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13 hours ago
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Basque former major acquited of terror charges
The former major of Andoain (Gipuzkoa) has been acquited of charges of "collaboration with terrorist gang" not without having been imprisoned for six months and incommunicated in police dependencies for five full days.
Joxean Barandiaran was accused on the grounds that he had a meeting with other politicians to discuss the possible frame of a would-be Basque state (or so says the police report). The same judge that sent him to prision "preventively" has now admitted that there are no grounds for the accusation.
Back in the day the arrests of theses politicians in Bordeaux had a high mediatic hype, as the issue was presented as the arrest of a major ETA cell and blah blah.
Source: Gara.
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6 comments:
OK, here the questions I wanted to ask you:
- how do you reconcile socialism with nationalism? Mind: I am NOT a Spaniard, I am a Venezuelan.
- do you think a referendum in the Basque country would lead to independence? It seems most "newcomers" and some Basques do not want that. If the Basque nationalists were to lose (I know the current Spanish government does not want even to consider a referendum): would they accept that?
I am just an observer. There were lots of Basques who went to Venezuela, from the times of Bolibar/Bolivar through the Guipuzcoana to the seventies.
There are many Clubes Vascos in Venezuela.
I once visited the Basque country, loved the mountains there and the towns. It was gorgeous, but I felt a little bit at odds when reading in Donostia everywhere: "Tourist: you are not in Spain or in France, welcome to the Basque country". It sounded like a warning. I bought a phrasebook and tried to say thanks whenever I could :-)
Cheers
how do you reconcile socialism with nationalism?.
I see absolutely no contradiction. Take Russia for instance: the first one to map its ethnicities was Piotr Kropotkin, an anarchist, while the first time its nationalities achieved any meaningful self-rule was with the Soviets. It may not be the ebst example but there are more, of course. Socialism has often taken an eclectic approach to ethnic nationalism, though this varied depending on authors and the emphasis was in internationalism.
Basque left-wing nationalism (pretty much the standard nowadays, even among conservatives), like Irish and other modernized nationalisms, took that ecclectic nationalist and internationalist approach: we as Basques want our own state to be able to rule ourselves in accordance with Basque democratic desires and for the protection of our culture, language and heritage, but this is not to exclusion of anyone (assimilating foreigners are welcome, in fact this is one of the most welcoming places of Europe as far as I know) and it is certainly inteded as solidarious with other peoples and nations through the world - be them Latin Americans, Catalans, Palestinians, Irish, Saharawis, Berbers or Kurds. What does not make any sense is to be forcedly encaged in a "Spanish" or "French" imposed identity and structures, in which THEY (and not us) decide our destiny.
It is a matter of democracy after all. Well understood nationalism is a matter of popular sel-rule, of popular self-determination. And that is what socialism is about too: about democratizing the economy.
do you think a referendum in the Basque country would lead to independence? It seems most "newcomers" and some Basques do not want that..
The matter is the recognition of self-determination. Some look at North Ireland and say: look their autonomy is much smaller than the (Western) Basque one. But North Ireland was recognized the right to self-determination in the good friday accord. That is the key here too: can the Basque people choose our destiny freely or are we going to be subject always to the whims of a vast majority of foreigners south and north of our country?
Honestly, I don't know how a hypothetical vote would turn: Basque media are totally controlled by Spanish corporations, and they influence the minds of the people a lot. There is no democracy in the media either.
but I felt a little bit at odds when reading in Donostia everywhere: "Tourist: you are not in Spain or in France, welcome to the Basque country". It sounded like a warning..
It is a piece of information: you think you are in Spain or France, so say the official laws and police corps but that's not how we feel about it.
"but this is not to exclusion of anyone (assimilating foreigners are welcome, in fact this is one of the most welcoming places of Europe as far as I know)"
I understand people arriving in the Basque country need to learn the language (even if it is not easy) and they need to learn the customs and respect them and integrate.
Now: what does "assimilate" mean here? Sorry, I studied in Germany and I associate that word with Sorbian's fate and the one of other people from the region, with Jews assimilating in the XIX century, etc. I suppose that is not what you mean, but I want to know what it is. Integrate, I guess?
"It is a piece of information: you think you are in Spain or France, so say the official laws and police corps but that's not how we feel about it."
I understand there are people who want independence and they should be able to express that by all means and have a referendum, etc. Still, the piece of information sounded to me more like a warning. Perhaps it was the tension in those streets of Donostia. I talked about that with others to see if I was being too sensitive and they had the same impression.
I think you get the same thing if you write a label saying "The Basque Country Must be Independent, it is not France or Spain,blabla" and then another one saying "Tourist, welcome to the Basque Country".
The label they have now sounds as if they are stating tourist are already assuming it is Spain or France (we may, we may not) and also as if we would be target to some attack.
Anyway, beautiful country.
Now: what does "assimilate" mean here? Sorry, I studied in Germany and I associate that word with Sorbian's fate and the one of other people from the region, with Jews assimilating in the XIX century, etc. I suppose that is not what you mean, but I want to know what it is. Integrate, I guess?Yah, whatever. It's not the same Sorbians assimilating into Germans because of foreign imposition, that German immigrants assimilating into Sorbians. I mean the latter, obviously. Learning the language is a major step in any case.
I think you get the same thing if you write a label saying "The Basque Country Must be Independent, it is not France or Spain,blabla" and then another one saying "Tourist, welcome to the Basque Country".Well, that's a lot more writing. We Basques are not that talkative but rather blunt and direct. The word "welcome" was clear enough, right?
The label they have now sounds as if they are stating tourist are already assuming it is Spain or France...Many do not have the slightest idea.
...and also as if we would be target to some attack.Never happened. Basque industrials have been targeted (for not paying the "revolutionary tax") but Basque industry as such never. Now if you go to Spain... I can't give you any guarantees.
OK. Pity. I reject ETA. There is no justification for their actions.
They have killed a lot of innocent people. They have achieved nothing.
Well, some of their actions are deplorable, sure. But war is dirty, you know. Why to criticise only ETA and ignore all the police, military and paramilitary killings and torture. At least ETA does not torture.
In my opinion, as long as Spain occupies the Southern Basque country against the will of the people, some will arise in arms. It is unavoidable, we Basques are that kind: we are fierce, blunt, direct and free-spirited. The last two centuries (since the process of supression of Basque provincial quasi-independence in the 1830s) have been an intermitent armed struggle. I doubt it will end just because some disagree with ETA or even if they declared martial law.
Even if ETA as such would be totally dismantled (what is not any realistic prospect as they have way too many supporters) something else would arise. There's just no room under the Spanish boot for Basque freedom, so Basques will unavoidably arise. It cannot be any other way: we are not the boot-licking kind (at least many are not, there are some boot-lickers too, of course).
In general we just do not accept that laws discussed and proclaimed in Madrid, where we have only a very small representation, that judges appointed by Madrid and that policemen under the orders of Madrid rule our land. They can waste all their shoots, we will remain stubborn in defense of our freedom. If not this generation, it will be the next one. If not in the 21st century, it will be the 22nd. We come from the night of time and we have managed to reach this far: we will go farther or succumb trying.
Yes, we are very stubborn. You guessed it. We would not have survived otherwise.
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