AGAINST INTERNATIONAL FASCISM!

international | anti-war / imperialism | opinion/analysis

Wednesday March 17, 2004 11:59

by Basque & Catalan Solidarity Ireland

basquebelfast at hotmail dot com

THE ONLY INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM!

We are a group of Basque and Catalan activists living in Ireland (occupied six counties). This is a statement from our group following the recent Madrid bombings.

This text will be distributed during national demonstrations in Ireland on March 20th against the continuing Occupation and War in Iraq.

AGAINST INTERNATIONAL FASCISM: THE ONLY INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM

From last Thursday March 11th the news that appear in all newspapers, television and radio headlines is the death of 200 people in Madrid due to a bomb attack and its consequences. Only the effects of things turn into news, but we are never informed about the causes.

This is why we believe it is necessary to inform about the causes.
Once more, we have witnessed the pathetic answer from the Spanish state government when facing the facts, affirming and reaffirming, that is, lying and relying, that the authors of the action had been the Basque liberation group ETA, when Al-Qaeda had already reclaimed the action and ETA had denied any links. But this time, the criminalization of national and social liberation movements by the Spanish government hasn’t been successful in the international arena, since internationally, all the forces have assumed that Al-Qaeda is responsible for the attack in Madrid in response to the Spanish intervention in the war and occupation against Iraq. Thus, the direct cause of the 200 deaths is the Spanish state itself and its allies (USA, Britain, Italy…). But things are very different in the international arena than in the Spanish state, a state that we can’t forget is a repressor, police-controlled state which directly descends from fascism. There, disinformation and lies have monopolized the media.

All this situation has coincided with the Spanish state elections. PP (Popular Party), the party in the government, has taken advantage from the impotence feelings of the population in front of this massacre, as part of their electoral campaign, based on the fight against a so-called “international terrorism”, which they have been using as an argument to justify their repressive campaign against the national and social liberation movements of the different peoples submissed by the Spanish state.
This manipulation has created a general intolerance climate towards all the social groups that defy an oppressive and dehumanizing system. The political prisoners (which are more than 700 altogether) of ETA and GRAPO are being beaten with impunity in the Spanish jails. In Euskal Herria (Basque Country), a baker has been murdered by a Spanish policeman because he refused to hang an “ETA no” poster in his shop, and thus to participate in the media manipulation. After that, the police attacked the mourners who attended the place where the body was being kept. The next day, a protest was organized to complain about these facts and the police attacked the protestors again. The result was the death of a woman who was not assisted when she suffered a heart attack. In Catalonia, a young man was arrested during the elections because he went to vote with a “No war on Iraq” T-shirt.

In Madrid and other cities in the Spanish state, numerous people have been protesting at the PP offices, blaming the government for the 200 dead civilians. In Galicia, where the PP historically gets a great number of votes, the angry population has burnt an office of this party.

All these people’s reactions have been declared illegal by the PP government, arguing that any political expression is forbidden within 48 hours before the elections, because they would be considered as part of the pre-electoral campaign.

All these facts have to be analysed not as something isolated. On the contrary we can relate them to an international situation of repressive imperialism against the peoples. Since the eastern block disappeared, the capitalist powers have had to look for other excuses to act with impunity against the civil rights of the peoples. They can’t argue the “communist danger” any more to intervene in other countries. But now, from September 11th 2001, they have taken advantage from the New York attack to create an international state of paranoia and justify the fight against what they call “international terrorism”, which allows them to act with impunity above the civil rights of the individuals and the peoples. But it is our duty to realize who the real terrorists are. We must identify and denounce the terror created by the repressive states (such as USA, Spanish State and Britain), by the exploiting social classes, by the murderous transnational corporations (Coca-cola, Nike…).

We want to call the population to adopt a critical position in front of this global-lies-ation, because if we don’t react now it may be too late. Passivity is complicity!!!!

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by Arthur McKevitt

Thu Mar 18, 2004 02:39

Welcome to your group that are now living in NI and writing in Indomedia gives an opportunity to exchange views. I have managed to travel a great deal in my youth and experience different peoples of the world and felt that it came down to 2 kinds of persons in the end. Persons with nature and those with none. There are dark forces now at work on the earth, one of them is gross ignorance of all our history, that is the Earth's Peoples history.

When there is disasters like Madrid we see the real nature people like the ones who risk everything to help others there.

Charles Dickens in his time made an observation that there was a slight perpencity in human kind to do good.

Spanish people are closely linked to Irish people through their DNA and it has been discovered that the female of our species passes on a gene in mitchondrial DNA that enables us to trace our origins through history. The Irish are closely genetically linked to the Basque Region of Spain and it can now be proven that all kind are related to a handful of women in Africa.

I tell the people round here when they mention colour that they should be mindful that our Earth Mother was almost certainly Black. Good old girl!!

Then there is the 6 county occupation that needs to be mentioned and ask where do we step on the rung of history now that we know our DNA origins?

Most thinking folks recognise they live in a utopian era compared to previous generations, thanks largely to technological developments. If we are going to influence the future in any meanful way we have to except some fundimental realities, the first being that as we are all related through our DNA, then our birth environment and development stage plays a major part in our views and outlook.

It is widely recognised that what goes in at the development stage of our programming stays with us and could we act any differently as we are manditory brain washed early by religeous God squads in schools. A bad education you might say! Film just released and who will take them on if our own country is anything to go by.

Therefore what right does a 60 year old catholic say to a 70 year old protestant "I want to take you into a united Ireland" or try to justify such because of circumstances of birth and different educational environment.

Spain's new prime minister Mr Zapatero seems to have the right qualities publicly expressed but then are the people we elect really in charge in the end!

Finally I agree with your comment that pacitivity is complicity but it is difficult if not impossible to address the arrogance that is now entrenched in power at every level of government and facilitated by the mainstream media. The decision to attack Iraq can only have disaterous concequences for our interests and human rights.

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AGAINST INTERNATIONAL FASCISM!

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