In a public act today here in Bilbao, the Basque Nationalist Left (Ezker Abertzalea) has presented a new party, Sortu (To Create), by mouth of Rufi Etxeberria and Iñigo Iruin.
The key element is that the statutes of the new party make a huge effort in adapting to the Spanish law of political parties, designed ad hoc to make this major Basque political force illegal, by detaching themselves explicitly from violence and the so-called terrorism.
Transcripts of the interventions are available in PDF format: Etxeberria in Basque language (translation to Spanish), Iruin in Spanish. See also the main news article at Gara and the photo gallery.
My two cents: a waste of political capital for no reason at all: bowing to the fascists in Madrid in a pointless gesture of surrender
There is no particular reason why anyone would have to reject ETA while the heirloom of fascism is still present all through Spain and is not rejected nor investigated nor demanded to political parties like the PP to make a public stand of condemnation and rejection. Similarly terrorists like Felipe González (former PM and leader of the GAL) expressed their pride in state-sponsored terrorism in the 80s and 90s and yet they are not brought to trial nor their political parties declared illegal.
I see absolutely no reason why Basque parties for the mere reason of being Basque and having a multifaceted complex approach to the Basque-Spain conflict and the violent aspects of it would have to bother doing what the Spaniards do not do themselves.
So the only reasons are to give everything in favor of a peace solution and to attempt to run in the municipal elections (sometime soon, don't ask me when).
But, as I do not see any counter-step from Spain or the Spanish nationalist single two-headed party PP-PSOE, such as condemning fascism or the GAL, or reforming the Spanish constitution to allow for self-determination of the peoples, or even stopping the repression for the sake of peace...
... as I do not see anything of that, I think this is just wasting time and energies, and lowering oneself too much to the demands of who can only be described as the enemies of the Basque People and the enemies of Democracy.
Furthermore, I believe that Spain will choose the repressive path anyhow and all this will be useless except to demonstrate that Spain does not want peace at all.
I am not even sure if I will vote for the new project at all. I am not really sure which is the difference between this new downgraded Ezker Abertzale project and Aralar (to which I have never voted nor I will ever vote).
But at this stage it is not even known if the Spanish autocracy will allow free municipal elections in the Basque Country for a change so I'm speculating. It is very possible that Madrid will persecute the new formation and ban it from running anyhow (see this[es]).
I personally don't think Catalan people are "sheepish" as you think. They fighted for their liberties in 1714 and 1939.
ReplyDeleteFascists like the camaloen Fraga Iribarne mentioned the fact Catalonia was defeated by Felipe V of Bourboun's army as well as themselves (Franco's).
Don't get me wrong: I was reacting in anger to your criticism of our legitimate armed resistance.
ReplyDeleteCatalan people was critically brave and daring in the so-called Spanish revolutions of the early 20th century, culminating in 1936-37.
But don't tell me we do not have the right to defend our freedoms the best way we see fit. We simply do have the right and the patriotic duty. It's up to the Spaniards to stop this madness by acknowledging the right of self-determination of the peoples, as the English have done.
If they do not, I am sure that this won't end so easily.
What Catalans do is Catalans' problem. But I do not see any meaning to ending armed resistance in the Basque Country as things are. I think all these discourse concessions by ETA and the Abertzale Left are stupid and driven by "bad companies" such as the international mediator group and the small "nationalist" parties like EA and Aralar, who are only thinking in electoral terms.
As the German militray theorist Clausewitz once said, war is the continuation of politics by other means.
ReplyDeleteIf the Spanish State guarantees that ALL political projects can compete in a democratical framework, then there's no justification for keeping the armed fight which has been going on for many decades. This is why most Basques are tired of it and have give rise to this new scenario.
There is no particular reason why anyone would have to reject ETA while the heirloom of fascism is still present all through Spain and is not rejected nor investigated nor demanded to political parties like the PP to make a public stand of condemnation and rejection. Similarly terrorists like Felipe González (former PM and leader of the GAL) expressed their pride in state-sponsored terrorism in the 80s and 90s and yet they are not brought to trial nor their political parties declared illegal.
ReplyDeleteThat's correct: the PP has never condamned Franco's dictatorship nor the PSOE has ever condamned GAL's crims. So at least they're on the same level than Batasuna.
But the so-called "Ley de Partidos" was tailored for making Batasuna illegal.
"If the Spanish State guarantees that ALL political projects can compete in a democratical framework"...
ReplyDeleteThat's not that way: Spain does not guarantee the right of self-determination, so all political projects cannot compete in equal terms: Spanish nationalist projects have all the guarantees and secessionist ones can never hope to get their project through.
That's why there is an armed uprising: because Spain imposes its rules to Basques - and Basques do not accept that imposition.
Democracy for Basques means the right to self-rule, not mere electoral circus in a constrictive legal frame imposed by the Spanish autocracy.
It's like saying that, as Algerians could vote in the French elections in the 1950s, they had no reason to rise in arms. Sorry, things are not that way: it was a struggle for democracy in Algeria, not in Paris.
"... the so-called "Ley de Partidos" was tailored for making Batasuna illegal".
Exactly my point and exactly the reason not to accept it: it's designed to humiliate Basques, another expression of Spanish imperialism.
Who is Spain to make laws in the Basque Country? Nobody! That law is illegal because it has not been approved by the Basque constituency. The same for all the other Spanish laws imposed to Basques, from that stupid constitution that is never even implemented (where's my right to a job, where's my right to a home, where's my right to freedom of speech?) to NATO or the treaty with the Vatican.
We Basques are the ones to rule ourselves democratically and Spain will have to accept that one way or another. That's the point, that's what democracy means.