Aberri Eguna 2014 SPECIAL ISSUE
ABERRI EGUNA 2014
ABERRI EGUNA 2014 Decide in the Basque Country! Zazpiak Bat! With the coming of the Aberri Eguna, once again we would like to bring ourselves closer to you with two main motives. On the one hand, to send to all Basques, who for different reasons live all around the world, a heartfelt salute for the national holiday of all Basques; together with that we want to share with you our political reflection that the Basque Country is living in. As you know, we are facing elections for the European Parliament, and this fact will centre in a great measure our work in the coming weeks. We believe that it is important that our voice is heard after May 25th in the European Parliament, to strengthen the support for the resolution process, to defend the right of the people and, together with representatives of other countries, to promote our alternative from the left facing the neoliberal model of Europe that they wish to impose on us. The Aberri Eguna of this year will take place in a special and significant political, economic and social context. The debate about the right of the people to decide is open in Europe and in the Basque Country. And this is what we are going to demand on April 19th in Larresoso under the slogan of “The Basque Country Decides, the 7 Provinces United” (Euskal Herria erabaki, Zazpiak bat) and on Sunday in the Aberri Eguna of Iruñea we will come together in the mobilization called for by the Independentistak network. In 21st Century Europe, the will of the citizenry must be the only limit for the peoples and nations to decide
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and build their destiny. Political recognition and the right to decide are basic principles of democracy. As they have done in Scotland, Catalonia and
other countries, Basque citizens must also express our willingness to decide our own future freely, in Europe and in the world.
In 21st Century Europe, the will of the citizenry must be the only limit for the peoples and nations to decide and build their destiny.
ABERRI EGUNA 2014 We have lived difficult years in the context of a long and hard conflict in our country. Now we are on the path to overcome the causes and consequences of the conflict, on this path the Basque Country needs true democratic bases, among other things to be able bring the resolution process to an end and to be able to organize and build our future on the base of the will and opinion of the citizenry of the Basque Country. The Spanish and French states have tried to wear down the hope that the resolution process has created in Basque society. Madrid and Paris don’t take into account the demands of our people and turn their back on the debate about the right to decide. In spite of that in Europe and in the world the debate is on the table, the two states want to trap us in the claws of centralism and reactionary Jacobinism.
Madrid and Paris don’t take into account the demands of our people and turn their back on the debate about the right to decide.
French Jacobinism tries to obstruct the creation of the Territorial Association (Lurralde Elkargoa) which counts on wide political and social support in the Northern Basque Country. Also, the Spanish state, which finds itself in a clear democratic retrogression, wants to bury the discussion about territoriality under the old discourse of a united and great Spain, impeding change in Nafarroa Garai and trying to bring the debate about the new status of the Basque Autonomous Community to a mere reform of the Statute. But they can’t hide the necessity of a debate about territoriality and in this context we come to say out loud that our people need peace and democracy, demanding a process based on the recognition and the right of the Basque people to decide, respecting the particularities of each territory. You can’t build the future based on models of the past and against the majority of society.
We demand a process based on the recognition and the right of the Basque people to decide, respecting the particularities of each territory. You can’t build the future based on models of the past and against the majority of society.
You have to promote a debate and a process based on democratic principles to decide among everyone the future of our people, promoting working together among the different political, social and trade union agents and guaranteeing a wide a debate in Nafarroa Garai, the Basque Autonomous Community and the Northern Basque Country, always respecting the popular will. The right to decide and the recognition of the Basque Country are the starting points of this process, since they are basic democratic principles.
[VIDEO] Aberri Eguna 2014 Decidir en Euskal Herria, Zazpiak bat!
We need a democracy without limits, to guarantee the protagonism and leadership of society in these new times, with real power, creating majorities that protect the rights of our country. The moment has come to renew the political expression of the will of the Basque citizens, recognising the Basque Country as a political subject and as a nation, and therefore recognising the right to decide that belongs to it.
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ABERRI EGUNA 2014
International Support for the Peace Process in the BASQUE COUNTRY
The peace process in the Basque Country has continued to receive support throughout the past months. In October of 2013 the city hall of Donostia, in collaboration with “Mayors for Peace”, organized the international conference “Building Peace Starting at Local Level” (”http://donostiapeace.com/es/programa). Local officials participated in it, the majority from the Basque Country, Ireland, the United States, Kurdistan, Colombia, Italy and other places, also experts in conflict resolution, as the title suggests, to learn from experiences of other institutions in the local sphere in the promotion of the resolution of conflicts and to analyse the role that local Basque institutions are developing and can develop in obtaining a just and lasting peace for the Basque Country. On 17 October 2013, coinciding with the second anniversary of the Conference of Aiete, the Museum of Mexico City held the Continental Encounter for Peace in the Basque Country. In it, 22 well-known personalities, including 13 ex-presidents of Latin America, expressed their support for the Basque peace process: Miguel Álvarez Gándara, Oscar Arias, Belisario Betancour, Ro-
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Miguel Álvarez Gándara, Oscar Arias, Belisario Betancour, Rodrigo Borja, Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, Piedad Cordoba, Ricardo Lagos, Cesar Gabiria, Vinicio Cerezo, Fernando Lugo, Alvaro Colom, Miguel D’Escoto, Cesar Gabiria, Luis O. Maira, Federico Mayor Zaragoza, Jaime Paz Zamora, Carlos Mesa, Danilo Rueda, Julio Mª Sanguinetti, Jorge Tapia, Lucia Topolansky and Juan Cª Wasmosy. Later the ex-president of Brazil, Lula da Silva, also adhered to this initiative
ABERRI EGUNA 2014
drigo Borja, Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, Piedad Cordoba, Ricardo Lagos, Cesar Gabiria, Vinicio Cerezo, Fernando Lugo, Alvaro Colom, Miguel D’Escoto, Cesar Gabiria, Luis O. Maira, Federico Mayor Zaragoza, Jaime Paz Zamora, Carlos Mesa, Danilo Rueda, Julio Mª Sanguinetti, Jorge Tapia, Lucia Topolansky and Juan Cª Wasmosy. Later the ex-president of Brazil, Lula da Silva, also adhered to this initiative and other declarations of support were adopted by the Central American Parliament and the Andean Parliament. The signatories expressed optimism for the situation in the Basque Country and called on all of the parts, including the Spanish and French states, to participate in the process in a responsible, constructive and po-
sitive manner. They also announced their intention to continue working for peace in the Basque Country, gathering new support and promoting a current of opinion favourable to the resolution of the conflict from the Americas. In February of 2014, the International Verification Commission (http:// www.ivcom.org/inicio/) announced the beginning on the part of ETA of the “sealing and putting beyond operative use of their weapons, munitions and explosives”. The national and international press echoed this important step and numerous international personalities again expressed their support, we emphasize the declarations of Desmond Tutu, Bill Clinton, Gerry Adams and
the Friendship Group or the group of European parliamentarians in support of the peace process in the Basque Country (http://www.basquepeaceprocess.info/?p=7327). Many also expressed their preoccupation at the refusal of the Spanish and French states to participate in this process, just as was reflected in an article that was published by Jonathan Powell in the Financial Times (http://www.basquepeaceprocess.info/?p=7234). Winds of change and hope are blowing in the Basque Country, we are not alone on this path, and more and more of those from all corners of the world are marching together with us.
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Josu Juaristi
EH Bildu’s candidate for MEP in the European Elections
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This coming May 25th there will be elections for the European Parliament. It is the first time in which EH Bildu will be present in these elections. However, this doesn’t mean that we are newcomers to European politics; the forces that make up our coalition have done great work in this area and with this knowledge and experience EH Bildu comes to the European Parliament.
In Europe we will defend the rights of individuals and of the peoples, for that we will need another Europe, for which we want a Europe based on justice, freedom and equality. Also in Europe, EH Bildu wants to follow the path together with the citizens. And for these people who make up EH Bildu, it has a special importance to advance on this path with all the men and women who live outside of the Basque Country, together with your experiences, opinions and struggles.
Through these words we wish to send greetings and a warm embrace. This embrace, that of a rebellious Basque Country, will soon also come from Brussels and Strasbourg. Bitartean, zaindu eta ongi izan.”