Fernando Gomez 0

In defense of Stanford\'s integrity, against its manipulation by Ibarretxe

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This petition is now closed. We want to thank our endorsers for raising the red flag on this controversial topic to the Stanford administration. Thanks to all of you, Joseba Arregi was invited at Stanford to counter Mr Ibarretxe on April 3rd 2008, http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2008/4/4/profCountersBasquePresident http://video.google.com/videoplaydocid=-6450279704282533546 Esta peticion esta cerrada. Queremos dar las gracias a los que nos apoyaron a levantar las alarmas sobre este tema controvertido a la administracion de Stanford. Gracias a todos vosotros, Joseba Arregi fue invitado en Stanford a replicar a Ibarretxe el 3 de Abril de 2008, http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2008/4/4/profCountersBasquePresident http://video.google.com/videoplaydocid=-6450279704282533546 English ======= We, the undersigned, want to protest the hosting of a political event by Stanford University in favor of the President of the Basque Autonomous Community, Juan Jose Ibarretxe, on February 14th 2008, less than one month before the decisive Spanish General Election, which will be held on March 9th 2008. Juan Jose Ibarretxe has tried twice, without success, to sell his plan for independence to the Spanish people and its Government. His revised plan calls for a pro independence referendum, which many experts agree would be illegal under the Spanish Constitution. It was presented in October 2007 to Spain\'s Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero of PSOE, who rejected the plan. The main opposition party, PP, also rejected the revised plan. Together, PSOE and PP represent approximately 90% of the Spanish electorate. Furthermore, Ibarretxe\'s plan, continues to make unrealistic territorial claims on its neighbor, the Foral Community of Navarra, whose electorate vote in extremely high numbers (more than 70 percent in the 2007 regional election with a turnout which was also higher than 70 percent of eligible voters) for political options which steadfastly reject both Basque Nationalism and Ibarretxe\'s project. The International Herald Tribune put it best in his October 16th article about Ibarretxe\'s proposal titled \"Madrid rejects Basque voting proposal\": \"Politicians and political analysts in the Basque country said Ibarretxe\'s proposition was a political gambit aimed at winning support among hardline Basque nationalists.\" Last, but not least, Ibarretxe\'s party, the Basque Nationalist Party - PNV, was founded by Sabino Arana, one of the most racist figures of the last two centuries. Arana\'s original political project called for an ethnic cleansing of the Basque Country of Spaniards, whom he considered to be of an inferior race. Although today\'s PNV says to have officially abandoned the most controversial of Arana\'s positions, Arana is still honored by the PNV in many ways. PNV created a foundation which bears Arana\'s name and calls its Bilbao headquarters Sabino Arana Etxea (The Home of Sabino Arana). For the aforementioned reasons, we believe that the main driver behind Ibarretxe\'s event at Stanford is so he can put pressure into the Spanish Government and influence the Spanish General Election outcome, which will take place shortly after. In our view this is a purely political event, which not only has nothing to do with Stanford\'s academic mission but has also the potential to tarnish its worldwide reputation. Ibarretxe couldn\'t care less if the prestige of this great institution is damaged as long as he can make propaganda of his plan at an internationally respected forum. We urge Stanford to either cancel the event all together, or to invite a political challenger to Ibarretxe\'s claims. The latter would not make the event less political but at least would prevent Stanford from being perceived as taking sides with Ibarretxe. Spanish ======= Los abajo firmantes queremos protestar por el evento politico que Stanford University va a organizar a favor del presidente de la Comunidad Autonoma Vasca el 14 de febrero de 2008, a menos de un mes de las decisivas Elecciones Generales EspaNolas que tendran lugar el 9 de Marzo de 2008. Juan Jose Ibarretxe ha intentado dos veces sin exito vender su plan de independencia al pueblo y estado espaNoles. Su plan revisado incorpora un referendum pro independencia, que muchos expertos consideran seria ilegal bajo la Constitucion EspaNola. Fue presentado en octubre de 2007 al Presidente del Gobierno de EspaNa Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero del PSOE, quien rechazo el plan. El principal partido de la oposicion, PP, tambien rechazo el plan revisado. Juntos, PSOE y PP, representan approximadamente al 90% del electorado espaNol. Mas aun, el plan de Ibarretxe continua con reclamaciones territoriales irrealistas sobre su vecina, la Comunidad Foral de Navarra, cuyo electorado vota en numeros elevados (mas del 70 por ciento en las elecciones regionales de 2007 con una participacion que tambien fue superior al 70 por ciento de los votantes) a opciones politicas que rechazan firmemente el Nacionalismo Vasco y el el proyecto de Ibarretxe. El International Herald Tribune lo resumio mejor en su aritculo del 16 de Octubre de 2007 sobre el plan Ibarretxe titulado \"Madrid rechaza la propuesta de voto vasca\" : \"Politicos y analistas politicos en el Pais Vasco dijeron que la proposicion de Ibarretxe era un juego politico destinado a ganarse el apoyo de los Nacionalistas Vascos mas radicales.\" Por ultimo, y no por ello menos importante, el partido de Ibarretxe, el Partido Nacionalista Vasco - PNV, fue fundado por Sabino Arana, una de las figuras mas racistas de los ultimos dos siglos. El proyecto original de Arana proponia una limpieza etnica que borrase a los espaNoles del Pais Vasco, a los que el consideraba miembros de una raza inferior. Aunque el PNV de hoy en dia dice que ha abandonado oficialmente algunas de las propuestas mas controvertidas de Arana, el PNV todavia honra la figura de Arana de muchas formas. EL PNV creo una fundacion que lleva su nombre, y llama a su sede central de Bilbao Sabino Arana Etxea (la casa de Sabino Arana). Por las razones mencionadas, pensamos que el principal motivo detras del evento de Ibarretxe en Stanford es que el ponga presion en el Gobierno espaNol e influenciar el resultado de las Elecciones Generales EspaNolas, que tendran lugar poco despues del evento. Desde nuestro punto de vista este evento es puramente politico, que no solo no tiene relacion alguna con la mision academica de Stanford sino que tiene el potencial de manchar su reputacion mundial. A Ibarretxe le importa poco daNar el prestigio de esta gran institucion mientras el pueda hacer propaganda de su plan en un respetado foro internacional. Le pedimos a Stanford que o bien cancele el evento, o que invite a un politico que haga frente a Ibarretxe. Lo ultimo no haria el evento menos politico, pero al menos serviria para prevenir que Stanford fuese percibida como que esta del lado de Ibarretxe.

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Concerned citizens from Spain, the Stanford Community and the United States. - The event referred to is here, http://fce.stanford.edu/events/5134 - Organizer of the event, http://fsi.stanford.edu/people/3530 - The article of the International Herald Tribune referred to is here, http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/10/16/africa/basque.php - Article about the event published at the Stanford Daily, by Kamil Dada http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2008/1/25/basqueLeadersVisitStirsProtest - Article about the event published at the San Jose Mercury News, by Lisa M. Krieger, http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_8085298 - Ibarretxe and PNV\'s Basque Country, http://www.foroermua.com/english/05-04-06%20The%20Foro%20Ermua%20is%20contacting%20the%20Presidents%20of%20the%20European%20Commission.htm - Video about ETA\'s terror (lowres/highres) http://www.fundacionvt.org/images/fvt/comunicacion/FVT_ing_modem.wmv http://www.fundacionvt.org/images/fvt/comunicacion/FVT_ing_adsl.wmv - Basta Ya!\'s Spokesman Carlos Martinez Gorriaran endorses our petition, http://74.53.83.130/inicial/presentacion_en.html - Political Science Professor Edurne Uriarte endorses our petition, http://www.hrw.org/wr2k2/academicfreedom.html - Philosopher, Writer and Human Rights activist Fernando Savater endorses our petition, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernando_Savater - European Parliament member Antonio Masip Hidalgo endorses our petition, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Masip_Hidalgo - Basque film director Inaki Arteta, and Foro de Ermua member, endorses our petition, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0486499/ - Rosa Diez, prominent leader of Uni
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