28 January 2009

IMPRISONED FOR TRYING TO STAND IN ELECTIONS

Basque Info 27/01/09

-Arrested for trying to stand in elections.



8 well known pro-independence political activists were arrested on the early hours of Friday in the four provinces of the southern Basque Country. 300 Spanish policemen took part in the operation directed by judge Garzon. After three days incommunicado all of them were sent to a prison in Madrid.

The Spanish police searched the offices of Herria Aurrera and Gasteiz Izan (Bilbao and Gasteiz/Vitoria council parties) and 14 houses and removed computers and documents. The houses of the pro-independence movement spokespersons Tasio Erkizia, Xanti Kiroga and Marine Pueyo were searched also but they weren’t arrested.

The Spanish Interior Minister has accused the arrested of "trying to reorganise the leadership of Batasuna". The Basque anti-repression movement Askatasuna dennounced the arrests are aimed to prevent the pro-independence movement from taking part in next regional elections.

In October 2007, 23 members of the leadership of Batasuna, the banned pro-independence party, were arrested and are currently in jail for their political work. Two weeks ago four of them along with spokesperson Arnaldo Otegi, Basque region prime minister Ibarretxe and two leader of the Spanish Labour Party's Basque regional branch appeared in court accused of holding peace talks in 2006-2007. The recently created Democracy 3 Million (D3M) platform is expected to be also banned and prevented from taking part in next local elections of 1st of March. The arrested are accused of helping ETA by setting this platform and trying to take part in the elections.

Last Friday’s arrests have to be understood within the context of a wider strategy of criminalization and repression against the pro-independence movement. These arrests are directed to halt the pro-independence movement's work to achieve a new scenario of peace, democracy and self-determination for the Basque Country.

50 members of the pro-independence movement held a press conference on Saturday and said the Spanish government is afraid of a political and democratic confrontation. The pro-independence movement will respond to the attacks with more political initiatives and it won’t go underground, they added.

Most of Basque political parties viewed the arrests as being politically-motivated and linked them to the Spanish government and Labour Party's electoral interests.

Protests against the arrests and to show support to the detainees took place in many towns across the Basque Country over the weekend.


-ETA targets High Speed Train.


In a statement released last week ETA claimed responsability for several actions and explained the reasons behind them.

On the 31st of December a car bomb destroyed the main offices of some Spanish media and the public Basque radio-television in Bilbao. ETA says that there is not freedom of speech in the Basque Country since pro-independence political activists are constantly threatened and imprisoned for their opinions, a large section of the Basque society are censored and suffered a political apartheid and newspapers are closed down. ETA accuses the Spanish media of being nothing else than another weapon at the hands of Spanish fascism following the harassment policy designed by the Spanish Interior Minister against the pro-independence movement.

Refering to the so called public Basque radi-television company ETA accuses it of following the political interests of the Basque Nationalist Party to hide the real nature of the political conflict and of applying the Spanish government designed apartheid policies against the pro-independence movement.

On the 3rd of December ETA killed a businessman involved in the construction of the controversial High Speed Train. For many years a wide popular campaign has been developed in order to stop such construction which, if completed, would cause irrepairable environmental and economic damage within the Basque Country. ETA says in the statement that all responsibles for the construction are his targets and ask them to stop the works immediately in order to allow a public and open social debate about the need of it. ETA accuses the political and economic elite of destroying the Basque Country with numerous controversial projects in order to satisfy their greed while ignoring the people’s will.


-Spanish torture exposed.


CPT, the Spanish umbrella group for 44 associations against torture, dennounced the sentence against the Basque anti-repression movement that gave 174 years in prison to 21 activists. The Spanish group says that the sentence criminalizes “the (human rights) defenders” and that none of the offences of terrorism, membership of terrorist group or terrorist activities have been prooved.

In similar terms the Human Rights Committee of United Nations critized in its last review the Spanish state for not preventing torture. Last week the Spanish government protested the report saying that it wasn’t representative.

A German MP asked her government last week not to collaborate with the Spanish state because of the allegations of torture.

-International Week of Solidarity with the Basque Country.

Events will be held across the world under the slogan “The Basque Country doesn’t walk alone towards democracy and self-determination”.

Picket lines will be organised by the Irish Basque Solidarity Committees and Friends of the Basque Country on Saturday 14th in Cork, Dublin, Derry, Belfast, Omagh and Strabane.

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23 January 2009

Breaking news: 8 Basque political activists arrested‏

In the picture pro-independence movement's spokesperson Arantza Urkaregi being arrested by Spanish police.

NEW SPANISH ATTACK AGAINST THE BASQUE COUNTRY.
Basque Info 23/01/09 Last time updated: 4.55pm

8 well known pro-independence political activists have been arrested on the early hours of today in the four provinces of the southern Basque Country. 300 Spanish policemen took part in the operation directed by judge Garzon.

The arrested activists are: Agurtzane Solaberrieta, Hodei Egaña, Eli Zubiaga, Iker Rodrigo, Arantza Urkaregi, Imanol Nieto, Amparo Lasheras and Iñaki Olalde.

The Spanish police searched the offices of Herria Aurrera and Gasteiz Izan (Bilbao and Gasteiz/Vitoria council parties) and 14 houses and removed computers and documents. The houses of the pro-independence movement spokespersons Tasio Erkizia, Xanti Kiroga and Marine Pueyo are still being searched also but they haven't been arrested.

The Spanish Interior Minister has accused the arrested of "trying to reorganise the leadership of Batasuna". The Basque anti-repression movement Askatasuna dennounced the arrests are aimed to prevent the pro-independence movement from taking part in next regional elections.

In October 2007, 23 members of the leadership of Batasuna, the banned pro-independence party, were arrested and are currently in jail for their political work. Two weeks ago four of them along with spokesperson Arnaldo Otegi, Basque region prime minister Ibarretxe and two leader of the Spanish Labour Party's Basque regional branch appeared in court accused of holding peace talks in 2006-2007. The recently created Democracy 3 Million (D3M) platform is expected to be also banned and prevented from taking part in next local elections of 1st of March.



Today's arrests have to be understood within the context of a wider strategy of criminalization and repression against the pro-independence movement. These arrests are directed to halt the pro-independence movement's work to achieve a new scenario of peace, democracy and self-determination for the Basque Country.

Most of Basque political parties viewed the arrests as being politically-motivated and linked them to the Spanish government and Labour Party's electoral interests.

Protests against the arrests and to show support to the detainees have been held in Bilbao and Laudio (below) this morning and more have been called for the evening. In Baiona (northern Basque Country), members of Batasuna protested at the Spanish consulate where they were harassed by French policemen.






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6th-15th February International Solidarity Week with the Basque Country

20 January 2009

SPANISH-BASQUE POLICE BRUTALLY ATTACKS PEACEFUL PROTEST

Basque Info 20/01/09

- Spanish-Basque police brutally attacks march against High Speed Train.


Thousands of people gathered in the small town of Urbina in the province of Araba last Saturday to see the damages that the construction of the tracks for the High Speed Train has already been doing. At the end of the march the Spanish-Basque police attacked the protesters and tens of demonstrators were injured. 8 people were also arrested and at first, accused of “terrorism”. Check points were placed before and after the march.

There is currently a huge campaign against the construction of the tracks for a High Speed Train which will link the French and Spanish states through the Basque Country. This train will conditionate seriously the future of the Basque Country due to its negative social and economic impact.

-Basque political prisoners.

Basque political prisoner Jon Bilbao has entered his 27th year in prison becoming the longest prisoner serving in Europe. The number of prisoners who spend 10, 15 or more than 20 years in prison is on the increase. Meanwhile prisoner Jose Angel Biguri has seen his sentence extended last week. He has been in prison for 21 years. He was supposed to be released next year but the Spanish Special Court has extended his sentence till 2019.

Jon Lizarribar, who is in a French prison and is due to be released, has started a hunger strike as he fears he will be handed over to the Spanish authorities who could torture him and put him in a Spanish prison.

-10th birthday of newspaper Gara.

The left and pro-independence newspaper Gara celebrated its 10th anniversary last weekend. The pro-independence newspaper, was developped following the closure of the former daily paper Egin by the Spanish authorities. A huge fundraising campaign was launched and 10,000 people become share holders of the newspaper. Gara sells 50,000 copies every day, 7 days per week. Last Saturday, Gara organised an extensive public interview with Arnaldo Otegi, former leader of the pro-independence party Batasuna under the slogan “Libre” (Free). He was interviewed by Gara, Mexican newspaper La Jornada and Italian Il Manifesto editors.

750 people packed the venue in Donostia/San Sebastian and 200 had to follow it on a screen outside the building. The latest negotiation process and future possibilities, the prisoners, the credit crunch, Marx, Kosovo, Gaza were a few of the themes discussed.

14 January 2009

PEACE DIALOGUE CRIMINALIZED



Basque Info 13/01/09

-Peace dialogue criminalized.


Last Thursday 8 Basque politicians sat at the Basque region’s Spanish High Tribunal to be tried for holding political peace talks in 2006. At that time ETA was observing a ceasefire after an agreement was reached with the Spanish government. 5 of the accused are members of the banned pro-independence party Batasuna, another one is the nationalist prime minister of the three western Basque provinces and the other two are the local leaders of the Spanish Labour Party.

Four of the Batasuna accused were brought from Spanish prisons where they have been kept since October 2007 after the entire leadership of the party was arrested by the Spanish police. The only one of them who remains free, Arnaldo Otegi, was released last August after serving a one year sentence. Otegi said this new trial has been set to criminalize political dialogue and that it shows the anti democratic character of the Spanish state. Alex Maskey from Sinn Féin, who was at court to show support to the Batasuna accused, said that this is a terrible mistake and that there are just two ways to follow: the Gaza’s one or the South Africa’s one.

The case, which has created huge controversy, has been the main news of the week not just in the Basque Country and Spain but even has attracted the attention of the international media.

Finally on Monday 12th the court ruled that the two groups taking the case did not constitute a legitimate prosecution and dropped the charges.

-New pro-independence election platform created.

15 well known Basque activists from trade union, culture, sport, politics and social work background launched a new political platform called Demokrazia 3 Miloi/ Democracy 3 Million at a press conference last Saturday.

Their objective is to stand in next elections for the three western Basque provinces parliament on the 1st of March. At the press conference, which attracked huge attention from more than 10 TV stations and 20 journalists, the promoters said they want to gather support and push for a pro-independence and progressive space that will become a key force for political and social change in the Basque Country.

They asked for the Basque citizens to give their support. Thousands of signatures are required by law in order to be able to become an electoral platform and stand in elections.

The Spanish government and media have already called for the banning of this new Basque pro-independence political organization and the courts have asked the police to gather evidence against its members.

Several Basque pro-independence political parties have been banned in recent years and prevented from standing in elections leaving thousands of people without civil and political rights.



-Thousands of people gather in favour of dialogue and resolution.
Last Saturday thousands of people gathered in the Basque town of Azpeitia. They wanted to show support to their pro-independence mayor who is under huge pressure from pro-Spanish parties, government, media and judges. The harrasment started after a local business man involved in the construction of the controversial High Speed Train was killed by ETA last month. Another 15 pro-independence mayors were present at the gathering. The pro-Spanish forces want to remove them from their positions and replace them with their own mayors.

This campaign is part of the overall Spanish strategy of criminalization and attack against the pro-independence movement.

-Support for Basque political prisoners.
Hundreds of people gathered throughout the week in over 100 towns across the Basque Country to demand proper and humane treatment of the 765 Basque political prisoners. Etxerat, the relatives association, congratulated the Basque people for their ongoing support and especially for the 37,000 strong demonstration on the 3rd of January.

Precisely due to this rally the Spanish Home Minister declared last week his intention of investigating it to see if it can considered an offence and consequently prosecute the organisers - the Basque political prisoners’ relatives association.

Basque former prisoner Xabier Irastorza was arrested by French police in the north of the Basque Country last Thursday and sent to prison due to a European arrest warrant issued by the Spanish Special Court. Basque political refugees Lorea Zeziaga and Alejo Moreno were arrested in the north by French police on Tuesday 13th. Meanwhile, Basque prisoner Jon Lizarribar started a hunger strike against being expelled from the French state and placed in the hands of the Spanish police after serving his sentence in French jails.

-Europe punishes Spain.
17 years ago a Basque pro-independence youth was attacked by Spanish police with tear gas and left in coma. His face was badly burnt and despite this, he survived his injuries which are still evident on his face. The Spanish government and tribunals denied responsabilty but finally last week the European Court ordered the Spanish state to pay 170,000€ to the youth. This is a landmark case, as nothing like this has never happened before.

-Thousands of Basques take to the streets in support of Palestine.

3,500 people gathered in Irunea/Pamplona and 5,000 in Bilbao last Saturday in demonstrations organised by the Basque pro-independence movement in support of the Palestinian people and to call for a complete boycott of Israeli goods and its occupation of the Gaza Strip. Many more thousands took to the streets in villages and towns across the Basque Country during the week.

7 January 2009

MASSIVE SUPPORT FOR THE POLITICAL PRISONERS

Basque Info 6/1/09

-37,000 people rally in support of the Basque political prisoners.


Bilbao saw last Saturday one of the largets demonstrations of the last years. More than 37,000 people responded to the Basque political prisoners’ relatives call and demonstrated in the streets of the Basque city in favour of their repatriation. The majority of Basque trade unions, left pro-independence parties and social organization representatives joined forces at this time.

The pictures of the 764 Basque prisoners opened the demonstration and behind them banners with the main demands followed. “No to death penalty!”, “No to life imprisonment!”, “Basque prisoners to the Basque Country with all their rights!”.

The suffering of the Palestinian people was remembered in many ocasions along the march and a Palestinian exile waved a flag from the stage.

Some prisoners’ relatives spoke from the stage and made clear that despite the Spanish and French governments efforts to annihilate their love ones in prison they will never let them alone.

-ETA bombs pro-Spanish media headquarters.

A strong explosion destroyed the new main offices of the Basque Radio Television broadcaster in the morning of New Year’s Eve. Previously ETA had warned of the planting of the bomb so nobody was injured. Offices of some of the main Spanish media were badly damaged in near buildings.

Pro-Spanish politicians spoke out against what they considered an attack against freedom of speech. Representatives of the pro-independence movement pointed that freedom of speech is under siege every day of the year with the bannings of political parties and demonstrations and the arrest of hundreds of people for expressing their political beliefs publicly. They called upon all sections of Basque society to work together for a real solution to the conflict.

Ten actions were claimed by a group called Irrintzi in the north of the Basque Country. The attacks were carried out between August and October last year. The targets were High Speed Train works, holidays resorts, a police station and the French Home minister’s home.


-Basque Country Solidarity with Palestine

The Pro-Independence Left organised demonstrations in Basque towns nearly every day of the Israeli Zionist bombardment of Gaza.

The Basque Pro-Independence Left Movement called for the Spanish Government in Madrid to stop selling arms to Israel and also called for a total boycott of everything Israeli in the Basque Country - diplomatic, food or other products, cultural, sport, music, intellectual and began work to get elected municipal authorities to support the boycott and to implement it.

Demonstrations were also held in the main cities and towns of the Basque Country gathering thousands.

The Dublin Basque Solidarity Committee supported rallies and vigils in their city and their banner was carried in the demonstration of 2,500 in Dublin on 3rd January. At a rally on New Year's Day outside the GPO, attended by such public figures as Christy Moore, Stephen Rea and Duncan Stewart, the Chair of the Dublin branch of the IBC addressed the crowd. He told them that the Palestinian people do not stand alone but that there have been demonstrations in solidarity across the world, including in the Basque Country where the people have taken time out from struggling around their own circumstances to offer solidarity with the people of Gaza. The Irish and Palestinians in the crowd cheered the speaker when he reported that the Basque Pro-Independence Left Movement has called for a total boycott of Israel and their products in every arena.

-International Solidarity with the Basque Country Week 5th - 16th February

That is the period chosen to focus international solidarity actions with the Basque Country and actions will take place in many different places in the world. The Irish Basque Solidarity Committees will be organising actions during this period to raise the Irish public's awareness of the repressive situation in the Basque Country and of the wish of the Basque people for self-determination. A speaker from Kamaradak, the Basque internationalist youth network, will address a number of public meetings during the period.