Call For Peace?

Or mud slinging?

I'm telling you, this is why I will never be able to fully trust a politician.

According to Yahoo News, via AFP, the reelected Lehendakari Juan José Ibarretxe issued a call for peace:

Freshly-reelected leader of the Basque regional government Juan Jose Ibarretxe demanded armed separatist group ETA drop its violent campaign for independence and enter a political dialogue on the northern region's future.

"To reach a true dialogue, a round table between the parties, it is necessary to live without ETA violence and without urban violence," moderate nationalist Ibarretxe told parliament as he was sworn in for a third term.

So far, so good.

But then he gets into this:

Ibarretxe criticised the Socialists, judging it "contradictory that they (the Socialist government in Madrid) talk with them (Basque radicals) in private but on the other hand reproach us for counting on Batasuna's presence for this round table of discussions".

Yes, we know just how much Patxi Lopez poisoned the aftermath of the elections, but you can not call for peace while placing blame on others.

It doesn't matter that the PSOE is accusing the PP of this, or that the PP is accusing both the PNV and the PSOE of that, there is not room for even more blame game.

It is time they all start acting like grown ups.

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Under the Oak of Gernika

Arbola

Juan Jose Ibarretxe of the Basque Nationalists Party (PNV), poses after he was sworn into office as Basque Government premier (Lehendakari) in the northern Spanish town of Guernica. Ibrarretxe won a third term on Thursday with the backing of a party representing outlawed separatist group Batasuna. Ibrarretxe's moderate nationalist coalition failed to win a majority at regional elections in April but amassed enough parliamentary support on Thursday to form a government thanks to votes from communist party EHAK. REUTERS/Vincent West

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Another Basque Mystery

Once I told a group of friends that the life of José Antonio Aguirre, the lehendakari of the short lived Basque Republic, should be made into a movie.

Well made, it could easily rival Schindler's List.

At some other time I will talk more in depth about this idea, now let me show you what a the newspaper Addis Tribune published:

The Spanish Civil War, one of the most painful events between the First and Second World Wars – don’t forget Gernika! - partially coincided, it will be recalled, with the Italian Fascist invasion of Ethiopia.

An important event of that time in Spain in those days was the rise of a short-lived Basque Republic – to whose tragic story – remember Gernika!- we must turn our attention this week.

The Basques, and their Republic, were then the allies of the Spanish Republic, which was under attack by the rebel General Franco, who had the support, it will be recalled, of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany.

The article talks about a plane, known to the Basques as The Negus, which is the plane that spirited the lehendakari Aguirre to safety when the Falangists and their Fascist allies closed on Santander.

Well, as it happens, seems like the plane was bought from Haile Selassie, right after the defeat of Ethiopia by Mussolini's forces.

Read on:

Testimony to the ‘plane’s Ethiopian history is provide by none other than Antonio de Aguirre himself. Recalling, in his above-mentioned book, that this aircraft was “the only one we [i.e. the Basques] had”, he writes:

“This audacious plane had its history. It had belonged to Haile Selassie during the Abyssinian War. The Basque Government had acquired it for five thousand pounds. It was a pursuit plane, Curtiss type, fitted out for rapid trips, and without armament. It had its back painted with coats of arms and emblems of the countries where it had served. I recall those of several of the states of the U.S.A., the Lion of Judah, and finally the coat of arms of Euzkadi [i.e. the Basque Republic]… The plane was baptized by the people with the name of ‘The Negus’ and as ‘The Negus’ we all knew it”.

And the ‘plane was used for other, more routine missions for the Basque Republic’ detailed in Aguirre’s book.

The whole article is quite interesting, and the author, Richard Pankhurst, promises more.

*If you wish to read the article, you can do so at Artxiboak.

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Juggling and Astrophysics

Lets forget about politics for a while.

Allow me to introduce you to a quite unique person, her name is Iman Lizarazu.

An article about her appeared at the Santa Cruz Sentinel, here you have a portion of it:

Take for instance, Santa Cruz resident Iman Lizarazu, whose life reads like a character from a fanciful French fable. She is a photographer, a painter, a conceptual artist and a vaudeville performer. She’s even a singer, though she admits she can’t sing very well, but does it anyway.

But that’s not even the interesting part.

She was born and reared in the Basque region between France and Spain in a family of winemakers, but also lived in Moscow as a teen, as her father was artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet. She attended art school in Dresden and Berlin, studied mime with Marcel Marceau in Paris and — you gotta be kidding me — even earned a doctorate in astrophysics from the Max Planck Institute in Munich.

She speaks English, French, Russian, German and her native tongue, Euskara. She studies circus arts, flamenco and dance. She’s performed all over the world from festivals to refugee camps. And she’s performing on Saturday in the European-style varieté show called "Three of a Kind" with clown/comedian Hacki and bubbleman Tom Noddy.

Although later on, she did talk about the politics, mainly, on how she perceives violence:

In 2003, after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Lizarazu ran headlong into controversy when she made some searing anti-war art for an exhibit at the Santa Cruz County Building. Many of her images used eyebrow-raising materials, none more so than body bags used to store corpses, some in children’s sizes.

Lizarazu is effusive about her love for the U.S., but she says Americans are too naive and complacent when it comes to some of the horrors of the world beyond its borders, particularly when it comes to terrorism.

She grew up in time and place when Basque separatists regularly used terrorist actions in a quest for independence for the region. The area as well lived in the shadow of the Spanish Civil War and the long reign of fascist dictator Francisco Franco.

"Terrorism was like an everyday issue in my country," she said. "Americans, after Sept. 11, went through such an incredible shock because they never encountered anything like that. My point was that no matter what system you’re in, or what side you’re on, no matter what you do or where you go, war and terrorism are bad and have to be resisted. Period."

All in all, an amazing person.

As if all what she has accomplished is not enough, she shares the same last name as famous Basque defender for Bayern Munich, Bixente Lizarazu.

* You can read the whole article at Artxiboak.

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Patxi Bites the Dust

The drive by the PSOE and the PP to disrupt the political life in the Basque Autonomous Community has finally come to an end.

This travesty was doomed from the get go. It is quite extrange that while the PP is fully engaged in placing all possible obstacles against Prime Minister Rodriguez Zapatero, ergo the three demonstrations it has spearheaded so far, when it came to derailing Ibarretxe's bid to a third term they were very willing to close ranks with Francisco Lopez (aka Patxi Lopez, to make it sound Basque).

Well, to be honest, it is not all that extrange.

And they failed.

They failed because what they are after is plain and simple, to continue the pet project that both parties share, to deny the Basques their right to self determination.

This is part of what Berria published earlier this morning:

Juan Jose Ibarretxe aukeratu dute Eusko Jaurlaritzako lehendakari, azken bi legegintzalditan bezala. PSE-EEko hautagai Patxi Lopezek baino boto bat gehiago lortu du Ibarretxek, 34 hain zuzen ere. EAJren 22boto, EAren 7, EB-Berdeen 3 eta Ezker Abertzalea taldearen 2 boto eskuratu ditu Ibarretxek, denera 34.

He he, just kidding, here you have it in plain English:

By a stroke the Ezker Abertzalea group not only assured Ibarretxe of his presidency, they also took the key for a dead heat out of Aralar’s hands; and by that time it did not matter whether the PP supported Patxi Lopez or not. But despite the disagreements, San Gil (PP) explained that the votes would be for Lopez. Right up until the evening there was doubt on which way Aralar was going to vote: in her speech beforehand Aintzane Ezenarro spared no words to accuse the three parties of lacking the will to achieve consensus, but she left the door open: she had asked for specific replies on a referendum and on the measures to stop incommunicado detention and had announced that she would decide accordingly. In the end she abstained, because last minute talks had failed to yield any fruit.

Of course, Expatica engages in some Basque hating and calls Esker Abertzalea by the labels of radical and separatist, and even going to the extreme of linking it to ETA:

Moderate nationalist Juan Jose Ibarretxe was re-elected president of the regional Basque government thanks to the partial support of a new party linked to the terrorist group ETA.

Ibarretxe won by a simple majority in a vote in the Basque regional legislature, after garnering the support of two of the new deputies from EHAK, a Basque Communist party said to be linked to the banned Batasuna group.

The partial EHAK support for Ibarretxe was announced on Wednesday by the spokesman for the party, Nekane Erauskin, during the first session of debate on the election of the regional president.

The separatist label is applied by AlertNet also, talk about Madrid being savy when handing out "financial encouragement" to the media:

He defeated a bid from Spain's ruling Socialist party and the centre-right opposition Popular Party to end nearly two decades of nationalist rule in the highly-autonomous Basque region of northern Spain.

Socialist spokesman Jose Antonio Pastor warned Ibarretxe against being "hijacked" by the separatists. He offered Ibarretxe political support if he distanced himself from EHAK.

Ibarretxe's own plan to "share" sovereignty in the Basque region with Spain was crushingly defeated by the Spanish parliament earlier this year.

It was effectively dismissed by his party's poor electoral showing in April.

Batasuna, banned as the political wing of ETA from contesting April's vote, told its supporters to vote for EHAK, which shares its aim of an independent Basque state carved from north Spain and southwest France.

Now, why was Ezker Abertzalea (formerly known as EHAK) so reluctant to provide Ibarretxe with their sorely need support?

Well, to many in Euskal Herria, Ibarretxe is more of a lesser evil than a real option.

Although it seems like he works in behalf of the Basques society, there is room for doubt, mainly when it comes to the actions of the Basque Autonomous Police (Ertzaintza) and the resistance by his government to provide the elements that will stop the rampant use of torture.

I have my doubts also, but it seems like one more obstacle has been left behind.

Patxi, you failed.

San Gil, you failed.

Ibarretxe, don't let us down, pretty please.

Gazteiz

Basque premier Juan Jos Ibarretxe (R) is congratulated by Socialist leader Patxi Lopez after being elected president of the Basque government in Vitoria, northern Spain, June 23, 2005. Ibarretxe, who was elected for a third consecutive term with the support of a radical separatist party, has pledged to push ahead with a plan to end four decades of violence by armed separatist group ETA within the next six months. REUTERS/Vincent West

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Aznar: Guilty

But we knew that, since March 11th, 2004.

And to his dismay, the international media has not been so kind towards him this time around.

Almost as if those who make the decisions at the press rooms have finally managed to see through the smoke curtain that protects the rancid Francoism that still pesters Spain's life.

The next step if you ask me?

Take the pocket size Franco wannabe to The Hague, where he belongs. A cell right next to Milosevic's.

The final word about the inquiry into the attacks was first brought to us by Reuters:

Spain's previous centre-right government "manipulated and twisted" the Madrid train bombings of March 2004 in a bid to salvage general elections three days later, a parliamentary commission found on Wednesday.

In a 200-page report after a year of bitter wrangling, the commission accused Jose Maria Aznar's Popular Party (PP) government of ignoring police warnings that its support for the Iraq war increased the threat from Islamic terrorism in Spain.

Few minutes later, the same outlet provided more info:

"The objective was to influence public opinion about the authors of the attack and avoid political consequences which might harm the electoral interests of the Popular Party," read the final report. The report alleged the PP was afraid of public outcry if the bombings were linked to its unpopular support for the Iraq war.

"It was clearly an informative attitude inappropriate for a democratic government," said the report.

Aznar, who stood down at the elections, told a hearing of the commission last year he still believed ETA was linked to the attacks. The commission said in Wednesday's report it found no evidence of any ETA involvement in the bombings.

The words by Aznar sound familiar?

That is because apologists like the pseudo-liberal bloggers behind Barcepundit and HispaLibertas have been lending credibility to Aznar's delusional misguided and misguiding rants, the sad part being that some American bloggers seem to be at ease while lies like these are fed to them.

Eventually AP took it from there:

The main body of the report said the Aznar government had been warned by Spanish and foreign intelligence services that Spain ran the risk of an attack by Islamic militants. At least one report from Spanish intelligence made specific mention of the Spanish troop presence in Iraq, which was widely unpopular domestically, as a motive for concern.

But Aznar's government was guilty of "clear underestimation of the announced risks," the commission's report charged, although it said this does not necessarily mean the bombings could have been averted.

Over the course of the parliamentary probe, the now ruling Socialists accused Aznar's of lying to save the 2004 election. They said Aznar feared that word of an Islamic role in the attack would make voters think his Iraq policy had made Spain a target for al-Qaida and eject his party from office.

Not only he feared the backlash over Iraq, he saw it as an opportunity to demonize the Basque dream of self determination even more, make it into a nightmare.

Expatica, an outlet with Francoist esqueletons in the closet, tried to downplay it:

Spain's much-criticised inquiry into the Madrid train bombings accuses the former conservative prime minister Jose Maria Aznar of 'manipulaing' and 'distorting' the tragedy for electoral ends.

Only the Popular Party (PP) members on the inquiry refused to agree to criticism of Aznar's role during and after the bombings in which 191 people were killed.

Aznar, whose PP was in charge when the Islamic terrorists struck on 11 March last year, initially blamed ETA — provoking a backlash from voters in the general three days later.

The Socialist opposition party won a shock victory, against all predictions.

The only ones criticising it are the members of the PP, because they were caught red handed in the process of raping democracy.

Which is why they disagreed with the outcome of the report. Well, duh!

Not to congratulate myself, but I said it a long time ago.

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Guilty Even When Not

For decades Madrid has followed a simple yet perverse policy against the Basque society.

They accuse anyone working in behalf of the Basque self determination of being part of something they call the entorno.

A literal translation of entorno would be environment or surroundings.

Meaning, anything and everything Basque is part of ETA, since they are Basque.

I could come up with quite a few similar comparisons if I wanted.

A few years back, from the hand of clown Judge Garzon, Madrid started a process against a number of Basque youth organizations; Jarrai, Haika and Segi. These organizations were aimed at providing the Basque youth with projects and spaces in which they could express themselves, something sorely needed to curb the increased use of drugs among youngsters.

Since these groups supported the right to self determination and (gasp!) independence, they were branded as part of ETA.

Yesterday Spain's highest court, the Audiencia Nacional, ruled these groups are not part of ETA:

Spain's highest court has ruled a youth organisation with links to ETA was not a terrorist group and ondemned 24 members of Segi to light sentences.

They were given jail terms of between two and three-and-a-half years for belonging to an illegal organisation.

Four other accused escaped any sentence.

Yes, you read that right, even after ruling that they were not part of ETA, they still were handed sentences, go figure that one out.

But notice the language Expatica uses: "Four other accused escaped any sentences".

These four others spent years in jail awaiting a resolution of their case, they were found non guilty, yet for Expatica, they escaped any sentences, as if they deserved them but got away without them.

Which comes to show that for the Spanish media, the Basques are not only guilty until proven innocent, they are guilty even when innocent.

What about the years spent in jail just to be proven innocent?

At least there is a sentence in the article that provides a little measure of hope:

The Audiciencia Nacional said only ETA can be defined in law as a terrorist organisation as it used arms.

So, there you go, Ikastolas are not terrorist organizations, Basque media outlets are not terrorist organizations, Basque unions and political parties are not terrorist organizations, hopefully someone will pay attention to the Audiencia Nacional.

Berria provides more info:

The most significant aspect, however, is the crime the Court has found them guilty or not guilty of. The case had been built on Judge Baltasar Garzon’s assertions that as the indictees were the leaders of the youth organisations, they were therefore ETA members. The Prosecutor Enrique Molina also deliberately stuck to this hypothesis during the trials. The Prosecutor embarked on the trial pressing for convictions of up to fourteen years for 33 of the indictees. In the final report he was pressing for ten-year sentences for 28 of the indictees. The charges against the other five were dropped after admitting there was insufficient proof for convicting them.

* The article cited here was originally published by Anti-Basque outlet Expatica, you can also read it at Artxiboak.

UPDATE: The blog Oread Daily has a very compelling post regarding this issue, it is called Basque Youth Face Repression:

The trial was merely the latest in the assault on the Basque Nationalist Left. For several years now newspapers, political parties, radio stations, cultural associations, and schools have been shut down by the Spanish state, while hundreds have been jailed, thousands driven into exile, and millions of Euros worth of assets seized. Always Spain claims the targets are members of ETA and therefore terrorists.

Many of those charged and/or convicted are held far away from their homes, sometimes on the Canary Islands, so that visits are difficult.

Revolution reports that Basque prisoners are commonly tortured. Spanish law allows prisoners suspected of terrorism to be held five days with no outside communication or lawyer. Reports of beatings, electric shock, suffocation with plastic bags, threats of rape and the like are common. Revolution says, “The number of incidents reported, including cases of attempted suicide by prisoners, has led even the United Nations to recognize that the Spanish government is violating the conditions it agreed to in the Convention against Torture.”

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Torture: Illegal and Immoral

There is a lot of chit-chat in the Blogosphere as a result of Amnesty International's report on torture in Guantanamo.

There is those who are offended by the language used by the human rights organization, I would add, they are conveniently offended and making a lot of noise, so people lose view of the larger picture.

What do I think about torture?

As any other kind of violence, I firmly oppose torture.

Torture is illegal and immoral, always.

The position that sometimes torture is needed to save more lives does not hold water.

Now, the little puppets in Spain are as enraged and frustrated as any other red state American.

Why?

Well, Spain is a country were torture is rampant.

It is used against Basque political prisoners and against illegal immigrants mainly.

But Spain, always ready to criticise Argentina or Chile for their alleged failure to prosecute those who commited abuse against political dissidents that led to torture and murder, that same Spain forgets that the Francoist murderers are dying out of old age, without never ever standing trials for their crimes against human kind.

Just a couple of weeks ago, Madrid dismissed the case pressed forward by Unai Romano, victim of torture at the hands of the Guardia Civil, ironically enough, in spite of the torture, he walks free without charges.

Meaning, the torture he endured was aimed at him confessing a crime he never commited, which is what torture is used for most of the time.

The pictures of the Unai Romano before and after he endured torture as a result of Spain's repressive measures against the Basques are widely available in the internet.

This is why the liberals (for some reason closet Falangists in Spain like calling themselves liberals) from Madrid and few other cities claim that Amnesty International is wrong, because those Spaniards defend a status quo that tortures.

They love waging their tails to their handlers.

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A Basque Tour de Swisse

This week it was Aitor Gonzalez's turn to win an event for Euskaltel Euskadi.

The Basque rider who held the 4th place at the beginning of the last stage just 39 seconds behind the yellow jersey Michael Rogers, obliterated the Australian when he relentlesly attacked at the Furka Pass.

Aitor ended up winning the stage and the overall, beating Michael Rogers and Jan Ullrich, who finished third.

Will Euskaltel Euskadi take the tour this year?

With riders like Iban Mayo, Haimar Zubeldia, Aitor Gonzalez and Inigo Landaluze it would look like a sure bet.

But then there is the special mix that a certain cyclist is allowed to drink, to "keep cancer at bay".

Furka

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Gara's Front Page

Gara

A man reads the radical Basque daily Gara in Pamplona, Spain, Sunday, June 19, 2005, fronting with the latest statement of The Basque separatist group ETA saying it had halted attacks against 'elected members of political parties' because of the changes it had noticed in the political atmosphere in Spain and that it was now up to Madrid and Paris to 'respond positively to the willingness shown by ETA in recent months.' Spanish politicians dismissed the communique. (AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos)

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