Sharing prison experiences in the Basque Country
Former republican prisoner Mick O'Brien travelled to the town of Zornotza
in the Basque Country last week to take part in a weekend gathering in
support of the Basque political prisoners and their contribution to the
process of conflict resolution.
``I am so impressed by what I saw there that I can't stop thinking about it
since I came back,'' O'Brien told An Phoblacht. He had been invited over by
the pro-independence party Herri Batasuna, to share the experience of Irish
POWs in the peace process here and to discuss the new political scenario in
Ireland after the Good Friday Agreement. During his visit, Mick met former
prisoners, relatives of those still imprisoned, and politicians from
nationalist parties and the pro-independence movement in the Basque
Country.
As Mick pointed out to his Basque hosts: ``Althought there are many
differences between the political situations in our two countries, there
are also many lessons to be learned from sharing our experiences''.
The event, called ``Nineteen years away from home, there will not be twenty:
It is in our hands'' was organised by Senideak (Relatives of Basque
prisoners), Preso ohiak (a former prisoners' group), and two support groups
for imprisoned Basque activists. It dealt with different aspects of the
prisoner struggle, with information on the different prisoners and
relatives' support groups.
Mick describes the scene: ``In the park, everyone had brought tents to stay
during the weekend. There were stalls set up by the different campaigns.
They constructed makeshift cells, so people could experience their
dimensions, there were lots of posters... you name it.. A lot of work went
into it. Very well organised. I was around at the start of the
hunger-strike campaign and seeing a lot of this I thought it was very very
similar, except this actually was a lot more organised and I thought that
the support was more widespread too.''
Saturday 3 July was an important day in most of the town councils in the
Basque Country as Basque political prisoners who were elected in the local
elections last June were allowed out of jail to be sworn in as councillors.
In Zornotza, Mick O'Brien met Joseba Etxezarreta, a Basque prisoner elected
to the town council.
``The police display was very low key and very relaxed inside,'' said Mick.
``But when he was taken back to the prison he was handcuffed, and that did
not go down very well. Many people came to express their support when the
policemen were taking him in and out of the chamber.''
On Saturday evening, Mick O'Brien attended a commemoration for ETA
volunteer Andres Izagirre `Gogor', who was killed by state forces in San
Sebastian in 1981, and later on, he met with Mikel Sarasketa, who was
released last year after serving 20 years.
``As a former political prisoner, I am honoured to be here today with Mikel
Sarasketa, not only because of his personal sacrifice for the Basque
independence movement but because in the minds of many people, Mikel
represents the determination and strength of the Basque political prisoners
group,'' said Mick. ``The recently released video Tiochfaidh Ar Lá brought
home to many people in my country the enormeous difficulties faced by your
prisoners and their families. And by paying tribute to Mikel and his family
I am paying tribute to all the prisoners and to all the families.''
During his speech, Mick O'Brien highlighted the importance of the release
of political prisoners in any conflict resolution process, describing it as
``an essential element in any search for peace''. He added that ``the release
of political prisoners is about the ending of state violence. It is part of
the demilitarisation of the state's war machine and it must include not
only release but a radical overhaul of the judicial, prison and legal
systems. It is not enough to release the prisoners - the whole apparatus
must go''.
O'Brien emphasised the porisoners' ownership of the peace process and he
condemned the Spanish state's illegal dispersion strategy, saying that the
raising of such issues in international forums is essential for the peace
process and the prisoners struggle - ``We embarrased the British in the
European Parliament. The treatment of Basque prisoners in the Spanish state
is illegal. Spanish law says that they should serve their sentences near
home and prisoners and their representatives should use the European
Parliament, or individuals in the European Parliament, to bring up that
issue''.
Pressure on Tehran regime mounts as students demonstrate
Up to five Iranian students have been killed by special security police
backed by Islamic vigilantes since student protests at the weekend sent
shock waves through the Islamic regime in Tehran.
According to the National Resistance Committee of Iran, up to 10,000
students took to the streets of the Iranian capital last week to support
calls for democratic change and to protest against the closure of the
reformist newspaper Salam.
The protests were met by violence as riot squads and vigilantes attacked
them. The worst violence occurred when students who were in the main
dormitory of Tehran University on Thursday 8 July were surrounded and
attacked by the regime's forces.
Three students were reported killed as police and vigilantes assaulted the
unarmed students, throwing a number from upstairs windows.
The student protests are the biggest demonstrations against the Islamic
regime set up up by Ayatollah Khomeini in the aftermath of the overthrow of
the Shah in 1979. In his drive to consolidate his fundamentalist regime,
Khomeini crushed those groups, who despite their role in the revolution
against the Shah, opposed the establishment of a fundamentalist state.
The latest student demonstrations have also come at a time when the regime
is under pressure from the National Liberation Army, the military
opposition to the regime, which has carried out a number of attacks.
The demonstrations will damage the efforts of the government to portray
itself as a liberalising administration. Last year's World Cup soccer match
between the United States and Iran was hailed as a success of international
reconciliation only because the media chose to ignore the 20,000 Iranian
demonstrators who chanted anti-regime slogans and waved opposition banners
throughout the match.
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