You're going to be 20 years old, if you're not done, that someone said, "ETA is spare and annoying." It was not a spontaneous occurrence of that individual, but a synthesis of the reflection of one of the most powerful Basque institutions. And it didn't come from professional enemies or amateurs of the armed organization, but from one of the most ideologically linked to nationalism and the working class. There was a little time for Lizarra-Garazi and nothing to say for Aiete. It is not possible to know what part of Basque society then agreed with the phrase, word by word and everything; I would say that we were many and varied, but it is not much more than imagination.
Almost fifteen years later another pronounced the same phrase, changing from subject: “Violence is too much and it hurts.” I am sure that this was only a lengthy collective reflection. The fact that Esalea was the leader of the Abertzale left gave added value to the phrase, and I would say that the majority of Basque society was also very broad. But it's an illusion. Three months later, after the Aiete Conference, ETA announced the end of its armed activity and stopped "being" while still "being."
Looking back, we could reflect, calmly and proudly, why it has taken us so long – time, pain, etc. – that many, perhaps most of us, reach the long-anticipated goal some time ago.
On Saturday the two speakers were in Baiona, if I am not mistaken, with different prominence and visibility, of course. Like many other people, but probably more alive, they had to feel in a breath of the highest slope: ETA still exists, but being a “disarmed organization” is not at all clear, at least to me, what it is, if it is something. But that will be decided by the partners. In a territory where the falanges and the rest are legal, before disappearances have begun to be requested from outside, consistency will have to be shown in the rest.
Looking back, at least those of us who believe that the narrative and the agit-propa of the past are very different things, once the former is left for historians and the latter for those who live (have been) of it, we could reflect on why it has cost us so much – time, pain, etc. – that many, perhaps most of us, reached the long-anticipated goal. I say search for reasons, not distribute blame; although for some they are synonyms, for me they are antonyms.
In any case, it is much more interesting, and more urgent, to look to the future. The one who was in the funnel, as he was on his way to the stumble, could say that the time has come to know the one or those who have to take the path. And to start clarifying what fellow travellers might be.
Josu Urrutikoetxearen aurka bi auzi iragan behar dira aste huntan Pariseko auzitegi korrekzionalean. Biak ere ETA talde armatuko kide izateagatik dira, baina mementu desberdinetan.
Astelehen eta astearte honetan Parisen epaitzen ari dira David Pla eta Iratxe Sorzabal. ETAko kide eta ordezkari izatea, armak eta dokumentu faltsuak eta propaganda materiala izatea leporatzen diete.
