Like everyone else we have followed the sad events in Madrid upholding our breath. A massacre of this dimenssion and this nature is not justified, though we can understand the reasons – we have to look at the resaons, because just understanding them and making an effort to challenge them, we’ll be able to prevent future events of these kind (there is a trend nowadays in our world to takle the ‘effects’ rather than the source).

As Basques and like it has been demonstrated by images in the media, there is a refusal to these actions. This even came from Batasuna, the party supporting armed struggle and which has been ilegalised because it doesn’t conden ETA’s actions. On this point we have to say that we desagree with his spokesman Arnaldo Otegi, who condemn the actions because they weren’t ETA – this means that only when ETA uses these means ‘atrocities’ are acceptable and when they don’t they aren’t. In the following allegations of Islamist groups as authors of the bombing, we have to say that perhaps this action is disproporcional, and that to tackle civilians is unjustified, BUT the PP (Peoples Party) government has joint the US-UK alliance in a war against the Muslim world and the battlefield is broader than the deserts of Iraq, than Afghanistan or the streets of Ramallah. We can side with those who decided to take on such actions – but we can’t accept the PP govrnment coming now as saviours and as guarantoors of peace when they’re sewed seeds of hate all over. And they did it with 85% of the population positioned against taking part in the war.

As Basque, and as Basque who understands the armed struggle and justifies it, we can’t be hipocrits: I will always hope that this is not the kind of actions taking to reclaim the independence of our people and I may distinguish between actions and actions and act according to this. However, and once again, I will understand the reasons because Basques are experiencing an environment of high tension and Basque indepenendentists huge repression and frustation. If you understand that there is people who don’t mind to kill to achieve their means, repression and further isolation is not going to bring better results.

The Islamist theory

As I said before, this may be the action of an Islamist group (because of latest evidence and information among it the one in www.jihadunspun.com presenting a claim by a group called Lions of Al Mufridoon) (*) but if not this, an action by ETA was to be expected. There Had been a van filled with explosives intercepted on its way to Madrid the days before. The presidencial ellections are due on Sunday. Once again, the radical nationalist party Batasuna won’t be taken part due to its illegalitation. These will be the second ellections that this party misses since the Parties Law was introduced. This has created huge tension as it relayed on the basque regional government run by Basque liberals PNV-EA and IU (spanish United Left) to implement it. These three groups refused this law but there have been in an alliance with Batasuna and other smaller groups to demand a soultion to the conflict (Lizarra Garazi Akordioa: www.lizarra-garazi.org ) Ever since all these groups had suffered a media and government lynch comparing them with the terroirsts. Once in the ellections, it was clear that votes to basque moderates would be more practical that white votes, and many Batasuna sympathisers voted these forces, adding more to the tension. This increase when these parties didn’t mind to benefit from the circunstances.

crispation in the Basque Country: ilegalisation, repression and biting among mates

The other paradox of this situation is that just after ETA’s comeback to the armed struggle and the collapse of the Lizarra Grazi Agreement, there is a split in Batasuna by those who refused the armed struggle (still many who do so inside Batasuna, but who accept it as the option chosen by others). The split, Aralar, would run for ellections as their condemn of violence wouldn’t affect it with the illegalisation. But this created added tension as they would get votes from the banned batasuna and because by running in ellections somehow they were supporting the current state and therefore the banning of a party. The tension between the no-far ago party members has been high. The old succesful receip of ‘divide and rule’.

In this environemnt Batasuna has experienced a huge repression with acts stopped by the police (by both the Basque regional and the Spanish one) – in many cases the acts were disolved by anti-riot police who battered the assistants. As it happened in the previous ellections, their attempt to introduce their own ballots so they could count as their votes was also repressed, with the police seizing the ballots and arresting people carrying them.

Therefore we have a situation where a big sector of the population appart from feeling frustated by the unfullfillement of rights (autonomy, language, human rights, etc) are experiencing a banning of a voice and affecting their rights of expressionand association. To all this we have all the crispation generated by the banning and the conflict among the groups which it creates. When the means to air an opinion have been violent ones, ones the possibilities of airing those views (and the ones added to it) are reduced even more, we can deduce that the election of the violent method will increase. To more frustation and less possibilities, more reaction. It’s clear that if it’s not this (or not as desproportional) there would/will be other actions.

PP’s government role in the War on Terror

Following the media and as it happened with the other sad events of 11-9-02, we can notice the hipocresy of this system, because if this event needs all the respect and attention, it’s true that other events needed too. The fact that bombing in the so-called liberated Iraq (the UK government has already sent back all Afghan and Iraq refugees to those ‘SAVE’ countries – many from Bristol too- as they did with the Kosovans). Everyone has lost the account of the toll of deaths in bombings since iraq was ‘liberated’. Everyone has lost the account of the tol of civilians killed to remove the dictator. This is Western hipocresy, european hipocresy, white hipocresy, racist hipocresy. SOLIDARITY WITH THE MADRID VICTIMS, NOT WITH YOUR HIPOCRIT GOVERNMENT AND MEDIA!


PP has been inconditional supporter of Bush and Blair in their efforts overseas. Even PP didn’t took part militaryly, it has taken part offering all kinds of logistic support. In that way it was named togtehr with those countries and France (because of the ban on veils – time to get back to the French Fries?) as targets of Muslim militants. What ddo you expect? The benefits of PP’s support have been huge. After this ellections, Aznar will leave the spanish presidence to take over an important role in International politics. Let’s wait and see. In exchange PP got huge support in their war against ETA and specially in all its anti-democratic measures in the Basque Country: banning of parties and organizations, repression of demonstratimnons, closure of papers, magazines and radios, closure of businesses and companies, indiscriminate torture of innocents and civilians, indiscriminate imprisoment of social activists, etc. To all this, the cInternational community and specially the global sheriff have showed blind eyes – in exchange of its support in the other War on Terror.

But obviously, PP will continue until today Friday sayng that is ETA teh responsible of the bombing because otherwise , to blame Islamist will mean that this bombings were a direct consequence of their malgovernment and their abuse of power.

Spain and it’s neighbours of the North of Africa

And once again will have all this brainwash of the Islamist danger. Obviously, when you fuel the fire your beard runs the risk of setting in fire. In some information I read (perhaps it was Al Qaida) Al Qaida had denied its involvement, but as I said before, there has been some information pointing at Islamist North African groups. Appart from the hatred that any Muslim (like any human should feel) against the Western fovernments and specially those so-called Allies, we have to consider the relationship between Spain and North Africa. Since 1492 when the latest Muslim king was expelled from the peninsula, both chrisitan and Muslim world have been divided by the narrow division of the gibrlatar Stray. Spain colonised marocco and west Sahara until last century (my grandada fought there conscripted by the Spanish government) (there was where Franco’s troops started the fascist upraising which led to the civil war).

Since Spain’s entry in NATO and EU, the differences have increased. Firstly Spain is considered Europe while the close marocco doesn’t for being in the African continent (and Turkei does: obviously they are political reasons). Appart from having an absolutist monarchy supported by the West, marocco has been excluded from any economical and industrial development taken place across the sea. In the last twenty years, Spain saw a wave of Northern African inmigration (Marocan, Algerian, ect) as well as African This inmigration exposes the difference between North and South and the high wall which has been raised in Spain dividing both. For these more than 20 years people of the african conmtinent have tried desperatly to reach a better live in Spain and Europe. The proof of this desperation ids the more than 100 people killed in the Spanish coast trying to get there clandistinitly ( 3,500 death in the nineties according Liberation).

From those who manage to arrive, many are the new dispossed of Spain, living in carboard boxes, literally undearneath bridges, in ruins of old houses without water and electricity. Trying to get work permission and to survive in the meantime, or working without work permission accepting the worse work conditions that anyone can imagine in thos civilised Europe. They’rre thousands in Spain. They’re those harvesting all the non-seasonal vegetables that we enjoy nowadays in the UK: aubergines, tomatoes, peppers, courgates, lettuce stems, fruit, etc, the one harvesting the grapes for the nice Spanish wine – the same that in other countries: this system exploits people – new slavery. Some of them live alright but the main majority live like rats and they still suffer xenophoby, racism, etc. maybe yesterday action wasn’t the action of some of them but more organised people, but believe me, one day the thing will explote and people (some of them, whom are enriching thanks to them, some who still see them as ‘scam’ as a threat, etc, will deserve it) will pay the consequences. Like it happened in february 2000 in El Ejido (Almeria) (check your box of tomatoes to place this area in the map) when Northafrican inmigrants uprose against so much abuse. They were crashed by riot police.

And for those living in those situations seeing the same government entering a massacre of a nation like Afghanistan and Iraq that they can even communicate with in Arabic and with same religion, etc., this has to be quite upsetting.

The government of Spain is guilty of being part of the new financial and military elite and it wants to be that way. They have not consideration towards the underdevelopped neighbours of maroccco, about helping them to solve their problems, to include them (and others further south) in the nice maret where they operate. They prefer it like this because so the can profit better.

Basque nationalism and violence

As we said before, there has been the first split in batasuna since this was created after the dictatorship. There have been many dissidnet voices and currnts highlighting the issue, most of the times manipulated by the Spanish media and government against basque nationalism. Ansd tthere are still more voices in batasuna itself, but as the split shows, to reject ETA’s violence means to reject a way of fighting which started with the dictatorship when ther wasn’t another possibility. It continued as the basque desires for independence were betrayed in the new ‘democracy’ by a false transition and by Basque sold-out patrties with other motivations. And so it continue with a huge tol of prisoners, people killed within ETA too, torture, dispersion and so on, which are the price so many basques paid for continuing what has became a tradition of fight. For many, to condemn ETA and its fight will be to betray those who have done it because of a dynamic and those who have given so much. For others, as it was demonstrated after the ceasfire in 2000, the Spanish governbment will ignore the Basque issue while in peace even more. Many don’t find comfortable with the violence and even less when this has jepardised the work done on grassroots levels in councils and communities, but feel that while there are others pursuing those means not to be with them will be to be against them as many times is demonstrated in basque politics.

Yesterday’s bombing is going to have disastrous effects for the basque movement as until today the Spanish government has presented it as an ETA action and the inmediate response of people was to identify it as such. And also because after the dimenssion of it and the repercussion to do something else (in the case that it wasn’t ETA) will be very negative for the basque independentist movement. The fact that Batasuna condemned the action yesterday is also very significative.

Obviously in such context (splits in the basque Country, legalisation, yesterday’s bombing, etc) we wonder if this will have an effect in ETA’s future, and we believe it will, but we’re not going to start like all these ‘terrorism experts’ who shoudendly have popped up all over the media, and will wait to see what happens.

As any act of this kind, the aiomn is to inflict damage but also to raise attention. However you don’t need a tragedy of this size to do that, but it’s obvious that with the elections happenong on Sunday, until this haopppened no one had talked about the anti-democratic sitiuation that basque are facing. Hope some people have a grasp as well of how terrible other situations (northafricans) are in that estate too.

PP’s profitering from ‘terrorism’

Many have brought it up: PP has been profiitng of ETA’s action for very loong time. Even when ETA is inactive like in the last days, PP had found issues to use on their behalf: ETA’s declaration of cease-fire in Catalunya. Yesterday’s action will be used. Once again PP will come out as the tough sheriff who doesn’t elbow: Mariano Rajoy (PP new president candidate) has already adavanced he’ll crass the ETA. PP refuses to acknowledge a conflict in the Basque Country. The solutions come through repression. There is not a willingness to understand the sources, to hear the possibilities suggested by organisations, parties, etc All of them are disregarded as collaboration with ETA, like the proposal by the current basque regional president (PNV) or Ibarretxe Plan, like demands for negotiation.

PP has been clear once again: those behind yesterday’s attrocities are ETA. The motto is clear: ‘in support of the vitims, against terrorism, for the constitution’. Even before such event, PP has to made the point that there is not room for anything else but the current Constitution. This constitution denies the basic right of people from an specific culture and region to conform their own state. The reply in that event will be military intervention. That’s a cConstitution which was writen by Francoists and that PP and PsOE relate to it as God’s word. No referendum, no negotiation, no changes of constitution will be acceptyed because this will contradict the Holy constitution – and this was something writen by God centuries before humans lied a border in the Pyrenees (dividing basque Country in 2!).

EA, the moderate basque nationalists who have taken part in every anti-terrorism platform until 1998, being as clear as always in their condemnation of the bombing, came out to critisize the manipulation and to propose and alternative meeting point to reject the action. They have done it before when PP tried again to use ETA’s actions on its behalf – the chosen location will be Gernika.

BECAUSE OF ALL THIS, WE DECLARE OUR SOLIDARITY WITH MADRID’S WORKING CLASS AND OUR SOLIDARITY WITH THE MASSACRE VICTIMS AND THEIR RELATIVES.

WE ALSO REJECT THE POLITICAL (ELECTORAL) MANIPULATION OF THIS KIND OF EVENTS AND DEMAND AN END TO POLITICAL ABUSE

WE ALSO DEMAND A NEGOTIATED SOLUTION FOR THE BASQUE REGION AND BASQUE DEMANDS TO BE TAKEN IN CONSIDERATION

ONE RACE , THE HUMAN RACE – MANY CULTURES
FIGHT THE POWER!

(*) this islamist American based page clamimed this in the morning and by the night it was already down
they calimed on Friday to have been hacked:  http://www.jihadunspun.net/intheatre_internal.php?article=96680&list=/home.php&