BASQUE COUNTRY: REPRESSION CONTINUES

On May 17th members of the infamous Spanish Civil Guard undertook action in the Southern Basque Country to seize the property and possessions of former Basque prisoners.

The operation is sanctioned by the Spanish Courts with much hyperbole about continuing a crackdown on persons linked to the now disbanded ETA armed liberation movement.

However of the fifty persons targeted only 10 had any links to ETA and the others had been convicted of offences such as street protest.

The draconian measures which included freezing bank accounts and seizing personal possessions once again exhibits the paranoia of the Spanish State and failure to accept any form of dissent within the borders of the ‘old Nation State’.

The move also ignores efforts by moderating influences to end the conflict in the Basque country and seek to move forward using a democratic and peaceful agenda.

Both the Southern (Spanish area) and Northern (French area) Basque country has been occupied by the two States for centuries and the latest move is designed to try to keep the lid on an independence movement that seeks a separate Basque State.

The tide of history is against both Spain and France and it will take more than a few morning raids by the Civil Guard to derail in the long term self determination for the Basque people.

Image: The Spanish Civil Guard - twenty-first century incarnation of the Gestapo!