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.

Basque Country: ideological repression reaches the fiestas of Bilbao and Laudio

The Spanish proconsul in the Western Basque Country, a petty bald guy known as Carlos Urquijo, denounced the recently appointed txupinera (woman in charge of shooting some noisy fireworks known as txupinak) of the Fiestas of Bilbao, Jone Artola (pictured). Why? Because she is the sister of a political prisoner and active for decades in the konpartsa (festive organization) Txori Barrote, related to the prisoner solidarity human rights organization Etxerat (back home), of which she has been speaker often. 

That would half-normal, considering the fascist imperialist nature of the Kingdom of Spain. But what is more worrisome is that a tribunal accepted yesterday the demand, temporarily suspending Artola at just one week from the beginning of the Fiestas. 

A few days ago another tribunal also suspended the appointment of Pablo Gorostiaga, 71, as pregonero (in charge of reading the festive proclamation or inaugural discourse) of the fiestas of Laudio. Gorostiaga was for many years the elected mayor of this town but was sentenced to nine years of prison in a political persecution trial. 

Pablo Gorostiaga in a political meeting

The legal pretext for both instances of political repression is the so-called Law of Acknowledgement and Reparation to the Victims of Terrorism, which is designed, it seems, to impede free speech and increase political repression against Basque patriots. 

It is hard to see how these kind of fascist measures can help at all to bring peace and conciliation. Rather the opposite: it seems that Madrid is determined to re-ignite the endless war, probably because they need some sort of distraction for all the socio-economic problems they are unable to solve, never mind deep institutional corruption. 

Source: Naiz Info[es] (link 1, link 2, link 3, link4).

Basque Country: fascist aggression in Pamplona

A man who wishes to remain anonymous was victim of a well organized violent fascist attack by three men, apparently young, completely dressed in black and wearing masks. 

The attack happened in the San Fermin fiestas of the historical Basque capital. The victim fell a hit on the back of his head and when he turned around was hit again on the face with an extensible baton. The third strike broke his finger, as he tried to protect his head. He then fell down and made himself a ball, "like when the bulls get you" remaining that way the rest of the aggression, in his own words: pretending to be dead. 

Eventually the attackers stopped the aggression and left. Even if the attackers were three, the beatings were produced by one of them, the other two acting as escorts only. 

It seems apparent that some fascist organization is trying to gain some ground in Iruñea-Pamplona, because in recent weeks there has been graffiti, a homophobic attempted attack and also another attempted attack against the see of Basque labor union ELA. 

The fascist nature of the attack seems clear in this context and also because who else would make such an organized beating. The victim wore a t-shirt with an unspecified popular demand printed on it.

However the exact nature of the fascist group remains a mystery so far. 

Source: Ateak Ireki[es] (incl. video of the victim narrating the aggression in first person).

Basque Country: how the gigantic national flag was placed before the City Hall (video)

You may not know it but the word bizarre comes from Basque bizardun (bearded), via Spanish bizarro (brave, dashing, manly). You may consider, or not, this a little bizarre but it is certainly fully bearded. 

Bizardun productions presents: The making of the 2013 ikurriña:

 

This direct nonviolent action put the Basque national icon in the forefront of San Fermin fiestas again. The authorities decided then to delay the beginning of the fiestas nothing less than 20 minutes, something absolutely unprecedented. 

Source: Ateak Ireki[es].


Update (Jul 24): Tasio at Gara imagined the unpopular UPN authorities planning the 2014 txupin in order to absolutely impede the Basque flag to be present:

Translation:

THE INTERIOR COMMITTEE OF PAMPLONA CITY HALL PLANNING THE TXUPIN OF THE YEAR 2014

Councilor A: Here in Santo Domingo we deploy the 5th infantry battalion, clearing the area for the sapper company of the Legion...

Councilor B: In the roofs we place the sharpshooter company just arrived from Afghanistan.

Councilor C: The [armored division] Brunete we put in Mercaderes St. The tanks in white and red to dissimulate a bit... the guns covered with sashes.

Cop A: I bet a thousand that next year's ikurriña is even larger. 

Cop B: That's not fair: you are playing safe.

Luckily for all 2014 will be their last year in power... unless the sky falls over our heads, so to say. 

Basque Country: San Fermin parade march under the demand of the People to oust the government

The San Fermin institutional parade that every day officially opens the fiestas has found itself drowned by the massive popular demand for the extremely corrupt and illegitimate government to resign. While the authorities marched under heavy police protection, the crowds chanted: "UPN kanpora!" (UPN out!). 

The Navarrese People's Union (UPN) is a "regionalist" party tightly allied with the Spanish Nationalist Right (PP) and is not just extremely opposed to the recovery of the Basque identity, language and culture of Navarre, never mind joining the other Southern Basque regions politically, but also has demonstrated in the last years to be one of the worst institutional looters of Europe, being so extremely and blatantly corrupt that they will no doubt lose the government for the first time in decades as soon as there are free elections. 

Video of the parade:

Source: Ateak Ireki[es].


Txupin for prisoners get harassed by police

A group of Navarrese citizens also wanted to make the fiestas reach, even if just symbolically, to the prison. Therefore they launched their own alternative txupin (sound firework) near the prison (photo) and organized a lunch.

A van of the Spanish National Police showed up, forcing the identification of the activists with very aggressive attitude, while from prison it could be heard the protests against the cops: "assassins", "antiterrorist law for them", "son of a bitch"...

When the activists were already leaving, some police agents used their batons against them. 

Source: Ateak Ireki[es].

Basque Country: San Fermin fiestas begin with unprecedented delay

The highly unpopular, and therefore illegitimate, Navarrese and Pamplonese authorities have made once again all in their hand again to impede the popular demands from being present in the txupin (firework shooting, official beginning of the fiestas), notably Basque flags.

Their Spanish nationalist zeal was such that they delayed for the first time in history the txupin in order to allow police forces to remove a Basque flag that had been hang above the plaza by a group of people wearing berets and fake beards.

The march that carried a large Basque flag to the City Hall Plaza was blocked by police forces, with some use of violence. Only after they folded it they were allowed to continue. Smaller flags were allowed in however.

In the incident, people chanted in favor of prisoners to come back home and for police forces to go away instead. They also demanded that ruling Spanish Nationalist party UPN to resign.

Sources: Naiz Info[es], video from Ateak Ireki.

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].