17 Basque youths from Oarsoaldea[eu] district (Gipuzkoa, Basque Country) are being judged since today for the "crime" of free association. Three of them (Ohiana Mujika, Iker Zabala and Egoitz Urbe) have decided not to attend to the political trial in Madrid in protest for the criminalization of politics.
The only meaningful item in all the accusation writ is that they belonged to Segi, said politicians from diverse parties that have supported them at a press conference.
This Friday there will be a demo in solidarity with the accused. Other activities of solidarity have been happening these last days.
Ten of the 17 were arrested in 2008 and tortured after arrest, the other seven were arrested when arriving to court.
Source: Gara[es].
What is this Basque business? I looked up the Wikipedia article on them but didn't understand their current situation. So far I found out that there a distinct group of people in part of spain and france seeking independence? It also states they are an autonomous region and group of people within Spain. So what is the problem? is their more articles on their struggle?
ReplyDeleteI write a lot on Basque politics because I am Basque. So yes, there are more entries.
ReplyDeleteThe Basque People is one of several stateless nations in Europe/West Eurasia, just like Chechnya or Kurdistan, like West Sahara or Palestine, like South Sudan until recently, etc. Like Kashmir or Assam in India or like Tamils in Sri Lanka or...
In the Middle Ages we had our own states: first the Duchy of Vasconia, then the Kingdom of Navarre. We fought many wars, even defeating Charlemagne (the only time he was defeated) but eventually we were invaded and our country divided. However since the 19th century there have been intermittent wars and political struggles for Basque freedom.
The Basque language is the only pre-Indoeuropean language surviving in Western Europe. It has only some 700,000 fluent speakers and is actively persecuted in the North (under France) and Navarre (under Spain), the Western Country has autonomy and here the language is recovering but this is being hindered by Spain all the time, notably forbidding major political parties, much as Turkey does in Kurdistan.
It's a long story, it's centuries of struggles.
Try these maybe:
ReplyDeletehttp://forwhatwearetheywillbe.blogspot.com/2011/01/some-thoughts-on-spain-eta-negotiations.html
http://forwhatwearetheywillbe.blogspot.com/2011/02/quote-of-week-mikel-arizaleta.html
http://forwhatwearetheywillbe.blogspot.com/2011/02/quote-of-month-txillardegi.html
Check also: http://www.basquepeaceprocess.info/
And for some historical background:
http://leherensuge.blogspot.com/2008/08/tasmanian-megafauna-extintion-man-made.html
http://leherensuge.blogspot.com/2009/08/aymeric-picaud-on-basques-12th-century.html
http://leherensuge.blogspot.com/2010/06/noain-1521.html