Jailed Basque Independent Left leader Arnaldo Otegi writes about the new phase in the Basque political scenario

A chance for democratic solutions: Credibility our first battle

Arnaldo Otegi

THE pro-independence and socialist Basques have constructed a new political scenario in our country. Despite the sterile attempts to avoid it, today nobody is able to argue seriously, beyond mere political propaganda, that nothing has changed.
Those who are determined to hold to clearly immobile positions cannot hide their disappointment and increasing nervousness. Now we can say it, the first battle that we knew we would have to face strategically was the battle of credibility.
When we had the initial thoughts about the need to undergo a deep self-criticism and review of our strategy (immediately after the failure of the dialogue process) we were aware that the frustrated negotiation experiences (mainly Lizarra and the last one) had damaged our political credibility amongst Basque citizens.
We were aware that this decline was an obvious social reality. Recognising this reality forced us to discard self-complacent analysis and to cease avoiding debates about whether our loss of credibility was greater or less important than the state’s, simply because the state can bear any loss in this regard as its legitimising strategy does not need Basque popular acceptance, while for the people driving the process of national liberation popular Basque acceptance and legitimacy is simply essential.
The recovery of our credibility was even more urgent because the unilateral bid for the opening of a democratic process was based on two pillars: our people and the international community.
For this reason, the sectors that have dug themselves into immobility and dedicate themselves to tell us what, how and when we launch our initiatives and proposals are completely wrong. The only agents entitled to make suggestions or proposals to the Abertzale Left at this stage are the Basque trade unions and the social, political and international agents who are committed to the task of developing the democratic process.
All our efforts have been directed to gain credibility with them and to increase our mutual confidence in one another.