[A-List] Spain: Basque repression

["Keaney Michael" <Michael.Keaney@xxxxxx>]

Explosive voices of gloom

 
As violence rises, the Spanish government is poised to outlaw the Basque
independence party, Batasuna. But Alberto Letona in Bilbao warns of
underground tactics and rising resentment as emotions run dangerously
high
The Sunday Herald, 8 September 2002
 
One week after September 11 last year I rang one of the spokesmen of the
Basque radical party, Batasuna, and asked him to assess the political
repercussions in the Basque Country after the attacks in New York. From
the other end of the line a gloomy voice said: 'These attacks are going
to have very negative consequences for our party. Mr Aznar will take
advantage of the anti-terrorist feeling in the whole world to subdue
us.'

Almost one year later, his words have been proved right and Batasuna,
the party which advocates the independence of the Basque Country, is on
the verge of being made illegal and its offices have been shut down.

But resentment is rising, even among moderate nationalists. The memories
of repression by the late dictator General Franco remain vivid in a
region with a distinctive language and culture.

It was not part of the package holiday but last Saturday, a group of
Nordic tourists could not believe their eyes. Trapped in the old quarter
of San Sebastian, the tourists witnessed the clashes between radical
young people and the police of the autonomous region (ertzaintza). The
air of the beautiful city soon filled with teargas, rubber bullets and
broken glasses. A man lost one of his eyes and some youngsters were
arrested.

It was hardly a surprise. An hour earlier, 2000 people had marched along
the streets of the town shouting pro-ETA slogans and asking for the
independence of the region.

'The Basque Country is a nation, stop the fascism,' read one of the
banners. The demonstration ended peacefully, but later some of the
youngsters started burning rubbish containers and throwing bottles at
the police. Violent clashes began. Just 12 hours earlier, ETA (Basque
Homeland and Liberty) had tried to explode a 30kg bomb when passing a
van of the regional police in Bilbao. They were not in their best mood.

'Emotions are running very high these days and nobody does anything to
stop things getting worse,' points out Koldo Ruiz, a retired
metal-worker in his 60s. 'I wouldn't vote for Batasuna, but making them
illegal will only radicalise their views,' he continues with an
expression of concern.

Teresa D'az-Bada, whose father, a top officer of the autonomous police,
was killed by ETA, believes the illegalisation of Batasuna is good news.
In her view, the illegalisation is a victory for the victims of ETA. The
armed group has assasinated 867 people during the past 30 years. Most of
them after Francoism.

'ETA is responsible for the moral degradation that exists in the Basque
Country,' says Teresa, who said that her world crumbled when her father
was killed.

Itziar, not her real name, was married to an ETA prisoner 10 years ago,
while he was still serving a long period of imprisonment. She has a
six-year-old daughter. Twice a month she gets on in a bus to cross the
whole of Spain. The journey takes 11 hours each way, as her husband is
in the southern province of Cadiz.

'My husband should have been out of prison by now, but the ETA prisoners
are just pawns in the hands of the Spanish government,' she says. When
asked about democracy in Spain, she looks into my eyes and says: 'I feel
sick when I hear Spain is a democracy.'

She then asks rhetorically: 'Why haven't I got the right to chose
between being Basque or Spanish?'

The Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) is the leading party in the region
and it represents a moderate view on nationalism, although some of its
members would be very happy to see an independent country between France
and Spain. The party has been governing for the past 20 years.

Frictions between regional and central government have been rife in the
past but since the last elections, relations have worsened. The
rejection of violence and ETA's tactics by the PNV have not appeased
JosZ Maria Aznar's Popular Party, which accuses them of not making the
necessary efforts to get rid of ETA.

On August 26, Spain's top anti-terrorist judge suspended Batasuna's
activities and the mainstream Spanish parties voted massively to seek a
Supreme Court order outlawing Batasuna because of its links with the
separatist organisation ETA. The Basque Nationalist Party voted against
it and it was heavily criticised, not only by the rest of the parties,
but also by the media.

Joseba Egibar, the spokesman of the party, stated that by making
Batasuna illegal violence will not stop unless a political solution is
found. He pointed out that the illegalisation of Batasuna would
contribute to make a wider gap between Spain and the Basque Country. But
the PNV does not enjoy the friendship of the radicals either. They
accuse it of being too tame and not brave enough to challenge Madrid's
orders. The PNV's leader, Xabier Arzalluz, an astute and pragmatic
politician likened the party's plight to that of 'Jesus Christ on the
cross surrounded by the two thieves: on the one side the PP, and on the
other Batasuna'.

Gorka Espiau is a soft-spoken man in his early 30s. Married to an Irish
woman, he tries to analyse the nature of the Basque conflict in a bid to
find a solution. Gorka works for Elkarri, a non-sectarian peace group
rejected by both extremes.

'It is a mistake to make Batasuna illegal because of their links with
ETA. You can not make the whole party illegal, because some of their
members have been condemned for belonging to ETA, the British government
would never have acted in that way with Sinn Fein.' According to Gorka,
there are many critics of ETA within Batasuna. With the illegalisation,
he thinks there will not be much room for criticism.

Batasuna obtained their best results soon after ETA declared a ceasefire
in September 1998. Two months later, 15% of the Basque population gave
their vote to the independentist party in the regional elections.

After a year and a half of truce, the group restarted its armed struggle
due to the lack of progress in the negotiations with the Spanish
government. Since then, Batasuna have lost 80,000 voters.

If the Spanish judiciary decides to make them illegal, Batasuna will not
have any voters at all in the next elections. Their 1000 elected
representatives in the Basque Country will disappear from the political
scene, but will the illegalisation of Batasuna stop violence in the
region?

Many Basques think not, but Leopoldo Barreda, one of the Partido
Popular's leaders in the region, believes Batasuna is the feeding ground
for ETA and by making the political wing illegal, violence will be
subdued. 'Without Batasuna, ETA will be defeated,' he says very
assertively.

Tucked in among green mountains and surrounded by red-tiled farmhouses,
around 20km from San Sebastian, lies Ohiartzun one of the heartlands of
radical Basques. The street walls are awash with posters asking for the
return of the 800 ETA prisoners to their homeland.

In the pelota court a couple of young people play with their bare hands.
Basque is the only language here. I asked them about the illegalisation.
The answer is crystal clear: 'The government could make us illegal, but
they cannot make our ideas change.'

I have recently tried to get to talk with the same Batasuna spokesman. I
did not get any answer. They have been forbidden by the judge Baltasar
Garz-n to carry out any public activities on behalf of Batasuna. I am
afraid that they are already going underground as many of us expected.