There are many of us in Euskal Herria who are looking for information and training to answer a question. In order to clarify the chaos between these two rights, here are the key ideas that have occurred to me:

The key to the right to decide is that a demos (a subject made up of people with the right to vote in a democracy) can decide anything by getting the majority in an election. It concerns the citizens of a state that is considered democratic. We therefore recognise that we are in a democratic system. On the other hand, if we recognize that we are an occupied people, we cannot regard the states that oppress us as democratic and we cannot make decisions to the occupier about our freedom. We accept voting with the occupant and freedom is only an opportunity for our future.

The opposite is true in the right to self-determination, and the International Community recognizes that all oppressed peoples have the right to self-determination. All peoples have the right to choose what kind of government they want, to seek their own economic, social and cultural development and to create their own organization. And it defines peoples as those who are aware of their own identity, who are attached to a territory they think of themselves and who, using resources and energies that directly or indirectly control, meet their needs. The existence of the people is recognized and freedom is the only option; freedom is not required, it is made effective. But in that case, if there is no clear and forceful strategy, the enemy, the right of self-determination, will present it as an imposition on part of the population manipulated and, therefore, will not be democratic.

In 1512 the Basques robbed us of political organization through violence, since then we have not lived in democracy and as Benito Lertxundi says: the independence of a people is not voted on. The machinery of the states is very powerful (media, intellectuals, fear...). In the situation of dependency, a referendum cannot be won and freedom or slavery are not voted on. What's stronger than slavery?