Since the Middle Ages the arms industry has been of great importance in the Basque Country. Knowledge of the technique of iron production since ancient times allowed the industrialized production of weapons.
However, the network of bars that generated fortune meant other social, ecological, legal and cultural changes. Weapons production privatized many communal forests. The heads of these workshops became ladies and gentlemen and structural changes were made to benefit them, largely stabilizing a system that has remained until today.
In front of the lords, another social agent is born: the rebels, a group that can fit into the first working class of the Basque Country. As everywhere, the small town has supplied the wealth of the upper classes and ours has been no exception. In the years that followed, it was often these rebels who stood up for the interests of the humble people, an interesting old.
On the other hand, while monarchies used to raise the wealth generated by production to feed the wars of the rich, the humble people began to suffer the consequences of wars.
The original Basque legal system had protection mechanisms to protect citizens from wars, such as the tradition of the “Malato del Bosque” or the legislature in which they were free from military service until the establishment of the state-nation model. Therefore, in the dispute between the humble people and the lords, in addition to the economic conditions, it was reflected in the attitude of war.
Basque public institutions cannot supply arms directly or indirectly. Active attitude to war is fundamental
Therefore, there is also an “anti-warring end,” there is always in us. With the introduction of compulsory military service both in the French State and in the Spanish State, the young Basques reacted with desertion and at the end of the twentieth century with input. In the referendum held in Hego Euskal Herria we also told NATO not.
Responsibilities
The four Members of Hego Euskal Herria are responsible for the main taxes. Historical evolution and the struggle over the centuries have ensured control of these taxes, but in return the so-called “quota” must be paid to the State. The expenditure on the quota is directly allocated to the expenditure on defence, police and border control. In this sense, we cannot forget the shameful action of the paramilitary organization “Frontex” at this time. The money of the deputies, our money, is intended to pay for a certain way of understanding ‘defence’.
However, the militarisation of our taxes is not limited to the quota, through tax policy and the amount allocated to the Basque Government, the armero sector of the Basque Country has various aids. Aid in taxes, research, awards -- our institutions are not neutral. When we denounce “war begins here” we denounce it above all for that, because our public institutions help with armaments.
It is time to move the demand for “ethical ground” to our institutions. Basque public institutions cannot supply arms directly or indirectly. An active attitude to war is fundamental.
About 82% of the money obtained by the Council comes from the income of workers and from daily consumption, that is, the class staff and the citizens of the sector pay mainly. As before with the Middle Ages, we now do not want to pay for their wars either.
There is no money for war!
Ana Gorostidi, Andoni Rodríguez and Patxi Azparren, members of the Gerrarik Ez Gipuzkoa Initiative