Solidarity with the left-wing organizations that are under attack!

In the past weeks there has been a massive wave of repression in Euskal Herria (the Basque Country). On October 5, 23 members of the prohibited left-wing party Batasuna were arrested on charges of “membership in a terrorist organization”. On the same day, the office of the legal party EHAK (Communist Party of the Basque Territories) in Donostia/San Sebastián was occupied by the police.

On October 2, a spokesman of the left-wing youth organization SEGI was arrested. Asier Tapia was in the northern part of the Basque Country on French territory, where SEGI and Batasuna are still a legal organizations. He had been forced to flee there in late 2001 after he had organized a press conference to protest against the arrest of 14 SEGI members.

The arrest was on the basis of a European Arrest Warrant which the Spanish special court Audiencia Nacional had obtained in 2005. In 2007, Spain’s supreme court declared that SEGI was an “armed gang or terrorist organization”. Asler Tapia is now awaiting extradition on charges of “membership of a terrorist organization” – in Madrid he faces a prison sentence of up to 111 (yes, one hundred and eleven!) years!

The Spanish state claims that SEGI and all left-wing organisations are part of the group ETA. The reality is that SEGI is a political youth organization with thousands of members across Euskal Herria. This arrest is part of a systematic campaign of repression by the Spanish state which has already led to the banning of political parties, electoral lists, newspapers, radio stations, bars, etc. and the arrest of thousands of activists.

Even though we don’t not agree with SEGI and the Basque pro-independence left on all points, this repression is an attack against all people fighting against oppression in the world. Therefore:

• We demand the immediate release Asler Tapla and of all Basque political prisoners!
• We call on all left-wing and workers’ organizations (especially youth organizations) to fight against this repression!

REVOLUTION International Coordination, October 19, 2007

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For more background information, see:
Revo’s statement from February 2007
Revo’s statement from January 2005