Madrid Exports Political Persecution

This article was published at VHeadline:

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

Patrick J. O'Donoghue

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Irish Solidarity with Basque Youths

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

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

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

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

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

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Segi Representatives in Ireland

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

Segi activist speaks out against repression

Emma Clancy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Continues...

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

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Benat Won't Be Extradited

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

Ógra Shinn Fein welcomes Belfast court decision

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Continues...

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

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The Boomerang Effect

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

BOOMERANG EFFECT AGAINST SPANISH ATTACKS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-Another sucessful display of support to the Basque language.

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

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

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

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

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


-Largest ever demonstration against High Speed Train.

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

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

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

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

-More political trials and more arrests.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Julen Arzuaga in Belfast

This article was published at Barcelona Reporter:

On Saturday August the 8th, Basque Conference Held in Belfast

Julen Arzuaga, a lawyer from Behatokia, the Basque Observatory of Human Rights, travelled to Belfast from the Basque Country to speak at the conference, present at the conference were Iñaki de Juana and Arturo Beñat Villanueva, two Basque activists who are fighting extradition charges by the Spanish government. The firm of attorneys who are representing both men, gave a progress report on its efforts to defeat the extradition charges.

There were more than 100 people present at the conference on political persecution in the Basque Country on Saturday August 8 in An Chultúrlann in west Belfast, organised by the Don't Extradite the Basques Campaign as part of the annual Féile an Phobail.

Veteran republican activist Danny Morrison introduced the conference and in a speech compared the Spanish government's persecution of the Basque pro-independence movement with the experience of Irish republicans over several decades, and went on to say "The best way this community can show our solidarity with the Basque people's struggle for their human and national rights in this period of severe repression by the Spanish government is by making sure that these vindictive extradition attempts are defeated."

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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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Campaign Against Extradition of Basque Activists

This article was published at An Phoblacht:

Don't Extradite the Basques Campaign launched

Emma Clancy

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

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

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

Iñaki de Juana

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

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

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

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

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

Arturo ‘Beñat’ Villanueva

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

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

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

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

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

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

Political persecution

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

To sign the petition visit www.dontextraditethebasques.org

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

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A Petition to Stop Extraditions in Ireland

We received this information regarding an internet based campaign demanding to stop the extradition of Basque political refugees living in Ireland:

Sign The Campaign Petition!

* We, the undersigned, demand that the Spanish government respects the fundamental human, civil and political rights of the Basque people as laid out in the UN Declaration of Human Rights.

* We demand that the Spanish government ends its campaign of criminalisation and political persecution against organisations and individuals that are in favour of Basque independence.

* We support the right of Iñaki de Juana and Arturo ‘Beñat’ Villanueva not to be persecuted by the Spanish government for their political ideas.

* We call on the British government to immediately reject the extradition requests and to refuse to collaborate with the Spanish government’s political persecution of Iñaki de Juana and Arturo ‘Beñat’ Villanueva.

* We support the right of Iñaki de Juana and Arturo ‘Beñat’ Villanueva to live freely in Ireland.

Show your support for Iñaki and Beñat and sign this petition here.

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The Bad Guys

Seems like a book written expressly to be made into a script for a Hollywood movie. Riding the wave created by "The Da Vinci Code", the victim seems to be the Catholic Pope. The bad guys, you guessed it, two Basques... and an Irish.

Hit by the aftermath of the brutal crusade against the Muslims thinly disguised as a "war on terrorism", authors are resorting to "politically correct" bad guys. In the end, who is going to defend the Basques and the Irish after the brutal propaganda campaign set against those two nationalities by the main stream media?

How well does the propaganda campaign has worked that the author uses citizens of two of the nations more widely identified as "firmly Catholic" on this thriller were the target seems to be the highest representative of the Catholic church.

Here you have preview of the book published by The Philadelphia Enquirer:

A complex thriller converging on Rome

The Death of a Pope

Piers Paul Read |Ignatius Press. 215 pp. $21.95

Reviewed by Frank Wilson

Piers Paul Read's new novel opens with three men - one Irish, two Basque - on trial in London, charged with "conspiring to cause an explosion with the intent to take human life."

Two of the defendants have connections to terrorist organizations. Fergal O'Brien was a member of the Provisional IRA and continues to associate with the Real IRA. Asier Etchevarren was a member of ETA, the Basque separatist group.

The third defendant has quite a different background. A laicized Jesuit priest, Jose Uriarte is a senior aid worker for Misericordia International, a Catholic refugee service. For the last four years, he has been working in the Darfur region of Sudan.

Uriarte is, in fact, the central figure in the trial. He does not deny approaching Etchevarren, a childhood friend, about getting some Sarin gas. He denies intending to use it "to take human life." He says he wanted to use it on the livestock of the Arab militias in Darfur. This, he says, would prevent them from continuing their brutal raids.

He proves a formidable witness. When the prosecutor tells him his story "beggars belief," Uriarte calmly explains that "the Arab militias value their horses and camels more than their women and children. They are hard men, as hard as the rock in the desert from which they come. Their horses and camels and cattle mean mobility and the means of survival."

All three are acquitted.

Kate Ramsey, one of the journalists covering the trial, is much taken with Uriarte and asks him for an interview. Uriarte, however, shifts attention from himself to his work and invites her to accompany him to Uganda and see what Misericordia International is all about.

Kate is a lapsed Catholic whose favorite uncle, Luke Scott, is a priest with a distinctly traditional bent. When Kate tells Father Luke that Uriarte is "really kind of charismatic," the priest remembers the meaning of the Greek word charisma - "a gift from the gods."

"As so often is the case with gifts from God," he reminds himself, it may be "purloined and misused by the devil."

In Africa, Kate sees poverty and suffering she had never imagined. She falls ill herself and Uriarte makes sure she is well cared for. They do not exactly become lovers. More precisely, they make love and she falls for him.

He takes her with him to Cairo and introduces her to some Copts, one of whom is a chemist. Uriarte tells her he is going to help the Copts - much persecuted in Islamic Egypt and, he tells her, desperately in need of money - by smuggling out of the country a valuable scroll. She insists on carrying the scroll herself, since she is less likely than he to be subject to undue scrutiny. He reluctantly agrees.

The narrative threads all converge in Rome after the death of Pope John Paul II. Father Luke is there because he has been alarmed by a visit from David Kotovski, a British security agent who had come to know Kate when he posed as a fellow journalist during Uriarte's trial. Kate is in Rome because she is covering the conclave to elect a new pope. Uriarte is there and has paid a visit to a cardinal who long ago had made a pass at Father Luke when both were seminarians. That cardinal's assistant, Monsignor Perez, pays a visit to Father Luke and asks him to hear his confession.

Read's book is short but concentrated. The foregoing actually only hints at how subtly complex the plot is. But what really makes the book work is its ambiguity.

Kate is right: Uriarte is charismatic. He is both persuasive and forceful. He genuinely cares for the refugees he works with. And they love him. Just as Thomas Aquinas presents the best arguments he can think of for the positions he is disputing, so the arguments Read has Uriarte put forth on behalf of his social gospel sound eminently reasonable and are emotionally resonant - exactly what good temptations ought to be. The evil must appear to be good. And the advocates for good must appear timorous and old-fashioned.

Indeed, the day is not saved by any heroics on the part of the good people. The heroics are reserved for the likes of Uriarte. The only thing the good people have going for them is simplicity and decency.

Miraculously, that proves enough.

We still remember the one book called "Rainbow Six" by state sponsored terrorism supporter Tom Clancy in which the masterminds behind the threat were a group of "eco-terrorists" that had hired, besides a former KGB agent you guessed it... a group of idiotic and murderous Basques.

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Ireland : Stop Extraditions

Thanks to our friends at the Irish Basque Committees for sending us this information:

Two Belfast-based Basque citizens, Iñaki de Juana and Arturo “Beñat” Villanueva, are facing extradition to Spain because of their political pro-independence ideas.

Please come and support them on Wednesday 13th of May at 9.45am at Laganside Court buildings, Belfast.

On Thursday 14th of May at 6pm a public meeting will be held in An Chultúrlann to set a campaign against the extraditions.

PLEASE PASS ON.

Stop Spanish political persecution against the Basque Country

And don't forget to visit this page:

Don't Extradite The Basques

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Another Extradition Case in Ireland

Spain is increasing its persecution campaign against Basque activists in Ireland. With the extradition trial against Iñaki de Juana still going on now we learn about another detention thanks to this article published at An Phoblacht:

Basque youth activist to fight extradition from Belfast

Emma Clancy

Basque activist Arturo Villanueva Arteaga (32), who has lived in west Belfast for four years, was arrested in a raid on 21 April under a European warrant issued by the Spanish authorities who are seeking his extradition to Spain on “terrorism” charges.

Villanueva, who is well-known in the west Belfast community and has been running a tourism business providing tours to European tourists, has said he will fight the extradition attempt. He was released on bail under conditions of reporting to police daily and living under a 9pm curfew, with the extradition hearing to begin on May 13.

The Belfast Basque Committee protested against the extradition attempt outside the court, calling for the case to be dropped. A spokesperson said: “Arturo has been living openly in Belfast for four years and has a life here.

“We are calling for the immediate dropping of this case and an end to the repression of Basque civil society.”

The charges relate to the pro-independence Basque youth organisation Segi, which was made illegal in 2001 and declared a “terrorist” organisation by the Spanish Supreme Court in 2007. If the extradition is successful Villanueva faces up to 14 years in prison.

In 2001, following the banning of Segi, Villanueva was among 17 young people charged with being a member of the group. Segi, an independent socialist youth organisation with thousands of members, organised political campaigns around the right to Basque self-determination as well as social and economic issues that affect youth.

Released on bail, he did not attend the political show trial. In 2005 Spanish prosecutors called for Villanueva to be sentenced to 14 years in prison in his absence.
Segi’s proscription by the Spanish government was part of the state’s long-standing policy of criminalising virtually all political parties, media sources and civil society groups that are in favour of Basque self-determination – and jailing the leaders and members of those organisations.

In December UN human rights special rapporteur Martin Scheinin said Spain’s Law of Political Parties defined “terrorism” so vaguely that it “might be interpreted to include any political party which through peaceful political means seeks similar political objectives” as those pursued by armed organisations.

Villanueva’s arrest comes after the Belfast Recorder’s Court in March ruled in favour of a Spanish extradition request for former Basque prisoner Iñaki de Juana Chaos to face charges of “glorifying terrorism”. De Juana is appealing the ruling on May 15.

The Basque Committee is urging the local community to oppose the targeting of Belfast’s Basque community by the Spanish authorities and to support Villanueva and de Juana in their fight against extradition.

Once again we thank our Irish brothers and sisters who support our quest for self determination.

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Arrests of Refugees and Dispersal

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

Basque political refugees arrested in Belfast and Venezuela

At the request of the Spanish authorities Arturo “Benat” Villanueva was arrested last Wednesday by the Extraditions Team of the PSNI. The arrest happened at 8am at his home. The PSNI officers involved in the arrest were correct throughout the arrest and the custody at the Musgrave barracks.

40 people supported Benat inside and outside the Court buildings. After a hearing before Judge Burgess and having previously agreed with both the Crown prosecution and the PSNI Benat was released on a £5000 bail, curfew at home from 9pm to 7am, he has to remain within the six counties and has to sign at a barracks every day once. A full hearing will be held on the 13th of May at the Lagan Court in Belfast.

As we’ve reported many times Benat’s case is not an isolated one, it’s part of a broader pattern of repression against the Basque Country . Over the last decade newspapers, political parties, youth groups, cultural associations...have been banned and their members arrested.

Benat has been living and working openly in Belfast for the past 5 and half years. He said: “I’ve made this country my home, made many great friends and become a proud part of a very strong community. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everybody for the welcome and support they’ve extended to myself and the Basque people over the years.”

Between Tuesday and Wednesday Basque political refugee Inaki Etxeberria was arrested in Venezuela. Very little information has come out surrounding this arrest.

The Basque pro-independence movement spoke out against the arrests and branded them as political and reflection of the overall political situation of repression in the Basque Country. The pro-independence movement asked other governments not to follow the Spanish authorities estrategy. Finally expressed their solidarity with the arrested and thanked those in Ireland, Venezuela and the rest of the world who have welcomed and supported Basque refugees along the years.

The Belfast Basque Solidarity Committee has stated that the arrest of a member of the Basque community , living in Belfast, is yet more evidence of the Spanish authorities attack on Basque Civil society.

Speaking on Wednesday a spokesperson for the group, Kevin Morrison, said:

“The arrest of a member of the Basque community, living in Belfast, Arturo “Benat” Villanueva, is yet more evidence of the continuation of attacks by the Spanish government on Basque civil society.

“The extradition warrant issued by the Spanish authorities is accusing Arturo Villanueva of membership of Segi, a youth organization banned in 2005 in a series of draconian clampdowns on Basque cultural and societal organizations.

“Since then newspapers and radio stations have been closed, human rights groups have been banned, and Batasuna, the Basque pro-independence party has been proscribed and its leadership arrested and imprisoned. All of these are blatant infringements of basic human rights and the freedom of speech within the European Union.

“This attitude of the Spanish government has recently been described by UN Rapporteur, Martin Scheinin as ‘too broad’ targeting ‘groups that have nothing to do with violence’.

“Benat has been living openly in Belfast for over five years and now has a life here.. We are a calling for immediate dropping of this case and an overall end to such repression of Basque civil society.”

20 years of dispersal policy

The EPPK/Basque Political Prisoners Collective released a statement on the 20th anniversary of the implementation of the dispersal policy by the Spanish government followed after by the French authorities. Since 1989 hundreds of Basque prisoners have been scattered in dozens of prisons across Spain and France. Nowadays 765 Basque political prisoners are imprisoned in 85 jails.

In the statement the EPPK says they won’t allow to be used to damage the Basque National Liberation Movement. They called upon Basque society to continue working against the dispersal policy.

The EPPK goes on to ask the French and Spanish government to take the prisons policies out of the confrontation lines and take the path of common sense.

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Support in Belfast

Supporters of Arturo Villanueva Arteaga hold Basque flags and display placards at Lagonside Court in Belfast, yesterday, April 22nd. Spanish authorities say Northern Ireland police have arrested a man suspected of having links to an outlawed Basque group. The Interior Ministry says police arrested Arturo Villanueva Arteaga, 32, in Belfast on Wednesday on a European arrest warrant. Villanueva is accused of belonging to Haika, a group outlawed in 2007 by Spain as a terrorist organization linked to armed Basque separatist group ETA, something that Spain's D.A. has failed to prove thus violating international law and treaties regarding human rights. This action by Madrid's government is part of an ongoing campaign to force governments around the world to curtail the civil rights of Basque citizens.

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Basque Good Friday

This information comes to us from our friends of the Irish Basque Committees:

6TH ANNUAL IRISH BASQUE NIGHT

GOOD FRIDAY 10TH APRIL


Featuring:


ERIK NOON & THE FUTURE GYPSIES

http://www.myspace.com/eriknoon


THE RED RASTA SOUND SYSTEM


with speakers, videos, raffles, merchandising, books...


DOORS OPEN 8PM

£5 BEFORE 10PM / £7 AFTER 10 PM

LIMITED TICKETS

Organised by: BELFAST BASQUE SOLIDARITY COMMITTEE

Keep up to date on Basque struggle news at: Irish Basque Committees

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

Once again, thanks to all of our Irish friends for your kindness and solidarity.

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Irish Judge Pleases Spain

On a dramatic flip flop, an Irish judge has decided to please a country that violates a number of human rights on a daily basis by allowing the extradition of Basque political refugee Iñaki de Juana according to this article published at An Phoblacht:

Court backs Basque activist's extradition

BELFAST Recorder’s Court ruled on 9 March that Basque nationalist Iñaki de Juana Chaos is eligible for extradition to Spain. He has been paroled until May when he will appeal the decision at a further hearing.

A European arrest warrant for de Juana Chaos was issued by the Spanish authorities to the PSNI in November. The Belfast court has since then discussed the legal issues surrounding the warrant, ruling last week that the charges alleged in the warrant of “glorifying terrorism” constitute an extraditable offence.

De Juana Chaos spent 21 years in Spanish jails for his role in ETA (Basque Homeland and Freedom) armed attacks during the 1980s. He moved to Ireland after he was released in August last year.

The Spanish warrant alleges that, on the day of his release, he gave a woman a letter to be read out in his name at a rally in Donostia in Euskal Herria (the Basque Country), that allegedly “publicly justified terrorism”.

But the Spanish authorities admit they do not have this letter and de Juana Chaos’s defence lawyer stated in court his client did not authorise anyone to speak on his behalf. The comment allegedly read out at the rally was “Aurrera bolie” – a Basque expression meaning “Kick the ball forward.”

The Spanish Government is basing its legal effort to extradite de Juana Chaos on somebody at a rally in Donostia saying “Kick the ball forward” without any evidence that the comment was de Juana Chaos’s or that it somehow constitutes a terrorist offence.

This relentless harassment of de Juana Chaos by the Spanish courts is not surprising in the context of the current ramped-up repression in the Basque Country, where several nationalist parties and candidates were banned from participating in the 1 March elections and where more than 700 pro-independence political activists are being held prisoner.

The Belfast judge accepted the advice of the Spanish authorities that the phrase “Kick the ball forward” constitues “praising terrorism” and that this offence has a legal equivalent under the British Terrorism Act 2006.

De Juana Chaos’s lawyer, Edward Fitzgerald, said he would contest the move on human rights and procedural grounds.

This judge is going against the Irish solidarity towards the Basque right to self determination, we wonder if there was some euros involved in his decision.

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Our Irish Cousins

This article was published today at Irish Times:

Genetic studies show our closest relatives are found in Galicia and the Basque region

DICK AHLSTROM

ANCESTRAL LINKS: WHAT DO pygmy shrews, badgers, mountain hares, pine martins and Irish people have in common? All probably originally came to Ireland on boats from northern Spain.

Our closest relatives are found in various parts of Galicia and the Basque country according to genetic studies led by Prof Dan Bradley of Trinity College Dublin’s Smurfit Institute of Genetics. He presented his research over the weekend at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in Chicago.

He was joined by Queen’s University Belfast archaeologist and linguist Prof James Mallory who talked about efforts to link these DNA studies with the transmission of languages across western Europe.

The chair of the session was the Government’s chief scientific adviser, Prof Patrick Cunningham.

Prof Bradley and colleagues have done extensive genetic analysis into where the Irish came from and how they got to Ireland. He studies genes associated with the Y chromosome, a genetic inheritance that comes via the father.

By tracking the presence of certain Y chromosome markers he can travel back in time to map our relatedness to others across Europe. He explained how he had also done this with the two main species of cattle, the familiar flat-backed cattle and the hump-backed cattle seen in India and Africa.

The human data definitively showed that our strongest relatedness was with the northern Iberian peninsula, with this genetic signal strongest for the Irish living today in the west of Ireland. These in turn were likely the closest relatives of the migrants who originally settled in Ireland.

Genetic studies of Irish fauna also showed this distinctive signal, he said. “The Irish badgers are Spanish, but the British badgers are not. The fauna of Ireland seems to be divergent. How does one explain this,” he asked.

The most likely explanation was that the island was settled by migrants from northern Spain as the glaciers that covered Ireland from the last ice age melted away. “It seems to me that most animals in Ireland came by boat. There seems to have been some communication with southern Europe.”

The Book of Invasions from the 8th century talked about an invasion by the Spanish king Milesius, he said.

His group also looked for genetic linkages between people sharing a common surname, something passed along from the male lineage like the Y chromosome.

They found linkages that traced back, to the famous Ui Neill kindred, from whom Niall Noigiallagh, Niall of the nine hostages was descended.

Prof Mallory described attempts to match up the transmission of languages with the dispersal of DNA as people migrated across Europe. It was extremely difficult however due to confounding influences including language transmission via “elite dominance”.

Settled areas with a unique language later taken over by invaders would see language displacement, with the newcomers imposing their own language. However, the local gene pool would remain and would dilute the genetic influence of the newcomers.

This was possibly the reason why when one looked for genetic evidence of the Celts in Ireland these Celtic genes could not be found. Studies of this dynamic has occurred in what is now Hungary showed a mismatch between the dominant language and the dominant genetic influence. “Modern DNA is no predictor of the modern Hungarian language,” Prof Mallory said.

Maybe that's why the Irish are so adamant at defending their identity from their meddling and often violently invasive neighbors, they got that from their Basque ancestors.

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I'm Contaminated

This letter was published at An Phoblacht:

Repression of Basque independence movement

I am a Basque and I might be contaminated. The Spanish authorities haven’t yet named the virus but myself and another 84 Basque citizens are under strict surveillance in case we have it.

On the 1 March elections will take place in the Basque country and we are all on the list of candidates for the Askatasuna party.

But the Spanish government has decided that we cannot take part in these elections because of that nameless virus.

We have been accused, as many people before us, of helping a terrorist organisation. The reasoning is that we are nationalist.

The ‘evidence’ consists of taking part in pro-independence rallies, visiting or writing to friends in jail or even socialising in the same bars as known pro-independence militants.

I am not a member of ETA but because of this ‘evidence’ I might be considered one soon or at least a collaborator. Today there are over 700 Basque prisoners in Spanish and French jails – all of them under imprisoned under similar allegations. The truth is that most of them have never seen a gun except for movies on TV or maybe in the hands of a heavily armed police officer at a checkpoint.

The Spanish state has launched a new inquisition because it knows that the Basque pro-independence movement is strong in political debate and its position is clear and democratic. They have seen how big Sinn Féin has become in the decade since the Good Friday Agreement. They know the risks of letting Basques decide their own future by peaceful and democratic means.

So they chose war. They use the police and special courts, ban political parties and close newspapers.

But the pro-independence movement wants to move forward. It does not want war. We look on with envy to Ireland, Scotland, Greenland and other countries that have democratically decided to take their future into their own hands. We don’t want to impose our views on anyone. We just want the right to defend our political project and to be assured that whatever road the Basque people decide to take it will be respected.

Irish republicans have long been great friends of the Basque Country. Once again we cry for help. In 2009 we face an attempt an inquisition to exterminate the pro-independence movement. One way we can stop this is with the aid and solidarity of the international community.

I hope one day we can work in our cities, towns and villages freely for the Basque independent socialist republic. That is our goal. And while we recognise it might take years to become a reality it needs to be the Basque people who decide their own future, peacefully, democratically and free from outside interference. Our day will come too.

Basque political activist

(named withheld for security reasons)

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International Week of Solidarity in Ireland

This week there has been a series of events around the world as part of a call to show solidarity with Euskal Herria.

This information comes to us thanks to the Irish Basque Committees:

INTERNATIONAL WEEK OF SOLIDARITY WITH THE BASQUE COUNTRY 6TH-15TH FEBRUARY

EVENTS IN IRELAND

Friday 13th

DUBLIN

Public talks: Repression and Resistance in the Basque Country. Speaker from Kamaradak, Basque internationalist youth network.

12.30 noon UCD, Montrose (near Donnybrook) Student Centre, Rooms 1 & 2.

3.00pm Trinity College, Dublin Arts Block Room 5039

8.00pm Teachers' Club, 36, Parnell Square, Dublin 1 (has bar)

DERRY

8.30pm Dunloe Bar Food, DVD's, talk and live music £3 Organised by Friends of the Basque Country & Derry Sinn Féin


Saturday 14th Solidarity protests

DUBLIN 11.00am GPO, O'Connell St

CORK 12noon Daunt's Square

DERRY 3.30pm Free Derry Corner

BELFAST 12.30pm City Hall and immediately after first hand perspectives with representative from Kamaradak, Basque internationalist youth network upstairs Kelly's Cellars (Irish stew & drinks available).

THE BASQUE COUNTRY DOESN'T WALK ALONE TOWARDS DEMOCRACY AND SELF-DETERMINATION!!

ORGANISED BY IRISH BASQUE SOLIDARITY COMMITTEES

Keep up to date on Basque struggle news at: http://www.irishbasquecommittees.blogspot.com/

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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Irish Judge Exposes Spain's Corruption

Unlike judges in Mexico and Canada who bought Spain's campaign of lies against Basque pro independence activists, a judge in Ireland has exposed Spain's corruption by declaring that Madrid has nothing more than a news paper's opinion to accuse Iñaki de Juana of apology of terrorism.

This article about this Irish judge's defiance against Spain's repressive and violent campaign against the right of the Basque Country to its self determination was published at The International Herald Tribune:

Basque militant fights extradition to Spain

The Associated Press
Published: December 12, 2008

DUBLIN, Ireland: A Belfast judge reserved judgment Friday in the case of a notorious Basque separatist fighting extradition to Spain — but emphasized that the Spanish authorities' case was weak.

A Spanish judge last month formally asked British authorities to ship Inaki de Juana Chaos back to Madrid to answer questions about a letter in which he allegedly "praises terrorism."

But Tom Burgess, the judge hearing the extradition case at Belfast Crown Court, expressed skepticism about the Spanish case against de Juana Chaos as he heard arguments from both sides' lawyers.

Spain says it wants to question de Juana Chaos about a letter — purportedly a message from himself to supporters of the Basque paramilitary group ETA — calling on them to continue bombing and shooting in hopes of securing an independent homeland in northeast Spain and southwest France.

Burgess heard that the Spanish case was based on a journalist's account of an ETA rally and the letter's contents — and defense claims that the message could be translated into many things besides "praising terrorism."

The judge said a journalist's characterization was not good enough as evidence. He said the message transcript itself needed to be produced and verified as coming from de Juana Chaos.

"I have no idea what this document is," Burgess said, referring to third-hand accounts of the letter's contents. "It seems to be potentially dangerous for this court to start looking at a document for the purpose of whether or not a crime is involved. Is it hearsay, double-hearsay, triple hearsay?"

Burgess adjourned the case without saying when he would give his verdict.

De Juana Chaos denies any connection to the letter. One of his Belfast lawyers, Kevin Winters, said someone else read out a speech at a pro-ETA rally shortly after Spain freed de Juana Chaos from prison in August — but denies that the speech amounted to a letter authored by his client.

De Juana Chaos was convicted in 1987 in a string of ETA bombings and shootings in Madrid that killed 25 police officers, military personnel and civilians. He twice pursued lengthy hunger strikes in prison, and Spanish authorities also convicted him of issuing death threats while behind bars.

Kudos to judge to Tom Burguess for standing for justice and reason.

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