Basque Info

Basque Info podcast (listen to it)

Basque Info bulletin

• Launch of Civil Rights Movement in the Basque Country
• Support for the legalization of the Pro-Independence Left
• Green is the color
• Extradition attempt is opposed by a broad spectrum

Launch of Civil Rights Movement in the Basque Country

Many well-known people from different sections of Basque society took part in an event in Durango, near Bilbao, last Saturday to announce the launch of the Basque Civil Rights Movement.

Speakers said they want to create a people’s movement “for all and by all”. They want citizens to become the leaders of the process for change in the Basque Country.

According to the organizers, the Basque Country has been stuck for too long in a multi-violence and imposition dynamic that blocks and prevent the creation of a new democratic framework to develop political and social life freely.

“We want a scenario that ensures the right to life and freedom, the right to decide freely, without exclusions or vetoes, the right to a future with freedom and peace for all. We do not accept roadblocks, delays or actions against this process of total change on the road to a scenario that guarantees all the rights of all the people”, they added.

The speakers also went on to say that “now is the decisive time to promote the development of the Civil Rights Movement and to spread the movement to all neighborhoods, towns, schools, universities and social movements. We should all move, and commit to achieve a situation of peace, democracy and freedom.”

They demanded that the Spanish and French states ensure, as occurs in any democratic state based on the rule of law, immediate and effective respect for and exercise of all human, civil and political rights for all people and groups without distinction.

The Civil Rights Movement also asks ETA to give an immediate response, positive and strong, to the calls of the Brussels Declaration and the Agreement of Gernika signatorees to declare a permanent and verifiable ceasefire.

The Movement calls on all kinds of organizations, and citizens in general, to take to the streets under the slogan “All rights for everybody” on December 10th, “International Human Rights Day.”

Support for the legalization of the Pro-Independence Left

Following the announcement of the launch of a new Basque Pro-Independence Left party two weeks ago, politicians and trade unionists from different backgrounds have renewed calls on the Spanish government to recognize it.

Calls have also come from the international community. Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams said: “Sinn Féin believe that the Pro-Independence Left leadership are wholly committed to both creating peace and to exclusively peaceful and democratic means for resolving political issues.

“We believe Arnaldo Otegi’s personal contribution to all of this has been significant.

“The Spanish Government should now release Arnaldo Otegi and give the Basque people, all of the Basque people, their right to vote for representatives of their choice. The new party proposed by the Pro-Independence Left should be legalized.”

Fifteen Norwegian local representatives also expressed their support for the legalization and for the right to self-determination of the Basque Country last week.

At a public event last weekend the historic Basque Pro-Independence Left party Basque Nationalist Action celebrated its 80th anniversary and demanded the the lifting of the Spanish state’s ban on the party. This week the European Court turned down the appeal of the party against the decision.

Green is the color

During the celebrations of the Spanish Constitution’s anniversary in Madrid on Monday, Basque pro-independence activists dyed the water of the famous Cibeles Fountain green while in Paris others did the same at the fountain by the Pyramids at the Louvre.

The actions were claimed by the citizens’ network Independentistak who announced them as the first of a campaign of civil disobedience for Basque independence. The green color has been chosen as the network’s symbol.

Thousands of people also took part in different events organized by the network in Durango during the annual Basque Book and Album Fair and hundreds of youth protested against the police operation against the youth movement last month. Despite being a state bank holiday, hundreds of students went to their schools across the country and organized their own history classes, to show their opposition to the Spanish Constitution which denies nations within the state their self-determination.

Extradition attempt is opposed by a broad spectrum

Two thousand people attended a demonstration in Baiona against the extradition of local Batasuna’s representative Aurore Martin. Politicians from most part of the political spectrum showed their anger against what would become the first time the state extradites its own “national” to Spain for an offense that doesn’t exist under French law. Aurore Martin would be extradited on the basis of her political work in Batasuna which is not banned by the French state.