NAVARRE, PROBLEM AND SOLUTION, IS THE EUROPEAN BASQUE STATE
AN INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL CONFLICT
STATE AND NATION
When we talk about Navarre we refer to a manifestation of its society or political nation; Euskal Herria is the cultural community. Navarre and Euskal Herria are the two sides of the same nation, political and cultural respectively.
When we use the concept of Navarre or Navarrese, we refer to its political content, i.e. Navarrese society, Navarrese citizenship, Navarre, Navarrese State, Kingdom of Navarre.
It is also precise not to mistake the terms Navarre and Euskal Herria, both of which are solidly based in history. The term Navarre developed as a political concept, to name Vasconia, sovereign an independent. On the other hand the term Euskal Herria was created in the first books in Basque in the XVI century, by Navarrese writers -of the still independent Navarre- to refer to all Basque speakers, whether they lived in the independent State of Navarre, or in the territories dominated by Spain, in order to reflect the existence of a cultural and linguistic Nation which in practice extended beyond the
borders of the political Nation.
When the anexionist powers were concluding the task of occupying, demolishing and supplanting the political nation which is Navarre, a strong will to resist surges from within the cultural and linguistic Nation which is Euskal Herria, a long lasting endeavour, intent in the defence of the last shreds of the political sovereignty and Basque culture.
It is not possible to look into one of the aspects of national reality in the process of regaining sovereignty. It is necessary to look into both aspects at the same time. Not taking into consideration this dual reality of the same nation- the cultural nation (Euskal Herria) and the political society (Navarre) has serious repercussions. Just as Navarrese and Basque refer to the inhabitants of the same territory, Navarre and Euskal Herria are also names that refer to the same country, even though they reflect complementary concepts. Navarre covers Statehood and political society, and Euskal Herria the national cultural community.
CONTINUOUS VIOLENCE
The origin of the ongoing political conflict lies upon the conquests of Navarre by Spain and France. A modern European state was conquered by military force. It was not the disappearing of a "medieval kingdom", "Hispanic kingdom" or of a "mere change of dynasties". The conquest of the state of Navarre finished in 1620, that is, 170 years after the taking of Constantinople and 130 years after the conquest of Granada and the arrival of the Spaniards to America. Hence, the conquest of the state of Navarre happened in the Modern Age.
It was precisely the fact that Navarre was a modern state with a self-conscientious society, solid institutions and own Law and language, what forced the conquerors to accept the existence of a legal, political and social system more developed than their own. Hence, the reminders of institutions of the state of Navarre are still working in our times: tax collection, civil law, local administration, etc., which are not a creation, delegation of power, or a transferring of powers of the Spanish state.
This acceptance, did not happen due to a lack of will and means to vanish all traces of political sovereignty, as done in America and Philippines, but because the economic and military costs of doing so were unbearable to them. As a consequence, they opted for the strategy of pretending to respect the legality of Navarre and its institutions, and were made to hide political and military domination, but with permanent requests for total integration.
About the illegitimacy of the conquest of Navarre, Thomas Hobbes in the "Leviathan" of 1640 considers as void the unjustified transfer of Navarre. In the words of historian Mª Puy Huici, from the conquest " there is no possibility of a spontaneous nor natural development. Is a colonisation without a doubt " We will find the references needed to know that we are talking about recovering our own State, in the continuous acts of force with which both occupying states deny our sovereignty, our legality and our statehood. Any not authoritarian project must state the dates of suffered illegal acts from which the actual situation arises. We shall mention but a few, which are milestones of the imposed illegality after the military conquests, to end in domination, vanishing sovereignty and disassembling of the institutions of the judicial system and the state:
- August the 16th 1202: Castile supplants sovereignty on the Maritime Navarre
- July the 7th 1515: Unilateral ruling by Castile in the Cortes of Burgos to
incorporate Navarre into Castile
- October the 20th 1620: " Decree of the Union " of Louis XIII, by which
Navarre is incorporated into France.
- August the 16th 1841: dismantling of the statehood of Navarre with the "Ley
Paccionada" law.
- July the 21st of 1876: supplanting the institutions of the Maritime Navarre.
DIVISION OF THE TERRITORIALITY
The origin of the division in territories or provinces:
When the territories of what today are known as the provinces of Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa were independent because they belonged to Navarre, these provinces did not exist as such, and their inhabitants were simply citizens of Navarre or Navarrese.
Navarre was a sovereign kingdom in which the present territorial division as we know today did not exist. There were the constituencies of the Valleys and Tenencias, with Batzarres (Assemblies). The Tenentes were not feudal lords. They ruled the different town and counties in the name of their sovereign. Succession was not hereditary, and they were changed periodically.
The shaping of the land in Provinces happened centuries after the loss of independence.
The breakdown of the territorial union is a consequence of an attitude against Law, violent, contrary to the ius gentium, which contravened all international treaties through conquest, occupation and domination by foreign powers following their own exclusive interests; actions which took part on the Whole Navarre specially in the dates of 1200 and 1512 by Castile-Spain and 1621 by France.
NATIONCIDE AND LINGUACIDE
Vasconia is the victim to two simultaneous processes: one of nationcide and another of linguacide, when it was denied its plural and integrating institutions, its Law system, and its statehood was supplanted, and at the same time its languages were substituted. Basque was substituted by its forced devaluation, prohibitions and punishment, and Castilian Romance substituted the Navarro-Aragones-Riojano Romance. This acts were done with the premeditated intent of dividing it and absorbing it into the Spanish and French nations.
The myth of a political pact, and its continuous use might conclude that as a consequence of the alleged Contract, the parts, i.e. the dominant nation and the dominated nation, share sovereignty.
The occupying great-nation, in order to subdue those conquered by force, makes them believe that the capitulation is a pact or treaty, even if its an unbalanced treaty. This treaty will enable them to live as they did when they were independent and even better, thanks to the protection of the great-nation and the future opportunities that a joint project where they have been so fortunate to enter will bring. From this situation is were the myths of the " voluntary surrender ", " the Basque states" or "the historic rights" are created.
NAVARRESE CONSTITUTIONALISM
The constitutional principle that states the pre-eminence of Law above those who have the power has a long history in Navarre; also, the constitutionalisation of the juridical system, which places the individual and collective subjective-rights above the Power. In modern times, there were two main reasons for the Navarrese constitutionalists to proclaim their own constitution: On one hand the internal necessity to update their judicial system, and on the other hand, the pressure from the so-called great-national constitutionalists of Spain and France.
In 1838, while the Carlist army of Navarre had been fighting for six years with the army of Spain, the leaders of the Carlists of Navarre drafted a Base Project that made a proposal upgrading the institutions to the comparative constitutional law of the time. The only relation left with Spain would be through the monarch, in the same manner as the Austrian-Hungarian monarchy.
In 1839, Angel Sagasteta de Ilurdoz, head of the judicial institutions for constitutional guarantees of Navarre, Sindico of the Cortes or Parliament of Navarre, published the "Fueros fundamentales del Reino de Navarra". It was a compilation of constitutional norms, with the aim that the constitutionalism of Navarre be recognised. In 1840 he informed: " Small kingdoms do not distinguish themselves from the larger ones nor in kind, neither in substance: largeness or smallness do not constitute a substantial diversity in this matter. The small kingdom of Portugal is equal in rights and independence to the vast Russian Empire. Based in the origin and nature of the Kingdom of Navarre, one is forced into agreeing that no neighbour, as mighty as it may appear, has the right to impose any decisions. The war (1833 - 1839) has not changed the nature of the Kingdom of Navarre, nor has given the right to any person or community to change its Constitution". This was not done when the laws of October of 1839 and 16th August of 1841 abolished and supplanted the Fueros.
In the year 1883, the Partido Federal de Navarra, liberal progressive, with Serafin Olave as president, proclaimed the constitutional bases of the State of Navarre, which contemplates the re-unification of Navarre.
In the year 1940, in the middle of the Second World War, the Consejo Nacional Vasco in London, writes a Draft of a Constitution for the whole of the peninsular Navarre, including Maritime Navarre, and the self-determination of the territories of Navarre dispersed over several Spanish provinces. In its 5th article it states: " The Basque territory is the one belonging to the old Kingdom of Navarre ".
SUBORDINATION
Let's stop to consider the main point: that we are confronted with a conflict whose historic origin is political, and whose recognition must mean the beginning of the necessary recovery of sovereignty. The key to find out the solution to the problem we are confronted with today, can be found in the denial of the state of Navarre, and the lack of democracy that it means. On the one hand the reduced Navarrese statehood -with its supplanted juridical system, what is known as "foralidad vasco-navarra" - represents the outcome of a political fraud; on the other hand, we have the present democratic failure. If these problems that affect democracy and the peaceful existence of all so deeply, are to be solved, both aspects must be dealt with equally: the denial of the own State of Navarre and the lack of democracy. The relationships between the political societies are immersed in different degrees of conflict, which have lasted for a very log time. The denial of the existence of a sociopolitical reality by the society that dominates, substitutes and re-emplaces it, is the end
phase of the conflict.
As an example we can mention some cases in Western Europe that have overcome those differences: Portugal, Netherlands and Ireland, while there are other countries which are still under domination, such as: Corsica, Scotland, Catalonia and Navarre. When we refer to Navarre we obviously refer to the whole of Navarre or Euskal Herria, which are equivalent to the political society and cultural society.
The dominated society becomes the periphery of the dominating society formed by the political-juridical organisation of the great-national state, to confirm its supremacy.
In a letter to Albert Einstein as a consequence to the inquest in 1930 he was conducting for the Society of Nations about the problem of war, Sigmund Freud established a connection between the absence of freedom and wars. Otfried Höffe points at the causality between the national shrinking and the existence of conditions favourable to crime.
RECOVERY OF SOVEREIGNTY
The process of recovery of sovereignty cannot be confused with the inanity of autonomy. They are antithetic. Sovereign-ism breaks the legitimacy of the foreign dominating state, and in sovereign-ist praxis, intrinsically democratic, exercises and recovers self-statehood. Instead, autonomy-ism does not question the legitimacy of the subordination and the unjust hold on territoriality of the occupying great-national state.
The social, economic, and cultural rights of the Basques are not guaranteed by the frivolous autonomist solutions. Only with sovereignty can they be sufficiently exercised and protected. Individual sovereignty for each one of its citizens, as well as collective sovereignty for society as a whole, which are guaranteed in the Constitution of the own State of Navarre.
The process must finish in an agreement, which could have the following formal expression in the State of Navarre:
1st. The Basque-Navarrese society, with the political form of a State, is a permanent member of the international community that has given shape to Europe, and that now constitutes the European Union. Having overcome a period of forced and partial denials of its political and state sovereignty, and of having had its institutions supplanted, The state of Navarre initiates a new life as an actor in Europe; free and sovereign.
2nd. The juridical system of Navarre is made by its legislative and executive institutions, and its administration of justice.
3rd. Any act against the sovereignty of Navarre, if they could be currently in force, are declared void of any legal value, and among others: Confirmation by the King of Castile of the Fueros of San Sebastian in 1202, of Vitoria, Durango and similar; Act of unilateral embodiment by the Cortes of Castile 7th July 1515; Laws by the Cortes of Spain in 25th October 1839, 16th August 1841 and 21st July 1876; Spanish constitution of 1878; Ruling of Louis XIII of France 20th October 1620 and Law by the French National Assembly of 8th of October 1789. Any other act that may mean an acceptance
of Spanish or French norms that contradict the Constitution and legal system of Navarre
are declared void of any value.
“Pro libertate patria gens libera state”
Infanzones de Obanos (Navarre)
2011 Pamplona-Iruñea.
CHRONOLOGY OF THE EUROPEAN STATE OF NAVARRE
1st ERA: II ARC. TO VIII: VASCONIA
(CELTS, ORGANISATION, GERMANIC AND ISLAM)
- II Century a.C.: Vasco coins "baskunes" were minted in Iruña
- 187 a.C. to 178 a.C.: First alliances with Rome against the Celts.
- 179 a.C.: Foundation of Graccurris (Alfaro)
- I Century a.C.: Federation of Tarraga (Sadaba) with Rome.
- 89 a.C.: Vascone horsemen from Sejia (Ejea) become Roman citizens after the taking of Ascoli.
- 75 a.C.: Pompeyo gives his name to the city of Iruña-Pompaelo
- 72 a.C.: Pompeyo founds Lugdunum Covenarum (San Bertrand de Comminges) In the Eastern Pyrenees next to the Valley of Aran.
- 58 a.C Rome conquers Aquitania.
- Construction of the great Roman routes Bordeaux-Astorga and Tarragona-Oiarso (Irun), that cross in Iruña with others.
- I century: Quintanillo de Calahorra, writes his book "Instituto Oratoria" becomes the greatest master of the Roman ruling class.
- II Century: Caius Cornelius Valens from Iruña-Pamplona, leads the delegation of the Tarraconense province that achieves to confirm direct relationships of the province with Rome.
The foundries and iron mills from Vasconia supply the Roman legions of weapons and artillery engines.(war machines)
- II Century: Magistrate Verus formalises the federation of Novempopulania (north Pyrenees Vasconia) with Rome.
Exporting of products (cereal, wine, oil) through rivers Garona and Ebro. Thermal waters of Dax, Bañeres, and Fitero are busy with visitors.
- 348 to 408 Prudencio, from Calahorra, bathed by the Vascon river Ebro, "Vasco Hiberus", with his great literary work, becomes the inspiration of the late Roman society, and the educator of the learned generations of medieval Europe.
- 408: Letter of emperor Honorio to the militia in Pamplona.
- 409: the barbarians pass through Orreaga-Roncesvalles.
- 477: Incursion of the Visigoths in Pamplona-Iruña
- 480 (ca.): Writing of the Laude Pampilona epistola. Describes the city of Pamplona-Iruña, that Charlemagne will destroy three centuries later before the battle of Orreaga-Roncesvalles.
- 507: defeat of the Visigoths in Vouillé that will led to the demise of the kingdom of Toulouse and the creation of the Visigoth kingdom of Toledo.
- 540: ( ca.) San Millan found a monastery in Suso. Monastic life in La Rioja will achieve great development, especially with the kings of Pamplona from the X century.
- 541: The Franks take Pamplona.
- 574: Destruction of Cantabria with Logroño by the Visigoths.
- 581: The Visigoth Leovigildo attacks Pamplona.
- 589: Liliolo, bishop of Pamplona, attends the III Council of Toledo.
- 590 (ca.): The Visigoth Recaredo attacks Vasconia.
- 602: Constitution of the Duchy of Vasconia.
- 611 (ca.) King Gundemaro attacks Vasconia.
- 621: Confrontation between the Visigoth king Suintila and the Vascones.
- 635: Victory of the Vascones against the Francs in Zuberoa. Export of whale oil from the ports of Vasconia.
- 636: Death of San Isidro in Seville whose historiography advocates that the Goths are the rulers on the Peninsula.
-- 721: Vasconia-Aquitania, led by Eudon the Great defeats the Muslims for the first time in Europe.
-732: Defeat of the Muslims in Poitiers.
-734: The emir Uqba conquers Iruña-pamplona.
-735: Eudon the Great dies.
-768: The Francs refer to the independent Vascones as Navarrese.
- 778: Destruction of the walls of Pamplona by Charlemagne.
-778: Victory of the Vascon army in Orreaga-Roncesvalles against the Francs that loose all their generals in order to save Charlemagne. The clash was in a stretch of the old Roman paved road that runs through the north slope of the Txangoa mountain.
2nd ERA: IX to XIX CENTURIES: EUROPEAN KINGDOM OF NAVARRE.
- 824: Second victory in Orrega-Roncesvalles against the Francs (Eblo and Aznar) sent by Ludovico Pio, successor to Charlemagne.
- 824 Eneko Arista king of Pamplona.
-832: Aznar Sancho, with the help of Eneko Arista, liberates the North Pyrenees Vasconia.
- 892: The Vikings (Normans) are expelled from northern Vasconia by Guilhem Sancho, count of the Vascones.
- 912: Liberation of La Rioja.
- 924: The monastery of Albelda is founded. It is the most important monastery in western Europe due to its publications and library in the X and XI century. Albelda Codex.
- 931: The monastery of San Millan de la Cogolla is founded. Among others a Dictionary of 100.000 definitions and 20.000 articles, and the Glosas in Navarro- Aragones romance and Basque.
- 900: Execution in Cordoba of the fifty Navarrese knights, prisoners from the castle of Uncastillo.
-992: Writing of the Roda Codex in the palatium of the king of Pamplona. It is a full record of the kings of Pamplona with their families for two centuries, as well as those of the counts of Aragon, Pallars and Gascoigne. It reflects the legitimacy, and territoriality of the Kingdom.
- 1004; Sancho III the Great is crowned in Pamplona-Iruña.
-1006 The World map of the monastery of Saint Server was made.
- 1006 Border treaty between the Kingdom of Pamplona and the county of castile. It establishes that the head of the Ebro river, the north of the Iberico mountains through Garrai, Oca mountains and Atapuerca belong to Navarre.
- 1020: Fuero of Najera.
- 1023: Sancho III creates the viscounty of Labourd.
- 1034 Sancho III the Great dies in Leon.
- 1054: Battle of Atapuerca and murder of the king of Pamplona, Garcia From Najera, successor of Sancho III the Great.
- 1064: Murder of Ramiro I in Graus (Ribagorza) by the Castilian, helping the Muslims.
- 1076: Murder in Peñalen (Funes) of Sancho IV king of Pamplona, son of Garcia From Najera.
- 1076: Coronation of Sancho Ramirez in the cathedral of Pamplona.
- 1104: Coronation of Alfonso I the Battler.
- 1106 Recovery of La Rioja and Biscay.
- 1127: Treaty of Tamara that ratifies the borders between the Kingdom of Navarre and the Kingdom of Castile established in 1016.
- 1133: Limits of the Pyrenean Kingdom from Belorado to Bayona, and from Montes de Oca to Pallars.
-1134: Death of Alfonso I one month after the defeat of Fraga. Coronation of Garcia Ramirez el Restaurador.
-1136: Breaking up of the kingdom by the count of Barcelona and the king of Castile, separating Aragon from the new Navarre.
- 1152: England takes possession of Gascoigne.
- 1176: Castile conquers La Rioja and part of Biscay (Malvecin castle above Bilbao)
-1177: Arbitral award of London.
- 1180-1200: "Beatus Navarra" was written in Pamplona, now in deposit in the National Library of Paris.
- 1193: The king of England subdues the viscount of Lapurdi.
- 1197: The Bible of Pamplona is finished. It is a masterpiece of Romanesque illustrated texts.
- 1200: Castile conquers the Maritime Navarre: Araba, Biscay and Gipuzkoa.
-1212: Crusade against the Albigense and the Cathars through France. Guilhem of Tudela describes it in the first Song of the Crusade.
- 1234: Death of Sancho VII the Strong and coronation of Teobaldo I.
- 1265: Recovery of Bigorre.
- 1276-1277: Civil war of the Navarreria, between Navarrese and the Francs in Pamplona, described by Guilhem Anelier.
- 1281: Union of the County of Foix with the Viscounty of Bearn.
- 1364: The army of Navarre is defeated in Cocherel.
- 1366: Treaty of Libourne between Navarre, England and Aragon.
- 1368-1374: Navarre recovers Alava, Gipuzkoa, and part of La Rioja.
- 1385: Great victory of the Portugese army against The Castilian army, in the battle of Aljubarrota.
- 1416: Council of Constanza, with presence of ambassadors of the Kingdom of Navarre.
- 1430: The Kingdom of Navarre send aid to the Muslim Kingdom of Granada.
- 1453: English dominated France conquers Gascoigne.
-- 1461: Castilla conquers Sonsierra, nowadays known as Rioja Alavesa.
- 1481: Coronation in the cathedral of Pamplona of Frances Febus, Count of Foix and sovereign of Bearn. The crown of Navarre reunifies the Pyrenean State from the end of the XV century, all of the XVI, and the beginning of the XVII.
-1489 Arnalt Guillen Brocar sets up the first printing press in Pamplona.
- 1492: Masparrauta publishes his Gramatica Latina, printed in Brocar's press.
- 1494: Coronation in Pamplona of Catalina de Foix and Juan de Labrit.
- 1512: Treaty of Blois between Navarre and France. Excommunion of the Kings of Navarre and conquers by Castile of the reduced peninsular Navarre.
- 1515: Unilateral embodiment of Navarre into Castile.
- 1521: Defeat of Navarre in the battle of Noain.
- 1522: Defence of Amaiur.
- 1524: The defence of Fuenterrabia by the army of Navarre ends.
- 1545: Etxepare publishes the first book in Basque language. It was edited with the help of King Enrique II el Sangüesino. Uses the word Basque as a synonym of Basque speaker.
- 1550: Will of the King of Spain Carlos I, about the devolution of Navarre to its legitimate kings.
- 1551: Laws of Bearn, promulgated by the King of Navarre Enrique II.
- 1560: Letter of the Pope to Felipe II about devolution of Navarre, and repression.
- 1571: Joanes Leizarraga publishes the New Testament in Basque sponsored by the Queen Juana de Labrit, mentioning Euskal Herria for the first time (Heuscal herrian)
- 1572: Murder of the Queen Juana de Labrit, and massacre of protestants in Paris in the so-called " Night of saint Bartholomew".
- 1589: Excomunion of the King of Navarre, Enrique III.
- 1590: Will of Felipe II about devolution of Navarre.
- 1598: Proclamation in Nantes of Enrique III of Navarre, and IV of France, proclaiming the Liberty of Conscience.
- 1607: Murder of the King Enrique III of Navarre, and IV of France.
- 1620: Decree of the Union of Navarre to France.
- 1621: Union to France by force of the North-Pyrenean Navarre that still maintains its State institutions.
- 1638 Oihenart: publishes the history of Vasconia from Aquitania, and Iberian Vasconia.
- 1640 The philosopher Thomas Hobbes describes the "transfer" of Navarre as unjust and contrary to law.
- 1659: Treaty of the Pyrenees between France and Spain where they establish the partition of Navarre.
- 1665: Moret stars publishing the historical investigation as Official chronicler of the Kingdom of Navarre.
- 1789: The National Assembly of France dismantles the Kingdom of the Basse Navarre, the States of Bearn and of all the administration of Navarre in the Pyrenean States that survived since 1620.
- 1808-1814: French occupation of Pamplona. The Division of Mina liberates nearly the rest of the territory.
- 1828-1829: Last period of sessions in the Cortes Generales de Navarra.
- 1833-1839: First Carlista war.
- 1838 and 1849: Constitutional projects, written by the Carlists first and the Sindico of the Cortes de Navarra, Sagasteta de Ilurdoz later.
3rd ERA: XIX AND XX CENTURIES. THE DENIAL OF THE STATE OF
NAVARRE..
- 1841:Dismantling of the institutions of the European State of Navarre, that changes from Kingdom into province.
- 1866: Proposal of the Diputacion de Navarra (provincial authority) for the union of the four provinces (Navarre, Biscay, Araba, Gipuzkoa)
- 1872-1876: Last Carlist war.
- 1877: Founding of the Asociación euskara de Navarra.
- 1880: Project for a Constitution for Navarre by Serafin Olave.
- 1893: Unanimous popular mobilisation called "la Gamazada" against the menace of eliminating the last reminders of political rights of Navarre.
- Foundation of P.N.V. (Basque Nationalist Party)
- 1918: request by the town councils to reinstate all political institutions of Navarre.
- 1918: Founding in Oñate of the " Sociedad de Estudios Vascos , Eusko Ikaskuntza" (Society for Basque Studies, Eusko Ikaskuntza) by the Diputaciones (provincial authorities) of Alava, Gipuzkoa, Navarre and Biscay.
- 1931: Statue of the Basque State written by SEV-EI, and Statue of Estella.
-1936-1939: War and beginning of Franco's dictatorship.
- 1959: ETA is born.
- 1974: execution of Carrero Blanco.
- 1975: Death of Franco.
- 1978: Statue of Guernica.
-1982: "Amejoramiento" (improvement) of the "Ley Paccionada"
- 1993: Constitution of the State of Andorra.
- 1998: Beginning of the Sovereignist process. Lizarra-Garazi agreement.
AN INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL CONFLICT
The International Peace Conference of the 17th October 2011 in San
Sebastian about the Basque conflict will bring into the open the greatest
international injustice that still remains in Europe.
The Basques have had to continuously suffer the vast violence
caused by the conquest, occupation, partition, the replacement of their institutions,
nationcide and languagecide.
It is not an internal conflict, as they want to lead us into
believing from Spain and France: a healthy regionalism or identity particularity that has
derailed.
We are confronted with an international inter-European conflict
that implies the permanent military invasion and domination of a European state by
two member states of the European Union.
In the Basque case, as in the Irish, there is a double
representation, that of the dominant State (England) and that of the dominated state (Ireland). The
difference is that the Irish State achieved the recognition of its sovereignty and the majority
of its territoriality eighty five years ago, and on the other hand The European State of
Navarre lies hibernating, subdued and divided between the Spanish and French
States.
STATE AND NATION
When we talk about Navarre we refer to a manifestation of its society or political nation; Euskal Herria is the cultural community. Navarre and Euskal Herria are the two sides of the same nation, political and cultural respectively.
When we use the concept of Navarre or Navarrese, we refer to its political content, i.e. Navarrese society, Navarrese citizenship, Navarre, Navarrese State, Kingdom of Navarre.
It is also precise not to mistake the terms Navarre and Euskal Herria, both of which are solidly based in history. The term Navarre developed as a political concept, to name Vasconia, sovereign an independent. On the other hand the term Euskal Herria was created in the first books in Basque in the XVI century, by Navarrese writers -of the still independent Navarre- to refer to all Basque speakers, whether they lived in the independent State of Navarre, or in the territories dominated by Spain, in order to reflect the existence of a cultural and linguistic Nation which in practice extended beyond the
borders of the political Nation.
When the anexionist powers were concluding the task of occupying, demolishing and supplanting the political nation which is Navarre, a strong will to resist surges from within the cultural and linguistic Nation which is Euskal Herria, a long lasting endeavour, intent in the defence of the last shreds of the political sovereignty and Basque culture.
It is not possible to look into one of the aspects of national reality in the process of regaining sovereignty. It is necessary to look into both aspects at the same time. Not taking into consideration this dual reality of the same nation- the cultural nation (Euskal Herria) and the political society (Navarre) has serious repercussions. Just as Navarrese and Basque refer to the inhabitants of the same territory, Navarre and Euskal Herria are also names that refer to the same country, even though they reflect complementary concepts. Navarre covers Statehood and political society, and Euskal Herria the national cultural community.
CONTINUOUS VIOLENCE
The origin of the ongoing political conflict lies upon the conquests of Navarre by Spain and France. A modern European state was conquered by military force. It was not the disappearing of a "medieval kingdom", "Hispanic kingdom" or of a "mere change of dynasties". The conquest of the state of Navarre finished in 1620, that is, 170 years after the taking of Constantinople and 130 years after the conquest of Granada and the arrival of the Spaniards to America. Hence, the conquest of the state of Navarre happened in the Modern Age.
It was precisely the fact that Navarre was a modern state with a self-conscientious society, solid institutions and own Law and language, what forced the conquerors to accept the existence of a legal, political and social system more developed than their own. Hence, the reminders of institutions of the state of Navarre are still working in our times: tax collection, civil law, local administration, etc., which are not a creation, delegation of power, or a transferring of powers of the Spanish state.
This acceptance, did not happen due to a lack of will and means to vanish all traces of political sovereignty, as done in America and Philippines, but because the economic and military costs of doing so were unbearable to them. As a consequence, they opted for the strategy of pretending to respect the legality of Navarre and its institutions, and were made to hide political and military domination, but with permanent requests for total integration.
About the illegitimacy of the conquest of Navarre, Thomas Hobbes in the "Leviathan" of 1640 considers as void the unjustified transfer of Navarre. In the words of historian Mª Puy Huici, from the conquest " there is no possibility of a spontaneous nor natural development. Is a colonisation without a doubt " We will find the references needed to know that we are talking about recovering our own State, in the continuous acts of force with which both occupying states deny our sovereignty, our legality and our statehood. Any not authoritarian project must state the dates of suffered illegal acts from which the actual situation arises. We shall mention but a few, which are milestones of the imposed illegality after the military conquests, to end in domination, vanishing sovereignty and disassembling of the institutions of the judicial system and the state:
- August the 16th 1202: Castile supplants sovereignty on the Maritime Navarre
- July the 7th 1515: Unilateral ruling by Castile in the Cortes of Burgos to
incorporate Navarre into Castile
- October the 20th 1620: " Decree of the Union " of Louis XIII, by which
Navarre is incorporated into France.
- August the 16th 1841: dismantling of the statehood of Navarre with the "Ley
Paccionada" law.
- July the 21st of 1876: supplanting the institutions of the Maritime Navarre.
DIVISION OF THE TERRITORIALITY
The origin of the division in territories or provinces:
When the territories of what today are known as the provinces of Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa were independent because they belonged to Navarre, these provinces did not exist as such, and their inhabitants were simply citizens of Navarre or Navarrese.
Navarre was a sovereign kingdom in which the present territorial division as we know today did not exist. There were the constituencies of the Valleys and Tenencias, with Batzarres (Assemblies). The Tenentes were not feudal lords. They ruled the different town and counties in the name of their sovereign. Succession was not hereditary, and they were changed periodically.
The shaping of the land in Provinces happened centuries after the loss of independence.
The breakdown of the territorial union is a consequence of an attitude against Law, violent, contrary to the ius gentium, which contravened all international treaties through conquest, occupation and domination by foreign powers following their own exclusive interests; actions which took part on the Whole Navarre specially in the dates of 1200 and 1512 by Castile-Spain and 1621 by France.
NATIONCIDE AND LINGUACIDE
Vasconia is the victim to two simultaneous processes: one of nationcide and another of linguacide, when it was denied its plural and integrating institutions, its Law system, and its statehood was supplanted, and at the same time its languages were substituted. Basque was substituted by its forced devaluation, prohibitions and punishment, and Castilian Romance substituted the Navarro-Aragones-Riojano Romance. This acts were done with the premeditated intent of dividing it and absorbing it into the Spanish and French nations.
The myth of a political pact, and its continuous use might conclude that as a consequence of the alleged Contract, the parts, i.e. the dominant nation and the dominated nation, share sovereignty.
The occupying great-nation, in order to subdue those conquered by force, makes them believe that the capitulation is a pact or treaty, even if its an unbalanced treaty. This treaty will enable them to live as they did when they were independent and even better, thanks to the protection of the great-nation and the future opportunities that a joint project where they have been so fortunate to enter will bring. From this situation is were the myths of the " voluntary surrender ", " the Basque states" or "the historic rights" are created.
NAVARRESE CONSTITUTIONALISM
The constitutional principle that states the pre-eminence of Law above those who have the power has a long history in Navarre; also, the constitutionalisation of the juridical system, which places the individual and collective subjective-rights above the Power. In modern times, there were two main reasons for the Navarrese constitutionalists to proclaim their own constitution: On one hand the internal necessity to update their judicial system, and on the other hand, the pressure from the so-called great-national constitutionalists of Spain and France.
In 1838, while the Carlist army of Navarre had been fighting for six years with the army of Spain, the leaders of the Carlists of Navarre drafted a Base Project that made a proposal upgrading the institutions to the comparative constitutional law of the time. The only relation left with Spain would be through the monarch, in the same manner as the Austrian-Hungarian monarchy.
In 1839, Angel Sagasteta de Ilurdoz, head of the judicial institutions for constitutional guarantees of Navarre, Sindico of the Cortes or Parliament of Navarre, published the "Fueros fundamentales del Reino de Navarra". It was a compilation of constitutional norms, with the aim that the constitutionalism of Navarre be recognised. In 1840 he informed: " Small kingdoms do not distinguish themselves from the larger ones nor in kind, neither in substance: largeness or smallness do not constitute a substantial diversity in this matter. The small kingdom of Portugal is equal in rights and independence to the vast Russian Empire. Based in the origin and nature of the Kingdom of Navarre, one is forced into agreeing that no neighbour, as mighty as it may appear, has the right to impose any decisions. The war (1833 - 1839) has not changed the nature of the Kingdom of Navarre, nor has given the right to any person or community to change its Constitution". This was not done when the laws of October of 1839 and 16th August of 1841 abolished and supplanted the Fueros.
In the year 1883, the Partido Federal de Navarra, liberal progressive, with Serafin Olave as president, proclaimed the constitutional bases of the State of Navarre, which contemplates the re-unification of Navarre.
In the year 1940, in the middle of the Second World War, the Consejo Nacional Vasco in London, writes a Draft of a Constitution for the whole of the peninsular Navarre, including Maritime Navarre, and the self-determination of the territories of Navarre dispersed over several Spanish provinces. In its 5th article it states: " The Basque territory is the one belonging to the old Kingdom of Navarre ".
SUBORDINATION
Let's stop to consider the main point: that we are confronted with a conflict whose historic origin is political, and whose recognition must mean the beginning of the necessary recovery of sovereignty. The key to find out the solution to the problem we are confronted with today, can be found in the denial of the state of Navarre, and the lack of democracy that it means. On the one hand the reduced Navarrese statehood -with its supplanted juridical system, what is known as "foralidad vasco-navarra" - represents the outcome of a political fraud; on the other hand, we have the present democratic failure. If these problems that affect democracy and the peaceful existence of all so deeply, are to be solved, both aspects must be dealt with equally: the denial of the own State of Navarre and the lack of democracy. The relationships between the political societies are immersed in different degrees of conflict, which have lasted for a very log time. The denial of the existence of a sociopolitical reality by the society that dominates, substitutes and re-emplaces it, is the end
phase of the conflict.
As an example we can mention some cases in Western Europe that have overcome those differences: Portugal, Netherlands and Ireland, while there are other countries which are still under domination, such as: Corsica, Scotland, Catalonia and Navarre. When we refer to Navarre we obviously refer to the whole of Navarre or Euskal Herria, which are equivalent to the political society and cultural society.
The dominated society becomes the periphery of the dominating society formed by the political-juridical organisation of the great-national state, to confirm its supremacy.
In a letter to Albert Einstein as a consequence to the inquest in 1930 he was conducting for the Society of Nations about the problem of war, Sigmund Freud established a connection between the absence of freedom and wars. Otfried Höffe points at the causality between the national shrinking and the existence of conditions favourable to crime.
RECOVERY OF SOVEREIGNTY
The process of recovery of sovereignty cannot be confused with the inanity of autonomy. They are antithetic. Sovereign-ism breaks the legitimacy of the foreign dominating state, and in sovereign-ist praxis, intrinsically democratic, exercises and recovers self-statehood. Instead, autonomy-ism does not question the legitimacy of the subordination and the unjust hold on territoriality of the occupying great-national state.
The social, economic, and cultural rights of the Basques are not guaranteed by the frivolous autonomist solutions. Only with sovereignty can they be sufficiently exercised and protected. Individual sovereignty for each one of its citizens, as well as collective sovereignty for society as a whole, which are guaranteed in the Constitution of the own State of Navarre.
The process must finish in an agreement, which could have the following formal expression in the State of Navarre:
1st. The Basque-Navarrese society, with the political form of a State, is a permanent member of the international community that has given shape to Europe, and that now constitutes the European Union. Having overcome a period of forced and partial denials of its political and state sovereignty, and of having had its institutions supplanted, The state of Navarre initiates a new life as an actor in Europe; free and sovereign.
2nd. The juridical system of Navarre is made by its legislative and executive institutions, and its administration of justice.
3rd. Any act against the sovereignty of Navarre, if they could be currently in force, are declared void of any legal value, and among others: Confirmation by the King of Castile of the Fueros of San Sebastian in 1202, of Vitoria, Durango and similar; Act of unilateral embodiment by the Cortes of Castile 7th July 1515; Laws by the Cortes of Spain in 25th October 1839, 16th August 1841 and 21st July 1876; Spanish constitution of 1878; Ruling of Louis XIII of France 20th October 1620 and Law by the French National Assembly of 8th of October 1789. Any other act that may mean an acceptance
of Spanish or French norms that contradict the Constitution and legal system of Navarre
are declared void of any value.
“Pro libertate patria gens libera state”
Infanzones de Obanos (Navarre)
2011 Pamplona-Iruñea.
CHRONOLOGY OF THE EUROPEAN STATE OF NAVARRE
1st ERA: II ARC. TO VIII: VASCONIA
(CELTS, ORGANISATION, GERMANIC AND ISLAM)
- II Century a.C.: Vasco coins "baskunes" were minted in Iruña
- 187 a.C. to 178 a.C.: First alliances with Rome against the Celts.
- 179 a.C.: Foundation of Graccurris (Alfaro)
- I Century a.C.: Federation of Tarraga (Sadaba) with Rome.
- 89 a.C.: Vascone horsemen from Sejia (Ejea) become Roman citizens after the taking of Ascoli.
- 75 a.C.: Pompeyo gives his name to the city of Iruña-Pompaelo
- 72 a.C.: Pompeyo founds Lugdunum Covenarum (San Bertrand de Comminges) In the Eastern Pyrenees next to the Valley of Aran.
- 58 a.C Rome conquers Aquitania.
- Construction of the great Roman routes Bordeaux-Astorga and Tarragona-Oiarso (Irun), that cross in Iruña with others.
- I century: Quintanillo de Calahorra, writes his book "Instituto Oratoria" becomes the greatest master of the Roman ruling class.
- II Century: Caius Cornelius Valens from Iruña-Pamplona, leads the delegation of the Tarraconense province that achieves to confirm direct relationships of the province with Rome.
The foundries and iron mills from Vasconia supply the Roman legions of weapons and artillery engines.(war machines)
- II Century: Magistrate Verus formalises the federation of Novempopulania (north Pyrenees Vasconia) with Rome.
Exporting of products (cereal, wine, oil) through rivers Garona and Ebro. Thermal waters of Dax, Bañeres, and Fitero are busy with visitors.
- 348 to 408 Prudencio, from Calahorra, bathed by the Vascon river Ebro, "Vasco Hiberus", with his great literary work, becomes the inspiration of the late Roman society, and the educator of the learned generations of medieval Europe.
- 408: Letter of emperor Honorio to the militia in Pamplona.
- 409: the barbarians pass through Orreaga-Roncesvalles.
- 477: Incursion of the Visigoths in Pamplona-Iruña
- 480 (ca.): Writing of the Laude Pampilona epistola. Describes the city of Pamplona-Iruña, that Charlemagne will destroy three centuries later before the battle of Orreaga-Roncesvalles.
- 507: defeat of the Visigoths in Vouillé that will led to the demise of the kingdom of Toulouse and the creation of the Visigoth kingdom of Toledo.
- 540: ( ca.) San Millan found a monastery in Suso. Monastic life in La Rioja will achieve great development, especially with the kings of Pamplona from the X century.
- 541: The Franks take Pamplona.
- 574: Destruction of Cantabria with Logroño by the Visigoths.
- 581: The Visigoth Leovigildo attacks Pamplona.
- 589: Liliolo, bishop of Pamplona, attends the III Council of Toledo.
- 590 (ca.): The Visigoth Recaredo attacks Vasconia.
- 602: Constitution of the Duchy of Vasconia.
- 611 (ca.) King Gundemaro attacks Vasconia.
- 621: Confrontation between the Visigoth king Suintila and the Vascones.
- 635: Victory of the Vascones against the Francs in Zuberoa. Export of whale oil from the ports of Vasconia.
- 636: Death of San Isidro in Seville whose historiography advocates that the Goths are the rulers on the Peninsula.
-- 721: Vasconia-Aquitania, led by Eudon the Great defeats the Muslims for the first time in Europe.
-732: Defeat of the Muslims in Poitiers.
-734: The emir Uqba conquers Iruña-pamplona.
-735: Eudon the Great dies.
-768: The Francs refer to the independent Vascones as Navarrese.
- 778: Destruction of the walls of Pamplona by Charlemagne.
-778: Victory of the Vascon army in Orreaga-Roncesvalles against the Francs that loose all their generals in order to save Charlemagne. The clash was in a stretch of the old Roman paved road that runs through the north slope of the Txangoa mountain.
2nd ERA: IX to XIX CENTURIES: EUROPEAN KINGDOM OF NAVARRE.
- 824: Second victory in Orrega-Roncesvalles against the Francs (Eblo and Aznar) sent by Ludovico Pio, successor to Charlemagne.
- 824 Eneko Arista king of Pamplona.
-832: Aznar Sancho, with the help of Eneko Arista, liberates the North Pyrenees Vasconia.
- 892: The Vikings (Normans) are expelled from northern Vasconia by Guilhem Sancho, count of the Vascones.
- 912: Liberation of La Rioja.
- 924: The monastery of Albelda is founded. It is the most important monastery in western Europe due to its publications and library in the X and XI century. Albelda Codex.
- 931: The monastery of San Millan de la Cogolla is founded. Among others a Dictionary of 100.000 definitions and 20.000 articles, and the Glosas in Navarro- Aragones romance and Basque.
- 900: Execution in Cordoba of the fifty Navarrese knights, prisoners from the castle of Uncastillo.
-992: Writing of the Roda Codex in the palatium of the king of Pamplona. It is a full record of the kings of Pamplona with their families for two centuries, as well as those of the counts of Aragon, Pallars and Gascoigne. It reflects the legitimacy, and territoriality of the Kingdom.
- 1004; Sancho III the Great is crowned in Pamplona-Iruña.
-1006 The World map of the monastery of Saint Server was made.
- 1006 Border treaty between the Kingdom of Pamplona and the county of castile. It establishes that the head of the Ebro river, the north of the Iberico mountains through Garrai, Oca mountains and Atapuerca belong to Navarre.
- 1020: Fuero of Najera.
- 1023: Sancho III creates the viscounty of Labourd.
- 1034 Sancho III the Great dies in Leon.
- 1054: Battle of Atapuerca and murder of the king of Pamplona, Garcia From Najera, successor of Sancho III the Great.
- 1064: Murder of Ramiro I in Graus (Ribagorza) by the Castilian, helping the Muslims.
- 1076: Murder in Peñalen (Funes) of Sancho IV king of Pamplona, son of Garcia From Najera.
- 1076: Coronation of Sancho Ramirez in the cathedral of Pamplona.
- 1104: Coronation of Alfonso I the Battler.
- 1106 Recovery of La Rioja and Biscay.
- 1127: Treaty of Tamara that ratifies the borders between the Kingdom of Navarre and the Kingdom of Castile established in 1016.
- 1133: Limits of the Pyrenean Kingdom from Belorado to Bayona, and from Montes de Oca to Pallars.
-1134: Death of Alfonso I one month after the defeat of Fraga. Coronation of Garcia Ramirez el Restaurador.
-1136: Breaking up of the kingdom by the count of Barcelona and the king of Castile, separating Aragon from the new Navarre.
- 1152: England takes possession of Gascoigne.
- 1176: Castile conquers La Rioja and part of Biscay (Malvecin castle above Bilbao)
-1177: Arbitral award of London.
- 1180-1200: "Beatus Navarra" was written in Pamplona, now in deposit in the National Library of Paris.
- 1193: The king of England subdues the viscount of Lapurdi.
- 1197: The Bible of Pamplona is finished. It is a masterpiece of Romanesque illustrated texts.
- 1200: Castile conquers the Maritime Navarre: Araba, Biscay and Gipuzkoa.
-1212: Crusade against the Albigense and the Cathars through France. Guilhem of Tudela describes it in the first Song of the Crusade.
- 1234: Death of Sancho VII the Strong and coronation of Teobaldo I.
- 1265: Recovery of Bigorre.
- 1276-1277: Civil war of the Navarreria, between Navarrese and the Francs in Pamplona, described by Guilhem Anelier.
- 1281: Union of the County of Foix with the Viscounty of Bearn.
- 1364: The army of Navarre is defeated in Cocherel.
- 1366: Treaty of Libourne between Navarre, England and Aragon.
- 1368-1374: Navarre recovers Alava, Gipuzkoa, and part of La Rioja.
- 1385: Great victory of the Portugese army against The Castilian army, in the battle of Aljubarrota.
- 1416: Council of Constanza, with presence of ambassadors of the Kingdom of Navarre.
- 1430: The Kingdom of Navarre send aid to the Muslim Kingdom of Granada.
- 1453: English dominated France conquers Gascoigne.
-- 1461: Castilla conquers Sonsierra, nowadays known as Rioja Alavesa.
- 1481: Coronation in the cathedral of Pamplona of Frances Febus, Count of Foix and sovereign of Bearn. The crown of Navarre reunifies the Pyrenean State from the end of the XV century, all of the XVI, and the beginning of the XVII.
-1489 Arnalt Guillen Brocar sets up the first printing press in Pamplona.
- 1492: Masparrauta publishes his Gramatica Latina, printed in Brocar's press.
- 1494: Coronation in Pamplona of Catalina de Foix and Juan de Labrit.
- 1512: Treaty of Blois between Navarre and France. Excommunion of the Kings of Navarre and conquers by Castile of the reduced peninsular Navarre.
- 1515: Unilateral embodiment of Navarre into Castile.
- 1521: Defeat of Navarre in the battle of Noain.
- 1522: Defence of Amaiur.
- 1524: The defence of Fuenterrabia by the army of Navarre ends.
- 1545: Etxepare publishes the first book in Basque language. It was edited with the help of King Enrique II el Sangüesino. Uses the word Basque as a synonym of Basque speaker.
- 1550: Will of the King of Spain Carlos I, about the devolution of Navarre to its legitimate kings.
- 1551: Laws of Bearn, promulgated by the King of Navarre Enrique II.
- 1560: Letter of the Pope to Felipe II about devolution of Navarre, and repression.
- 1571: Joanes Leizarraga publishes the New Testament in Basque sponsored by the Queen Juana de Labrit, mentioning Euskal Herria for the first time (Heuscal herrian)
- 1572: Murder of the Queen Juana de Labrit, and massacre of protestants in Paris in the so-called " Night of saint Bartholomew".
- 1589: Excomunion of the King of Navarre, Enrique III.
- 1590: Will of Felipe II about devolution of Navarre.
- 1598: Proclamation in Nantes of Enrique III of Navarre, and IV of France, proclaiming the Liberty of Conscience.
- 1607: Murder of the King Enrique III of Navarre, and IV of France.
- 1620: Decree of the Union of Navarre to France.
- 1621: Union to France by force of the North-Pyrenean Navarre that still maintains its State institutions.
- 1638 Oihenart: publishes the history of Vasconia from Aquitania, and Iberian Vasconia.
- 1640 The philosopher Thomas Hobbes describes the "transfer" of Navarre as unjust and contrary to law.
- 1659: Treaty of the Pyrenees between France and Spain where they establish the partition of Navarre.
- 1665: Moret stars publishing the historical investigation as Official chronicler of the Kingdom of Navarre.
- 1789: The National Assembly of France dismantles the Kingdom of the Basse Navarre, the States of Bearn and of all the administration of Navarre in the Pyrenean States that survived since 1620.
- 1808-1814: French occupation of Pamplona. The Division of Mina liberates nearly the rest of the territory.
- 1828-1829: Last period of sessions in the Cortes Generales de Navarra.
- 1833-1839: First Carlista war.
- 1838 and 1849: Constitutional projects, written by the Carlists first and the Sindico of the Cortes de Navarra, Sagasteta de Ilurdoz later.
3rd ERA: XIX AND XX CENTURIES. THE DENIAL OF THE STATE OF
NAVARRE..
- 1841:Dismantling of the institutions of the European State of Navarre, that changes from Kingdom into province.
- 1866: Proposal of the Diputacion de Navarra (provincial authority) for the union of the four provinces (Navarre, Biscay, Araba, Gipuzkoa)
- 1872-1876: Last Carlist war.
- 1877: Founding of the Asociación euskara de Navarra.
- 1880: Project for a Constitution for Navarre by Serafin Olave.
- 1893: Unanimous popular mobilisation called "la Gamazada" against the menace of eliminating the last reminders of political rights of Navarre.
- Foundation of P.N.V. (Basque Nationalist Party)
- 1918: request by the town councils to reinstate all political institutions of Navarre.
- 1918: Founding in Oñate of the " Sociedad de Estudios Vascos , Eusko Ikaskuntza" (Society for Basque Studies, Eusko Ikaskuntza) by the Diputaciones (provincial authorities) of Alava, Gipuzkoa, Navarre and Biscay.
- 1931: Statue of the Basque State written by SEV-EI, and Statue of Estella.
-1936-1939: War and beginning of Franco's dictatorship.
- 1959: ETA is born.
- 1974: execution of Carrero Blanco.
- 1975: Death of Franco.
- 1978: Statue of Guernica.
-1982: "Amejoramiento" (improvement) of the "Ley Paccionada"
- 1993: Constitution of the State of Andorra.
- 1998: Beginning of the Sovereignist process. Lizarra-Garazi agreement.
