“They have called to declare six Bizkaia metal workers to participate in the 11 days of the 2022 strike,” said Olatz Silva in the news released on 10 January in Berria. If we read this and add the list of recent times, the result is impressive: the five of Leioa, the Bilbao Workers' Self-Defence Network, the Gaztetxe de Errotxapea, Marvels, the four of Senpere, the persecution of the young people of the Casco Viejo de San Sebastian, the eighteen of Bergados, the procedures against formal unionism in the thousands of judgments.

Alfonso Sastro said: “The war of the weakest is called terrorism, and it is called war, also clean war, to the terrorism of the strongest.” From there we can talk of terrorism or criminality to the struggle of the working class, and of war or repression to the violence of the bourgeoisie and the capitalist classes.

It's on everyone's lips that we're in times of crisis, and it's obvious if we look at everyday news. It is also visible in our pockets, and the list mentioned above is completely united.

In the restructuring of capital, over-exploitation of the workforce and natural resources are forms of capital recovery. And throughout this process, law plays the disciplinary role of the working class through armies, prisons, church...

The European Union and the repression just published by Askapena is one of the main conclusions of the analysis. It defines the European Union and NATO as two instruments serving Atlantic imperialism and explains how Euskal Herria’s work has materialised.

The analysis pays particular attention to anti-terrorist doctrine. It began to develop in the late 1990s, especially in view of the internationalization of the protests brought by social forums. From that time there are Iraq, Afghanistan, Carlo Giuliani, lists of terrorist organizations, secret flights, Guantánamo, Abu Ghraib ...

Within the European Union, in 2002, the Council urged the States to include in their legislation a special anti-terrorist paragraph. For those who already had their legislations (Germany, Portugal, Italy, the United Kingdom, France and Spain) it was a great support and provided more tools to attack their dissent.

The consequences are known in Euskal Herria: hundreds of detainees and tortured, eleven illegalized institutions, more than 800 political prisoners, the media closed...

At present, the instruments for carrying out all these attacks have not disappeared at all, but have developed, and given the context, it does not appear that they will disappear, on the contrary, the repressive role of States will be strengthened through the discipline of society through militarization or judicial and police prosecution (or other less clear initiatives).

In the debate surrounding the disappearance of the crime of sedition, we have seen how an aggravated type of public disorder will occur, when housing is increasing the activity of trade unions, neighbourhood associations, food banks, reception networks, etc. Legal adaptation, of course, focuses on the latter, which are the only ones that can prevent public workers from moving to NATO and the EU, organising the working class independently.

The same trend can be observed in all neighbouring States, which requires international solidarity. But Askapena’s great motto says: “Because we are internationalists, the first step in Euskal Herria”; will we be able to respond and develop solidarity as a people in the face of persecution against our fellow citizens? Will we be able to understand that the cases of repression mentioned are the result of the steps taken in the process of liberation of this country?

If we do not, we will have no future.

Aratz Estonba, member of Askapena