My Case Against Aznar

March 11th of 2004 started out as any other day, yet, by sunset a horrible crime had been carried out and a government deemed as democratic was scrambling to profit politically from the tragedy.

That day a series of bombs went off during the morning commute. The targets were both trains and train stations used primarily by the working class that lives outside Madrid.

The victims: men and women on their way to work, students on their way to their classrooms, parents taking their children to school.

As usual, the innocent as victims of a group of cowards that think that the only way to achieve goals is violence.

The public reacted immediately, and soon they were blaming the usual suspect for the attacks, Basque armed group ETA. The first politician to issue a statement against the attacks was Basque premier Juan José Ibarretxe, he directed harsh words against ETA and their violent means.

At the time there was confusion and the efforts were aimed at rescuing the wounded, the police moved to prevent more bombings. Everyone was doing what you are supposed to do during a tragedy, aid the fallen, protect other possible victims.

Everyone but a tight group of shady characters, led by the heir to the most backwards viewpoints in Spain, the then Prime Minister José María Aznar.

Up until that morning, his anointed successor Mariano Rajoy was on his way to electoral triumph, and if they had not taken the ill conceived decision of trying to profit from the tragedy, Rajoy could very well be Spain's Prime Minister today.

But for the first time in his flashy career, José María Aznar freaked out; he lost his cool, at the worst possible time, at least the worst possible time for him and his puppet, Mariano Rajoy.

At the beginning his Minister of the Interior Angel Acebes had pin the blame on ETA, at that moment there was nothing wrong with it, he was not out of line by doing so because in previous weeks the Spanish police forces had detained a number of ETA members trying to set explosives on train tracks.

Then came the bit of information that sent waves of fear through the hearts of these Francoist wannabes. The police had found a van with a Quran and tapes in Arabic, a classic Al Qaeda move. Aznar saw the picture; he saw those crowds that had demonstrated against his support to the war in Iraq, he was reminded that on that one issue, 90% of the Spanish public was against him.

And out of fear of defeat, out of a wounded ego that saw his political legacy and career crashing down, he came up with a strategy that seemed brilliant to him and his followers; he decided to blame Basque nationalism.

He was killing two birds with one stone, on one side, he would make sure people would not see the Islamist threat as a result of his boneheaded decision to go to war in Iraq, on the other, he would fuel the fire of hate rage against anything and everything that had to do with Basque self-determination, being this his pet obsession.

And so, he ordered his ambassador to the UN to move for a condemnation of the attacks, blaming ETA in specific, something never done by the UN before in history.

In person, he phoned different newspaper directors, and requested from them to stick to the then, official version, it had been ETA.

His underling, Ana Palacio, sent a memorandum to all ambassadors instructing them to ensure that all of them would veer the media in each one of the countries they were located to think that the authory of the attacks was on ETA.

Angel Acebes, gladly took on the job of insisting ad nauseum that yes, ETA was behind the attacks. He went to the extreme of lying to the German anti-terrorist unit, making them believe that the explosives and the detonators used on the attacks were those that ETA uses to carry its bombings, as a result, the Germans dropped their guard, it was after all a case of domestic violence. Try to imagine if Al Qaeda had plans to attack in Germany that same day, they would have achieved surprise thanks to Acebes misguiding his German colleagues. That is a crime; it is indeed a heinous crime.

Then Aznar aimed his guns at Basque nationalism, he had his PP drones printing banners that read “With the Victims, with the Constitution, against Terrorism”.

Why “with the Constitution”?

What does the Constitution has to do with a terrorist attack?

Shouldn’t it say “with Peace”, “with Justice”, with whatever?

Well, at the time Aznar was trying to criminalize the call by Basque premier Juan José Ibarretxe to a referendum to allow the Basque society to voice their opinion once and for all regarding their right to self-determination.

Aznar threatened Ibarretxe with up to five years in jail saying that such a move was against the Constitution. So, Aznar took this chance to group together ETA’s violence and the quest for self-determination via legal and pacific ways undertaken by the Basque society. For him, all Basques are the same, they are all terrorists trying to break up Spain, the Francoist Spain which is One and Catholic.

One of Aznar’s trolls went farther, he had hundreds of t-shirts printed with the words “They killed them because they were Spaniards”. Never mind that many of the victims were immigrants.

Once again, lets put those Basque terrorists on one side of the spectrum, and the innocent Spaniards on the other side, lets aggravate the chasm between one group and the other.

And in doing so, a police officer off duty killed Angel Berroeta, a baker in the Basque city of Iruñea (Pamplona) who was member of Gurasoak, an association of parents of Basque political prisoners.

But the evidence of an Islamist link to the attacks kept piling up, and drop by drop the information leaked to the people, and on Saturday 12th they went out to the streets to demand the truth.

And what Mariano Rajoy did?

Accused his own people, those Spaniards they claimed to be defending, he accused them of violating the Electoral Law. I say he deserves a Darwin Award for that one. He is the one that forged the link between the attacks and the upcoming elections in the minds of the public.

Would you really be thinking about the elections when 200 of your people have been murdered?

Well, Mariano Rajoy made sure they would.

By Sunday they could not cover up the truth no more, and that is when they finally accepted that it had been an Islamist group, by then, one more Basque had died victim of the repression against a demonstration by people mourning Angel Berroeta’s death.

On Election Day, the PP was defeated.

Aznar got a consolation prize as a lecturer at Georgetown University.

And a few days ago he took the opportunity to say that it had been all a big conspiracy against him and his PP. He blamed ETA, the Basques, all the opposition parties, the media, Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein for the electoral defeat of his dauphin. He left out Oprah Winfrey and Tinky Winky, they were part of the evil conspiracy also.

He forgets that at the time he controlled the media, he forgets that the same media continued to blame ETA at his request even with a tape from an Al Quaeda splinter group claiming the authory, even with ETA issuing a communiqué denying their involvement, even with the arrest of Moroccans and Spaniards.

Now some people want to link Al Qaeda and ETA because “they bought guns and explosives from the same sources”. The sources being black market arm dealers, but no one is going after those, wonder why.

Someone in Barcelona says that there is a link with ETA because Spaniards have been arrested and prosecuted for the attacks, and since the Basques are Spaniards (including the ones from Iparralde in France I guess) then there must be a link, never mind the t-shirts that read, “They killed them because they were Spaniards”.

Aznar is a liar, a professional one.

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Spain Disregard Torture Reports

This is a first one, Reuters, the worst news outlet in the world actually published a note in which Amnesty International condems Spain for looking the other way when it comes to the practice of torture carried out against illegal immigrants and what they called "ETA suspects".

Of course, many of those so called "ETA suspects" have nothing to do with the armed group, their only crime at times, working to create spaces for the Basque language.

Here is the note, read it before someone at Reuters realizes that it damages Aznar's pristine image or that it could hinder the chances of Baltasar Garzón to earn a Peace Nobel Prize, which could lead to the removal of it.

Spain accused of ignoring torture victims
Fri 3 December, 2004 14:48

By Daniel Flynn

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain frequently allows torture of illegal immigrants and suspected ETA members by police to go unpunished and does not grant appropriate compensation to victims, Amnesty International says in a report.

In a study of 450 court cases between 1980 and 2004, the human rights watchdog criticised the chronic slowness of Spain's courts and the frequent impunity given to torturers.

"Internationally, everyone agrees there is a problem of torture and mistreatment in Spain -- except successive Spanish governments," said Esteban Beltran, Amnesty's director in Spain, presenting the report "Spain: Ending the Double Injustice" on Friday.

"Amnesty is calling for an abrupt reversal of the practice of doling out pardons," said Beltran, adding that dozens of officials had received reprieves from torture convictions.

An Interior Ministry spokeswoman had no comment. The previous conservative government, ousted by the Socialists in March, had always denied such allegations.

While saying there was no systematic police torture in Spain, Amnesty identified a growing problem of racist treatment of illegal immigrants.

It also said that the practice of holding incommunicado suspected members of Basque separatist group ETA and suspected al Qaeda militants encouraged torture. EU-applicant Turkey had tighter rules on holding prisoners incommunicado, Beltran said.

Despite the psychological damage inflicted by torture, Amnesty said Spain's courts continued to compensate victims under guidelines for traffic accidents.

In a third of cases, victims received less than 600 euros -- insufficient to cover the cost of medical treatment and therapy.

In the majority of the cases analysed by Amnesty, victims had to wait more than seven years before receiving compensation and in some instances it took longer than 15 years.

"In relation to compensating the victims of torture, Spain ranks very poorly ... compared with other European countries," Beltran said, citing the example of France which guarantees compensation even if the guilty party cannot pay.

The rights group said victims were often not adequately compensated because their torturers could not be identified.

The report cited the case of a Brazilian immigrant raped in police custody in the Basque city of Bilbao. Although a court found in her favour, her rapists were never identified because none of the officers would cooperate.

Torture of political dissidents was widespread under the 1939-1975 dictatorship of Francisco Franco and concerns over Spain's human rights record played a part in delaying its entry into the European Union until 1986.

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Egunkaria: The Harsh Facts

When I read reports about how far the Spanish "justice" goes when it comes to their obsessive harassment of the Basque people, I wish the international community would finally wake up and smell the coffee.

March of 2004 was enough proof of this, José María Aznar attempted to profit from the tragedy to aim all his artillery against anything and everything Basque, as a result one baker from Iruñea died, Angel Berroeta was murdered by a police officer off duty for the crime of not wanting to display a sign on the window of his bakery.

And what the international community did about it?

Nothing.

Earlier this week Aznar continued to spew his venom and his lies.

If the international community was consistent, right about now he should be in a cell right next to Slobodan Milosevic. Instead, he lectures at Georgetown, quite ironic.

Today at Berria English there is a note about meeting between some of the Egunkaria indictees and members of the Spanish Parliament, same that had no clue of the degree of repression deployed by clowning judges like Baltasar Garzón and Juan del Olmo, the modern day version of the Holly Inquisition.

Members of Spanish Parliament listen with concern to people indicted

It was pointed out to the CiU, ERC, EAJ-PNV, CC, ICV-IU, BNG, EA and NB party representatives that “laws passed in this House of Parliament” enabled ‘Egunkaria’ to be closed down and torture to be applied to people in custody

Imanol Murua-Uria, Special Correspondent – MADRID

The lawyers Elosua and Iruin explained the case. Elosua told the MPs that an alleged financial connection between ETA and Egunkaria had been the starting point for the investigations, but when the case had run to 70,000 pages and they had found no evidence of this connection, the funding aspect was put on one side and the basis of the accusation then became “the erroneous interpretations” and “manipulation” of some old documents alleged to have belonged to ETA. And to complete the accusation the judge resorted to “ideological incrimination”. Referring to the indictment dated November 4 Elosua used Auzmendi’s example to illustrate this: when referring to ETA in his judicial statement, the defendant said it was an “armed group” or “armed organisation” –not “terrorist”–, he admitted he knew about the Democratic Alternative, that he had signed an article along with another seven Jesuits speaking out against the outlawing of Batasuna, that he was in possession of a Basque Identity Card and that he chaired the Lizarra-Garazi talks. Elosua explained to the MPs that all these points were arguments for the indictment incriminating Auzmendi.

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Press Release from BIC

We received this information via email:

Dear sympathisers of BIC,

Hereby we sent you our analysis of the peace proposal of Batasuna. On our website we will pay attention to reactions etc in the coming days. Please check also our site for the monthly digital BIC-Newsletter for updates on news from the Basque Country and the left independence movement. Please check our website for our monthly English newsletter about Euskal Herria. You can find it at ‘Read the news in English!’

Greetings

Baskenland Informatie Centrum (BIC)

Now the people! Now the peace!

Sunday 14 November the, by the Spanish authorities banned Basque political party Batasuna, did for an audience of 15.000 people a proposal for the ending of the political and cultural status of Euskal Herria. The proposal was received negatively by Spanish government, media and political parties because the lack of an explicit call to ETA to lay down their weapons. The BIC however sees this proposal as an historical step towards an end of the violence in the region, while at the same time there is a step taken towards a final solution of the political conflict.

History

Shortly after the death of Franco a wide range of organisations within the Basque independence movement proposed the so-called KAS- alternative. This proposal bares some political demands as the recognition of the self-determination, one Autonomy-statute for all Southern Basque provinces (including Naffaroa), withdrawal of the Guardia Civil etc. If these demands were met, ETA would have laid down the arms. In addition to the KAS-alternative it was tried to find the solution of the conflict in direct negotiations between ETA and the Spanish state. After the peace talks between them in Algeria in the end of the eighties failed, the KAS-alternative in this form came to an end.

In 1995 ETA made a new proposal, called the Democratic Alternative. Here ETA distinguishes in things that have to be dealt with inside Basque society and things that had to be negotiated between ETA and the Spanish government. ETA saw it as her main issue to guard, if necessary with violence, that Spain accepted the will of the Basque people, while she stated she didn’t want to be a violent part of the democratic process to come to that will. The emphasis was thus now at the recognition of the right on self-determination of the Basque people. ETA demanded that Spain first would have to recognise this right and then they would lay down their weapons to make way for a process in which the content of the right on self-determination (independence, autonomy, centralism etc) would get a prominent place and would be peaceful an democratically argued. The response of the Spanish authorities to this proposal was to prosecute the board of Batasuna (then Herri Batasuna) for promoting this proposal. The entire board was in prison for one and a half years, before being acquitted in appeal.

With the Lizarra declaration a majority of the Basque parties seemed to make a start for the resolution by dialogue among each other, without Spain of France, of the political conflict. However the Democratic Alternative foresaw in an acceptance of the outcome of such a dialogue by Spain, the developments were for ETA as such that they decided for a cease-fire. ETA ended this 14-month long period because they believed the other Basque parties were not enough serious in participating in this dialogue.

The declaration of Anoeta

Batasuna believes that the struggle they staged for the last 25-year has developed in a state of mind that almost everybody in the Basque Country has the opinion that the current political status has to be changed to reach a definitive settlement. And Batasuna thinks that a final solution only can be reached by consulting the Basque population on the outcome of a dialogue. For this reason Batasuna now puts the peace in the Basque Country forward as most important issue. She wants to move the conflict from the street to the negation table, in her own words. According to Batasuna this is only possible through a process of multilateral dialogue, flexible and without a hurry. This dialogue has to be accompanied by some obligations. Batasuna commits herself to the following deals and asks the other protagonists in the Basque political arena to commit themselves also to these points:

1. The promise to go to the roots of the conflict with the aim to look for a democratic way out.

2. The promise that the decisions of the Basque citizens are respected. All citizens of the Basque citizens have the right to be consulted. This means that the future as well as the current political status has to be ratified by the population.

3. The promise that such a consult can only be held under peaceful and democratic circumstances. Batasuna will do the utmost necessary to achieve that.

4. The promise that a deal recognises the history as well as the current political reality in the Basque Country. A deal has to be supported and respected by different political spheres in the Basque Country.

5. The promise that differences of opinion during the process are to be solved in a peaceful and democratic way.

6. The promise that the use of exclusive political and democratic methods makes it possible for all political projects to be realisable without ant limitation.

7. The promise that in the agreement to be reached the rights as they have been written in the human rights laws of 1966 are to be implemented.

Batasuna thinks that the dialogue has to be on two terrains:

~ On one side between the different parties in the Basque Country. A deal has to be made about the wished political status of the Basque Country, which result has to be ratified by the Basque population and the next step is that the deal has to be negotiated with the Spanish and French states.

~ On the other side between ETA and the Spanish and French state there has to be a deal about demilitarisation, prisoners, deportees and refugees, and the victims of the violence.

Analysis

The declaration of Anoeta differs from some important points of earlier proposals en statements and means a remarkable change in the strategy of the left independent movement.

~ At first strikes that the before mentioned peace proposals were always (partly) done by ETA, while this proposal is done by a political party. For the first time in the independence movement not ETA but Batasuna takes the first ideological step.

~ Also it is remarkable that the proposal is not aimed at a certain result, as the KAS-alternative, but it promotes a procedure to come to a, whatever, result.

~ Batasuna calls for the commitment to a non-violent democratic process and calls on others, also on ETA, to do the same.

~ The negotiation space between ETA and the Spanish and French state is limited to demilitarisation, prisoners, deportees and refugees, and victims of violence. For the ending of the armed struggle are not, on contrary with the KAS-alternative and the Democratic Alternative, put any political demands.

~ And the right on self-determination is included in the demands for recognition of the human right treaties of 1966.

~ Also the declaration says to have respect for all political spheres and that a deal has to be respected by all these spheres.

~ And last but not least, the declaration states that there has to be dealt with the current political reality, a clear reference to the institutional split of the Basque Country in different regions and states. Batasuna always declared this reality as ‘imposed’.

Conclusion

The overall Spanish response to this proposal not being worthwhile because ETA is not called to ‘stop existing’ is not giving credit to the proposal. Organisations like ETA does not stop to exist as simple as that, also not because there are still 700 prisoners in Spanish and French jail suspected of connections with ETA. The current proposal is putting the standards for the ending of the armed conflict so low, that we can speak of a break through. ETA and the state are called upon to end the armed conflict, where they have to deal with logistic points. You can think of an (partial) amnesty, reduce of sentences, social reintegration or at least and end to the dispersion of prisoners and a return to prisons in the Basque Country.

Batasuna points out in her declaration that they wish for the resolution of the conflict in a peaceful and democratic manner. Some weeks ago ETA declared that they would do everything that is necessary for the peaceful solution of the conflict. It wouldn’t surprise us that ETA will announce a cease-fire on short notice. If the Spanish and French states are even then not willing to talk with ETA for a final solution, BIC only can conclude that both states are apparently not willing to end the conflict. The juridical procedure that the Spanish Public Prosecutor started against the organisers of the public meeting where the peace proposal was presented has to be seen as attempts to continue the conflict on the old terms.

Baskenland Informatie Centrum (BIC), 19 November 2004

BIC
PoBox 2884 3500 GW Utrecht
The Netherlands
www.baskinfo.org
info@baskinfo.org

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Ibarretxe Supports Egunkaria

Juan José Ibarretxe, President of the Basque Autonomous Community, opened his office to Martxelo Otamendi and his colleagues accused by Madrid of abetting terrorism for publishing a news paper in Euskara.

That is the way the Iguana chews in Spain, if you read books in Euskara, you support terrorism.

Almost two years ago the Spanish Government closed down Egunkaria, the only news paper published entirely in Euskara, accusing the director and a number of the top executives and reporters to be part of ETA, the armed group. For more information about this visit Ingeleraz February 2003 and March 2003.

The Guardia Civil seized files, computers, documents and such. Almost two years later the Spanish justice has been unable to present solid evidence of the charges to the public, it doesn't really matter, when it comes to the Basques the Spanish justice drags its feet.

In the mean time, the accused have experienced mistreatment and torture, they have paid enormous amounts of money in the form of bails, they are prevented from traveling outside Spain due to the nature of the accusations against them and they have to present themselves again and again to the authorities to be monitored.

There is no assumption of innocence when it comes to the Basques, if you happen to love your land and defend your culture and language, and you are accused of terrorism as a result, then you are guilty until proven innocent.

Here is a note that appeared today at Berria English:

Ibarretxe expresses support for people charged in ‘Egunkaria case’

The President of the Basque Autonomous Community Government met with Joan Mari Torrealdai, Txema Auzmendi, Martxelo Otamendi, Pello Zubiria, Iñaki Uria and Xabier Oleaga; Azkarate called for the presumption of innocence to be respected

Edurne Begiristain – GASTEIZ (Vitoria)

The people charged have been summonsed to appear before the Spanish National Criminal Court on December 3 to have their charges read out to them; this was why the Lehendakari was keen to express his support and solidarity with them yesterday. Joan Mari Torrealdai referred to this during a press briefing given after the meeting. On behalf of the indictees he “sincerely” thanked Ibarretxe for meeting with them at his headquarters and for listening to their concerns. “We are grateful to him for his warm reception, his approachability and for the support and solidarity he had shown towards us,” he explained.

Torrealdai said they were “worried” about the Egunkaria case for two reasons. Firstly, if the verdict confirms what the indictment is aiming to achieve, they could face between 8 and 14 years in prison. Secondly, they were worried because they had no “confidence” in the Spanish National Criminal Court: “We do not have any confidence in the way the Court conducts justice in connection with the Basque question,” he stressed. However, the Chairman of the Board of Egunkaria S.A. stressed that they had no faith in the Madrid court, whereas they did believe in the institutions and the people of the Basque Country. For this reason he appealed to the institutions and the people to express their “support, help and backing” towards those facing charges. So he called on people to join the rallies that are going to be held at the Martin Ugalde Kultur Parkea in Andoain (Gipuzkoa) on the day they have to appear in court in Madrid.

Note: Berria is the newspaper that was created after the closure of Egunkaria, it is now the only news paper in Euskara, gladly, the also publish an English version in the internet, if you want to read the same note in Euskara, go here.

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Professional Liar

Earlier today former Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar enjoyed the opportunity to be on the spot light again and splurged in his favorite pastime, to tell lies.

To him, it doesn't really matter that months have passed and that his lies and his willingness to profit politically from a tragedy is what brought the defeat of his anointed successor back in March.

Of course, he insisted there was a link between the attacks and ETA, after all, there is a big portion among the Spaniard public that believes him, that wants to believe him, they are the same crowd that longs for totalitarism to be reinstated in Spain, they are the ones that commemorate Franco every year, they are the ones that believe that Spain is one.

But not only the media in Spain is clinging to the lies by Aznar and his underlings, there will be those in the international community that will choose to believe him, because he is a "stalwart ally against terrorism". Just like in the past Francisco Franco was a "stalwart ally against communism".

Don't be surprised if Aznar finally gets that Congressional Medal next year, that is where he is going with all that denial of the bombings not having to do with Iraq.

Aznar, one more thing, remember: "The bombs that they dropped in Baghdad, exploded in Madrid".

Attacks had no link with Iraq, we told the truth: ex-PM Aznar

31 minutes ago

MADRID (AFP) - Former Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar insisted that the March 11 Madrid train bombings were not a by-product of his support for the war in Iraq and told a parliamentary inquiry that his government told the truth in the aftermath of the blasts.

"The March 11 attack had nothing to do with the intervention in Iraq," Aznar said Monday as he gave testimony to a parliamentary inquiry which since July has been hearing evidence from politicians, intelligence officials and police in connection with Spain's worst ever terrorist attack which killed 191 people.

"We told the truth -- it was others who lied and engaged in manipulation," insisted Aznar as he defended his government's initial decision to pin the blame for the blasts, which also injured close on 2000 people, on armed Basque separatist group ETA.

Spain's worst ever terrorist attack came with the country engaged in the final days of campaigning for a March 14 general election which Aznar's rightwing Popular Party (PP) had been set to win under leader Mariano Rajoy, Aznar having long before decided not to seek a third term in office.

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De Villepin: Empty Words

Everytime the French Interior Minister goes to Iparralde, the part of the Basque Country within France, the old French arrogance and contempt for the ethnic and cultural minorities comes with him.

He never brings solutions, he never brings compromises, he always brings empty words.

My grandfather is one of those who "shed their blood". He did so fighting Franco in Hegoalde when he could have been living an easy life in Mexico, he then went back to his own land and continued to fight the Nazis after France capitulated in record time.

He did not fight for France, he fought for the Basque Country, he believed in a different set of empty words, those by the Allied Forces that promised the Basques an independent state in return for their commitment to fight against Hitler and Mussolini.

The Basques upheld their part of the deal, on Liberation Day in Paris they marched under their beloved Ikurriña, my grandfather did not get to see that day, he died in operations in the area of Montalivet.

Now this clown De Villepin goes to Iparralde to deny the Basques their right to have their own department, he goes to Iparralde to tell the Basques that in France only French must be spoken as to "preserve national unity".

Vive la Liberté!

De Villepin turns down Batera’s four requests

The French Interior Minister signed an agreement to set up a Public Bureau for Basque Language Policy, in addition to a collaboration agreement established with the Département on Basque language teaching

Eneko Bidegain – BAIONA (Bayonne)

“Your fathers shed their blood for the [French] Fatherland, today you devote all your energy to France.” That is how Dominique de Villepin padded out his speech to show how “proud” he was of “the Basque Country being in France”. The French Interior Minister came to the Northern Basque Country yesterday with lots of compliments like that. But with little else besides.

He spoke in front of numerous elected representatives in the Chamber of Commerce. It was a long speech full of platitudes about the Basque Country but lacking in content. He confirmed his position against the creation of a Basque Département. He rejected the official recognition of the Basque language. “We have to defend diversity without damaging unity,” he explained to reporters.

Yet the main focus of De Villepin’s visit was based on the work to support the Basque language. At the building of the General Council in Baiona (Bayonne) he signed an agreement on the creation of a Public Bureau for Basque Language Policy. Jean-Jacques Lasserre praised the work of the associations. “Without your work the Basque language would have been about to disappear. Thanks to you we have developed an awareness with respect to the language.” The words of the Chairman of the General Council were like a victory speech. He presented the creation of a Public Bureau as “the finishing line”.

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Yin and Yang

On one side the Basques work, they present their plea to the world, on the other, the Spaniards cling to their old glories, repeating their mantras ad nauseum.

Here you have a couple of notes appeared today at Berria.

On one you see the Basques being proactive and getting the whole of Europe involved. On the other one you have Madrid's representatives calling Basques that do not agree with them by the "T" word.

Batasuna meets with Italian members of parliament in Rome

All the representatives agreed that the Basque conflict “is a problem within the sphere of Europe” and that the solutions also had to be sought in Europe

Editorial Staff

Batasuna was present in the Italian Parliament yesterday in a meeting with deputies of the Communist Party, the Rifondazione Comunista and the Green Party. Arnaldo Otegi, Juan Joxe Petrikorena and Joseba Alvarez, members of Batasuna’s executive committee, explained Batasuna’s proposal aimed at resolving the Basque conflict. Otegi and Alvarez offered a press conference afterwards to give details of the meeting they had had with the deputies. They were accompanied during yesterday’s press briefing by Mauro Bulgarelli, a Green Party member of parliament.

The party’s executive committee members pointed out first of all that, despite Batasuna being an outlawed party, they had been able to meet “perfectly normally” in the Italian Parliament with members of the parties represented there. So they expressed their gratitude to the three parties that had met with them and “for opening the doors of Parliament”. No Batasuna members have been at the Parliament in Rome for the last five years.

* * *

Zapatero says linking of “coexistence and identity” will be achieved

Jose Luis Rodriguez-Zapatero and Javier Rojo were in Gasteiz yesterday; Rojo said the outlawing of Batasuna was “the right thing”, because it kept the supporters of “terrorism” off the town councils

Edurne Begiristain – GASTEIZ (Vitoria)

The celebrations in Gasteiz (Vitoria) to mark 25 years of Democratic Town Councils organised by the Spanish Federation of Town Councils (FEMP) ended in much the same way as they began three weeks ago: with a visit by one of the highest Spanish authorities. The inauguration in the capital of Araba was attended by the King and Queen of Spain and the closing ceremony by Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez-Zapatero.

In a speech given at the Goiurri Palace yesterday afternoon Zapatero said the Basque Country was “proud” of its history and that “with everyone working together” it would be proud of its future, too. He felt that it would be possible for “coexistence and identity to be linked” in the future in the Basque Country.

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Working Hard: The Basque Way

Don't let the media's propaganda machine fool you, they are always feeding the international community with the lie that only violent Basques are demanding independence, as a matter of fact, those are the tiny minority, a large percentage works peacefully and diligently towards Basque self-determination, here are a couple of examples, the notes appeared at Berria English:

Batasuna presents peace proposal in Rome and Brussels, too

Arnaldo Otegi, a member of the party’s executive committee, said in a speech in the Italian capital that the Basque nationalist left had made “a bid to solve the conflict”

Editorial Staff

In Rome and Brussels yesterday Batasuna spoke about the Peace Proposal it presented on November 14 at the Anoeta Cycling Stadium (Donostia-San Sebastian). Arnaldo Otegi, the spokesman for the party’s executive committee, gave a speech in Rome while Koldo Gorostiaga, the former MEP, gave a press conference in Brussels after a meeting with a number of elected representatives in the European Parliament.

Otegi gave a speech yesterday evening entitled It’s time for peace, let the Basque Country speak at the Intifada Social Centre in Rome accompanied by Mauro Bulgarelli, a Green Party MP, and Marco Santopadre, a representative of the Citta Aperta radio station. Otegi summarised the course of the last 25 years; he went on to point out that the right moment had come to bring about peace, and that the Basque nationalist left had made “a bid to overcome the conflict”. The Batasuna spokesman had an audience of about one hundred people.

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Ibarretxe maintains “the post-ETA era” has begun

The President of the Basque Autonomous Community said in Madrid yesterday that the era of dialogue between his government and the PSOE had commenced

Editorial Staff

Juan Jose Ibarretxe, the Lehendakari or President of the BAC-Basque Autonomous Community Government, was in Madrid yesterday to take part in a press conference organised by the Association of European Journalists. In reply to the journalists’ questions he said that politics today had “replaced” violence and that the “post-ETA era” had begun. He did not, however, say whether he thought it was necessary to speak to the armed organisation.

He also felt that the “lack of communication” that had until recently prevailed under the PP was over, and that the era of dialogue had been ushered in with Zapatero in power. In this respect, he was reaching out to the PSOE so that “these new opportunities” could be seized. Ibarretxe stressed that it was absolutely crucial for the Lehendakari and the head of the Spanish Government to speak to each other, despite their different viewpoints. He regarded respect for each one’s ideas as “indispensable” and consequently claimed the same respect for his own ideas.

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Bastogne and Gernika

There is a quite interesting article at CNN about the city of Bastogne in Belgium and their celebration of the defeat of Nazi Germany's troops during the Battle of the Bulge.

Here is a bit something that I extracted from the article:

Around the edge of the woods, Bastogne invited other cities marked by war to plant trees of their own.

There's an oak from the Basque city of Guernica bombed by Hitler's airforce in the Spanish Civil War; an apple tree from Avranches representing the orchards inland from Normandy's D-Day beaches; a poplar from Oswiecim, the Polish city that the Germans called Auschwitz; and from Jerusalem, two Israeli and Palestinian women came together in 2002 to plant plum trees in memory of loved ones killed in the Middle East conflict.

Let us never forget on which side the Basques fought that war.

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