17 March 2010
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Basque Info 10/03/09
Basque Info 10/03/09
• Spanish Court sentences Arnaldo Otegi to two years in jail
• Spain launches international criminalization campaign
• Thousands call for pro-independence unity
• Basque women take to the streets on International Women’s Day
• No justice for Basques
Spanish Court sentences Arnaldo Otegi to two years in jail
Last week the Spanish Special Court sentenced Basque Pro-Independence leader Arnaldo Otegi to two years in jail for his speech at a Basque political prisoners solidarity event.
On the 9th June 2005 Otegi told the crowd that the Basque Country could achieve a democratic scenario through negotiations and he added “we owe that to the Basque political prisoners, refuggees and all comrades who have fallen in the struggle and we will achieve it”.
The Spanish Special Court charged Otegi with an offence of “glorifying terrorism”. In the sentence the judges go on to say that Otegi can’t compare Nelson Mandela with Basque political prisoner Joxe Mari Sagardui “Gatza”, who has been in jail for 30 years now, beacuse Mandela “never used violence”.
South African hero Nelson Mandela was the funder of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the ANC, in 1961, publicly defended the need for armed struggle, organized guerrila camps and up until 2008 he was on the USA’s “terrorist list”.
During his trial Otegi defended the Pro-Independence Left’s position to develop a democratic process through exclusively political means while the judges showed their lack of imparciality doing jokes and comments about him.
Otegi was arrested last October just at the beginning of the Pro-Independence Left’s internal debate and has remained in jail since then.
Last weekend a letter writen by Otegi was read at the Sinn Féin’s Ard Fhéis (Annual National Congress). Otegi asked the international community to support the democratic process in the Basque Country.
During the Ard Fhéis there were many motions in support of the Basque struggle for self-determination, the Basque political prisoners and Belfast-based Basque activists fighting extradition Inaki De Juana and Arturo “Benat” Villanueva who last week saw his extradition request finally dismissed.
Spain launches international criminalization campaign
Last week the Spanish authorities claimed that the Venezuelan revolutionary government of Hugo Chavez was supporting ETA. The claims came after a judge in the Spanish Special Court charged several members of ETA and the Colombian guerrillas FARC with “terrorism” for an alleged attempted plot to kill the Colombian president Uribe while visiting Spain.
The Spanish judged went on to say that a training camp had been set up by ETA and FARC in Venezuela and accused the Venezuelan government of helping them out.
President Hugo Chavez responded by saying that if the Spanish Special Court could do it it would charge as a “terrorist” Simon Bolivar, who fought the Spanish Empire to free many Latin American nations in the 19th century.
This international criminalization campaign comes when many international mediators and groups are putting pressure on the Spanish government to respond in a positive manner to the Basque Pro-Independence Left last political decisions to promote a democratic process through exclusively political means.
Thousands call for pro-independence unity
5,000 people took to the streets of Irunea/Pamplona last Saturday to call on all pro-independence forces to come together and develop a democratic process.
The demonstration had been called by citizens of many different backgrounds and it is another step which along with others is trying to activate a growing broad grassroots movement in favour of independence.
The organisers were surprised by the success of the rally (the largest one in the city for some time) and said it proves that there is a will for political and social change in Basque society.
Just in two weeks the new pro-independence grassroots movement Independentistak has got more than 4,500 friends in Facebook.
Basque women take to the streets on International Women’s Day
The Basque feminist movement filled the streets across the Basque Country on Monday to remind that there is still much to do to achieve equality and women’s rights respect.
Every years thousands of people take part in the 8th of March rallies but this year the marches will go on for six days. To coincide with the International Women’s March women will be traveling across the country with their demands.
No justice for Basques
Six years ago a Spanish police man and his son murdered Basque pro-independence activist Anjel Berrueta for refusing to put a poster against ETA in his bakery after the Islamist militant attacks in Madrid which killed more than 200 people.
Despite being sentenced to 20 and 15 years in jail they had been given weekend paroles at least since 2008. The news were just uncovered when someone saw them in the streets. Anjel Berrueta’s family has been object of threats since the killing and were devasted by the news. The killers have even applied for a government’s pardon.
Meanwhile four pro-independence youth were tried last week for some sabotages against bank offices. The prosecution asked for 33 years in jail for each one of them.
The same Spanish Special Court refused last week to judge in Madrid four people arrested in the Basque Country last year accused of being a pro-Spanish fascist gang accused of more than two dozens of attacks against pro-independence activists and clubs.
• Spanish Court sentences Arnaldo Otegi to two years in jail
• Spain launches international criminalization campaign
• Thousands call for pro-independence unity
• Basque women take to the streets on International Women’s Day
• No justice for Basques
Spanish Court sentences Arnaldo Otegi to two years in jail
Last week the Spanish Special Court sentenced Basque Pro-Independence leader Arnaldo Otegi to two years in jail for his speech at a Basque political prisoners solidarity event.
On the 9th June 2005 Otegi told the crowd that the Basque Country could achieve a democratic scenario through negotiations and he added “we owe that to the Basque political prisoners, refuggees and all comrades who have fallen in the struggle and we will achieve it”.
The Spanish Special Court charged Otegi with an offence of “glorifying terrorism”. In the sentence the judges go on to say that Otegi can’t compare Nelson Mandela with Basque political prisoner Joxe Mari Sagardui “Gatza”, who has been in jail for 30 years now, beacuse Mandela “never used violence”.
South African hero Nelson Mandela was the funder of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the ANC, in 1961, publicly defended the need for armed struggle, organized guerrila camps and up until 2008 he was on the USA’s “terrorist list”.
During his trial Otegi defended the Pro-Independence Left’s position to develop a democratic process through exclusively political means while the judges showed their lack of imparciality doing jokes and comments about him.
Otegi was arrested last October just at the beginning of the Pro-Independence Left’s internal debate and has remained in jail since then.
Last weekend a letter writen by Otegi was read at the Sinn Féin’s Ard Fhéis (Annual National Congress). Otegi asked the international community to support the democratic process in the Basque Country.
During the Ard Fhéis there were many motions in support of the Basque struggle for self-determination, the Basque political prisoners and Belfast-based Basque activists fighting extradition Inaki De Juana and Arturo “Benat” Villanueva who last week saw his extradition request finally dismissed.
Spain launches international criminalization campaign
Last week the Spanish authorities claimed that the Venezuelan revolutionary government of Hugo Chavez was supporting ETA. The claims came after a judge in the Spanish Special Court charged several members of ETA and the Colombian guerrillas FARC with “terrorism” for an alleged attempted plot to kill the Colombian president Uribe while visiting Spain.
The Spanish judged went on to say that a training camp had been set up by ETA and FARC in Venezuela and accused the Venezuelan government of helping them out.
President Hugo Chavez responded by saying that if the Spanish Special Court could do it it would charge as a “terrorist” Simon Bolivar, who fought the Spanish Empire to free many Latin American nations in the 19th century.
This international criminalization campaign comes when many international mediators and groups are putting pressure on the Spanish government to respond in a positive manner to the Basque Pro-Independence Left last political decisions to promote a democratic process through exclusively political means.
Thousands call for pro-independence unity
5,000 people took to the streets of Irunea/Pamplona last Saturday to call on all pro-independence forces to come together and develop a democratic process.
The demonstration had been called by citizens of many different backgrounds and it is another step which along with others is trying to activate a growing broad grassroots movement in favour of independence.
The organisers were surprised by the success of the rally (the largest one in the city for some time) and said it proves that there is a will for political and social change in Basque society.
Just in two weeks the new pro-independence grassroots movement Independentistak has got more than 4,500 friends in Facebook.
Basque women take to the streets on International Women’s Day
The Basque feminist movement filled the streets across the Basque Country on Monday to remind that there is still much to do to achieve equality and women’s rights respect.
Every years thousands of people take part in the 8th of March rallies but this year the marches will go on for six days. To coincide with the International Women’s March women will be traveling across the country with their demands.
No justice for Basques
Six years ago a Spanish police man and his son murdered Basque pro-independence activist Anjel Berrueta for refusing to put a poster against ETA in his bakery after the Islamist militant attacks in Madrid which killed more than 200 people.
Despite being sentenced to 20 and 15 years in jail they had been given weekend paroles at least since 2008. The news were just uncovered when someone saw them in the streets. Anjel Berrueta’s family has been object of threats since the killing and were devasted by the news. The killers have even applied for a government’s pardon.
Meanwhile four pro-independence youth were tried last week for some sabotages against bank offices. The prosecution asked for 33 years in jail for each one of them.
The same Spanish Special Court refused last week to judge in Madrid four people arrested in the Basque Country last year accused of being a pro-Spanish fascist gang accused of more than two dozens of attacks against pro-independence activists and clubs.
Basque Info 3/03/10
Basque Info 3/03/10
New pro-independence movement launched
A new broad pro-independence grassroots movement called “Independentistak” was launched last Saturday at a press conference. 70 of the 140 different promoters were present at the event. They come from very different walks of life but agree on the urgent need to unite in favour of Basque independence.
The initial promoters are well known activists, journalists, writers, actors, sports people, politicians...etc. They now want to expand the grassroots movement to all cities and towns in the Basque Country but they will also work in the international arena.
They said they want to reorganize the pro-independence forces but they don’t want to become a political party. Independentistak will work as a pro-independence citizen’s network through exclusively political means but using innovative ways.
They defended the need for independence as the best option for the Basque Country’s future. Nevertheless they will also work together with other bodies that are in favour of a democratic scenario including self-determination for the Basque Country.
As a first step they will call on all pro-independence people to take part in a unified Aberri Eguna (Basque National Day) next Easter Sunday.
Last week the democratic process also received international support. A press conference was organised in the European Parliament to relaunch the Friendship, a group of MEP’s for a democratic resolution to the Basque conflict.
The group was initially launched in 2006 but it has been reshuffled after last year’s European elections. The 12 MEP’s, who belong to three different European political parties, welcomed the conclusions of the Basque Pro-Independence Left’s internal debate and called on the Spanish authorities to engage in a peace process.
The well known South African solicitor and international conflicts mediator Brian Currin also spoke at two public conferences in Madrid and the Basque Country last week. He said that the Basque Pro-Independence Left’s new proposals and commitments are very important. He also asked the Spanish government to respond positively and assured international support will be available if the process becomes stable.
De Juana extradition ruling ‘grossly inhumane’
The decision to allow the extradition of Basque ex-prisoner Iñaki de Juana to Spain is “grossly inhumane” and ignores evidence that the Spanish authorities are knowingly abusing the extradition process, spokesperson for the Don’t Extradite the Basques Campaign Kevin Morrison said today.
“The judge expressed confidence in the Spanish judicial system which we believe is unwarranted,” Morrison said. The Don’t Extradite the Basques Campaign would continue to support Iñaki through his appeal against the judgment, he added.
Risk of death
“During the hearing last November, psychological expert Dr Adrian Grounds testified that Iñaki would face a very serious deterioration in his health and likely, if not certain, death through hunger strike if he was extradited,” Morrison said.
Dr Grounds is a senior university lecturer at Cambridge University and an expert on the impact of imprisonment on the psychological health of detainees.
“During the hearing, the defence also pointed out that the Spanish authorities were knowingly abusing the extradition process because they knew they did not have any evidence against Iñaki, and that the case was politically motivated.
“In court, Dr Grounds said that Iñaki’s previous experiences in Spanish prisons – including repeated beatings and being held in solitary confinement for more than 17 of his total 21 years in jail – had been extremely traumatic.
“The expert also cited the well-known abuses carried out against Basque political prisoners documented by the UN’s Committee on the Prevention of Torture as well as reports by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
“This prison experience has left Iñaki suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and absolute exhaustion.
“Dr Grounds said that to return him to the Spanish prison system would very likely result in Iñaki going on a hunger strike to the death. He said that in his opinion, this would partly be a political act of protest, but it would also reflect Iñaki’s inability to return to the conditions that had caused his exhaustion and PTSD,” Morrison added.
Vindictive
“The case against Iñaki is motivated by vindictiveness on the part of the Spanish government despite the fact that there is no evidence against him. The charges are spurious and absurd.
“The Don’t Extradite the Basques Campaign will step up its efforts to build awareness of the facts of this case, and public support for Iñaki during the appal process, in light of this ruling,” Morrison concluded.
During the November hearing, Edward Fitzgerald QC, defending, said: “Would it now be inhumane to put him back in custody on the basis of what someone says someone read out at a rally though no-one has the document? We say it’s grossly disproportionate and inhumane to do that.”
Spurious charges
More than 1,000 people have now signed the petition which demands that the British government reject the Spanish government’s extradition requests against Iñaki de Juana and Arturo Villanueva, including MEP Bairbre de Brún, journalist John Pilger, civil rights activist Fearghas Ó hÍr and lawyer Professor Phil Scraton.
The Spanish authorities are trying to extradite former prisoner and hunger-striker, Iñaki de Juana, from Belfast, where he moved immediately after his release in August last year, on charges of “glorifying terrorism”.
The arrest warrant is based on a single media report of somebody at a rally in Donostia/San Sebastian last August, which was celebrating de Juana’s release from prison, reading a letter that used the popular Basque expression “Aurrera bolie” (“Kick the ball forward”). The Spanish authorities claim this phrase constitutes a call for the continuation of armed struggle.
De Juana was not present at this rally and denies writing such a letter, which Spanish police admit they cannot produce.
Judge Tom Burgess ruled in March that “glorifying terrorism” was an extraditable offence that had an equivalent under the British Terrorism Act 2006. He said that he did not have to study the quality of the evidence against de Juana, as that was a matter for the Spanish courts.
The defence team argued two main points: that the Spanish authorities were knowingly abusing the extradition process, and that extradition would cause a disproportionate threat to de Juana’s health.
Repression continues with more arrests and torture reports
Last week two people were arrested in the Basque Country following a police operation which was connected to another eight people being detained in previous weeks. As in previous cases, the arrested reported torture after being held incommunicado for five days.
Another three alleged ETA members were arrested in the northern French region of Normandy last Sunday. As what usually happens after police operations of this kind, the Spanish Interior Minister said one of the arrested was the ETA’s operations’ top leader. After months saying the opposite, he also said that it can’t be denied that there are new political moves within the Pro-Independence movement.
The 2009 Repression Report for the province of Navarre was launched last week and it shows the increase of repression with a record result of 106 political prisoners out of a population of half a million people.
Hundreds of people gathered outside the court buildings in six Basque towns on Friday morning and then presented criticism for the treatment they receive when visiting their relatives in jail. Hundreds more took part in the weekly vigils in the evening across the Basque Country.
Election campaign starts in the north
300 people took part in the first event of the French regional elections campaign organised by the pro-independence left coalition Euskal Herria Bai (Basque Country Yes) in the northern village of Senpere.
Members of the two main nationalist parties in the northern Basque Country addressed the audience along with members of the LAB trade union.
They called on northern Basques to give a protest vote against the French authority’s attitude of contempt towards the Basque Country’s demands for self-government.
New pro-independence movement launched
A new broad pro-independence grassroots movement called “Independentistak” was launched last Saturday at a press conference. 70 of the 140 different promoters were present at the event. They come from very different walks of life but agree on the urgent need to unite in favour of Basque independence.
The initial promoters are well known activists, journalists, writers, actors, sports people, politicians...etc. They now want to expand the grassroots movement to all cities and towns in the Basque Country but they will also work in the international arena.
They said they want to reorganize the pro-independence forces but they don’t want to become a political party. Independentistak will work as a pro-independence citizen’s network through exclusively political means but using innovative ways.
They defended the need for independence as the best option for the Basque Country’s future. Nevertheless they will also work together with other bodies that are in favour of a democratic scenario including self-determination for the Basque Country.
As a first step they will call on all pro-independence people to take part in a unified Aberri Eguna (Basque National Day) next Easter Sunday.
Last week the democratic process also received international support. A press conference was organised in the European Parliament to relaunch the Friendship, a group of MEP’s for a democratic resolution to the Basque conflict.
The group was initially launched in 2006 but it has been reshuffled after last year’s European elections. The 12 MEP’s, who belong to three different European political parties, welcomed the conclusions of the Basque Pro-Independence Left’s internal debate and called on the Spanish authorities to engage in a peace process.
The well known South African solicitor and international conflicts mediator Brian Currin also spoke at two public conferences in Madrid and the Basque Country last week. He said that the Basque Pro-Independence Left’s new proposals and commitments are very important. He also asked the Spanish government to respond positively and assured international support will be available if the process becomes stable.
De Juana extradition ruling ‘grossly inhumane’
The decision to allow the extradition of Basque ex-prisoner Iñaki de Juana to Spain is “grossly inhumane” and ignores evidence that the Spanish authorities are knowingly abusing the extradition process, spokesperson for the Don’t Extradite the Basques Campaign Kevin Morrison said today.
“The judge expressed confidence in the Spanish judicial system which we believe is unwarranted,” Morrison said. The Don’t Extradite the Basques Campaign would continue to support Iñaki through his appeal against the judgment, he added.
Risk of death
“During the hearing last November, psychological expert Dr Adrian Grounds testified that Iñaki would face a very serious deterioration in his health and likely, if not certain, death through hunger strike if he was extradited,” Morrison said.
Dr Grounds is a senior university lecturer at Cambridge University and an expert on the impact of imprisonment on the psychological health of detainees.
“During the hearing, the defence also pointed out that the Spanish authorities were knowingly abusing the extradition process because they knew they did not have any evidence against Iñaki, and that the case was politically motivated.
“In court, Dr Grounds said that Iñaki’s previous experiences in Spanish prisons – including repeated beatings and being held in solitary confinement for more than 17 of his total 21 years in jail – had been extremely traumatic.
“The expert also cited the well-known abuses carried out against Basque political prisoners documented by the UN’s Committee on the Prevention of Torture as well as reports by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
“This prison experience has left Iñaki suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and absolute exhaustion.
“Dr Grounds said that to return him to the Spanish prison system would very likely result in Iñaki going on a hunger strike to the death. He said that in his opinion, this would partly be a political act of protest, but it would also reflect Iñaki’s inability to return to the conditions that had caused his exhaustion and PTSD,” Morrison added.
Vindictive
“The case against Iñaki is motivated by vindictiveness on the part of the Spanish government despite the fact that there is no evidence against him. The charges are spurious and absurd.
“The Don’t Extradite the Basques Campaign will step up its efforts to build awareness of the facts of this case, and public support for Iñaki during the appal process, in light of this ruling,” Morrison concluded.
During the November hearing, Edward Fitzgerald QC, defending, said: “Would it now be inhumane to put him back in custody on the basis of what someone says someone read out at a rally though no-one has the document? We say it’s grossly disproportionate and inhumane to do that.”
Spurious charges
More than 1,000 people have now signed the petition which demands that the British government reject the Spanish government’s extradition requests against Iñaki de Juana and Arturo Villanueva, including MEP Bairbre de Brún, journalist John Pilger, civil rights activist Fearghas Ó hÍr and lawyer Professor Phil Scraton.
The Spanish authorities are trying to extradite former prisoner and hunger-striker, Iñaki de Juana, from Belfast, where he moved immediately after his release in August last year, on charges of “glorifying terrorism”.
The arrest warrant is based on a single media report of somebody at a rally in Donostia/San Sebastian last August, which was celebrating de Juana’s release from prison, reading a letter that used the popular Basque expression “Aurrera bolie” (“Kick the ball forward”). The Spanish authorities claim this phrase constitutes a call for the continuation of armed struggle.
De Juana was not present at this rally and denies writing such a letter, which Spanish police admit they cannot produce.
Judge Tom Burgess ruled in March that “glorifying terrorism” was an extraditable offence that had an equivalent under the British Terrorism Act 2006. He said that he did not have to study the quality of the evidence against de Juana, as that was a matter for the Spanish courts.
The defence team argued two main points: that the Spanish authorities were knowingly abusing the extradition process, and that extradition would cause a disproportionate threat to de Juana’s health.
Repression continues with more arrests and torture reports
Last week two people were arrested in the Basque Country following a police operation which was connected to another eight people being detained in previous weeks. As in previous cases, the arrested reported torture after being held incommunicado for five days.
Another three alleged ETA members were arrested in the northern French region of Normandy last Sunday. As what usually happens after police operations of this kind, the Spanish Interior Minister said one of the arrested was the ETA’s operations’ top leader. After months saying the opposite, he also said that it can’t be denied that there are new political moves within the Pro-Independence movement.
The 2009 Repression Report for the province of Navarre was launched last week and it shows the increase of repression with a record result of 106 political prisoners out of a population of half a million people.
Hundreds of people gathered outside the court buildings in six Basque towns on Friday morning and then presented criticism for the treatment they receive when visiting their relatives in jail. Hundreds more took part in the weekly vigils in the evening across the Basque Country.
Election campaign starts in the north
300 people took part in the first event of the French regional elections campaign organised by the pro-independence left coalition Euskal Herria Bai (Basque Country Yes) in the northern village of Senpere.
Members of the two main nationalist parties in the northern Basque Country addressed the audience along with members of the LAB trade union.
They called on northern Basques to give a protest vote against the French authority’s attitude of contempt towards the Basque Country’s demands for self-government.
Basque Info 27/01/10
Basque Info 27/01/10
• Basque political prisoners start hunger strike
• Historic rally against the High Speed Train
• Fourth session of the Egunkaria trial.
• Five people arrested accused of being ETA members
-Basque political prisoners start hunger strike.
The Basque Political Prisoners Association announced on Monday 25th that from that day the 746 prisoners will embark on a hunger strike. Previously they have been engaged in other protests such as refusing to leave their cells, refusing to take visits, make phone calls or receive letters, and forming picket lines in the recreation yards.
On the 18th of January they protested and demanded information concerning the disappearance of former political prisoner Jon Anza who went missing on the 18th of April last year. They will continue organising such protests every month until the disappearance is resolved.
With the protests they also wanted to demand the end of isolation and to show solidarity to the comrades who are kept alone in different jails. The association sent their full support to Lorentxa Gimon who started a hunger strike on the 2nd of January to demand her transfer to another French prison where more comrades are kept. She has lost 10 kilos so far.
They announced the hunger strike’s main demand is political status.
More details are expected to be released in coming days.
Meanwhile on the outside, a press conference took place on Saturday organised by former prisoners and members of the prisoner’s solidarity movement. A speaker at the event told journalists of the hard living conditions the Basque political prisoners have to endure and stressed they are part and consequence of the conflict, and in that way they are crucial in the resolution of it. They encouraged social and political forces to commit themselves to bringing about a new political scenario in the Basque Country based on democracy.
The Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said the Basque prisoners won’t get their objectives and highlighted the Spanish prison regime is the hardest in Europe with maximum sentences of 40 years to be fulfilled to the end.
-Historical rally against the High Speed Train.
More than 15,000 people rallied last Saturday against the construction of High Speed Train (HST) lines in the north and south of the Basque Country. The rally is the largest to have being organised so far in this long campaign.
Another important aspect was that the demonstration started in Hendaia, in the French occupied northern Basque Country, which then crossed the artificial border and ended in Irun, in the Spanish occupied southern Basque Country.
Those who attended the demonstration were of many different backgrounds including mayors, councillors, farmers, concerned citizens and even some international delegations from European groups fighting locally against High Speed Train infrastructures.
The main speaker Michel Hiriart, on behalf of the Lapurdi/Labourd Northern Province’s towns’ partnership said the project is dramatic and detrimental to the communities and the land. Other speakers also demanded an end to the criminalization of the campaign by the French and Spanish authorities, and asked for the right of the people to have a say and be able to decide about the construction.
The campaign against the HST in the Basque Country is very popular and focuses on the environmental, cultural, energetic, social, and economic damages of the construction of such a massive infrastructure in a small and mountainous country. Campaigners condemned it as a project to enrich the private constructors and to serve the economical and social elites. They demand transparency, public debate and the respect to the people’s decisions.
Local direct action and peaceful protests take place every week across the country but ETA’s attacks against the works have made the headlines very often.
-Fourth session of the Egunkaria trial.
Imanol Murua-Uria, a former member of staff of Egunkaria and a witness for the defence, denied that ETA had said that Martxelo Otamendi should be appointed as the newspaper’s Editor-in-Chief. This is one of the arguments put forward by the prosecution. The journalist told the judge that he had suggested Otamendi to Joan Mari Torrealdai, the Chairman of Egunkaria, S.A.’s Board of Directors, in 1993. Otamendi was appointed as Editor-in-Chief of Egunkaria in June of that year and remained in that post until the paper was closed down on the orders of Judge Juan del Olmo in February 2003.
Murua-Uria eta Zabaleta were the first witnesses called by the defence counsel to give evidence. Before them the last witnesses called by the private prosecution gave evidence. One of them was Txomin Aizpurua, a one-time ETA member and former prisoner. Aizpurua declared that he did not know of any reports going back to the time of the setting up of the newspaper. Yet according to the prosecution, documents about Egunkaria had been seized from him. The newspaper was set up in 1990 and Aizpurua was arrested a year later.
The two Guardia Civil officers who had participated in the arrests of Otamendi and Txema Auzmendi were called by the prosecution to give evidence. The first one, who took part in the arrest of Egunkaria’s Editor-in-Chief, initially said he had no recollection of this and had to be shown the record of arrest before he admitted that this had been the case. He then asked who Otamendi was, and went on to say that copies of Zutabe (ETA’s internal newssheets) had been found during the searches made of him, but he did not remember where they had been found.
The prosecution and the defence may submit their findings to the panel of judges at the end of February.
On Saturday 23 January the indicted received the broad support at Arantzazu monastery of prominent figures in society.
In Ireland there will be several talks organised by the Irish Basque Solidarity Committees in coming days. The main speaker will be Ainara Mendiola, the coordinator of the International Campaign in Favour of Egunkaria. The talks will take place in Derry on Saturday 30th January at 12pm in Cultúrlann, on Monday 1st February in Belfast’s Queen’s University’s Students Union’s Club Room 1 at 1pm and in Cultúrlann at 7.30pm on the same night, and on Tuesday 2nd February talks will also be organised in Dublin.
-Five people arrested accused of being ETA members.
Five men on their early 30’s were arrested and taken incommunicado by the Basque-Spanish police on Tuesday morning in several coastal towns. They have been accused of being members of an ETA unit and made responsible for several attacks including a bomb against a police barracks in 2008.
• Basque political prisoners start hunger strike
• Historic rally against the High Speed Train
• Fourth session of the Egunkaria trial.
• Five people arrested accused of being ETA members
-Basque political prisoners start hunger strike.
The Basque Political Prisoners Association announced on Monday 25th that from that day the 746 prisoners will embark on a hunger strike. Previously they have been engaged in other protests such as refusing to leave their cells, refusing to take visits, make phone calls or receive letters, and forming picket lines in the recreation yards.
On the 18th of January they protested and demanded information concerning the disappearance of former political prisoner Jon Anza who went missing on the 18th of April last year. They will continue organising such protests every month until the disappearance is resolved.
With the protests they also wanted to demand the end of isolation and to show solidarity to the comrades who are kept alone in different jails. The association sent their full support to Lorentxa Gimon who started a hunger strike on the 2nd of January to demand her transfer to another French prison where more comrades are kept. She has lost 10 kilos so far.
They announced the hunger strike’s main demand is political status.
More details are expected to be released in coming days.
Meanwhile on the outside, a press conference took place on Saturday organised by former prisoners and members of the prisoner’s solidarity movement. A speaker at the event told journalists of the hard living conditions the Basque political prisoners have to endure and stressed they are part and consequence of the conflict, and in that way they are crucial in the resolution of it. They encouraged social and political forces to commit themselves to bringing about a new political scenario in the Basque Country based on democracy.
The Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said the Basque prisoners won’t get their objectives and highlighted the Spanish prison regime is the hardest in Europe with maximum sentences of 40 years to be fulfilled to the end.
-Historical rally against the High Speed Train.
More than 15,000 people rallied last Saturday against the construction of High Speed Train (HST) lines in the north and south of the Basque Country. The rally is the largest to have being organised so far in this long campaign.
Another important aspect was that the demonstration started in Hendaia, in the French occupied northern Basque Country, which then crossed the artificial border and ended in Irun, in the Spanish occupied southern Basque Country.
Those who attended the demonstration were of many different backgrounds including mayors, councillors, farmers, concerned citizens and even some international delegations from European groups fighting locally against High Speed Train infrastructures.
The main speaker Michel Hiriart, on behalf of the Lapurdi/Labourd Northern Province’s towns’ partnership said the project is dramatic and detrimental to the communities and the land. Other speakers also demanded an end to the criminalization of the campaign by the French and Spanish authorities, and asked for the right of the people to have a say and be able to decide about the construction.
The campaign against the HST in the Basque Country is very popular and focuses on the environmental, cultural, energetic, social, and economic damages of the construction of such a massive infrastructure in a small and mountainous country. Campaigners condemned it as a project to enrich the private constructors and to serve the economical and social elites. They demand transparency, public debate and the respect to the people’s decisions.
Local direct action and peaceful protests take place every week across the country but ETA’s attacks against the works have made the headlines very often.
-Fourth session of the Egunkaria trial.
Imanol Murua-Uria, a former member of staff of Egunkaria and a witness for the defence, denied that ETA had said that Martxelo Otamendi should be appointed as the newspaper’s Editor-in-Chief. This is one of the arguments put forward by the prosecution. The journalist told the judge that he had suggested Otamendi to Joan Mari Torrealdai, the Chairman of Egunkaria, S.A.’s Board of Directors, in 1993. Otamendi was appointed as Editor-in-Chief of Egunkaria in June of that year and remained in that post until the paper was closed down on the orders of Judge Juan del Olmo in February 2003.
Murua-Uria eta Zabaleta were the first witnesses called by the defence counsel to give evidence. Before them the last witnesses called by the private prosecution gave evidence. One of them was Txomin Aizpurua, a one-time ETA member and former prisoner. Aizpurua declared that he did not know of any reports going back to the time of the setting up of the newspaper. Yet according to the prosecution, documents about Egunkaria had been seized from him. The newspaper was set up in 1990 and Aizpurua was arrested a year later.
The two Guardia Civil officers who had participated in the arrests of Otamendi and Txema Auzmendi were called by the prosecution to give evidence. The first one, who took part in the arrest of Egunkaria’s Editor-in-Chief, initially said he had no recollection of this and had to be shown the record of arrest before he admitted that this had been the case. He then asked who Otamendi was, and went on to say that copies of Zutabe (ETA’s internal newssheets) had been found during the searches made of him, but he did not remember where they had been found.
The prosecution and the defence may submit their findings to the panel of judges at the end of February.
On Saturday 23 January the indicted received the broad support at Arantzazu monastery of prominent figures in society.
In Ireland there will be several talks organised by the Irish Basque Solidarity Committees in coming days. The main speaker will be Ainara Mendiola, the coordinator of the International Campaign in Favour of Egunkaria. The talks will take place in Derry on Saturday 30th January at 12pm in Cultúrlann, on Monday 1st February in Belfast’s Queen’s University’s Students Union’s Club Room 1 at 1pm and in Cultúrlann at 7.30pm on the same night, and on Tuesday 2nd February talks will also be organised in Dublin.
-Five people arrested accused of being ETA members.
Five men on their early 30’s were arrested and taken incommunicado by the Basque-Spanish police on Tuesday morning in several coastal towns. They have been accused of being members of an ETA unit and made responsible for several attacks including a bomb against a police barracks in 2008.
20 February 2010
Pro-Independence Left’s internal debate’s conclusions set new strategy for new phase of strugggle.
The Basque Pro-Independence Lef Regional Assemblies gathered over the past weekend to put an end to the debate "Clarifying the Political Phase and Strategy". More than 600 representatives of more than 270 local Assemblies concluded the debate and defined and decided the strategy to be developed in the future ratifying the Resolution “Zutik Euskal Herria” (“Stand Up Basque Country”; document in English: http://www.ezkerabertzalea.info ). These are the main contents of the resolution:
1. - The political phase the Basque Country is facing is the phase of
political change. This change has to be made through the Democratic
Process. Once the conditions for the change have been achieved, it is time
to realise it. The objective of this phase is to reach a democratic
scenario where all political projects can be not only defended with equal
opportunities but also implemented. The objective is to reach a stable and
lasting peace in the Basque Country. Materializing this change also
requires that we change ourselves.
2.- According to the Pro-Independence Left there is a real opportunity for the desired real political change. The opportunity to overcome the current cycle and
open a new democratic one is there. The challenge is to pass the door
opened after decades of struggle and tireless work and to do the change.
There are enough political and social conditions to do it.
3.- The Pro-Independence Left reaffirms its commitment to use exclusively
political and democratic means. Those means make possible the necessary
masses mobilization and unity of action of the democratic and progressive
forces of the country to open the process and to develop it. Those are
the guarantee and leading forces of the process. This democratic process
must be developed in a complete absence of violence and without
interference. Dialogue and negotiation among the political forces should
be governed by the principles of Senator Mitchell.
4.- An increasing accumulation of forces through exclusively mass,
institutional and ideological struggle is the basis to move the State to
the field of the democratic and free confrontation of ideas and political
projects and to achieve a scenario where the Basque people freely,
peacefully and democratically will be able to decide about their future.
The Pro-Independence Left also calls on the Basque people and all progressive, democrat and popular forces, maintaining each one its own history, identity and being, to unite forces to make this process irreversible. They also call on the international community to accompany this process.
Finally the Basque Pro-Independence Left is sure that through common work and mass struggle next months will bring new scenarios and developments making this process irreversible.
All Basque nationalist political parties and trade unions expressed their positive welcoming to the debate’s conclusions.
The Spanish unionist parties tried to hide their concerns talking about minor issues and without discussing the main contains of the statement.
1. - The political phase the Basque Country is facing is the phase of
political change. This change has to be made through the Democratic
Process. Once the conditions for the change have been achieved, it is time
to realise it. The objective of this phase is to reach a democratic
scenario where all political projects can be not only defended with equal
opportunities but also implemented. The objective is to reach a stable and
lasting peace in the Basque Country. Materializing this change also
requires that we change ourselves.
2.- According to the Pro-Independence Left there is a real opportunity for the desired real political change. The opportunity to overcome the current cycle and
open a new democratic one is there. The challenge is to pass the door
opened after decades of struggle and tireless work and to do the change.
There are enough political and social conditions to do it.
3.- The Pro-Independence Left reaffirms its commitment to use exclusively
political and democratic means. Those means make possible the necessary
masses mobilization and unity of action of the democratic and progressive
forces of the country to open the process and to develop it. Those are
the guarantee and leading forces of the process. This democratic process
must be developed in a complete absence of violence and without
interference. Dialogue and negotiation among the political forces should
be governed by the principles of Senator Mitchell.
4.- An increasing accumulation of forces through exclusively mass,
institutional and ideological struggle is the basis to move the State to
the field of the democratic and free confrontation of ideas and political
projects and to achieve a scenario where the Basque people freely,
peacefully and democratically will be able to decide about their future.
The Pro-Independence Left also calls on the Basque people and all progressive, democrat and popular forces, maintaining each one its own history, identity and being, to unite forces to make this process irreversible. They also call on the international community to accompany this process.
Finally the Basque Pro-Independence Left is sure that through common work and mass struggle next months will bring new scenarios and developments making this process irreversible.
All Basque nationalist political parties and trade unions expressed their positive welcoming to the debate’s conclusions.
The Spanish unionist parties tried to hide their concerns talking about minor issues and without discussing the main contains of the statement.
11 February 2010
European MP's have called for the acquittal of Egunkaria Five
Twenty five members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have condemned in Strasbourg (France) the Egunkaria case, by signing a statement in favour of the daily. They have called for the acquittal of the five former members of Egunkaria´s Board of Directors –as they think that this is the only fair verdict possible–, the dropping of the financial court case and compensation of all the damage inflicted on all the defendants. In 2005, 22 MEPs called for the suspension of the closing down of the Egunkaria daily and requested that the rights of freedom of speech and information be respected.
The MEPs that signed the statement are representatives of four political groups: the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), the Group of the Greens-European Free Alliance (Greens-EFA), the Confederal Group of the European United Left-Nordic Green Left (GUE-NGL) and the Group of the European People’s Party. Some of them took part in a press conference today, together with Martxelo Otamendi, the former Editor-in -Chief of Egunkaria and one of the defendants. The following MEPs attended the conference: Izaskun Bilbao (ALDE), Ramon Tremosa (ALDE), Oriol Junqueras (Greens-EFA), François Alfonsi (Greens-EFA), Catherine Greze (Greens-EFA) and Raul Romeva (Greens-EFA). About 15 journalists attended the conference.
“The freedom and pluralism of the media shall be respected”, they claimed in the statement. They also mentioned the torture claims made by some of the defendants. “We have to emphasize the report written in March 2004 by Theo van Boven, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture. After visiting Spain to monitor the human rights situation in that country, he concluded that the torture claims made by the defendants in the Egunkaria case were consistent, and requested the Spanish Government to take measures to prevent torture”.
- Strong criticism of the Spanish State
The MEP Izaskun Bilbao (Basque Nationalist Party) said that the Egunkaria case is “baseless” and added that the honour of the defendants should be restored. “This case should never have happened”. Tremosa claimed that the closing down was a “violation of rights” and pointed out that the State that currently runs the European Union presidency [Spain] is one that closes down daily newspapers. “We must react strongly against it”, he said. The MEP Oriol Junqueras pointed out that the acquittal of the defendants is the only solution, as did the other MEPs. “The whole Spanish political class knows that the closing down of Egunkaria was undemocratic, but neither the Popular Party nor the Socialist Party have had the courage to condemn this offence which they backed at that time. It is shameful to close down a newspaper basing the decision on inconsistent accusations”.
Alfonsi criticized the position of the Spanish state. According to him, Spain has a problem with democracy: “It systematically violates the freedom of speech of the Basque people”. He cited the Law of Political Parties and the closing down of Egunkaria as examples of that.
Romeva gave Otamendi and the other defendants his full backing and asked the European Union to display “clearer coherence” on the defence of the rights. “It condemns offences that take place abroad, but it should take more notice of the situation inside the European Union”.
Otamendi briefly explained the case to the media: what Egunkaria was, what happened during the closing down, the torture complaints of many of the defendants, the support received from the Basque Country and many other countries; he said that acquittal is the only acceptable verdict for the defendants and that after that, they will ask for justice.
The trial in the closing down case of Egunkaria finished last 1 February and the defendants are waiting for the verdict. The Defence Counsel and the Public Prosecutor have called for their acquittal, but the Private Prosecution represented by the Association of Victims of Terrorism and Dignity and Justice has requested penalties of 12-14 years of prison.
- Many initiatives of support
When the trial in the Egunkaria process began, on December 15 2009, three members of the Greens-EFA group expressed their support of the defendants in a press statement: François Alfonsi, Catherine Grèze and José Bové. They stated that the Egunkaria case was “an insult to the Basque people and their culture”. Besides, they showed their full backing of the defendants.
On the other hand, on 18 January 2010, the MEP Izaskun Bilbao gave a minute-long speech in the European Parliament. She reminded the closing down of the daily, and the torture complaints; she pointed out that the Public Prosecutor had called for the case to be dropped and condemned the fact that the trial had started almost seven years after the closing down. She said that this case shows that serious mistakes are committed in Europe.
Basque solidarity events in Dublin and Belfast
Day of events Saturday 13th February
Belfast
2.30pm Picket line at Old Andersonstown Barracks.
3pm Mural unveiling at Old Andersonstown Barracks.
8pm Dinner in aid of Basque political prisoners at Cultúrlann.
After dinner live music, videos and international launch of Friends of the Basque Country website.
Dublin
2pm Picket line at O’Connell Street.
8pm Solidarity Night at Clifton Court Hotel, Eden Quay (€6) with Erik Noon & the Future Gypsies and more.
Basque political prisoner ends hunger strike
Last Friday Basque political prisoner Lorentxa Gimon ended a 39-day-hunger-strike. She was the only Basque prisoner in the northern French jail of Roanne. She demanded that she was transferred to another jail where she could share block with other Basque prisoners. On Friday the prison's principal finally agreed to the transfer.
Special Basque Info program
This week we joined the International Week of Solidarity with the Basque Country and extended our Basque Info program to one hour long. We invited friends of the Basque Country from across Europe and we also had some usual comentators from the Basque Country.
You can now listen to this week's special Basque Info.
You can now listen to this week's special Basque Info.
4 February 2010
III INTERNATIONAL WEEK OF SOLIDARITY WITH THE BASQUE COUNTRY
Friends of the Basque Country – we need you!
No oppressed nation on earth can free itself in isolation. The mobilisation of international support from other struggles and people has, to a greater or lesser degree, always been necessary. The same is true of Euskal Herria (the Basque Country).
The names of Pro-Independence Left Basques together with fighters of other nations are part of imperialism's blacklist of ‘undesirables’. The Spanish and French governments miss no opportunity to publicly insult and attack the Basque social organisations which seek a democratic solution to the conflict perpetuated by the same Spanish and French governments. The number of Basque political prisoners, at a distance of thousands of kilometres from their country, relations and friends, has never been so high during the past 50 years: 765 people. Tens of political and social organisations have been banned in the south of our country.
Nevertheless, there is no scarcity of solidarity extended – from those who open their houses, who help families visit the political prisoners, who mobilise to break down the wall of silence that the mass media builds over the reality that we suffer and that we, at the same time, also construct. They are the true friends of Euskal Herria.
In spite of imperialism's attacks, the reconstruction of Euskal Herria is in train. The numbers of women and men who dream and live thinking of a Euskal Herria of the working class, of Mother Earth, which is free from labour and gender exploitation, is growing constantly. A Euskal Herria that lives its life through its language, which dances to the same tune as all peoples who fight for their freedom.
This developing process of liberation needs to pass through a new phase that pushes it forward: the implementation of the right of self-determination. This has always been a fundamental objective of the Pro-Independence Left and we think that the struggle of recent years has succeeded in laying the foundations for its construction.
The implementation of the right to self-determination will enable the democratic resolution of the confrontation which Spanish and French domination has imposed on this nation, and will enable us to move forward towards an independent and socialist Euskal Herria.
It is because of all this that we call on the network of Friends of the Basque Country across the world to carry out actions of solidarity and that they uphold, in particular, the right of self-determination to which we are entitled as a nation during the Week of International Solidarity with the Basque Country, from the 6th to the 13th of February.
Thousands of peoples, one struggle! For socialism, FREEDOM FOR THE BASQUE COUNTRY!
Basque Info radio program
You can now listen to this week's Basque Info radio program. Next week we'll have a one hour long special program with lots of guests from the BC and abroad to celebrate the International Week of Solidarity with the Basque Country.
New campaign in favour of civil and political rights launched
This new platform gathers people from many different political backgrounds and aims at demanding democracy for the Basque Country and the implementation of all civil and political rights cut down in the past few years.
During the event there was dance, theatre and videos displaying in different ways the attacks against civil and political rights in the Basque Country.
The speakers told the audience that the continuous banning of political parties, the mass arrests of political and social activists and the censorship occurring in the Basque Country is a unique situation within the European context.
But despite the terrible situation mass protests have been organised recently which shows the importance of the joint work among people of different political background. Adierazi EH wants to become a platform for them all.
The new group’s manifesto was read during the event which demands from the Spanish and French states, Europe and the world, the respect of the freedoms of opinion, expression, association and demonstration and the rights to intimacy and privacy, to access to justice, to active and passive vote and finally the right to reparation and democratic restoration.
Trial against Egunkaria ends
The lawyers of the five indicted in the trial against the Basque language newspaper Egunkaria highlighted the absurdity of case during the last session on Monday.
Even the public prosecution said there wasn’t enough evidences against them and asked for the charges to be dropped. Despite that, the private prosecution represented by the lawyers of two Spanish right-wing associations requested they are sentenced for up to 14 years in jail.
The indicted have requested that the ill treatment they received should be reflected upon, and say that the only thing they are guilty of is having worked in favour of Basque culture.
Martxelo Otamendi, the paper’s former Editor-in-Chief, said: «I am guilty of running a Basque-language newspaper». He said he wanted to thank his colleagues for appointing him, and told them it had been an «honour» to share those years with the people in the dock. He pointed out that he had never been a member of ETA, and that Egunkaria had never been under its control. «The only thing we did was to work to develop our language». And he also made the following remark: «You can’t accuse someone of being a member of ETA if they themselves are not even aware of the fact».
The verdict is expected to be delivered within a few weeks.
Arrival of the Egunkaria Five to the Basque Country after the last session of the trial in Madrid.
Events in solidarity with Egunkaria were organised in Ireland by the Irish Basque Solidarity Committees over the past few days. 60 people attended a talk given by the coordination of the international campaign in favour of Egunkaria in Derry on Saturday and dozens more attended talks in Belfast and Dublin on Monday and Tuesday.
Even the public prosecution said there wasn’t enough evidences against them and asked for the charges to be dropped. Despite that, the private prosecution represented by the lawyers of two Spanish right-wing associations requested they are sentenced for up to 14 years in jail.
The indicted have requested that the ill treatment they received should be reflected upon, and say that the only thing they are guilty of is having worked in favour of Basque culture.
Martxelo Otamendi, the paper’s former Editor-in-Chief, said: «I am guilty of running a Basque-language newspaper». He said he wanted to thank his colleagues for appointing him, and told them it had been an «honour» to share those years with the people in the dock. He pointed out that he had never been a member of ETA, and that Egunkaria had never been under its control. «The only thing we did was to work to develop our language». And he also made the following remark: «You can’t accuse someone of being a member of ETA if they themselves are not even aware of the fact».
The verdict is expected to be delivered within a few weeks.
Arrival of the Egunkaria Five to the Basque Country after the last session of the trial in Madrid.
Events in solidarity with Egunkaria were organised in Ireland by the Irish Basque Solidarity Committees over the past few days. 60 people attended a talk given by the coordination of the international campaign in favour of Egunkaria in Derry on Saturday and dozens more attended talks in Belfast and Dublin on Monday and Tuesday.
Talk organised in Derry.
End of hunger strike in prisons and solidarity in the Basque Country
During the week and especially over the weekend, hundreds of solidarity protests took place across the Basque Country and in at least 20 different towns, two day fasts were organised. In Bilbao 20 people fasted for the entire week.
One of the many fasts organised over the weekend in solidarity with the Basque political prisoners.
New accusations against the Spanish police for Jon Anza’s disappearance
Last week French journalist and writer Jacques Massey launched his new book called “ETA, secret history of a 100 years’ war”. In the epilogue Massey comments on the disappearance of former Basque political prisoner Jon Anza nine months ago and reveals that a very important and reliable source told him that the Spanish police kidnapped him, and that there are tapped phone conversations regarding this. Massey also interviewed members of the French special police who didn’t deny the accusations.
After the new revelations the Jon Anza campaign demanded a judge is appointed for the case but the public prosecutor has rejected it. The campaign spoke out against the authorities silence surrounding the case.
Otegi demands a democratic solution to the conflict during trial
Arnaldo Otegi at the rally organised to demand Joxe Mari "Gatza" Sagardui's relase.
He also spoke about the situation of the Basque political prisoners. He said that the existence of almost 800 prisoners out of a population of three million proves the existence of a conflict without parallels around the world.
28 January 2010
This week's Basque Info podcast available
Listen to this week's Baque Info podcast including the main news of the week and an interview about the prisoners' protest campaign and the latest torture reports with Iratxe Urizar from Behatokia, the Basque Human Rights Watchdog.
Basque political prisoners start hunger strike.
The Basque Political Prisoners Association announced on Monday 25th that from that day the 746 prisoners will embark on a hunger strike. Previously they have been engaged in other protests such as refusing to leave their cells, refusing to take visits, make phone calls or receive letters, and forming picket lines in the recreation yards.
On the 18th of January they protested and demanded information concerning the disappearance of former political prisoner Jon Anza who went missing on the 18th of April last year. They will continue organising such protests every month until the disappearance is resolved.
With the protests they also wanted to demand the end of isolation and to show solidarity to the comrades who are kept alone in different jails. The association sent their full support to Lorentxa Gimon who started a hunger strike on the 2nd of January to demand her transfer to another French prison where more comrades are kept. She has lost 10 kilos so far.
They announced the hunger strike’s main demand is political status.
More details are expected to be released in coming days.
Meanwhile on the outside, a press conference took place on Saturday organised by former prisoners and members of the prisoner’s solidarity movement. A speaker at the event told journalists of the hard living conditions the Basque political prisoners have to endure and stressed they are part and consequence of the conflict, and in that way they are crucial in the resolution of it. They encouraged social and political forces to commit themselves to bringing about a new political scenario in the Basque Country based on democracy.
The Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said the Basque prisoners won’t get their objectives and highlighted the Spanish prison regime is the hardest in Europe with maximum sentences of 40 years to be fulfilled to the end.
Historical rally against the High Speed Train.
Another important aspect was that the demonstration started in Hendaia, in the French occupied northern Basque Country, which then crossed the artificial border and ended in Irun, in the Spanish occupied southern Basque Country.
Those who attended the demonstration were of many different backgrounds including mayors, councillors, farmers, concerned citizens and even some international delegations from European groups fighting locally against High Speed Train infrastructures.
The main speaker Michel Hiriart, on behalf of the Lapurdi/Labourd Northern Province’s towns’ partnership said the project is dramatic and detrimental to the communities and the land. Other speakers also demanded an end to the criminalization of the campaign by the French and Spanish authorities, and asked for the right of the people to have a say and be able to decide about the construction.
The campaign against the HST in the Basque Country is very popular and focuses on the environmental, cultural, energetic, social, and economic damages of the construction of such a massive infrastructure in a small and mountainous country. Campaigners condemned it as a project to enrich the private constructors and to serve the economical and social elites. They demand transparency, public debate and the respect to the people’s decisions.
Local direct action and peaceful protests take place every week across the country but ETA’s attacks against the works have made the headlines very often.
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