Political parties and institutions continue to show no signs of union on Remembrance Day, 11 years after agreeing to celebrate it. That day, which was institutionalized in 2010 and is commemorated every November 10, reproduces the division again, with different events organized by the PP and Vox, but also by different institutions, such as Parliament, the Victims Memorial Center, the three councils, the Basque Institute for Memory and Coexistence –Gogora– and several municipalities. Far from transferring that the Basques are advancing towards the normalization of coexistence ten years after the end of ETA, parties and institutions project an image of fragmentation every time memory and victims are discussed.
What was possible on May 24, 2010, the photograph in the Basque Parliament with the heads of all the parties and institutions that set the celebration for November 10, as the only date on the calendar in which “the bullets and the bombs did not leave a trace of pain ”, in 2013 it became impossible. The PP separated with a different act in which they only paid tribute to the victims of terrorism. Other parties such as Aralar chose to also commemorate those of other types of violence. Since then the PP has not wanted to “mix the victims” of ETA, Gal and the Spanish Basque Battalion with “those of other violence.” However, the EH Bildu coalition, which did not sign the agreement in 2010 because it was outlawed, has since participated with the coalition.
The act of the Basque Parliament in 2021 consisted of a wreath before the sculpture Gauerdiko Iparrorratza-Midnight Compass, a work dedicated to the victims and which is located next to the main entrance of the headquarters of the Basque Parliament, in Vitoria-Gasteiz. Along with the sculpture and the cauldron, the Lehendakari, the members of the Bureau of Parliament and the parliamentary spokesmen, have been laying flowers. During the ceremony, dedicated to the memory of the victims, two minutes of silence were observed and the hymn was heard. Agur jaunak eta andreak. The ceremony was attended by representatives of all groups in Parliament except for the PP + Cs and Vox, formations that consider that this type of acts whitewash EH Bildu.
The exterior doors of the Basque Parliament will remain open so that institutional representatives and citizens can participate in the floral offering throughout the day.
The Lehendakari, Iñigo Urkullu, has focused on the “civic commitment of Basque society in favor of peace” throughout the three decades of citizen mobilizations against ETA terrorism. The Basque Government has dedicated the Day of Remembrance to thank the “hundreds of thousands of anonymous people”, said Urkullu, who with “small gestures and their great commitment” contributed decisively to the end of ETA. Representatives of pacifist associations such as Gesto por la Paz, the Asociación por la Paz de Euskal Herria, Artesanos de la Paz, Denon Artean, Elkarri, Lokarri, Bakea Orain, the Askartza Claret school, the Escolapios de Bilbao school, Ermua Forum … have received institutional recognition for his work in achieving peace and freedom from ETA. “Thanks to all of us, we won the battle,” proclaimed the Basque president.
Thanks to the “silent, but not silenced” effort of thousands of people, Urkullu added, it was possible to win “the battle of dignity and life, of the delegitimization of violence.” They won “the battle of human rights, peace and freedom, the battle of respect, dialogue, pluralism and diversity. The battle of ethical and democratic principles and values ”, in the words of the Lehendakari. It was a victory, he added, which was won after many years, which started with the initiative that a group of people who on June 28, 1978 promoted a mobilization in Portugalete against ETA under the slogan We are fed up with violence and murder. Peace and Freedom, and culminated ten years ago with the ETA declaration announcing the end of the armed struggle.
The Throne Room of the Diputación de Gipuzkoa has been the setting chosen by the Basque Government to celebrate the Day of Remembrance, which has been joined by the delegate of the Government in the Basque Country, Denis Itxaso; the president of the Basque Parliament, Bakartxo Tejeria, representatives of the autonomous Executive, judicial and institutional authorities, as well as political representatives of the PNV, EH Bildu, PSE-EE and Elkarrekin Podemos.
In Bilbao, the victims have been honored this Wednesday in front of the monolith located next to the pergola located in the Doña Casilda Park, in the Bilbao district of Abando, reports Mario de Jaime Moleres. The act, charged with emotion and symbolism, began with a wreath by the victims. With musical accompaniment by the Municipal band of Txistularis, it has included the reading of the tribute text Who was torn from our side, performed by Jesuitak Indautxu students, accompanied by an old song in Basque. The citizen tribute was completed with the reading of all the names of the victims of terrorism and political violence in Bilbao.
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