The QR certificate from the European Union to travel in summer to other European states has reached the daily lives of all the peoples of Euskal Herria. Is this the way to implement the European “new normalcy” after the abolition of the emergency situation? Governments of all kinds in the Basque Country that have sent it have set as the basis of the passport the incence rate, that is, depending on the number of positive COVID-19 accumulated in the last 15 days, the passport will be in force in a country. The sixth wave is in force and the number of pollutants is increasing. But in addition, with the introduction of the passport, the government has lowered the scales of the initiative to define whether a people is in the red, yellow or green light, while at the same time increasing the number of tests it performs every day. And the higher the number of tests, the higher the number of pollutants accounted for (incence rate).

Once the passport has been established, will the imidance rate be met on a weekly basis to see if the passport is in force in each locality or will its use be generalized and standardized? Do we normalize, for the first time, for those of us who live today, that citizenship can be excluded from public services and from places that are supposedly “open” to the public? No variable is admissible before the law or public opinion so far for such discrimination: neither sex, race, religion, political reason ... This red stripe shall be scraped according to: Depending on a legal choice of citizens?

The governments that have set it up know that it can be a violation of rights and that the passport is at the limit of legality. It is mentioned in all decrees and rules and is justified by a serious health situation, determining that measures are limited to optional leisure and are granted a very limited period. However, the deadlines are extendable, as we have seen in the case of the Northern Basque Country. In Navarra the implementation of the passport is more faithful, as indicated by the written rules, with the limitation to an optional type of leisure, as it is applied to the premises that have a specific hospitality capacity and that carry out some kind of cultural event. But in the rest of Euskal Herria what is delimited are all the cultural and sports activities and almost all the spaces of relationship with the others that prevail in the model of socialization of society actual.Sin; however, beyond leisure time, access to public health is totally conditioned throughout the Basque Country, as well as the possibility that the people who are in the prisons can make a decision about their own bodies. Again, it is the most vulnerable who have the most limitations to make a choice.

A QR doesn't protect you

Authorities that have implemented the QR passport also know that this will not prevent contaminating COVID-19. In his article published on December 1 in the newspaper El País by the journalist Pablo Linde, the report prepared by the health experts of the Autonomous Communities of the Spanish State and the Council of State Health was released: according to this report of November 23, the only "benefit" of the passport is to promote vaccination, but, in view of this, the rates of contamination of passports are listed as "undesirable".

The aforementioned Health Council states in its report that the percentage of people vaccinated in the Spanish State is much higher than in the other States, so its impact would be even lower when it comes to preventing contamination of the passes. This same report points to the wrong idea behind the pass: "Linking vaccination with immunization and this does not correspond to reality," the report notes that vaccines have managed to prevent death and the risk of the disease passing very severe, but are not so effective in preventing infection: "We know that about 40% of vaccinees are able to become ill and transmit the disease. Therefore, the value of the pass to prevent contamination would be very limited and it can even have adverse effects if preventive measures are relaxed".

This was the case at the beginning in the Northern Basque Country: when the pass of access to enclosed spaces was established, the law allowed the mask to be removed inside. All the studies agree that the best way to avoid contamination is to join in open spaces and ensure ventilation in closed places, i.e. measures that have nothing to do with the COVID-19 pass. With the entry into force of the pass in the CAPV (14 December), Ugo Mayor, coordinator of the working group that worked on the development of PCR at the University of the Basque Country/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, disseminated this message on social networks: “If we continue to limit access to unvaccinated places that are not safe and healthy (to improve ventilation without doing anything), in the end the contamination rate will be higher among all of us who are vaccinated than among those who are not.”

The article The epidemiological relevance of the COVID-19-vaccinated population is increasing (the epidemiological situation of the vaccinated population COVID-19 continues to worsen), published on 19 November 2021 in the journal The Lancet, of recognized prestige in health, takes into account the increase in contaminated quantities and concludes that: “It is a great pleasure not to consider the vaccinated as possible and important sources of transmission.”

Returning to the report prepared by experts from the Spanish State, they point out that the amount of grafts that will be won as a result of the transition to a society that already has a very high percentage of vaccinated people “will be very difficult to justify the costs and negative consequences of its implementation” and stress that “it must be ensured that it will not generate situations of inequality”.

The Deputy Health Advisor of the Basque Government, José Luis Quintas Díez, pointed out in Radio Euskadi on August 13, when several European states established the QR passport for tourists traveling to other countries: “First of all, it should be noted that ‘passport’ or ‘QR certificate’ is a measure for purely civic, non-sanitary purposes.” What are the objectives of the same passport as the Government of Navarre and the Government of Navarre months later?

“They are being used to develop a society like the one they want”

The French Government has been the first to establish the pass in the Basque Country. He initially established it until November 15, but then extended it until July 31. In response to this request for an extension, EH Bai makes public a statement of opposition to the pass measure. In the words of his colleague Nicolas Blain: “The measures they have taken in the face of the pandemic, including this pass, use them to develop their model of society. We do not share this: control, lack of trust in society... For example, France again calls on Europe to extend border closures, and mentions terrorism, the low levels of integration in neighbouring countries ... But in the liver there is a more global vision: closing the doors to migration and hampering our national construction as an abertzale.”

The Young Socialist Coordinator has clearly opposed the passport and understands it within the “management model that the bourgeoisie is giving to the pandemic,” explains a member of it: “The area of rights is shrinking. The welfare state paradigm has been exhausted and it seems that poverty will be accompanied by fewer rights: the bourgeois democracy we have known is in decline. In this regard, we say that we are living through the political offensive of the bourgeoisie, which is a restriction of rights (with the consent of all political parties), and the COVID-19 step is part of that offensive. To combat this, the power of the bourgeoisie must be banished. What for? Not to create another political caste, but to build a classless society.”

Mati Iturralde is a family doctor from Osakidetza, a parliamentarian from the Left Abertzale in 1994 and one of the founders of the Hontza association to demand respect for human rights in managing the pandemic: “Hontza’s goal is to act as a defender of the people, seeing that Ararteko does nothing.” Iturralde considers that with the passport and other measures that have been taken a “dual state” is being created: “The state has its own legislative measures, and each citizen knows what we can do and what we cannot. But there is another practice: not getting vaccinated is a legal option, but I'll force you to get the vaccine, we'll try that you can't live without it. It is not illegal to leave the house in time of confinement to take a walk with the children, but we will tell you that you cannot do it and we will force you: then it has been seen that there was no legal basis for it, but at the time it was applied. In this dual state, if the legal sphere has a certain minimum control, because it is in this ambiguous umbrella of democracy, but the field of practice has no basis or legitimacy: society has not discussed and decided that it wants to live in that dual state, that is, that it authorizes the authorities to do what they want at every moment beyond the law”. GKS member adds that, from a medium-term perspective, it will become increasingly difficult to curb rulers, as the QR passport “makes political conditions worse. That is, in addition to other consequences, the emerging context reduces the political rights of those who organize themselves outside the professional business and political system”.

In particular, Jasone Iroz believes that the purpose of the passport is to provoke the division between the inferior, Ez Pass!, created since September in Ipar Euskal Herria to fight the passport. Where are we going? Members of the group: “We have named the group, because beyond the passport is the issue where we are going: What society are we doing? What society do you want to impose on us and what are we willing to accept? A fully controlled society? That is the question we have to ask ourselves all together, not to insert ourselves. Why that witch hunt, why that control? What does the door open to? These questions can be put back together in the head, remembering that it is in the interests of the top to divide.”

Individual and collective rights, dosage

As we have already mentioned, the pass is based on a misconception that being vaccinated is being immunized. And it also has a different idea. Until proven otherwise by a PCR, treat anyone who has not received the vaccine as contaminated. People who have opted for a legitimate option based on a link outside reality and which uses a logic contrary to the principle of innocence in law, refuse from one day to the next access to the public spaces necessary for their social integration, participation and personal development, as well as the development of cultural and sporting activities. The SGG has warned that “it is creating a system of caste privileges against freedoms: if you are inserted you have more rights, if you cannot pass by you cannot be in places of encounter with people, if you are integrated in the State you have more political rights than if you are not integrated in it... In the 19th and 20th centuries, among other things, reactionary attitudes justified it. And in today's society, this trend is recurring. In this situation they have created, you can criminalize and stigmatize those who do not have a passport, and you have to try to neutralize it.”

For Iturralde, the most serious thing is that distinction of rights and not rights: “The government has forced the passport in nursing homes and hospitals, which will result in people being categorized. Will we accept categorization as a society?”

As from one day to the next it has become a privilege to interact with other people in the public square, and to have access to socio-sanitary, cultural and sports services, it seems that having a QR that gives access to that new “privilege” is a real hut. But getting this passport is by... Many citizens are led by “social control”. The SGS has recalled that “the next trend is to increase social control: the use of cookies on websites, the installation of cameras in private and public spaces in the name of safety, chips, big data, facial recognition technology… all of this is being implemented and progressively normalized. This passport is part of this trend of control of capitalist society, through which data is monitored more easily: you can know who you have been with, where, at what time... Objectively, the COVID-19 pass is an increase in social control.” The GKS member has pointed out the relationship between this social control and the development of technology and digitalization. Iroz shares this idea: “They develop technology so that they control everything and citizens control less and less.”

With regard to control and private information, Iturralde has highlighted another basis that violates the pass: health confidentiality. “No one can be forced to say whether they are vaccinated or not. Whether or not I have an AIDS virus, whether or not I have a reactive psychosis... This confidentiality is everyone’s right.” Now it seems like bars, librarians, sports workers, etc. you have to know what got the vaccine, or what happened a long time ago with COVID-19 or... However, Iturralde has stressed that the individual physician is the only one who should have health information: “I’ve also had to address the issue with the outpatient staff: you can’t ask anyone if they’re vaccinated or not. That is not your job and that you do not have to know, all people have to be treated in the same way. If there are health problems then, I will do that work on my behalf. Someone enters the outpatient clinic saying ‘I bring the child with a little cold...’ and the first diosal: 'Are you vaccinated? '. But what question is that? What do you care about? If outpatient workers have also asked, imagine yourself on the street!” The physician has explained that “on the one hand, confidentiality is a right. And on the other hand, it does not help the community know if you are vaccinated or sick. What helps the community? Healthy living conditions: housing, work, local organization... But if you've been inserted or you're sick or not? What does this contribute to the community?”

Iturralde has warned that if we cross the limit of health confidentiality we will enter “very dangerous grounds”: “Social categorization. Categorization of people with or without disease, with or without healthy habits, who exercise and do not... Be careful with eugenics”. She warns that the view about health is spreading “monolithic”: “For example, I like to drink wine with my friends, and although we know that it is not very good for ‘ideal health’, I can decide to drink with my friends because I decide what are the good things for my life, those that satisfy me, those that make me feel at ease, for example, being with other people... When an external paradigmatic model is introduced, all of these categories that are important to life are left out of the paradigm. Today we are on that limit, about to scale society into categories, so that we are all equal.”

They often require ID display along with the QR passport. The use of other people's health and identity data, in addition to the diffuse line of legality and data privacy violations, puts workers in police roles. There are workers who refuse to do so and, in an organised manner, the body builders have made public a document denouncing that this is not their job. As Iroz explained, “among the workers there is everything: some seek ways not to discriminate against the without step, but others are very proud to do the police function and how others live. The police on the balconies are now walking down the street.”

Do I have a pass today and tomorrow?

Since vaccines have an efficacy of up to six months, passport status should be renewed at a half-yearly dose. Having passed the disease also provides a passport at six months. So, more accurate than thinking “I have a passport” is to say “Today I have a passport”. Or, in exchange for always having the passport, we should have opted for the option “I will always incorporate myself”.

Since people who have not received any doses of COVID-19 vaccine are 10% at the moment, but when they vaccinate the children of parents who so decide, that amount can be greatly reduced... What's the biggest strength passport has to get people vaccinated? Compulsory vaccination of 5-10% or 90% to 95% of all doses from now on?The implementation of the passport in Hego Euskal Herria has occurred at a key moment to decide whether to get vaccinated or not: when deciding whether to vaccinate children or not, and when it has begun to hear that all age groups should take a third dose.
Regardless of vaccination, this is not a fixed category. Every day we can change the decision: whoever has not taken it so far can decide to take it tomorrow, and whoever has taken all the doses so far can decide not to take another one for the time being. Therefore, the passport conditions the decision-making power of all citizens.

In Iturralde’s words, “Now what is the goal of people? Include it in the model of exemplary society. But there is a risk that other parameters will be incorporated in this ‘exemplary’ paradigm tomorrow.”

Although it was unthinkable until yesterday, with the European passport QR it is not difficult to imagine a kind of “social credit”. It has been in operation for a long time in the same country where COVID-19 has been opened, as Iturralde pointed out: “To be an example citizen in China you have to have several points, like here on the driver’s license.” And what the government qualifies is that points are lost with things that have been done “badly”: without this social credit you cannot buy a house, or access certain jobs, participate in the cultural activities of the people... Iturralde has warned that “this social credit is used for political control from the principles of authoritarianism.”

HOW DO YOU LIVE IN THE PEOPLE OF PASSPORTS?

In the Northern Basque Country we have the most experience to see how life is organized with this pass. D. Blain explains EH Bai’s internal debate on the subject and agreed bases: “In general we were all against the passport, because it has been a restriction of freedoms, because we have to give our health information to a hotel owner or a shopkeeper... Personal data means the existence or not of vaccination, the refusal or not of disease. We were all agreed on that.

Our biggest discrepancies are centered on integration, we have different approaches: we all agree that we have to have little and no patents, because the vaccine has developed in the capitalist model. Some people said ‘it’s premature’, ‘we don’t know xuxen what that vaccine is’... As we respect that we respect a public that upsets the vaccine, or that was in danger from the health field, or trusted in it... Our red line has always been free choice.

On the subject of the health pass, we're actually opposed to it, but some people said: ‘In view of the impact of the pandemic, the consequences, the global dimension it has acquired... Why not…?’ No one has defended the ‘health pass yes, and in everything’. But some thought it was acceptable in a limited time, with limited rules, etc.” But, as Blain added, “we have realised that there are no limits on implementation. That is why we have made a statement: in that writing we do not say totally no, but we do not share anything about the use that is made.”

He explains that the QR passport generates great contradictions in everyday life: for example, you could initially access the store to buy a book without this passport, but not enter the public library to receive the same book. Or who, being infected, can go to a closed multitudinous act, but who does not have a passport without contaminating it.

To ensure that the pass does not discriminate, the measure that has been established is to perform the test, but only the PCR tests are valid, not the self-tests that can be purchased at a low price from the pharmacy. This means that if it is not incorporated into practice, a great deal of money is needed and that it can only be used at specific times. Blain sets an example: “As of December, PCR is only valid for 24 hours and for the non-vaccinated it costs EUR 44, while for the vaccinated it is insufficient. An employee of the inn told me that half a day he earns 500 euros a month and with what he had to spend on PCR, he has stopped work, so it is not worth waking up in the mornings.”

No Pass! Where are we going? Campaign to denounce the situation of the workers (doctors, firefighters...) who have forced the collectives to integrate in order to maintain their jobs. Blain explains that since the entry into force of the passport many people have been vaccinated because they are forced to work or want to continue going to the accommodation and to the movies: “I have followed the vaccination of Uztaritz because I was chosen in it, and the health pass has given a new impetus to the vaccination campaign, there are many who do the first dose.” Blain explained that there are others who keep their choice, saying “no, I will not get into blackmail like this, they will not impose me, thus eliminating the environment of accommodation, cinema, leisure...”.

No Pass! Where are we going? Jasone Iroz Gordin, member of the collective, speaks: “What worries me most is the fragmentation it generates in society. In the respect of others, but I have decided to express myself. Although it is very hard, and assaulted, on many occasions I feel excluded, I think I am calmer with my attitude, because I defend my opinion.” Instead of withdrawing yourself, go to the places where you want to go and perform the test. If you are not asked for a passport, better, and someone asks you, look for a quiet reflection and debate talking to him: “I am not against the people, because I understand that the owner of the cafeteria has its pressures, that the staff of the media library has the rules to follow... To start with, I don't know what each person thinks, and I don't put all the workers in the same bag: each one is a person and I don't generalize. I always try, for example, to order coffee. If they ask me for a passport, I answer ‘a, do you realize that you discriminate against me?’ and I am quiet, hoping to have left a seed for reflection. It is not normal for a worker to deny a coffee to a person. It should not become normal. Instead of self-examination, I prefer to highlight the situation.” He sometimes acknowledges that he lacks the strength to enter the debate: “The daily pressure is the weight, as everything is conditioned by the passport.”

Over time, the places that do not request the pass become known and the collectives that do not want to leave out any of their members get used to going to them. As Blain explained: “Yes, we change the smells without realizing, because if not, the pass is exclusionary and from a left-wing position, when we leave the meeting and we are going to take a boat we cannot say to a “you don’t have a health pass and home”.

Iroz explains that the passport causes clashes at home and that as parents it is hard to see their children in danger of exclusion: “When they came from sports training, the children came devastated: ‘If we don’t insert ourselves fini! They won't let us play," they told me. I told them that ‘we will calm down, we will talk and I promise you that you will continue to play. Let’s find the solution.” And talking to the sports team, they looked for the solution. “I have to remember in the family that I am not a punisher, that others are taking inadequate measures and that instead of fighting with each other we have to face up to the top leaders.” Fortunately, he has a lot of people with no hobbies in his friends, but he explains that they have had debates with many others: “And it’s worse than the debate that there’s a gap with some people. It causes very complicated situations. And why? It becomes very hard to see that there is not much reaction in society.”

Passport against passport

Both Blain and Iroz have explained that among those who have an active attitude against the pass there is everything, vaccinated and unvaccinated. Blain: “Some members are vaccinated but refuse to show the health pass. They do not accept this step, because it is discrimination, because again there is mismanagement of personal data...”.

Iroz explains Ez Pass! Where are we going? That in the collective there is everything, vaccinated and not, they are against the pass and are in favor of the free decision to get vaccinated. Since September, about 35 people meet weekly in Kanbo, from dusk to early hours: “There are health workers, some of whom have been dismissed. Baxe is a peasant from Navarra. There are teachers, from Seaska, from Catholic and public schools. There are also audio-visual and other fields. There are people involved in politics, there are people making popular movements, people involved...”

The European QR passport raises the question of how to act in the future. But it also forces each collective to choose: whether or not a passport is required to exclude a person from the acts he or she organises? Blain explains how the matter was handled at the summer universities that EH Bai organised in September: “In the rooms of the village you have to apply the law. In private places, like an association, it's easier not to fully enforce the law. The position of EH Bai was that we are not there to control the health pass. We ask people to touch it, we ask people that there is a mask (that is more effective against the risk of contagion)... In our initiatives we don’t control, we’ve asked people to take responsibility.” He explains that outside EH Bai there have also been debates in cultural and social actors about whether they are going to ask for a passport in the events organized by them.

That's what Iroz asks the leftist parties that are in the decision-making centers: “Let them say what they’re going to do in practice. I appreciate the manifesto of EH Bai and I value it positively. And then what? Do they have to keep the mediatecas of the peoples who rule in the Consistorial House closed for some citizens or not? Nationalists and socialists are in the town hall of Hendaia, where they are about to drive out a social services worker who is playing in March, for lack of progress. This worker indicates that he/she is willing to perform the four months he/she lacks to do any work. How will the political parties questioning the passport act in these situations?”

Zupiria de Bingen

“I believe that those who have not joined will have to finish incorporating if they want to continue to have a social life like others.”

This is the interview conducted by Radio Vitoria to government spokesman Bingen Zupiria on December 10, 2021. Note: The use of the QR passport was not yet extended to all areas.

Is the passport fulfilling its role? Of course, it doesn't stop spreading, but does it force some people to get vaccinated?

I think it is doing its job. I will try to explain what the function of this passport is. During these days I have lived two situations that explain why the passport is not useful: one I lived in a restaurant with bar, asked for the COVID-19 passport to access the restaurant tables, but on the bar that was attached to the dining room did not ask for the passport and saw that many people did not do what needs to be done inside: have the mask constantly placed. There were groups without masks, builaka, eating and drinking... If we think that with the vaccination certificate everything is fixed, we are wrong.

The other experience was at a night-time music venue where people came in an orderly fashion, keeping the distance I expected to the queue, showing their vaccination certificate, but when I walked inside, I took the mask off and forgot everything.

The only thing the passport does is to indicate that we have a complete vaccination and that we have therefore taken that care, but from there we must continue to comply with all the measures in force.

Do you have data on how many people have been inserted by the COVID-19 passport, which would not have been inserted if they hadn't had to show this?

There will be about 2,000 people who have been encouraged to get vaccinated in recent times.

Is it intended to be applied in other enclosed spaces?

Lehendakari and the Department of Health are paying attention to what is being done in the environment, in other autonomous communities, but above all in the European states in which this certificate is being applied. Without losing sight of the responsibility we have, we should look at what is happening across Europe: What is happening across Europe is happening to us. With the advantage that the majority of the citizens of this Autonomous Community and of the Spanish State have decided to incorporate it and we have greater support. But if there is a pandemic and it is likely to continue for many months, if not for years. We will have to learn to live with this pandemic.

Are there any other measures taken by other States?

There are States in which unvaccinated people have been confined. We are not going to arrive, but that is what is happening in Europe.

In other places a vaccination certificate is being demanded to access many sites: in all interior areas where people gather for different activities, to access residences and hospitals... we should make extensive use of this vaccine certificate to protect us, but also to encourage people to get the vaccine.

It should be remembered that this measure is an additional [QR passport]. There are many other measures in place that we should comply with.

This other interview was conducted by Onda Vasca to government spokesman Bingen Zupiria on December 15, 2021.

Does the Basque society have a sense of recognition for COVID-19 certification?

It's not easy to categorically answer what a society's opinion is, because we compose each of the men and women that we live in it, and we can have differences and nuances. But the Sociological Prospecting Cabinet, which is part of Lehendakaritza, has conducted four surveys over almost two years of pandemic and we have found that among the majority of Basque society there is a responsible attitude towards the pandemic and we have always seen that the majority will or the favourable opinion has been in favour of taking measures to deal with this situation. We therefore believe that there is a majority social consensus to take the necessary measures at all times. They have not yet been asked about the COVID-19 passport, but we have the feeling that the government’s view is shared by the majority of Basque society, that measures must be taken, whatever they are in each situation, to deal with this situation.

There are opinions against the COVID-19 passport. For example, the demonstration called for Saturday in San Sebastian [The Vida platform talks on December 18], which also compares Germany with the country. What would you say to these people?

I wouldn't say anything to these people. I assume that, in order to disagree, his right is being exercised and the right to oppose it is being exercised. I would remind you, as a government spokesperson, what the situation we live in this country in 2020, and compare it with what we are currently experiencing, and I would assure you that the number of people admitted to hospitals, ICUs, or deaths this year, are lower than last year, and that this is a consequence of the vaccination process, which does not prevent the transmission of the disease, but if we do not pass a serious illness.

(...)

A very large majority of this society has decided or recognized that vaccination is the only protection we have against this disease and has volunteered to do so. And whoever does not want to do so, for he will see it himself, I think it will be the port to finish incorporating, if they want to have a social life like others.

They have the right not to do so, but in this case they will surely have to live differently. Because others also have the right to be safe.