Aberri Eguna 2014 SPECIAL ISSUE

ABERRI EGUNA 2014

ABERRI EGUNA 2014Decide in the Basque Country! Zazpiak Bat!

With the coming of the Aberri Egu-na, 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 reflec-tion 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 pro-cess, to defend the right of the people and, together with representatives of other countries, to promote our alter-native from the left facing the neoli-beral model of Europe that they wish to impose on us.

The Aberri Eguna of this year will take place in a special and significant poli-tical, 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 Pro-vinces United” (Euskal Herria eraba-ki, 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

and build their destiny. Political re-cognition 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.

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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

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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 ba-ses, 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 de-cide. 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 cen-tralism and reactionary Jacobinism.

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 territo-riality under the old discourse of a united and great Spain, impeding change in Na-farroa Garai and trying to bring the debate about the new status of the Basque Auto-nomous Community to a mere reform of the Statute.

But they can’t hide the necessity of a de-bate 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, res-pecting the particularities of each territory. You can’t build the future based on mo-dels 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, pro-moting 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 Bas-que 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.

We need a democracy without limits, to guarantee the protagonism and leadership of society in these new times, with real power, crea-ting majorities that protect the rights of our country. The moment has come to renew the political expression of the will of the Bas-que citizens, recognising the Basque Country as a political subject and as a nation, and therefore recognising the right to decide that belongs to it.

[VIDEO] Aberri Eguna 2014 - Decidir en Euskal Herria, Zazpiak bat!

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.

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.

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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 conti-nued to receive support throughout the past months.

In October of 2013 the city hall of Donostia, in colla-boration with “Mayors for Peace”, organized the inter-national conference “Building Peace Starting at Local Level”

(”http://donostiapeace.com/es/programa). Local offi-cials participated in it, the majority from the Basque Country, Ireland, the United States, Kurdistan, Colom-bia, Italy and other places, also experts in conflict reso-lution, as the title suggests, to learn from experiences of other institutions in the local sphere in the promo-tion 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 an-niversary 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, expres-sed their support for the Basque peace process: Miguel Álvarez Gándara, Oscar Arias, Belisario Betancour, Ro-

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

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ABERRI EGUNA 2014

drigo Borja, Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, Piedad Cordoba, Ricardo Lagos, Ce-sar Gabiria, Vinicio Cerezo, Fernando Lugo, Alvaro Colom, Miguel D’Esco-to, Cesar Gabiria, Luis O. Maira, Fe-derico Mayor Zaragoza, Jaime Paz Zamora, Carlos Mesa, Danilo Rue-da, Julio Mª Sanguinetti, Jorge Ta-pia, Lucia Topolansky and Juan Cª Wasmosy. Later the ex-president of Brazil, Lula da Silva, also adhe-red to this initiative and other dec-larations 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, inc-luding the Spanish and French sta-tes, 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 promo-ting a current of opinion favourable to the resolution of the conflict from the Americas.

In February of 2014, the Internatio-nal 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, mu-nitions and explosives”. The national and international press echoed this important step and numerous in-ternational personalities again ex-pressed their support, we empha-size 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.bas-quepeaceprocess. info/?p=7327). Many also expressed their preoccu-pation 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 Ti-mes (http://www.basquepeacepro-cess.info/?p=7234).

Winds of change and hope are blo-wing 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.

“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.”

JosuJuaristi

EH Bildu’s candidate for MEP in the

European Elections