Thursday, October 8, 1998

2. The Lizarra Declaration gets more support

(October 5, 1998) - The Lizarra Declaration, a document calling for multilateral talks between all parties in the Basque conflict, gained the support of more political parties, labor unions and social groups during a meeting of the signatories in the city of Donibane-Garazi (in the north of Euskal Herria in France) last Friday.

The political party Ipar Euskal Herriko Berdeak (the Greens of the north of Euskal Herria), Spanish United Left of Navarre, the Carlist Party; labor unions ELB, CFDT, SUD and Ofizialak; and the radical youth movement Jarrai, participated in the meeting that decided to divulge the Lizarra Declaration among the international community.

Participants in the Donibane-Garazi (St-Jean-Pied-de-Port in French language) meeting renamed the Declaration which is now called the Lizarra-Garazi Declaration, to include the name of the Basque city in the Euskal Herria in France.

The Lizarra-Garazi Declaration was signed in Lizarra, a city in the province of Navarre -- one of the four Basque provinces in Spain. Twenty-three grassroots groups, labor unions and political parties backed the Declaration issued on September 12.

The Lizarra Declaration and the ETA communique announcing the ceasefire, recognize France and Spain as equal participants in the Basque conflict.

Signatories have forwarded a copy of the Declaration to UN secretary-general Kofi Annan and to the president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela.

The conservative Basque Nationalist Party, one of the signatories of the document, asked for the support of the political parties members of the European Popular Party (PPE), of which the PNV and Spain's ruling Popular Party (founded by Gen. Franco's Minister of Interior) are members.

A delegation of Herri Batasuna (HB) is currently touring Belgium, France and Latin America to seek support to the Declaration.

Basque nationalist labor unions ELA and LAB seek the support of labor unions in Europe and already began contacts.

On a one-day visit to the south of Euskal Herria in Spain to "assist and to encourage" the peace process, Sinn Fein Gerry Adams called on the Spanish government to respond positively to the indefinite truce called by ETA.

Adams met with the signatories of the Lizarra Declaration, whose appeal is credited with encouraging ETA to announce the ceasefire. The group gave Adams a copy of their document to pass along to President Bill Clinton when the two meet this month.

"We would be calling on the international community to assist in every situation, but especially one like the Basque Country where an initiative has been taken," said Gerry Adams.

"Powerful nations have a duty to assist, and clearly the United States is the most powerful," he said.

It is not known whether Bill Clinton knows that the majority of the citizens in the Euskal Herria in Spain voted NO to membership in NATO.

Former President Jimmy Carter, on a visit to Spain over the weekend, said that a permanent end to the violence in Euskal Herria south should be negotiated without foreign interference.

The Spanish government has long rejected ETA's demand for Basque self-determination. Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar insists that ETA must make its truce a permanent one before a peace process can be set on motion.

Last Friday Aznar announced that the government would open a peace process without political debate if ETA makes its truce a permanent one.

Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA, Basque Homeland and Freedom) has been fighting for an independent homeland that would unite the seven Basque provinces -- the three northern provinces in France, and the four southern provinces in Spain.

ETA declared a total, indefinite truce on September 16 after more than 30 years of military activity.

3. France backs Spain's demand for permanent ETA truce. Promise to reflect on the future of Euskal Herria in France.

(October 5, 1998) - The French government says it backs Spain's demands for a permanent ETA truce before a peace process could be set in motion, the Spanish daily El Pais reported on Monday. The French executive says the situation should be resolved directly by the Spanish government, the daily reported citing sources close to Prime Minister Lionel Jospin.

The Basque armed organization Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA, Basque Homeland and Freedom) announced a total, indefinite truce that began on September 18.

The ETA communique states that the armed organization is waiting for a clear willingness and compromise to solve the Basque conflict to decide whether to make the truce a permanent one, which would entail a laying down of arms.

Spain's Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar announced on Friday that the government would open a peace process if ETA makes its truce a permanent one.

"The French government cannot discuss the future of the Spanish Basque Country and eventually, of its relations with the French-Basque provinces, more than the Spanish," the newspaper quoted.

"For the first time, it is about an indefinite truce, which is interesting, even if it is not the first announcement of a truce or it takes place within the context of the regional elections. Everything that brings calm to the situation in the Spanish Basque Country, with its incidents and attacks, cannot do more than make us happy," said the government sources cited by the daily.

The ETA communique announcing the truce and published in the Basque daily Euskadi Informacion on September 16, makes Paris and Madrid equal participants in the Basque conflict.

Paris seems to have finally noticed the nationalist desire for the re-unification of the seven Basque provinces divided into France and Spain -- the largest nationalist movement in the three Basque provinces in France, Abertzaleen Batasuna, is one of the signatories of the Lizarra Document, a nationalist agreement that calls for multilateral talks between all parties in the conflict. The document was issued on September 12.

According to the sources cited by El Pais, "if the truce is confirmed, and negotiations in Spain lead to an agreement by the parties involved in that country... which is to be doubted .... the French authorities would be guided to reflect about the future of the French Basque Country."

That is, Paris will be paying attention to the debate generated by the ETA truce and the next move taken by the armed organization, before and after the regional elections in Bascongadas on October 25.

The government has not made any comments about the constant demands by grassroots groups in the Basque provinces to have the political prisoners moved to jails in Euskal Herria. There are 71 Basque political prisoners held in French jails outside Euskal Herria.

In 1997, the Basque association Anai-Artea (founded in 1969) published a report about the precarious situation of the political prisoners, and a petition signed by more than 1,000 people supporting repatriation. Among the signatories are 45 mayors, 400 city and town councillors, as well as members of the Green Party, the Socialist Party, the Comunist League, and the Basque nationalist parties. The president of the Basque language academny Euskaltzaindia, Jean Haritschelar; writer and member of Euskaltzaindia, Jean Louis Davant, and lawyer and human rights activist Denis Langlois endorsed the petition. The document, sent to the French authorities, includes a resolution adopted by the European parliament condemning the dispersion of prisoners, and reports by the International Prisons Watch (OIP), and the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT), denouncing the situation of the Basque political prisoners.

French anti-terrorism authorities say the inactivity of the Basque armed organization Iparretarrak (IK, Those of the North) shows that the group has been weakened by police action and that it's not a decision linked to the ETA truce.

An IK communique issued in May denounced the lack of progress in the political debate about the future of the northern Basque provinces in France. IK said that even the return of the French socialists (PSF) to office has not been able to unblock the current political situation that denies a department to the three Basque provinces in France.

"Those who claim that violence prevents Euskal Herria north from having a political future, cannot hold that argument anymore to justify the deadlock, " said IK whose military activities have ceased temporarily.

IK regrets that the "proposals and projects that came out of the debates fall short of representing the minimums of what Euskal Herria needs. Long debates and media propaganda cannot continue to hide the political impasse we are suffering."

In March 1997, France and Spain increased collaboration against the Basque opposition.

Former Minister of Interior Jean-Louis Debre vowed it would aggressively pursue any leaders of ETA on French territory.

The current Socialist-led government maintains collaboration with Spain against the Basque opposition.

Since 1990s, French police has arrested hundreds of people accused of being members or collaborators of ETA and IK -- including people in Brittany accused of sheltering Basque refugees.

A Paris court last Thursday sentenced two former Basque activists, Maria Nagore Mugika Alvarez and Juan Carlos Iglesias (tried in absence) each to six years in prison for "association with criminals" and "planning terrorist acts."

According to El Pais, only an amnesty as a result of progress in a peace process in Spain would allow France to review its collaborationist policy with the Spanish government.

4. News Briefs

Paris Will Sign Language Charter (October 8, 1998) -- The French government will sign the European charter on regional and minority languages in early 1999, the office of Prime Minister Lionel Jospin said on Wednesday. In a statement issued after a report prepared for the prime minister concluded there is no legal barrier to Paris signing the pact. Nations in France have battled Paris over the right to use their national languages or to learn them in schools. The latest language report by constitutional expert Guy Carcassone recommended that France issue a statement at the time it signs the document clarifying that "the French people are one" and make clear that the minority "groups" referred to in the charter are merely groups of individuals rather than distinct legal entities. The charter was agreed in 1992 by the Council of Europe to encourage member states help ensure minorities can use their national languages.

Pact On Self-Determination Required (October 8, 1998) -- A member of the regional Navarrese parliament for Herri Batasuna, Patxi Zabaleta, said on Wednesday that the consolidation of peace in Euskal Herria requires a political pact on the issue of the right to self-determination. About the ETA truce, Zabaleta said that "there is no reason to think that there dissidents in ETA. The offer of an indefinite, unilateral truce without conditions carries so much risk that it has to be credible. ETA gives priority to the political action. If this agreement was made and implemented, then there is no reason for not being optimistic."

Polls Say PNV Would Win Regional Elections (October 8, 1998) -- Polls published in local newspapers on Thursday showed that the conservative Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) would win the regional elections by getting 22 of the 75 seats of the regional parliament of three of the four Basque provinces in Spain, followed by Euskal Herritarrok (the coalition of Herri Batasuna) with 13 seats, and Spain's Popular Party (PP) with 11-12 seats.

5. Announcements

First Edition of EHJ Newsletter on Paper -- The fist issue of the EHJ Newsletter on paper is hot off the press and over 2,000 copies have been mailed! The issue contains the text of the Lizarra Declaration, the ETA communique announcing the ceasefire, the three news reports in the electronic version, as well as the CPEH chapter activities, upcoming meetings and speaking tour. If you'd like one on paper, just e-mail us your postal address.

The Democratic Alternative Video On-Line Again -- The ETA video explaining the pro-peace Democratic Alternative is available at the EHJ mirror site with Contrast.Org http://www.contrast.org/mirrors/ehj/html/video.html Contrast had some technical problems and was temporarily off-line.

Basque Manuscripts On-Line -- There are six late sixteenth century manuscripts in Euskera (found in the Archivo General de Simancas, Spain, within the section Estado, legajo 181) available at the following URL: http://kuhttp.cc.ukans.edu/carrie/ms_room/martin_coll/Basque.htm. According to the publisher, they are not dated but may have been written in 1598.

Free Online Course On Satellite Imagery/Human Rights -- We were told that the American University's School of Communication is offering a free, online, hands-on course on satellite imagery and human rights, and those interested in the course should contact simpson@american.edu for more information.

New EHJ Mirror Site: The Free Speech Internet Television organization (www.freespeech.org) will be hosting a mirror site of the Euskal Herria Journal (ehj). The ehj web site was "suspended" by the Institute for Global Communications (IGC) in July 1997. The new ehj mirror site will be available soon at the following URL: http://www.freespeech.org/ehj