Commitment to respect the objective of treatment and the dignity and feelings of the victims of crimes in the social and cultural leisure activities of the Basque prisons. This is the name of the document that bodybuilders must sign in order to be able to perform in the prisons of the Basque Country. The full document reads as follows:

"I declare under oath that the entity that I represent and all the members that participate in the activity indicated above are committed to:

1.- That the practice and its contents will be in favor of the process of social integration of persons deprived of their liberty and the appropriate prosocial behavior that is the object of the treatment in prison. In this sense, statements that may lead to the protection, justification and elevation of values and attitudes that are contrary to human rights, the legal system and the psychosocial treatment in prisons will be avoided in substance and form.

2.- Likewise, the activity and its contents may not in any way offend or harm the dignity and feelings of the victims of any crime, regardless of the protected legal property.

In this sense, any expression of support for the commission of crimes or anti-legal conduct, as well as against the action of justice, or showing contempt or hatred towards groups such as LGBTI+ groups, women, victims of terrorism, persons with disabilities, foreigners or victims of other violence, will be avoided.

And for the record, where appropriate, with express permission to make this commitment public, I sign here:"

The signatories of the manifesto declare that they will not sign the document, arguing that they do not want "a culture that censors all criticism" about states, companies, prisons, etc. In addition, they explain that it is "painful" to "use the historical oppression of some collectives" for the image cleansing of the prison, which they consider "an instrument of oppression".

With this document, the Basque Government declares in the manifesto that the creators seek to "self-censor" by granting the prison "arbitrarily" the right to decide what is or is not acceptable. In addition, they denounce in depth that the Basque Government is using "the same techniques as the Inquisition and the Franco regime", despite the use of "more modern words".

In their message to the media, the signatories warn that: "The Basque Government has put us in a bad position: whether we sign their document or not we will enter, and if no one enters, people who are imprisoned will be left without cultural action. There are different attitudes towards this inside and outside and we absolutely do not want to fuel any quarrels or bad attitudes between these different attitudes. We all agree, however, on the opposition to the document that has been drawn up by the Basque Government, so let us oppose it, as everyone sees it best, this is a way, but there may be more ways. Everyone will be welcome. In this sense, we encourage you to report from the cultural world area by area and town by town to the Basque Government. Finally, we would like to recall that so far several groups and individuals have been denied access to the prison for cultural performances without giving any reason, we would like to take advantage of these lines to denounce this as well."

Groups and individuals from all walks of Basque culture sign the manifesto

Among the signatories we can find individuals who have excelled in all areas of Basque culture: bertsolarismo, theatre, basque language, music and literature, among others. Here is the full list of those who have signed the document so far:

The collection of signatures is open through this address.

Information about Sarri

In fact, one of these signatories is the well-known artist Fermin Muguruza: He performed at the Martutene prison in November last year, where he sang the song Sarri Sarri, 39 years after the escape of Iñaki Pikaba 'Piti' and Joseba Sarrionandia, members of ETA, from the same prison.

After this performance, the Department of Justice of the Basque Government promised to change the conditions to be able to organize cultural performances in prisons. The section headed by the socialist María Jesús San José pointed out that from now on every cultural performance must show a "commitment to respect values", a condition that, according to them, the song Sarri Sarri does not meet. Muguruza said in his message on Instagram that he had made the decision "with great surprise and disappointment."