Last week, Arnaldo Otegi, the coordinator of the pro-independence party, EH Bildu wrote a piece on his blog. It is a succinct explanation of where things stand today and key strands of strategic thinking for the months, years and even decades ahead.
It is certainly not parochial. Instead it embeds the current Basque and Catalan imbroglio in the global context and lays bare the absolute vulnerability of Spain in the years ahead.
It is premised on the inevitability of a return of the financial and economic crisis globally., or its ‘third phase‘.
We should be able to agree that the elites (not just in Spain) are maintaining obscene levels of inequality and rate of profit on the back of precarious jobs, labour exploitation and ever more deregulation.
This is mirrored by the alarming rise of the Far Right across the Western World (Trump. Orban for starters). Some commentators have compared the rise of AfD, Front National, Lega te al to the 1930s. Otegi references an arch-enemy, ex-PM Aznar who himself compared the situation in Catalonia and Spain to 1934. (The year when the left-oriented Second Republic saw a return of a neo-fascist order in a two year regime).
Meanwhile in the background is the inter-elite conflict over climate change and war (or attempts to keep peace) which he sees as a dynamic for the 2020s, 2030s and more.
The Spanish state is seen as being totally insolvent and unsustainable economically, with enormous public and private deficits.
On top of this comes the Catalan challenge to the ‘Old Regime of 1978’ (when the post-Franco Constitution was railroaded in to “forget” four decades of crimes and repression and bottle up the aspirations of nations in Iberia). Now those demands have risen to the surface.
The armed group, ETA, is now consigned to history and he says “it has left the State without an internal enemy” which served as an excuse for curtailing civil rights in the name of fight against terrorism. The state needs a new enemy…. the independence movements especially in Catalonia.
The State is now looking to roll back autonomy and re-centralise powers. Led by Partido Popular and Ciudadanos, this is illustrated by the application of Article 155 in Catalonia last winter (and calls for its return), electoral reform to weaken pro-independence parties (even make some illegal), rise in xenofobia, reduce the Basque fiscal autonomy and its economic accord, remove more worker safeguards, and pour cold water over the issue of equality for women …..
While it is entirely possible that the weak ‘centrist’ PSOE (currently in office) could return to power in anticipated elections, this is not seen as being able or willing to change the status quo, especially in reforming the 1978 constitution and in the relations between centre and periphery.
So what is to be done?
The key proposal is for independence forces (and the wider Basque, Catalan and Galician society) to “synchronise watches”. To form alliances. To agree on a minimum common programme in respect of the Right To Decide (relationship with Madrid).
The battleground is designated to be the upcoming elections to the European Parliament in May 2019 as well as probable elections in Spain (in 2019 too?).
Any such visible coordination would ‘create hope and aspiration among the people and reinforce the battle for equality, liberty and national sovereignty”.
All this has to be related to the “daily problems faced by citizens”.
He name-checks several ‘social waves‘ … the massive Feminist protests on the 8th of March ……… the continuous protests by pensioners for a proper pension …… the massive mobilisation in the summer by ‘Gure Esku Dago (In Our Hands) for a ‘right to decide‘ and the demands for a ‘return and freedom of prisoners‘ in the wake of the definitive end of ETA.
EH Bildu is also pitching for an understanding with the Right-of-Centre Partido Nacionalista Vasco (PNV), the almost permanent Basque rulers. While emphasising that it will not ignore cases of corruption (the case of Miguel or the use over Osakidetza) engulfing PNV, ……. it says it wants to be constructive ……. offering an olive branch in using its Parliamentary support in allowing the Basque budget to be passed ….. though it demands a visible change in direction (or at least a start) from Neo-liberal stance of the the pro-big business PNV.
On Monday 8th of October it offered to allow two members of the Basque Parliament to abstain from the vote on the budget (thus allowing it to pass). Until recently, the PNV had preferred to ally with the PSE (Basque arm of the PSOE).
Bildu having regained its position and seen off the political threat from a fast declining bust still significant Podemos wants to place itself in between PNV and Podemos and stitch a tri-partite understanding against the “Spanish” centralist parties of the PP and PSOE.
The three together have an alternative majority in Parliament but Podemos (with its eye on Spanish elections and the inevitable backlash in the awful mainstream media over an alliance with Bildu) is backtracking over its support.
Otegi ends by outlining the tasks for his party in the days ahead. This includes reinforcing the changes tin Navarra and the French Basque Country and interestingly on expanding the almost invisible presence internationally of the Basque cause.
Like Northern Ireland, the world has turned its back on the Basques after the end of conflict. The former has only returned because of the shambles over Brexit. The latter needs a new message and reasons for why the world should care about why it matters ……… …
The original article (in Spanish) is found at the link below
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