring to the main stage a series of lies and misconceptions directed at preparing the ground for an operation of such large scope with all the resources at hand. Rubalcaba, as is quite obvious now, has been the mouth piece for this strategy, and media oulets like "El País" have echoed this farce aimed at manipulating the Spanish public's perception - and probably the European public's perception as well since there is a lot of interest and concern about the situation in Euskal Herria - into believing that "ETA has taken complete control over the pro-Independence left" and that "ETA lost all confidence on the political leaders and decided to leave them out of the political initiative that they wanted to propose during the fall", just like the mentioned media outlet published last Sunday. It doesn't matter if the message broadcasted from Madrid is loaded with misinformation, and that in the end it contradicts itself. Another example of this could be easily seen just yesterday by the language on the note reproduced by a large portion of the Spanish media outlets and news agencies, when they went on an on about how the detainees "had maintained meeting during the last months as a response to the political proposal announced by Arnaldo Otegi that the pro-Independence left pretended to use to return to the institutions presumably with an explicit distancing stance regarding violence". The kin reader would quickly notice, without a doubt, that the very same paragraph includes concepts like "political proposal" and "explicit distancing stance regarding violence", which could lead any European observer to shake his head in amazement - which is actually happening right now - when faced with the stark truth that the Spanish state continues to incarcerate politicians for tackling such issues, according to the mentioned media outlets and news agencies.

It is quite obvious that the absence of compelling reasons have never stopped the Spanish state, and that it has always counted with reliable operators in Euskal Herria to try and dilute the will of the majority of the Basque people.

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8 Basque Activists Arrested

Spanish police operating in the Basque Country arrested Arnaldo Otegi, Batasuna's moral leader, the banned political party, and eight other activists, accusing them for the second time of seeking to rebuild the party, judicial and police sources said.

Batasuna's spokesman Arnaldo Otegi was held in the city of Donostia along with top union leader Rafa Déz and three other Basque activists suspected.

The interior ministry said later that four other "leaders of the independentist left" had been picked up, two in the Basque town of Hernani and two in Iruñea. Batasuna was banned in 2003 because of its supposed links with ETA, an accusation that the Spanish state is yet to prove.

Police made the first arrests after a meeting at the Basque independence union LAB headquarters. The operation was ordered by Madrid's top inquisidor judge Baltasar Garzon. Those arrested included the secretary general of the LAB union, Rafael Diez Usabiaga, a well-known figure in the Basque independence movement, the judicial source said.

The group of Basque pro-independence activists has been meeting at the union headquarters since the beginning of the year in an effort to put forward a political proposal that includes a new initiative to restart the peace process that was derailed by Zapatero's government back in 2006.

Otegi in the past few months has made several trips to southern Iparralde, where he met with other leaders of his political party that happens to be legal in the French state. Otegi was last jailed in June 2007 after the Supreme Court upheld a 15-month sentence for "glorifying terrorism" after praising veteran ETA leader Jose Miguel Beñaran "Argala" at a memorial service in 2003. "Argala" was murdered by the GAL at the height of the "dirty war" against the Basque pro-independence movement.

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Rejection of Spain's Fascist Festivity Increases

The obsession by Francisco Javier Lopez and his junta to distance themselves from the previous tenants at the Ajuria Enea and loudly proclaim the change of pace that has allegedly taken place in Lakua's government is now in plain sight.

For example, just yesterday, Rodolfo Ares (born in Orense, Galiza and a rabid Spanish ultra-nationalist), in representation of Lakua's government, attended the Spanish Armed Forces parade in Madrid to celebrate the "Day of Hispanity". A carefully chosen decision by the Interior Minister and top commander of the Ertzaintza, to witness and also legitimate the outdated military display that each year exacerbates the must backwards Spanish cheap patriotism.

Looking to make himself clear, Ares went on to explain that he traveled to the Spanish capital in representation of "the Basque Government and, therefore, the totality of Basque society". More so, his presence was an "act of democratic normality of an autonomic government that emanates from the Statute, an Statute framed within the Constitution". Neither one is true. The current Lakua government is not the result of the will of the citizenry of Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa, but the result of the Apartheid like Law of Political Parties' political-juridic engineering. We should also point out now that the Spanish Constitution was never accepted by the Basque electorate, quite the opposite actually.

While Ares travels to Madrid to present the due abjection before the must outdated expressions of the Spanish kingdom, in the streets of Euskal Herria thousands of persons demonstrated against Fascism, the current and the former, the one that filled up the sides of the roads with dead bodies and the one that abducts and threatens Basque citizens. Besides, thousands of students showed up at their educational institutions, thus signaling their rebellion against a holiday that they do not regard as such. On top of that, several demonstrations were organized by the worker's union LAB to voice another demand, the sovereign right of the working class to decide its own calendar. That one and no other was the human landscape yesterday in Euskal Herria, a country that refuses to accept and imposed festivity.

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The "Black Hole"

You are not going to read about this note in the main stream media for one simple reason, the Spanish state enjoys the benefits of being considered one of the darlings on the eye of the news industry moguls. So lets get to it.

Amnesty International has issued yet another statement demanding for Madrid to stop with the incommunicado regime against alleged "suspects of terrorism", a label that pretty much applies to any Basque working in behalf of the cultural, linguistic and social identity of Euskal Herria, let alone in behalf of the right to self determination.

"They disappear as swallowed by a black hole". Amnesty International can not be more specific when it comes to referring about the detainees who receive the incommunicado regime while they remain in police facilities to be interrogated. They are also quite firm when they demand from the Spanish Parliament to void a law that "violates the rights of individuals to their freedom" and that fails to comply "with a total of seven pacts, agreements and international laws that guarantee the rights of the detainees".

The human rights NGO released to the public yesterday an inform in which it portraus the incommunicado regime as a common practice: the police requests it by default and by default is conceded by the judges, judges who had little or no interest with what goes on during detentions and interrogations at police facilities.

From then on, the detainee is not only deprived of his own defense lawyer, but soon the detainee realizes that the one assigned by court has very limited duties; its not allowed in certain "casual" interrogations (despite the fact that the content is later used in formal accusations) and never allowed to talk in private with the defendant who is supposed to be representing. The detainee can neither request a medic that he trusts, and any medical evaluation is conducted in the presence of police officers, with the degree of intimidation involved. More so, independent inquiries have shown that the majority of those "medical evaluations" do not comply with, by far, the international standards and protocols in the subject.

The rigorous inform by AI highlights the complex structure developed in the Spanish state throughout the years to make the incommunicado regime into a fool-proof system that bestows with complete freedom of action to the police officers conducting the interrogations, a system that also guarantees complete impunity. A "black hole" to swallow each and very single one of the violations to the rights of the detainees, defenseless before an all too powerful state.

Here you have a video released along the inform entitled "Spain: out of the shadows":

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Police Used as Political Tool

On August 28th of 2008, fifteen people took part on a peaceful sit in with the goal of momentarily paralyzing the construction work for the TAV (Fast Speed Train) in the Bizkaian town on Zaratamo. At the same time, another group displayed a banner as a protest for the construction of the mentioned railroad. The act came to an end when the Ertzaintza (Basque autonomous police force) proceeded to card and identify the protesters. Up until this point the whole thing was business as usual for this kind of demonstrations. The big surprise would come soon after when the Ertzaintza decided to send the event's report to the Spanish Audiencia Nacional after labeling the peaceful sit in as an act of "terrorism".

Those involved received the news with a mix of indignation and concern, despite the outrageousness of the police decision, the political character of the Audiencia Nacional did not overruled the chance for the process not to be disregarded, as it happened in the end. Yesterday, an entire year later, the case was taken to court in Bizkaia. The district attorney requested a fine of 150 euros for a misdemeanor, that could even be disregarded due to the fact that those accused never refused to be identified by the police. Thus, the intentionality of using the Basque police force as a political tool was evidenced since the commanding officers decided to sent to prison citizens that were only exercising their freedom of speech.

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Eight Injured by the Ertzaintza in Lekeitio

The Madrid imposed government in the Basque Autonomous Community insists on unleashing police brutality against the Basque civilians during the traditional summer fetivities. As a result, eight people were deprived of their freedom in clashes with the Ertzaintza (Basque police force) in Lekeitio, in the early hours of Monday during the town’s main festivity. It’s understood that seven people were injured, including a police officer.

The violence escalated after a group of citizens began shouting out insults at officers inside the police station, with others joining in the crowd as police violently tried to disperse the group, who found themselves resorting to their favorite repressive tactic, to open fire with rubber bullets. A number of rubbish containers were set alight, and damage was caused to banks and insurance offices.

Rapid action by fire crews managed to prevent any serious damage to the PNV Basque Nationalist Party’s offices in the town which some amongst the crowd had tried to set alight.

The street violence came during the Lekeitio’s traditional "Day of the Goose" – the Antzar Eguna - when locals attempt to cross a stretch of water hanging by their arms from the neck of a goose suspended on a pulley across the port. It’s understood the geese used today are either already dead or artificial.

Despite Madrid and Gasteiz's efforts to criminalize the Basque solidarity with the victims of political persecution, there are reports that some of the boats used in the Antzar Eguna were seen displaying photos of Basque political prisoners or flags in their support.

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Solidarity and Remebrance in Uruguay

Leftist NGOs and human rights organizations from Uruguay commemorated the XV anniversary of the government's repressive operations at the Filtro Hospital where a young man was killed by police officers when they charged against demonstrators that gathered at the health facility to support the Basque political refugees on hunger strike to protest the extradition process demanded by the Spanish State.

On an effort to gain economic favors from the fascist regime in Madrid, the Uruguayan government decided to mercilessly repress its own people.

Since then, every year, on August 24th the NGO "Plenaria Memoria y Justicia" calls for Uruguayans to publicly demonstrate "against impunity" and "against sponging the past", also, to show their support for the "independence of the Basque Country and the right to self-determination of the peoples", said Irma Leytes, the spokesperson for the NGO.

Pseudo-reporters embedded in different mass media corporations on Madrid's paycheck tried to pin the whole thing on support for ETA as they usually do when they find people that sees through the web of lies and deception created by Paris and Madrid to deny the Basque people the right to decide their own future. But Irma Leytes did not allow them to mar the demonstration and reminded them that they do not have to pronounce themselves regarding ETA since the NGO Plenaria Memoria y Justicia does not "question the methodology chosen" by other groups. Leytes pointed out that on today's demonstration they counted with the presence of members of Askapena, the internationalist Basque association.

The events at the Hospital Filtro in Montevideo, that this electoral year in Urugay have become a controversial element of dispute among the political parties, took place on August 24th of 1994. The public demonstrations against the extradition of three Basque political refugees lasted for a number of days and were backed by the leftist coalition Frente Amplio, the current ruling party in Urugay. On the eve of the extradition of the three Basques, scheduled for August 25th, the police decided to unleash a violent repression against hundred of demonstrators, murdering Fernando Morroni a wounding dozens.

According to Leytes, one of the goals of the demonstration is to "put forward the need that former President Luis Alberto Lacalle does not continue to enjoy impunity over this case". Lacalle, the candidate for the opposition's Partido Nacional for the electoral process on October 25th was the President at the time of the Hospital Filtro massacre.

There will be remembrance acts in different locations in Euskal Herria as an effort by Basque society to honor those who have given their lives to protect the human and civil rights of the Basque political refugees.

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Dog Day in Bilbao

The Ertzaintza brutally charged against the relatives of the Basque political prisoners that for years have been carrying out a demonstration every Friday in front of Sabin Etxea (headquartes of the Basque Nationalist Party, the political formation that first proposed the dispersion of Basque political prisoners) in Bilbao. Right after the bus that takes some of the relatives to the jails in Andalucia departed, the Ertzaintza officers attacked against the crowd, arresting one person and sending the mother of a political prisoner to the ER. Those attacked did not even carry pictures of their loved ones, only one banner with the motto «errepresaliatu guztiak etxera» (bring home all victims of repression).

It is quite possible that, due to the dismal lack of knowledge and the preposterous bias deeply rooted in Madrid regarding the Basque reality, a judge may believe that the criticism against the dispersion policy is simply an "ETA/Ekin slogan". This was stated by the Audiencia Nacional judge Eloy Velasco, who earlier this week pressed charges for "apology of terrorism" against a number of food service employees using such argument.

But even a poorly informed person, with no access to any other version but the one portrayed on the police reports (with few facts but extensive guess work), should be able to set apart simply trues, like a father displaying the photograph of his daughter, sentenced to life in prison and serving her time in a jail thousands of miles away and enduring inhumane conditions, is not responding to a slogan but to his own conscience and dignity.

As a matter of fact, that reality can not hide that in Nabarra, thousands of people consider that the Basque political prisoners fight for legitimate ideals, even those who do not share their goals nor their methods.

The big issue here is that if the Spanish judges and politicians compare painting a graffiti in favor of ETA to a public demonstration in favor of the political prisoners' rights, the only result they will achieve is that the Basque dissidence will set up a barricade that will include the social base that supports the Basque Nationalist Party. This comparison established by the doctrine that "everything is ETA" even goes against the perception of reality by the majority of those who vote for the PSOE in the Basque Country. Despite the belligerent speech by the politicians and the wild verdicts by the judges, common sense prevails in Basque society.

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Defending Freedom of Speech in Euskal Herria

Bilbao's neighbors and festival organizers are calling out to demonstrate tomorrow at noon in defense of both freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. They also denounced the "repressive and authoritarian drunken rampage" by Lakua officials and several judges.

According to the organizers, the demonstration will take place tomorrow, the climatic day for the Aste Nagusia. The demonstration will be celebrated under the mott "Freedom of speech. Democracy", and its scheduled to depart at 13:00 hours from the Zabalburu Square with the finish line at Circular Square. The invitation to take part in the demonstration is to every single person that "is in favor of freedom and against the return of regimes from the past that represent censorship and terror".

During the public meeting that took place in front of the Arriaga Theater, they made clear "how worried" they are "on the face of a widest crackdown on civil liberties".

They explained how basic rights like the freedom of assembly and the freedom for mass public demonstrations "are violated every single day, often with brutality and violence". "Only this month, dozens of people have been injured, some seriously wounded, for wanting to express their ideas on the street on a peaceful fashion" they added.

Neighbors and festivity organizers expressed that the "repressive and authoritarian drunken rampage" by Spain's Interior Department and by "organizations that hold extremist positions, satellite groups of an specific political party" has gone to the extreme of having them deciding "what is legal", along with judges "holed up in their offices hundreds of miles away from the Basque Country".

In that sense, they criticized that social demands as "legitimated and rooted" as the repatriation of the Basque political prisoners, "assumed even by the Gasteiz Parliament, the Basque Autonomous Community legislative bodies and the totality of the Basque municipalities", the right of assembly, the right to mass public demonstrations, the demand for independence and even the defense of the Basque flag "have been outlawed by edict" all the way from Madrid.

The neighbors and festivity organizers also explained how "the persecution" has gone "to the extreme of criminalizing" some individuals "for their condition of being family members". They firmly stated that also, this "mobbing attitude" has derived "in grave death threats in the case of the txupinera".

Due to the extent of the repression, the speakers decried the "silence by many Basque social, political and union leaders, with honorable exceptions, like the major of Gernika".

The speaker concluded the act stating that the defense of the fundamental right to assembly, "just like the right to have your own opinions and ideas, and the right to uphold them in equal conditions", is becoming "a top priority" necessity.

This call to defend the freedom of speech comes preceded by a ban impossed by the Spanish Audiencia Nacional and Lakua's Interior Department against a demonstration organized under the motto «Independentziaren bidean, aldaketa politiko eta soziala» for that very same day in the Bizkaian capital city. There is no answer yet to the legal counter-draft presented before the TSJPV.

Before the demonstration organized by neighbors and festivity organizers was announed, the PSE stated that it would be "desirable" that "the pro-independence left would tone down its position" and refrain from celebrating any mass public demonstrations. On the other hand, the PP, directly demanded that the demonstration would be outlawed.

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Gernika: Violent Crackdown

The brutal crackdown that the Ertzaintza (Basque autonomic police force) carried out last Sunday night during the festivities in Gernika gave us the balance of four detainees -who were released from jail yesterday- and more than twenty injured. Several citizens defended themselves from the savagery of the police throwing bottles and setting up barricades, while many of those inside the festival's grounds harshly criticized the ertzainas' behavior and virulent actions.

The mayor of this Bizkaian town, José María Gorroño (EA), joined the criticism and considered that Sunday's crackdown was way out of proportion. This statement earned him a reprimand from the Interior Department that recriminated the mayor with a notice saying that all what the ertzainas did was to "enforce the law" and that with his statement the mayor "seemed to be placing the blame of the incidents on the Ertzaintza". According to the notice from the Interior Department the responsibility for the four detainees and the twenty injured was "from those who violate the Law, do not abide by the legal dispositions and carry out illegal acts".

If we're going to talk about responsibility, one of the basic principles of police actions is that they have to be proportional. Actions like threatening the elderly and children, break down parades, confiscate festivity floats and tear down banners do not seem to comply with this principle.

But that's what happens when an imposed government tries to suffocate every single aspect of social interaction which is exactly what the Spanish State is doing in the Basque Country.

Seventy years ago that very same town was the chosen target by the Spaniards to carry out one of the must infamous genocidal attacks against the Basques. The event is recorded in the collective memory of the international community as the epitome of all what can go wrong in a war. Unlike the Germans and the Italians, the Spaniard have never apologized to the Basque people for the destruction of the village and the death of over 1,600 defenseless civilians. Last Sunday was a reminder of the horror but thanks to the status enjoyed by Madrid due to the so called "war on terrorism" unleashed by George W. Bush and continued by Barack Obama the event has gone unnoticed by the international main stream media.

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