[Marxism] Basque activists fighting extradition from Belfast

[Emma Clancy <emmaclancy83@xxxxxxxxx>]

A couple of articles on recent developments in the Basque Country and Spain's 
attempt to extradite two Basque independence activists from Belfast - former 
ETA prisoner Inaki de Juana, who moved hereÂwhen he was released last 
AugustÂ(after spending 21 years in Spanish prisons) and Arturo Villanueva, a 
youth activist who Spain is trying to extradite on charges of membership of 
Segi, an independent socialist youth organisation - he faces 14 years jail if 
the extradition is successful.
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Spain is also trying to extradite a Basque independence activist from 
Venezuela, Inaki Etxebarria, who was arrestedÂin the last couple of weeks Â- 
anyone have any info on this?
Â
Just a few days ago, Spain's supreme court ruled that a left-wing coalition 
running in the European electionsÂnext monthÂ(Internationalist Initiative - 
Solidarity With the Peoples) was "linked to Batasuna/ETA" and banned it from 
standing candidates. None of the candidates were even Basque; the leading 
candidate was Spain's most famous living playwright, 83-year-old Alfonso 
Sastre. 
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This is the group's website: http://www.iniciativainternacionalista.org/
Â
A new campaign group has been set up in Belfast to fight the extradition 
attempts here: http://www.dontextraditethebasques.org/
Â
The second article below covers the recent eletions in the Basque Autonomous 
Community, which all left nationalists, who usually poll 15-20 per cent of the 
vote, were banned from, leading to the situation where the PNV (Basque 
Nationalist Party) lost control of the regional parliament for the first time - 
cos the PSOE and PP united in a chauvinist alliance after the electionÂto 
scrape a majority of seats. Basque trade unions have called a general strike 
against the new government for May 21.
Â
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Basque youth activist to fight extradition from Belfast

Â
April 30 2009

BASQUE activist Arturo Villanueva Arteaga (32), who has lived in west Belfast 
for four years, was arrested in a raid on 21 April under a European warrant 
issued by the Spanish authorities who are seeking his extradition to Spain on 
âterrorismâ charges.
Villanueva, who is well-known in the west Belfast community and has been 
running a tourism business providing tours to European tourists, has said he 
will fight the extradition attempt. He was released on bail under conditions of 
reporting to police daily and living under a 9pm curfew, with the extradition 
hearing to begin on May 13.
The Belfast Basque Committee protested against the extradition attempt outside 
the court, calling for the case to be dropped. A spokesperson said: âArturo 
has been living openly in Belfast for four years and has a life here. 
âWe are calling for the immediate dropping of this case and an end to the 
repression of Basque civil society.â
The charges relate to the pro-independence Basque youth organisation Segi, 
which was made illegal in 2001 and declared a âterroristâ organisation by 
the Spanish Supreme Court in 2007. If the extradition is successful Villanueva 
faces up to 14 years in prison.
In 2001, following the banning of Segi, Villanueva was among 17 young people 
charged with being a member of the group. Segi, an independent socialist youth 
organisation with thousands of members, organised political campaigns around 
the right to Basque self-determination as well as social and economic issues 
that affect youth.
Released on bail, he did not attend the political show trial. In 2005 Spanish 
prosecutors called for Villanueva to be sentenced to 14 years in prison in his 
absence.
Segiâs proscription by the Spanish government was part of the stateâs 
long-standing policy of criminalising virtually all political parties, media 
sources and civil society groups that are in favour of Basque 
self-determination â and jailing the leaders and members of those 
organisations.
In December UN human rights special rapporteur Martin Scheinin said Spainâs 
Law of Political Parties defined âterrorismâ so vaguely that it âmight be 
interpreted to include any political party which through peaceful political 
means seeks similar political objectivesâ as those pursued by armed 
organisations.
Villanuevaâs arrest comes after the Belfast Recorderâs Court in March ruled 
in favour of a Spanish extradition request for former Basque prisoner IÃaki de 
Juana Chaos to face charges of âglorifying terrorismâ. De Juana is 
appealing the ruling on May 15.
The Basque Committee is urging the local community to oppose the targeting of 
Belfastâs Basque community by the Spanish authorities and to support 
Villanueva and de Juana in their fight against extradition. 
From Green Left Weekly and An Phoblacht
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*******
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Spanish chauvinist alliance ousts nationalists from Basque parliament
Â
April 16 2009
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THE banning of left-wing Basque nationalist parties, and an alliance between 
rival Spanish chauvinist parties, has meant that for the first time since 
limited autonomy was granted to the south-west Basque region (Bascongadas) 
under Spanish rule in 1979, the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) has lost control 
of the regional Parliament of the Basque Autonomous Community.
The Bascongadas regional elections (comprising the Bizkaia, Gipuzkoa and Araba 
regions) held on 1 March effectively disenfranchised 15-20 per cent of citizens 
through the Spanish authoritiesâ banning of political parties they claimed 
were linked to armed Basque nationalist organisation ETA or Batasuna, the 
pro-independence political party that was outlawed in 2003.
While the PNV won the highest number of votes, it failed to win an outright 
majority of seats in the 75-seat parliament and the two main Spanish parties 
â PSE, the local section of the ruling Spanish Socialist Workersâ Party, 
and the right-wing Partido Popular (PP), who between them took 38 seats, struck 
a deal on 1 April to form a coalition government on the basis of opposition to 
self determination for the Basque Country.
In the months leading up to the poll, the Spanish judiciary stepped up its 
repression of the pro-independence movement, with the Supreme Court banning a 
further two parties â Democrazia 3 Miloi (Democracy 3 Million) and Askatasuna 
(Freedom) â from standing candidates. As a result of the political bannings, 
the left-nationalists, who generally poll 15-20 per cent or up to 200,000 
votes, were entirely excluded and will not have a single representative in the 
new parliament.
Despite this the left-nationalists organised a defiant act of mass civil 
disobedience, printing and distributing illegal ballots which more than 100,000 
people voted with. Overall, a majority of voters, about 640,000, supported 
pro-self determination parties, with 482,000 voting for the PSE or PP.
The pro-Spanish unionist parties, bitter rivals in Madrid, have united in a 
pact that will see PSE leader Patxi LÃpez be the new lehendakari (president) 
of the regional government, with the PP supporting him in exchange for getting 
the position of president of the Basque Parliament.
The new government will be formed in May, with the two parties already 
indicating they intend to unleash an intensified wave of repression against the 
pro-independence movement by bolstering the security forces, and to attack 
Basque language and cultural rights.


Repression
In an especially vindictive move, LÃpez has said he plans to cut government 
travel aid to the families of hundreds of Basque political prisoners to visit 
their family members in the far-off jails throughout Spain and France which 
they are being held in.
On March 23, leading Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon, who is on a personal 
crusade against Basque aspirations towards self-determination, filed 
âterrorismâ charges against 44 pro-independence activists, allegedly 
members of banned nationalist parties including Batasuna, the Communist Party 
of the Basque Lands (PCTV) and Basque Nationalist Action (ANV). Among those 
charged is the mayor of Mondragon, Maria Inocencia Galparsoro.
In a 16 December report based on a mission to the Spanish state in May last 
year, the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights 
Martin Scheinin said he was âtroubledâ that Spainâs Law of Political 
Parties, which provides the legislative basis to ban political organisations, 
defined âterrorismâ so vaguely that it âmight be interpreted to include 
any political party which through peaceful political means seeks similar 
political objectivesâ as those pursued by armed organisations.
Clearly it is not the tactics but the political goals of the pro-independence 
political parties that the Spanish state is intent on crushing.
Similarly, the Special Rapporteur stated that the law against âglorifying 
terrorismâ âshould include the requirements of an intent to incite the 
commission of a terrorist offence, as well as the existence of an actual risk 
that such an offence will be committed as a consequenceâ. The Spanish 
authorities are currently using this law to try to extradite former ETA 
prisoner IÃaki de Juana Chaos, who served 21 years in Spanish jails, from 
Belfast where he moved after his release in August last year.
The Spanish court is basing its effort to extradite de Juana Chaos on the 
flimsiest grounds of a single media report saying somebody at a rally in 
Donostia in August, which Juana Chaos was not present at, saying âKick the 
ball forwardâ, without any evidence that the comment was de Juana Chaosâs 
or that it somehow constitutes a terrorist offence.
A Belfast judge last month accepted the advice of the Spanish authorities that 
the phrase âKick the ball forwardâ constitutes âpraising terrorismâ and 
that this offence has a legal equivalent under the British Terrorism Act 2006. 
De Juana Chaos is appealing the ruling in May.
The UN Special Rapportuer report also criticised the interpretation of kale 
borroka, or street fighting between young people and the security forces, as 
âurban terrorismâ, subjecting young people to the anti-terror legislation 
including incommunicado detention.
The report slammed the fact that all political cases are judged in the 
Audiencia National, (National Bench, descended from fascist dictator General 
Francoâs Public Order Tribunal) whose judgements can only be reviewed in a 
limited way in the Supreme Court.


Prisoners
The UN also reported the abuse of human rights, in particular the rights of 
âterror suspectâ detainees, who may be held incommunicado for up to 13 days 
without charge. Not only does the UN report note the frequent allegations of 
torture by detainees who have been held incommunicado, it also notes the 
failure of the Spanish authorities to effectively investigate these claims.
The Basque human rights NGO Torturaren Aurkako Taldea (Group Against Torture 
â TAT) listed testimonies of serious torture from 62 people, most of whom had 
been held incommunicado, in 2008, including beatings, sexual assault, 
asphyxiation with plastic bags, food and sleep deprivation, stress positions, 
and threats to rape or kill victims or their partners or family members, among 
other abuses. Being forced to sing the Spanish national anthem or fascist 
anthems was another common abuse listed by detainees.
Today there are 765 Basque political prisoners, the highest number since the 
Franco dictatorship, and they have been âdispersedâ or removed as far from 
home as possible, spread out in more than 80 prisons in Spain and France, on 
average about 600km from the Basque Country. Their return to the Basque Country 
has long been a central demand of the Basque people.


Response
Against this background of already severe repression, the Spanish chauvinists 
will now control the central institution that Basque nationalists have 
historically used to exercise a degree of autonomy, the Parliament of the 
Basque Autonomous Community.
For the section of Basque population who supported the PSE, the partyâs 
opportunist alliance with the right-wing, neo-Francoist PP brings into sharp 
relief the fact that the question of self-determination remains the primary 
defining issue in politics in the Basque Country.
The conservative nationalist PNV must also realise that the Spanish stateâs 
strategy of fostering division and attempting to isolate the radical 
nationalists not only hurts the left but the PNV as well â it has lost its 
grip on the limited form of power it had and demonstrated its dependence on 
support from the left-nationalists. The left-nationalists have argued that the 
PNV in power failed to oppose the persecution of the left effectively, 
essentially collaborating with Madridâs anti-democratic policies out of 
narrow self-interest, which has now backfired badly.
A new nationalist united front with a strategy of extra-parliamentary mass 
mobilisation will be vital to defend the political, cultural and economic 
rights of Basque people against the chauvinist coalitionâs looming offensive.
In response to the election result, left-nationalists have held a series of 
meetings to discuss a new way forward. Basque nationalist trade unions are 
calling for a general strike on May 21, days after the new government is 
inaugurated.
International support for building a meaningful, inclusive peace process â in 
which the Spanish and French states are pressured to acknowledge the democratic 
and national rights of the Basque people â will be more important than ever 
in the coming period. 
Â

From Green Left Weekly and An Phoblacht
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