Basque Country: Altsasu occupied by military police in fiestas

Spanish military police (Guardia Civil) occupied on Friday the town of Altsasu (Sakana valley, Navarre) in the middle of its fiestas after fascist-like rampage by the Spanish-imposed provincial governor Carmen Alba. 

In 2011 the same fascist proconsul attempted to indict Mayor Garazi Urrestarazu on a festive parody of a royal discourse, now she charges again against the Ospa Eguna, which may be translated as Celebration Day (ospatu = celebrate) or as Go Away Day (ospa! = go away!, coll.) but hardly as Runaway Day, as the ignorant Alba said. 

Whatever the case she has unilaterally declared illegal the festive acts on the absolutely arbitrary grounds that such acts "have not been communicated to the state administration", as if we'd have to tell the occupants about every single local activity we organize in our towns and villages. The acts include a demonstration and the burning of a doll.

The military cops literally surrounded the town with controls and even entered the festive area threatening in Spanish to "clean it up of shit" (what "shit"? are you going to shoot yourselves dead?) 

In spite of all that the activities continued as intended, no matter that a helicopter roared threateningly above the fire of the doll. People showed a lot of bravery dancing and playing among the threatening police occupants.

Witnesses declared:

It was brutal, disproportionate! 

We suffered an incredible police deployment: the people were surrounded by automatic guns. 

For example, when some 200 people took part in the bertso* dinner, they were surrounded by almost the same number of armed cops. Forced identifications and verbal intimidation were common in the day. Town Hall representatives explained that:

It was to drive you crazy. We did not enter into the provocation and in a bertsolari* town as we live in, citizens went on improvising, and also sortzikoak, polkas, Basque dances and games they performed to impress the military policemen, as saying: "here we are and we will stay here". 

Repression no! Go away. Leave Altsasu in peace.

I must say that nothing of all this was in TV news yesterday, neither in the Spanish channels (of course) nor in the Basque ones.

Sources[eu]: Gara, Naiz Info.


* Bertsoak are a form of improvised song, usually in humorous duels, traditional among Basques. The singers are known as bertsolari(-ak).

Update (Sep 2): it has been known now that a young man was arrested, apparently for "answering back" to the verbal aggressions by the police forces → Topatu.info.

Basque Country: strange fiestas under fascist Spanish imposition

Bilboko Aste Nagusia, the Great Week of Bilbao, began yesterday in a very strange mood, after the fascist Spanish proconsul ("delegate of the government") in the Western Basque Country, J.M. Urquijo, managed to use some of their fascist laws and fascist tribunals to impede that this year's Txupinera, Jone Artola, could exert as such. 

The txupin or ritual shot of a noisy firework is how fiestas begin, not just the first day but every day. Since the popular organization Coordination of Konpartsak (festive groups) took over the Bilbao Fiestas in 1978, after decades of fascist boredom, giving them new life, the role of the Txupinera (always a woman, as the Pregonero used to be a man back in those days) has rotated among each of the konpartsak, which in turn elect a woman among their ranks. 

This year 2013, it was the turn of Txori Barrote (= "bar bird"), whose logo represents a woodpecker breaking prison bars. Like many (but not all) other konpartsak, there is a socio-political organization behind it, in this case the veteran and highly popular Committees pro-Amnesty, which is now illegal but has brought year after year, week after week, for many decades, the plight of Basque prisoners, dispersed to remote prisons and often tortured and abused at all levels, to the streets of this country that fights and dances between the mountains and the sea. 

For the Spanish Nationalists, including Mr. Urquijo, there is no new period, no peace process or anything, just yet another phase in their endless conquest of our little country. In this sense he has been persecuting any expression of solidarity with Basque prisoners with unprecedented zeal. Even after tribunals acknowledged that display of prisoners' photos was no crime, they have been repressing such expressions of solidarity and love, up to the point that one year Txori Barrote and Kaskagorri konpartsak were declared illegal themselves, although for short time, with the result that the whole city was full of prisoners' photos. More than ever before, as an act of solidarity by all other konpartsak. 

This year the crusader zeal of the Spanish Imperialists had of course to leave a bitter taste in our fiestas (they are ours, not yours!) and the txupinera Jone Artola, who has the bad luck of being the sister of a long time political prisoner and, therefore, has acted often as speaker of the solidarity movement, was declared illegal herself, not her life but her right to be Txupinera.

If we would have a half-decent municipal government, they would have declared disobedience. But it's a pathetic bourgeois one and they only wanted to obey the law, no matter it is foreign imposed law. 

So, after long negotiations a coral txupin was agreed. The rocket was fired by the President of the Fiestas Comission, a local councilor, and, as the Txupinera could not legally wear the uniform, the Pregonera Iraia Iturregi (captain of the local women football team) took her own off as soon as her speech was over, embracing Jone, who wore proudly her 27 years' old Txori Barrote shirt. 

Iturregi and Artola embraced

Iturriaga's speech was full of references to the inquisitorial abuse:

I am really tired of those who do not seem to understand which is the essence of Aste Nagusia. Stop! We want to enjoy each second of the fiesta independent of gender, race and political ideologies! We want to enjoy the fiestas all together as the persons we are.

She ended with a cry of Gora gu ta gutarrak! (Up with us and our people!)

Which was cheered by the crowd with cries of Go Txupinera! and Mr. Governor: you are dumb!

The two women dressed in their uniforms again to enjoy of the fiestas in the streets, where they were homaged by the konpartsak, which are the soul of it.

San Fermin Fiestas: corruption and looting cope popular banners

It is traditional that the renowned San Fermin fiestas, to begin on July 7th in Iruñea-Pamplona, include banners of political satire made by the popular peñas. This year they are almost monothematic: corruption and looting in Navarre. Example (La Única):

Never so few stole so much!!
500 years stealing

Other themes are the demand of public housing and stop to home evictions, the demand of return of Basque prisoners and exiles, the dangers of private hospital "cuisine", rejection to social cuts and overwhelming police repression.

Source: Ateak Ireki[es] → gallery of all banners[eu/es].