BASQUE COUNTRY – This year, Kurdish young people were invited to the GAZTE TOPAGUNEA organized by Ernai— a meeting for the basque youth that gathers people all over the country as well as leftist youth international organizations across the world. Ernai is the independentist, socialist and feminist youth organization of the Basque Independentist Movement; Ezker Abertzalea. Their aim is to create a Basque nation from a leftist youth point of view.
Many youth organizations traveled for the meeting from Macedonia, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Sicily, Uruguay, Catalonia, Galicia and more. The 2023 event took place from April 6-9 in Elorrio (Bizkaia). Youth participated in debates, panels, morale, a march and other political acts to develop project in a collective and internationalist way.
The Kurdish representative youths present in the event held a panel with international and basque youth to talk about the history of Kurdistan and the Kurdish freedom movement, democratic confederalism, the imprisonment of Abdullah Öcalan, and the role of women and ecology in the paradigm. A discussion was opened about the importance of Turkey’s elections in May 14th, with a call to action for international organizations and international youth to support the struggle of the Kurdish people with mobilization and supervision around the election.
Kurdish young women, Nergiz Slemani made the following statement:
“The struggle against capitalism and colonialism is a process. The history has build the moment we are living right now. It also has many different battleground in many parts of the world. When we understand the connection between all the oppressed peoples of the wold, we can make the revolution irresistible with many different colors.“
A Basque youth from the Ernai organization, Amets added:
“It is important to understand that the Basque people and the Kurdish people share a common situation of colonialism and a dream of freedom with anti-capitalist and feminist values. In some moments of our history we also had an armed resistance and it helped progress our struggle. The Kurdish people’s search for freedom is on the right side of history and will lead to victory!”
