Spain's mad race against Basque independence
The shutdown of Egin and Egin Irratia
by Teresa Toda, journalist at Egin for over 14 years
In the early hours of 15 July, just after the last van left the
premises of the daily newspaper, Egin, with the last load of the
day's edition, over 300 armed Spanish policemen, led by Baltasar
Garzón, judge of the special court for ``terrorism'', the Audiencia
Nacional of Madrid, invaded the building and began a thorough
search that lasted five hours.
The building in Hernani, in the Basque province of Gipuzkoa,
houses both the newspaper Egin and Egin Irratia, the radio
station. A few hours before, the police had arrested 11 members
or former members of Egin's Board of Directors.
The police did not allow the paper's lawyers to witness the
search, claiming that the proceedings were secret. Only two
people, both workers of the paper, were allowed to act as formal
witnesses. They saw how policemen took away pieces of the
machinery to render it useless.
In the meantime, Egin's and Egin Irratia's journalists and
workers gathered in front of the building, very worried and, as
yet unable to believe what their eyes saw and what it implied.
Those implications were confirmed when police sealed the doors
and gates and informed Egin's representatives that the paper and
the radio station were to remain shut by judicial order.
The immediate reaction of Egin and Egin Irratia's personnel was
to inform all the media that were covering the story that ``we
will go on, Egin will continue to exist somehow''. The afternoon
was a hectic series of meetings, ``squatting'' on a sympathetic
newspaper's facilities, establishing the first contacts with
political parties, trades unions, other media, social
organisations, trying to see what could be done in the future...
the very next day a modest, but new, paper was out, ``Euskadi
Información''. It cannot print a large number of copies, but, in
solidarity, hands photocopy its pages and spread them around. The
money forthcoming helps to support Egin's personnel, and keep the
paper going.
Meanwhile, the Minister for the Interior, Jaime Mayor Oreja,
appeared overjoyed in a press conference, dishing out a series of
accusations as explanations of why Judge Garzón had ordered the
close down and arrests. It was all very mixed up, as it has been
since then. On the one hand, all members of the Board of
Directors were charged with tax offences and financial crimes; on
the other Mayor Oreja talked about Egin having stable relations
with the Basque armed organisation ETA.
During the five days the 10 men and one woman remained in police
custody, and in spite of the proceedings being secret, all sorts
of partial pieces of information were ``leaked'' by the Spanish
media. By the time they were taken before the Judge for the
official statement, the Spanish Government had made them members
of ETA in a whirlwind of rising charges. That was what TV and
radio audiences and newspapers got outside the Basque Country.
For there, in Euskal Herria, things were different. The press and
media in general did not crash down on Egin and Egin Irratia as
much as the Spanish media. Basque nationalist parties expressed
concern over the closure and the situation the 210 workers were
left in, and actions began to be taken denouncing the harsh
measure as a direct attack on freedom of expression and freedom
of information.
Last Saturday over 70,000 people filled the streets of Donostia,
the capital of Gipuzkoa, in a silent demonstration calling for a
democratic solution for Euskal Herria and the re-opening of Egin
and Egin Irratia. Among the demonstrators were four members of
PNV, the largest nationalist party. Although the party as such
did not support the demonstration, it has voiced its concern over
the closure. It must be noted that this is the first time in over
a decade that highly placed PNV members attended a demonstration
called by Basque independence supporters, a fact that reveals the
extent of their worry.
The personnel of Egin and Egin Irratia have called a day of
action and strikes for today (Thursday) and, although they got
support from trades and the Basque independence organisations,
parties were extremely cautious in view of Judge Garzón's long
edict justifying the shutdown because Egin and Egin Irratia
``constitute part of ETA''. To support these accusations, Garzón
bases his statements on interpretations of certain pages of the
paper, on half-truths, and on a mixture of different data
gathered by police operations against ETA.
The judge and the conservative Spanish Government, as well as the
Spanish parties PP (the ruling conservative party) and PSOE
(social democratic), maintain that the measure does not infringe
freedom of expression and information, because Egin was a vehicle
for ETA's ``criminal activities''. A few journalists and jurists in
Spain have said they think it necessary to close down the paper,
as measures could have been taken against those charged, and not
against the newspaper and radio themselves and its workers.
The fact is that the Basque people's right to have all sorts of
media reflecting the wide spectrum of political and social
opinion has been seriously damaged, as well as their right to see
their general opinions reflected in a newspaper or on the air.
That is absolutely unquestionable, never mind what the charges
were against the Board of Directors and the paper itself.
But it is not altogether surprising, although the depth of the
decision was fairly unexpected. Even though Egin had always been
under fire from Governments and courts, it did seem unlikely that
any of them would make such a fascist-type move. Now, the
conservative Government headed by José María Aznar has taken a
step further in its mad race to eradicate the Basque independence
movement in all its forms. The Minister for the Interior, Mayor
Oreja, leads the crusade, backed by judges and an obliging media.
It began with the trial and sentencing of the former National
Executive of Herri Batasuna, and continued with a series of raids
on small companies related to Basque independence, charging them
with helping ETA's finances. The latest visible and very hard
blow indeed has been against Egin, a 21 year old paper born in
response to a very real social demand. The Government accuses the
paper and radio station of forming the ``fourth front'' of ETA's
strategy, the other three being ``the institutional front, the
social front and the military front''.
Underlying all these attacks is the PP's policy against all
things Basque and for all things Spanish. The ``unquestionable
unity'' of Spain is a driving force in Aznar's Government which,
coupled with his absolute ``no'' to negotiations or talks for
solving the conflict between the Basque Country and Spain, paints
a very sombre picture for forthcoming months. It must not be
forgotten that there are elections in the Basque Country in
October, and the Spanish parties are trying hard to beat the
existing nationalist majority.
For, although Herri Batasuna does not participate regularly in
the Basque Parliament, such a majority exists and it has made
itself visible lately in a couple of significant votes on Basque
sports selections and against making members of the Basque
Parliament swear allegiance to the Spanish Constitution before
taking office. Those votes were one of the results of the talks
that Herri Batasuna and PNV have been holding over the last few
months to try and break the existing deadlock. Those talks, very
discreet, have nonetheless given rise to certain hopes in Basque
society, and have angered the Spanish government which,
paradoxically, has PNV's support in the Spanish Parliament in
Madrid. But such is the intricate structure of Basque politics...
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