Amnesty
These days I am rather weird to hear the word amnesty.
As with other issues, some ten years ago the claim for amnesty disappeared in our country; in some way, in the imagination of most people the possibility of amnesty was considered lost, so it has not been referred back to date.
My elders knew the 1977 amnesty. The political process open to the end of Franco considered the release of the anti-fascists indispensable. In Euskal Herria, the social majority clearly demanded in the streets the release of all Basque political prisoners, and in the mobilizations of then the same motto was repeated over and over again: “Prisoners on the street, all amnesty.” And 18,000 political prisoners were brought out of Spanish prisons, including Basque political prisoners, the majority members of ETA.
But the amnesty law of then was not approved to attract political change in the Spanish Franco courts. Its objectives were, on the one hand, to deactivate social mobilization and, on the other, to conceal the Franco barbaries. Xabier Arzalluz himself explained this: “Amnesty’s law is not an action of justice or equality, but a political initiative, it’s everyone’s forgetfulness to forget everything.” At that time, most of us were unaware that this law imposed impunity on the structures of the State and, without any problem, all the repressive machinery of the Franco regime remained intact, with all cruelty.
The peace process that we had hoped for for for years did not open, and from political language the demand for amnesty disappeared.
That is why, without a long time, the Basque prisoners returned to the Spanish prisons and, once again, in the streets of Euskal Herria there was a loud cry for amnesty.
Despite the avatars of history, the claim continued until 2010, when ETA’s armed struggle ended. But the peace process that we had hoped for for for years did not open, and from political language the demand for amnesty disappeared. All the actors decided to act pragmatically, an attitude that has been maintained to date.
This time the debate on amnesty is being very different. But, as in 1977, it is again evident that this amnesty has other objectives, in addition to resolving the situation of the Allies in the “Catalonia Process”. Because it will also do something else: To maintain the Spanish “progressive government” in power and at the same time cover the police and judicial violence exercised by the State in Catalonia and stay unpunished, as happened 46 years ago.
Thirteen years have passed since ETA left the armed struggle and political pragmatism has remained the same, as the state has maintained exceptional legislation. Most Basque prisoners are already in Euskal Herria prisons and their living conditions have improved considerably, but we cannot forget that prison sentences are being paid for many years, until the last day of conviction, and that it has become clear that they are not forgotten.
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