Spain outlaws another Basque movement

Hopes that the Socialist Party's accession to the Spanish Government might alleviate state repression against Basque nationalist organisations have come to nothing after a list of candidates for the European elections that would have represented Basques north and south of the Pyrenees was banned.

On 28 May, four hours before the European election campaign kicked off in the Spanish state, the Constitutional Court banned candidates from Basque left-wing popular movement, Herritarren Zerrenda, from running for election. By contrast, the French Government accepted a list of candidates by the same organisation.

The move to outlaw Herritarren Zerrenda shows that socialist PM José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is ready to follow the lead of his right-wing predecessor, Aznar, but also that this is a Europe where liberties and rights have a different interpretation depending on what state you live in.

Herritarren Zerrenda (HZ) — the Citizens' List — is an initiative aimed at fielding a Basque national list of 64 candidates in the European elections. The aim was to create a candidature that would represent the whole of the Basque Country — both north, under French control and south, under Spanish rule. The list of candidates is made up of Basque citizens from many different walks of life who back the right to self-determination and defend equality but who have no intention of being an alternative to the banned Batasuna or any other political party.

50,000 signatures

Forty thousand signatures were collected in the Southern Basque Country to support the application to stand in the elections, as required by Spanish electoral legislation. HZ decided it would be worthwhile extending the collection of signatures to Lapurdi, Nafarroa Beherea and Zubero, all in the French state, as a way of gaining support for the initiative. The signatories wanted to show that the Basque Country is a European nation in its own right and to fight for a different kind of Europe.

In the end, more than 50,000 signatures were obtained, so the Spanish Central Elections Committee allowed HZ to present its candidacy. HZ presented another list to the French Interior Ministry in Paris, and this also was accepted.

However, the Spanish Central Elections Committee was just the first in a series of obstacles that had to be overcome between then and the 13 June poll.

Political interference

Immediately after a meeting between the Socialist Party and its predecessor, the Popular Party, the Spanish Government announced its intention to file an appeal against the decision. Attorney General Candido Conde-Pumpido announced he would be lodging "an immediate appeal". The Spanish Government claimed HZ was "the successor to Batasuna", and Spanish Justice Minister Juan Fernando Lopez-Aguilar followed the same line.

"At least three names on the HZ list of candidates were on lists that had been outlawed by the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court," said Lopez-Aguilar. "There are also Batasuna members and others who have been members of movements close to ETA and the ENAM [Basque National Liberation Movement], and who have different levels of connections with the outlawed parties."

The news was received with dismay in the Basque Country. Even the moderate Basque nationalist party in the autonomous government criticised the Spanish Government's action. Basque government spokesperson, Miren Azkarate, described the decision as "incomprehensible and unacceptable". She said decisions of this nature showed that the socialist government of Zapatero is ready to carry on "the same old way" and follow "Aznar's policies".

The same Special Division of the Supreme Court that outlawed Batasuna examined the appeals. Its predictable decision to ban HZ candidates from standing was appealed to the Constitutional Court's First Division, which in turn accepted most of the arguments put forward by the Supreme Court and rejected all the arguments presented by HZ's counsel.

The Constitutional Court argued that all those on the HZ list of candidates, as well as former members of Batasuna, the EH and the HB, had not lost the right to stand in the elections. The HZ list with their names on it, though, was banned because, according to the court, it is a platform with the aim of de facto substituting outlawed parties.

Basque opposition

Juan Jose Ibarretxe, Lehendakari (President) of the Basque autonomous government called on citizens to vote for the list of candidates they regarded as "the most appropriate" and specifically included HZ among the choices. He described the ruling of the Constitutional Court as "an absurdity" but called on people to act "calmly to demonstrate the maturity of Basque society".

Spanish elections work on a list system. Each of the parties produces a ballot paper with its list of preferred candidates. Voters choose one of the lists and place it in the ballot box on polling day. HZ has produced its ballot paper and has been busy distributing it to voters.

Ibarratxe has pledged that votes cast for the HZ list will be accepted at polling stations, although they will then be rejected at count centres as invalid. Nevertheless, a number of Basque parties have promised to tally the HZ votes.

Ibarretxe invited the Socialist Party to carefully consider "who is benefiting from the decision., those who want to engage in politics in the sphere of the Basque nationalist left or those who support violence?" He called on the Socialist Party "to have a good long think, because what is going on is very odd... It is very odd to see that in Hendaia (the North Basque Country) people will be able to vote for the HZ list, but a few metres in this direction, in Irun, they won't be able to vote for the H, because the same list is illegal in Spain while it is perfectly legal in France. The situation is even more strange when you bear in mind that we are taking about European elections."

"From the European point of view, being outlawed in one state and legal in another makes no sense whatsoever", said Nathalie Vallez, a HZ spokesperson.

Vallez also criticised the Spanish government for using the list of candidates running in the French state — that the Spanish Interior Ministry has pointed out could have links with Batasuna — to outlaw the organisation in the Spanish state.

Thousands protest

On 29 May, thousands of Basques gathered in Bilbo/Bilbao to express support for the outlawed HZ and to protest the decisions handed down by the Spanish courts. Representatives of many parties, trade unions and social organisations were there, joined by thousands of people.

Many political and social organisations responded to the Herritarren Zerrenda's call and sent representatives.

Once more, thousands of Basques have lost their democratic right to political representation at the hands of a government that seems ready to follow the route of criminalisation instead of conflict resolution. The Spanish Government may have changed name, but the repressive policies seem to be here to stay.