The West

Just like that, "The West", for whatever that means.

A few weeks ago I read an article on the Serbian press that claimed a diplomatic effort to grant Kosovo independence was underway.

I dismissed it, after all, it was the Serbian press, and well, you get used to drivel like that coming from places like Belgrade or Madrid.

I was sorely mistaken, just a couple of days ago I read the footnote to a picture taken in Kosovo that read: "The West hopes to open talks later this year on whether Kosovo becomes independent - as the 90-percent Albanian majority demands - or remains formally part of Serbia."

And it slapped me on the face.

It is actually happening, they will grant independence to Kosovo, and all that talk about the unity of the nation-states, all that talk about doing anything possible to prevent the Balkans from erupting into violence, all that talk about not allowing nationalities vying for independence that harbor armed groups among them to get away with what they demand, all that was nothing but lies.

And to hell with Euskal Herria, Catalonia, Corsica, Brittany and all the other European nationalities without state.

That simple footnote is very telling of all the hypocrisy and double standard in today's politics, a lack of consistency that leaks to all the main media outlets.

There is a country called Albania, and believe it or not, it is inhabitated by Albanians.

If independence is granted to Kosovo, then they will be free to join Albania, which in turn will tell the Albanians living in Macedonia that they too can split from that nation and join the long held dream of a Greater Albania. And then there is sizable Albanian communities in northern Greece and in southern Croatia, so the forecast here is that the West will continue to facilitate the transfer of territories from all neighboring countries, and I'm thinking here that they will all say yes, just go ahead.

Recipe for disaster if you ask me, only a fool would think that the Serbians will be the only ones to be against the idea.

But check this part: "as the 90-percent Albanian majority demands".

Whoa!

Meaning 90% of people described as "ethnic" Albanians. Not Serbians of Albanian background, no, no, no, ethnic Albanians.

If the Basques would dare to say something nowhere close to that they would be called racists or something similar.

Can we say that in the past elections in Euskal Herria 90% of the Basques voted for the pro-independence parties (PNV, EA, Aralar and EHAK), while the Spaniards voted for the PSOE and the PP?

In that case, if the Alabanians are to the Basques what the Spaniards are to the Serbians, then, the West has more redrawing of borders to do.

Oh no, but wait, the Basques allow ETA to act with impunity, and well, the KLA/NLA are sisters of charity planting flowers and building amusement parks for Serbian and Macedonian children.

But Kosovo always belonged to the Albanians since the dawn of times, some will claim.

Yes, and the Basques arrived in Euskal Herria just 50 years ago.

What about the claim that Euskal Herria does not have the economic potential to be independent?

Albania is the poorest country in Europe, while Euskal Herria (and Catalonia for that matter) are two of the richest regions in Europe!

Darn, I'm about to lose my faith on the almighty West.

*Here you have a couple of news articles to bring you up to speed:

Bush Has Plan to Act on the Status of Kosovo

Kosovo Faces Renewed War

Report: UN Mission in Kosovo a Farce

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One Basque Country in Peace

Seems like I got a few Basque-phobes incensed at HispaLibertas.

They came up with some sort of non sense that they think insults me.

Just a couple of things here:

a) I like Spaniards, have nothing against them, I think they got a raw deal from the hands of Franco and again from the hands of the Neo Francoist Partido Popular.

Other than that, their unability to understand that Euskal Herria, Catalonia and Galiza are bound to go their own way sooner or later can be blamed on a lack of consistency between what they believe in and what was ingrained in them by their older generations.

It is that inconsistency what leads them to champion the cause of self determination and independence of Tibet, Palestine, Kosovo, Checnya and Kurdistan at the same time that they refuse to let go of the nations trapped in this monolythic ideal of a One Spain.

b) Not all of us Basques come from Hegoalde, something that the dimwits from HispaLibertas seem to miss when addressing the author of this blog.

Their own fault, they are so obsessed with this idea that the Basques want to break up Holly Spain that they really believe the Basques are Spaniards.

And that would be all Basques, including the ones from Iparralde damn it!

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Palm Trees in Bilbo

At the blog Palm Trees you can find quite a few excellent pictures of the Guggo, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbo.

The author of that blog takes the Basque city of Bilbo to task, but the pictures are good nevertheless.

And by the way, the Basque Country is NOT Spain, as many people around the world would like yout to think.

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This Is Missing

(This post was moved from Berri Berriak/Bitxikeriak)

Thanks for the answers to the previous post "What's Missing?".

This is what is missing.

The picture I posted says: "Children play next to graffitti writen in Basque..."

Now, picture one says: "Ethnic Hmong refugee children walk through the remains..."

While picture two says: "An ethnic Albanian farmer works on his land..."

So, what the heck are the children in the picture I posted here?

Japanese?

Nope, they are Basque.

And that is the quid of the question, our wonderfully balanced media tailors the information it provides to meet its own objectives, whatever those objectives are.

If you ask me, their goal is to manipulate the international community's perception of what goes on in certain part of the world. I can tell you one more thing, they do not do that for free, oh no sir, their pockets are conveniently lined.

If they were to say that the children in the picture are "ethnic Basque children" there would be acknowledging that in fact, the Basques are not Spaniards. Just like the Albanians are not Serbians. Spain spends a lot of moolah in trying to convince people that the Basques are in fact disenchanted Spaniards, but Spaniards nevertheless.

So, this way is easier for those easy to manipulate to think something in the lines of "those Basques are crazy, it they are Spaniards, why do they want to be separated from the rest of Spain?".

The media then makes sure that the readers, who would usually root for the underdog, get all confused about what to think.

Enter the word ethnic, and images of holocausts and genocides come into place. Poor ethnic groups, always persecuted by the big bad villains. We must stop those tyrants from erasing the defenseless ethnic groups from the face of the Earth.

So we think, look at Laos, mistreating their poor ethnic Hmongs.

Or look at Serbia, bent on killing off every single ethnic Albanian.

And look at Spain, dealing with those Spaniards ...oh wait, well, that's fine.

So, on the Hmong and the Albanian issues, the media takes the side of the perceived underdog, but not on the Basque issue.

Unique, indeed.

If you don't believe, follow this links to News Photos at Yahoo, for the first one I typed Albanian, for the second one I typed Basque, check out the footnotes and start two columns where you can place a little "x" each time you see the word ethnic. See how many you get on each column.

Those are two European ethnic groups, guess which one has a country to call home, guess which one doesn't.

The irony of this all is that, as Angie can tell you, my roommate is Albanian.

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One Picture...

Bilbo

...says more than a thousand words.

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Good Question

"Does anyone thinks this will help to bring about peace?"

-Miren Azkarate.

On today's edition, Berria English publishes an article with the reaction by Miren Azkarate, spokesman (spokeswoman?) for the PNV to the arrest of Arnaldo Otegi.

She went on to say:

There is no denying that the decision has a political tinge. “Certain acts carried out by the Spanish National Criminal Court do not escape the suspicion of being politically motivated.” She said she is “astounded” whenever she hears about such judicial proceedings, because they have tended to have very little basis, and remind her of the Egunkaria case or the freezing of Martin Ugalde’s bank accounts.

The article also contains the reaction by Josu Imaz:

Josu Jon Imaz, the Chairman of the National Executive Committee (EBB) of the EAJ-PNV, said during comments he made to the Telecinco channel in Madrid that there were real suspicions of a political motive behind the jailing of Otegi. He said: “It was a decision taken to use justice for political ends.” He put the jailing of Otegi in the context of the indictments issued by Judge Garzon of the Spanish National Criminal Court, and said “Garzon has not stood out for being specific in legal matters.”

Bottom line, the situation does not help the dialogue. The Basque society wants a peaceful resolution, it is the only way to end a violence that is an everyday reality for many families in Euskal Herria and Spain.

The problem is that Madrid is fully engaged on criminalizing ideas, when that happens, then the communication is poisoned. That is how no matter how many times you reject the violence unleashed by an armed group, if you also denounce the violence generated by an state against an entire society, then you are an apologist.

Go figure that one out.

Just a couple of days ago Amnesty International issued a press release in which it states its dismay over the denial by the Spanish Courts to look into the multiple claims of torture against Basques and immigrants.

There is people that has never pronounced themselves against the rampant torture at the Guardia Civil detention centers, but they oh so ready to cast judgement on others.

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I Stand Corrected

Seems like there has been some reactions in the international media regarding the arrest of Arnaldo Otegi.

This comes from Yahoo News, via AFP:

The detention of a leading Basque politician, following a spate of bombings by his hardline nationalist allies, sparked anger in the region and buffeted Spanish government hopes of brokering a political dialogue.

The banned Basque nationalist party Batasuna accused Madrid of being behind the detention overnight of its spokesman Arnaldo Otegi and called on supporters to demonstrate against his imprisonment.

Of course, the note stinks, for Otegi was not indicted, he was accused. And in the civilized world we tend to uphold a simple legal concept that goes like this: You are innocent until proven guilty.

Madrid claims that Otegi and Batasuna are the political arm of ETA, therefore, it is up to Madrid to prove it. It has been more than two years since Batasuna was banned thanks to a law of political parties that reminds us how much José María Aznar loves Francisco Franco.

In those two years, the courts have produced nothing, violating a second principle in law, timely trial.

So, that part about "his hardline nationalist allies," is what we can call drivel.

Here is another pearl:

However, Justice Minister Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar insisted Otegi's incarceration showed the "determination of all institutions to deal with ETA."

Meaning, arrest and incarcerate any Basque that moves.

This the one shoe fits all tactic; if they want to speak Euskera, if they want self determination, if they speak of freedom, they all belong to ETA.

Easy and simple, that line of thought worked for people like Franco, Pinochet, Mussolini, Milosevic, Stalin and Hitler.

This whole thing just comes to show the state of exception and the blatant political apartheid in place against the Basques.

The article gets only 0ne thing right, actions like this one do nothing to improve the dialogue. It takes away hope.

After all these years of violence, all what people want is peace.

* You can read the entire article at Artxiboak along with all the other articles mentioned today.

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Demonstration in Elgoibar

Askatu

Supporters of jailed leader Arnaldo Otegi of the Basque nationalist party Batasuna carry a banner written in Basque, which reads 'Release Arnaldo', during a demonstration in Otegi's hometown of Elgiobar, northern Spain, May 26, 2005. Otegi was jailed on Thursday, accused of belonging to armed separatist group ETA, with bail set at 400,000 euros ($502,800), court documents showed. REUTERS/Vincent West

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To Jail a Politician

This is not happening in North Korea.

This violation of civil liberties is not taking place in Saddam's Irak.

Many would think that a politician on the opposition could only be jailed in Castro's Cuba.

No.

This is taking place in advanced Europe, where human rights are allegedly upheld against all sorts of abuse.

Not in Spain, not when it comes to the Basques.

Yesterday, Arnaldo Otegi was called to testify in regards of the allegations leveled against him by clown judge Baltasar Garzón.

This is what took place according to BBC News:

The spokesman for the banned Basque nationalist party has been detained on suspicion of being a leader of the armed separatist group Eta.

The judge said there was evidence that Arnaldo Otegi's Batasuna group was in a network with Eta.

Mr Otegi, who has been a member of the Basque regional parliament, can be released from prison if he pays a bail of 400,000 euros (£275,266).

BBC News goes on to say:

Batasuna has denied being the political wing for Eta but has refused to condemn attacks by the group.

Last year, Mr Otegi called for peaceful dialogue between all sides to end decades of armed conflict, but he stopped short of making an explicit call for an Eta ceasefire.

Of course, such a punitive measure against a politician engaged in a process aimed at ending the violence caused some reactions among the few people that are consistent with what they champion, in this case, Gerry Adams, leader of the Irish Sinn Fein, a political entity that is widely known as the IRA's political arm.

This is what UTV tells us:

Arnaldo Otegi was jailed after a judge said there was evidence of links between Eta and the Basatuna political group.

But Mr Adams warned the Spanish authorities that the process of criminalising Basque leaders would undermine efforts to rebuild the peace process there.

What Mr. Adams say makes sense, if what you really want is a peaceful resolution. Here you have some more:

"Yesterday`s decision to jail Basatuna leader Arnaldo Otegi is deeply concerning and will only serve to setback efforts to establish a peace process," he said.

"The policy of criminalisation and exclusion pursued by successive Spanish governments has been a failure and should be ended.

"It is our view that a real opportunity exists to make progress and last week`s vote in the Spanish parliament, and the outcome of the recent elections in the Basque country, are further evidence of that. This opportunity should be grasped."

Batsuna went ahead and called for a news conference in Donostia to condemn the jailing of their leader.

This is what Expatica tells us about it:

The banned Basque nationalist party Batasuna accused the Spanish government of being behind the detention of its spokesman.

Batasuna, which was outlawed for its links to ETA, called on supporters to demonstrate against the imprisonment.

Permach goes into more detail:

Permach, however, said the arrests would not change the party's proposal for a political solution to the decades-old conflict, including direct talks between the government and ETA.

"Today, Batasuna reiterates its commitment despite the imprisonment of Otegi. No external agent will be able to change the strategy of the independent left," he said.

So, now all we can do is wait and see.

Will the international community decry this episode?

Fat chance.

UPDATE: The author of HispaLibertas (who happens to be a Basque-phobe like the Barcepundit and the Trasatlantic Intelligencer) has dedicated an entire post to respond to this post of mine. If you wish to learn the way a Pro One Spain Under God clone thinks, go check it out, warning, the post is in Spanish.

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Goirizelaia Speaks

Madrid

Jone Goirizelaia, lawyer for Arnaldo Otegi, the head of the outlawed Basque nationalist party Batasuna, speaks to reporters outside the high court in Madrid May 26, 2005. A Spanish judge ordered Otegi jailed on Thursday, accused of belonging to armed separatists ETA, but said he could be freed on bail of 400,000 euros ($502,800), court documents showed. Otegi, who has served a four year prison term for ETA-related crimes, lost his immunity from prosecution as a member of the Basque parliament earlier this year. REUTERS/Paul Hanna

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