Rushdie and Egunkaria

Today at Yahoo News:

At Barcelona Forum Salman Rushdie vehemently denounces closing-down of ‘Egunkaria’

At the opening event of the International PEN Club Josep Bargallo, the Chief Councillor of the Catalan Government, also referred to what happened to the Basque-language daily

Gurutze Jauregi –BARCELONA

Condemnation of the closing down of Egunkaria reached writers and journalists all over the world yesterday and the day before yesterday during the conference organised by the International Pen Club as part of the Barcelona Forum. The day before yesterday during the opening event of the conference The Value of the Word both Josep Bargallo, the Conseller en cap or Chief Councillor of the Catalan Government, and the writer Salman Rushdie recalled the closing down of the Basque-language newspaper. And in a press conference yesterday with Martxelo Otamendi, Egukaria’s former Chief Editor, Salman Rushdie himself condemned what had happened to Egunkaria even more vehemently.

When asked about the closing down of Egunkaria, Salman Rushdie said it was “appalling”. The author of “The Satanic Verses” is the Chairman of the American PEN Club and spoke on behalf of the association: “On behalf of the PEN Club of the United States I can say that we are outraged by attacks of this nature.” At the same time he regarded Otamendi’s torture experience as extremely serious in view of his position as a newspaper editor. “If they do things like that to an editor who has a good opportunity in numerous places to talk about what he was subjected to, what will they not do to someone who doesn’t have this possibility?” he asked.

The press conference Salman Rushdie gave with Otamendi created the highest expectation among all the events organised by the International PEN Club yesterday. The author, who has lived under a death threat for many years, spoke about the difficulties and dangers that freedom of expression is facing. Among other things he denounced the efforts made by today’s governments to restrict the bounds of public debate. He also spoke of the power conflict in the world. “The true power struggle today is being concealed. The secret services of Governments and terrorists want to keep it under wraps. Our task is to publish what is going on.”

The opening event the day before yesterday aroused intense curiosity particularly because of the protagonists. Salman Rushdie, the Chairman of the American PEN Club, Josep Bargallo, the Chief Councillor of the Catalan Government, and Carles Torner of the PEN club of Catalonia were among those present.

Rushdie praised the value of the word. “Those who kill writers and journalists will never be able to put an end to their writings,” he said. Rushdie, like Josep Bargallo, referred to the closing down of Egunkaria and expressed solidarity with those who had been arrested. The Chief Councillor of the Catalan Government recalled the dark years endured under the Aznar government and referred to the Egunkaria case as one of the infringements of liberty that had taken place.

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Letter From Iñaki Uria

We received this letter from Basque political prisoner Iñaki Uria:

Letter from Aranjuez jail

Iñaki Uria

I have been imprisoned in the Aranjuez jail for more than a year for editing Euskaldunon Egunkaria, then the only daily newspaper written entirely in Basque. My name is Iñaki Uria. I’m 43 years old, and I’ve spent 25 working in the Basque press. Basque is the oldest living language in Europe. It has about 800,000 speakers, about 30 per cent of all inhabitants of the Basque Country. Three wars in the 19th century, the loss to Franco in the 20th, the 40 years of Franco’s dictatorship, and the waves of massive immigration worsened the health of Basque language. It would be dead by now, save for the efforts of many Basque people in the 1960’s. They created Basque primary schools, unified the language, and made it useful for all aspects modern society, from art to science, from religion to business, and, of course, including the press. Until then, the only publications written in Basque were some Catholic journals, with religious content, directed at rural folk.

So in the 1970’s Basque journalists did not begin from scratch, but nearly so. We were volunteers, without salaries, driven by day-to-day necessities. Our young vocations as journalists and writers were wholly involved in the effort to start Basque publications, even if we had to work on something else —often during weekends— to earn a living. We managed to inititate Argia, a weekly magazine, Susa, first a literature magazine, then a publishing company, and Larrun, a journal of political essays.

By the 1980’s, we saw our projects becoming solid realities. We realized that creating a daily newspaper was the next decisive step on the way to normalizing our language—that is, enabling Basque speakers to communicate in Basque in the normal ways people use their language. We were young and brave —or crazy— enough to embark in a new and difficult project. To begin with, who was going to finance it? In the Basque Country there are no big Maecenas or patrons for cultural projects. No big businessman or political institution volunteered to support the project. They saw no future in a Basque newspaper.

Apparently, all the principles of the market ran against it. But we made it. We begged for money. And we got the support of hundreds of citizens. It is these hundreds of individual stakeholders that constitute the financial basis of Euskaldunon Egunkaria. After a difficult birth, it was a success. The potential market of Basque readers was small, but Egunkaria gained a significant part of it and, slowly, came to occupy an important place among the papers in the Basque Country. It gained prestige, credibility and influence. The Basque autonomous institutions came to acknowledge its value and began to contribute to its financing. One of its latest projects was the edition of a series of local newspapers, initially distributed for free, which hopefully would attract new readers to the Basque language. And then, unexpectedly, one year ago, judge Juan del Olmo from the Spanish special court called Audiencia Nacional decided to close down Egunkaria.

Yes, it is as easy as that. In Spain, at the beginning of the 21 st century, a judge closed a daily newspaper with 50,000 readers. He sent 200 troops of the Guardia Civil (a paramilitary police force) to close down Egunkaria’s offices in five towns. They arrested 10 people, both current and former staff members. Those arrested included the editor-in-chief, Martxelo Otamendi and myself, the managing editor. I can tell you what happened to me.

February 20, 2003; about 1:15 a.m. I am alone at home; sleeping. The bell rings; someone bangs on the door. I open it. Members of the Guardia Civil enter with assault guns. There is also a judicial secretary, or so I think. They handcuff me, arms on the back. They search the house. They take all they want. There is no witness. 3 hours and a half later, now blindfolded, they take me to Egunkaria’s headquarters. After searching these premises, they drive me —still handcuffed and blindfolded— to Madrid —500 kilometers— to the Guardia Civil’s headquarters. They ask me questions, silly questions. “Do you know who we are? The Guardia Civil!” they proudly say. I have strong reasons to be scared, for I am, after all, a Basque. Basque people know that lots of people have been tortured by the Guardia Civil. Some of them have been killed by torture: Joseba Arregi, Mikel Zabaltza and Gurutze Yantzi are just three famous cases.

I have reasons to be frightened. I am not frightened because I have done anything wrong. My ‘crime’ was just editing a newspaper. I am frightened because I am being held incommunicado in the hands of Guardia Civil.

They take my jacket away, and leave me just my T-shirt and shirt. I have only one blanket. I am freezing, I cannot sleep. I cannot see either. I am blindfolded most of the time. When it is removed, I still can’t see much with my myopic eyes: they have also taken my glasses away. I spend five long days and nights incommunicado. I endure I don’t know how many interrogatory sessions. I suffer techniques for physical exhaustion and psychological humiliation: they beat me, they put a plastic bag over my head, they put a gun against my head and pull the trigger, they aim at me with some red laser light in the dark of the punishment cell… they do with me whatever they want. But, what for? What do they seek from me? A confession. They want a connection between ETA and Egunkaria: they want me to serve as the intellectual and economic link and, therefore, as the justification for the closure of Egunkaria.

There has never been any tie, not the smallest tie, not economic nor of any other kind, between Egunkaria and ETA. Regarding this, I am not worried. I am suffering a lot, but surely, after those five hard days, the truth will be clear. After the isolation and torture, I am led to the judge in the Audiencia Nacional. I am not allowed to be assisted by, or appear with, or even talk to my attorney. The judge’s questions are all incriminatory. No evidence. He will not listen to the truth. I decide not to declare. Everybody knows that Audiencia Nacional is a special court reserved for Basques and big drug dealers as well. Thus, he sends me to jail—a jail which is more than 500 kilometers from my town.

Here in jail as far as the wardens are concerned I am another ETA prisoner—a dangerous fellow. I, who have devoted myself to journalism and other media, am a dangerous prisoner for Spain. This has direct consequences for my quality of life. Basque political prisoners live in a jail within the jail. To discourage visits we are moved at least 500 kms. away from our hometowns and relatives —many to more than 1,000 kms. Cell inspections, naked body inspections, and isolation cells are the rule for Basques. Had our skin been black we could talk of a racist regime, an apartheid within the jail.

It is a year since I was sent here. There has been no trial. But this is not surprising in Spain: you could spend up to four years in prison without a trial—even if you are innocent! I’ve met people here with two and three years of ‘pre-emptive’ prison for being members of organizations that work for prisoners’ rights, or members of a juvenile political organization, or an association of town councilors. We are Basque political prisoners. We are accused of being dangerous terrorists—with no evidence, and no trial!

The daily newspaper we worked so hard to create, Euskaldunon Egunkaria, remains closed down. Its five sites are sealed, its bank accounts closed, and the publishing company in process of liquidation, following orders of the judge. Of the ten people arrested on February 20, 2003, I am the only one in prison. On October 20, 2003, nine people more were arrested. They all have been freed.

The judge has turned down two requests by my attorney for my freedom. My appeal is now in the hands of a higher court. The judge says that “there is risk of flight”. I tell him no. I do not intend to run away, and I dare say he knows it. I suspect his real motives are others. How could he keep the paper closed down if no one is incriminated? If nobody had committed any crime, what would be his justification for the closure?

What are the real reasons for this attack on freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and the right for information? To understand this we must consider it in the context of the Basque issue, the conflict of the Basque Country with Spain.

Spain has been particularly skilful to take the big wave against terrorism generated after the September 11 attack on America. Spanish president Aznar, good servant of president Bush, began his own attack against Basque nationalism after he won the elections in Spain by an absolute majority. The attack intensified after 9/11 exploiting the international atmosphere the attack created. Aznar equated Basque nationalism with terrorism, banned a political party, almost 300 electors’ associations, an association of town councilors, and closed down a daily newspaper. This is, sad to say, all within Spanish law, that’s true. In 1996 he promised that his policy against terrorism would always be within the law, that he would not create his own terrorist group to make the war to Basques, like former president Felipe González, from the Spanish Socialist Party, did, and the so-called GAL group (27 people were killed in “selective murders” from 1983 to 1989).

President Aznar has taught everybody a clear lesson: “you can do a lot of things within the law. If you meet a limit, you just change the law. That’s the use of absolute majority.” But we all know that acting legally does not mean acting fairly or morally. Having majority in parliament is never a guarantee for justice. Remember Hitler. Many of his acts were legal within the framework of laws he created.

During the last years, using ETA as an excuse, Spain has committed big injustices against Basque people. Political, social, and cultural organizations and media have been attacked, under the umbrella of made-to-order laws. The Supreme Court, the Constitutional Court, the Attorney General and the National Court of Spain have all subordinated to the executive. I’m not alone denouncing it. All Basque political parties and the Spanish parties not in office have made the same claim. But mass media are highly controlled, no less in Spain than in Berlusconi’s Italy. In a nutshell, the health of democracy in Spain is in very bad condition.

In these circumstances, the rights of the Basque minority (2.6 million people) are ignored by the government of Spain (43 million people). Most Basque people want ETA, the armed separatist organization created during Franco’s dictatorship, to end its violent activities once and for all. But we also want the Spanish government to stop the war against the Basque Country and its people it conducts with its media, its police, its judiciary, and its control of political and economic forces.

The conflict of the Basque Country is not new. Leave aside the wars of the 19th century, and focus on the 20 th . On April 26, 1937, the fascist —German, Italian, and Spanish— air force killed 2,800 people in three hours, in Guernica. It was the first experimental air bombing against civil population. These are the sad figures of that war against Franco in the Basque Country:

• 10,800 soldiers killed in the front; 3,000 disappeared

• 4,700 soldiers and 10,500 civilians killed by air raids

• 17,500 soldiers disabled in the front

• 12,500 soldiers and 19,500 civilians injured by air raids

• 21,780 executed in the rearguard

• 34,550 prisoners

• 52,000 in work fields and concentration camps

• 150,000 refugees


This makes a total of 336,830 direct victims out of a total Basque population of 1.5 million.1

Today there are more than 700 Basque prisoners distributed in jails of Spain and France; there are more than 3,000 refugees. From 1968 there have been 1,150 people killed; almost 6,000 injured; 5,300 reported cases of torture; 30,000 detentions —10,000 of them for demonstrations—, thousands of fines, billions of euros in losses.2

What’s the relevance of these figures when compared to those corresponding to the conflict between Israel and Palestine, or between Russia and Chechnya? What if compared to those of Ireland? Nothing spectacular. That’s true. Moreover, unlike most of them, we have no important lobby to work for our case in the U.S.A. Where can we look for help?

After the end of the Spanish War, the Basque president José Antonio de Agirre collaborated with the U.S.A., putting at its service important men from his government in exile and his party —the Basque Nationalist Party, PNV. In the war against communism Basque Catholics were loyal allies. Neither president Agirre nor the PNV expected that the U.S.A. would afterwards support Franco’s dictatorship. But Eisenhower and Dulles did so in 1953. Today Bush and Aznar are friends. In the context of their “war against terrorism” they don’t distinguish among Basques, Algerians or Iraqis— all are the same. The Spanish government doesn’t distinguish among Basque nationalists. Town councilors, journalists, businessmen, and members of the parliament are basically assumed to be in league with terrorists. Dialogue is banned as a means of resolving the conflict. In Spain the war on Basques, portrayed as a brave battle against terrorists, gains votes. The Basque Country is for Aznar’s government what Iraq is for the U.S.A.’s or Chechnya is for Russia’s. With a difference: in the Basque Country there are almost no terrorist attacks in the last years. Why? Because the Basque people do not support it.

There is no solution for this conflict without the commitment of international organizations. The Spanish powers have closed down two daily newspapers and a radio station in the Basque Country, with absolute impunity. Attacks on free speech should be decried throughout the European Union. But who does so? The Basque Autonomous Region can do nothing except complain about these measures. The Basque Autonomous Parliament itself has been considered “law breakers” by the Spanish government. The president of this Parliament is ‘lynched’ everyday by the government and mass media in Madrid. Spanish President Aznar has never officially met Basque President Ibarretxe in the last four years. What Ibarretxe presents as a proposal to normalize the relations between Spain and the Basque Country, Aznar sees as a way to break relations between them. Most Basque people want a new political status for the Basque Country within Europe. We know that concepts like sovereignty, nation, and state are subject to change, especially in a Europe in the process of re-inventing itself. But we are a European country and we want to be recognized as such, without the obstacles posed by Spain and France. We don’t want terrorism, that’s clear. Neither ETA’s nor anyone else’s. But our country needs new ways. Ways of peace and self-determination. Our country needs its voice. It needs and it has the right to be listened to, to be respected, whatever it democratically decides. But Spain wants hear nothing about that: “There is no conflict with the Basque Country. In fact, there is no Basque Country. All people are Spanish. Anything else is terrorism.”

I've been in prison a year for having worked for 13 years in Euskaldunon Egunkaria. This is my only crime: being the managing editor of the daily newspaper entirely written in the oldest living language in Europe, an endangered language, according to UNESCO. I’m proud of having been part of Euskaldunon Egunkaria. Fourteen years ago our aim was to create a paper that would be in Basque language, national, open, plural, independent, militant, professional and modern. In thirteen years of seeking the truth, we made those aims reality, and we gained our readers’ trust. The Basque autonomous government partially supported the paper. The Spanish government did not. Eventual support from the Spanish government seems like a conceptual impossibility to Basque people. The Spanish Government likes to say that it “loves the old Basque language”. They love it only as a dead language. They don’t like to see its use promoted, its vocabulary standardized and updated, and the necessary infrastructure developed to keep it a live language. Linguistic diversity is a treasure… but one to be kept in a museum. If Basque is used in everyday life, or in mass media or posed as a qualification for a job, that is called discrimination.

The Spanish linguistic policy towards Basque can be dubbed just “extreme neo-liberalism”. The policy of laissez faire. To leave the language seriously wounded by Franco’s regime to its natural death. And when they see the Basques, against the tide, are making small steps forward, as they have for the last fifteen years, they attack through the press, the police, and the judiciary as we are clearly witnessing in the Egunkaria case.

The party that has been in office in Spain for the last 8 years, the Partido Popular, Franco’s right wing heirs, now directly or indirectly controls almost all TV channels, radio stations and newspapers. In the Basque Country it has closed down two newspapers and a radio station that it did not control. Recently the heads of the Basque public TV were called to the Audiencia Nacional to explain their coverage of an ETA interview.

This is the state of Liberty among us. Even this letter, I’m sure, would not be published by any Spanish paper or journal whatsoever. Not even by those few nearer to the opposition. I don’t know whether it may be published in an American one without annoying the ‘Spanish friend’. When the Parliament of Idaho approved a memorial stating the right of the Basque Country for self-determination, the Spanish ambassador hurried up to look for the intervention of the White House.

We know that the international community has a lot of urgent injustices to deal with; we know that every day millions of people have their rights as humans violated. Given this, how will you remember a small daily newspaper that was closed down in a small country that is between Spain and France, or its managing editor that is in prison for more than a year? Perhaps we are too small.

In the end, the Basque issue is just an issue about democracy; an issue of respecting the civil and political rights of Basque people. If we are a country, why can’t we decide about our own future? Why should anyone force us to be what we don’t want to be? Why don’t they just ask Basque people what they want?

This was the context in which Euskaldunon Egunkaria survived for 13 years. We had an open mind. We thought we enjoyed a free press. We thought we had the right to inform and being informed. We thought we were free to think and to express what we thought. But we were wrong. Spain has proven us wrong. Being Basque and supporter of the Basque language is “to share the goals of terrorism” (judge Del Olmo, Egunkaria closure decree). Calling the paper “national” referring to the Basque nation, not to the Spanish one, is also “to share the goals of terrorism”. Being militant, that is, to work under compromise and with low salaries, is “to share the goals of terrorism” too.

The powerful don’t usually apologize for the injustices they commit. The U.S.A. didn’t apologize for the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. France and the United Kingdom didn’t apologize for the disasters in Africa and India. Spain didn’t apologize for the genocide in South and Central America… I don’t expect the Spanish Audiencia Nacional tell me “sorry, we have committed an injustice with you; please, go on editing Egunkaria.” No. Unfortunately, in our world thinks don’t work that way. I know that the path to truth and justice is difficult and silent. It could take years and a lot of work in the Basque Country and also out of it. But there is no other way. If most people in the Basque Country believe they constitute a nation and want to live their future as a nation in Europe, speaking their own language, they have the right to do so. If they want to have newspapers, TV channels or whatever in Basque they have the right to do so.

One day, Spain and France will have to accept a new status for the Basque Country, with the exercise of self-determination for Basque people. In Slovenia, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia, for instance, this has been possible. In Flanders and Walloonia too, they seek their way. Why not in the Basque Country? Why shouldn’t the Basque people constitute a free nation in Europe, if that’s what they want? Wouldn’t Europe be more democratic if the forms of organization wished by their citizens were respected?

Aranjuez (Spain), February 2004

1 Ugalde, Martin (2003), Idazlan politikoak. Periodismo politico. Edited by J. M. Torrealdai, p. 72.

2 Ormazabal, Sabino (2003), Sufrimenduaren mapa (osatu gabea). Bilbao: Robles-Arangiz.

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New Opportunities for Peace

Today at Berria English:

Experts focus on “new opportunities” for peace at start of conference

Led by Juan Jose Ibarretxe, the President of the Basque Autonomous Community Government, and Joseba Azkarraga, the Minister for Justice, the conference on “The Human Right to Peace” attended by international experts on conflict has commenced in Donostia

Gurutze Izagirre – Donostia (San Sebastian)

“There are new opportunities for peace.” At least that was the idea put across by Nancy Soderberg and Federico Mayor-Zaragoza, the guests of honour at the 1st International Conference on the Human Right to Peace Conference, when they appeared in Donostia (San Sebastian) yesterday. Both of them transmitted the idea that violence was a thing of the past and that the future was dialogue. They added that by holding this conference in Donostia, they were transmitting a direct message to the players in the Basque conflict. “The time has come to put an end to violence and look towards the future,” said Soderberg and Mayor-Zaragoza.

The aim of the conference organised by the Justice Department of the Basque Autonomous Community Government is to reflect on the human right to peace. For this purpose over a hundred experts in international conflicts have come from 22 countries and are in Donostia taking part in the conference. The presentations were held in the Kursaal centre in Donostia and that is where the talks will be taking place until Saturday. The Basque Government Justice Department will be gathering the conclusions that come out of it to transmit them to the UN.

Joseba Azkarraga gave the opening speech and stressed that it was “a debate that could not be put off”. He felt it was “indispensable” that peace based on justice should be sought, in order to put an end to violence. “Peace is not simply the absence of violence; on the contrary, it has to be built on rights on a political, social, economic and cultural level, it has to be based on the dignity of people and countries, if it is to last,” he said.

To achieve this he said new ways had to be found to manage conflicts, if one wanted to put an end to the atmosphere that fed these conflicts.”

Juan Jose Ibarretxe, the Lehendakari (President) of the Basque Government, made a reference to the Spanish Prime Minister in the first part of his speech. Zapatero had declared the day after he won the elections that you could not fight violence with war but that you had to get to the bottom of it and solve the reasons that lay behind it. Ibarretxe held the view that these words of Zapatero responded to a new interpretation of conflicts, and to the Basque conflict, too. Ibarretxe announced that a new era had been ushered in after Zapatero’s election victory.

So he called on politicians to be daring and to take steps towards peace. He went on to call for ETA’s disappearance; “not just Basque society, but more and more people within Batasuna, too, are asking for a permanent cease-fire,” he added. If it did not disappear, he predicted that it would be very difficult to make progress together on any kind of project.

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Uria's Ransom

Today at Berria:

Basque Autonomous Community Government regards Uria’s bail figure as “out of all proportion”

Its spokesperson, Miren Azkarate, has expressed “concern” at the fact that the ‘Euskaldunon Egunkaria’ Basque language daily remains closed in the absence of any proof, trial or verdict, and has called for “justice” on behalf of the Basque Government’s council of ministers

Edurne Begiristain – GASTEIZ (Vitoria)

As last Monday was World Press Freedom Day the closing down of Euskaldunon Egunkaria was discussed at yesterday’s meeting of the Basque Autonomous Community Government. Its representative, Miren Azkarate, speaking on behalf of the government of Lehendakari (President) Ibarretxe, denounced the fact that although fourteen months had elapsed since the provisional closing down of Egunkaria, there was, as yet, no trial nor verdict relating to the case. She went on to denounce the fact that Iñaki Uria still remained in custody in connection with the case and described the bail figure (600,000 euros) set for his release on-trial by the 1st Division of the Spanish National Criminal Court as “out of all proportion”. The Basque Government called for “justice” in the Egunkaria case, because among other things a “reasonable” amount of time had passed since the Basque-language medium had been closed.

In a press conference held after Tuesday’s meeting Azkarate read out a statement in Basque and Spanish explaining the government’s position on the Egunkaria case. She
denounced the fact that after a year and two months no proof had been put forward relating to the closing down of the paper, nor had any judicial action been brought. In view of this, the Basque Government was “concerned” that the closing-down constituted a measure “without precedent” in the whole of Europe. “In a democracy it is not usual to close down a medium without any trial at all, yet here we are confronted with a newspaper that has been closed down for fifteen months and a person who is being held in custody,” she said.

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Free Iñaki Uria!

It's all fireworks, colored balloons and glitter all over Europe today, yet on that backwards swath of land known as Spain an innocent man is behind bars today for the high crime of loving his country, his language and his culture.

Oh yes, they are celebrating the addition of ten new members to that experiment known as the European Union, but no one, not the fifteen old members nor the spanking new ten want to accept the fact that in Europe there is a state that continues to apply an state of exception against an ethnic group, and that state is Spain.

If there is a extreme right party in power or if there is a center-left one makes little or no difference, the witch hunt against everything Basque continues.

In most countries if someone commits a crime and he is brought to justice there is supposed to be a timely trial were the prosecution is supposed to present the evidence that supports their case. Many times arrests are made after a long investigation conducted by the police, so by the time the detainee is behind bars there is already a case backed up with evidence.

Not so in Spain when it comes to the Basques, there all it takes for you to be behind bars is for a fascist little clown like Baltasar Garzon to put an eye on you. Any of the shady police corporations can abduct you in the middle of the night, hold you incommunicado for five days, torture you and transfer you to a far away prison were you will wait for months on end for the "justice" system to bring you to trial. You know as well as they know that unless they cook something sort of solid eventually you will be released, but for that you will have to pay a ransom disguised as a bail.

Money that could be used to strengthen programs at schools and other cultural outlets is wasted on paying off bails for people that were innocent to start with.

Family members and friends rally to put the money together, and when the bail is around 30,000 euros it is not impossible to come up with the amount, yes, that money could go towards schooling, home improvement or that little holiday that the family deserves, instead it goes into the pockets of some fat cat in Madrid.

But when we are talking 600,000 euros you know that Himmlers in training have just gone nuts. How can the European Union allow one of its members to harass an innocent citizen like that? Where is the outrage by fellow journalists? Were is the human rights organizations reaction to such craziness?

Inaki Uria is a journalist, he devoted his life to the advancement of Euskara, the Basque language. Not him nor his family and friends have the money to pay off his ransom, so I ask, what are the journalists around the world waiting for to come up on his defense, after 14 mounths the Spanish government has been unable to come up with hard evidence after raiding the houses of ten people and the headquarters of the Egunkaria newspaper, that means the man is innocent, to demand such a high bail is inhumane.

Here is the note to at Berria English:

"We have to get him out"

Apart from denouncing the injustice of the National Criminal Court’s decision Torrealdai, Otamendi, Zubiria, Oleaga and Auzmendi, who have also been charged in the case, believe the first priority must be to secure Inaki Uria's release

Imanol Murua-Uria – DONOSTIA (San Sebastian)

The first priority is to get Inaki Uria out. Those who have been released on bail and who were arrested together with the Managing Director of Egunkaria on February 20, 2003, all agree on that. They stress that Inaki Uria is also innocent, as are all those charged in the case, and that he is still being kept behind bars to justify the gross injustice committed with the closing down of Egunkaria.

"While Inaki remains inside, a little bit of each of us is inside," said Joan Mari Torrealdai, the former Chairman of Egunkaria's Board of Directors and Editor of the Jakin journal. He said, "We've got to get him out as soon as possible," but added that they would have to examine how. "The judge knows full well that Inaki doesn't possess such resources and nor does Basque Culture," said Torrealdai. He added that "everything is disproportionate" in the Egunkaria case, and even more so in Uria's case: "Imposing a 600,000 euro bail figure is an insult towards the person who renounced his professional career and wealth so that Basque language and cultural activity and the Basque cultural industry could develop, and towrds the person who has always lived on a meagre salary, and it's an insult towards Basque culture."

"It's clear that neither Inaki, nor we, who are close to him, have that kind of money," said Martxelo Otamendi, former editor of Egunkaria and BERRIA's current Chief Editor. "Because of our inability to pay, we will have to consider carefully what steps to take." Martxelo Otamendi added: "They are being very obstinate with Inaki, they are treating him extremely cruelly and we must respond in an appropriate way."

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Behold the Beast!

For people that for decades have been experiencing nightmares over concepts given to us by books and movies with titles like "A Brave New World" and "Soylent Green" what took place today may be seen as the beggining of the end.

For the eternal dreamers this may be seen as the undeniable proof that humans can do without wars, poverty and hunger.

For me there is a stark reality, Europe has become an economic and trade behemoth. Anything that big is bound to deal with big issues, if they succeed they will be a force that will inspire awe. If they fail one can only imagine the free fall and the magnitude of the crash.

It worries me that the ugly face of fascism shows here and there in that "peaceful and unified" Europe; Heyder in Austria, Le Pen in France. It troubles me that they accepted a divided country in Cyprus and that the UN actually tried to extend the occupation of northern Cyprus by Turkey with a referendum that was rejected by the majority of the Greek Cypriots and high numbers of the original Turkish Cypriots, a referendum that disregarded the efforts by the Cypriot society on both sides of the island to achieve a unified nation that includes both nationalities and cultural identities, the fake border manned by UN troops remains, and too much of the old Europe was exposed by this botched attempt at appeasing Turkey, a state that will not be allowed to enter the EU until it ends the occupation of northern Cyprus.

And how is this giant going to deal with the little nations? What is going to happen to the self determination dreams of Basques, Catalans, Bretons and Corsicans?

Last night I saw pictures of Czechs embracing Germans across a border that is gone, why can't the Basques embrace Spaniards and French across three former borders that today are still standing?

In the mean time the USA stands alone, with a good partner to the north and a troubled partner to the south. Both the USA and Mexico are now outsourcing to India and China because a real deal that would unify the economic power of the three North American giants has not been able to be put in place. Mexico is on a crash course, the country is about to implode politically and the economy couldn't be in worst shape, and the only country that could get it out of the hole is busy obsessed in bringing democracy to an area where Sheiks, Kings and Sultans go around in black limousines while the bulk of the population starves. The Middle East is half a world away, Mexico is across a long long border, if Mexico collapses guess which country will be left to deal with the consequences? Ironically enough it will be the country that could have avoided the collapse from the beginning.

Will this new Europe be an inspiration to Canada, the USA and Mexico? Or are we going to wait and hope that the European Union fails? And what about the Pacific Tigers?

Here is a not about the European Union at Berria English

Europe of the 25 on the road

It will bring together 455 million people in the world's biggest trading bloc and in the most densely populated area: in other words, in the EU

Kristina Berasain

The European Union has opened its doors to the east and from today onwards it will be made up of 25 countries. Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Slovakia, Malta, Hungary, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Cyprus, but only the Greek Cypriot southern part of the island, will be joining the organisation, which until yesterday had brought together fifteen countries. Today's is the fifth and biggest enlargement since Belgium, West Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands created the European Common Market in 1958.

There are 75 million inhabitants in the ten new member states; this expansion will therefore lead to a 20% increase in the EU population: it will now bring together a total of 455 million citizens. In this respect it will be the world's first trading block and the third biggest area after China and India with respect to the number of people. The surface area will be 25% bigger.

Economically there will also be changes. The expansion will only lead to a 5% increase in the EU's gross domestic product, while the average per capita income, on the other
hand, will fall by 13%. The GDP of the new members is 40% lower than the average of the current members. So until 2006 the EU will be spending 69,500 million euros to put the new members on a par with the rest.

In recent years, however, the ten countries have had to implement numerous reforms to satisfy the conditions for entering the EU. But some feel that the process has not been completed. In this respect they point that that eight countries used to form part of the former communist bloc. Fraser Cameron, the Head of the European Policy Centre, doubts whether there is "genuine democracy" there: "They are countries with different cultures and traditions and not just because they've had 40 years of communism: they have had little contact with democratic behaviour and a restricted view on human rights and the rights of minorities."

So the situation between the countries of the east and those of the west is very different. Cameron went on to explain: "I think that the coming years will witness some kind of tension between the countries of the east and the west: the old members will adopt the standpoint of educators and the new ones, on the other hand, will be on the defensive."

He also held the view that the process to adapt to the new situation brought about by the enlargement would take a long time: "From now on we will be changing the legal, economic and social systems and that will cause a kind of tremor in all levels of society."

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