Four Peace Nobels press for peace negotiations in the Basque conflict

The Mandela Foundation and four Peace Nobel price winners from South Africa and Ireland are pushing for peace negotiations in the conflict that confronts Basque militants and the Spanish state.

The group, coordinated by Brian Currin, includes Desmond Tutu, Frederick de Clerk, John Hume, Albert Reynolds, Betty Williams and Jonathan Powell, among others, including the Mandela Foundation. Currin presented yesterday at the European Parliament a proposal signed by 21 personalities, asking ETA to declare a cease-fire and the Spanish government to respond in accordance.

The declaration is available as video HERE (in English with Spanish subtitles) and as PDF text HERE.

Currin's presentation was backed by Flemish MEP Frieda Brepoels, who underlined that the Basque Nationalist Left has recently advocated in exclusive for non-violent peaceful means to achieve their goals. This was in turn emphasized by the South African facilitator, who declared that a document like Zutik Euskal Herria (Stand Basque Nation), recently backed by 270 grassroots assemblies of the Nationalist Left, is a clear message that they want a process that is irreversible.

Speaking as personal opinion, Currin answered journalists' questions, saying that Spain should guarantee that the Nationalist Left could run to elections and develop its activities normally and should also repatriate the Basque political prisoners. This would help a lot, he said.

Brepoels emphasized that the large group of personalities backing this document is a really impressive group and a demonstration that there is a lot of people who believes that this opportunity should not be missed.

Source: Gara.


My two cents: the Spanish conservatives prefer the war to continue.

This is of course an important advance and something that would not have surely happened unless there is already some sort of preliminary negotiations going on. The fact that, barring the inccident at Paris, ETA has not carried any attacks since summer 2009 and that the Basque Nationalist Left has carried on a participative process to approve a declaration seeking political means, declaration that was backed by ETA in a recent communication, indicate that there is clear political will in this camp.

What is less clear is what happens in the other camp: among the Spanish nationalist ranks, which has not made any conciliatory movement of any sort, rather the opposite.

And what is even more worrisome is that the Spanish conservatives (recycled fascists) are accusing the social-democrats of "connivence" with ETA in what is an obvious electoralist maneuver of the kind they style all the time. Even if the ruling PSOE would want (which is not clear at all) to get into some sort of negotiations, a petty division of this kind in the Spanish nationalist camp would probably ruin any chance of these advancing at all.

So if I'd have to bet, I'd bet for another failure, sincerely. However it's always worth a try.

See also: label: Basque politics.

Mordechai Vanunu does not want Peace Nobel

For the first time in the history of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, a preemptive request to withdraw a nomination—by the nominee—was made.

This nominee is no other than Israeli Peace activist Mordechai Vanunu, the man who has been so severely punished for letting the World know of the nuclear arsenal of the Zionist regime, the only such arsenal in West Asia so far, the man whom I described once as the only true Jewish hero... even if he is a Palestinian by choice now.

The main reason seems to be that Vanunu doesn't want his name mixed to that of Shimon Peres, the creator of the Israeli nuclear arsenal, who was given this discredited "Peace Prize" without any merit whatsoever other than being a leading Zionist.

Read more at Counterpunch.

Vanunu was arrested again in December for allowing himself to be interviewed by Basque newspaper Gara. Exceprts from that interview can be read, translated to English, here at Leherensuge.

On Nobels and "Alternative Nobels"

While we are still digesting the absurdity of giving the Peace Nobel prize to Barack Obama, who has done nearly nothing to deserve it. I find in Rebelión a couple of articles that seem indicated to mention.

On one side, Mario Ramírez-Orozco analyzes the insides of the Peace Nobel committee, that by now are already quite public at least in Norway. This committe is no any council of wisemen or anything of the like but just a politically appointed board that includes veteran members of the Norwegian political scene. These politicians are of course like any other: not particularly wise and rather short-sighted, machiavellian and with their own agendas.

So it seems now that most members of the committee were rather quite against the candidature of Obama, logically, but that the president of the board, Thorbjörn Jagland, of the social-democrat party (Arbeiderparti) seems to have managed almost solo to force the choice of Obama as this year's Peace Nobel. Even if he was apparently able to make his party colleague, Sissel Marie Rönbeck, follow his lead, the article does not explain clearly how he managed to overcome the apparently tough opposition of the other three members.

Guess we will find out in due time.


Alternative Nobels

Meanwhile the "alternative Nobel prizes" or Right Livelihood Awards have gone almost unnoticed once again. Canal Solidario (mirrored at Rebelión) tells us of this year winners, who get 50,000 euros each (except the honorific prize):



René Ngongo of the D.R. Congo got the prize for his dedication to protect one of the largest natural ecosystems on Earth: the Congo rainforest. Ngongo created in 1994 OCEAN, an organization that promotes sustainable practices and reforestation.



Alyn Ware of New Zealand got another award for more than two decades promoting peace education and elimination of nuclear arsenals. He even was advisor to the Wellington government and the UN on these areas.



Catherine Hamlin, a gynecologist from Austria, was awarded as well for her work in Ethiopia creating health infrastructures, specially those oriented to women with obstetric fistula, a disease that breaks the lifes of many women through the world even if it can be easily operated because they just cannot afford it.



The honorary prize was given to someone maybe better known for the average reader: David Suzuki, for his work oriented to broaden the conscience on climate change.

The RLAs have no specific categories and anyone can in principle propose candidates for them.

Sincerely, my personal choice would have been for the campaigns to breach the Gaza blockade, that have shown the courage and determination to challenge one of the most inhuman and criminal abuses against a population of mostly powerless refugees by one of the most mischievous and influential regimes on Earth. Maybe the next year?
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