Nationalist general strike wins wide support in Basque
Country
By Monica
Somocurcio
Donostia, Basque Country
Over 450,000 people participated in an April 10 general
strike called by nationalist organizations in the Basque
country. Under the banner of "Burujabetza da
Bakea"--Sovereignty is Peace--workers, students and other
supporters marched and rallied in all the major Basque cities
in both Spain and France.
This event marks the first time that nationalist political
organizations in Euskal Herria--Basque country--called on
workers to strike in support of sovereignty and against the
wave of attacks against nationalists by the Spanish and
French states.
The strike was called by Euskal Herritarrok, a coalition
of leftist nationalist organizations including the now
illegal Herri Batasuna and the leftist workers' federation
Union of Patriotic Workers (LAB). They estimated that there
were at least 202 pickets and 36 massive demonstrations
throughout the Basque provinces of Araba, Bizkaia, Gipuzcoa,
Nafarroa and Lipurdi/Zuberoa.
One-half to 90 percent of businesses were shut down in
many areas. The cities of Ondarroa, Lekeito and Extebarria
were completely shut down. Another demonstration stopped
traffic for over an hour on a major national highway.
Euskal Herritarrok leader Arnaldo Otegi told the crowds in
Donostia: "This is a day to thank the Basque workers and the
Basque people. This is the first time in modern Basque
history that a general strike for sovereignty and peace has
been called. And it is probably the first time that this call
has been carried out throughout the whole of the Basque
country and not only in four [Spanish] provinces.
"We have stated clearly today that this is a people that,
understanding its experience with its historical references,
is able to organize, to fight and face the aggression and to
do what the left is planning on doing, which is to fight and
also propose. And we propose a substantial political and
social change and a change in the political scene. We have
demonstrated again that the road to take is one of protest
and proposal."
An issue that is clearly still alive and felt throughout
the rallies and demonstrations is concern for the hundreds of
political prisoners who continue to languish in Spanish and
French prisons. The prisoners themselves joined the strike by
staying in their cells and refusing food. A frequent demand
at the demonstrations was amnesty for all political
prisoners.
The prisoners are now fighting to remain in the communal
prisons where they are housed currently and not be sent to
newly built prisons where they would be separated from their
comrades and held in separate cells.
There was a heavy presence of local and national
police--dressed in riot gear and fully armed--at the rally
sites. Police arrested a total of 53 demonstrators in the
various regions.
Lines of police circled the major demonstrations.
Helicopters flew over the crowds. This is a well-known tactic
used to both intimidate the participants and keep others from
joining.
Police attacked a peaceful rally in Errenteria, injuring
15 people and sending four to the hospital.
The general strike was called in defiance of severe
conditions of repression as the Spanish state grows ever more
vicious. The ranks of political prisoners have now grown to
over 550 due to a wave of arrests against nationalist and
socialist activists.
The Spanish state has launched a campaign to
"rehabilitate" and even honor those previously found to have
violated the human rights of activists. During the 1980s
dirty war against the Basque movement, the paramilitary
organization GAL, organized by Spanish political figures such
as "socialist" President Felipe Gonzalez, killed at least 28
activists.
Torture was and is also widespread in Spanish prisons,
with 200 documented cases.
Early this year Amnesty International had to issue a
statement condemning the early release of police convicted of
torture during the dirty war and the awarding of Medals of
Honor to known torturers. This included a posthumous honor
awarded to the head of the San Sebastian secret police during
the Franco dictatorship.
Several political organizations have been declared
illegal. Most notable is Herri Batasuna (Popular Unity
Party), a well-known leftist political party that carried
significant votes and had members in Parliament.
Twenty-three members of the national board of Herri
Batasuna, including seven members of Parliament, were
convicted and imprisoned in 1997. Their crime was having met
with the armed liberation organization Basque Homeland and
Freedom (Euskadi ta Askatasuna, ETA) to discuss a peace
proposal. Herri Batasuna was then declared illegal because of
its supposed "ties" to ETA.
Further showing the current climate, in view of its
possible banning by the Spanish courts Euskal Herritarrok was
forced to sign up under a different name--"Askatasuna," or
Liberty--for the upcoming May 13 elections. The judge in
charge of this case and the most vocal advocate of banning
the group is the same judge who called for Chilean dictator
Augusto Pinochet to stand trial for human-rights abuses.
Another organization behind the call for the general
strike that is also under severe repression is the leftist
youth group Haika. It is also under threat of banishment.
Many of its members and leaders have already been
detained--falsely accused of setting a car bomb and being
members of ETA.
Police raided their office in March. They arrested over 15
members in that raid alone. Nonetheless, Haika organized
Basque history classes and teach-ins during the general
strike.
Using the excuse of preventing election-related violence,
Spain has also arrested dozens of activists under "preventive
detention" laws. These allow the Spanish state to imprison
activists for their political views and associations without
having to point to any "crime."
So it is in this climate of severe repression and fear
that thousands of workers have heeded the call by the Basque
left. This is, as Rafael Díez, general secretary of
the union federation LAB, said, "a starting point in an
irreversible strategy toward peace and sovereignty."
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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