organizations meet in Barcelona
THE SECOND ASSEMBLY of CONSEO
(Conference of Stateless Nations in Western
Europe) took place in Barcelona on May
26-28, 1990. The previous conference was in
1985. The CONSEO was set up by the main national liberation movements in Western
Europe (A Cuncolta from Corsica, Herri
Batasuna from Euskadi, A Crida from
Catalonia, Sinn Fein from Ireland, Engann from Britanny, the Galician National Bloc and so on). Its stated objective is to create "a platform for exchange and collaboration"
between all the nations without states.
Nationalist
ALAIN NAZIER T HESE organizations, whether political, social, cultural or civic, have come together around a platform centred on "the explicit recognition of belonging to a people with its own identity and to a European nation without its own state, the demand for a Europe in which all peoples and nations are granted full recognition and can participate in conditions of equality and sovereignty in projects aimed at better understanding and mutual cooperation...the right to self-determination for all peoples without exception... and explicit solidarity with all peoples and nations struggling for their emancipation..."
This second conference was an opportunity to look at where the struggle has got to, and to debate the international situation after the collapse of Stalinism in the East and the coming of 1992 in Western Europe. This was "a moment for reflection and debate amongst the diverse — and heterogeneous — living forces...who, faced with all the questions about the future of Europe, are trying to bring forward positive alternatives based on the right to self-determination and respect for the intrinsic equality of each existing people' to the prevailing confusion" (Aurell Argemi, organizer of the CONSEO's technical team in Dema, May 24, 1990).
The commitment to support all the peoples is taken seriously. Apart from the usual organizations, the following were also invited: the Mapuche [Indian] movement from Chile, a representative of the
Ecuadorian Indians, the Armenian liberation movement, the PLO, the Kurdish liberation front and an Estonian exile from New York. From Western Europe invitations to participate or observe were widely distributed to nationalist political or cultural movements by the members of the international committee. The Basque Trotskyist organization, the LKI, was invited by Herri Batasuna, the French LCR by A Cuncolta, and the Catalan LCR helped to organize the meeting, at which about 300 people were present.
European unification and nations without states
After an evening session at which the Armenian and Estonian speakers explained their, respective situations, the delegates divided into four working groups to consider the following themes: the restructuring of the European market and its economic consequences for the nations without states; self-determination and the collective rights of peoples; the problem of the homogeneity of European cultures and the existence of different cultures within the nations without states, with the aim of avoiding the discriminations practised by the oppressor nations; North-South relations.
In the workshop on self-determination the problem of resistance to collaboration between the police forces of different states was raised. What might the ele-
WESTERN EUROPE Kuntur ments of a common strategy with regard to this be, given the differing situations of the various stateless nations? What role might Europe play for these nations? There can be no doubt that, on the economic level, there is a reinforcement of the capitalist system, but things are less clear from the point of view of political national demands, at least according to some.
Towards the Europe of the peoples?
Are we going to see a movement from the Nation-State towards the Europe of the Peoples? Will the movement towards the "federalization" of Europe allow the peoples a new margin for manoevre? Would federalism on the German model permit the resolution of the political problems of oppression and the issue of harmonious economic development? The debate remains open.
Another discussion centred on self-determination. It was A Cuncolta which tried to give the most concise answer. For them self-determination is a process going on from day to day for which "the strategy of self-organization is the best guarantee that no regime can escape from democratic control...the approach which prioritizes the means of struggle... is an 17 approach for the future." The only probJuly 16, 1990 • #189 International Viewpoint