Huge demonstrations in support of Palestine, actions leading to strikes,
inevitably political, in the southern Basque Country and Spain; smaller,controlled, often prevented, and even criminalized mobilizations in
France... the differences are glaring. There are reasons for this. ----
The French government's policy of complicity with the Israeli
government, combined with a very severe restriction on the right to
demonstrate in general, have made solidarity mobilizations with
Palestine extremely difficult to carry out in France. Protest bans,
prosecutions, and fines, all coupled with a high level of surveillance
and repression, continued until very recently. These repressive measures
have attempted for two years to silence voices in France denouncing
Israel's genocidal policies against Palestinians.
In other European countries, particularly in Spain and in the regions
with a strong specific identity such as Catalonia and the Basque
Country, things are quite different and the solidarity movements with
Palestine have been on a significant scale since October 2023.
The reasons for the mass mobilizations
in the Southern Basque Country in favor of Palestine
The historical experience of the Basque Country (and Catalonia) can be
used to largely understand the strong momentum behind the Palestinian
cause. Being part of a society that has suffered and still suffers from
political conflict and oppression that seeks to stifle its desire for
independence makes one more sensitive to other liberation struggles. As
early as 1988, shortly after the first intifada, dozens of solidarity
activist groups, called "brigades," traveled from the Basque Country to
Palestine to establish ties that continue to this day. Long before that,
the liberation struggles of the 1960s and 1970s had helped shape the
commitments of Basque society. At that time, Paris and Algiers were the
two cardinal points of the first international relations of Basque
independence activists, breaking with the tendency of the anti-Franco
opposition, which had established its networks in the United States or
Latin America. Algiers thus played a major role between 1965 and 1977:
it was in this city that the armed struggle organization ETA initiated
its first international contacts. In the late 1970s, relations with
Palestinian organizations took a more concrete turn. Between 1976 and
1980, dozens of Basque activists underwent military training alongside
Palestinian groups in Lebanon and South Yemen. In the late 1970s, in
Lebanon, the poli-military branch of ETA-the political-military branch
of Fatah and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)-were supported
by Fatah and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), while in South
Yemen, the militia-the military branch of ETA-trained with the Popular
Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). These international
relations, however, remained limited, without permeating throughout
Basque society. However, "ETA did indeed contribute to installing the
Palestinian question in the Basque revolutionary imagination" [1]. These
links have persisted between the revolutionary currents: the Lebanese
activist Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, detained for 41 years in France,
maintained privileged relations with the Basque prisoners throughout his
incarceration.
The mobilizations in the Southern Basque Country are rooted in this
historical tradition, and they are reinforced by the colonial and
warlike policy that the State of Israel is carrying out against
Palestine and by the massacres it is committing in Gaza, pushing a very
large part of Basque (and also Spanish) society to act by seizing all
means, all possible spaces to denounce it and try to put an end to it.
The initiatives are countless and come from all sectors.
Thus, artists are mobilizing. For example, when the Basque musician
Fermin Muguruza, a pillar of Basque radical rock in the 1980s - he made
a documentary on Palestinian musicians in 2009 (Checkpoint Rock: Songs
for Palestine) - performs on stages around the world, his concerts
become a space for protests in favor of the Palestinian people. Last
June, while he was giving a concert at the Anoeta stadium in San
Sebastian in front of 30,000 people, the Palestinian musician Tamer
Nafar, from the group DAM [2]was invited to share the stage with him. On
March 17, thousands of people responded to the call of more than 300
Basque artists to join a demonstration against the massacre in Gaza.
The media are not left out. This is the case of the newspapers of the
abertzale left, such as the Basque daily Gara. Since October 7, 2023,
not a day has gone by without him talking about the genocide and trying
to cover as widely as possible the almost daily demonstrations and acts
of solidarity with the Palestinians.
The sports world is also involved. The football stadiums where Basque
clubs play have also served as wrestling grounds. In San Sebastian, an
entire stand remained empty, occupied only by people in blood-stained
white uniforms. Athletic Bilbao fans observed a minute of silence, then
a minute of applause, in memory of Palestinian player Suleiman Al-Obeid,
nicknamed the "Pele of Gaza," who was killed on August 6, 2025.
Elsewhere, the Basque national team will host the Palestinian team,
which narrowly missed out on a historic qualification for the 2026 World
Cup. The charity match will take place on November 15 in Bilbao in
tribute to the victims of Gaza.
Last month, the Vuelta a España cycling race was the target of massive
pro-Palestinian protests. The cause was the participation of riders from
the Israeli team Israel-Premier Tech, widely and rightly perceived in
Spain and elsewhere as an attempt to endorse and "whitewash" Israeli
policy. Throughout the course, there were hundreds of Palestinian flags,
shouts, and protest chants. Several stages were neutralized or
shortened. The one that was to end in Bilbao was blocked three
kilometers from the finish line, provoking the anger of the Israeli
team's owner, Sylvan Adams, who called the action "terrorism." A stunt
that snowballed: the same scenario was repeated in Galicia, but
especially in Madrid, where 100,000 people blocked the finish of the
race in the capital, depriving the cyclists of a final finish line and a
podium; several thousand demonstrators had torn down barriers and
invaded the artery that the riders were to cross nine times. The 80th
edition of the Vuelta thus ended, unfinished, under a hail of tear
gas... but without any arrests [3]. In the case of solidarity actions
with Palestine, the spaces of freedom are much greater in the southern
Basque Country and in Spain than in France.
The action is also reflected at the political level. EH Bildu, a
coalition of the Basque pro-independence left, recently had a
declaration widely approved in the Basque Parliament that explicitly
condemns the "genocide" perpetrated by the State of Israel.
But it is also and above all outside of political parties that
initiatives are being taken and a very strong collective and popular
dynamic is being created. In every medium-sized town, BDS (Boycott
Divestment Sanctions) groups have been formed, along with Palestina
Collectives (Gazteiz Palestina, Donostia Palestina, Bilbo Palestina,
etc.), and even neighborhood associations in large cities. This is where
actions are decided, whether local or coordinated with other locations.
Beyond the Basque Country and Catalonia, support for the Palestinian
cause is also deeply rooted within the Spanish population. There are
also historical reasons for this, which we will not discuss here. Among
the political parties in Spain, only Vox claims to be pro-Israeli, like
many European far-right parties. And unlike what is happening in France
and Germany, accusing criticism of the State of Israel of being
anti-Semitic does not work [4]
On the side of the Spanish power and institutions
The Spanish state likes to present itself as one of the countries most
supportive of the Palestinian cause, which gives it considerable
prestige, especially in the Mediterranean and the Global South [5].
Moreover, while Sanchez is experiencing a fragile political situation,
reaffirming messages in favor of Palestine helps to remobilize left-wing
voters. But at the Congress of Deputies in Madrid, the issue of arms
sales to Israel revealed profound contradictions between the Prime
Minister's commitments and the facts. Since Israel's "destructive
offensive" (according to Sanchez) against Gaza in October 2023, and
while it had until then been a major exporter of arms to Israel, the
Sanchez government had committed itself to neither buying nor selling
any military equipment from the Hebrew state; in this, it was in line
with more than 500 organizations that had been demanding for many months
that an embargo be imposed on arms sales to Israel. However, the press
revealed that the authorities had, since January 2024, allowed more than
sixty thousand pieces (artillery, rocket launchers, machine guns,
grenades, etc.) to transit through Zaragoza airport, notably from the
United States, to Tel Aviv's Ben-Gurion airport. Another revelation: a
contract had been signed with IMI Systems Ltd - a subsidiary of Elbit
Systems, an Israeli arms company - which caused a political scandal,
particularly among parties to the left of the socialists, who ensure the
PSOE remains in power [6]. Under pressure from these parties as well as
from pro-Palestinian mobilizations throughout the country, the
government had to, on April 24, 2025, unilaterally cancel this contract,
which covered the supply of ammunition to the Guardia Civil for an
amount of 6.8 million euros. And finally, on October 8, a decree-law for
an immediate embargo on arms shipments to Israel was passed in
Parliament (without the votes of the PP and Vox); it prohibits all
exports of defense equipment, products, or technologies to Israel, as
well as their import into Spain. It also blocks requests for transit of
aviation fuel with potential military applications and prohibits the
advertising of products "coming from illegal settlements in Gaza and the
West Bank."
In the northern Basque Country, the mobilizations are much less massive
than in the southern Basque Country.
Despite everything, the militant links with Palestine are strong and
long-standing, and there have always been mobilizations during each
historic offensive by the Hebrew state against Gaza or the West Bank.
Since October 2023, periodic and systematic rallies have been organized
in even small towns, demonstrations, conference days, film debates,
leaflet distributions to workers in arms factories in department 64,
operations to boycott companies and products, a solidarity march from
Pamplona to Hendaye... This despite the controls and even bans by the
authorities and thanks to an organization of committees woven from towns
to cities, in the three provinces of the northern Basque Country, with
Béarn and with the southern Basque Country.
The mobilizations also affect other regions of Spain.
Actions are being carried out in Spain and Catalonia, often in
connection with those initiated in Italy, as was the case with the
general strike of September 22, called by the dockers of Genoa [7], and
relayed by small Italian trade union and political organizations which
called for "blocking everything". This call was renewed for strikes and
mass rallies on September 27, and on October 2 and 3.
On these days, in Genoa, Bologna and Barcelona, as well as in Bilbao and
Madrid, tens of thousands of people stopped work or demonstrated to
denounce the interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla ships en route to
Gaza [8], and to show their support for the Palestinians. In Catalonia,
demonstrators blocked several main roads; riot police charged the crowd
that had gathered in front of the central station, and used tear gas.
The CGT (libertarian-leaning trade union) has called for a strike in all
sectors of education, from primary schools to universities. Entrances to
various buildings at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and the
Polytechnic University of Catalonia have been barricaded. Around fifty
tents have been set up on the port quayside, the one through which ships
carrying weapons for Israel pass and from which the Global Sumud
flotilla departed.
The most recent mobilization took place on October 15th throughout
Spain, called by several pro-Palestinian unions and associations, with
24-hour strikes, demonstrations, and partial work stoppages in
businesses and schools. Although it took place just days after the
announcement of the first phase of a "peace plan" between Israel and
Hamas, presented by Trump, this action was maintained in view of the
catastrophic situation in the Gaza Strip and the knowledge that the
Trump plan would resolve nothing. The mobilizations were massive,
demanding an end to violence in Gaza, the suspension of trade relations,
and the termination of the Association Agreement between the EU and
Israel. More than 110,000 people demonstrated in the Southern Basque
Country, and work stoppages were very significant, both in the private
and public sectors (education, health, etc.). The mobilization of CAF
(Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles - Basque Country railway
construction) staff took on a unique character. For several months, the
works council has been denouncing the company's involvement in the
tramway project linking Jerusalem to the settlements. A project
condemned by the UN and Amnesty International, the company recently
confirmed its commitment to it.
A strike for Palestine in several European countries?
Given the echoes that the solidarity mobilizations with the Palestinians
are having from one country to another, one might ask: are the
conditions in place for a call to be launched quickly for a day of
simultaneous strikes and mobilizations, at least on a European scale?
Various political forces, trade unions, and autonomous collectives are
working towards this prospect. In Italy, citizens' assemblies are being
held at the port of Genoa to try to achieve this goal. In France, too,
the FNPD-CGT is considering, alongside the Italians, a European day of
mobilization for Gaza and against the militarization of ports. The joint
calls for the September and October mobilizations appear to be the first
stones laid.
Basque Country, 10/19/2025
P.S.
This article was planned for CA 354, due to lack of space in the monthly
paper, we are publishing it on the site.
Notes
[1] Breve historia de ETA ("Brief history of ETA", Txalaparta, 2017), by
Iñaki Egaña, historian.
[2] DAM means "eternal" in Arabic, it is the first Palestinian hip-hop
group and one of the first to rap in Arabic.
[3] Socialist Prime Minister Sanchez expressed his "admiration" for the
pro-Palestinian demonstrations, and suggested excluding Israel from
sports competitions "as long as the barbarity continues in Gaza."
[4] According to a survey conducted by the Royal Elcano Institute
published in July 2025, 82% of Spaniards surveyed believe that Israel is
committing genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza and 78%
support official recognition of the State of Palestine by European states.
[5] Spain, Ireland and Norway jointly officially recognized the State of
Palestine on May 22, 2024.
[6] These are Podemos and Sumar, the grouping of Izquierda Unida, the
Communist Party of Spain and the Basque and Catalan independence groups.
[7] of the CALP[Collettivo Autonomo dei Lavoratoti Portuali - Genoa
[8] This flotilla carried delegates from more than 40 countries to Gaza
in an attempt to break, for the third time (but without success), the
Israeli siege.
http://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article4546
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