A-Infos (en) France, OCL: Mobilizations for Palestine - Basque Country - Spain - Numerous and Massive Solidarity Movements (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

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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