The starting point for the hypothetical world peace is respect for the principle that sums up this motto, or what is the same, for the independence of peoples. Without exception, the desire of all the nations of the world is to live with this slogan, to maintain independence in the case of those already emancipated and to regain independence in the case of those who have suffered the misfortune of losing. That is, of course, the first objective of its policy. Without that there is nothing.

This principle of fundamental freedom is the one that protects the right to self-determination, or the recognition it gives to peoples, as something like this: you have the right to live freely in your territory, without interference from foreign powers, without invasions, being the owner of yourself, managing your heritage, making your own decisions, organizing your day to day and building your future.

But, of course, the need to formulate a right that defends it is a threat that jeopardises that fundamental freedom of peoples, that there is a crime against the integrity of peoples, imperialism, which makes it necessary to regulate international policy, to define the principles that govern mutual respect.

The right to self-determination is so linked to the existence of imperialism that one cannot understand without the other. The imperialist crime suffered is the one that activates the right of self-determination of a nation and, in turn, the mere claim of self-determination, is always an implicit denunciation of imperialism. And for the same reasons, the recovery of independence is the only consequence, outcome or meaning for a nation the exercise of the right of self-determination can have: that the regime of occupation of my territories be lifted and that occupying forces be withdrawn.

Recent world events have brought the existence of imperialism to the forefront of today, showing the crudest and cruelest version of its reality. But the denunciation of imperialism must be made in its entirety, not only when we feel that barbarism has taken an excessive measure, but by betting on the liberation of all the peoples who suffer it, forcing the governments of the dominant states to comply with international norms so that the nations can regain their dignity and, with them, all mankind.

The Basque Country has long known the reality of imperialism and continues to suffer today by camouflaging itself in this so-called climate of peace. We are an old dominated people, because the invasion of our territories is ancestral, and the conquest of our State, and that is why we have a situation of very normalized domination, to the point where there are no longer signs of imperialism in the mere presence of the political apparatus that Spain and France have in us.

But they haven't fled from us. The truth is that our dominants, after the occupation and annexation of our State, have been able to initiate a new phase of the destruction project of the Basque Country.

In order for us to be credible, we have to denounce from home imperialism, affirming our own state, and organizing a movement of national resistance to which every democratic force will come, self-determination as the only speaker. That is the greatest contribution we Basques can make to the history of mankind.