| Révolution Socialiste |  |
|
Accueil |
Liens |
CoReP |
CRP en el Perú |
Repression against the Basque separatists by the
Social Democrat government of the Spanish State
Immediate release of all Batasuna leaders! Legalization of Batasuna!
On
October 4th , the Audiencia Nacional (National Hearing) -the court
which is dedicated to the most serious criminal affaires- arrested the
leadership of the political party Batasuna, which demands the independence of
Euskady (Basque country). As a response, several thousands people demonstrated
in Bilbao and in St Sebastian. On October 7th, Audiencia Nacional’s
Baltasar Garzon put 17 persons in jail in Madrid, for “membership of an
armed group”, out of the 23 persons who were arrested. The judge Garzon
blames them for being linked with ETA (Euskadi ta askatasuna, Basque country and freedom), the organization of Basque
nationalist guerilla warfare which was born in 1952 to lead the armed struggle
against Franco dictatorship.
Since
2002, the government led by Aznar, from the PP, the bourgeois party heir of
Francoism (Partido popular, Popular Party) prosecuted any Basque political or
cultural expression. In 2002, the judge Garzon had already originated the
device which turned Batasuna outlaw, which banned the petit-bourgeois nationalist
party to take part to the municipal elections, where he had a significant
audience on the previous ballot. He was protected by the act of June 4th
2002, through which the Cortes (parliament) voted an antidemocratic law
allowing the ban of any party by the government and by the courts, under the
pretext that it advocates violence.
In
March 2004, three days before the general elections, an islamic network of
Al-Qaida blew up several suburb trains in Madrid, which killed 200 people and
injured 1 400 others. The Aznar government immediately accused ETA,
despite Batasuna disclaimers. The discontent of the workers and the youth, who
were the target both of the reactionary attacks and of the PP policy, became
concrete with more and more massive demonstrations, charging the government of
being a liar, and lashing out at PP premises. It appeared later that the
Islamist network was full of informers and was linked with the police.
The
general elections were to save the monarchist Spanish State from a serious crisis,
and to give a shining victory to the main traditional workers’ party, the PSOE (Partido
socialista obrero español, Spanish Workers’ Socialist Party). Since then,
Zapatero government ruled on the behalf of the Spanish bourgeoisie, like his
predecessor did as a “socialist” Prime Minister of Juan Carlos, namely Felipe
Gonzales.
Before
the amplification of the repression against the radical wing of Basque
nationalism, various pressures were exerted against the Catalan nationalists
who dare to question the monarchy, which is so cherished by the Catholic church
and by the PP, and also by the PSOE and by the PCE (Partido comunista español, Spanish Communist
Party). Two Catalan militants were brought before court for “serious injure” to
the crown: on September 13th, they had burnt a portrait of Juan
Carlos when the latter came to Gerone. On October 1st, Ricardo Blazquez, the bishop of
Bilbao, felt obliged to claim himself “close” to the royal family “not
only from a personal point of view, but also on the name of the institution I
represent”. Monarchy is a legacy of Franco, it was set up with a total
support by the PSOE and by the PCE, that already acted against the proletarian
revolution in 1936 and 1937, with the help of the CNT, contributing then to the
success of the fascists.
The
PP openly rejoiced when Basque militants were arrested by the police of the
PSOE government.
The PP
leader, Mariano Rajoy, described the operation as “good news” and he said,
referring to the government, that “wisdom consists of rectifying one’s
mistakes”. (El País, October 6th 2007)
Whereas
the PP government had refused any negotiation, the PSOE government made some
attempts for disarming ETA, as the Labour government succeeded with the IRA. In
March 2006, ETA declared a ceasefire, which allowed negotiations to begin, even
if Zapatero refused to discuss the issue of independence. Yet, since the
discussions with the Zapatero government led to nothing, especially about the
improvement of the conditions of the 700 Basque prisoners, ETA broke the truce.
In March 2007, when the separatists intended to build a party with statutes
claiming that it would use “exclusively democratic political means”, the
Zapatero government prevented that. As a a result, they could not take part to
the municipal elections in May
Marxism
has nothing to do with the Spanish chauvinism of the Social Democrat (PSOE) or
post-Stalinist (PCE) leaderships, which are agents of the bourgeoisie within
the proletariat, it has nothing to do with the bourgeois (PNV) or
petit-bourgeois (ETA, Batasuna) Basque nationalism, which pretend that people
ignores class struggle, and deny that the maintenance of oppression, including
national oppression, is due to the private ownership of the means of
production. Post-Franco ETA lost a significant part of its popular support in
murdering other Basques, including former executives, that did not share their
views on independence or on attacks. It divides the proletariat and has struck
workers more than once: for instance, on December 30th 2006, ETA
blew up a bomb on the car park of Madrid airport, and two immigrant workers
were killed.
Yet
the proletariat must advocate democratic freedoms that are restricted by all
the bourgeois States on the name of the “fight against terrorism”. It must
stand up again the flag of democratic claims that were given up by the senile
bourgeoisie, like republic, secularism and the right of the peoples to choose
their autonomy. In order to unify the proletariat of the Spanish State against
the Francoist monarchy, against the bourgeois State, against the bourgeoisie,
all the Spanish workers’ movement (PSOE, PCE, UGT, CCOO…) must advocate freedom
for the arrested leaders, the lifting of the ban of Batasuna. The workers’
movement in France and in the Spanish State must argue in favour of the release
of the Basque political prisoners in the French and the Spanish jails, against
the collaboration between polices. Rank-and-file militants in PSOE, in PCE, in UGT
and CCOO unions, workers of all the Spanish State must break with any policy of
support to the monarchy and to the repressive institutions which divide and
weaken the working class. They must advocate the right of the Basques, on both
sides of the boarder, to decide their own fate, until the creation, if they
wish so, of a separate Basque State.
Workers’
alliance, an achieved unity of the proletariat, will be able to overthrow the
Francoist monarchy, to scatter its repressive forces, and to dissolve its
repressive courts. In leading all the oppressed, the proletariat will separate
the church from the State, will build a workers’ republic, will allow peoples from
Spain to freely decide their fate, on the ruins of the bourgeois State, in
expropriating the big capitalist groups, in building the Iberian socialist
federation, and in opening the way to the Socialist United States of Europe.
For
this, the workers need a party which is different from the reformists, from the
Basque and Catalan nationalists; they need a revolutionary workers’ party which
unites the vanguard of all the Spanish State and allows it to get connected
with the conscious workers in Portugal, France and Morocco through a revolutionary
workers’ international.
Freedom for Batasuna! Abrogation
of the law on political parties! Unconditional freedom for all political prisoners!
Down with the Francoist monarchy! Iberian socialist federation!
October 11th 2007
Permanent Revolution Collective, DNK Austria