Spain arrests Basque internationalists

Spanish police has arrested tonight seven members of the, so far legal, internationalist organization Askapena. It has done so ordered by the Neoinquisition's new boy, judge Juan Pablo Ruz, who is replacing B. Garzón, who is in trial for daring to investigate fascism or something).

The seven arrested are Gabi Basañez, Unai Vázquez, Itxaso Lekuona, Rubén Sánchez, David Soto, Aritz Ganboa and Walter Wendelin. Wendelin, who has German citizenship, was expelled from Venezuela in March in a cowardly action by the Bolivarian government, upon pressure from Spain. In spite of all the manipulations he was free until yesterday. 

There is of course concern because of the recent reports of tortures against other people arrested arbitrarily by the Audiencia Nacional (Neoinquisition). 

Source: Gara.

Analysis

This is obviously another sabotage against any possible peace process and a provocation to the whole Basque Nationalist Left. There is no question about it. The only question may be who is directing the judges (and police, as tortures are not something that judges can order) into arbitrary arrests of political nature in this delicate time. I do not have an answer but it is clear that, if it is not the Spanish Government directly (it might be the right wing opposition), it casts a huge shadow on the real power wielded by Rodriguez Zapatero (PM) and Rubalcaba (Minister of the Interior) and therefore on whether something can be negotiated at all with the PSOE government. 

Question remains is how much patience will ETA have with the blatant disinterest of Spain in reaching to any agreement or even respecting the most basic protocol towards any sort of negotiation. And how much patience will the Basque people have as well because what is obvious by now, and is likely to become more obvious in the near future, is that Spain does not want peace and democracy and Basque people does instead. 

By the way, there is some persistent helicopter noise out there. Not too unusual but sign that they are monitoring the streets from the air, whatever the exact reason. As there is no demonstration called for today, it should be related to the arrests.

Mapuches take UN see in Chile

This happens after two days ago they briefly took other UN offices in Santiago (International Work Organization and Economic Committee for Latin America and the Caribbean). 

As the hunger strike of Mapuche prisoners goes beyond the 70 days and government and prisoners failed to reach an agreement last Friday, native organization Maulen Huanchu took yesterday the offices of the United Nations in Santiago de Chile with intent of remaining there indefinitely.

Source: Gara.

Pentagon burns all copies of revealing 9/11 book

From Alexander Higgins Blog, originally from Fox News.

In a most incredible, yet real, move, the US Department of Defense has purchased and then burnt all copies from a book on 9/11, revealing uncomfortable facts such as the USA knowing about Mohammed Atta (the alleged leader of the attacks) and having him under surveillance as a security threat long before 9/11 (and yet allowing him to live freely in the USA).

The Pentagon had first authorized the book by reserve Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer, titled Operation Dark Heart, but then realized they had committed and error, as, allegedly, it contains secret information that hurts "national security".

Specifically, the DIA wanted references to a meeting between Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer, the book's author, and the executive director of the 9/11 Commission, Philip Zelikow, removed. In that meeting, which took place in Afghanistan, Shaffer alleges the commission was told about "Able Danger" and the identification of Atta before the attacks. No mention of this was made in the final 9/11 report.

Shaffer, who was undercover at the time, said there was "stunned silence" at the meeting after he told the executive director of the commission and others that Atta was identified as early as 2000 by "Able Danger."

Dr. Philip Zelikow approached me in the corner of the room. 'What you said today is very important. I need you to get in touch with me as soon as you return from your deployment here in Afghanistan'," Shaffer said.

Once back in the U.S., Shaffer says he contacted the commission. Without explanation, the commission was no longer interested. An inspector general report by the Department of Defense concluded there was no evidence to support the claims of Shaffer and others. But Fox News has obtained an unredacted copy of the IG report containing the names of witnesses, who backed up Shaffer's story when contacted for comment.

As I commented at AHB: I’d say that impressively stupid because how do they think they can block info from flowing unless they close the Internet down (which in turn would only cause them to effective lose the little control they may have on the Internet, as other countries would soon push their own versions to fill in the void).

I think that this essentially shows that the whole mentality behind the 9/11 operation and all that is antiquated: it belongs, as its ringleaders (all them members of the Nixon-Ford administration), to the pre-Internet age and that’s why is doomed. Not that in the past information would not flow but was slower and less exuberant, allowing a lot greater control by the governments and media corporations.


Related news: rumor of domestic military deployment of US troops, possibly, Tuesday.

Not sure what to make of this but it does sound quite alarming. According to a YouTube video by SmokinJoeTrainer, he has received several confidential reports from trusted friends in the army being called for domestic deployment by the end of the weekend. It's just an unconfirmed rumor so far but watch it out.




Source: Alexander Higgins Blog.

Testimonies of tortured by Spanish police

Political repression in the Basque Country, including arbitrary arrests, false accusations, trials without guarantees and tortures, is so common that I cannot certainly make mention of everything. In fact, I fear that I am so used to reading about repression that I don't even give it too much importance or even try to take it off my mind.

But at least now and then I must make mention so my readers get an idea of what is going on here. These is what happened, by their own accounts, to the last spat of arrested and tortured Basques, the victims of the reaction of the state to the confirmation by ETA that they were in a unilateral truce. All them were arrested by the Guardia Civil, a military police corps similar to the French Gendarmerie or the Italian Carabinieri, that has the worst reputation. The typical journey to Madrid by car may last some 4-5 hours but tortures continued once in police dependencies. Sexual abuse has become lately a common way of torture.

Sandra Barrenetxea had her upper clothes removed while being transported to Madrid. In the transport, she was systematically insulted, beaten and touched. Eventually a policeman took away her pants, forcing her to open her legs while another hit her on the head. She was forced to wear only her underwear in the interrogations and was threatened with rape repeatedly. In one occasion she was forced to lie her torso on a piece of furniture while the policemen tied her legs with a rope and threw cold water to her genitals between threats of rape.

Ugaitz Elizaran claims to have suffered more than 20 times the torture known as "the bag" (they put a plastic bag on your head and tighten it so you cannot breath and experience the agony of death). In one case, while suffering this torture, they tied his hands at the back and enveloped him in a mattress, with several policemen sitting on him. He tells that he even lost his sight once. Additionally they forced him to make physical exercises and beat him, as well as issuing threats against his relatives and friends, showing him a manipulated photo to make him believe, falsely, that his couple was also arrested.

Rosa Iriarte told that she was forced to touch a white narcotic dust, what caused her lose the feeling of her hands. Then they threw the same dust on her legs loosing sense in that part of the body as well. When they finally gave her a glass of water, she also ingested some of the substance, having all the mouth "asleep". Additionally she was forced to hear how the other arrested were tortured and was applied electrodes but no shocks (a threat).

Eneko Compains suffered the bag as well since the very moment he was introduced in the police van. He also denounced a very harsh psychological treatment with systematic threats against his relatives and a threat of anal rape with a stick. Curiously, he mentions that when he rejected to make a declaration at the police station the attitude of the cops relaxed. He asked to the physician for habeas corpus but his petition was rejected by the tribunal.

Aniaiz Ariznabarreta was, like Barrenetxea, deprived of her upper clothes in the journey to Madrid, suffering touchings and sexist insults. The same pattern was repeated at the police station for the four days of the arrest, when she was forced to stay naked and suffered sexual abuse (touchings on breasts and vagina). Ariznabarreta also reports that she was once enveloped in a blanket and then in a mattress, with a policeman sitting on her while the other five officers did not stop yelling, insulting and making threats.

Egoitz Garmendia was also applied the bag with some peculiarities (tape on his mouth and sometimes throwing water to his face when releasing the grip). He was heavily beaten and also enveloped in a blanket and/or mattress for policemen to jump on him (one on his genitals). He also reported repeated hits against his genitals (without the mattress) and threats of rape with a stick. In one occasion, when being brought back to the cell, they threw water on him, forcing him to stay naked with the only aid of a blanket (police cells are not warm, I can tell you).

Erika Bilbao was forced to stay in difficult postures, beaten and threatened, reporting as well a harsh psychological treatment full of threats against her loved ones. Like the rest, she could not rest because of continuous noise and yelling.

Joxe Aldasoro was kept in a dark room in which he could see nothing. When moved, he was blindfolded. Otherwise he reports continuous threats against his relatives and friends.

Urko Aierbe was beaten so badly that his leg was injured and he cannot walk normally now. His report includes the bag (twice), forced positions and continuous beatings.

Source: Gara.

Make up your own mind. But this is essentially what we read, hear or just know from experience that happens when someone is arrested, in particular (but not only) by the Guardia Civil. Spanish 'anti-terrorist' laws allow for incommunicado arrest without any guarantees for several days and when these are applied the usual thing to happen is torture of this or that sort. Later they may well let you free with or without charges, for the media your a "terrorist" anyhow and most won't listen to your denounces.

Mapuche prisoners: 52 days in hunger strike

The hunger strike of Mapuche prisoners in Chile reaches today the 52nd day. In practical terms this means that they are beginning to notice the hard effects of the fast, losing muscle tissue and beginning to affect major organs as the liver, kidneys and heart. Their life is at risk.

The strikers demand the abolition of the anti-terrorist law by which they are being judged, under accusations of attacks and road blockades demanding that their ancestral lands be returned to the Mapuche communities.

The government is showing signs of weakness in this nonviolent struggle, and is asking, since tuesday, that the prisoners stop their hunger strike on promises of law reform. This announcement was welcomed by Mapuche organizations that demand hurrying up the procedure.

The strike began on July 12 in the prisons of Concepción and Temuco and has been joined by other prisoners gradually. The anti-terrorist law is a fascist law passed by Pinochet dictatorship and allows the imprisonment of suspects without charges for unlimited periods. If found guilty, the penalty is multiplied by three automatically.

The law is seldom applied to white Chileans but is systematically used against Mapuches, who are fighting for the return of their communal lands and their right to self-rule. The independent Mapuche polity was invaded by Chile in the 19th century and has no recognized autonomy.

The Appeal Court authorized prison guards to use forced feeding on striking prisoners.

Source: Gara.

This fight has, as so many other important news, got no room in mainstream media, either in Spanish or English. Many wonder if this happened in Cuba or Venezuela, what kind of media reaction would it trigger. This in turn causes deep concern for the situation of freedom of speech and journalism in general in the so called Western World. And this is not the only case: what do you know of the real situation Louisiana oil spill and its real effects on the people living at the Gulf of Mexico? If you are only following mainstream media: nothing at all! A very bad situation for information freedom the one we have.

Canarians get involved in West Sahara while the Moroccan tyrant choses repression again

Tenerife con el Sahara reports[es] that a number of Canarian citizens have taken part in a protest for the rights of the Arab Democratic Sahrawi Republic at El Aaiun. The reaction of the Moroccan autocracy has been brutal, as usual.

Carmen Roger one of the Canarian victims

After being beaten by the Moroccan occupation forces, the Canarians have been arrested at the "House of Spain". Two international observers, Mexican Antonio Velázquez Díaz and Catalan Isabel Terraza, are being besieged by the occupation forces at the homes of their Sahrawi host family. Tenerife con el Sahara claims that they are at serious risk, as well as the Sahrawi families besieged at their homes by the invader troops.

The international protests are organized by Saharaacciones which is promoting nonviolent protest in order to make the occupation and repression of the West Sahara more visible and hopefully push towards a democratic solution through the right of self-determination of the Sahrawi people:

We are demonstrating to make visible a vetoed territory, where we are unwelcome by the occupation forces, following the example set by the admirable peaceful resistance that the Sahrawi people are doing once and again since the beginning of the Intifada in May 2005.

Morocco may be pushing for greater involvement of Spain

This is what Pedro Canales argues at El Imparcial newspaper (found at Sahara Libre). According to him, Morocco wants Spain to take a more clear pro-Moroccan stand in regards to the West Sahara, a former Spanish province. As Spain cannot really control the high level of popular support for the Sahrawi cause, which is generally perceived as a treason to the formerly "Spanish" people of the Sahara by Madrid, nor can reign on the local and regional administrations in this matter, Morocco seems to have opted to do the same: leave the Moroccan popular discontent with Spain on matters such as the colonial outposts of Ceuta and Melilla or the treatment of immigrants, break loose.

However Canales seems to be writing for the Moroccan viewpoint and seems to think that greater Spanish involvement alone could change things. This is not possible because Spain already has a very shameful role by mere inhibition and cannot really take any stronger political stand against the Arab Democratic Sahrawi Republic. So if Spain would get involved, it could only do with a stand at least moderately opposed to Morocco's aspirations, so really Morocco is doing it wrong if Canales is right. After all some border riots at the Melilla fence won't get anyone worried this side of the Strait.

On the other hand, I guess it is always positive when the people, in this case the Moroccan people can express their discontent. It is a positive development that may be in the future will turn against the autocrat of Rabat. If the people can really express their anger and gets organized maybe in the near future we can hope to see a simultaneous solution to both colonial problems: Moroccan occupation of the Sahara and Spanish control of Ceuta and Melilla.

In any case, I don't think that Morocco really wants to press Spain to get itself "more involved" in the conflict of West Sahara because it can only backfire. For Moroccan imperialist interests the best situation is the status quo, with Spain inhibiting itself, what is as pro-Moroccan as it can get.

But that the people organizes itself and gets to speak out loud in any conflict is as such a good development. In an ideal democracy situation all these conflicts would not exist because it'd be up to each local people to self-determine their status and their future.

Video: French police brutally attacks homeless women and toddlers in peaceful demo

The video does not have sound.



Context: the protesters, mostly original from Ivory Coast, were expelled from their homes in a banlieue NW of Paris because of some dark real state plot (i.e. corruption, robbing the poor).

In a related news, French President Nicolas Sarkozy is promoting new legislation that would revoke citizenship for those French nationals of foreign origin which have willingly attacked the authorities. One wonders if these poor women and their babies are included in his xenophobic plans.

We live under fascism, they call it democracy.

Source: La Haine[es]

France riots as police keeps killing the underdogs

Is France heading for another massive urban revolt like the one in 2005? All suggests so even if the media is not paying much attention so far.

There were riots in Grenoble over the weekend as police killed Karim Boudouda, 27, allegedly member of an armed robbers' gang in what was perceived in his hometown of Grenoble by many people as an illegal execution with racist and classist undertones.

The authorities declared that the policemen acted in self-defense after Boudouda fired one shot.

While the conflict was still hot the Gendarmerie shot and killed another person known as "Luigi" (22, father of a young girl) who apparently forced his way through a road blockade at Sain-Romain-sur-Cher, in Central France.

In response a group of people, mostly masked and armed with iron bars and axes, assaulted and ravaged the local police station.

The two police agents are under preventive arrest.

The reaction of the authorities has been to treat the matter as a mere public order episode, deploying three extra police brigades in Grenoble and now sending in the Army as well to Saint Aignan.

There is some speculation that the murders may have been intentional in order to divert public opinion from the L'Orèal scandal that is tarnishing the image of President Sarkozy (the infamous fascist owners of L'Orèal illegally paid huge amounts to Sarko's presidential campaign). Sarkozy whose image of tough ruthless man was forged in the 2005 riots may therefore be trying to gain public support by repeating his more than dubious feats.


Whatever the case, the facts are that angry semi-organized mobs have been attacking property in the well-off suburbs of Grenoble, burning some cars, still far from the record of more than 300 destroyed in 2005.

Some 20 people have been arrested so far.

Source La Haine[es] (link 1, link 2)


Update (Jul 20): Gara informs today that the person killed at Saint Romain is Luigi Duquenet, of Roma ethnicity. The editorial opinion article of the Basque newspaper argues that militarization is not any solution when the problems of the suburban neighborhoods have been fed by the state. They argue that while the state does not properly address the marginalization of these areas, they will keep exploding cyclically at any provocation because the rage is there and is very much justified.

Pamplona: fascist aggression in San Fermin

The information on this matter was confusing at first, as the incident was believed to have been just one of several involving Spanish hooligans and Basque nationalists as some hollow heads got out to the streets with Spanish banners, what is generally considered a fascist provocation here and may cause serious fights.

But as time passes the case is becoming more clear: three armed Spanish fascists went into a popular meal of the San Fermin peñak on Sunday, dressed on Spanish flags and fascist tattoos and carrying also weapons such as a pepper spray, a machete and a pistol, pushing, threatening and insulting the people who were celebrating there.


Gaztelu Plaza was full with policemen but they did not intervene against the provokers.

A reason may well be that at least one of them, the one carrying the gun, was a policeman himself, as has been reported by Diario de Navarra.



However no word is said of the violence they caused.

Sources: Sare Antifaxista (1, 2), Boltxe, Diario de Navarra

Puerto Rico: de facto coup by NPP?

What Puerto Rican dramatist Roberto Ramos-Perea denounces[es] regarding the political situation in Puerto Rico sounds most worrisome.

He denounces that the pro-annexation New Progressive Party, which won the elections in 2008, lead by Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz and Chief of Staff Marcos Rodríguez Ema, is making an institutional coup that has caused strikes and violent confrontations. The theoretical leader of the party and the country, Governor Luis Fortuño is claimed to be without will, without opinion and without public presence nor responsibility.

Ramos-Perea informs that the conflict began with the firing of more than 20,000 public servants with the pretext of solving public deficit along with strangling the budget of art institutions. Meanwhile the government hired at great cost many companies and advisors akin to the NPP.

The NPP also placed four party members in the Supreme Court, which totals seven members. Then it suppressed student participation in the University government causing a student strike that lasted 60 days, followed by a legal modification of the number of members of the University government (Junta de Síndicos), that again granted the NPP total control.

The NPP has also privatized a large fraction of the natural area known as "Karso del Noroeste", that gathers 1/3 of all water in the country. The new country's budget and associated laws will promote privatization and hand public funds to the private sector without surveillance. When approving these laws, the microphones of opposition representatives and senators were turned off.

Two weeks ago the FBI arrested Senator Héctor Martínez, right hand of Rivera Schatz, on corruption charges. Martínez was taped in his last instance of graft and is said to have links with narcotraffic. Rivera Schatz defense of the "innocence" of his friend caused even greater political upheaval.

In June 30, date in which the text seems to be written, student and citizen groups claimed their right to assist to the deliberations in the Puerto Rican Congress, being beaten and tortured by the police. The National Guard was mobilized and sent to the Capitol, causing more clashes and repression.

So far the synthesis of what Ramos-Perea denounces as happening these last months in Puerto Rico. I am somewhat surprised of not having known anything about this earlier, a clear sign of media disinterest or censorship.

If any reader can point me to more extensive information, I'd appreciate it.

Video: Basque police violence and arbitrary arrests in the General Strike of June 29

This video showing the actuation of the Basque Autonomous Police, Ertzaintza, against union pickets illustrates well how is the reality of police control and who exerts most violence in our daily lives, hidden behind masks so not be pointed at when they go back to their homes.

It's nothing that surprises me at all, as we have been suffering this systematic police harassment since I have memory and before, even before the Ertzaintza was created.

But maybe for readers from other socio-political contexts, where human rights are not just an empty word, this may be revealing.



The immediate source for this video is Spanish alternative news site La Haine, however I imagine it is a small part of the many sequences filmed on the day of the General Strike that were never broadcasted by any TV and that have been generously donated to the public domain by some anonymous worker tired of so much hypocrisy.

Spanish Supreme Court sees no crime but false confession under tortures, revoking Inquisition sentence

The Spanish Supreme Court has slapped again the New Inquisition tribunal (Audiencia Nacional) in the case of five Basque youths earlier declared guilty on the crime of support of terrorist organization and sentenced to five years of prison.

The five Basque citizens denounced tortures upon arrest and incommunication and signed self-inculpatory declarations at the police station where they "acknowledged" that they had distributed ETA's bulletin Zutabe.

Only on such "evidence", they were sentenced to five years of jail for support of terrorist organization.

Now the Supreme Court considers that there is total lack of evidence and that they should have been acquitted in first trial, accusing the Audiencia Nacional of sloppiness. It also says that the attitude of the state attorney in the case, trying to keep the original condemnatory sentence is "improper", as the state is supposed to defend human rights and the presumption of innocence.

Another issue highlighted by the high tribunal is that issuing the sentence after the original trial, took more than two years!

One of the victims of this case of tortures and false accusations, Mikel Zenigaonaindia, denounced recently (photo above) that he had been stalked by police, who threatened him with murder: "you are going to end like Txiki and Otaegi", who were the last two people executed by the Fascist regime in September 27 1975.

Of course no action was or will be taken against those policemen. That's how justice works in the Kingdom of Spain.

Source: Gara.

Honduras went to the streets to protest the coup in the dark anniversary

I remembered three days ago the sad anniversary of the coup in Honduras. Today I come to know that in the Central American republic hundreds of thousands went (again) to the streets to protest against it.



It did not happen only in Tegucigalpa but across the country.

Carlos Reyes, speaker of the National Front of People's Resistance (FNRP) the coup has been tried to be made invisible, both inside and outside the country. Not just the coup but the crimes of the military and the resistance of the people.

Today we are certain that we have been doing the right thing, said Reyes. We have to install a Constituent National Assembly. This was the pretext on which the military-oligarchic alliance removed President Zelaya.

Source: La Haine[es] (includes photos and videos). More photos here.

Spanish Inquisition: one step further.

Elected representatives will now, in the legal jurisdiction of Spain, be suspended if they don't parrot with enough vehemence the institutional doctrine promoted by the two official (and almost identical) parties: PP and PSOE.

According to the new wording of the electoral law, just approved by the Constitutional Commission of the Spanish Parliament, representatives elected in any list that is declared illegal after the elections will be suspended. The only way to avoid this suspension would be to repeat constantly the ritual words "terrorists" and "I condemn".

By the letter the popular representatives must formulate "voluntarily" before the "Electoral Administration" in the term of 15 days "an express and doubtless declaration of separation and rejection of the causes determining the declaration of illegality" of his/her list.

This however is not enough: the "lucky" representative will be placed under constant scrutiny and can be suspended at any time if "by act, omission or manifestation" he/she "would show contradiction" with the written declaration.

This process will happen by mere administrative procedure, with no judicial guarantees whatsoever.

Source: Gara.

It is of course a law intended primarily to prohibit one of the largest Basque political factions from having any institutional representation whatsoever under any circumstances but these McCarthyist laws are ample enough to allow the illegalization and persecution of anyone who dares to have different opinions, be them Basque or Spanish.

Furthermore, we must not forget that the Spanish "anti-terrorist" hysteria has been plagiarized by the USA and its empire since 2001. The same that Spain allowed the massacre of Hipercor to happen, the USA allowed 9/11 (if it did not directly engineer it), only to spark mediatic hysteria and rally the people around the Capitalist governments and their repressive policies in what I could not describe but as a de-facto coup against democracy, as it has allowed for further restrictions of human rights and civic freedoms everywhere, impelling almost total police control of the citizenship. All things that would have been unthinkable without this carefully engineered hysteria.

So beware, because it'd be not the first time that a "brilliant" Spanish idea like this would be copied worlwide.

Regarding the Basque political situation it can only make more difficult any path to peace. We must remember that ETA has been in an unspoken but real unilateral truce since more than a year ago and that the Basque Nationalist Left has repeteadly declared its will to achieve independence by peaceful and democratic means, yet the State only responds with more repression.

Strikes in the Basque Country, Greece and Metro Madrid

Yesterday, June 29, there were general strikes in Greece and the Basque Country, as well as a sectorial 'wild' strike at Madrid's subway that blocked the metropolis.

Basque general strike has been considered a great success: about 75% of workers joined it in the Western autonomous region. Particularly strong incidence in the industrial, banking and administration sector, though the arbitrarily high 'minimal services' may have hidden some of the impact, specially in transport. 65,000 people demonstrated in the main protests at the provincial capitals.

In Navarre the following was irregular, with total closure in the North, high following in the Pamplona urban area, specially in the industrial sector, and more occasional impact in the South.

Police presence was overwhelming, so whoever went to the strike did so on their own will. The opposite may not be true in some cases as it is well known that some big corporations like El Corte Inglés coerce their workers systematically.

The regional governments and corporative associations have tried to minimize the impact but their figures (well under 10%) are simply not credible at all.

Demo Donostia (San Sebastian)

Demo Vitoria-Gasteiz

Demo Iruñea (Pamplona)

Above pictures from Gara. More images and some videos can be found at La Haine and the sites of LAB union.

Sources: Gara (link1, link 2) , La Haine, Euskal Herrian Info, Hala Bedi Irratia, Eguzki Irratia.



Greece keeps up the fight

Dramatic fights between protesters and the police broke again at the Republic's Parliament today in yet another episode of the class war that is gradually gaining momentum as the rich and their lackey governments try to put the cost of the crisis they have created on the workers' shoulders.

It happened in the context of another strike called at public service and transport sectors.

Source: Al Jazeera and local TV.

In this context, Al Jazeera blog on Europe has an interesting analysis by Barnaby Philips. It deals with the occasional home-made bombs so typical of Greece, where revolutionary factions are particularly strong, in particular with the latest, unusual, parcel-bomb that killed an aide of the Greek interior minister. What really called my attention was this paragraph:

I was surprised when I asked a conservative Athenian friend what he thought of the bombing. “I’m sorry that someone was killed, but I’m glad they let the bomb off, to show how unhappy people are” was his blunt reply.

Metro Madrid strike paralyzes the metropolis

The second day of the strike at Madrid subway was also the first one of "wild" strike, not respecting the abusive minimum services of 50% imposed by the government, which is also the owner.

The reasoning behind is that, if the regional government is taking illegal measures, breaching the collective agreement, workers are also entitled to break the law.

According to La Haine, it was a total success with not a single train circulating today. This totally disrupted the normal life at the Spanish capital, with people having to walk long distances, take packed buses or almost impossible to find taxis.

Tomorrow the strike continues. It will be the last day, also without minumum services... by the moment. The ball is now at the right-wing regional government's court: workers demand a written compromise that it will respect the collective agreement signed by both parties months ago.

10 Basque prisoner rights militants arrested. Three attorneys among them. Two hospitalized after detention.

Ten Basque citizens related with the movement of support to prisoners were arrested yesterday by the Guardia Civil (military police) in Biscay and Gipuzkoa. Among them there are three attorneys, who were captured in their workplaces, and a teacher who had been "warned" in a previous irregular arrest and was taken at gunpoint before her young pupils.

Two of the arrested, Erramun Landa and Saioa Agirre, were brought tonight to the Basurto Hospital at Bilbao, what makes the usual suspicions of tortures more than likely. Erramun Landa, professor at the University of the Basque Country, is said to have a serious chronic illness, reason why the family has presented a demand of habeas corpus.

List of the arrested:

• Arantxa Zulueta, attorney. Arrested at her office in Bilbao.
• Naia Zurrriarain, former prisoner and co-worker of Zulueta. Arrested in the same office.
• Two attorneys (unknown identities yet) arrested at Hernani.
• José Luis Gallastegi, in charge of the fishing section of workers' union LAB and also former prisoner. Arrested at his office in Lekeitio.
  
• Erramun Landa, professor of Arts and famous painter. Arrested in Bilbao.
• Saioa Agirre, teacher. Arrested at her classroom in Sopela before all her young pupils. She had been "warned" by the Spanish police in a previous irregular detention and interrogation in the mountains.
  
• Juan Mari Jauregi. Arrested at his home in Donostia (San Sebastian).
• Asier Etxabe. Arrested in Donostia as well (no further details known yet).
• Joxe Domingo Aizpurua, former prisoner. Arrested in Usurbil. The police beat two of his nephews in the event.

In most of the cases, the police did not show any arrest order. Only the case of Agirre was exceptional in this sense because she resisted arrest until such order was shown.

The operation was ordered by the judge of the Spanish Inquisition (Audiencia Nacional) Fernando Grande-Marlaska. All prisoners are incommunicated. While the procedure is under secrecy, official sources had no problem filtering the contents of it to the press and even making public declarations. According to these the ten arrested are accused of "belonging" or "collaborating" with ETA.

However, considering the nature of the arrests, most political and social organizations in the Basque Country have denounced them as a political operation meant to damage the possible negotiation process demanded by Basque society and international actors.

Teachers and students protested at the University against the arrests

Several protests took place during searchs and in other contexts. Basque autonomous police charged violently against those concentrated in Lekeitio.

Source: Gara[es] (link 1, link 2, link 3, link 4).

Update (Apr 20): five of the arrested, plus another one later captured by French Police, have been left free, though in some cases the state attorney keeps the accusations. The people still arrested are the attorneys Jon Enparantza, Arantza Zulueta and Iker Sarriegi, along with Naia Zurriarain and Saioa Agirre.

Nothing is known yet of the declarations nor the state of the prisoners after five days in isolation in the infamous dungeons of the Spanish police.

The apparent lack of real substance of the accusation is underlined by the case of the only person arrested in French territory, David Plá, who was freed without charges after the French authorities saw no basis for the Spanish accusation. (Source).

Update (Apr 20): the arrested denounced threats of tortures, specifically the following techniques: "the bag" (axfisiation with a plastic bag), "the bathtube" (waterboarding), electrodes and beatings. The women among them also denounced sexual abuses. Gallastegi also denounced being forced to keep forced positions and make sit ups (source).

Postcards from the Basque Country

Some masked people threw down a trash container in a "day of struggle" at Vitoria-Gasteiz (they did not even set fire to it... what kind of "struggle" is that!) Police arrived at the scene and had all students at the nearby school retained for 40 minutes of school time, while they proceeded to identify them.

While some teachers protested in vain that the activists were none of their students, the directors of the center hid in their offices and let the police do.

And then they are surprised that police and hierarchies are so much hated by the Basque youth. An eye-opening experience for many of these young people I presume.

Source: La Haine.

Kurdish journalist jailed

A Turkish tribunal has sentenced Ozan Kilinc, editor of Kurdish-language newspaper Azadiya Welat, to 21 years for "support of the PKK". His actual "crime" seems to be to have dared to mention or allow to mention the illegal (but highly popular) party's name in the newspaper, allowed mentions to Abdullah Ocalan as "leader of the Kurdish people" and not licking the boots of the Turkish conscription Army by calling its casualties "martyrs" as seems to be standard among Turkish media.

Ozan Kilinc (image from Azadiya Welat)

As BBC reports, this kind of brutal repression seems way too common: a 15 year old girl sentenced to 8 years for hurling stones to the police, a journalist asked 32 years for writing a book critical of the police investigation in the murder of another journalist...

In other words: more or less like in Spain. They should definitively allow them into EU, but first let Basques and Kurds get out of it.

Police attacks workers' picket in Pamplona, unprovoked, injuring 25

It happened in the context of protests against the opening in holidays. Several large commercial centers (MediaMarkt, El Corte Inglés, Decathlon and others) had decided unilaterally and against all labor unions to open yesterday, sunday. Labor unions, for once united beyond ethnic lines, organized pickets against such corporative abuse and, in Pamplona, they decided to focus in El Corte Inglés creating a picket of some 600 people that chanted slogans and informed workers of their theoretical rights.

The picket was all the time under tight police control but at certain moment, the police chief returned with reiforcements and charged wildly against them, "without any sort of provocation", surprising even their own colleagues that were all the time on the spot.

El Corte Inglés is a large Spanish corporation created by a shadowy mafious individual of the Fascist era, that is infamous for its abusive labor policies (persecution of any sort of unionism, horrible working conditions) and for bribing the media with huge publicity campaigns so they don't criticise them. It was probably the corporation itself who pulled the strings so the police attacked the picket.

The unprovoked charge caused 25 victims, some of them elderly people. In spite of the attack the picket continued its action all the morning and continued at evening. The strike is also being called for today with further mobilizations. Many employees however had to work under threats of being fired.

Nevertheless the four trade unions (ELA, LAB, UGT and CC.OO.) considered the strike very positive with most workers seconding it and with many trade centers yielding to the workers' demands in advance and not opening this sunday. But they denounced the attitude of El Corte Inglés and its threats to the workers, demanding the intervention of the Work Inspection office in this regard.

Source: Gara.

Zionists arrest Mordechai Vanunu

Famous Israeli peace activist Mordechai Vanunu, who in 1986 revealed the nuclear weapons program of the Jewish Theocracy has been arrested in East Jerusalem. He is accused of talking to foreigners, what shows the fascism that really exists in Israel, where dissidents are not allowed to leave nor speak freely.

Mordechai Vanunu gave an interview to Basque journalists, published in Gara in February 2009, interview that I partly translated back to English in this blog.

Source: BBC.