Basque & Catalan Solidarity Protest held in Dublin

dublin | rights, freedoms and repression | news report

Wednesday December 13, 2006 22:48

by Catalan Solidarity Ireland Committee

catalansolidarity at hotmail dot com

A Basque solidarity rally was hold in Dublin last Sunday.It lasted about 1.5 hours, near Stephen's Green end of Grafton St, Sunday 10th.

Previous Catalan Solidarity Ireland Committee Protest

It started with Txalaparta performance, followed by Zanpantzar performance, 10 men in traditional costume, with another as the bear, led by a woman carrying the Basque flag.

Supporters gathered around (40-50 people) and cheered them on.

Supporters displayed a banner with the slogan "SELF-DETERMINATION FOR THE BASQUE COUNTRY". As well as Basque and Irish supporters, there were also Catalans in attendance, who displayed their own banner: "CATALONIA IS NOT SPAIN"

Many passers-by, both Irish and non-Irish (tourists and foreign workers), stopped to listen and watch, or to ask questions of supporters.

Over 800 leaflets were given out explaining the cultural background to the performances and the historical and political background to the Basque struggle for self-determination.

Many signatures were collected on petitions in favour of the involvement of Spanish and French States in a process of talks and negotiations accepting the rights of all the Basques to decide their own future as the key to the resolution of the conflict.During the afternoon, some songs were sung and slogans shouted, in between performances of Zanpantzar and Txalaparta.

At the end of the afternoon, Germà Martin, speaking in Basque and in Catalan, thanked the performers and the supporters for their attendance, asked for continued support for the Dublin Basque Committee. He was followed by Diarmuid Breatnach, speaking in Irish and then in English, who said the same things and concluded with "Gora Euskadi" and "Visca Catalunya". Some supporters and Txalaparta performers then went into the Temple Bar area and put on another performance there.

Many of the supporters and performers met later that evening in a bar and enjoyed an evening of music and comradeship. The Dublin Irish Basque Committee is in the process of reorganising itself and this performance was an important first step.

Source: http://www.irishbasquecommittees.blogspot.com/

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Comments (2 of 2)

new links for catalaparlants & others in Ireland on prison issues, cases & new initiatives

by maitetxina

Fri Feb 16, 2007 22:15

attempts have been made to solidarity link the campaigns of the Raytheon 9, http://barcelona.indymedia.org/newswire/display/291983/...x.php

Nuria is an anarchist prisoner from Girona who was detained on the 7th of February 2007 accuse of belonging to an armed group & possession of explosives. Her campaign is gaining strength.
http://barcelona.indymedia.org/newswire/display/293350/...x.php
You may find downloadable files on Núria Pórtulas and the others detailing their cases at the links.

12 Navarrans who are on trial at the moment for "kale Boraka" arson attacks which took place 11 years ago.
http://barcelona.indymedia.org/newswire/display/292330/...x.php
http://barcelona.indymedia.org/newswire/display/293019/...x.php

The political prisoners of the Western Sahara
http://barcelona.indymedia.org/newswire/display/291613/...x.php

reporting the end to a hunger strike by 3 anarchist prisoners in Greece who have been released - their case dating back to May 6th 2006
http://barcelona.indymedia.org/newswire/display/292416/...x.php

& a reminder of one year since Rodrigo, Álex and Juan were sent to prison for the the Feb4 "Montatge" - held hostage by the Spanish state for an eviction where a cop got hurt.
http://barcelona.indymedia.org/newswire/display/291162/...x.php

Linking ongoing repression and criminalisation http://barcelona.indymedia.org/newswire/display/291720/...x.php of anarchist & activist youth throughout the Iberian peninsula-

see Black Cross anarchist prisoner support Iberian peninsula & islands section -
http://www.nodo50.org/federacioniberica_cna/
or a catalan independence site - http://alertasolidaria.org/

Negres Tempestes (pictured) have launched a new web design hosted by the assembly of Sants in Barcelona. A group which addresses independence and national issues from an anarchist perspective - both now and historically is attracting interest & better speakers, events & debate all the time. Their logo being a clever combination of the grafit senyera with star & "@" of anarchism.
http://www.negrestempestes.org/index.php?option=com_fro...mid=1

from their site - "Some time ago different people, with certain ideologic affinity, started to talk about some questions. On the one hand, there is the ideologic lack of different collectives, the contradictions in their antiimperialist fight. On the other hand, the wrong stereotype that makes an important part of the organized people tend to think that an independentist wants the attainment of a state, with the authoritarianism it implies, and that every anarchist despises the own culture and language, in our case the Catalan one, from a false internationalism. It would be the case of the most used: "Independence is fascism" or "anarchism is love of Spain". Sentences without any meaning that do not solve anything and that allow people to continue using roles and false clichés that hinder people from thinking by themselves. From this perspective, those of us who see the necessity to destroy the ruling system (the state as a basis of authority, repression and economic exploitation), are aware of the importance of the culture in the relations and in the change of the essentialist/ dogmatic minds that do not see far from their own, and we seek to explain that we do not believe in dogma, states or borders (neither the real nor the imposed) nor in anything more important than the human being. This group, not homogeneous, wants to explain things as we think they should be, without anyone telling us if we are this or that, clarifying that we leave labels for whoever who wants to carry them, believing having fought in who knows which barricade of a certain war, or having killed who knows which dragon in a mystic age... We do not think to be over good or evil, we do not intend to be more or less revolutionary than anyone, we do not aim to become vanguard or reference. Our intention is simply to show evidence that many times things are not as we have been told, that it is not necessary to follow the white or black tendencies imposed by different people. In the fights to change the basic things that surround us we prefer to approach them rather than leaving them to approach us. We do not want to change what we know, but to make people know that there are more worlds, more ways to know things. With this lack of will to be more than we are, we decided to gather and to deepen into our approaches. From here, we would like to explain how we see the world and how to collaborate to make it a place a little bit more breathable (at least in our surrounding) and to help the debate to carry this project out. In this way is born Negres Tempestes, a "collective" that in in its field of relations will try to break the pre-existing schemes. We are organized in an assembly way, so that the debate of the different ideas takes us to consensus. From our point of view it is the only way from which we can talk about democracy, because the different opinions we are given will be represented. This is our ideological base, the one that defines us. We consider ourselves anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist, understanding these two postulates as two approaches which can never be given up and which are inseparable. Anti-capitalists in order to create a setting where the consciousness of social and economic oppresion leads to the knowledge of the reality that is hidden from us and to the reflection and debate to change it. Anti-imperialist to give voice to the peoples, and to their individuals in their fight for their freedom or their simple existence. Our intention is to be ourselves and not to define us according to what the others think or do. We know that the attainment of freedom at all levels starts from ourselves, whether as individuals or collective.

As an internationalist collective we are also interested in having an archive where we can compile texts and materials from other nations who share this fight. You can send us texts and material (posters, stickers, etc.)

to: negrestempestes[at]gmail.com
Aquesta adreça de correu electrònica està protegida contra els robots d'spam, necessites activar Javascript per veure-la

"no state will set you free" - last 11th Sept - catalan national day - anarcho-catalans "blackstorms" launched.

The group has fused the semiotic of anarchism with that of catalan indepedence.

Some good news from Catalonia! Nuria has been released on bail.

by llibertat!

Thu Jun 07, 2007 18:41

Of course the release of Nuria an anarchist who was detained on "terrorist group" charges and case was described in the last comment does not alter the terror which many feel now that the terrorist organisation ETA have declared an end to their ill-named ceasefire on all fronts which can only be interpreted as meaning Catalonia and Catalans are to be targets yet again..,

coverage of Nuria's case :-
http://elsud.org/nuri/
http://www.vilaweb.cat/www/noticia?p_idcmp=2430955

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Basque & Catalan Solidarity Protest held in Dublin

Comments (2 of 2)