Evil might not shoot, kill, maim, torture, mutilate, disfigure or strangle. Evil might not even call openly for these things to happen to opponents. Evil can be the simple act of staying silent.
Spain has, this month, taken on the presidency of the European Union for six months. The fact is that the Spanish Civil Guard, police and military are shooting, torturing, mutilating and kidnapping political opponents of the Spanish government, while the courts, in turn, imprison youth group members, politicians, journalists and language activists. Nothing is ever heard in ‘mainstream’ society about these attacks on democracy. It seems that the media throughout Europe think that it would be impolite to highlight these daily echoes of Franco’s dictatorship.
To reveal the lack of democracy at the heart of the Spanish state might threaten the illusion that the European Union has any democratic credentials itself.
Probably the most shocking case to have emerged inside the last year of Spain’s Dirty War against Basque citizens is the disappearance of Jon Anza.
Anza is originally from Donostia [San Sebastián] in the Spanish occupied part of the Basque Country. For his involvement in the national independence struggle, he was imprisoned in 1982 and remained incarcerated for over 12 years. After his release and, with mounting harassment from Spanish state forces, Anza decided to move to the French occupied part of the Basque Country – to live in exile in order to have some quality of life for himself and his family.
In Baiona on April 18 2009 at 7am Jon was boarding a train for Toulouse. He was waved off on his journey by his partner, having told her that he was travelling to meet up with friends. She had no contact with Jon in the days that followed but this didn’t immediately worry her. It wasn’t until April 24 when Jon missed an appointment with his doctor that his partner became concerned.
Jon has an illness which impairs his sight, he is almost blind, and he needs regular medical treatment. In the weeks that followed, his relatives and friends waited for news but, when nothing happened, they decided to act. On May 16 relatives of Jon, his lawyer and a member of Askatasuna, the Basque organisation for political prisoners, held a press conference in Baiona. They told of how they feared for Jon’s safety. They recounted the stories from the 1970s and ’80s when Spanish state forces had kidnapped, tortured and killed Basques living in the French occupied zone. They told of how they now feared that Jon may have met a similar fate. They were asking for help.
People from all over the Basque Country responded. In less than a week, over 1,000 people took to the streets of Baiona to protest. Days later, 500 people gathered in Biarritz demanding to know the whereabouts of Jon.
Two weeks after the press conference, hundreds of protests that are held around the Basque Country every month to remember Basque political prisoners were focused on the plight of Jon Anza and banners and placards asked the simple question ‘Non da Jon?’ [Where is Jon?]. More protests followed, over 4,000 turned out in Donostia; banners, stickers, posters and graffiti showed a simple picture of Jon and all asked the same question; his girlfriend gave an emotional interview to the Basque media, but still no news.
Read more here
No comments:
Post a Comment