“We’ve lost a child!” That is what I am going to say to the speaker. I'm sure with this excuse it's going to allow me to board and fly from there so everyone can hear it: "We've lost a child! Yes, a child! It has been now, you will have seen, the comrade workers, totally pale, bone and skin empty, at the naked eye… Surely you have seen it, you have had it in front of your eyes! It’s not, no, the first thing we lose, a little earlier it’s been another… Yesterday we lost eleven, just like the deep, empty eyes and the pale, rough dry skin glued to empty bones… they carry an eternity and no food or drink. More than 13,000 children have been killed.”
But I haven't approached the micro, everything's happened quickly, I've seen myself alone. I am in the Gran Vía de Bilbao, about a few thousand public administrations, after the demonstration of the day of the strike, just heard of union demands. The last words are thrown and people begin to disperse. I have been left without believing, dogged, disappointed in honesty … because they have not made any words to denounce the massacre in Gaza, nor to mention small numbers of the bodies that have been destroyed and bloody by children, women, men and workers, or gestures of solidarity or in favour of the brothers of the Palestinian working class, or to denounce the public administration that has ruined them.
We are sorry, the Palestinian people, we have our own agenda, the need to restore our purchasing power and to decide our own. Imagine how many fantastic things, for our life! Adults, to live, to live. You will understand, of course, how you will also have your agenda. Oh, did you eat by default? Sorry! These are difficult times for workers!
“You said that we have lost a child and you have been very attentive – I would follow him – but although you know that we have lost 13,000, you have not spoken in the altars. The Zionist state has already killed over 35,000 Palestinians. All of them, children, mothers, workers, have been murdered in our sight. And us, where are we going? To our pocket?”
Our responsibility in the Gaza massacre leads us to liberate Euskal Herria from being complicit. Are we going to assume that responsibility the working class, are going to be the unions, or are we going to remain silent or with simple statements?
In the face of the massacre of the Palestinian working class, where are we, the working class of this country? Seeing that the centres in Gaza are being destroyed, that teachers and students are being murdered, where are we, teaching people in this country? Faced with the destruction of hospitals, the interruption and denial of health care, the kidnapping, torture and murder of doctors, where are the health professionals and the healthy in this country? Blocking the information, banning the entry of foreign journalists, seeing that journalists are being systematically murdered, where are the journalists and the media? Seeing that people are starving and thirsty without food or water, how can we keep on with everyday life?
The ongoing massacre is making it difficult for us to take action, as difficult as finding appropriate words, as the limits of terror have long been overcome by the occupying and genocidal Zionist State.
Unfortunately, we are seeing that the complicity of our society is of the same magnitude, much more widespread, strong and organised than one would expect. Colonization has great friends throughout Europe and also in the Basque Country, ready to suffer and protect a colonization and genocide. This aid network consists of entities, companies, associations and persons with names. How can we accept the colonization of another people, apartheid and be complicit in genocide? Is it not an accomplice to give the murderer the necessary weapons, food and resources? Is it not an indispensable partner? Make means of transport for the occupants in the occupied lands (CAF-Basque Government, Kutxabank), secure food and organize the structure (Carrefour), structure the renewable energy supply (BBVA), develop military technology (Sener), ensure the supply of weapons (SAPA, ITP, Aernova…), support the collaboration of the boxes for great control, etc.
If Zionism has strength, it is because it is given by the international. Therefore, having responsibilities in the massacre, it is up to us to liberate Euskal Herria from being an accomplice. Are we going to assume that responsibility the working class, are going to be the unions, or are we going to remain silent or with simple statements?
Who, if not, will be able to look in the eyes of those who lose the child today?
Luix Artola. 13 March 2024.