This file is a mirror of EUSKAL HERRIA JOURNAL by Basque Red Net.

Those political parties who have supported this system have willingly accepted their role. Now, after the failure of the PSOE to crush Basque Resistance, which as the same time is involved in corruption scandals and dirty war, the PP, wanting to take the control of the government, is giving us more and more of the same.

The political forces that supported the State of Autonomies, whose starting point and maximum aim is the "Spain project", have made the Basque Country pay the bill of the so-called "Spanish democracy" by means of institutional division, suffocation of the Basque language, acculturation, industrial slump.

We are absolutely convinced that the fight the nationalist left has carried out in favour of the rights of the Basque Country has played an important role in the deep crisis the Spanish State is suffering. As the right to self-determination is a basic right that belongs to the Basque Country, nowadays, the democratic rights that ETA defends at a very high price are arousing more and more interest among the proposals of political parties, trade unions, and several associations.

In the construction of the Basque Country, the Basque citizens are the ones who must stop the division of our country, as well as to fight for our economic sovereingty, against the industrial break up, learn the Basque language, guide our cultural recovery... as the future of the Basque Country is an independence, not within the Spanish and the French states. That and no any other is ETA's daily commitment in prisons, in exile and in the Basque society.

ETA has always been committed to promoting a negotiated solution in order to overcome the oppression exerted by the Spanish State over the Basque Country.

With this purpose it has developed the alternative which is offered as a tool to unite the society and create the minimum conditions to survive as a nation. Since then, and thanks to the thirst for freedom of many citizens who have overcome harassment and have not abandoned their principles, the option to live in a free country as free citizens is still alive in the Basque society.

Due to the imposition and oppression exerted by the Spanish State, the political struggle doesn't change, although the fight for independence is mantained, although more and more people are in favour of the right to self-determination, and despite the fact that the request for a political negotiation to obtain a peace that will bring about the recognition of the Basque Country is becoming widespread withing the Basque society. For 20 long years ETA has been showing the way to overcome the armed struggle, analizing the historical roots of it, and offering to give a fair solution to the conflict. But democracy is still to come to the Basque Country. All our rights are denied and the Basque society has neither the competency nor the tools to decide its own future.

GIVE THE BASQUE PEOPLE THE RIGHT TO SPEAK

To overcome the conflict between the Basque Country and the Spanish State, the Basque Country must have the opportunity to speak. It is the Basque society who can solve its problems, who needs the power to decide its own future. To fight for that opportunity to be expressed and respected, to achieve the minimum conditions and guarantees that enable the Basque Country to decide freely its own future, is ETA's most important task. For the Basque society to have the right to speak, today's blackmail, and the political borders and obstacles must be overcome, so that no one substitutes the word of the Basque society, enabling it to take part and decide on the matters concerned.

Thus, ETA's aim is to overcome all the borders and antidemocratic obstacles impossed by the Spanish State to the Basque Country's sovereignty, by offering the minimum conditions to develop a really democratic process on which the Basque Country's construction must be based. Only in that new situation, the whole Basque society would have the opportunity to give its opinion and guide the power for decision that belongs to it.

The "KAS Alternative" was born as an agreement of minimum conditions to overcome the conflict. After 20 years' fight and due to the change of the political, economic, and cultural conditions, the updating of the KAS Alternative has become a necessary step. And it is necessary because since its formulation it is an alternative which belongs to the whole society.

UPDATING THE KAS ALTERNATIVE

The "Democratic Alternative for the Basque Country", basic proposal for political negotiation which arises from the updating of the "KAS Alternative" has two different sets of negotiation: one between ETA and the Spanish State, and the other among Basque People, by means of an unbounded democratic process in which any of the options could be chosen.

The only matters to be spoken about and agreed upon are the total recognition of the Basque Country and therefore the abolishment of the juridical borders. The Spanish State should not decide on the internal organization of the Basque Country, or the relationship existing between the two parts of the Basque Country which are under the two states domination, or the development of the Basque language, and so on. The Spanish State should respect what the Basque citizens want and decide.

The Basque people must decide all those matters to do with the organization and the future of our country, for that, as well as the political parties, the whole Basque society's participation is necessary.

A NECESSARY APPROACH: TO BE AGREED WITH THE SPANISH STATE

The recognition of the Basque Country: The recognition of the right to self-determination and territorial unity. The right to self-determination is not a political position, but a democratic right that belongs to us as a nation. As it is essential for the Basque Country to decide its own future with total freedom, we must guarantee the recognition of this right, even though it is the Basque people who must decide on when, how, and what this right is developed for. The recognition of the Basque Country requires the overcoming of the present territorial division by accepting the territorial unity and the abolishment of the institutional divisions. How this territorial unity will be defined, how the Basque Country will be organized... will be the Basque population's sovereign decision.

Respect for the result of the democratic process to be started in the Basque Country.

The word of the people cannot be bounded. In this way, the Spanish State must accept that the development of the democratic process will be respected whatever its results are.

That every citizen's opportunity to take part in this democratic process without any kind of pressure is a minimum condition for this to be carried out. Therefore, a general amnesty, without any conditions, which gives way to the release of all prisoners (from the Spanish, French and other countries' prisons) and the return of all refugees is essential for this democratic process. It is equally essential to take steps in order to prevent the Spanish Army from influencing this process.

Once the Spanish State accepted what must be agreed with it, in order to develop the democratic process to be carried out in the Basque Country, ETA would declare a "cease-fire."

WHAT MUST BE DISCUSSED AMONG THE BASQUE POPULATION

In this democratic process, in those matters only concerning the Basque population, trade unions, associations, social movements, political forces, every kind of institutions and, in one word, the whole society should take part specifying the options, discussions, and the best way to come to an agreement. Throughout this process, at least the following matters should be defined: development of the right to self-determination (formulation, methodology, options, dates...); formulation and building process of the territorial unity; relationships between the whole of the Basque Country; powers of the new institutional organization to be agreed without any previous limitations; plan to normalize the Basque language; socioeconomic patterns and planification; demilitarization of the Basque Country (role played by the army, including its disappearance, and the composition and character of the police forces); educational rights; democratic liberties...

As we have already said, the aim of the political negotiation between Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) and the Spanish State is to obtain the recognition of the Basque Country, so that this process is really democratic. But, the final decision belongs to the Basque society, which cannot be substituted.

This proposal for political negotiation made by ETA to overcome the present situation between the Basque Country and the Spanish State is a tool the Basque society must take.

As new conditions and democratic means arise, and without forgetting its final aims, that is to fight for the independence of the Basque Country and a society based on social justice, ETA will adjust its actions to the new situation of the conflict. As this proposal we make is agreed upon and developed, the armed struggle between the Basque Country and the Spanish State will be overcome.

GORA EUSKADI ASKATUTA! GORA EUSKADI SOZIALISTA!

JO TA KE INDEPENTZIA LORTU ARTE!

Euskal Herria, on April the 20th of 1995

EUSKADI TA ASKATASUNA