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.

.... ... .

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

.... ... .

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.

.... ... .

Friendship Welcomes Dialogue Proposal

As you know, the recent proposal for dialogue in order to work towards a peaceful resolution of the Basque drive for self determination and eventual independence from both Spain and France has been received with harsh criticism by the Spanish establishment. Gladly enough, other voices are welcoming the proposal according to this note published at Ezker Abertzalea:

Friendship Group warmly welcomes the Abertzale Left's document

Today, the Friendship Group «Towards a peace process in the Basque Country» welcomes very warmly what we consider to be a step of great importance in order to achieve a peaceful scenario in the Basque Country.

Last Saturday, 14th of November, the Abertzale Left1 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 “this process has to be conducted in accordance with the Mitchell principles2”.

We believe this decision facilitates a positive scenario that could end in a peace process, and we ask all parties involved in the conflict to react responsibly and to engage in a process that will lead to peace talks.

We as a friendship group that is working "towards a peace process in the Basque Country" would like to express our willingness to continue working in favour of the resolution of the Basque conflict.

We share the idea that the only solution that is valid for everyone is one that will be drawn up by a multilateral agreement and that is based on dialogue, peaceful and democratic means and entitles the Basques to decide upon their future freely.

Tomorrow heads of state of the EU are meeting in Brussels. We would like to ask the European Union and all its member states, as stated by the resolution adopted by the EU parliament in October 2006, to support and promote a peace process in the Basque Country. We hope that the upcoming Spanish presidency of the EU will be used in order to find a peaceful solution to this long-standing conflict. We urge the release of Arnaldo Otegi and all those arrested for their political activities, including former MEP Karmelo Landa whose release has been demanded by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, in order to assure their involvement in a peace process.

Bairbre de Brún MEP and Tatjana Ždanoka MEP, on behalf of the Friendship Group: Towards a Peace Process in the Basque Country.

.... ... .

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.

.... ... .

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.

.... ... .

Blockade and Political Apartheid

We just received this communique from the Irish Basque Committees:

The Spanish government tries to blockade a new political initiative arresting 10 prominent Basque pro-independence activists

Less than two months after the Spanish Interior Minister’s threats against the Basque pro-independence left’s new political proposals last evening 10 people were arrested in Donostia/San Sebastian. All of them are prominent Basque pro-independence activists like Batasuna’s spokesperson Arnaldo Otegi and former LAB trade union leader Rafa Diez. Another one, Rufi Etxebarria, had been released from jail just one week ago after spending two years in prison for being a member of the outlawed Batasuna party.

Five of them were arrested in the LAB trade union’s offices and the others in different places around the country. All of them are being accused by the Spanish authorities and pro-Spanish media of reorganising the Basque pro-independence left’s leadership.

While some sort of repressive action was expected after weeks of strong Spanish criminalization and pressure the arrestes have shocked and outraged the majority of Basque society. Several political parties and the main trade unions have already spoken out against the police operation. According to them the arrests are political and are directed at preventing any new political initiative by the pro-independence left to bring the Basque Country to a scenario of peace and democracy.

It’s been publicly known that the Basque pro-independence left has been involved in a deep strategic debate for the last few months. At the same time discussions have been held with other progressive and pro-independence parties, trade unions and social organizations in order to form a strong pro-self-determination front.

Over the last 13 years every time the pro-independence left has taken a new political step the Spanish authorities have responded with police operations. Batasuna’s spokesperson Arnaldo Otegi is a good example of it as he has been arrested and imprisoned on numerous ocasions for his political work. Just last week he was told he will be tried for the so called “Anoeta event” in 2004 when himself and other Basque pro-independence movement representatives launched a peace proposal in front of 15,000 people. The proposal was widely accepted and set the way for dialogue and resolution which led to the 2005 negotiations between ETA and the Spanish government and ETA’s 2006 ceasefire.

Despite the attacks the Spanish authorities haven’t been able to stop the Basque pro-independence left’s political initiative and strength. Arnaldo Otegi quoting father Alec Reid has repeated on many ocasions that “the more reasonable our proposals are the more they’ll persecute us”.

Since 2002 the Basque left has had to organise in the most difficult conditions, mainly underground due to the Spanish authorities continuous criminalisation policies. However the pro-independence movement has always kept a public profile refusing to be silenced.

At a conference in Bilbao last week United Nations Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism Special Rapporteur Martin Scheinin warned that cutting off the political ways is extremely dangerous.

As has happened in previous repressive attacks the Basque pro-independence left has also declared today: “Against more repression we’ll respond with more political initiative".

.... ... .

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.

.... ... .

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.

.... ... .

Winds of Freedom in Catalunya

It started in the tiny town of Arenys de Munt, know its all over 100 towns across Catalunya. Madrid spends millions of euros each year making sure that the main stream media portrays the political conflicts in Catalunya, Nabarra and Galiza as something of no consequence when in reality Spain fails to comply with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights that demands self determination for all nations that endure colonial occupation.

So you can imagine just how angry Spaniard must be to see that the international community is learning about the call for independence in Catalunya. Here you have one example, an article published at Bloomberg:

Catalan Mayors Plan Independence Vote in Challenge to Zapatero

Emma Ross-Thomas

Oct. 5 (Bloomberg) -- More than 100 towns in Catalonia voted to hold referendums proposing independence from Spain, an attempt to press national leaders to heed their views.

The 117 unofficial referendums will take place on Dec. 12, Feb. 28 and April 25, Jordi Fabrega, spokesman of the Decidim.cat initiative said in a telephone interview after a meeting of around 100 mayors and municipal representatives near Barcelona on Oct. 3. The movement includes representatives from all political parties except the People’s Party, the biggest national opposition group, he said.

“As the constitution prohibits it, we decided to do it ourselves in a very democratic way,” Fabrega said. Private entities will organize the voting to avoid legal problems for the town halls, which are not allowed to hold referendums. “There’s no stopping us now.”

The polls, which have no legal weight, are an attempt to exert pressure on the government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero to allow Catalans to decide whether they want to remain part of Spain. They will follow a similar poll in the village of Arenys de Munt on Sept. 13, where 96 percent favored independence. Described by the government as illegal and unconstitutional, the referendums may also stir unease in the capitals of other European countries such as the U.K., France and Belgium where separatists are pushing for more autonomy.

“It may cause a frisson of concern if they seem to give others what would be perceived to be false hope,” said Hugo Brady, Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for European Reform, a London-based think-tank.

Autonomous Regions

Spain’s 1978 constitution ended an almost 40-year dictatorship and established a system of autonomous regions with varying degrees of self-government, including Catalonia and the Basque Country, both of which have their own police and use co- official languages. Rather then defuse nationalism, the return to democracy and entry into the European Union fueled tensions. The Basque terror group ETA has killed more than 800 people in its campaign for independence.

Catalonia’s economy is the biggest in Spain, accounting for almost 20 percent of gross domestic product. Its capital, Barcelona, is home to Spain’s largest gas company, Gas Natural SDG SA and third-largest lender by assets, La Caixa.

Joan Costa i Font, a lecturer in European social policy at the London School of Economics, said the referendums were a “laboratory experiment to test the central state reaction,” and a “first step towards a large-scale referendum backed by the Catalan parliament.”

Independence Favored

More than half of Catalans favor some kind of break with the central government, according to a poll in July by the regional government. Nineteen percent backed outright independence with another 32 percent saying it should be a state within a federal Spain, the poll said.

The regional government is a coalition including Socialists and Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, a republican party which favors independence from Spain and counts Welsh, Corsican, Flemish, and Scottish nationalists among its allies in the European Parliament.

The Scottish administration, led by the Scottish National Party, intends to hold a referendum on independence for 2010, which First Minister Alex Salmond said Sept. 23 may include an option allowing voters to opt for greater autonomy rather than full independence from the U.K.

We want to remind Emma Ross-Thomas that Catalunya, Nabarra and Galiza are not mere "regions", they are nations.

Oh, and maybe she could venture telling us how many Basques have been murdered since the XII century when Castile started the invasion and colonization of Nabarra (the Basque Country).

.... ... .

Trapped in the Past

Scotland and Catalunya are two European nations with a strong sense of identity. Both have very long historic legacy. Their respective populations are very similar. And they share one more trait, their respective societies are not settling down for with the info we just enunciated, they want more, they want for their nations to achieve statehood, just like the English and the Spanish states. Then again, that's when they become really different from each other: while London seems to see as democratic "fair play" the possibility that the Scots make an statement regarding their independence in a referendum set for 2010, when it comes to Spain it takes just a consult that involves no more than 7,000 people for all the red lights to go off, something that includes judiciary vetoes and the Phalanx's street violence.

Yes, Madrid has real reasons to worry about. "El País" reminded its readers just yesterday that the polls in the Generalitat showed an increase of six points for those who support independence since 2005. And "La Vanguadia" stated that the street polls show that the support for independence could easily reach 40% if was actually an option on election day. More so, the pro-independence Catalans gathered yesterday in Arenys de Munt constantly shouted in support of Euskal Herria, where the polls throughout the last few years locate the support for independence above 30%, despite the frustrating fact that such option is not something that will be allowed any time soon.

To the self-determination exercise in Arenys the Spanish state answers by dispatching the Phalanx, a political party that has not been outlawed as opposed to those within the abertzale left (Batasuna, ANV, EHAK, D3M), and with a judicial ban directly inherited from the "Spain one, great and free". We have the very same recipes used almost a century ago on plain sight. A period in which the Spanish state has not only been unable to eliminate the pro-independence camp but has also been unable to offer any democratic alternatives.

Madrid is running out of time. The referendum in Arenys de Munt is undeniable proof that the pro-independence Catalans are more that ready to make Catalunya happen, and perhaps quite soon Euskal Herria too.

.... ... .

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.

.... ... .

Direct Attack Against Democracy

Baltasar Garzón, Spain's top inquisitor and enforcer of the Apartheid against the Basque people's civil rights who earlier this year suspended all activities of two Basque political parties, has now charged 13 of their members using the "one size fits all" accusation, belonging to ETA.

The candidate lists presented by D3M and Askatasuna for the Basque regional elections were banned by the Supreme Court in February this year and, 2 weeks before the poll was due to take place, Garzón suspended all of the two parties’ political activities for a period of 3 years.

In a ruling released to the press this Monday and without presenting one single piece of evidence to support his alegation, the judge has now indicated that D3M and Askatasuna both ‘acted under the leadership of the terrorist organisation Batasuna-ETA’. The 13 members charged include D3M’s spokesperson, Amparo Lasheras, and the President of Askatasuna, José Antonio Munduate.

The charge is membership of and collaboration with an armed group. 10 others escape the charge for lack of evidence, while a further 2 will not be prosecuted, as they are either charged in another case or are already in prison for another crime.

We would like to remind you that all these repressive measures against the Basque people were validated not too long ago when Strasbourg's Human Rights Court decided to join the flanks of those who refuse the right of the peoples (the nations without statehood in this particular case) to their self determination. So now the responsibility of an increased number of Basque political prisoners is shared by Madrid and Strasbourg's Court.

.... ... .

No to Catalonian Self Determination

This note was published at Critics and Monsters:

Spanish court blocks vote on Catalonia independence

Barcelona- A court in Spain's north-eastern Catalonia region on Thursday blocked one village's planned referendum on independence for the state, judicial sources said. The vote had been called for September 13 by Arenys de Munt, a village of 8,000 near Barcelona. In a preliminary ruling, the Barcelona court accepted the appeal lodged by lawyers representing the Spanish state, who argued that only the state could stage referendums.

The villagers were to be asked whether Catalonia, a wealthy region of more than 6 million residents, should become an independent state within the European Union.

The referendum plan had sparked a national controversy, with the government fearing that it could become a precedent for other similar votes in the country beset with separatist currents.

Catalan top politicians have not followed the example of former Basque prime minister Juan Jose Ibarretxe, whose attempts to call a Basque vote on self-determination were foiled by the Spanish parliament and Constitutional Court.

¿Separatist currents?

Maybe the people at Monsters and Critics should learn about the international treaties protecting the right to self determination of the nations without statehood signed among others by Madrid and Paris.

.... ... .

A Pact Against the Pro-Independence Left

Just yesterday the president of the Basque province of Nafarroa, Miguel Sanz, announced a new political pact with the Navarre Socialist Party (the PSN, a satellite of Spain's ruling party) that, at first glance, constitutes flagrant evidence that is nothing more that a call to act against the Basque pro-independence left in every single possible way, including the displays of solidarity towards the Basque activist suffering political persecution. Trying to emulate the "change" enforced by Francisco Javier López in the Basque Autonomous Community, the pact includes threats against the political parties that fail to show open support for the State's armed and police forces.

All what Sanz needed to do was to seat down and wait for the Socialist government in Gasteiz to set the pace against the pro-independence left, yesterday was the day for him to announce that his government would promote along with the PSN "a great political and social pact in favor of freedom, coexistence and democracy" with the specific goal of "reducing any room available to impunity" in the public sphere. Regarding "impunity", Sanz referred to the pro-independence left being in charge of kick starting the festivities in Berriozar.

Despite the fact that during their meeting at the beginning of summer both Miguel Sanz and Francisco Javier López insisted about the differentiated identity of Nafarroa as opposed to the Basque Autonomous Community, when it comes to the pro-independence left this difference gets blurry. The PSOE, presiding the government in Gasteiz and maintaining the one in Nafarroa propped up, is in fact calling the shots regarding the line of action for Hegoalde.

Sanz spoke about the pact with the pSN during a press conference, just after celebrating the firs session of the Navarrese executive. He pointed out the the core issues of the pact have been adressed through the dialogue between himself and representatives of the PSN. "This is about reducing the room to impunity in the institutional sphere, during festive and cultural acts, in public spaces and such that the terrorists use to expand the criminal activities and berate both their victims and the government officials democratically elected". He then went on to criticize the opening ceremony in the Berriozar festivities because the person in charge of hosting the event is a pro-independence mayor (displaying his selective memory, Sanz forgot to mention that he was too democratically elected), and that during the txupin (a firework that is launched to signal the start of the festivities) a banner in support of bringing home the Basque political prisoners was prominently displayed.

In the political sphere, the pact will be enforced by avoiding to reach institutional agreements with "outlawed" political formations and with political parties "that refuse to firmly denounce ETA's violence or fail to support the institutions that conform the State, like the military and police forces. In doing so, Sanz directed a warning against Nafarroa Bai after the verbal brawl carried out in Iruñea in the aftermath of the attacks in Mallorca and Burgos when Aralar criticized the partisan nature of the "condemnations". Soon after Nafarroa Bai accused the ultra-conservative (the UPN is a satellite party of Spain's PP) government of using the announcement of "a pact that is a throwback to fascism in order to create a smoke curtain around the failed economic policies". The spokes person for NaBai, Maiorga Ramírez, disqualified the pact because its goal is to exclude "anyone that those not share the UPN's postulates", stating that in his opinion, "an authentic pact regarding coexistence and democracy must first acknowledge, respect and advance an stage that provides freedom of expression that ensures the development of plurality within Nafarroa". Ramíres also criticized the PSN due to the fact that with this new proposal "once again it surrenders to the postulates of the extreme right that consider that those who do not comply with their ideals must be excluded from the political sphere".

.... ... .

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.

.... ... .

The Basque Pro-Independence Left Proven Right

Quite used to labeling almost any event or declaration as "historical", this week both political leaders and the main stream media chose to tip-toe about an unprecedented moment that may prove to be more transcendental than the original assessment. For the first time in history an Spanish Interior Minister has conceded that the Basque pro-independence left is right. Because non less than that is what Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba did when he stated that even if the event that the pro-independence left were to condemn violence and then request to be within the law "the answer would be absolutely no". That was the end to the mantra that said that "all they needed to do is to condemn", thus validating what the pro-independence left said all along: that what really is outlawed is not any given political party but the ideals they stand for -the independence of the Basque Country and socialism-, and that the resolution of the political conflict can only be the result not only from the return of those ideals to the legal framework, but from the viability of their project being equal to the rest of the political options. With only one valid condition, that the only democratic demand will be to gather the necessary social support.

Previous to Perez Rubalcaba's statement the only time when something similar happened was when Jaime Mayor Oreja admitted that "ETA never lies". Only that by then Mayor Oreja was not the titular of the Interior Minister anymore and his word were encased in a verbal attack against the PSOE, which in turn reduced the value of the statement. Nevertheless, the big difference resides in the fact that the statements by the Interior Minister take place with him acting as the spokesman for the Spanish regime, a regime that has not rebuked Perez Rubalcaba's statements. Quite the opposite, Rodolfo Ares, who holds the equivalent post in the Basque Autonomous Community and as a member of his political party, supported his boss' statement.

The only person that may have pondered the gravity of Perez Rubalcaba's statement -besides the direct recipients of the statement- has been Patxi Zabaleta, who is usually used as a Troy Horse against the pro-independence left by the Spanish regime and the rest of the political parties. The stark evidence of what has been more than evident for so long, specially coming from the Spanish Interior Minister, exposes many of the pontifications that, disguised of innocence and good will, had been released in an attempt to blame the pro-independence left for the severe lack of civil liberties endured in the Basque Country.

It is certain, in any case, that the mere condemnation of violence, resorting for a moment to the terminology in vogue at this time, does not necessarily imply the honest compromise to what is being repudiated. Perez Rubalcaba himself is the best example for that for he belongs to a political party that throughout the years condemned the GAL's actions the while file and rank carried out a dirty war with the financial support by the very same government that he was a part of. The final guilty verdict, although merely testimonial, against a number of those involved in the violent deaths of 23 Basque citizens did not prevent the PSOE from openly showing its support, to the extreme of accompanying them all the way to the very gates of the detention center in Guadalajara.

And the same can be said about the PP with respect to the Franco era regime. Only that, on top of it, in this specific case the conservative Spaniard avoid making that condemnation public. In some cases, like in the case of the always honest Mayor Oreja, they have no qualms when it comes to speaking highly of the dictatorship.

Having said that, there will be those who will insist that the GAL, the Franco era regime and ETA are simply not the same. And it is true. But, why should they be different in the sense that they think and not in the senses considered by the pro-independence left?

Why are the Spaniards allowed to support their "truth", their view of history, but the pro-independence Basques are persecuted for stating what they think, or even for thinking the way they do?

The position held by the different political agents regarding the different kinds of violence do not depend from an abstract sense of morality, but from very specific political agendas. Another question is which one of such kinds of violence is moral on immoral and under which circumstances, or which kind of violence can sustain those agendas. But in the Spanish regime there is no freedom to discuss these issues.

There will be those who, when it comes the time, will consider that their political party has never been involved in any instance of political violence, that their slate is clean, and that it has only resorted to the lawful violence bestowed by the democratic institutions. Many in EA and the PNV will think that way. But, unless they consider that the appraisal done until now is false, that the reality shown without cover-ups by Perez Rubalcaba is not such, will have to accept the fact that this panorama is long ways from what could be considered democratic and that they have behaved as is if it was democratic. In such case, violence has been exercised in the name of law, but not in favor of justice nor democracy.

The very same, or even more, can be said about the present situation in which we find the Basque political conflict. The option to systematically outlaw demonstrations was first used by the PNV. The same way, those who refuse to accept their responsibility in the violence that has been generated should at least accept their responsibility for not thoroughly seeking a solution to the situation within the parameters of justice, democracy and liberty. The vertigo shown at Loiola by the top jelkides is a good example of that.

Summing uo, is time for everyone to renew their respective compromise, and stop their outlandish demands to others. Is time for some serious self-criticism, with no room for self-indulgence. Now is not the time for morally unproductive condemnations, whether they are true or false. Is time to propose political solutions in the short and long term.

.... ... .

Campaign Against Extradition of Basque Activists

This article was published at An Phoblacht:

Don't Extradite the Basques Campaign launched

Emma Clancy

The Don’t Extradite the Basques Campaign was formally launched on Wednesday 10 June against the extradition to Spain of Belfast-based Basque pro-independence activists Iñaki de Juana and Arturo ‘Beñat’ Villanueva at a press conference in An Chultúrlann.

Civil rights activist Fearghas Ó hÍr outlined the campaign on behalf of the committee, joined by a range of supporters including prominent human rights defenders and community activists, aiming to demonstrate the broad support for the human and civil rights of the Basque people from across the Belfast community.

An online petition against the extraditions was also launched at the press conference. Initial signatories to this petition include Fearghas Ó hÍr, human rights lawyer Pádraigín Drinan, Eamon McCann (NUJ National Executive), Gerry McConville (Chair, West Belfast Partnership Board) and Michael Culbert (former Antrim and St Gall’s Football Manager).

Iñaki de Juana

Speaking on behalf of the campaign, Fearghas Ó hÍr said: “The Spanish authorities are trying to extradite Iñaki de Juana, who served 21 years in Spanish jails, from Belfast, where he moved immediately after his release in August last year, to face questioning related to charges of ‘glorifying terrorism’.

“The arrest warrant is based on somebody at a rally in Donostia in August, which was celebrating Iñaki’s release from prison, reading a letter that used the popular Basque expression ‘Aurrera bolie’ (‘Kick the ball forward’). The Spanish authorities claim this phrase constitutes a call for the continuation of armed struggle.

“Iñaki was not present at this rally and denies writing such a letter, which Spanish police admit they cannot produce. There is no evidence that this comment was Iñaki’s or that it somehow constitutes a terrorist offence.

“There has been a virulent and sustained hate campaign against Iñaki by the Spanish media for many years, and Spain’s former justice minister has previously publicly called for the judges to ‘construct new charges’ against Iñaki to ‘keep him in jail’,” Ó hÍr explained.

“It is very clear that behind the warrant for ‘questioning’ issued by Spain is the agenda of putting Iñaki back in prison, despite the fact that these new charges are baseless.”

Arturo ‘Beñat’ Villanueva

Ó hÍr then outlined the case of Basque youth activist Arturo ‘Beñat’ Villanueva, who was arrested in March 2001 by the Spanish police, with 15 other young pro-independence activists, and was accused of being a member of Basque pro-independence socialist youth organisation Jarrai.

“While Jarrai is a solely political organisation, it was declared illegal by the Spanish authorities in 2005 and categorised as a “terrorist” organisation by Spain’s Supreme Court in 2007,” Ó hÍr explained.

“Charged with ‘membership of a terrorist organisation’, Beñat faced a possible 14-year jail sentence for his political activism. Released on bail after 10 months in prison, he did not attend what many believed to be a political show trial.

“In 2004, Beñat decided to seek refuge in Belfast from Spanish political persecution and the risk of torture.

“At the time of Beñat’s alleged membership of Jarrai (1994-2000), the organisation was legal. The Spanish court is applying the law that criminalised Jarrai retrospectively.

“Beñat is being targeted by the Spanish authorities for carrying out political, public and peaceful youth work in the Basque Country. His only ‘crime’ has been his political ideas in favour of Basque independence and socialism,” Ó hÍr said.

Political persecution

“In its effort to prevent the Basque people from exercising their democratic right to self-determination, Spain is breaching several fundamental rights as outlined in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, including the right to freedom of opinion and expression, of peaceful assembly and association, the right to take part in the government of their state and the right not to be subjected to torture or abuse,” Ó hÍr said.

“Iñaki de Juana and Arturo ‘Beñat’ Villanueva are clearly being persecuted solely for their political opinions, not for any criminal activity. We believe that there is a serious danger that they will not receive a fair hearing within the Spanish judicial system and face the risk of torture.

Mr Ó hÍr continued: “These extradition requests are politically unacceptable and we are calling on all those who support basic civil rights to sign the petition against the extraditions.”

The campaign petition demands that the Spanish government respects the fundamental human, civil and political rights of the Basque people as laid out in the UN Declaration of Human Rights and that it ends its campaign of criminalisation against the Basque pro-independence movement.

The petition supports the human right of de Juana and Villanueva not to be persecuted by the Spanish government for their political opinions.

It calls on the British government to immediately reject the extradition requests and to refuse to collaborate with the Spanish government in this political persecution.

Finally, the petition supports the right of de Juana and Villanueva to live freely in Ireland.

To sign the petition visit www.dontextraditethebasques.org

Once again, thanks to our Irish friends for their solidarity and support.

.... ... .

About the Ban Against Internationalist Initiative

This article was published at Workers World:

Madrid court outlaws anti-capitalist party

John Catalinotto

By outlawing a new political party from an upcoming June 7 ballot, ruling circles in the Spanish regime are exposing their links to the 36-year-long fascist reign of Francisco Franco. Their latest anti-democratic step involved fraudulent charges to prevent the newly formed International Initiative—Solidarity among the Peoples (II-SP) organization from competing in elections to the European Parliament.

Spain’s Supreme Court on May 16 by an 11-5 majority supported a lower court decision to ban the II-SP. The new party is appealing to the Constitutional Court to reverse this, while waging an international petition campaign to gain support. A final May 21 decision is likely to maintain the ban, unless a massive struggle arises to reverse it.

The courts are imposing the ban in the midst of the economic crisis that exploded in 2008 and hit Spain much harder than most other developed capitalist countries. The “housing bubble” burst with a fury in Spain, stopping almost all new construction projects. Official unemployment climbed to more than 17 percent in April. Young people can’t find permanent jobs.

To underline an anti-capitalist solution to this crisis, some leftist parties, both on a federal level and in the regions that consist of oppressed nations within the Spanish state, joined together this spring to form the II-SP. They offered a relatively broad but clearly anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist alternative.

The II-SP competes not only with rightist bourgeois parties like José María Aznar’s People’s Party, but also with Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero’s governing Socialist Workers Party (PSOE). It considers Zapatero pro-capitalist, despite his “socialist” label. It competes even with the United Left (IU) movement—the traditional Spanish left close to the Spanish Communist Party—that revolutionaries consider to be trapped inside the capitalist parliamentary system.

Historically, the Spanish state has included at least four peoples or nationalities. The people of Galicia in the northwest, of Catalonia in the east, and of the Basque Country in the northeast have been under the heel of the Castilian ruling class. Repression was especially brutal during the Franco period against local customs and any languages other than Castilian Spanish.

Today it also includes immigrants from Africa and Latin America, who face racial discrimination.

In carrying out the struggle for Basque self-determination, Basque freedom fighters set up an organization in 1959 known as ETA, an acronym for the Basque words meaning Basque Homeland and Freedom. ETA evolved into a guerrilla group that carried out armed actions against the Spanish state, both during the fascist period and afterwards.

The Spanish ruling class took the same approach toward ETA as the British rulers did toward the Irish Republican Army and the U.S. toward Puerto Rican patriots: repression. They hunted down ETA members and also jailed thousands of Basques involved in political struggles.

This repression extended to pro-independence political organizations in the Basque Country. The “Law of the Parties” of 2002 outlawed Batasuna, the political party that shared the same political program as the guerrilla group ETA. After Batasuna was made illegal, the AVN (Basque Nationalist Action) was set up to politically represent Basque self-determination. The courts then outlawed AVN.

Thus in today’s Spanish state, Basques who are for independence or autonomy have no legal political party, while former fascist youth like Aznar can run the government.

II-SP supports self-determination

The II-SP supports self-determination for Galicia, Catalonia and the Basque Country. The leading figure on the II-SP ticket, world-famous playwright and historical anti-fascist elder Alfonso Sastre, also led the AVN ticket in a recent election before the AVN was banned. Number two on the II-SP slate, Doris Benegas from the Castilian Left, and number five, Ángeles Maestro of the Red Current, are leaders who have politically supported Basque self-determination. They participated in meetings supporting Basque political prisoners and honoring Basque martyrs.

As Maestro told the media, none of these candidates belongs to ETA, nor does the II-SP advocate armed struggle, nor are the candidates of Basque nationality. Yet the Spanish regime and courts have applied the “Law of Parties” to outlaw the II-SP from the election.

The state’s argument—if you can believe it—is that Basques who support Batasuna and who see Sastre heading the list might consider II-SP an indirect representative of Batasuna’s program. Pro-independence Basques might feel inspired by voting for II-SP and encouraged to continue the struggle and thus, the court reasoned, it must ban II-SP.

Continuing to fight for its place on the ballot, II-SP asks for support inside and outside Spain on a petition to defend “democracy and the presumption of innocence.” Already Nobel Peace Prize winner Adolfo Pérez Esquivel of Argentina has written to Zapatero urging him to “intervene” to “avoid anti-democratic actions” by the courts against II-SP.

Inside the Spanish state, other federal parties on the ballot like the Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain (PCPE) and the Anti-capitalist Initiative (IA) have demanded that the ban on II-SP be lifted. The Basque Left denied it was manipulating II-SP and expressed solidarity with II-SP’s right to be on the ballot.

There are reports the IU is split on this question. So far the IU leadership has said only that it will support the decision of the courts in this matter.

Slanders from the rightist parties, the regime and the media against the militants of II-SP may prevent the election of the II-SP candidates, but even this hostile publicity has exposed many millions of people to this party’s existence and potentially its program at the beginning of an intense class struggle in the Spanish state.

E-mail: jcat@workers.org

-------

Articles copyright 1995-2009 Workers World. Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.

Note: The article was written before Spain's constitutional court revoked the ban by the supreme court and published one day too late, but still, it provides important information to help our readers understand that Spain is not a democratic state.

.... ... .

ETA Supports Political Resolution

The Basque pro-independence group ETA declared their support of a political resolution to the demand by the Basque society to its self determination after a period of "reflection."

"As an armed organisation, being effective and having an effective strategy becomes the focus and concern of our discussion," an ETA member told the pro-independence Basque newspaper Gara. "In this regard, before the summer, we will end a process of reflection and assembly, the aim of which is to establish an effective political-armed strategy," he said.

Two ETA members, identified as 'Gaueko' and 'Argi', were interviewed by Gara, which is often used by the group to release its statements. The newspaper translated the interviews into Spanish from the Basque language. Their statements came less than three weeks after Patxi Lopez, the regional leader of the Socialist Party that holds power in Madrid who was able to take over the position of lehendakari after the central government annuled 100,000 votes in an openly Apartheid-like strategy against the civil and political rights of the Basque people, thus, Patxi Lopez was inaugurated as the first Basque-phobe to rule the Basque Autonomous Community, a political entity that groups only three out of the seven Basque provinces.

Unlike his predecessor, Juan Jose Ibarretxe of the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), Lopez rejects any negotiations with ETA and vows to increase the political violence that Madrid has imposed against the Basques. Gaueko told Gara that the Basque political situation is "very worrying, not because the PNV has lost its power, but because that power is in the hand of the Spanish fascist alliance."

The two ETA members also condemned the cooperation between France and Spain, which has led to the escalation of repressive measures against Basque activists. "A game is being played between what this Euskal Herria needs and what Spain and France needs," Gaueko said.

Spain, considered a fascist state many people around the world, has murdered thousands of Basques in its 8-century campaign of ethnic cleansing operations, bombings, massacres, razzias, pogroms and shootings for a colonial hold of the Basque homeland south of the Pyrinees.

ETA officially called off a 15-month ceasefire in June 2007, due to the lack of progress in tentative peace talks with the Socialist government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, an Spanish politician that derailed the peace process to prove his boss, francoist monarch Juan Calros Borbon, that him and the members of his political party loath the Basque people even more than the members of the extreme right Partido Popular.

You can read the article about this interview in Spanish here.

.... ... .