Anti-Democratic Campaign

This article was published at WW4 Report:

Spain escalates anti-democratic campaign in Basque Country

Submitted by WW4 Report

Having already barred two pro-independence parties (3DM and Askatasuna) from taking part in the Basque Country's regional parliamentary elections March 1, Spanish judge Baltazar Garzón last week went further and banned all their activities and ordered the closing of their offices and websites. Eight people remain in prison for trying to organize pro-independence election platforms.

Despite being barred from the elections and the continuous attacks against their activities, the pro-independence parties are carrying on with their campaigns. They have called on the Basque people to carry out a massive action of civil disobedience by voting for the "illegal" slates.

The repression has also prompted an armed response. In the early hours of Feb. 23, an ETA bomb destroyed the Socialist Party's offices in the Basque town of Lazkao. There were no casualties. ETA claimed responsibility in a phone call to the authorities before the blast. The Socialists, who rule nationally, stand a good chance of unseating the Basque Country's long-ruling moderate Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) in the upcoming elections. (Euskal Herria News, Feb. 26; DPA, Feb. 23)

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Police Brutality in Bilbao

Ertzaintza's officers acting on direct orders from Madrid attacked demonstrators and arrested five people Saturday at a protest over the banning of pro-independence parties from regional elections next month.

The demonstrators set fire to rubbish bins and blocked roads in the protest in the Basque city of Bilbao, held in defiance of a ban on the gathering by authoritarian Judge Baltasar Garzon.

Leftist Basque activists called the demonstration to protest a Supreme Court decision last week to ban two pro-independence parties, Askatasuna and the Democracy Three Million (D3M), from March 1 regional elections.

Among the protesters Saturday were some ex-leaders of Batasuna and the spokesman of the D3M.

Spain has been blamed for the deaths of dozens of thousands of Basques in a five-century genocidal colonialist occupation.

Basque parties that favor both independence and complete sovereignty draw support from approximately 10 percent of Spain's Basque voters. Those voters have been denied access to the democratic principle known as universal suffrage due to an Apartheid style Spanish law designed exclusively to restrict the civil and political rights of the Basques living in Hegoalde, the southern portion of Euskal Herria.

We have to remember that those civil and political rights are protected by an UN treaty and that just a few days ago the UN's Highs Commissioner for Human Rights issued a report in which it stated that Spain applies the term "terrorist" too liberally and that in doing so violates the rights of the Basque people.

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Spain Bans D3M and Askatasuna

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

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

Spanish top court bars two parties from Basque polls


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Spain's Political Apartheid

Although they somehow managed to hire Nadine Gordimer to take part in their anti-Basque campaign, Spain's political class indulges in the kind of behavior that she allegedly fought against back in her own country, South Africa

Judge Baltasar Garzon charged 13 members of two electoral lists, D3M and Askatasuna, who are planning to stand in upcoming regional elections, to do so, once again, Garzon alleged that the Basque politicians work for ETA.

Garzon, who is well-known in the world for his repressive campaign against Basque activists, said he will question the 13 at the National Audience, the country's top criminal court and a remnant of Franco's regime, on Friday.

He has said the two new parties are simply fronts for Batasuna, which was outlawed by Spain's Supreme Court in 2003 for its ties to ETA, something that has not been proved before a court of law yet.

Polls show the moderately nationalist Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), which has ruled the Basque region since 1980, largely in coalition with other parties, is at risk of losing power to the Socialists in the upcoming polls. This is why Juan Carlos Borbon and Zapatero ordered Garzon to violate the political rights of the Basque electorate.

In national elections last March, two other Basque political parties were prevented from running for the same reason.

The last major crackdown on Batasuna was in October 2007 when 20 of its alleged leaders were arrested, after two years they have not been charged, in clear violation of the law principles observed by democratic states.

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Spain Jails Basque Activists

This article concerning the fascist clampdown on Basque political parties and against Basque activists was published at World War 4:

Spain expands crackdown on Basque political parties

About a dozen members of the new leadership of the Basque political opposition were arrested in several towns across Spain's País Vasco Jan. 23. The arrests follow a court order by the Spanish High Court magistrate Baltasar Garzón, who claims that 3DM and Askatasuna, two new parties fielding candidates in the forthcoming local elections, are fronts for the outlawed Batasuna party.

Spain's Supreme Court banned Batasuna in 2003 on the grounds that it was a front for the armed organization ETA, closing down its offices and barring it from all political activity. Prior to its prohibition, Batasuna used to garner some 12% of the vote in Basque Country elections. According to Spanish news agencies, the police are gathering evidence of links between the outlawed Batasuna and the new parties 3DM and Askatasuna. Police also reportedly carried out searches on the homes of several prominent Basque militants, including Tasio Erkizia, Mariné Pueyo, Santi Kiroga and Joxerra Etxebarria. None were arrested. (EiTB, Bilbao, Jan. 23)

This operation and the incarceration of eight Basque activists ordered by inquisitor Baltasar Garzón brings the number of Basque political prisoners close to 800, a figure that surpasses the all time high during Francisco Franco's murderous regime. Which pretty much means that Spain IS NOT a democratic state.

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Empty Promises

Zapatero will continue with the Spanish State policy of depriving the Basque citizens of their must basic human rights. Irene Khan of Amnesty International would make a huge mistake if she takes Zapatero's word as the word of a man with moral integrity.

This report appeared today at Amnesty International's page:

Time for Spain to deliver on human rights

20 June 2008

In Madrid today, Amnesty International made public the human rights agenda for the Spanish government’s second term, a review of progress to date and a number of concrete suggestions for future action which was presented yesterday to President Rodriguez Zapatero.

“We welcome the commitment President Zapatero gave us to adopt a national Human Rights Plan by the end of 2008,” said Irene Khan, Amnesty International’s Secretary General. “This is an opportunity to show leadership in delivering results on human rights.”

Spain – a Stronger commitment, more effective action – A Human Rights Agenda for 2008 – 2012 reviews progress made over the government’s previous term, defines the key human rights challenges facing Spain, and sets out a roadmap for change which includes a list of 17 indicators to test the government’s performance against its promises.

“President Zapatero told us his Human Rights Plan will be ambitious, and we shall certainly hold him to that,” said Irene Khan. Amnesty International is calling for a plan which is widely consulted, consistent with Spain’s international obligations, and coherent in demonstrating the same commitment to human rights at home and abroad. The plan must be responsive to the human rights challenges facing Spain, strengthening protection for those most vulnerable in society such as women survivors of violence, children, migrants and the detained. It should set challenging and clear benchmarks, against which progress can be mapped in a transparent manner.

“The plan must not be just a paper promise – it must be a plan for delivery of results,” said Ms Khan.

Amnesty International’s review of the past four years shows progress in some areas but also the need for stronger commitment and more effective action in some others. Amnesty International welcomes the law to control the trade in military equipment and the law to combat gender-based violence. They show political will but much more than political will is needed to convert these measures into effective action. The law on the rights of victims of the Spanish Civil War and the Franco regime was an important first step but it has fallen short of expectations on truth, justice and reparation.

“The time is ripe for a truly ambitious national Human Rights Plan – a Plan that builds on these achievements and boldly moves further to tackle the critical human rights challenges of today,” said Ms Khan.

One of the challenges the government faces is that of the continuing grave abuses by Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA). Amnesty International has consistently and unreservedly condemned the violence by ETA as grave human rights abuses and categorically refutes any arguments or objectives which attempt to justify them.

The government has an obligation to protect people from such attacks but it must do so within the framework of human rights and the rule of international law. “Terrorism cannot be overcome by undermining human rights and the rule of international law – that is Amnesty International’s message in the fight against terrorism worldwide and it is our message in Spain,” said Ms Khan.

Another of the complex challenges facing Spain, and indeed the whole of Europe is that of migration. While Amnesty International recognizes that states have the right to control their borders this should not, however, be at the expense of undermining the human rights of migrants, whether they have documents or not.

“Having no documents does not mean you have no rights,” said Ms Khan, “and Amnesty International is deeply disappointed by the adoption on 18 June of a European Union directive which will now allow member states to detain people who have not committed any crime, including minors, for up to 18 months”.

The Spanish government has indicated that it will be revising its Aliens Law. Amnesty International calls on Spain not to drive down its standards on the treatment of migrants to the lowest common denominator of Europe. The government reiterated the commitment it made in its election manifesto to ratify the Convention on Migrant Workers, which Amnesty International welcomes. “We challenge the Spanish government – in developing its National Human Rights Plan – to take the lead in Europe to build a migration policy of best practice based on human rights,” said Ms Khan.

Spain must also wake up to the Europe-wide challenge of racism and xenophobia. Despite the creation in Spain of an Observatory on these issues, no data or statistics have been published. “Racism and xenophobia are alive in reality, but invisible in official terms. Such a situation must be brought to an end immediately,” said Ms Khan. Amnesty International calls for the adoption of a comprehensive strategy for gathering and publishing such information throughout Spain, as part of a wider plan to combat racism and intolerance.

Research by Amnesty International and others shows that incidents of torture and ill-treatment, while not systematic, continue to be reported by a wide range of individuals from across the country. The organisation welcomes the increasing recognition on the part of the authorities that torture and ill-treatment are not isolated aberrations, and calls for action to tackle the problem, including through the establishment of an independent mechanism to investigate complaints against the police, as is done in a number of European countries. Safeguards such as this are the best way to protect both the rights of detainees and the reputation of law enforcement officials against false complaints.

One welcome preventative measure in this regard has been the introduction of video cameras to monitor detainees in police custody – a move pioneered by the Basque Country and now followed by Catalonia. The introduction of measures that would allow judges to order the video surveillance of incommunicado detainees held by state police forces is an improvement. Amnesty International calls for such a measure to be made compulsory in all cases of detention. “In any case, the Spanish law on incommunicado detention is an anomaly in Europe, and should be repealed,” said Ms Khan.

In the international arena Amnesty International calls on Spain to show a commitment to human rights consistently across the entire spectrum of its foreign policy. Amnesty International welcomes Spain’s commitment to multilateralism and the positive support it has given in recent years to the human rights institutions at the United Nations. But it needs to show a similar commitment to human rights in its bilateral relations with governments such as China, Colombia, Morocco, Russia, and the USA.

“Subordinating human rights to short-term economic, strategic and political interests in bilateral relations is not only short-sighted, it contradicts and undermines the Spanish government’s overall foreign policy goals of promoting human rights multilaterally,” said Ms Khan.

“President Zapatero has launched a bold initiative for a global moratorium on the death penalty, which we support,” said Ms Khan. “We challenge President Zapatero to be equally bold in leading on other pressing human rights challenges at home, in Europe and abroad. In its second term the Zapatero government has got a unique opportunity to deliver on human rights.”

Background

An Amnesty International delegation, led by Secretary General Irene Khan, has been in Spain since 14 June, meeting with representatives of civil society, parliamentarians and members of the government. In the Canary Islands the delegation met with the President of the autonomous government and visited a centre for unaccompanied minors. In the Basque Country Irene Khan met the President of the autonomous government, the Ombudsman and the Counsellors of Interior and Justice. She was also invited to address the Basque parliamentary Human Rights Commission. While in Madrid Irene Khan´s official meetings included those with President of the government, the Minister of Justice, the Secretaries of State for Migration, Interior and Foreign Affairs, the Attorney General, the President of the Criminal Chamber of the National Criminal Court, representatives of the General Council of the Judicial Power, and representatives of different political parties in the parliament.

Following their crazy imperialist quest, the Spaniards have been murdering people for the last 500 years, they have destroyed entire civilizations and countless cultures and languages and to this day they have never apologized for what they've done, so why is Zapatero going to change things now? After all, he watered down "the law on the rights of victims of the Spanish Civil War and the Franco regime" despite the fact that his own grandfather was assassinated by Franco's underlings. Zapatero is a spineless coward at the orders of Juan Carlos Borbon who today is Spain's king due to the work of one man, Francisco Franco, you do the math.

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Eusko Flickr : Amnistia 'ta Askatasuna

Amnistia ETA Askatasuna
Originally uploaded by Kosmo83

Another Day, Another Trial

Once again the Spanish government flexes its muscle and puts on trial members of a Basque human rights' organization. Knowing that the entire world is distracted by the Olympic torch and the Tibetan massive demonstrations of support Rodriguez Zapatero continues the oppressive offensive against Basque society in ways that would make Francisco Franco proud.

Here you have this note appeared at EITb:

Politics

Basque left-wing organizations

Trial against pro-amnesty Basque organization starts in Spain

04/21/2008

Twenty-seven members of pro-amnesty Basque organizations are suspected of aiding the armed Basque group ETA through a network of social and political organizations.

A trial against 27 members of pro-amnesty Basque organizations started on Monday in Spain's High Court.

The 27 people, members of the Basque left-wing organizations Gestoras Pro Amnistía, Askatasuna, Behatokia and Senideak, are suspected of aiding the armed Basque group ETA through a network of social and political organizations.

On Monday, all of them refused to answer questions by the Spanish public prosecutor.

The case stemmed from an eight-year inquiry by Baltasar Garzon, Spain's leading anti-terror investigator. Garzon alleged that ETA was not just made up of armed commandos but also had support through political, financial and media organizations. The defendants were accused of belonging to these groups, some of which have been outlawed.

The organizations engaged in activities ranging from giving support to ETA members in prison and helping ETA find new targets to recruiting new members and gathering worthy data from the summaries, Garzon has charged.

And as we all know, for Garzon all Basques are guilty from the start, so the last thing we can expect is a fair trial.

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Report by EHW

This report comes to us thanks to Euskal Herria Watch:

33/01 Case against Gestoras Pro-Amnistia-Askatasuna

Description of the case

Repression against the Basque People, conducted by the Spanish State and - to a lesser degree- by the French State has been constant in recent years. It is easy to trace a continuous line throughout the last decades that can show us the persistence of torture, massive and arbitrary detentions, a penitentiary policy with terrible consequences, banned associations and organizations, closure of media, outlawing of political parties and total discrimination from public life against a section of the population. To sum up, an exceptional situation that has generated a dangerous scenario of suppression of the most basic political and civil rights, a scenario that can now be seen in all its brutality.

These circumstances have forced hundreds of Basque citizens to create a retaining wall, to confront repression and participate in different civic organisations, human rights organisations, and activist organisations in what has become known as the Amnesty Movement. Without such a movement, the lack of activation of the people and, therefore, of social opposition would have resulted in a total acceptance of the impunity of the structures of the Spanish State. That is why many and varied activities have been channelled through this Movement -conferences, demonstrations, public appeals, contacts with all kinds of political and social agents…- in order to demand a scenario of respect for basic democratic conditions, of enjoyment of basic civil and political rights.

In this context, the organisation Gestoras Pro Amnistía was born three decades ago as the main platform for solidarity with the people that suffered political repression and to campaign against the situation. This association carried out a process in 2002 to converge with the association Koordinaketa, made up of the committees that worked in solidarity with political prisoners in the North of the Basque Country, under French administration. Askatasuna emerged as a result of this process, to carry out these activities in the whole of the Basque Country. In other words: an organization that focuses its activity on the promotion and protection of the human rights of the victims of repression, that fights for the eradication of torture, for the rights of arrested or imprisoned Basque citizens and the overcoming of the causes that are at the origin of State violence.

This task has always been carried out completely within the law and with a continuous public expression of its activities –press conferences, peaceful demonstrations, organisation of debates, conferences, compilation of information and figures of repression, the diffusion of these through reports, publications, public exchange with other social agencies, political parties, trade unions…-. That is why Gestoras Pro Amnistía–Askatasuna have become a reference for the grassroots movement, with a reputation and social recognition and an important capacity for activating Basque society. We could say that this organisation is present in all cities and neighbourhoods throughout the Basque Country, with the participation in its activities of thousands of people.

Police operations

This task and goals mentioned were criminalized and, in fact, suspended after the police operation carried out by the judge at Central Investigation Court nº 5, Baltasar Garzón. On October 31st, 2001, 12 organizers or spokespeople of this organisation were arrested under the accusation of belonging to a terrorist organisation. Juan Mari Olano, its national coordinator was arrested some weeks later in Bayonne –North Basque Country, under French administration- and after a long process, extradited to the Spanish state. All those people were been in pre-trial imprisonment –remand in custody- for the maximum limit allowed by Spanish law in these cases, of four years awaiting trial. The right to be presumed innocent has disappeared; convictions are now served in advance, before any hearing at a trial. They were released under astronomical amounts of money as bail in May and June 2004.

In the context of this operation, a virulent campaign by the media and politicians was implemented against the professional activity of the lawyers that work on cases that can be labelled “political”, under the argument that these lawyers belong to the “prison front” of the armed organisation. Thus, on the morning of October 31st, as the premises and offices of the Gestoras Pro Amnistía were searched, the police entered the offices of lawyers which are registered in the Bar Association of Lawyers in Gipuzkoa and Pamplona respectively. It must be remarked that the judge Baltasar Garzón, who was leading the operation in Bilbao was personally warned of this situation. Nevertheless, the judge took no notice of that information and carried on with the search, with both offices being sealed off and computers and documents belonging to the twelve lawyers that worked there being seized.

The investigation judge later ordered the lifting of the sealing of both offices and the restitution of the confiscated material, after duplicating and copying all the content of the computers and the documents seized during the searches. This is a flagrant violation of the rights of the lawyers to professional secrecy, as well as other guaranties that must be observed in these cases. Lawyer Julen Arzuaga will be subjected to these proceedings because of this illegal action.

On February 5th 2003, in a new raid, five people that worked as spokespersons in the new association Askatasuna were arrested, their homes searched as well as the premises of the association of relatives of political prisoners Etxerat in Bilbao, Hernani and Gasteiz. On February 6th Central Court of Investigation nº 5 took the decision to merge the proceedings into Case 33/01.

These operations have a continuity in the present, as on September 11th 2007 Juan Maria Olano and on October 3rd 2007 Ohiana Agirre, also spokespersons of Askatasuna were been arrested and jailed for “reiteration in their public activity as representatives of Askatasuna”. Olano will be released in early March 2008. Meanwhile, Ohiana Agirre is in prison, under new proceedings opened by judge Baltasar Garzón against Askatasuna.

Charges

With these proceedings, the investigation judge Baltasar Garzón suspended the activity of Gestoras Pro Amnistía and Askatasuna, considering its public activity illegal from the point of view of the criminal law and accused the 17 that were in prison and other 10 of a crime of “belonging to an armed organisation”.

The judge reverts the process of the investigation, contrary to law and logic, as first, a conclusion is given out –that Gestoras belongs to the structure of ETA- and later, through interpretations and speculations they look for the evidence, the factual arguments to support that theory.

The alleged criminal actions of Gestoras would be:

1.- Exercising control over the collective of ETA prisoners, connecting and communicating with the members and representatives through their lawyers.

2. - Guaranteeing internal cohesion and obedience to the discipline imposed by this organization on the collective, avoiding any individual initiative in the course of their prison sentence and cancelling any possibility of dissent or breaking from the collective.

3.-Co-operating with and financing the maintenance of ETA prisoners and refugees.

4.- Co-ordinating and driving forms of struggle that complement those of ETA and support for the demonstrations of the prisoners’ collective.

5. - Gathering important information for ETA’s internal security, taking this from the penal processes that members are involved in, and passed on by some of their lawyers, greatly exceeding the right to defence.

6. - Pointing out who they believe are responsible for the situation and condition of ETA prisoners, turning them into possible targets for that organization; or against persons or institutions that don’t back the demonstrations called in support for and solidarity with ETA prisoners.

7.- Taking advantage of the sensitivity caused by the supposed violation of the rights of ETA prisoners to induce volunteers and regenerate the operational structure of ETA.

8.- The setting up and development of the project named Alde Hemendik .

9.- Co-ordinating and directing the so-called “X and Y struggles” Kale borroka (urban struggle) and “days of struggle” that are carried out in support of ETA members or due the death of a member, or other contingent circumstances.

10. - The initiative and decision on when the ETA prisoners collective begin a hunger strike or cell lock- in and other actions.

11.- Publishing the magazine ZOHARDIA, directed by Mikel Korta Carrión, who was included in the Indictment 18/98 for his membership of ETA-Ekin.

All these activities are carried out by Gestoras, under the control and direction of ETA-KAS and ETA-Ekin, through the corresponding instruments developed by those detained and others accused”.

In the following points of the indictment he goes over each one of the detainees and assigns them greater responsibility in one or another of the activities above, in an attempt to justify their supposed “criminal” activity. Amongst the elements of accusation in the indictment is the fact of having belonged in the past to other student, youth or social organizations, to be connected emotionally with a prisoner or a political refugee, participation in acts of homage to prisoners, campaigning, calling demonstrations, attending meetings, developing projects...

These activities, in any case, were publicly carried out by this organisation and in no way could be understood to constitute a crime, as is proven by the fact that they have never been accused of other minor crimes such as “glorifying terrorism”.

In the case of other activities that have are criminal and are may lead to the charge of belonging to a terrorist organisation, they is no way to prove these charges, as no rational evidence of criminality has been presented, no reference to damage against any juridical good protected by the criminal legislation. Again, the charges are generic, brought against groups of people, collectively, in a clear breach of the individuality and precision that must be the basis of any criminal charges.

Conclusions

In the face of these charges and in these circumstances, the trial against these 27 colleagues from the Amnesty Movement will begin on April 21st, 2008, with a petition from the public prosecutor of 10 years in prison.

In view of all the above, we wwould like to make the point that the participation of these people in different areas and organizations of the broad Amnesty Movement has always been open and transparent and has always been known to the public. The connection of this social activity and the actions committed by ETA is absolutely unacceptable and is based on arguments and interpretations lacking any kind of factual or rational basis.

We are aware, nevertheless, that this extensive application of anti-terrorist definitions to public and transparent actions has a long history in the Spanish justice system, hence the Supreme Court in the case of Haika-Segi and the subsequent Audiencia Nacional verdict in reference to Case 18/98, which only makes the position of our colleagues facing this trial worse.

This process is simply a smoke curtain that attempts to discredit a social organization and tries to criminalize the work of denouncing the vulnerability of the rights of Basque prisoners, refugees and deportees and also tries to avoid the social expressions of solidarity with this collective. The r3emand in custody for four years of 13 of these colleagues, released on millionaire bails, the suspension of the activities of these organizations, have generated a total block of freedom of expression and of the right of association and peaceful petition, because the mobilizations and demonstrations organized by this movement have been consistently forbidden by court, suspended administratively and violently attacked by the State Security Forces.

This trial is a further landmark on the road to criminalize, with no legal basis, solidarity with political prisoners, opposition to repression and to state violence and mobilization in defence of human rights. The states, convinced of their strategy of maintaining the repression against increasingly broader sections of the population, require higher levels of impunity.

The way of doing things of the Audiencia Nacional as an instrument for the application of special antiterrorist laws, a vivid example of the “law for an enemy” shows us the impossibility of receiving a fair trial in front of this exceptional tribunal. Furthermore, keeping in mind the events mentioned above, we believe that the trial will be a mere masquerade designed without content to administer a previously written political verdict. We are not expecting, hence, justice from this court. Nevertheless, we are expecting an opportunity to explain to Basque and international society who we are and what we are seeking.

This type of political-judicial trials moves us further away from the aims we share with Basque society: ending the repression and seeking the definitive resolution of the Basque conflict.

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Spain's Fascist Measures Anger Basques

This note appeared at Yahoo News:

Spain hurts ETA but crackdown angers Basques

By Ben HardingMon Mar 3, 8:23 AM ET

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Political football

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Zapatero has said such a vote would be illegal.

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

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

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

ETA on its knees

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

.... ... .

Week of International Solidarity

This call to solidarity with Euskal Herria was sent to us by our friends from the Irish Solidarity Committees with the Basque Country:

18th-24th February International Week of Solidarity with the Basque Country.

Thursday 21st Film Screenings:

Belfast: 7pm Felons Club.

Cork: 6pm University College Cork.

Saturday 23rd Picket lines:

Derry: 2pm Free Derry Corner.

Belfast: 2pm Cultúrlann, Falls Road.

Dublin: 12pm GPO.

Cork: 2pm Daunt’s Square.

Tuesday 26th:

Dublin: Film screening Teacher’s Club, Parnell Square.

SUPPORT DEMOCRACY FOR THE BASQUE COUNTRY. STOP REPRESSION.

Last year once again, the Spanish government destroyed all hopes of resolving the conflict between the Basque Country and the French and Spanish States.

During the negotiations:

- the majority of pro-independence organisations continued to be banned.

- Several media were closed down.

- 40 pro-independence activists were called to appear before court due to their political or social activities.

- 50 political events of the pro-independence movement were banned.

- 25 demonstrations were brutally attacked.

- 200 militants were sentenced for their activities before the negotiation period.

- 700 check points were detected on the roads.

- The Spanish army carried out operations in 30 towns in the south of the Basque Country.

- 500 people were identified for so called propaganda activities.

- Dozens of people were fined for participating or requesting permission to organise political events.

- The Spanish government increased the maximum penalty for “terrorism acts” to 40 years, ten additional years.

- Political prisoner Iñaki de Juana went on hunger strike for 100 days to protest against the fact that he had been sentenced to 3 additional years for writing an opinion article.

- Pro-independence Basque citizens denounced being tortured.

- The arrest of ETA volunteers continued…

Despite their maintaining the truce his, the pro-independence movement remained at the negotiating table until the Spanish government withdrew leaving the pro-independence movement alone at the table.

Since the end of the negotiations:

- the number of political prisoners has been increased by 120 people.

- There are currently 700 political prisoners (out of the Basque Country’s population of under 3 million inhabitants).

- 42 people have been imprisoned for their social and political activities.

- New trials are approaching: Udabiltza the association of elected representatives, the anti-repressive group Askatasuna, the political party Batasuna, whose executive is currently in prison. There will be more illegalisations, torture has increased with detainees ending up in hospital with serious injuries and with disturbing rape allegations while in police hands.

The intent is clear: the total intimidation and legal destruction of the pro-independence left movement and of its social and political support.

The pro-independence movement continues to defend the same proposal as during the negotiations :

- A statute of autonomy for the four Basque provinces under Spanish rule including the right to self-determination.

- A statute of autonomy also for the three provinces which are under French administration with a framework that gives the opportunity to develop all political projects.

These are hard times for the Basque Country. We are calling on international solidarity to mobilise, to denounce the denial of political and social rights and to support the right of the Basque Country to self-determination.

Irish Basque Committees

www.irishbasquecommittees.blogspot.com
irishbasques@hotmail.com
Listen to Basque Info online Tuesdays 6.30-7pm at www.feilefm.com

Eskerrik asko!

.... ... .

Basque Victory at Stanford

Bad news to Zapatero and Aznar's undercover operator, they lost the Stanford Battle.

With the support of the big media they were able to gather 5,000 signatures from among 40 million Spaniards while the Basque camp was able to obtain 3,000 signatures from among 3 million Basques, if the percentage was not enough, the winners achieved that amount in one week only while their opponents had a full month to try to expand Spain's posture on freedom of speech.

Here you have the note from The Stanford Daily:

Basque debate continues

Second petition surfaces in support of President Ibarretxe’s arrival

February 13, 2008
By Kamil Dada

In anticipation of Thursday’s visit by the Basque Government president, a maelstrom of international controversy has surfaced. Stanford’s plans to host Juan Jose Ibarretxe has garnered coverage from both U.S. and Spanish media outlets, including the two largest Spanish national newspapers, El Pais and El Mundo.

A petition protesting Ibarretxe’s talk had garnered over 5,000 signatures as of Tuesday. However, within the last two weeks, another petition has emerged in support of the lecture. It has since received over 3,000 signatures.

The second petition calls on Stanford “to disregard the petitions of groups that pretend to obstruct freedom of speech.” It further argues that “everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”

The democratically elected president’s visit has led to deep divisions over whether the leader should be allowed to speak on campus in the current format.

Rafael Dobado Gonzalez, a professor of history and economic institutions at the Universidad Complutense in Madrid who signed the first petition, said he wishes that the audience could be offered a contrasting perspective to Ibarretxe’s. He believes that the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), the political organization that Ibarretxe belongs to, has given long-standing political support to the terrorist organization Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA).

“The PNV opposes to any legal and political measure adopted by the Spanish government in order to weaken ETA,” Gonzalez said. “In short, the PNV exploits the existence of ETA and its methods — killing and kidnapping included — as a way to impose its rule on Basque society and to physically exclude non-Basque nationalists.”

Gonzalez cited an example in which the PNV, including Ibarretxe’s vice president, signed a 1998 secret political agreement with ETA “in order to create a new stage in the confrontation with Spain.” According to El Mundo, the PNV agreed “to break all agreement with [other non-nationalist, political parties] whose goal is the destruction of the Basque Country and the building of Spain.” The leaders of the PNV denied this agreement until the ETA published it in the Spanish newspaper, Gara, on Apr. 30, 2000.

Gonzalez added that he believed the talk would be used as a political platform.

“[Ibarretxe] is not an academic trying to search the truth on a certain scientific issue to relevant colleagues,” he said. “He is a politician attempting [to sell] his political merchandise to a distinguished and influential audience without competitors. At the same time, he will sell [his message] in Spain, especially, in the Basque Country that Stanford is receptive to his message.”

But Jeff Wachtel, special assistant to Stanford President John Hennessy, championed free expression and the exchange of ideas.

“While we recognize that there are those who disagree with Mr. Ibarretxe, the principle of free speech and open discourse on this subject takes priority at a university,” Wachtel said. “President Hennessy’s analysis and personal opinion [on] the political issues that have been raised does not have a bearing on this invitation.”

Elisenda Paluzie, an economics scholar in Spain, was one of the people who signed the second petition, which was in support of the lecture.

“[The protesters’] proposal to either cancel the event altogether, or to invite a political challenger to Ibarretxe’s claims is not only ridiculous but it reveals a deeply inquisitorial, dictatorial and anti-democratic vein,” Paluzie said.

She, too, placed an emphasis on the need for free speech.

“This conference also fulfills one of the roles of the university,” Paluzie said. “A place where one listens to different ideas, discusses and debates political, historical, philosophical issues. It is an opportunity for students and scholars to listen to a political leader from a minority people — the Basques.”

Paluzie further explained that for the majority of Spaniards, the existence of different nations, cultures and languages is a problem.

“They would never recognize [the Basques’] right to self-determination, their right to decide, as stated by President Wilson’s Fourteen Points or the U.N. Charter,” she said. “Ibarretxe’s proposal is about giving the voice and the decision to the Basques.”

A number of the organizers and supporters of the petition are planning to protest during the lecture, which will be held at Arrillaga Alumni Center at 4 p.m. Thursday afternoon.

“I want the Americans to know that in Europe the nationalists still have some power,” said Jose Jenaro, a Silicon Valley worker who grew up in the Basque city of Vitoria and plans to protest the talk. “They market themselves as peaceful people, but in reality they control the media, the streets and they terrorize their own people.”

Laura Wilson, chief of police at the Department of Public Safety (DPS), said that the protesters should be aware of what constitutes a legal protest.

“What is not permissible is to disrupt an event to the degree that lawful business, such as the ability of a speaker to speak, cannot be continued,” she said. “If an event is closed to the public or tickets are required, it is illegal to obtain entry and a person may be subject to arrest for trespassing. It is also a violation of law to incite others to riot.”

For security reasons, Wilson was not able to discuss the specifics of the security measures for the Ibarretxe event. However, Nick Brunot, a police services officer from the DPS, pointed out that he had been advising the organizers on how to protest legally.

“We have created a demonstration area for the protest group outside the lecture,” he said, “[in order] to allow them to exercise their first amendment right.”

.... ... .

Witness Defies Official Version

EITb has published a note about a witness that defies Rubalcaba's version that tries to cover up the torture suffered by Igor Portu and Mattin Sarasola.

Here you have it:

Politics

Injured alleged ETA member

Witness testifies the arrest was not violent

01/10/2008

The new testimony contradicts the official version. The witness who saw the arrest states Spanish Police saw two people coming down mountain and after they were identified, they arrested them.

A witness who saw the arrest of two alleged Basque armed group ETA members Sunday testified and his testimony contradicts the official version, Askatasuna organisation reported.

The witness testified that “on Sunday at about 10 a.m. I was walking the dog when I saw two people coming down the mountain”.

“At that moment 5 Spanish Police patrols appeared and officers searched their bags”. They also identified the witness who saw how the police officers took from the youngsters’ car a packet wrapped in cellophane, which he thought it was hash”

“When the officers saw the content, the one leading the operation ordered to put fetters and to take them into the car”.

According to the witness, the police operation took place “between 10 and 10:30 a.m.” because he went out at 09:30 in the morning and he had already read the newspaper for a while.

He contradicts the official version

On the other hand, the witness denies some information published on media. He assures “it is not true” what he heard about “the time of the arrest”. He also denies the youngsters offered any resistance.

The witness says the arrest was not violent and for that reason he wanted to testify.

The official version

The official version, backed by the Interior Minister Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, assures that he was beaten because he put up resistance (it was at 11:00 on Sunday). According to the Minister, at the moment of the arrest, the alleged member of the armed band ETA tried to escape and agents had to use their force to detain them.

.... ... .

About Portu's Detention

Here you have a note by EITb regarding Igor Portu's torture at the hands of the Spanish government lead by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero:

Politics

Hospitalized after his detention

Contradictory versions about Igor Portu’s case

01/08/2008

According to the official version, Spanish police used violence to arrest him. However, he was taken to a forensic surgeon after past 15 hours. His family states that he was feeling well at his home’s search.

The official version and the one given by the family and Askatasuna about Igor Portu’s case, arrested on Sunday in a road checkpoint together with Mattin Sarasola and accused of being “legal” members of ETA, do not match.

The young arrested from Lesaka, was admitted on Monday in hospital around four o’clock in the morning and remained hospitalized. He is seriously ill and is in the Intensive Care Unity (UCI) to get treatment.

The police took him to hospital “walking by himself and conscious” and he told them he had been “punched on his face, thorax and abdomen”.

The official version, backed by the Interior Minister Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, assures that he was beat because he put up resistance (produced at 11:00 on Sunday). According to the Minister, at the detention moment, the alleged member of the armed band ETA tried to escape and agents had to use their force to detain them.

The version supported by the family and Askatasuna is totally different. Both say Portu was present at his home’s searching and even if he was “tired”, he was feeling well. This version has been supported by Lesaka’s Mayor, Koldo Erkizia, (EA), who saw the arrested at the searching.

Due to the two contradictory versions, the Police Court in Donostia-San Sebastián has begun an investigation to clearify what happened.

Igor Portu is hospitalized in the Intensive Care Unity (UCI) in Donostia’s Hospital and has his ninth left rib broken and he also has a “serious” pneumothorax, or in other words, air and blood in his lungs. He has a pierced lung and blows in his eye, back and chest. His knees and ankles are also torn.

.... ... .

Igor Portu : New Case of Torture

Here we have Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero trying to outdo Jose Maria Aznar and Felipe Gonzalez as the most effective dispenser of repression against the Basque people in the post-Franco era.

Drinking from the same stagnant waters of aggressive ultra nationalism left behind by Francisco Franco as a legacy to the Spanish politicians, Zapatero's government is involved in yet another case of torture against a Basque national.

Here you have the note published by EITb:

Politics

Igor Portu, seriously ill

Police Court opens investigation

01/07/2008

Igor Portu, who was arrested yesterday in Arrasate, is hospitalized in Donostia after being beaten. He has a broken rib, air and blood in his lungs, a pierced lung and blows on his eye, back and chest.

One of the alleged members of the Basque armed group ETA arrested yesterday in Arrasate/Mondragón, Guipuzcoa, Igor Portu, is hospitalised in the Intensive Care Unity (UCI) in Donostia’s Hospital, as Osakidetza, Basque Health Service sources have informed.

According to the medical report, Igor Portu has his ninth left rib broken and he also has a “serious” pneumothorax, or in other words, air and blood in his lungs. He has a pierced lung and blows in his eye, back and chest. His knees and ankles are also torn.

The police took him to hospital “walking by himself and conscious” and he told them he had been “punched on his face, thorax and abdomen”.

Igor Portu was hospitalised a few minutes before four o’clock in the morning, and has remained admitted in the Intense Care Unity.
The Police Court has opened an investigation to clarify what has happened.

Askatasuna blames PSOE and PNV

Pro-admisty organization Askatasuna has worried about the treat received by Portu while he was in Spanish police hands, and for the treat the other arrested martin Sarasola could be getting too.

In fact, Askatasuna has reminded Gorka Lupiañez’s, who denounced being tortured.

Askatasuna has denounced that PSOE "uses torture" to "get their political interests". They have also blamed PNV and Basque Government to whom they accuse of “complicity”.

Both were arrested yesterday

The first one is Igor Portu, who is 29 years old, and the second one is Martin Sarasola, of 30 years old age. The detentions were produced in a checkpoint established by the Spanish Police’s Antiterrorist Groups (GAR) in this locality in Guipuzcoa.

As information sources informed, found in the car searching two guns covered with cellophane-like paper, hidden in big backpacks. Some agencies inform that they were given to them “recently”.

Last night Spanish police began the searching of the two arrested. During the searching, which took for four hours, and finished around 01:00, about thirty people have met to show their support to the arrested ones.

“Legal” members

These same sources consider Portu and Sarasola “legal” members of the armed organization, or in other words, members which have not been recorded by police.

These two detentions could be related, as the same Sources State, with the Gorka Lupiañez Mintegi's detention, made in Berriz last month and also by the Spanish police. The investigation remains open and some more detentions could be made.

.... ... .

The "Bad Guys"

It is funny, the Washington sponsored push for Kosovo's independence (including the training and funding of the Kosovo Liberation Army by the CIA) has elicited some estrange reactions in Europe, this one was published at RIA Novosti, a Russian media outlet.

The article provides the who's who list of independence driven movements in Europe, the "bad guys" of the movie. Here it is:

Hotbeds of separatism in modern Europe
22:59 | 19/ 12/ 2007

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti) - The Kosovo issue has been forwarded to the UN Security Council. The Russian Foreign Ministry suggests that Belgrade and Pristina should have another chance to come to terms. A decision on Kosovo's cessation from Serbia will create a precedent and violate international law.

Today, Europe is the venue of both integration and separatist processes. Experts have calculated that in the 21st century more than 10 new states may emerge in Europe.

Basque Country is the most traditional example of European separatism. In Spain, about two million Basques live in three provinces of what is called Basque Country. It has broader powers than other Spanish regions; the living standards are above the average; and Basque is recognized as an official language. But despite this devolution deal, the advocates of secession from Spain (to be merged with the Basque-populated part of France) are not going to stop at that.

Francisco Franco was responsible for the growth of separatism - the Basques were not allowed to publish books and newspapers; conduct instruction in Basque (native name - euskara); give children Basque names or put out their national flag. Euskadi Ta Askatasuna or ETA (Basque for "Basque Homeland and Freedom") was set up in 1959 as an anti-Franco party. Franco has long been dead and the Basque country has received the autonomous status, but this does not prevent the Basque terrorists from fighting. More than 900 people have fallen victim to the struggle for "independence."

Catalonia, an autonomous province in the north-east of Spain is also a headache for Madrid. Having their own language and culture, the Catalans have always stressed their separate identity in Spain. Their province enjoys extensive autonomy in Spain, a constitutional monarchy. Relations with the central government in Madrid are being regulated by a separate charter. In 2005, the new version of the charter said that the Catalans are a separate nation. However, there are dozens of parties and public organizations in the region, mostly left-wing, which are advocating cessation from Spain. Their goal is to hold a referendum on independence until 2014.

Another Spanish province, Valencia, received a new autonomous status in July 2007.

France has a long-standing experience of resisting separatism and extremism on its territory, above all in the Mediterranean island of Corsica. The Corsican national groups clashed with the French army in the middle 1970s. The Corsican Nationalist Union and the Movement for Self-Determination are the biggest and most influential among these groups. Both have combat units. In the last 25 years, the island's status was upgraded twice - in 1982 and 1990 the local authorities were given increasingly broad powers in the economy, agriculture, energy industry, transportation, education, and culture. Several years ago, French parliament recognized the existence of the Corsican nation. This decision was later cancelled as contradicting the Constitution of the French Republic.

The Breton Revolutionary Army (BRA) has operated in Bretagne, a north-western French province, since the early 1970s. The descendants of the Celts, who once came from the British Isles, do not identify themselves fully with the French, or consider themselves special among other French citizens. During censuses, many of them call themselves Bretons although put French as their native tongue. The BRA (apparently named by analogy with the Irish Republican Army - IRA) belongs to the extremist wing of the nationalist movement Emgann, which is fighting against the "French oppressors."

In Italy, the separatist attitudes are strong in the industrially advanced northern regions. The influential League of the North has so far given up its demand of secession and insists on Italy becoming a federation. There are also people wishing to see South Tirol, which Italy received after WWI, reunited with Austria.

Belgium may separate into northern Flanders (whose residents speak Dutch and are leaning towards the Netherlands) and southern French-speaking Wallonia. This confrontation between Belgium's two linguistic communities is rooted in the beginning of Belgium's independent history when the Walloons and the Flemish formed a union against the Netherlands. Having once united in the name of freedom, they have been trying to break apart for almost two centuries. Appeals for independence are growing stronger and stronger - the economically advanced Flanders does not want to "feed" the Walloon Region. The polls show that more than 60% of the Flemish and over 40% of the Walloons believe that Belgium may disintegrate.

In Britain, the separatist attitudes have moved from Ulster to Scotland. The recent Scottish parliamentary elections were won by the supporters of the formation of a new independent state from the Scottish National Party (SNP). The head of the Scottish government Alex Salmond declared that Scotland may become independent within a decade. So far, only 23% of Scots support the idea of their independence (as compared with 30% a year ago). However, the then Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown (the current British Prime Minister) warned in the press that Britain would be threatened with "Balkanization" if the 300 year-long union between England and Scotland continued weakening.

Denmark's Faeroe Islands are a semi-autonomous territory, living on the government's subsidies of almost $170 million a year. This fact is a restraint for the local separatists, although five years ago they tried to conduct a referendum on independence.

Quiet Switzerland also has its own separatists. The Front for the Liberation of Yura has been demanding this canton's independence from the confederation for over 30 years. At one time, Yura inhabited by French-speaking Catholics was transferred to the canton of Bern with its predominantly German-speaking Protestant population. The Front's leaders admit that their chances of success are minimal.

Vojvodina is a Serbian autonomous region located some 35 km (22 miles) away from Belgrade. The Alliance of Vojvodina's Magyars, whose representatives control almost 70% of the region's territory, demand a republican status for the region, a referendum on secession from Serbia and a confederation with Hungary. Late last March, the Association asked the European Union to send a mission to study the situation. Hungarians now account for more than 40% of the region's population.

A similar scenario is developing in Romanian Transylvania (in 1940-1945 it belonged to Hungary; in 1919-1939 to Romania; and before that to Austria-Hungary). The percentage of Hungarians there already exceeds 45%. The Union for the Revival of Hungarian Transylvania, set up under Ceausescu, has already held referendums on territorial autonomy in three Transylvanian districts late last March. The local Hungarians expressed themselves for the maximal autonomy from Bucharest and independent relations with Budapest.

The "anti-colonial" raids have become more frequent in Italian Sardinia, and in the Austrian provinces of Stiria and particularly Carinthia, mostly populated by the Croatians and Slovenians. The South Albanian Greeks and the residents of the Portuguese Azores have also become increasingly active in demanding autonomy.

I do not like the bias in the text, but at least it presents a list of all the independentist movements in Europe which in turn chips away from Spain's propaganda campaign which dictates that the Basques are the only Europeans not happy with belonging to a monolithic state-nation.

One can easily understand the reason for the strong feelings in Russia against self-determination movements across Europe for they too lost their colonialist grip of European states like Moldavia, Latvia, Ukraine and many others, not even going to mention the republics in Central Asia.

~ ~ ~

Al Jazeera and Euskal Herria

EITb publishes a note regarding the visit of a reporter from the media outlet Al Jazeera, here it is:

Politics

"Basque Battles"

Al Jazeera's news report analyzes Basque conflict

10/25/2007

A journalist working for the Qatar TV station has spent some days in the Basque Country interviewing politicians, victims of ETA and relatives of ETA inmates.

Qatari TV station Al Jazeera broadcast last October 10th a wide report on the political situation in the Basque Country.

Entitled "Basque Battles," the research programme People and power takes as starting point the recent arrest and imprisonment of most of the senior members of the banned Basque leftist party Batasuna. Juliana Ruhfus, a journalist working for Al Jazeera, interviewed in the Basque Country leftist and conservative politicians, victims of ETA attacks and relatives of ETA inmates.

The report, which is made of two 15-minute long videos, analyzes the situation in the Gipuzkoan town of Lizartza, where the conservative party PP won the local election May 27th with 27 votes and a leftist platform, which had been barred from standing, had 186 votes. There were also 142 blank votes and the rest of political parties decided not to stand in the vote.

Ruhfus interviews the current mayor Regina Otaola (PP), the former mayor, José Antonio Mintegui, and Maider Agirrenabarrena, candidate for the outlawed leftist platform. "Batasuna is a terrorist organization and ANV is its successor. If Batasuna takes control of the town, this would become the Nazi Germany", Otaola says.

The interviews to ETA's victims include the statements of Gorka Landaburu, a journalist who was victim of an ETA's attack, and Pilar Elias, widow of Ramón Baglieto, a conservative councilor murdered by the armed group in 1980.

The report reflects the situation of the relatives of the ETA inmates and shows one of the rallies that the amnesty group Askatasuna calls every month's last Friday to ask for the imprisonment of Basque inmates in Basque prisons and not in far-away Spanish prisons.

Julen Madariaga, one of the founders of ETA, explains in an interview the creation of the armed group, its evolution and the current situation. According to Madariaga, "ETA is at one end, the PP at the other end and the Basque society in the middle.

At the end of the report, Al Jazeera calls on its viewers to give their opinion on its web site about "the fate of the Basques."

It is amazing how low the Partido Popular members can go, this Otaola lady conveniently forgets that it was his party's predecessors the ones that allied themselves to the Nazis. On top of it, today she is mayor of Lizartza because Madrid imposed her through electoral fraud when it used an less than democratic law against the opposition.

I wonder what will be the result of the poll by Al Jazeera regarding "the fate of the Basques".

~ ~ ~

ETA Speaks Out

This note appeared at the International Herald Tribune, it talks about how Zapatero forgot all about a peace process to bring a political solution to the so called "Basque conflict" and instead applied all the resources of its government to obtain a total victory over ETA, forgetting about his promises and his alleged compromise with his own people.

Here you have the note:

Basque separatist group ETA says it will continue militancy in Spain

The Associated Press
Published: September 9, 2007

Madrid, Spain: The Basque separatist group ETA plans to continue its militant campaign against the Spanish state to promote its political aims, it said in a statement published Sunday.

"ETA will continue to hit against the structures of the Spanish state on all fronts until it can achieve democratic conditions which would allow for the defense of all political projects in the Basque Country," the statement said.

It appeared in the early edition of the Basque newspaper Gara — a publication often used as a conduit for communication by the group — and in the online version of Basque newspaper Berria.

ETA is considered a terrorist organization by Spain, the European Union and the United States.

In the statement, the group claimed responsibility for recent explosions in the town of Belagoa and at the Tour de France cycle race in July and a police station in Durango in August, as well as for a blown-up van in a field in Castellon. It also said its efforts to broker an end to the conflict had failed.

"All of ETA's efforts at the negotiating table to drive forward a resolution process which could answer the rights of the Basque Country have failed," the statement said.

In its first statement since it called off its self-imposed cease-fire, ETA blamed the government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero for the breakdown in negotiations, saying the ruling Socialist party was "seeking to deactivate the Basque independence movement."

ETA declared a cease-fire in March 2006 and — despite blowing up a five-story car park at Madrid airport in December — maintained it was still in force until June when it called off the truce.

The statement said Zapatero's approach to Basque separatism had been "devoid of political content, aiming in the end just at defeat."

The Basque Nationalist Party, which rules the region, also faced ETA's anger for trying to "rupture" the nationalist movement.

ETA has often railed against the party, accusing it of not being interested in independence and of giving in to the government.

In June, when the cease-fire was formally called off, ETA blamed the party and the government, for the end of the truce.

In San Sebastian, a northern port city in the Basque Country, regional police on Sunday broke up a rally in support of ETA prisoners and detained several protesters, including Juan Maria Olano, spokesman for the Pro Amnesty movement Askatasuna. Protesters had been warned before the rally that the Interior Ministry had outlawed the demonstration, officials said. One policeman was seriously injured during the arrests, official said.

ETA, whose name stands for Basque Homeland and Freedom, has been waging a violent and explosion-marred campaign that has killed more that 800 people since the late 1960s. Its aim is to carve out an independent Basque state in parts of northern Spain and southwestern France.

Well, I can see that the "800 paragraph" has been reworked to look even more ominous.

~~~

Balza Strikes Again

EITb published a note regarding the violent repression unleashed by the Ertzaintza against pro-amnesty demonstrators yesterday in Donostia. Sadly, EITb shows that is is a mouth piece for the Lakua government in the very first paragraph.

Here you have the note:

Donostia - San Sebastian

Nine arrested and several injured at pro-amnesty demonstration

09/09/207

Five police agents were treated for bruises and one of them had a wound on his neck. Furthermore, three more people where injured as Police charged against demonstrators, one of them was hit by a rubber ball on his head.

Basque Police charged against demonstrators who were trying to march in favour of prisoners in a banned protest called by the Pro Amnesty Movement at the Boulevard of Donostia-San Sebastian.

Serious incidents were registered in the coastal city for several hours. Basque Police arrested nine people, among them the spokesman for the association in favour of prisoners' rights Askatasuna (Freedom), Juan Mari Olano. The nine are charged with public disorder and participation in an illegal demonstration.

As Interior Department sources confirmed, five police agents were treated for bruises and one of them had a wound on his neck. Furthermore, three more people where injured as Police charged against demonstrators, one of them was hit by a rubber ball on his head. Hospital Donostia sources confirmed their urgencies services had treated six people, and two of them are still in hospital, one of them the mosts eriously injured police agent.

Demonstrators tried to start the protest at 1:45pm, and Basque Police agents told the organisers the march was banned, moment when the charge started.

Double ban

The Interior Department of the Basque Government had banned the demonstration twice arguing "reasons linked with public order." The Department sent around 200 police agents to the coastal city to control the situation.

Leftwing nationalism showed its "complete rejection of Basque Police's brutal performance" and charged Basque Nationalist Party's Josu Jon Imaz and Interior councillor Javier Balza of doing the "dirty job" for Madrid.

Yes indeed, Imaz and Balza are to soulless neanderthals all to happy to smash as many Basque skulls as Madrid demand, too bad the media that is supposed to pinpoint the faulty behavior of individuals like Javier Balza do little or nothing.

~ ~ ~

Basqueing in Stanford

Well, this comes to us via The Stanford Daily:

New Basque Studies class elicits strong support

January 11, 2007
By James Hohmann

Senior Casey Nevitt’s dream of starting a Basque Studies class on the Quad was realized Wednesday when almost 30 people crammed into a classroom for the first session of her student initiated course.

“It’s been a work in progress since last school year,” she said. “There’s been so much support.”

Of course, it helps when the University’s chief academic officer and its top donor both trace their roots to the relatively small region in northern Spain, one of 17 autonomous states in the European country.

“It’s about time,” said Provost John Etchemendy, who could not recall a Basque Studies course since he first came to Stanford in 1976.

Billionaire construction magnate John Arrillaga is one of the “students” taking the course. He said his father was conceived in Spain and remembered playing basketball in Bilbao in 1960.

“We have nine sessions in which we are going to try and cover thousands of years of history, culture and identity,” said course instructor Gloria Totoricaguena. “Basque culture is not monolithic. It is very heterogeneous.”

Totoricaguena is the director of the Center for Basque Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno. The preeminent Basque scholar will fly in Wednesday afternoons to lecture.

Students said they enrolled in the course for a variety of reasons. Some visited Spain and fell in love with the culture. One student said she was taking the course because her boyfriend is from the Basque region. A Human Biology major said she dreamed of one day living in Spain.

“I wanted to learn about Basque culture beyond what’s on Wikipedia,” said senior Ash Siddiqui, who is studying math and computational studies.

Through the hour-and-a-half meeting, Totoricaguena offered an executive summary of her survey class. Using vivid, high-resolution photos in a PowerPoint, she previewed what will be covered each week.

She noted that women traditionally dominate the Basque family unit and cited recent archaeological discoveries of entire towns in the region, which she described as “absolutely incredible.”

The class will learn three traditional Basque folk dances one week and will make a field trip to a high-end restaurant another. Totoricaguena also plans to delve into what motivates the Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA), a terrorist group that strives for an autonomous, socialist Basque state.

After class, in a corner of the room, Nevitt sold the books that will be referenced through the quarter. With a Basque flag hanging behind her, she assured her peers that the books were the best deal she could find. She bought them used on Amazon, she said, and was selling them at cost.

Arrillaga was the first in line to buy the texts, with cash in hand.

One can only hope that by the end of the class the references to Spain and the Spaniards will cease.

And does Arrillaga really needs to buy discount books?

I mean, after donating millions of dollars to a sport that NO ONE practices in the Basque Country, he should be ashamed.

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