The Labor politician is committed to developing a rapport with the Basque government that brings “tangible benefits”
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Do you know the historical episode of the arrival of Basque children during the civil war?
-Not in the details I’ve known recently, but growing up in Wales I had an understanding of the Civil War. Many Welshmen fought with the International Brigades. The trade union movement, and in particular the miners’ union, strongly supported Spain’s legitimate government. Someone like me who was interested in the history of the labor movement was aware of Wales’ relationship with the Civil War. I grew up in the west, in Camarthen, very close to Brechfa, where one of three groups of Basque children was housed.
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He was wearing a tie in the Cardiff Parliament a few days ago that a Jewish refugee had given him in World War II.
– Inevitably, in the current circumstances, we think about the impact of the war in Ukraine from the perspective of what happened 85 years ago. Fifteen days ago I visited one of the shelters for Ukrainian families. They sort out their situation and think about their future. I asked some kids what it was like to live in Wales and a 7 year old pointed to the sky and said ‘No missiles’. How can you imagine that at the age of seven he had to go through such an experience. Those who came in 1937 would have direct experience of the bombing of Basque communities, which took place shortly before they had to leave.
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Is Wales known for hosting refugees?
– I don’t want to make big claims that Wales is a different place than others. There is a long tradition of providing shelter to people from other parts of the world. Recently, in addition to Ukrainians, we have also been able to welcome people from Syria and Afghanistan. My personal experience is that if you live in a community with a lot of people from other countries, you accept it as an everyday thing. I live in an area of Cardiff which is the most multicultural in Wales, and it is very quiet. The places where there are tensions are usually those with the fewest people from outside. I think you have to understand it as a fear of the unknown. When you see it every day, you understand that it is a power. That will be as true in Wales as it is anywhere else.
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Is the memorandum of understanding with the Basque government symbolic or material?
– I think there are real benefits. I spoke to two old friends of the Basque government who came to the commemoration and we agree that we are not only interested in signing papers. We want them to translate into tangible benefits. Our first relationship with the Basque government was about language policy. The Welsh language is spoken by a percentage comparable to the population who speak Basque. We were able to explain our experience. We’ve had exchanges on that agenda for the past 50 years. And thanks to the cooperatives, we have a very close relationship with Mondragón. We have set up a Center for Co-operatives in Wales, following a trade union visit to Mondragón some 40 years ago. Those links are important to us. More recently, following the achievement of the Welsh autonomy, we have identified four or five regions of the European Union with which we want to have close relations for specific reasons, and the Basque Country is one of them. It reflects our history, but also our contemporary interest in marine energy, sport and culture, in what we can learn from each other about health policy. We are very committed, and I think the Basque government is too, to develop the face-to-face meetings that we have missed so many times over the past two and a half years.
Source: La Verdad
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