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INPRIMATU
Reflection of the Abertzale left: looking to the past to address the future
  • In recent months, the Abertzale left has carried out a reflection on the new open political cycle of some hundred militants of Ipar Euskal Herria. In Lapurdi, Baxe Nafarroa and Zuberoa there have been important changes in recent years and we have considered it essential to have confluence as a political movement, to update the analysis of the current situation and to reflect on the prospects for the future.
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In short, as a community that has been built and expanded in the last decades throughout the Basque Country, and as an active part of the Basque movement of Ipar Euskal Herria, we have sought to establish our political contribution to the new advances that we must make collectively. After a General Congress held in May, at Ipar Euskal Herria we will manage the conclusions we have drawn to the Sortu Congress that will be held throughout the Basque Country in January 2022.

The fact of meeting the last decades is especially important in the social and political context in which we live. Thanks to the struggle that has taken place, we are in a new political phase. In Ipar Euskal Herria, significant steps have been taken from the point of view of the country and opportunities have been opened for new leaps in the future in the struggle for national and social liberation. However, as we have been creating new situations, there have also been some shortcomings in the strategy and in the tasks, so it is important to analyse the situation in which we live well and to look to the past to draw lessons.

With three decades of regression, we realize that the evolution of the left Abertzale movement has been full of division and unity efforts. To the extent that a project of its own for Ipar Euskal Herria has materialized, the Abertzale Left has been an active agent in this path. We recognise that mistakes have been made, particularly in much of the 2000s. However, the Abertzale left has made a great effort in the convergence between the sectors that are part of the Abertzale movement, making a political, militant and economic contribution, for example. In short, and at the end of the decade mentioned, we managed to take the step that has been taken with the creation of EH Bai, until today we become the only political and institutional reference of the Abertzale left.

In our opinion, the mobilizations and social dynamics driven by the Abertzale movement have been key in the origin of the changes currently being experienced by Ipar Euskal Herria. Numerous demands and projects have been consolidated within the society of Ipar Euskal Herria, among them, being placed on the agenda of other agents. The Basque movement has moved to political centrality, which has made it one of the main political leaders of Ipar Euskal Herria. We recognize the contribution of the different sectors at the different stages of our reflection. We can have discrepancies about the past, but we believe that the political achievements we have achieved must be put at the forefront. This journey is not the heritage of anyone, but the result of the work carried out above all by the militant and the Abertzale social base.

It has been more than ten years since the Abertzale left decided to make a strategy change. It was a strategic decision beyond the end of ETA’s armed struggle, despite the decades-long cycle in which the intestine was important. Over and above all the obstacles and blockades of States, it has been possible in recent years to close this cycle in an orderly manner. And it wasn't easy. The Basque left, including ETA, has taken a wide range of initiatives to put the sovereign process of Euskal Herria in a new phase and create new conditions, but it also wants to highlight the involvement of militants, sectors and agents with whom it has been and has allies in this path. It is a road we have built among all, and it has to be said, that this was the objective, that is, to work for the Basque Country.

The scenario without ETA is undoubtedly a new situation for the Abertzale movement. It has only been three years since the organisation was dissolved and that has multiplied the possibilities of making a new journey that we will have to invent together. In recent years, important steps have been taken in the process of resolving the consequences of the conflict and in the institutionalization of Ipar Euskal Herria. There has been a need for a great deal of effort and struggle to bring about those movements that open up new conditions on the road to sovereignty. Although we have to do more, we have achieved it and we can say that Ipar Euskal Herria is involved in a process of self-construction.

We have to take in our hands the opportunities we have to generate more changes in the sovereignty of Euskal Herria in the coming years. We will succeed in this by accumulating forces. The Abertzale left is adapting to the new context to move forward as effectively as possible.

*You can read the full document of Bilana and watch the video at the following link: https://sortu.eus/albisteak/jauzi-berri-bat

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