The EH Bildu lead candidate for Congress for Guipúzcoa, Oihana Etxebarrieta, has called for responding "with intelligence and organization" collectively to "the threat of authoritarianism". "If the far right wins, our people, our self-government and Euskera will lose," she stressed, underscoring that Guipúzcoa "has the capacity to tip the balance in Euskal Herria, and that capacity now becomes a responsibility".
The EH Bildu political event was held this Saturday in Hernani (Guipúzcoa), with the intervention of Etxebarrieta and the Secretary of Political Action, Arkaitz Rodríguez.
The sovereigntist candidate has stressed that in the next general elections "much more is at stake than which party wins" because, according to her, in these elections "rights, freedoms and democracy itself are at stake".
After emphasizing that on November 29 "what is at stake is not mere alternation", but rather "rights, freedoms and the future", she stressed that "there is no room for equidistance" in the current political context. "The choice is clear, authoritarianism or democracy," she pointed out.
In her intervention she warned that "if the far right wins", "women, LGTBIQ+ people, migrants, workers, young people, older people" will lose. "Our people will lose, our self-government and Euskera. The dividing line is clear, either civilization or barbarism, or democracy or authoritarianism," she stated.
For this reason, she urged people to "take a position" and reiterated that EH Bildu "has no doubt where it stands". "Whoever loves this people, whoever wants to defend its self-government, its language and its future, should not have the slightest doubt about which side to be on," she asserted.
In her opinion, "it makes no difference whether to advance in self-government or suffer a new recentralization, it makes no difference whether to defend Euskera or put it in the spotlight, it makes no difference whether to expand rights or cut them back, and with the rights of the people and with the future of this people, one does not play, one does not speculate, one takes sides".
Community building and collective response
Oihana Etxebarrieta has highlighted "EH Bildu's capacity for organization and community building". "Herrigintza, Auzolan and cooperativism are signs, social and political traits of our territory. We have a strong tradition of responding collectively to problems. And today those strengths are more necessary than ever," she indicated.
In this line, he has claimed "in the face of individualism, community; in the face of despair, organization; in the face of complex problems, the ability to build shared solutions". "These are not inherent characteristics, but the fruit of a political culture sown over years. Guipúzcoa has the ability to tip the balance of Euskal Herria. And in this historic moment, that ability becomes responsibility", he stated.
Etxebarrieta has pointed out that "there is a lot at stake", but he has assured that they will not lose their smile. "But let there be no mistake. Our smile is not naivety. We are going to show our teeth to fascism", he concluded.
For his part, Arkaitz Rodríguez has reiterated that, "at this point, no Basque political force should have doubts about which side it has to be on". "No democrat should join his votes to those of the PP and Vox to bring down the housing decrees, because that would be turning their back on the social majority", he pointed out.