FROM THE WORLD TO THE BASQUE COUNTRY
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2006/VI/29
DIFFERENT PROJECTS, DIFFERENT ATTITUDES, DIFFERENT ANSWERS
Independentzia eta Sozialismorantz
EUSKAL HERRIA, PASO A PASO
ASKAPENA's Information Service, Nº 184
Reality has confirm the failure of the talks aiming to solve the Basque-Spanish conflict. There were already many indications and comments about it. The interlocutors themselves discreetly suggested that positions were becoming incompatible and that the so-called process was in a permanent deadlock.
Once it became official, each side tries to make clear their position regarding the new situation. These clarifications allow clearly knowing the true cause of the failure, which is something complex and, at the same time, straightforward: the incompatibility of the two projects on the table, openly contradictory.
The real intentions of the Spanish governmentOn a television interview, President Zapatero clearly said it: he did not aspire to solve a sovereignty conflict. His aim was just eliminate ETA. He accepted light modifications of the autonomist statute, but he did not want to touch the actual frame, and therefore to make a real, although late, transition.
Once this was cleared up, all the pieces moved by PSOE fit, even the ones it moved before reaching the government of Spain: start non-official talks in order to inspire the other side with confidence, privately accept analysis always denied publicly, favor a cease-fire declaration by ETA, keep the repression against the Basque left, activate the judicial front by instituting legal proceedings aiming to coerce the other side. In short, show the Basque left the huge power of the State and its almost endless coercive mechanism. It wanted the Basque to give up their pretensions.
It is clear that, once again, the Basque left have reaffirm their convictions and claims while they were making a big effort to make the agreement easier (flexibility regarding the timing, importance given to the procedure...), while they remained firm regarding contents. For them, the double claim (right to decide and territoriality) cannot be waived. Introducing cosmetic reforms into the ongoing autonomic frame is not enough; it is necessary to admit that the so-called transition [from Franco's regime] was not a transition, and it is necessary face up a true one which has to be done, and which must allow all the political projects (including the ones of the Basque left), and the possibility to make them real if the citizens want so. The Spanish government did not accept, left the table and considered that the attempt was over. ETA also considered the talks and the cease-fire over. From this point, the State reacts as do someone that had failed, and therefore turns revenge into law. It is the foreseeable reaction of the powerful who did not get what he wanted. Very quickly the State chooses the repression way: they send again Iñaki de Juana to the prison despite the sentence on March 1, 2007 saying that once he leave the hospital, he will be send to his home until he finish serving his sentence (the Home Secretary who now sends him to prison said the same on that date). Arnaldo Otegi is imprisoned again (he also was in prison when ETA declared the cease-fire on March 2006); this imprisonment is specially serious because he is the main interlocutor in the peace process, a "man of peace", as Zapatero said.
The real intentions of the Basque leftFrom the very beginning, the Basque left are aware that the political conflict needs steps searching a solution. They do not resigned themselves to always living with suffering. Despite they do not trust very much the PSOE due to their historical path, on 1999 the Basque left agree to start talks with them. With the aim of make things easier, on 2004 the Basque left made the offer of Anoeta, a method for a possible resolution. On March 2006, ETA declares the cease-fire in order to make the talks easier, despite of the fact that some days before two militants were killed by the Spanish penitentiary system, and the PNV police repress the ceremony organized as a tribute to them. Despite the fact that the Spanish government is not taking steps, and that it boasts about it, the cease-fire is ratified. The Basque left repeat once and again that they will do their best to make the solution easier.
On March 2007, the Basque left makes the Anaitasuna offer of political transition: a statutory model for the fourth provinces envisaging the right to decide and not dismissing the pro-independence option. Fulfilling a request many times asked to them, the Basque left present a new political party that explicitly commits itself for the political activity within the democratic frame. Their will to find a solution is clear. This is the reason why, after the announcement of the end of the cease-fire, the Basque left reaffirms the principles of understanding that have guided their behavior during these months: the same day, June 5, they reiterate that, "we have to redouble our efforts because the popular claim to a democratic process is possible, necessary and feasible". On June 6, they address the European Union asking them to play a role that favor the resolution process; the same day, the left group within the Basque Parliament defends dialogue and negotiation. On June 7 they claim the necessity to reach a consensus on a democratic minimum that allows reduce the confrontation level; the same day Batasuna reiterate that still is possible to reach a solution for the conflict, and that the only alternative is a negotiation process. On June 8, during a press conference after the Otegi's detention, the Basque left spokesmen reiterate that, despite the seriousness of the situation, they are still working for the solution, and that they will redouble their efforts, in the national level as well as in the international one. On June 11, Otegi insists from the prison that the way is dialogue and agreement. The same day ANV calls for a demonstration on Bilbao, on June 23, aiming to give a positive answer to this situation and to keep on giving a boost to the democratic process.
Recently has been known that on May 14, 15 y 16 (during the electoral period) two delegations (Batasuna-PSOE, and ETA-Spanish government) met simultaneously in an European country. These meetings verified that both projects were incompatible and the end of the ongoing try to reach an agreement.
Euskal Herria, June 25, 2007.
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