“Struggle is the only way!” is the slogan of the Basque national liberation movement, symbolizing both the heritage of the struggle and its urgency nowadays.
As Ronahî, we were invited to the traditional Youth Festival 2026 of “Ernai”, where we spent five days full of discussions, exchange, learning, and understanding of each other’s struggles and ideas for solutions on a national and international scale. Organizations from five different regions – Uruguay, Venezuela, Ireland, Galicia, and Catalonia – joined the “Gazte Topagunea”.
Ernai is a revolutionary youth organization and part of the Basque left that fights for national liberation. It organizes within the Basque territory, which is claimed by the Spanish nation-state as part of Spain. The South and the Northern Basque Country, which is occupied by the French state, are deeply connected in the struggle. Ernai is not organized within the part claimed by the French state; however, through other structures, there is exchange, and the fight for the same goal unites them. The aim of Ernai is to build a free, socialist, feminist, Basque-speaking country (Euskal Herria). From their point of view, the main task is to develop a youth strategy to gain as much strength as needed, thereby achieving autonomy. The daily practice of Ernai is shaped by an
internationalist, anti-fascist, and anti-colonial policy. At the heart of the struggle are Basque socialism and the creation of a feminist society, both of which the Basque national liberation movement views as deeply intertwined with the goal of achieving independence.
During the festival, we could see how society—and especially the youth at this moment—has a strong connection to its identity and to the struggle for liberation. As the whole camp was held in the Basque language, it was a practice that directly preserved the cultural heritage. Through dance and the expression of music and songs, this culture was also celebrated. In the seminars, we deepened our discussions and expanded our knowledge on the different structures and pillars of the Basque liberation movement.
These young people are born into a rich history of struggle spanning more than 60 years, and this is reflected from an early age, as many members and participants became active very young. The consciousness of their own identity and the need to defend it is clear and does not get questioned. Because of this social and collective way of living together, people provide each other with safety and security. It became clear that in societies where the collective struggle for a free life is the foundation of everyday life, the protection of society is ensured—because everyone takes care of one another.
As oppressed societies, we face struggles that mirror each other across the world. When people cannot speak or express themselves in their own language, rooted in their own culture and history, true freedom remains impossible. These struggles are interconnected; as long as oppression exists, humanity cannot be free. Youth everywhere confront similar harsh realities: a loss of perspective, the erosion of culture, the destruction of nature, societies, and languages under the relentless advance of capitalism. Yet, as young people rising against colonization, we stand in solidarity, united across borders, committed to resistance and the pursuit of freedom.
We see the system of capitalist modernity reaching its limits; everything it is trying to enforce that is going against the nature of society and its environment is slowly falling apart. We see the need to find answers to the questions: “If the system collapses, what do we want to build?” and “What are strategies, means and tactics to find a way out of the chaos?”. These are the questions that cannot be answered by only one organization or movement alone but needs to be answered collectively. One of the representatives of Ernai made this clear in the famous closing speech, when she repeated the quote by Antonio Gramsci: “The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters.”
As a comrade of Ernai discusses the festival, he highlights the link between the Basque national liberation struggle and internationalism.
“Gazte Topagunea was first celebrated in 1994 and was organized by Jarrai, the youth organization of the Basque left independentist movement (Ezker Abertzalea) in Etxarri-Aranatz. The Basque country is a stateless nation in the north of the Iberian peninsula. It is divided in three subdivisions, two of which are part of Spain and the third one part of France. The Spanish and French states have repeatedly tried to eliminate the Basque nation, unsuccessfully, so far. During Francisco Franco’s dictatorship, basques were violently persecuted, amongst others, for speaking their own language and practicing their own culture. In the 1960s a national revival expanded rapidly and the Basque left independentism was born.
Gazte Topagunea allowed the Basque left independentist movement to activate the youth politically, in order to expand a political conscience and organize it. That was really important for the movement in a context of national oppression. Thirty-two years later, the event is still organized. It gathers up to 4000 young people yearly, and guarantees the transmission of the national-struggle fight between different generations. The current organizer, Ernai, was born in 2013 after a long period of illegalization, and kept on fighting on behalf of the previous youth organizations.
International struggle has always been a priority for Ernai. We understand that if big oppression-systems are organized on a global scale, liberation fights must do the same. Nonetheless, we think the biggest contribution we can make in favour of that global fight is to organize revolution in our country: Euskal Herria. We think every national-territory should be the frame for fighting, and the world could be changed from bottom to top. In that sense, having international delegations with us is a big honour, particularly in the case of the Kurds, with whom we share the struggle for national liberation.“
For national liberation movements the connection with other struggles is indispensable. As hegemonic powers are globally building alliances, we, as movements striving and fighting for a free life, see the need and urgency to organize with each other worldwide. The problems people are facing in different places and countries are interconnected. Therefore the solution can only be international. In every village, city and country, we have to organize, just as we must do so on an international level.
As societies from different regions of the world, we must create a shared international foundation so that we can free ourselves from all forms of oppression and govern our own lives. We want to search together for answers to build a free and equal life. In these times, it is necessary to build unity between different fights, movements, and struggles. We have to see our differences not as an obstacle, but as something from which we can gain knowledge, experience, know-how, and enrichment. We have to focus on our shared political aims to create a force against capitalist powers that organize internationally. Its necessary to collectively build a new internationalism that is based on a political unity.
