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In a new communication to Basque newspaper Gara, militant group ETA assumes the initiative to fight by political means debated by the Basque Nationalist Left, however it warns that repression must be confronted.
It looks like they are wishing for a scenario like that of North Ireland: ... carrying the Basque Country to self-determination in a gradual, regulated and consensual way...
However they do not seem naive at all about what to expect from Spain and request the people to organize and go active and the Spanish state to cease in its violence.
A quote from historical militant Argala (murdered by the Spanish secret services) serves to reinforce the message: not ETA nor any political party, it will be the Basque People who will give freedom to the Basque Country.
Sources:
- ETA communication at Gara (in Basque)
- Abstract of the above in Spanish (also in Gara)
9 comments:
Northern Ireland was claimed by another state. Eire said it was theirs in their constitution, no one has ever suggested Northern Ireland had the right of self detemination except in the special sense of being able to leave the UK and join the South. Well actually the more extreme Unionists (Loyalists) toyed with the idea but not very seriously.
The British mandarins have long wanted to be rid of Ireland since the estates there stopped making a profit in the mid ninteenth century. They saw Northern Ireland as a halfway house to a confederal all Ireland state (one in which the protestants would be looked after by Britain and allowed to fly the union jack. A gradual disengagement of NI from the UK was always the plan.
The ( now declining) protestant majority in the North was the problem for Irish nationalsts. The British Foreign and Northern Ireland office largely shared their objectives and have always been coming up with schemes designed move towards a de facto all Ireland state.
Is the Spainish people or government's attitude to the Basques at all similar to the UK's attitude to Northern Ireland?
I understand that the Good Friday Agreement stipulates that the people of Northern Ireland is free to choose their destiny.
Also Sinn Fein has flirted with the idea of a separate state in the North until the Republic becomes truly secularist. They are not keen of putting up with all that Catholic shit about restricting abortion and stuff like that (though maybe this has changed since when I read about the matter back in the 80s).
The case is clear: the only way ahead is self-determination... or restoration of the Kingdom of Navarre as it was 1000 years ago. If Estonia, Slovakia or Kosovo can self-determinate, why can't Basques, a much older nation that has been sovereign for much longer time?
Whatever you may think it's time for the decolonization in Western Europe.
Is the Spainish people or government's attitude to the Basques at all similar to the UK's attitude to Northern Ireland?.
Obviously not: the UK seems nowadays more or less ready to allow the self-determination of its constituent nations. It may seem trivial but the fact that it allows national sport teams (and not just state-wide) is very meaningful of the different attitude. In Spain or France the idea of a Basque, Catalan or Breton football selection separate from that of the central nation is heresy.
And of course any hint of self-determination, either leading to independence or greater self-rule within a federation or confederation is also heresy for the Absolutist/Jacobin paradigm that dominates political thought in Latin Europe.
I've read the Spain was worried that recognizing an independent state of Kosovo would give Basques and others ideas and delayed the giving of formal recognition from the EU.
The provisional IRA/Sinn Fein may have have talked about constitutional guarantees for the protestants in the northern region of an all Ireland state. Only the politically weak UDA (a para-criminal Loyalist, ie protestant, murder gang front) talked of an independent state in the north, and the UK would not have allowed that to happen. Like I said 'decide their own destiny' meant NI was free to join an all Ireland state not free to be independent state seperate from both Eire and the UK. That would be politically impossible because the Catholic minority would be at the mercy of a protestant state that could not be trusted to respect their human rights.
NI Catholics refer to the North as the 'six counties' by way of emphasizing it is a part of the 'island of Ireland' and they certainly would never contemplate being locked in to a Independent Ulster. NI has a Unionist (ie protestant) majority remember, it was greater in the past.
It is easy get the wrong idea about the political environment Sinn Fein operated in (and how successful Sinn Fein's tactics have been), like I said the UK and Eire governments were always favourable to the idea of an all Ireland state.
Sinn Fein has taken votes from the 'Nationalist' (ie non violent) SDLP since it stopped armed struggle (killings). But it is important to note that Sinn Fein (Republican) was never banned although they were engaged in armed struggle for decades. The leadership structure of the provisional IRA was practically identical to that of Sinn Fein all the while they were killing yet the government never banned them as a terrorist organisation.
Among the Provisional IRA much of the drive in favour of ceasing armed struggle was from PIRA men who were doing long sentences in prison and wanted an agreement so they could get out early - which they did.
The Catholic minority in NI were in a situation that was always quite different to that of the Basques. A political party with the credibility of ETA might do well all the same though.
Of course for Spain (and France but the Hexagon has higher international responsabilities and is more self-confident) did not want the independence of Kosovo or for what matters Slovenia either. They want to keep the status quo everywhere for fear of their own weakness as quasi failed state.
The Sinn Féin (not the same as the IRA) did discuss in the 80s that joining the Republic of Ireland in the existing conditions was not their goal. They were not so much worried about Protestants (who may also be against abortion) but about the Secularists among the Republican community as well. Sinn Féin is not a Catholic organization but rather the opposite (or at least something very different). Sinn Féin in that time had a Marxist political program, so joining The Vatican Bis was not their dream, really.
I read about that in An Poblacht/Republican News.
What you say about Catholics and Protestants has nothing to do with the discourse of the Sinn Féin which always talks of Republicans and Unionists, regardless of religion. The supposed religious conflict is largely a fantasy (though it has some historical background).
The country is divided along ethnic lines, with a historically privileged ethnicity and a historically nearly enslaved one. Restoring the equality of all Northern Irish and granting it the right of self-determination was the primary goals of the Sinn Féin and surely the reason for the existence of the IRA.
... the UK and Eire governments were always favourable to the idea of an all Ireland state.
That's simply false in what regards to the UK. However nowadays they have accepted the principle of self-determination and that honors them.
The Catholic minority in NI were in a situation that was always quite different to that of the Basques.
In some aspects yes, of course. The conquest and exploitation of Ireland was much more brutal than anything we have ever suffered, the immigrant community in Ireland was privileged and not working class as happens here (where the divide is ideological rather than ethnic), we have never got relevant inter-communitarian violence but just conflicts with the state, and most of Ireland had achieved its independence many decades ago.
But the essence of the conflict is the same: the right of self-determinations of the nations (or from the imperialist viewpoint: the lack of it).
Since many decades ago, Basque and Irish nationalists have collaborated closely and they share very similar projects.
A political party with the credibility of ETA might do well all the same though.
I don't understand this sentence.
If there is a political option akin to ETA that would be Batasuna (Nationalist Left by another name) and while it was legal fared very well, much better than Sinn Féin used to do while the IRA was active. However now it has been declared illegal in an absolute manner and that means that our institutions now lack of democratic pedigree as a major political bloc, in local cases often the vastly majoritarian force, has been excluded by decree, artifically altering the political landscape of every institution in favor of the unionist bloc.
A political party with the credibility of ETA might do well all the same though
I was speculating what might happen if Spain allowed such a party to stand. Of course they won't do that if they think such a party would do well. It would only happen if the Spain underestimated the potential support for ETA-like constitutional goals achieved by political means.
On the other hand ETA costs the Spanish state a lot so they might think it worth the risk. ETA are not experienced media -wise political operators like the established parties.
Sinn Fein building a grassroots political organisation and developing political skills for decades before real successes. In Spain they wouldn't have lasted 15 minutes. As the political wing of a 'terrorist' organisation Sinn Fein would have been banned in just about any other country.
Actually ETA has some political benefits for the Spanish etablishment: it allows to forge the image of an absolutely "evil" foe and to rally forces around the status quo. In this sense is like Islamism and Zionists.
But of course it's "playing with fire", which may burn, and indeed this dynamic severely harms democracy not only in the Basque Country but even in Spain itself.
So I understand that the current dynamic is very bad for all the state, and specially the peoples under that state. But I don't see how we will get over it. Certainly the state is stuck on its discourse and corrupt anti-democratic dynamics and, while ETA is not objectively able to defeat the state, it can hardly be defeated itself.
It's been more than 40 years now. In fact ETA as such is already 50 y.o. (though in the first decade it was not active military). It's a whole lifetime!
Sinn Fein building a grassroots political organisation and developing political skills for decades before real successes. In Spain they wouldn't have lasted 15 minutes. As the political wing of a 'terrorist' organisation Sinn Fein would have been banned in just about any other country.
Actually the Basque Nationalist Left has lasted almost a century, most of that time being illegal. When legal it has always achieved good electoral results.
So no, I can't agree that repression can solve anything.
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