argia.eus
INPRIMATU
They are not the best times ever
Malores Etxeberria 2023ko abuztuaren 28a
PAULA ESTÉVEZ

Violations of rights, court proceedings, judgments and aggressive political agreements have marked the past. The attitude against the Basque and the Basque people has been activated, in addition to the former, which has generated concern and anger in the Basque community.

The laws and decrees that regulate the normalization of the Basque Country say that jurists have difficulties, that when the political will is favourable they do not cause too many problems, but that when the waters fade they are laws that do not provide sufficient protection. The social partners have long stressed the need to close the loopholes and the need to initiate a legislative amendment procedure.

We know that changing laws is not that simple. The first step will be that those who have the power to change want it and I do not believe that, in the case of the Basque Country, we are today in it. This path, therefore, can take a long time and consume a lot of energy to militants, movements and social agents in favor of the Basque Country and move away from other daily works that may be in their hand.

To move forward, the public employee will again need a touch of militancy, a point of disobedience on the part of the administration, and a value of pressure on the part of the citizens.

There are times of resistance. The first objective is to maintain progress, not to go back, because the situation is very fragile, even in areas where improvements have been made: How is it guaranteed in a city hall, for example, that the elected officials who are going to form the corporation know Basque and that the text generated in Basque for no one will not be systematically translated? Will it be an administration able to maintain the linguistic conditions of the basis of the subsidy when the director of a sports club complains and threatens by saying that these conditions mean that his club is being rejected? What can happen if a new municipal corporation considers language obligations in the contract documents of a service excessive? Who will have the strength and strength to resist?

That is the situation, the priority will be to seek ways of not going backwards. Hold. And once we have secured this, the challenge will be, as it has been up to now, to look for loopholes in order to move through the margin of law in the areas where it can be. It should not be forgotten that some municipalities opened up the possibility of speaking only in Basque with much effort and much struggle. The municipalities of UEMA know something about this. Then came the approvals and the legislative changes, and, once the march was taken, it seemed that this process of renewal of the laws could thrive, because it is evident that they do not respond to the new situation and, much less, to the need for a qualitative leap in the normalization of the Basque country.

One could foresee a long and conflicting road, no doubt, because the need to approve the amendment of the law, to reach consensus and to make decisions is complex, but what we did not believe is that in 2023 we should continue on the side of the law to maintain the rights we supposedly acquired, and it seems that we have to go back on the path. What's not comfortable? No. It is easier to enforce what the regulations say, not to have to pull in the opposite direction, not to have to continually look for arguments to convince a senior official who does not strive to find loopholes in the law, etc. But, to move forward, the public employee will have to have a touch of militancy again, a point of disobedience on the part of the administration, and a value of pressure on the part of the citizens.