FROM THE WORLD TO THE BASQUE COUNTRY
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2007/IX/30
PSOE: Either rendition, or repression
Towards Independence and Socialism
EUSKAL HERRIA-BASQUE COUNTRY
STEP BY STEP ASKAPENA's Informative Service. N. 190
There are very different ways of facing a political conflict: getting implied into it with the firm will of finding a solution for it; that's the attitude of some people looking at the future. This people try to overcome the situation on the grounds of equity in order to solve those unbalanced relationships, which are the origin of the conflict. Another attitude is the opposite one: looking at the past and trying to achieve that all the relationships should remain as they are, even if that situation is totally unfair; the ones following this path are trying to suffocate by all means the population's claims. There is a third way which is a variant of the second one: there are some politicians who seem to assume the conflict, gaining the confidence of the opponents, and once they are at shoot range they treat them with the same brutality as those in the first group.
As for the failed Basque process, it has been the Basque patriotic left wing the sector trying hardly to solve fairly the conflict. The Spanish right wing of PP assumed the second attitude; this party considered themselves to be much stronger than the Basque nationalism and, in fact, they tried to destroy that movement; they assumed that this strategy would prove to be successful.
The PSOE's position was the third option (a variation of the second one): This political party has tried to pretend to be more prone to dialogue and negotiation; they have accepted to start conversations with ETA, the armed organization, as well as with Batasuna, the Basque patriotic left wing. Facts have proved that the strategy was just a spiral movement in order to hand-tie the Basque nationalism making pressure on them by using all the repressive means that PP had activated.
During the peace process, the one which had the chance of being an active agent for the solution of the conflict behaves as an inquisitor.From this modest microphone we want to uncover and denounce the PSOE (Spanish Workers' Socialist Party) and the President of the Spanish Government, Mr Zapatero, since he has lacked the resolution of an statesman, and his only contribution has been the avarice of a swindler.
From the year 2002 there is an open way for contacts and dialogue between PSOE and the Basque patriotic left wing. Those contacts seem to be reasonably full of illusion and hope. Are they the beginning of a strategy for the final resolution of the conflict? Facts seem to deny evidence. After a long way full of talks and agreements, ETA declared the indefinite cease of fire on March of 2006. As it could be supposed, behind that decision there is a compromise between the Spanish Government and the organizations which belong to the Basque patriotic left wing. Those compromises were just smoke. The Spanish Government followed the repressive way initiated by PP: they made use of the Political Parties Law in order to silence the Basque patriotic left wing, suffocating their claims. The mass movements, a fundamental weapon of the popular sectors, were harshly repressed. In essence, this is an attitude absolutely contrary to an honest negotiation process, which consists in "using all the means at disposal gagging the other interlocutor to avoid any conditioning by them".
This tricky behaviour by PSOE had different expressions, all of them in the same direction: with the essential help of PNV, they repressed all the demonstrations; and with the helpful collaboration of France, the PSOE imprisoned members of the negotiation team of ETA, members who had been previously identified and located; once again, using the torture weapons designed by PP, PSOE started political trials against members of the Basque patriotic left wing, which implied for the people under prosecution diary travels to distant Courts, very strict condemns for the Basque youth implied, threats of long term sentences for the ones in another judicial processes... As a result of this policy, many people with a personal compromise with our left wing project have been demobilized...
Getting everything ready for a dramatic rupturePSOE's strategy has not succeeded. This Spanish party saw the hard effort made by the Basque patriotic left wing in order to find a solution and they thought that the Basque people were about to surrender. This calculations were very distant from reality. The brutal pressure which this party made along the peace process did not provide the results that the Spanish socialists expected: the Basque patriotic left wing made several proposals, the last one was the claim of an autonomous transitory status with the right for decision in South Euskal Herria and a proposal of autonomy for the northern part of the territory, a proposal which was perfectly likely to come to terms with the nowadays Spanish Constitution. But this option was not acceptable for the PSOE, since this political party was not trying to soften and to approach the different positions, they just wanted that their enemy should surrender. Something which never happened.
As the municipal elections in March were imminent, the PSOE had the chance of playing with the will of the Basque citizens: without a second thought, they made illegal the new political formation presented by the Basque patriotic left wing; something similar happened with the municipal candidacies which were introduced under a similar name. This Spanish political party did even illegalize most of the candidacies presented by a political party created in 1930, ANV. The Spanish Government was just showing their strength and arrogance so that the Basque patriotic left wing should surrender before the end of the conversations (not negotiations). Their message was conclusive: the only proposal which Spain should accept will be a total rendition, the rest of the options are not acceptable.
The post process period, a time for spadesThe message sent by the Spanish Duke of Alba to the citizens of Pamplona before the conquest of Euskal Herria by Spain (1512) was very meaningful: "If you surrender there will be comprehension; if you do not surrender, there will be spade and sacking". Spain continues with the same strategy. This time, the Basque nationalism did not surrender either, and before abandoning the negotiation table, the Spanish Government made very clear that the time for spade was about to come.
Almost instantly, Arnaldo Otegi, a negotiator who belonged to Batasuna, was arrested. A person who had spent so many hours in the negotiation process went from the negotiation room straight to prison. On the 10th of September another very relevant leader within the anti-repression movement, Juan Mari Olano, was put into jail, this time the arrest was an initiative of PSOE's ally, the Basque right wing PNV. The Spanish Government needs trophies, qualified people to put into prison. This is a new way of humiliation for their enemies, and a way to let everybody know that any citizen may follow the same path, as it has happened with their leaders, the first ones to be carried to jail. By continuing with a long term strategy, the PSOE has activated new macro- processes so that the new people under target and their families may start trembling. Following this same way, they have also warned that the very few candidacies of ANV which were recognised, may finally be illegalised; according to this illogic situation, such candidacies are not the expression of the civil rights, but they seem to be a generous concession of the Spanish government, and as in such case, the one giving any privilege has the right to deactivate it. In this context, it cannot be forgotten the intense pursuit which ETA's activists have suffered in Spain, but very especially in France.
Illusion executionersThis repressive surge has happened along with a message repeated once and again by the Spanish Government as well by their servants within the PNV: those who lost the chance for surrender should know that they have lost any hope to get anything from now on.
Our nation is really old. So many times we have heard this same message, and here we are. The new conquerors will show no mercy towards us, but they will not be able to suffocate our hope.
Euskal Herria, 30 September 2007.
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