Don’t call us – we’ll call you… terrorists

Idiotic ideas can fall out of the sky

What have been the consequences of being added to the terrorist list?

– Well, the New People’s Army has not been affected because there are no NPA offices, no operations and no bank accounts here in Europe. Instead they have gone after poor me. They have frozen my bank account with around 1.000 euros in it. It’s an entirely silly situation.

Why did the NPA take up arms?

– The NPA took up arms as the US-sponsored dictator Ferdinand Marcos imposed martial law in the Philippines. Our country used to be a US colony, and still today the US multinationals control our economy. NPA is fighting for the self-determination of the Philippino people.

What is a terrorist?

– A terrorist is one who causes harm to the life and property of people on a large scale.

How does your own list of terrorist organizations look?

– The US is no. 1 on that list. US troops killed 1.4 million Philippinos during the war from 1899 to 1914. Later, the US was the instigator and supplier of weapons to the Marcos dictatorship in the Philippines.

What do you think of when you hear the word »Europe«?

– I love the European people. They are quite different from the governments, the big businesses and armies of Europe. But even in Europe the few exploit the many. And the ultra-right is blaming immigrants for the current economic crisis, even though immigrants have been very important in improving the quality of life in Europe. For decades immigrants have been taking the jobs that nobody wanted.

Would you like your own country to have a democracy like the European Union’s?

– Today, the bourgeois democracy of the European Union is very fragile. It’s not only cruise missiles that come out of the sky, it’s also idiotic ideas. Like the madness of George Bush that is spreading to Europe – ideas of preemptive strikes and the war on terrorism.

What’s the problem with the European Union?

– The big problem is that the main engine of European economics – Germany – is very, very sick. From economical crises political crises develop. Meanwhile, the fascists are watching.

From the white pages to the black list

This summer, more than 100 Spanish police swinging batons and firing rubber bullets broke through a barricade of supporters of the Basque separatist party Batasuna in the town of San Sebastian. On the other side of the barricade, Joseba Alvarez, a Batasuna regional MP, was waiting inside his office to be taken away.

Alvarez’s party has since been banned on grounds of accusations of supporting the armed Basque group ETA, which is considered a terrorist organization by the EU.

Moskito gave Alvarez a call:

What’s it like being labeled a terrorist?

– In September the process to ban my political organization began. The end result will be that a political formation representing 15 percent of the Basque people and having 1.000 elected representatives in local, regional and national government, will be without legal existence.

– In the meantime we are denied our bank accounts and offices, are forbidden to hold meetings and to present our case to the public. In practice we are already an illegal organization.

You are being accused of directing a terrorist organization?

– It’s a lie that we support armed struggle as the means to achieve our political aims. We are working for a political solution to the problems of the Basque nation. The reason that armed violence continues is precisely because a political solution has not been achieved.

What is a terrorist?

– A terrorist is somebody who supresses the fundamental rights of a people, be it collective rights or individual. The oppression can be political, economic, cultural or militaristic. It can be state terrorism, as when President Bush decides to bomb Iraq, or when President Putin decides to wage war against Chechenya.

What do you think of when you hear the word »Europe«?

– It’s a continent that’s much larger than the EU and is much older than the political structures now existing. The EU is one thing, Europe is something else.

Would you like your own country to have a democracy like the European Union’s?

– We aren’t independent, so we can’t decide for ourselves. But if one day we get independence it should be the Basque people who decide which political structures we will live under. My party works for a socialist, internationalist society, but it will be up to the Basque people to decide.

What’s the problem with the European Union?

– The neoliberal economic model, which doesn’t correspond to the interests of either the people of Europe, or the millions of immigrants that we can expect to move here in the coming years.

By Ulrik Kohl and Sven Gårn Hansen/Moskito