Retired with my wife, I write this letter from the farm where we still work. We had to close the organic fruit farm that we had on the farm because the subsidy was withdrawn. At the Tolosa office we were given the reason: the headline has already turned 65 years old. But these conditions are not always the same – livestock, organic, vegetable, PAC, ICM, etc. Other times the law says “active farmers.” The situation is confusing and difficult to find clear information. I kept asking questions in order to know more and they told me that they didn’t have time to do “philosophy”. Then I was given a list of “Official Bulletins” from different organizations to continue the investigation on my own if I wanted to. In the end, the exploitation must be closed; there is no youth to continue and the retirement –600 euros– is the best option.

It can’t be said that the local organization makes it better. In the last 15 to 20 years we have suffered constant discrimination from the City Council of Abalciisación. There is no public service around us and access to the farms is abandoned. Public charges make it easier. If the City Council is interested, it has also admitted illegal behavior, and since it hurt us, we asked for explanations. The gentleman we received: “This is so and if you don’t agree they sell Alegin flats.”

Political parties, even if they are left-wing, are not very different. The coalition (the patriotic left and more), when it ruled in the Gipuzkoa Provincial Council, already represented a new interpretation of an outdated law. The raw material produced in small ecological farms and the exploitations that we transformed and commissioned in the same farm, classified us as an industry and claimed delayed taxes. When we asked for clarification we were told that everything was done “within the law” and the tax was resubmitted, this time with a surcharge, but, no reason for the change.

Ecological exploitation, in the first sector, laws that discriminate against us, in others, changes in the meaning of the laws, without giving any explanation, and/or illegal behaviors that organizations refuse to legalize. These are not isolated actions and we citizens have the right to ask questions and receive clear answers, but in vain. Privileges, private interests, bureaucracy, corporatism, and all kinds of elites complicate the practice of this right. The institutions of the Basque Country create privileged areas and irreversibly exclude others. They invest millions in public services in the urban area and nothing in the rural area, reasoning that there is no money. In this context, the creation of a sovereign Basque state would not change anything, but on the contrary. No one wants to lose their privileges to make another society more equal. That's why I didn't go to vote on the 19th.