Maquetación 1 - Euskal Herria Bildu

Short Introduction to the Basque Country
Dear Journalist or visitor,
This short introduction to the Basque Country has been written to provide an insight to our perception of our
Country and some information that we believe may be interesting for you.
We know that you may have been told you were visiting Spain, but this is not Spain, this is Euskal Herria,
the Land of the Basques. The Basque people is spread over 7 seven provinces at both sides of the French
and Spanish border. A stateless Country divided in three main administrative systems and two states;
over 3 million inhabitants, out of which more than 600.000 are fluent Basque speakers. Basque (Euskara)
is a pre-Indo-European language that has no known relation with any other language.
The Basque Country, Euskal Herria is not recognised by either Spain or France, and thus, since the loss
of Sovereignty (1511-1594) this denial has encountered varied forms of response and national self-affirmation, from collective disobedience to an armed response to Spanish and French structural violence.
During your stay in the Basque Country you will probably meet all kinds of people: those who call themselves
only Basques, only Spanish, only French or a mixture of the previous and other origins; Those who will deny
the existence of Euskal Herria and those who will defend it.
Our coalition defends the right of the inhabitants
of all Basque provinces to decide their own future and the institutional frame they want to live
in. We believe that an independent state is the
best, and only, way for our Country to survive
and thrive. Unfortunately neither the Spanish
nor the French authorities will allow our people
to exercise the right to decide. In June the 8th
2014 over 150.000 people held a 123 km long
human chain to ask for the right to decide under
the motto “Gure Esku Dago”, it's in our hands.
The expressions of Basque identity and culture
are diverse, not only language, but also music
and everyday life organisation. This expressions
are also clear in many sports and not only on
traditional sports. We hope that this short introduction helps you to better understand the
situation in our Country and gives you some references regarding the ongoing political process.
1
Short Introduction to the Basque Country
EH-Bildu:
Euskal Herria Bildu is a coalition of four pro-independence left Basque parties, Eusko Alkartasuna, Alternatiba, Aralar and Sortu. Originally founded as Bildu, It has obtained near 25% of the votes in every election
since 2011 and became the 1st force in number of votes in the last European Parliament elections (May
2014).
Basque Country and Sport
Even if Euskal Herria is not officially recognised there are several sport practices and policies that overcome this denial and act upon a 7 province base. We have gathered a few examples of them for you:
Athletic Club: One of the best known Basque clubs, founded in 1898 it has played in La Liga since its
start in 1929 and it is one of only three clubs which have never been relegated from it. The club is best
known for its cantera policy of only recruiting Basque players, bringing young Basque players through
the ranks, as well as recruiting top Basque players from other clubs.
Athletic official policy is only signing Basque players, which means both native to or trained in football in
the whole Euskal Herria and also members of the Basque diaspora. However, this policy doesn't exclude
Spanish Unionist from its supporter base, for example former Popular Party's Basque Branch president
Antonio Basagoiti and the current European Commissioner for Competition, Joaquín Almunia, (former
secretary general of PSOE) are well known supporters of the Athletic.
Euskaltel Euskadi: was a professional road bicycle racing team that disappeared in 2013. The team was
commercially sponsored and partly funded by the Basque Government, it kept a Basques only policy
until 2012 (recruiting riders either from Basque Country and adjacent regions, or who had grown up in
that cycling culture).
Its sponsor was Euskaltel, a Basque telecom company, that lent its brand colour to the team kits, making
for the well know all-orange kits. This team worked as an unofficial Basque national team, bringing thousands of supporters to the Tour each year.
2
Short Introduction to the Basque Country
ESAIT: The lack of official national teams has originated an struggle for the official recognition of those
teams, ESAIT, The Opinion Group in Favour of Basque Selections was created in 1995, it has since then
worked to promote the official recognition of the selections that already existed (Football and Surf for
example) and creation of Basque Selections for different sports where there was none.
This work had one of its peaks in the match between the Basque and Catalan football teams in 2007,
with a huge demonstration taking place for the official status of both teams before the match (that
ended in a draw).
EHSF, Euskal Herriko Surf Federazioa: EHSF was created in 1989 to gather surfers from all the Basque
coast and help organise international events in the Basque Country, as the Basque Coast counts with
well-known waves, like Mundaka and Biarritz. The Federation was recognised by the world federation
and Basque surfers took part officially in International competitions.
This outraged sectors of the Spanish Government that promoted the creation of an Spanish Federation
of Surf in 2000, this Federation started putting obstacles for EHSF's work and recognition. The issue
became so complicated that it ended up in courts that ruled in favour of the EHSF in 2002 and 2007.
Modern conflict and current situation
As we have written since the loss of the Basque
Country's sovereignty there have been different
confrontations, through collective disobedience to
armed action. In 1968 ETA, an organisation created in 1959, put up an armed struggle for Independence and Socialism for the 7 provinces of the
Basque Country and against Franco's regime.
Since then and up to 2011 we went through more
than 50 years of armed confrontation, during this
period of the conflict 829 deaths were attributed to
ETA and other Basque militant groups; the Foundation “Egiari Zor” lists another 476 deaths and over
9600 cases of torture.
We understand that this confrontation was the expression of an underlying political conflict, even if
other political forces maintain that there is no political conflict, we went through 3 failed Peace
Processes (Algiers 1989, Lizarra-Garazi 1998 and
Loiola 2005-2007) to address it.
Despite this failures, since 2009 the Basque political scenario has undergone very positive changes.
The decision of the Basque Abertzale Left to set
up a unilateral process and change its strategy, to
an exclusively democratical and political struggle,
together with the understanding among progressive
3
Short Introduction to the Basque Country
pro-sovereignty forces and broad sectors of Basque Society, opened a new opportunity for peace.
One of the main milestones for that process was the International Conference to Promote the Resolution
of the Conflict in the Basque Country, also called Conference of Aiete. The conference took place in the
palace of Aiete, on the 17th October 2011. After the conference Kofi Annan, Gro Harlem Bruntland,
Bertie Ahern, Gerry Adams, Pierre Joxe and Jonathan Powell, presented the Aiete Declaration that was
subsequently endorsed by Tony Blair, Jimmy Carter and George Mitchell. The Declaration made 4 recommendations for the resolution of the conflict.
The declaration asked ETA to put an end to the armed campaign, which ETA did 3 days later; asked the
Spanish and French Governments to hold a dialogue with ETA about the consequences of the conflict;
called Basque society to address the suffering of all victims and called on Basque parties to address the
roots of the conflict.
The Spanish and French Governments have refused any kind of contacts or dialogue so far, and are
trying to block the process. Despite it, the International Verification Commission announced on February
21, 2014 that ETA had shown its willingness to put all its weaponry beyond operational use and had
started with a symbolic number of weapons.
The attempts to block the process have focused on the situation of prisoners; despite the calls of Basque
society the Spanish and French states haven't made the slightest positive change in their prison policies.
In front of this blockade Basque civil society has taken the initiative and promoted a Social Forum, to
keep on the effort for peace. Several International events and initiatives have also taken place.
Political Prisoners
As a consequence of the long conflict, near 470 Basque Citizens are held in Spanish and French prisons.
During the Confrontation period, this collective suffered a number of exceptional measures, including
automatic rejections of parole, dispersion, difficulties to get medical treatment and legal assistance. They
are also subjected to communication limitations and have been isolated.
On the current scenario Basque society has clearly demonstrated its support for a change in prison
policy through massive demonstrations, 130,000 in Bilbao on the 11th January 2014. The official opinion poll of the Basque University (EuskoBarometro - November 2012) established that 75% of Basque
Citizens are for the repatriation of prisoners.
However, Spanish and French governments haven't changed their position and have maintained and
even worsened the exceptional measures against these prisoners. Their situation raises three main concerns at this moment. (1) The policy of dispersion (keeping prisoners dispersed and as far as possible
from their places of origin). (2) The refusal to release seriously ill prisoners. And (3) the incarceration of
people condemned for belonging to political organisations and the ongoing legal processes against them.
There is two ongoing campaigns, one for the repatriation of prisoners (Euskal Presoak, etxera!) and another against the ongoing political trials (LIBRE!), you may see this demands all around the Basque
Country.
International Initiatives on the peace process
4
Short Introduction to the Basque Country
International initiatives have shown their support and-or concern for the ongoing situation. Nearly a
hundred members of the Swiss and European Parliaments have supported the Aiete declaration. A
Members Motion and an Early Day Motion were presented in the Scottish and British parliaments.
The Finnish Parliament hosted an event on December 2012 with Brian Currin, facilitator for the political
dialogue in the Basque Country, as key-note speaker. The event was open by Johannes Koskinen, SDP;
chaired by Elisabeth Nauclér and closed by Paavo Arhinmäki, Minister for the Left-Alliance.
The Greens-EFA group in the European Parliament hosted an event to discuss the issue of prisoners in
March 2013 and “On the Path to Peace” an International Initiative on the issue, was launched by a
number of renowned Lawyers and Human Rights activists.
Two years after the International Conference of Aiete, 13 South-American former Presidents endorsed
the Aiete Declaration in an event held in Mexico,
Additional Information:
Further information can be found on the following websites:
www.basquepeaceprocess.info (website on the Peace Process)
www.lokarri.org (Lokarri, citizen network for agreement and consultation)
The Social Forum's recommendations are available at:
http://www.bakeforosoziala.org/gomendioak/recomendations/
The following work provides a comprehensive historical background to the conflict:
•
The Basque Country: The Long Walk to a Democratic Scenario; Berghof Transitions Series No.7,
05/2010; Urko Aiartza, Dr. Julen Zabalo
5