Basques and Irish share experiences
A number of republican ex-prisoners gathered to meet with a Basque delegation in Coiste na nIarchimí last week. The delegation, straight from the Basque Day at Féile an Phobail in West Belfast, came to discuss their campaign for repatriation and to talk and share experiences with republican ex-prisoners.
Several of the Basque delegation had themselves spent years in jail, including Juan Mari Olano, who was imprisoned as a member of the Herri Batasuna leadership, who were all held in jail accused of publicly showing the a film entitled ``The Alternative Democracy'', which made the case for a cessation of hostilities and the need for a Peace Process.
Other delegates included Pilar Aranburu Txema Matanzas. Pilar, who spent 13 years in jail, much of it in solitary confinement, is mother of 4 children and is now 63 years old. She is a member of Senideak, the support movement for family and friends of Basque political prisoners. Also here was Txema Matanzas, who was one of the original leaders of ``Jarrai'', the youth movement which has grown to thousands in the Basque country.
Other delegates were Garbine Eraso who has run a Basque radio station for six years for the political prisoners in Paris; Pantxo Belin, who is a spokesperson for Koordinaketa, a prisoner support movement in the Northern part of the Basque country; and Maria Colera, who works in the International Office of the prisoners' support group, AAB.
The delegation each received a presentation of a beautiful bodhrán made by prisoners in Castlerea.
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