As every year, coinciding with the demonstrations on the beaches for the rights of Basque political prisoners, exiles and deportees, a sea march will be held on Saturday, 10 August in Plentzia. The association of family members of prisoners, ETXERAT, has for years called for demonstrations on all the beaches of Bizkaia for the first Sunday of August. The organizers of the Plentzia Sea March have pointed out that at first these mobilizations took place in almost all the sandy areas. However, in order to gain visibility, the calls were reduced to a few beaches, "to make them more successful", he added.
The aim of these mobilizations is to show that the dispersion is not taken on holiday, "while some are on holiday, others are in exile, and the relatives are on the road", they have denounced. Taking this idea, six years ago the initiative Itsas Martxa was launched in Plentzia, under the motto Itsas Martxa. Taking advantage of the fact that the mobilisation called by ETXERAT would take place from the metro station to the beach rather than on the beach, and based on the Carmen Maritime Procession held in Plentzia, a few boats and piranzas joined together and descended through the river to the bay of the white bridge. This first initiative, held on the first Sunday of August 2014, was quite simple, with the addition of half a dozen boats and a dozen piraguas. However, the organizers were able to realize that it was a nice experience and that, if they shaped the idea, they could grow for years.
The next year's march was a turning point. The 2015 march was a great success, even though it was made in the disaster due to the tide. By that year, propaganda intensified and pirated leases expanded to allow people to participate. "The canoes they rented filled up immediately and people didn't stop calling the phone of canoe reserves... Although it is true that we organized it with more time, it seemed that something big was coming upon us", the organizers have remembered, "this second initiative was amazing, and also, the time accompanied us", they have remembered.
The second march was a success, but the organizers realized that there was still a lot to do: "It might seem like everything was going well, but we had few friends in the organization and we had moments of nervousness among us. Thus, they recalled that an attempt was made to expand the working group to organize the third initiative for next year, "we got together more neighbors in the spring". We created working groups to facilitate the organization, and we put a lot of strength in communication." Although the challenge was to repeat the result of 2015, time did not accompany them in the next two years. In 2016, they decided to mobilize on Saturday to prepare the program for the whole day. The rain began to drop copiously and decided to suspend the third initiative. However, in view of the advance of the ETXERAT demonstration, they decided to keep the march at sea: We would not have left yours alone. The result was not as juicy as the previous year, as many boats stayed on the ground.
Last farewell to prisoner Kepa del Hoyo
In the fourth year there was also rain; as soon as the march began there was a great chubasco and nothing else to reach the bay there was no one on the beach to hear the demands. Therefore, they gave importance to the communication that followed the initiative and broadcast the initiative by video, "the news of it reached the prisoners, a great revulsion". However, the accident that marked the 2017 initiative was not recorded in real time; three days before the march the young Kepa del Hoyo died in Badajoz prison. "We were clear that, rather than losing one's life, the Spanish State had taken one's life with its criminal prison policy," the organizers of the march regretted. Thus, the woman and the son of Del Hoyo approached the act prior to the beginning of the march, where they danced their greeting, made the march and the demonstration, but the afternoon program was suspended to address the deceased's home town and give the last goodbye.
As the fifth edition last year, the organizers wanted it to be special, but they found a situation very similar to that of the previous year. At the end of July, Pamplona Xabier Rey "Antxo" died in prison, where he was arrested for stabbing. With that bad news, the 2018 Sea March began "to be the last".
Like every year, the march began in homage to his family, and this time in honor of the family. The time was then favourable and more than twenty boats, more than sixty pirands, two sailboats, a dozen surf padeles and a water bike toured the estuary. Meanwhile, a crowd went on foot to the manifestation of the walk they were on. "Along the way they had fruit and drink to reach the beach with the forces and be able to scream out loud that we want with us," they said.
This year, 10 August
This year, on the occasion of the tide, the march and the demonstration of ETXERAT will be held on the second Wednesday of August. Thus, on Saturday, August 10, at 12:00, they will depart from the White Bridge of Plentzia (Bizkaia). They have reported that resources have been created in the act of reception to allow sick prisoners to listen live. In addition, this year, you will be able to acquire more piracy than ever before. In addition, shirts and bags will be sold, as last year, and there will be no lack of the annual Elektro-txaranga, neither the gaztetxe food nor the concerts, which will be held at the Arriaga Theatre.