Spanish State bans another Basque nationalist party

international | rights, freedoms and repression | news report Friday September 19, 2008 19:41 by Cormac Mac Gall

Spanish State continues repression and to violate civil rights

Dublin Committee condemns latest action of Spanish state in banning yet another Basque political party as part of a campaign of repression against all democratic and peaceful expression of Basque left-nationalist aspirations.

On 16th September the Spanish state banned yet another socialist and pro-independence organisation – the ANV-EAE (Basque Nationalist Action).

Founded in 1930, the ANV created battalions to fight against the fascist uprising led by General Franco against the Spanish Republic in 1936 in which 550 ANV members lost their lives. Nevertheless, their Gernika Battalion fought in the French Resistance during the Second World War and was one of the first groups involved in liberating Paris. Despite this, the government of France collaborates with the Spanish state by regularly arresting and deporting activists back to Spain to face the usual torture meted out to detainees, farcical trials in special courts and sentences of up to 40 years.

The Spanish Civil War served as the training ground for Europe’s budding fascist forces while the so-called democracies sat on their hands, drowning in their fear of communism. Only the international solidarity brigades of one faction or another stood up for the rights of the Spanish people. The forces of Fascism subsequently ruled Spain with an iron rod until the death of Franco 33 years ago. Spain then declared for democracy but when it comes to ancient people like the Basques, the Gallicians and the Catalans looking for self-determination and independence, Spain’s self-declared “democratisation” is a sham: they still rule with the iron rod, especially in the Basque Country.

During the elections last year, the Spanish State disqualified the ANV from fielding candidates, justifying their action by stating that the ANV had among its members individuals who had been convicted or were then facing trial on charges related to alleged terrorist activity but membership of the party was not then illegal. However the Spanish state has a very wide interpretation of “terrorist related-activity” and even individuals who had been in mediation between the state and ETA around the previous truce and negotiations, or who had been in contact with ETA in an attempt to have them remain in the peace talks despite their unproductiveness, have also been arrested and were very recently jailed. The Basque left-nationalist movement at the time accused the Spanish state of introducing a new principle of “guilt by ‘contamination’” in that it is not the actions or policies of a party that cause it to be disqualified but the record of some of its members. The movement stated that by this action the Spanish state disenfranchised the rest of the membership of the ANV and of the Basque electorate in Hegoalde (“Southern Country” – the part under Spanish state control).

In some Dublin circles there was anger this week at the latest move: Anyone who puts their head above the parapet ends up being banned, beaten, imprisoned, sometimes even dead,” stated a spokesperson for the Dublin branch of the Irish Basque Committees this weekend. “Is this all news to you? ANV is the latest victim; it will not be the last. So far they’ve banned the political parties Herria Batasuna, Askatasuna and now ANV; they’ve also banned the youth group SEGI and the prisoners’ rights group Semideak. The newspapers Egin and Egunkaria were closed. It is hard to think of any process more likely to lead people into use of arms. If they take away every other avenue to organise for and express the desires of the Basque people, if they constantly frustrate every legal democratic initiative and block every popular avenue, what do they expect the Basques to do? Giving up is the one option that the Basques will never choose.”

“In Ireland, there’s a general almost gut feeling of support for the Basques’ aspirations,” continued the spokesperson. “But the Basque people need more. We need to be able to show the Spanish state directly how repugnant its actions are to most Irish people and also to bring sufficient pressure on our representatives in Europe to get them to protest against Spanish state actions like this one. This is all happening in a major European country and only two hours’ flying time away from Dublin.”