On 12 March 1976 we were included in NATO by means of a fraudulent referendum. But the Basque Country, with an anti-imperialist character, gave an excellent model, rejecting that criminal structure. We knew, in that imperialist alliance, that it was not going to cause more harm than the other peoples and our people.

In fact, in this event today we want to put on the table the damage it has caused to Basque citizens and the complicity of Basque institutions and companies with the war. Thousands of kilometres from here, the wars that NATO creates affect us, even if they try to hide.

Economically, as part of the Spanish and French states and therefore of NATO, the military expenditure we pay through the quota and the agreement would be almost EUR 650,000 per year. To this should be added the expenditure of the military industry.

And it is time to name and surname those responsible for Euskal Herria. Between 1953 and 1974, Franco implemented the NATO radar system on Baztan Gorramakil Mount, and since 1951 the Bardenas shooting field has been in operation, generating deaths, injuries, pollution, diseases... But in exchange for money, the Bardenas Board and the mayors of the participating municipalities look the other way. On the other hand, the port of Santurtzi ranks 7th in the world ranking of arms sales. In 2017, about 300 containers filled with explosives left the port, most of them destined for Saudi Arabia.

In addition, in Euskal Herria there are more than 100 companies that dedicate part or most of their production to the military industry. Gamesa/Aernnova, Sener, ITP or SAPA are some of them. And, of course, they also receive subsidies and prizes from public institutions (mainly the Basque Government, but not only), and most banks (BBVA, Caixabank, Caja Rural, Kutxabank..) in the Basque Country invest their savings in the Armero sector.

And we must not forget that the University of the Basque Country, the Public University of Navarra, the private university of OPUS and Mondragon Unibertsitatea also have agreements with the military industry and the defence ministry.

All these listed organizations are complicit in the imperialist attacks and the consequences they have generated.

But there have also been many struggles that have arisen in this regard: for the rights of migrants, against the Basque arms industry, for the exports of the port of Santurtzi, against the field of the Bardenas, for the imperialist aggressions, for the feminist-antimilitarist marches, for internationalist solidarity, for the struggles against racism...

It is essential to continue to build alliances between the popular movements of Euskal Herria, and to weave all these struggles, in order to develop a broad, plural and forceful movement against imperialism. To the accomplices of imperialism in Euskal Herria, we must put an end to impunity, and we must unite our commitments to this model.