With their hands tightly tied and free voices, Ns Esku Dago (GED) has taken on the challenge of uniting Donostia, Bilbao and Vitoria-Gasteiz with the demand for the right to decide, in the most massive mobilization ever organized. 38 towns and three capitals, with a minimum of 100,000 links. On the verge of five years, the proposal for the second chain has come, before the beginning of the 2019 electoral cycle, for the parties of the Basque Parliament to strike a blow and to feel the encouragement of the citizens. This is a milestone that will open the way at the level of the Basque Country.

The GED has reached the human chain at a great time in form or, precisely, the preparation of the mobilization has been the most effective training. That is the impression that Nerea Epelde, Bilbao and Deusto have. “The mobilisation has risen to the working groups in the neighborhoods, we have fifteen stronger groups in place than ever before. Ant work occasionally needs an image, a turning point.”

One of the axes of IP during these five years has been the change of political culture. New relationships have been entangled and different prejudices have been overcome. “It’s not easy to overcome ideological limits,” says Epeld, “but I’ve noticed that people’s mistrust has diminished over the previous human chain. Before I was dotted. Some asked who was behind the GED.” The misgivings between the Basques are gradually melting and almost unnoticed, like a snow that disappears from the street.

“It’s responsibility, it’s challenging, it creates fear, vertigo, am I crazy?” Loren Roca, of GED from San Sebastian, has been overhead in recent months. The human chain has a special complexity compared to a manifestation. 3,000 volunteers form a large-scale organisation: kilometers, bus organization, registration, permits, sale of t-shirts and scarves, coordination, recording of images… the success of the initiative requires a rigorous organization. “I am convinced that we are going to give a magnificent image.”

In Vitoria-Gasteiz the initiative has also been noticed in recent weeks, according to GED member Lorea Hernández, “the previous months people were a little lost, they did not know how to organize something similar to the Korrika, but the change has been noticed in recent weeks. The human chain has approached a lot of people, they come to the store to ask us what they can help, and a lot of interest has been awakened.”

The issue of the right to decide is immediately sewn with the thread of political status. The possibility of an independent state. But the GED understands this in the broad sense of the decision, at the level of social policy. They say that it is a thread that joins several demands, together with two speeches that are in the mouthpiece: “the very owner of his own body” within feminism and a supporter of managing the pension system in it. The wave of the two demands will be present in the human chain. The education system, the linguistic rights, the working conditions… the human chain also wants to be a meeting point for all those people who are on these issues. To make us see this, GED has invited people to paint with messages of all kinds the white scarves that will be distributed for 5 euros.

In Pamplona, in the plaza del Castillo, on 19 May the double chain was represented: Coat of arms of Navarre and human chain. On this occasion the Navarros have had to fill the plains of Zarautz and Álava, after the Gipuzkoan and Alavese links left room in 2014. Nerea Epelde, from Bilbao, has no doubt that the influx of buses will be huge. “Surely many people are moving for this human chain, also from Navarra. The bilbaínos have kilometers in the city...”, Epelde has had a naughty smile on his lips, “thank you, it is hard for us to leave Bilbao”.

The 2014 chain ran a single capital: Pamplona. Where the human chain was going, the GED was strengthened, and on this occasion they want to make the flames of Bilbao, Vitoria and San Sebastian jump. “Bilbao is the hardest place. The key will be to maintain the momentum of 10 June. For the future, it will build a stronger foundation.” In Vitoria-Gasteiz the illusion has also awakened on June 10, “we have to give a good image”, and it is known when speaking, “we are very busy”. Lorea Hernández will arrange people for the chain on the day “Kutxi” Street becomes a great party.

Impetus to Parliament

From the very beginning it was clear where to put the focus: “We citizens are the protagonists.” But the goal of the chain also tells whom to push on June 10. The kilometre 201,9 will be completed at the doors of the Basque Parliament, the last of them, in an institution that is debating and drafting the self-government report. They therefore have the opportunity to place the right to decide at the centre.

“The first three parties of the Parliament of Vitoria-Gasteiz have a speech in favour of the right to decide. They are over 75%,” said GED spokesman Angel Oiarbide, despite the fact that in daily politics this increase has hardly materialized. “We are following the paper closely. The agreement of our representatives must inevitably be proportional to the will of this people.” On May 24, PNV and EH Bildu joined the proposal for a new statute to recognize the right to decide; Elkarrekin We Can Step Back at the Last Minute.

Eusko Ikaskuntza and the Basque Parliament have signed a cooperation agreement for the joint renewal of the Basque self-government. On the eve of the human chain, 600 people will meet in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Donostia-San Sebastian and Bilbao to gather the contributions of citizenship and seek opportunities and consensus trends. The synthesis of this participatory process corresponds to Eusko Ikaskuntza for later inclusion in Parliament’s statutory proposal. The final phase is planned for the winter of 2019: the empowering referendum, the approval of the Spanish Courts and the final referendum. On 27 May, at Gernika, the manifesto signed by 200 voters in favour of the right to decide was announced. Four mayors from the capitals of the South joined him.

Southern winds

The political context of 2018 is not simple, according to the analysis they have made: “We are at a crossroads: on one side we have regressive winds coming from the south, and on the other we have a new cycle based on democracy.” The ghost of Article 155 has covered Catalonia for seven months and, incidentally, has terrorised the Basque self-government. In the chain, the Catalan political prisoners will be guided, 122 will be the kilometre of solidarity in Indautxu and yellow scarves will be sold for the solidarity box of ANC and Òmnium Cultural. It is not to be forgotten that it was Céesku dago who organized the two most massive demonstrations in favour of the referendum in Catalonia on the Autonomy street in Bilbao, and nobody else.

When the presence of the high-speed recentralization current in Spain has jeopardized the current limited self-government, the importance of the human chain of 10 June has been pointed out by Qatar Esku Dago: “It must serve to demonstrate that this people are not prepared to reverse their aspirations and aspirations.” Fortunately or unfortunately, feeling a threat often helps mobilisation, so organizers also expect a very broad response to it. In simple figures: This chain is 70% longer than in 2014, according to the Basque Department of Security.

In the search for the events in Spain and Catalonia to promote democracy, they see with hope the closure of the ETA cycle, wanting to open another. “After the complex context experienced in recent decades, the right to decide is one more tool to move forward. An important key to ensuring long-term coexistence.”

The spot produced by Uncle Esku Dago recognizes the “coldness” that is made mouth-to-mouth, mobilisation can be an antidote or relief from despair. So things, in the video of the announcement, they've thrown the arrow right into the girl's heart. Women's rugby players who look exhausted in the locker rooms and the captain trying to cheer: “What happens to us? When have we become this evil group? We seem to have forgotten where we came from. What is the point of reproaching our mistakes if we are not a team? If we're not a group, we're in vain. Are we a group or do we have to go home? Don’t you want to win?” Once the coaching exercise is over, the girls come out to win the world.

2,019 reasons for facilitating the People's Pact

The document that will round the human chain, the People’s Pact, is on the verge of pulling it out of the furnace, a report that argues for 2,019 the right to decide. The last year has been devoted to this work. Round tables have been held in capitals and participatory sessions in the counties on the question “Why decide?”. To this end, they have elaborated an extensive guide to dynamization that they have at their disposal on the web and have received contributions through the internet. Some 2,000 people have participated, grouped by sectors: welfare, culture, citizenship and land.

A week after the completion of the human chain, the report will be handed over to the institutions: Basque Government, Government of Navarra and Colegio Vasco. The aim is for this document to make possible the People’s Pact, “People’s Pact for the Right to Decide that aims to stifle the complicity and consensus needed to decide as a people among the agents of Euskal Herria,” according to GED’s 2018 planning. In 2019, the popular dynamic starts a reflection phase to assess the five years and establish the steps and objectives for the future.

The report is accompanied by an interview with the spokesman for Céesku dago, Angel Oiarbide: "We have set the goal of bringing the reasons for citizenship to the decision-making spaces"