- Our Response to the Guardian
- Group Against Torture highlights that Spain continues to torture.
- Solidarity with the Basque Country spreads around the world.
- Belfast Judge decides to start proceedings for extradition case against Inaki de Juana.
NEWS :
-The political apartheid imposes a pro-Spanish parliament and excludes 100,000 voters.
Last Sunday elections took place in the Basque provinces of Gipuzkoa, Bizkaia and Araba to elect a new local parliament. The pro independence platform Demokrazia 3 Miloi/Democracy 3 Million being banned from standing in elections saw the equivalent of a South African Apartheid in the Basque Country.
Despite this 100,000 people voted with the "illegal" ballots. Many people went to poll stations with their mouth covered with Spanish flags as a protest gesture. These results are some incredible results, probably one of the biggest civil disobedience actions in Europe in recent years and a clear result of resistance which will make others think of the failure of the repression strategies.
All in all the pro-self determination votes are still a clear majority in the three provinces (600,000 against 400,000 pro-Spanish votes). The paradox is that now the Basque Nationalist Party/PNV are claiming that the pro-independence platforms being banned played in favour of the pro-Spanish parties when that was always said by the pro-independence movement. They accused the PNV of doing nothing against it. Furthermore they were happily collaborating implementing the Parties' Law. Their political police, Ertzaintza, attacked events and arrested activists during the campaign and their media, EITB, ignored and censored the pro-independence candidates.
Now they'll have to confront the reality which is that they have a non democratic three provinces Spanish parliament and what it'll be harder for them, they'll loose power.
These fraudulent elections saw many contradictions. The PNV /Basque Nationalist Party who has been in government for the last 30 years won the election and got 30 seats out of the 75 that conform the local parliament. However, it's about to loose the government to the Spanish parties. The Spanish Socialist Party who made serious gains took 24 seats but the Spanish right wing PP lost votes managing to get 13 seats. The most probable option is a coalition government made up of PSE (Partido Socialista de Euskadi, the local branch of the social democrats in power in Madrid), and PP (Partido Popular).
Reactions :
The pro independence representatives have denounced that the new parliament will be anti democratic and illegitimate because the rules have been bent to suit Spanish unionism.
They have also accused the Spanish Labour Party of completing the cycle of banning started by the right wing Popular Party, and have denounced the political apartheid and continuous persecution of pro independence Basques. But despite the banning with such a successful result the pro independence movement has said to be ready to open a new political offensive which will lead to a democratic change.
The Basque Nationalist Party, seemed to concentrate on the fact that they received the biggest amount of votes of all the parties but did not want to talk about the fact that they may be loosing their historical position in government.
Talks to form new government show no support for nationalist prime minister.
For the first time since the creation of local autonomy 30 years ago the elections held ten days ago in the western Basque Country left the Basque Nationalist Party without enough seats to form a government. The local branch of the Spanish Labour Party came second and has already received the support of the pro-Spanish right wing Popular Party in order to conform a new unionist government. Talks have been held for the last 7 days among the elected parties and they will continue during coming months until a clear majority is achieved to elect a new lehendakari or Prime Minister.
Meanwhile the pro-independence movement which fought the elections under the most undemocratic conditions ever (candidates banned and imprisoned, offices closed down, police attacks on propaganda distribution and events, dozens of arrests, media censorship...) said the 101,000 votes they got will be used to open a new political offensive for a peaceful and democratic scenario. The pro-independence movement went on to say that this western Basque parliament is not legitimate as it doesn’t represent the democratic will of the people. Despite all of this the election results proved that a majority of 640,000 people still voted for pro-self determination parties and 482,000 for unionist parties.
- Our Response to the Guardian.
Giles Tremlett, foreign correspondent for the Guardian in Madrid wrote an article about the elections.
This article offered a distorted view biased towards the interests of Spanish Unionism . We send a response to The Guardian that was not published.
I was concerned to read Giles Tremlett’s article “Spain's Basque country voters end nationalist grip on power” published in The Guardian(29/02/2009). The author has given a partial and inaccurate account ofthe political situation and the last elections in Basque Country.
Contrary to what Giles suggests, the winner of the elections was the Basque Nationalist Party and this is not the first time that Basque Nationalists fail to obtain the overall majority. In fact, most governments have been coalitions of one sort or another, including Basque and non-Basque nationalist parties.
However, there has been a more important factor in deciding the outcome of this election which has been largely ignored in Giles' account of the results. A significant proportion of the Basque people has been banned from voting freely and from any other form of political activity. We have arrived to this election with a huge democratic deficit. Many of our political representatives are in jail and there is a significant sector of the population suffering political persecution where, for example, the use of torture in police stations is not only used against suspects of terrorism. It is also used against civil liberties activists to deter political dissent.
The majority of analysts think that the process of forming a government coalition will be long and complex. Your foreign correspondent seems to have good insights and contacts in Madrid so he can probably foresee a coalition between the Popular Party and the Socialists. If he is right, this is not the end, but the consolidation of Madrid's nationalist grip on power. Power obtained against the will of the majority of the Basque People using dirty tricks.
-Group Against Torture highlights that Spain continues to torture.
Sixty two complaints were recorded by the Group Against Torture in 2008. According to the group, despite new measures taken to prevent torture, despite, international organisations condemning Madrid’s actions, the Spanish states continues to torture. Throughout the years 7,000 Basques have been tortured by the Spanish police and according to the Group Against Torture it does not seem that they’ll be any changes.
Last month 20 young people from the province of Gipuzkoa have accused the Spanish Judge Grande Marlaska of using torture. The Basque activists appeared in front of Judge Grande Marlaska. They are all accused of being members of Segi, the Basque youth pro-independence movement. The Judge has now decided that they’ll all be tried for being members of an armed organisation. These 20 young people appeared in court following arrests made last year. Some other young people were arrested in 2008 and were heavily tortured. Taking advantage of torture another 20 people were arrested and will now be tried with complete impunity.
Another three people were arrested last week by the Basque-Spanish police Ertzaintza accused of being members of ETA. They tried to arrest another three young people without success. After being held incommunicado for 5 days Manex Castro, the first one to be arrested, denounced the hell he went through: beatings, deprivation of sleep and food, constant threats of every kind: sexual, against his mother and friends, about being handed over to the feared Spanish police Guardia Civil...
Protests and press conferences were held in the home towns of the detainees and a council meeting denounced the detentions and the treatment received by the detainees.
Another famous torture case against two alleged ETA members last year has seen a Spanish judge progressing measures to bring to trial 15 Spanish policemen last week. Igor Portu and Mattin Sarasola were seriously beaten, drawn into a river, suffocated with plastic bags and guns were discharged close beside them. Portu had to be taken to the hospital’s intensive care unit.
-Solidarity with the Basque Country spreads around the world.
From the 6th to the 15th of February fourteen countries around the world have seen different events organised within the 3rd International Week of Solidarity with the Basque Country. This year’s slogan was “The Basque Country doesn’t walk alone towards democracy and self-determination”. In Ireland talks were organised in Dublin, Derry and Belfast by the Irish Basque Solidarity Committees. On Saturday 14th solidarity protests were held in Cork, Dublin, Derry, Belfast, Omagh, Strabane, Newcastle and Lurgan. Some spectacular actions were organised in Glasgow where Celtic supporters displayed a massive banner reading the week’s slogan in the stadium during the match against Rangers. In Milan local Basque supporters occupied the Italian state owned TV station RAI’s offices to denounce the treatment they give to the Basque conflict related news.
In the Basque Country, a demonstration against the criminalization of those who develop internationalist work in the Basque Country was organised by Askapena last Saturday in Bilbao. Askapena is the pro-independence movement’s the internationalist organization and has been campaigning to gather solidarity to other liberation struggles around the world in the Basque Country for the last 20 years.
Nowadays Askapena is heavily involved in the boycott to Israel campaign and is taking part at the World’s Social Forum in Brazil. At the same time Askapena works in conjunction with the Basque solidarity committees around the world to raise awareness about the Basque struggle for independence and socialism.
All of that has been enough reason for the Spanish state to target Askapena through a criminalization campaign in the Spanish media.
-Belfast Judge decides to start proceedings for extradition case against Inaki de Juana.
Former Basque political prisoner and hunger-striker Inaki de Juana attended a hearing at the Belfast Courts yesterday. Members of the Belfast branch of the Irish Basque Solidarity Committees and supporters stood outside displaying a banner and flags.
After months of discussion on the matter Judge Burgess decided today that the alleged offence of “glorifying terrorism” claimed by the Spanish Special Court has its equivalent in British law. This decision means that Inaki de Juana could eventually be extradited to Spain. However the decision is not final yet as his defence team will appeal against it.
Belfast-based Basque pro-independence activist Inaki de Juana spent 22 years in prison completing not only his sentence to the full but also three extra years for writing a newspaper article where he criticised the prison system. Now, the Spanish authorities want him because of a letter allegedly written by him and read out at his welcoming-home event. The letter ended with a popular Basque saying which can be translated as “forward with the ball” and it’s been interpreted by Spanish judges as “keep on with the armed struggle”. Inaki never attended the welcoming party and denies writing the letter. Even the Spanish police say they don’t have such a letter.
Such a ridiculous case has to be understood in a context of harassment and brutal repression against Inaki, the Basque political prisoners and the pro-independence movement.
