Madrid stomps on rights of Basques, leftists
By John
Catalinotto
Madrid, Spain
Following the assassination of former Socialist Party
minister Ernest Lluch on Nov. 22, the rightist Spanish
government has opened a political attack on all nationalist
parties in the Basque region of Spain and a police attack on
the ETA, the Basque liberation organization suspected of the
killing. ETA are the initials of the Basque words meaning
Basque Homeland and Freedom.
The prime minister and head of the governing Popular
Party, Jose Maria Aznar, has called for a pact with the
opposition Socialist Party to isolate and freeze out any
Basque nationalist organizations, not just the ETA. Spanish
leftists told Workers World that the regime has even begun to
infringe on Basque-language education in the region's
schools.
Part of the anti-ETA drive could be seen in all the
newspapers and other media over the weekend following Lluch's
assassination in Barcelona. They were filled with tributes to
the ex-minister and attacks on any manifestation of Basque
independence. They especially hit the ETA, which they blame
for 21 deaths in the past year.
The tension arose in the middle of official celebrations
of 25 years of rule by Spain's King Juan Carlos.
The Basque country is in the northeast, straddling the
border between Spain and France. About 2.6 million Basques
live in Spain and 250,000 in France. The French government
has cooperated with Spain in the repression of the Basque
movements.
A long struggle for
self-determination
The Basque Country is one of the most industrialized
regions of Spain. It has a strong labor movement that is
known for combativeness. Basques have their own language and
national identity and have waged a long history of struggle
for self-determination.
During the Spanish Civil War, the Basque region was a
bulwark of anti-fascist sentiment and struggle. Guernica, the
town bombed by German planes intervening on fascist Francisco
Franco's side during that war and later made famous by a
Pablo Picasso painting, is in the Basque country.
Following Franco's victory, the repressive Civil Guard
occupied the region and the Basques were not even allowed to
use their own language. ETA has continued an armed struggle
for self-determination of the region under the governments
that succeeded Franco after he died in 1975.
Throughout the 1980s, right-wing paramilitary
organizations with ties to the Spanish military and police
carried out a "dirty war" against Basque liberation fighters,
murdering dozens. One such group was the GAL or
"Anti-terrorist Groups of Liberation"--which disappeared only
in the early 1990s. It was replaced with a shoot-to-kill
policy by the police, keeping the death penalty alive in
another form.
Political prisoners
In the meantime the government in Madrid put about 1,000
Basques in jail with long sentences. It also kept them in
prisons far away from their family and friends in the Basque
country, moving many as far away as the Canary Islands. There
has always been strong support for the political prisoners,
even from Basques who are unsympathetic to the ETA, and
demonstrations have brought out hundreds of thousands in
their support.
Starting in October 1998, the ETA declared a unilateral
cease fire in an attempt to negotiate the release of the
political prisoners. The government made many promises, but
after 14 months the prisoners were still behind bars. At that
time the ETA decided to resume the armed struggle.
Most targets have been soldiers, civil guards, police and
particularly vicious anti-Basque politicians. When civilians
are hit, however, the government has jumped on this as an
opportunity to launch an attack on all Basque parties and on
the left in general.
On Nov. 20, the anniversary of Francisco Franco's death
and a traditional day for anti-fascist actions, police
suddenly and without any provocation launched a physical
attack on a demonstration of 3,000 anti-fascists in Madrid.
They beat demonstrators and passers-by with clubs and shot
rubber bullets at them. The cops wounded at least 40 people
in their vicious assault.
Hundreds of thousands of people have demonstrated "against
the violence," especially in Barcelona. The government and
media have tried to depict the demonstrators as completely
anti-ETA. Yet many of the slogans raised, including those of
Lluch's three daughters, called for "dialogue," reflecting a
desire for a negotiated solution that the government rejected
during the last cease-fire.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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