It is said that in the case of waste in Gipuzkoa we would also have won if the issue had been dealt with in a referendum, whether one result or the other. Therefore, if the construction of the incinerator were decided by referendum, would we win as a people, believing that it has been decided democratically? Because an infrastructure that would be the causative agent of cancer has been decided in a referendum, would the people be the winners, even if more cancer is generated?

The question of Hondarribia and Irún’s Alarcas also has a simple solution, therefore, according to this logic.

Let the citizens of this country vote whether their wives have the right to parade in the barn or not. If the majority decides that they can’t boast, would we win as a people? Would we win because the violation of the rights of wives has been decided “democratically”?

Could it be allowed for those who want to violate the rights of their wives to vote? - No, no, no, no.

Measures that jeopardize the complement are bad for a people, voting or not voting.

A policy that violates fundamental rights is harmful to a people, whether they vote or not.

Democracy is not voting. Or not only.

There have also been referendums in dictatorships, which has not turned dictatorships into democracies.

Democracy means access to complete information, transparency of institutions, freedom of expression and freedom of expression. It is not democracy to be under threat from the police and justice of a state that is not ours, to be drowned under the propaganda of that state, to be caught in the networks of the administration of that state...

For centuries, a people living under the authority of another state is not in a democratic state.

The votes that would be organized under such circumstances would not be conducted under democratic conditions. A people has a right of its own to be free, and the fact that it is optional to do so is the same as being a loser, since it is denying the spontaneity of freedom.

To make freedom optional is to make oppression legitimate.

As a people we can be victorious in our daily steps. These daily steps make or break up the village. If we take the place of the Basque language in the world of work, in the administration, in the media, in public life... we are losers. If Euskera takes on new areas, we are the winners.

If the networks and collaborations between the companies of the seven provinces are consolidated, we gain as a people. When the media focuses and references the Basque Country, we are more people; if we act according to institutional division, we are not people, we are losers.

By organizing sports meetings and tournaments throughout the Basque Country, we weave the country. We develop a popular approach to strengthening relationships. When we look less at Spain or France, we have more strength as a people.

When we know more about our history, we are more aware of ourselves; when we have our geography internalized, we are more consistent...

All of this is done (or not done) through daily work. This work (often silent, sometimes loud) makes people become more aware. Without it we are weak and therefore far from freedom.

The more people understand that waste must be recycled, the more the people or the Earth earn, but not when they vote on what to do with waste, before they become aware of the need to recycle or generate less waste.

It’s the same with the city. The roof will hardly stand up unless the walls are raised from the front.

This article has been published by Enbata and we have brought it to LUZ thanks to the CC-by-sa license.