Solidarity and Remebrance in Uruguay

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Basque Events Féile '09

We just received this information from our friends at the Irish Basque Committees:

Féile Carnival Parade

Assemble Kennedy Centre
Sunday 2nd August, 12pm – 1pm

Join the Belfast Basque Solidarity Committee with flags and banner to show your support for the Basque Country in the Féile Carnival parade.

Exhibition

St. Mary’s College, Falls Road.
Monday 3rd August – Friday 7th August.

“Life and Struggle in the Basque Country”, a unique exhibition from the Basque photographers collective Ekinklik detailing life, protest and political action in the Basque country.

‘A Picture Paints a Thousand Words’ Launch

Felons Club, 537 Falls Road.
Monday 3rd August 12 noon

Currently in the Basque country to display an image of a political prisoner publically has been made illegal and can carry a prison sentence of four year for ‘glorifying terrorism’. In solidarity all the images of all the current political prisoners will be displayed in Belfast in opposition the criminalisation process in the Basque Country.
Main speaker: Michael Culbert, Director of Coiste.

Discussion and Debate

“Political persecution in the Basque Country: the cases of Inaki de Juana & Arturo “Benat” Villanueva”

An Chultúrlann, 216 Falls Road.
Saturday 8th August 4pm.

Two members of the Basque community living in Belfast are facing extradition to Spain on politically motivated and manipulated charges brought against them by the Spanish government. Other have face similar proceedings across Europe and South America.

This discussion will provide an insight in this particular case and the many others.

Organised by: www.dontextraditethebasques.org

Speakers:

Julen Arzuaga, former director of Behatokia (Basque Human Rights Watch) and charged in one of the show trials, Inaki de Juana, Arturo “Benat” Villanueva and Niall Murphy, from Kevin Winters solicitors.

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Keep up to date on Basque struggle news.

Listen to Basque Info at www.feilefm.com on line on Tuesdays from 6.30-7pm and Wednesdays 12-12.30pm

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Interview with Segi Members in Ireland

This interview was published at An Phoblacht (thanks to them news about the facts regarding the Basque conflict reach the English speaking web surfers):

Repression, criminalisation no solutions to conflict

Basque conflict will only be resolved by negotiation – SEGI

Segi, the Basque youth organisation was banned by the Spanish judge, Baltasar Garzón in February 2002. Previously, Garzón had banned the two Basque youth organisations that preceded Segi – Jarrai and Haika. Forty two youth, members of the executive of the groups, were charged with membership of ETA, as Garzón considered that supporting the right to self-determination of the Basque people is not only illegal, but criminal.

The case descended into a farce when another judge of the Audiencia National – the Spanish version of the Special Criminal Court, considered that Garzón’s arguments were not valid and released all detainees, after handling them minimum sentences for membership of illegal organisations. However, 19 of the 23 released were again imprisoned last February, after the court changed the initial sentence. The new decision of the Audiencia National took place only weeks after ETA planted a bomb in the carpark of Madrid airport.

The increasing repression suffered by the Basque pro-independence movement and the immediate imprisonment linked to membership of any of the banned organisations is the backdrop to the decision by two members of Segi who visited Ireland early this month deciding not to disclose their identities. During their Irish visit, An Phoblacht’s SALLY GALLAGHER spoke to the Segi representatives.

What is the reason for this visit to Ireland?

We came to help organise the trip that members of Ógra Shinn Fein are going to make to the Basque Country in September

How is your relationship with Ógra Sinn Fein?

The relationship with Ógra is a few years old already, and we consider it something important as they are an organisation very similar to ours, with common areas of work. This allows us to share points of view and reflections on our political projects. It is also very important for us because they have the experience of the kind of peace process we are working for. Even when in many aspects the situation in Ireland is different, their experience is something we can learn from.

Could you describe the situation faced by the Basque youth movement at the moment?

The situation is that, since January when the Spanish Special Court declared SEGI a terrorist organisation, we have been prosecuted for our activities. Our former leader is serving a six-year jail sentence. We cannot even put up a banner or a poster in the street because we risk being identified by the police, sent to Madrid, being charged with membership of a terrorist organisation and being sent to prison. But even in this environment people keep organising, SEGI keeps working and fighting but we have to take measures, like not publicising our identities, so as not to facilitate the police in throwing us in jail.

What were the arguments used by the Spanish courts to label SEGI as a terrorist organisation?

The truth is that we do not believe there was any judicial basis for it. From our point of view it was a straightforward political decision. SEGI is dangerous for them, as we fight for a political project, we support independence for the Basque Country, and we are socialist, so we fight the Spanish and French capitalist imposition in the Basque Country. What they were trying to achieve was to end our struggle and to take us off the political scene.

But, why at this particular moment? SEGI or the previous youth organisations have been active since the 1980s. So, why now?

I think it was a consequence of the Spanish Popular Party being in government. They took the decision that as part of their strategy of oppression against the Basque Country they would attack the political structures of the Basque pro-independence movement. What they were trying to do was to establish that everything is ETA, so every single political organisation or social movement working for the national and social liberation of the Basque Country were accused of being an integral part of ETA.

This allowed for their criminalisation and opened the door to their illegalisation. And within this strategy they have proceeded against numerous political and social organisations. The first to go through the whole procedure has been JARRA/HAIKA/SEGI which are the different youth organisations that have been active in the Basque Country. Labelling us a terrorist organisation is the last step in this process.

Has the fact of being declared a terrorist organisation had any effect in the work of the youth movement?

Not really. I am not going to deny that we are afraid because labelling an organisation as ‘terrorist’ is a major step. But the truth is that there has not been any gap in our work. People keep organising in the colleges, towns, cities. We keep working. We keep fighting in the streets. The fact is that when we were declared illegal for the first time, some five years ago, we had a rough time as we had to accommodate our work to a new reality – our way of working had to be adapted to the new situation. But a lot of time has passed since then and we have improved a lot. So when they declared us a terrorist organisation last February, people did not feel that the situation had changed that much as we were already illegal.

But six years in jail is a long time. Being harassed by the police is one thing but going to jail is something totally different, especially when you are a teenager.

As I said we were already an illegal organisation. We were supposed to be a clandestine organisation. Even if being declared a terrorist organisation is qualitatively different, the truth is that during the period from which we had been declared illegal until last February, we had time to overcome our fears and got ready to face that situation.

Yes you can face a six years long or an even longer jail sentence but the truth is that we were facing similar ones before. I think that when people have a clear idea of what they are they fighting for and they hold their principles dear, they are ready to take the risk.

Now that ETA’s ceasefire is over, after 14 months, how does SEGI see the future?

We were hopeful with the situation up to recently, not only because of the ceasefire but also because we could see how the social and political situation was changing in the last few years. There was a majority in the Basque Country looking for a change, and ETA seemed to have taken into account those social and political conditions as it took the decision to use the ceasefire to approach a new scenario where the political conflict could be solved in a political way. But the reality was that for over a year the Socialist Party in the Spanish Government – with the help of the Basque Nationalist Party PNV – resisted taking any step towards the resolution of the conflict. The negotiations have been constantly stalled by these two parties. They did not seem to be ready to approach a solution based on the two main factors that caused the conflict in the first place – territoriality and the right to self-determination.

Even if everybody agrees that the conflict has political roots, they were not ready to negotiate a political solution to the conflict. The left pro-independence movement put on the table a political proposal to end the conflict. This proposal was based on those two factors that were the key to the conflict, but the Spanish Government and the PNV said no to the proposals and failed to come up with an alternative.

And now?

Batasuna’s political proposal is the key to the solution and we need to publicise the proposal among the people in the Basque Country. Once a majority knows the ins and outs of it, we will have to try to push all the political parties to negotiate, because we know that the solution will come from negotiation. There is no other way. Repression or criminalisation are not solutions.

In this new scenario what is the role of SEGI?

Our aim is to fight for, and build up our independence on a daily basis, while trying to gather as much strength as we can around the pro-independence Basque movement. But at this moment in time we also see it as our responsibility to publicise the content of the political proposal for the solution of the conflict, among youth. Now, during the summer; that will be our main line of work and we will keep working on those issues that we usually do such as housing, students rights, etc.

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Solidarity with Basque Hunger Striker

We received this urgent call for action from the Belfast Basque Committee:

PROTEST RALLY SATURDAY 23RD 12.30PM AT EUROPEAN COMMISSION OFFICE, WINDSOR HOUSE, BELFAST

URGENT ACTION NEEDED

BASQUE POLITICAL PRISONERS ON 44 DAYS ON HUNGER STRIKE

On August 7, Basque political prisoner Iñaki de Juana Chaos began a hunger strike to demand his right to be released. Iñaki de Juana should have been released on October 25, 2004, after serving his sentence in full and having spent 18 years in jail. However, the Magistrate at the First Penal Court of the Spanish Audiencia Nacional (Spanish Special Court) Gómez Bermúdez, issued a decision dated October 22, attempting to contest the remission Iñaki was entitled to and to stop his release .

In view of the impossibility to maintain this line of argument, the judge decreed his remand in custody for an alleged crime of membership of an armed group and terrorist threats.

The basis for the accusations were two opinion articles the prisoners sent to the daily Gara . This is depsite Audiencia Nacional judge Santiago Pedraz finding where Iniakde Juana expressed his support for the Basque National Liberation Movement –BNLM- which "is not comparable to ETA". He added that "this movement is not defined as a terrorist organisation" and therefore the crime of issuing terrorist threats was not proven.

Following this decree the Spanish media unleashed a campaign against the judge's decision.The Spanish Minister for Justice, stated "we shall build new charges so that they are not released!" The State General Prosecutor, Cándido Conde Pumpido, said "we shall continue to oppose his release insofar as it is legally possible" and appealed Pedraz's decision. As such a new request for a 96 year prison sentence was put forward by these bodies.

In these circumstances, Iñaki believes he has no other way forward but to go on an open-ended hunger strike, even if he it takes him to his death. Therefore, we are calling for active solidarity towards Iñaki and we are issuing a call to international public opinion to denounce the lack of legitiamacy of the new charges against him and to demand his right to be released.

This is a call to all groups and people in solidarity, to express their protest to Spanish consulates and embassies and to send their messages to the addresses of the following people, directly responsible for Iñaki de Juana Chaos' situation.

HELP SAVE INAKI’S LIFE!!!

~SEND SOLIDARITY MESSAGES TO INAKI THROUGH: irishbasques@hotmail.com

~BELOW PLEASE FIND A DRAFT LETTER THAT CAN BE COPIED AND SENT TO THE FOLLOWING ADDRESSES (by email or by post) OUTLINING YOUR SUPPORT FOR INAKI DE JUANA AND YOUR OPPOSITION TO THE CLEAR ABUSE OF HUMAN RIGHTS BY THE SPANISH GOVERNMENT.

(Spanish Embassador in Ireland)
D. José de Carvajal Salido
Spanish Embassy in Ireland
17A, Merlyn Park, Ballsbridge Dublin
Tel: 269 16 40
Fax: 269 18 54
Email: embespie@mail.mae.es.


(Spanish Prime Minister)
José Luís Rodríguez Zapatero
Presidente del Gobierno Español
Palacio de la Moncloa,
Avda. Puerta de Hierro, s/n.
28071 Madrid
España
jlrzapatero@presidencia.gob.es
Fax: 0034 913900217

(Spanish Special Court's President)
Carlos Divar Blanco
Presidente Audiencia Nacional
C/ García Gutiérrez, 1
28004 Madrid
España
Fax: 0034 913973381

(Spanish Prisons' Director)
Mercedes Gallizo Llamas
Directora General de Instituciones Penitenciarias
C/ Alcalá, 38-40
28014. Madrid
España
Fax: 91 335 40 52

DRAFT EMAIL/LETTER:

We the undersigned are calling for the immediate release of Iñaki de Juana and that the call for 96 years by the the Third Section of the Audiencia Nacional Penal Court in prison clearly is an abuse of fundamental human rights. Given the fact that Inaki de Juana has already served 18 years in Spanish prisons and as such is entitled to remission and therefore immediate release it is imperative that Iñaki de Juana is released without further delay.

Iñaki de Juana should have been released on October 25, 2004, after serving his sentence in full and having spent 18 years in jail. However, the Magistrate at the First Penal Court of the Spanish Audiencia Nacional (Spanish Special Court) Gómez Bermúdez, issued a decision dated October 22, attempting to contest the remission Iñaki was entitled to and to stop his release violating the universal right to release of those who have served their sentences in full.

At a time when there is a possibility of real and meaningful dialogue in the Basque Country in the search for a resolution to the conflict this decision is of no benefit to the chances for a lasting resolution in the Basque Country and any goodwill by the Spanish Government. We are also appealing that the declaration by Audiencia Nacional Judge Santiago Pedraz, who rejected the charges brought against Iñaki de Juana, be respected and that political interference with the judicial process is ended.



Keep up to date on Basque struggle news.

www.irishbasquecommittees.blogspot.com

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Basque Youth and Irish Solidarity

This note was published at Indymedia Ireland:

Protests in Ireland in solidarity with banned Basque Youth movement

Forty people in Dublin, sixty in Belfast, fifteen in Galway and twenty in Derry gathered to express their solidarity with 42 Basque Youth activists of the Basque pro-independence left youth organizations Jarrai, Haika and Segi and who have been brought to courts in Madrid for a show trial and who are facing a total of 654 years in prison for their political work defending Basque youth rights and Basque Country's right to self-determination.

The judge and the state prosecution allege that "these organizations are all ETA".

Trials against the political party Batasuna, two anti-repression organizations, two newspapers, one magazine, a publishing house, etc. are to follow. All these organizations and media have been banned in the last 7 years.

Judge Garzon became famous worldwide for his attempt to extradite Chile's former dictator Augusto Pinochet from London to Spain a few years ago, but he looks elsewhere when Basque detainees are brought in front of him covered in bruises or with signs of deep psychological shock after the customary five day incommunicado period of interrogation (4 Basque detainees have died in police custody since Spanish "democracy" began).

In the last 7 years Judge Garzon has been dismantling various nationalist left organizations and Basque media, arguing that at the end of the day they are all ETA. He has arrested and put in jail some 200 people. No matter how little evidence he has to support his comprehensive theories, the trial had to begin last month, since under Spanish law the authorities can hold a prisoner on remand for up to four years. In fact, nine of the accused youths had to be released from jail last Friday, for they completed their remand period without being tried. They are now awaiting the result of this show trial together with another 33 youths. They are all accused of belonging to their respective youth organizations, which the judge argues are part of ETA. They could get up to 654 years in total.

Since freedom of association was finally recognized by the Spanish state in the late seventies after dictatorship, the Basque nationalist left youth organization Jarrai and its successors Haika and Segi have been working for better conditions for the youth, for promoting alternative ways of life like the Gaztetxes (self-managed centres for the youth), against conscription, etc.

This is not a criminal case but a political one where the accusations are collective, not based on individual acts. By Judge Garzon's standards tens of thousands of Basque people could be imprisoned any time. So far he has got some of the more determined and committed to achieve a free Basque Country. Ironically, some of those 200 people to be tried in the near future have publicly criticized ETA through the years.

In Belfast, the spokeswoman for the campaign asked for international support to stop the Spanish ad French States ferocious repression against Basque civil and political rights activists and Basque left wing pro-independence movement.

At the same time she denounced the silence of the Irish government and the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern during the time that Ireland held the European Union Presidency last year. The EU should not support such illegal and antidemocratic policies within the union but it should rather help to initiate a peace process in the Basque Country aimed to bring justice and freedom.

These protests were coordinated by the Irish Basque Committees-Coistí na mBascach-Éireannach and Ógra Shinn Féin and supported by numerous people and groups like ex-republican political prisoners, Belfast Socialist Youth and Irish Republican Socialist Party.

We want to thank everybody for coming along.

The solidarity campaign will keep going strong for the next few weeks with more events. These issues are of concern to anyone who stands for human rights such as freedom of organization and expression. Anybody who wants to join the campaign can contact us through: irishbasques@hotmail.com

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