A controversial activist visited Dublin last week to raise awareness for the Basque nationalist cause.
The young man, who only identified himself as Igor and refused to be photographed for fear of persecution by the Spanish police, delivered a series of lectures to highlight the alleged persecution of pro-independence activists in the Basque region of northern Spain.
Speaking as a representative of Kameradak, a Basque youth organisation, Igor said the Spanish government was systematically banning political parties representing the pro-independence vote, while their activists were being thrown into Spanish jails and tortured. As a result, a significant proportion of the Basque population had no one to represent them at elections.
“People who voted Batasuna five years ago still vote Batasuna,” the activist told Metro Éireann, referring to the party which was the political wing of the pro-independence movement. Bata-suna consistently received 10 to 15 per cent of the vote in Basque elections until it was banned in 2003 for alleged links with the Basque separatist terrorist group Eta.
Following the end of Batasuna, several other parties were set up with a similar political agenda, but one after the other they were all outlawed by the Spanish government.
Many of the groups, including Batasuna, are now listed on the European Union list of terrorist organisations and persons.
“I have had my vote inside the box knowing that this vote was null at least three times now,” said Igor. “So that’s my experience of democracy in the Basque country. In my hometown we had 1,200 votes for the council. That would give us two councillors. But we got none because we were illegal.”
In Ireland the Basque pro-independence spokesman was supported by the Irish Basque Solidarity Committees (IBSC), which also held a protest march in Dublin on 14 February.
Referring to the allegations of torture of Basque pro-independence activists, chairman of the IBSC Dublin branch Diarmuid Breatnach said: “This is happening just two hours away from us... If we don’t want Basque people to turn to armed struggle, then we have to help them achieve things in a democratic way. It’s not acceptable for the Spanish government to be able to do these things.”
Metro Éireann requested a comment from the Spanish Embassy in Dublin, but none was forthcoming by press time.
viktor@metroeireann.com
