"We believe that the time has come for all the people of Basque society to have at last all the rights that we have: civil, political and social rights," Mikel Casado and Eneko Calle have made clear at the Social Forum. Yesterday, 19 January, they held a press conference announcing that they will enter the second phase of the "social commitment to build a democratic coexistence" initiative launched three months ago.

They aim to "collect, in a participatory and open way", the "feelings and perceptions" of all the sectors that make up the Basque Country, to "reflect on how we should continue to build democratic coexistence from now on". They also intend to make visible and explicit the "complexity" posed by the construction of coexistence in the Basque Country. The Social Forum considers that civil society must be involved in the construction of coexistence in the Basque Country.

Yes or yes, three knots to release

The Social Forum sees "three knots to be released": that all victims have the right to truth, justice and reparation to overcome the "discrimination" that still persists in dealing with victims; the "definitive repeal" of the current emergency penitentiary policy and the application of a "normalized policy" to prisoners; and, from the social spaces, to encourage the construction of an "inclusive critical memory" to be respected. "The liberation of these three knots will make it possible to establish the basis for building a democratic coexistence," said Casado and Calle in their speeches.

"The time has come for consensus, for decisions agreed in the Basque Country. Time to agree on the past and the future. We are convinced that we must agree, from the bottom to the top, once again calling for the role of civil society in the direction of unleashing the nodes of the peace process". To this end, they consider social commitment essential in order to "make possible in the future the construction of common and shared bases that allow for the peaceful and democratic coexistence of the different perspectives that hereafter exist on the existence of our people".

This is a second phase which is to be activated through new initiatives. For example, anyone can write to the mailbox of their website to make contributions. According to them, they may be based on the document made public in the act of Aiete or not: "All contributions will be welcomed." Four open discussion forums will also be held on Tuesday in Donostia-San Sebastián, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Pamplona/Iruña and Bilbao.

All contributions they will receive during this dynamic process will be made public on 16 May in the context of the International Day of Peaceful Coexistence.

Three months ago, on the occasion of the ninth anniversary of the Aiete Peace Conference, the process was launched.