Illegal logos?

international | rights, freedoms and repression | other press

Saturday January 14, 2006 13:19

by legal eagle

A poster has appeared throughout the basque territories for an event to be celebrated on the 21st of January 2006 in Barakaldo (Vizcaja) called by the illegalised party Batasuna.

Batasuna are the political wing of ETA, and spanish lawyers argue incessantly over how far the ban on one effects the other and where the line between "Terrorism Law" and "Right to Association" is to be drawn.

Lets put it this way, other than journalists or spooks, not many people will go this gig who aren't supporters of Batasuna (and therefore ETA). But they do like to split hairs. & accordingly when the association of victims of terror in Spain, (which mostly represents victims of Basque seperatist violence) pointed out that in the poster there is clearly visible the "logo" of ETA, they called for the Spanish high court to ban the meeting.

poster in question.

And Batasuna for their part, as disinginous as ever, decided to protest the talk of a ban by declaring that the logo isn't ETA its "World Health".

Oh yes, ETA just shares the WHO logo, and wants all the basques to be healthy.

leave it to our peers in the (((i))) network to discuss it :-
http://www.euskalherria.indymedia.org/es/2006/01/24552.shtml

save preference

Comments (3 of 3)

Strange that this article was put up the very same day as the baptism

by carlista

Mon Jan 16, 2006 13:04

of the Leonor the first daughter of the heir to the Spanish crown. Strange, because there are legal issues which are not "too unrelated" common to people who pay attention to both "extremes" of what in Ireland at least is generally considered "Spanish affairs".

Leonor Bourbon is the current 2nd in succession to the Spanish throne, when her grandfather Juan Carlos pops it, her dad Felipe will get the throne and then it will pass to her. All simple and dandy. Except...

The law of succession of the Spanish throne was changed by an earlier "Felipe". The 13th May 1713, Felipe V of Spain, first of the Spanish Bourbons, through an "Auto Acordado" changed the traditional order of succession to the Spanish crown, dating from the Kingdom of Castile, to a "semi-Salic" system as in France, thereby limiting inheritance rights to his male descendants, and only through the female line in absence of any male heir on any line.

And when in 1830 a little over a hundred years later, another "Felipe" the VII found himself with only one child, (a girl) after four wives, he thought to change the law "back".
The result was the "Pragmatica Sanción" and thus his daughter became Isabel II of Spain in 1833.

Q: What has this got to with Basque seperatism or Royal Baptisms?????

A: quite a lot actually...

The succession of Isabel II was opposed by her uncle "the male heir" Carlos. And several important civil wars in the peninsula began.
And for supporting the "Carlist" succession the Basques first got their "rights". Those rights were to collect tax, be different and unusual, play bag pipes and speak their exotic and beautiful language.

Now lets get back to 2005. The poster in the article above advertises a meeting of a political party which supports allbeit in a most modern evolved and "tragic" way, those rights to be "different" of the Basques. Unlike Scotland, Catalonia or Norway, but rather like Ireland and Belgium the Basques never had a far past historical legitimisation as a "nation state". They can point to no ancient laws, rights, borders or even a clear unified territorial kingdom or archdiocese / see.
Indeed for many their "distant history" was that of the now extinct kingdom of "Navarre".
Basque seperatists (such as those at the meeting) still claim the modern day "autonomous region" Navarre as part of the "greater Basque lands". Leaving aside their political baggage for the moment, they are currently "illegalised" as a political party. This means they may not present candidates for election or organise as a political party in the normal way (fundraising advertising &c..,) yet because Spain is a complex democracy people still get to vote for them. Those votes are then "anulled".
They get about a quarter of a million "anulled" votes every time. Now this raises questions of "rights". They are "illegalised" because that party is proven in courts of law to be wholly and the same as the terrorist organisation ETA which is a very illegal (and many would say criminal) organisation with quite a past. But to believe that "armed struggle" will deliver an "independent and socialist Basque republic" is not of itself either a criminal or illegal act. Thus some of those supporters can argue that their "legitimate" right to assemble with others who share their beliefs is usurped.
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=69442

Ah yes. Spain and the Lawyers.

If the party of Basque "armed struggle independence tradition and continuing practise" is to enter any form of "peace process" it has to lay down arms. But it also has to be "legal" [again]. It doesn't take long to see that the Basque problem has in some ways been made worse by the hard work of legal experts.

And this is where it gets ironic, thanks to the history of what in Ireland is called "Spain", if that little girl baptised on Saturday is to become the first queen of Spain with her name since that Navarran queen back in 1464 the _law too_ must be changed.

Thus we may see the importance of the unprecedented "official picture" taken on saturday last. The little bourbon baby held by her "ordinary" ex-TV journalist mammy in front of her Bourbon dad, flanked by :-
The prime minister ZP, the leader of the congress (cean comhairle), the supreme justice, and the head of the legislature.
Bringing three strands of Spanish power together :- Executive, Legislative and Judiciary. They have never been so "officially" associated with the monarchy since its restoration or indeed the transition to democracy.

See?
Law change = "Navarran" Queen and/or "peaceful" Basques, I wonder who'll win? If at the forthcoming conference the abertzales say what is wanted "no more terror" then maybe someday "everyone can win". ;-)

Prince, baby Princess, Prime Minister and heads of all legal power in the Spanish State: an unprecedented photo.

"baby Leo" I suppose she will be to some...

by ipsi

Thu Jan 19, 2006 20:38

a few little bits and pieces on the complex issues touched upon ever so lightly above.

The Spanish high court, (headed by one of the people in the photo immediately above) has confirmed that Batasuna will remain illegal for the next two years. Their right to association as individuals may not extend to organising "public events".
Accordingly two offices which that party had opened in the last while in the Navarran "autonomous region" (see above) on the fringe of the "basque country" which they claim was closed yesterday. But tellingly two offices within the "basque autonomous region" were left unmolested.
The leader of the illegalised party, Otegi, who for many would be the basque equivalent of Adams has been facing criminal proceedings in 2005 for making public comments which besmirch the dignity of the King. But today it was announced that those charges have been dropped.
For their part the "abertzales" (basque socialist republican seperatists) have announced their intention (as usual) to go ahead with the meeting this weekend.

batasuna cancelled their gig at the last moment.

by -

Mon Jan 23, 2006 13:45

& thus obeyed the law. And the youngsters of the PP "PP ogras" plastered the town in posters of cigarette packets with the warning "eta kills" and "eta insults basques by promoting the ETA logo as WHO" set against the immediate background of an Irish style smoking ban which is coming into force in the Spanish state it was indeed a better campaign response than usual. Nothing the PP ogras has done before has ever been worthy of comment.

Upcoming Events

New Events

Other Press

User Preferences

Feeds

Blog Feeds

The Saker

Public Inquiry

Human Rights in Ireland

Lockdown Skeptics

Illegal logos?

Comments (3 of 3)