Why can't the Left see the Basques?

national | anti-capitalism | opinion/analysis

Monday May 18, 2009 14:48

by Diarmuid Breatnach, personal capacity

What is that makes the struggle of the Basques invisible to the Irish non-Republican revolutionary Left?

Despite revolutionary socialist idealogues stating the right of nations to self-determination and the duty of socialists to offer solidarity, most of the non-Republican Irish Left have ignored the Basques. With political, social and cultural organisations banned and their activists arrested and often tortured and then jailed for long prison terms (765 convicted political prisoners), the pro-independence Basque Left movement is entitled to socialist and anti-imperialist solidarity.

Basques. With political, social and cultural organisations banned and their activists arrested and often tortured and then jailed for long prison terms (765 convicted political prisoners), the pro-independence Basque Left movement is entitled to socialist and anti-imperialist solidarity.
Main body:

For many years most Irish people have viewed the Basque national movement with a kind of gut empathy – or at least sympathy. But that has not been true in general of the Irish Left. It has been from Irish Republicans, left or not, pro-GFA or otherwise, as well as individual socialists and anarchists, that the Basques have received any active support.

RIGHT TO SELF-DETERMINATION

Marx, Engels, Lenin and Trotsky have clearly stated the right of nations to self-determination, including those under the hegemony of colonial or imperialist powers, and the international solidarity duty of revolutionary socialists. In response, revolutionary socialists in Ireland have given general and in certain instances specific support to the struggles of the people of oppressed nations such as the Vietnamese, South Africans, Palestinians and various nations of Latin and Central America. But for some reason they seem blind to the Basques.

Can it be that they are unaware of the claim of the Basques to self-determination, fought for in arms in medieval times, developed ideologically and culturally during the 19th and early 20th Centuries, semi-ceded by the Republican Government of Spain, fought for in arms again during the Civil War, yet again against the Franco regime and again afterwards? Surely not.

Nor can socialists deny the cultural distinctiveness of the Basques from their neighbours, as the Basques are in possession of what could be the oldest surviving European language, Euskara, along with cultural forms and even musical instruments of their own.

f the claim to nationhood and self-determination is not spurious, why do the socialists not support the struggles of the Basques? Perhaps, although they may concede the rights of the Basques to nationhood, they do so only in the abstract, as they view the objectives of the Basque struggle as anti-socialist? Such might have been the case, for example, with some of the emerging (or re-emerging) nations and ethnic groups in Eastern Europe.

A LEFT-WING REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT WITH A STRONG POPULAR BASE

But the Basque Pro-Independence Left movement, of which Herri Batasuna and ETA (both banned in Spain) were a part, which continues to struggle in a myriad of organisational forms and initiatives, is far from anti-socialist. Their Mayday demonstrations are held on May 1st, unlike most of ours, and their numbers on the streets put ours to shame. One of the groups organising contingents on those demonstrations is the Basque trade union LAB, a union that has 17% of the union members in the Southern part (that under Spanish state rule) and which, along with another Basque union, ELA, has over 57% of the union membership of that region (despite competition by older, Spanish state-wide unions like Comisiones Obreras and UGT). LAB recently adopted the slogan: “Make them pay for the crisis!” and calls for struggle and resistance, including general strike.

The Pro-Independence Basques proclaim socialist principles and call for international solidarity. They actively support the cause of the Palestinians and the Guatemalan workers to a degree far above that to be seen in Ireland. They supported the struggle of the Irish anti-imperialists against Britain (despite a history of British connections with their own movement and the support of British socialists during the Spanish Civil War).

The Left-Nationalist Basque movement, despite the banning of four of its political parties, two newspapers, two popular organisations, repression of its activities, torture of its detained supporters, jailing of hundreds, dispersion and persecution of its political prisoners – despite all of that, enjoys the support of most Left Basques (including anarchists), has wide popular support which finds expression in a myriad of political-social organisations and, when its candidates are permitted to stand, of from 15%--20% of the southern Basque electorate.

THE SPANISH LEFT

Irish socialists may say that the Basque Left under Spanish rule should join forces with the Left in Spain (by which they mean Izquierda Unida or United Left) and fight for socialism together (presumably those in the French part should join with th French left). A united front of struggle might be more effective, but where is the offer from Izquierda Unida? They call the Basques to join them in anti-capitalist demonstrations in Madrid (dangerous for the Basques) but do not go north to join the often much bigger demonstrations in the Basque Country.

And where and when do they fight (as distinct from enunciating abstract principles) for the right of the Basques to self-determination? When do they even fight in solidarity with the Basques to protest against the torture and repression, in support of even the human rights of prisoners? They offer nothing to the Left Basques and the latter have wider active support and more developed organs of struggle than do their alleged comrades in the rest of the Spanish state (even in Catalonia, with its own claim to nationhood and militant left). Indeed, the Basques have much to teach the Spanish revolutionaries.

On the other hand, the Basque movement does enjoy cordial relations and collaborates with revolutionary organisations that are not part of Izquierda Unida in Spain and in Catalonia (and indeed further abroad).

The Irish anarchist movement, from an anti-nationalist and anti-state position may say that they owe nothing to a movement that intends to set up a centralist system which anarchists would not view as a step forward. But where does that leave their Basque anarchist comrades? And could they not bring themselves to even support the struggles of the Basque people against repression? Or the rights of the 765 Basque political prisoners (traditionally an area of activity for Anarchists)?

ARMED STRUGGLE

Some revolutionary socialists may be in opposition to some of the actions undertaken by armed elements of the Basque left-nationalist movement. But Irish socialists in the past have not allowed the 'necklacing' of members of their communities by South African black militants to prevent them from supporting that people's struggles. Nor have they abandoned their solidarity with the Palestinians when they did not support various hijackings and bombings carried out by some Palestinian groups. Quite rightly, too – for the principle of solidarity to a people in struggle overrides the actions of a few which can never negate the principle itself. One does not have to support all the actions by those in struggle in order to show solidarity to the struggle. And if the Basques should come to see themselves as isolated in the face of intensifying repression, is that not more likely to encourage some of them towards military actions?

The behaviour of the Irish Left on the Basque question is reminiscent of that of the British Left with regard to Irish struggles against British imperialism. It is reminiscent, yes, but the behaviour of the Irish Left has been worse.

The people of the Basque Country, divided between the Spanish and French states, are a people with a claim to nationhood, who are claiming it, who struggle for self-determination, whose most militant popular movement is strongly to the left and who are being subjected to a degree of repression that exceeds that to be seen in any other state of the old European Union. All this is happening two hours' flight away from Dublin. It is happening where Irish socialists could visit easily, where Irish support could make a difference in putting pressure on Spain and France to lift their repression, and from where the Irish socialist and republican movements could learn much to their benefit.

NB: This article, slightly amended, was first published in Red Banner some months ago and is reprinted with their kind permission.

Keep up to date on Basque struggle news at: http://www.irishbasquecommittees.blogspot.com

Listen to Basque Info at www.feilefm.com on line on Tuesdays from 6.30-7pm and Wednesdays 12-12.30pm

Website under construction.

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Comments (14 of 14)

Franco only had one ball = Spanish fascist dictator confirmed as monorchid.

by spindoctoring

Mon May 18, 2009 18:32

from the BBC today : General Francisco Franco, may have had more in common with Adolf Hitler than previously known - having one testicle. Much like the Nazi leader, Franco's loss stemmed from an injury he suffered in battle, his doctor's granddaughter told the historian Jose Maria Zavala. Franco was wounded in the lower abdomen at El Biutz, near Ceuta, in June 1916. Biographers have long speculated this affected the reproductive organs of the dictator, who ruled from 1939 to 1975.

added to Wikipedia's entry on monorchism : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monorchid

Look around the political sites of the world and you see pick up. The BBC even bring you to Politics.ie http://www.politics.ie/europe/69680-franco-had-only-one....html where the comments also tell you Johnny Cash was the first westerner to learn about dictator Stalin's death.

it is curious how Franco stories are so popular, indeed the man appears only second to Hitler and far ahead of the host of other European dictators who began their careers in the 30's. Yet when even the Irish Times in its editorial commenting on the current Basque regional government noted that the interpretation of political party laws is extraordinary and leads to a natural feeling of disenfranchisement - and the use of those laws has in the last week led to the illegalisation of a coalition of majority fourth internationalist communists and platform anarchosyndicalists with no direct connection to Basque independence other than solidarity - there is not an iota of pick-up on the left.

............................................................maybe it's a lack of bollox.

It's curious

by Dublin Basque - dublin basque solidarity committee

Mon May 18, 2009 20:31

Yes, it is certainly curious. We hesitate to ascribe it to a lack of testicles but it is certainly curious.

what left?

by Basque Irish

Tue May 19, 2009 11:29

I'd add that it's some Irish left the only ones who "can't see the Basques". The Basque left pro-independence movement has very close links with the fighting left around the world. This has been the case since the 60's. It's not just links. Many left wing revolutionary movements from across Europe look at the Basque Country as an inspirational example of struggle against the capitalist system.

It's just some of the Irish left the ones who can't see not just the Basques but many other more. Why is not there a strong anticapitalist globalization movement in Ireland as there are in all countries of Europe? Why tare not there squatts or social centres all over the place as it happens in the Basque Country, Catalonia, Italy, Germany...?

In fact the Basque left pro-independence is represented and working in the World Social Forum coordination committee and every year sends brigades to Chiapas, Venezuela, Colombia, Argentina, Cuba, Palestine, Mapuche Land...

How is it possible that all sort of radical left wing fighters around the world from the EZLN's Subcomandante Marcos to the antifascist movement in Berlin nevertheless the Bolivarian revolutionary movement in Venezuela support the Basques's struggle for self-determination and socialism and the so called radical Irish left doesn't?

Good article and good questions.

What Left?

by Right

Tue May 19, 2009 12:11

Seems to me this is a funny way of a solidairity campaign trting to drum up support from 'the left'. Just who is the left in Ireland, could you name groups. While you at it maybe you could highlight just who the "republican left" actually are , and more importantly what they do and how they engage with ordinary people beyond shouting "Brits Out"

There isnt much of a left in Ireland, but its pretty clear that there isnt much of a Republican Left either. Are you talking about CIRA, RIRA, IRSP, INLA Eirigi or who exactly.

Wrong question

by JB

Tue May 19, 2009 12:29

This is an odd article not least because its asking the wrong question. There are hundreds of national independence movements in the world, the right question to ask in relation to Ireland is what makes the Basque movement particularly deserving of support?

The comparison with Ireland and the British left discredits the argument the author is seeking to make. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out why Ireland is relevant to the British left in a way that the Basque country is not relevant to the Irish left. By that comparison Chad is considerably more relevant. The Irish state has troops on the ground in Chad.

Given that the article seems to be aimed at anarchists in particular its also very odd that it puts at its center a (simplification) of the theories of the butchers Lenin & Trotsky on self-determination. A program they never followed in relation to the anarchist Ukraine of 1918-21.

Likewise the attempt in the comments to claim EZLN support is a little odd given what they have actually written which is a little more nuanced
http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/mexico/ezln/2003/marco....html

We believe that the struggle of the Basque people for their sovereignty is just and legitimate, but neither that noble cause, nor any other, is justification for the sacrifice of civilian lives. It not only does not produce any political gain whatsoever, but, even if it were to produce it, the human cost is irredeemable. We condemn military actions which harm civilians. And we condemn them equally, whether they come from the ETA or the Spanish State, from Al Qaeda or from George W. Bush, from Israelis or Palestinians, or from whomever, under different names or initials - whether in the name of reasons of State, or ideological or religious ones - claims its victims among children, women, old ones and men who have nothing to do with the matter.
http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/mexico/ezln/2002/marco....html

Above all else the general approach makes no sense - demanding explanations for why others don't see the Basque struggle as particularly special is a lot less effective then making the argument for why it should be considered special. I've no strong feelings on it one way or the other but this sort of shrill approach isn't going to push me in the direction you desire.

who ignores the basques and why

by Gearóid O Loingsigh

Tue May 19, 2009 14:45

It is indeed a strange way to drum up support for a cause, though to be fair the points about repression in the basque country are all true. The Spanish State is not democratic by any means. However, the question is as has already been stated why is the basque cause deserving of our attention over and above the other national liberation struggles, such as the Tamils for example.

For years basque delegations came to Ireland when the provos were still sticking it to the brits. There were no corresponding large delegations from Ireland to the basque country, the odd sinn feiner etc. This begs the question as to why there was no basque solidarity movement in Ireland back then.

The other point is that the ctte seems to be a Sfer ctte and given SF endorsement of imperialism through the GFA it doesn't exactly inspire anyone to rush forth and propose the same for the basque country. Though the basques already have a version of Stormont dominated by the PNV. how they would imitate teh GFA is puzzling but I am sure Gerry Adams will give them a few tips.

Further in the same way that the provo bombing campaign had a negative impact on solidarity iwth the struggle in the north, the ETA campaign has had the same effect. In the euro elections where the Spanish State is one large constituency which allows catalans to vote for non catalan parties Herri Batasuna used to get up to 40,000 votes in Catalonia. That vote collapsed after the Hipercor bombing in Barcelona which killed 21 people and given taht solidarity is often posed in terms of organisations this is very relevant. But before you ask the left for support tell us what it is that is being supported. A basque GFA?

there is...

by Dubliner

Tue May 19, 2009 16:49

No support, there is an Irish basque solidarity committee, yes?

Looks like support to me.

Anyway, I think most lefties are sympathetic... except for the incredibly messy nationalist violence

I don't sympathise with Basque nationalism or any other nationalism

by left wing

Wed May 20, 2009 13:22

As a left winger I loath the squalid nationalist struggles around the world.
The utter pointlessness of almost indistinguishable working class people killing eachother because of artificial distinctions based on language, culture, flags, territory on a map and other garbage makes me puke.
The absurdity of people living only yards apart in Belfast or either side of a concrete barrier in the Holy Land continuing a mindless blood feud cannot bring me to sympathise with nationalist insanity.
The Basque nationalist cause is just as deranged as the Spanish quest to squash all separatists.
I consider myself a citizen of the world and instead of borders and nationalist boxes we put each other in the square the circle we are all one humanity.
So no I can't support morons who want to create a tiny fiefdom in North West Spain by blowing the crap out of innocent people.

Just before my first Holy Communion I thought the next door neighbours were awful snobby.

Wed May 20, 2009 15:22

Snobbery like hairstyle is a condition owed by the prepubescent to nurture alone. Even if your genome has condemned you to premature pattern balding before your twenty-fifth winter thaws, you will enjoy a decent enough rug, which even a maiden aunt will take shearings from, during your childhood.

The next door neighbours are often the first strangers we encounter, with their different eating habits, different petnames, different taste in telly, different detergents and thus different smelling houses. Very often their house geographically occupies much the same space as our own motherland leaving aside the possibilities afforded by planning permission for that garage extension or handy access to the rear garden. It is there that we discover treats and tastes, delights and novelties that are not so readily had in our own fatherland . Then comes the competitve day of the first holy communion. Can they match our own wrinklies' outlay?

Class conscienceness is neither an inate burden (or gift) of the genome nor an immediately perceptible consequence of nurture. The most agile, intelligent, beautiful or brilliant combination of genetic material may just as easily breed the quickest mugger, the most cunning fraudster or the sought after whore as ensure a career which might someday culminate in an invitation to a Bilderberg convention.

& so class consciencesness begins with other things.

Some of these other things are very obvious : the colour of your skin for example.

Others are less obvious and visible unless you adopt a dress code - & amongst these are counted but in no particular order : religious faith & manner of worship, language, culture, national identity & ethnicity.

If you get the balance right between you and your neighbour's home, and then your neighbourhood's dominant or prevelant skin colour, religious faith, manner of worship, language, culture, national identiy and ethnicity............

You might get to a jolly good and rivetingly enjoyable class conscienceness before you get to premature pattern balding.

I had it easy. I just spoke with a westbrit accent and never lost even a pube. so I got to feel i was a worker rightously entitled to solidarity with all the workers of the world even if I would have to hold up the vast majority of them on account of their malnourishment. If of course they'd let me on the picket line next to them. They might give me fleas. They might worry I'd be eliminated by a death squad..,

Let's take the word "Basque" out of the question. There are a bunch of people who get lumped together for all sorts of odd reasons & they're enduring consistent attacks on their civil rights and consequentially and concurrently have endured a seemingly irreconcilable terrorist problem. Can ye take the Irish / Scottish / Scouser out of Connolly and Larkin and hear their words and language and see why they were and are relevant?

oh if only these Basques spoke English or
if only these Basques had black skin.
Or is it time they only had a gene which only gave them one ball...

Agree with "left wing " above

by Anarchist

Wed May 20, 2009 18:01

Took the words right out of my mouth.
Nationalism is a myth,divide and rule.
I support the struggle of all oppressed against oppressors,but not in the name of nationalism.

by Pepe

Sat May 23, 2009 10:36

The left in Ireland, whatever it is, is blind to all sorts of things beyond an abstract and mystified discourse of "class" (in the most sociological possible sense) and is unable even to defend the rights of its own people and unable to form a movement that can make relevant change here in Ireland. So this explains largely why the left cannot do much on the Basque question either (let alone the fact that many self-styled "revolutionaries" when confronted to real life revolutionary situations are too horrified to mumble anything but the usual Amensty's jive of being fair on all sides!). There's a lot of good and decent people with leftist leanings in Ireland that are out there feeling sympathy with a lot of causes, but when we fail, is at the point of turning that sympathy into action, or into a political direction. That's the real question, one of initiative, disorganisation, etc.

Abertzale Press Conference calls for Basques to vote "II" in EU elections.

Sun May 24, 2009 14:10

Yesterday at a press conference in a hotel in the city of San Sebastian / Donastia, Arnaldo Otegi, former leader of the illegalised Batasuna; Itziar Lopategi, formerly first in the list of the illegalised D3M for Biscaia and Miren Legorburu a former leading figure in ANV called on Basques and leftwingers in the Spanish state to give their vote to the party "Initiativa Internationalisa" whose recent illegalisation and then return to legal status & concurrent condemnation of political violence may be read about on this newswire here: http://www.indymedia.ie/article/92326

meanwhile you can read about the Aberzale or Basque left seperatists statement and justification of calling on their supports to vote for that party here in Basque, if of course you read the Euskera language by which stage you probably know the difference between north western and north eastern Spain as well. Daresay such a person would be edging towards a sophistication and saviness beyond all codding :- http://www.gara.net/azkenak/05/138601/eu/Ezker-abertzal...bozka

why support the Basques?

by Diarmuid Breatnach - personal capacityh

Tue May 26, 2009 01:52

Sorry, had some technological problems that have kept me out of Indymedia for awhile.

The article was "a strange way to drum up support"? For years I and others have disseminated information about events in the Basque Country and have generally and directly called for support for the Basques and for events organised here. The article reflects my experience of the general response from the Irish non-Republican Left in that.

People are of course intitled to their own opinions on the Basques, nationalism or anything else. But why is national self-determination so abhorrent to people who believe in the right to self-determination of communities and of individuals? And if one supports struggle against repression and exploitation, should their nationalist leanings prevent even anarchists from extending the hand of solidarity? And how do such people diferentiate between one anti-imperialist struggle, where they extend solidarity, and another where they do not?

The Basques have the strongest democratic progressive mass movement in Europe, fighting on fronts against environmental damage, class exploitation, slaughter of workers by avoidable accidents, exploitation of women, young and temporary contract workers, violence against women, racism, and extending solidarity for many struggles including those of the Palestinians and, of course, on the fronts of culture, language and national self-determination.

Against the recommendations of the Spanish-based unions of the UGT and the Comisiones Obreras, against media and politicans, the Basque workers the other day answered the one-day general strike call of the Basque unions and closed 50% of workplaces and over 75% of production and services in the southern Basque Country. Their call was that "they who created the crisis should pay for it". This region of slightly over two million put 80,000 on the streets of Bilbao and thousands in other southern Basque cities to protest attacks on the workers.

Somebody commented that the comparison with the British Left was inappropriate. Of course their duty was of a higher order than that of the Irish Left towards the Basques but I was making the point that although the behaviour of the Irish left has been worse, that of the British left towards the Irish struggel was also very bad -- and often for reasons expressed in similar terms!

One commentator saw no difference betwen the Basque victims resisting repression with the Spanish state dealing it out. What can one say to that kind of opinion?

Another commentator referred to the Basque Country as "Northwest Spain" which was inaccurate, in that it also contains three provinces within the French state, but also denied the Basques their self-description and seemed to be aligning with the opinion of the Spanish state in denying the Basques their self-determination.

Some commentators have said that the "terrorist problem" is nasty and a concurrent problem. Armed struggle is going to be nasty as a rule whether by nationalists or anarchists but the problem is not "concurrent" -- it arises directly out of the continuing repression. It will not go away with more repression and, in fact, is likely to intensify under those circumstances.

One commentator suggested that this article was specifically directed at the Anarchists -- it was not. Another said that the Irish Basque Solidarity Committees are in some kind of way Sinn Féin -- they are not. The IBSC contains a wide spread of activists and supporters with many different views with regard to the Basque Country, Ireland, the World .... The unifying principle is the right of the Basque people to self-determination.

Why give support to the Basques specifically among all the many liberation struggles in the world? The article at least hinted at many of those reasons:
Because it has a wide popular base and a strong socialist element
Because it's in the EU which we are also in
Because the repression is the worst in the EU
Because they are only two hours away, making it easy to go and look for oneself, for example
Because they are taking on two big European states, including a major imperialist one.
Because you could learn a lot from them.

Instead of attacking Republican groups, asking me to name names (are you really saying that what I'm saying about the lack of Irish left support needs verifying?) and other diversions, it would be good if commentators replied to the points.

Here's why...

by Arthur

Thu Jul 30, 2009 09:34

Is it any wonder the Irish Left ignores the Basque cause - conveniently in your article the cause of ETA - when ETA kills people for their ideas (politicians and journalists on top of more 'conventional' military targets)? Or that it plants a bomb outside a barracks with 41 children sleeping inside?

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Why can't the Left see the Basques?

Comments (14 of 14)