asier ETA biok
Who is Asier? Who is biok?
Asier is my friend. And we both make a whole. Him and me. And who am I? Well, an old friend of Asier’s. Somebody who really loves Asier.
In this country those letters from the headlines bring people together and separate them... Why did you two feel you had to tell this story?
Those letters bring people together, separate them and kill them. I can’t forget that. In the state of Spain people have got together to oppose that organization. People have got together to oppose separatism and, at the same time, that’s created incredible hate and a lack of understanding. At the same time, the big media in Spain -and some media in the Basque Country too- only publish the bits which suit them. They use something which is much more effective than traditional censureship: they silence everything which goes against their ideas, as if it didn’t exist. They call the pain ETA caused and consequent hatred “the surroundings” and put everything into that category in order to repress any type of opposition. If you don’t show the other side of a story, if injustice is not shown, you prevent empathy arising between different groups. Humanity’s removed and anything goes: political parties and organizations are banned, media gets closed down, workers in the political arena and in other areas get sent to prison, people arrested get tortured, prisoners are sent far away from home, and all these years nobody’s protested. In all the Spanish media, left and right-wing, nobody’s opposed all of that. Not at my work either. Actors are a group of people who usually oppose injustice, but, in this case, almost everyone’s looked the other way. For many Basques, and certainly for me, that’s all been very sad. It’s good to condemn the war in Iraq and the conflict in Western Sahara, and to talk about the victims of ETA. It’s necessary and it must be done, that’s true. But who has the energy to make the attacks on left-wing Basque nationalists public? That has to change.
Asier and I have managed it: many workmates, all of whom have been my friends for years, got together with a former member of ETA, and we managed that thanks to their friendship with me.
In general, there are ideas we will never share but we all have the same objective: taking a step
towards understanding each other, getting together and getting over that boundary. We don’t want anything like that to carry on happening or to ever happen again.
With such a personal starting point, and such a risk of becoming a target for so many sectors,
don’t you get nervous?
Well, a little bit, but I don’t think they’ll make me a target. Perhaps I’ll have to pay a price professionally. I hope not, but I have to be ready just in case. Even so, when some doors close, others open, that’s what I prefer to think. In any case, we’re trying to make the documentary in a serious way. We felt the need to do it and we don’t have any reason to hide anything. We want to share our experience;
and then everyone can draw the conclusions they want to.
In an interview on a national radio station we heard the presenter say your being friends with
a member of ETA was incomprehensible. Companions, friends ... where is the boundary? How do you feel when people don’t understand your friendships and criticise you because of them?
Yes, that was quite a peculiar interview. ETA killed a friend of that journalist’s a few years ago and I’m friends with a member of ETA. I’d say that was a reflection of many real situations and many points which still have to be dealt with came up, but we both agreed that it is very important to take steps to cure the wounds. What’s more, my friends in Madrid know me very well and they’ve never despised me for having an ETA member as a friend. I’d like them to understand this conflict better, and that’s why we’re making this film, for my friends and thousands of people like them.
You’ve got a very attractive, active website. Do you aim to share the whole experience of
making a film?
It’s a team that keeps the website alive. Doxa Producciones, Amaia and I are working on the project, and each of us tries to explain our work, it’s great to have the opportunity to explain what making a film involves. We also give people a chance to take part via crowd-funding, by giving their opinions about many things and, for the moment, we’ve had a very positive response. The objective’s to arouse as many people as possible’s interest and the Internet is the perfect tool for that.
Is crowdfunding working for you?
Yes, it really is. We’ve got a little bit more than we had asked for. We want to thank the people who have helped us financially and in other ways too. Thanks to them, we’re going to be able to finish the documentary.
The project and the film, its contents and process all look really interesting. When will we
be able to see it?
We still have a lot of work to do to finish it, but it will be ready by spring. I hope you manage to meet the expectations you’ve created! Whatever happens, if we manage to get a debate going, in our country and abroad, about this unfinished conflict, we’ll be very pleased.
Asier is my friend. And we both make a whole. Him and me. And who am I? Well, an old friend of Asier’s. Somebody who really loves Asier.
In this country those letters from the headlines bring people together and separate them... Why did you two feel you had to tell this story?
Those letters bring people together, separate them and kill them. I can’t forget that. In the state of Spain people have got together to oppose that organization. People have got together to oppose separatism and, at the same time, that’s created incredible hate and a lack of understanding. At the same time, the big media in Spain -and some media in the Basque Country too- only publish the bits which suit them. They use something which is much more effective than traditional censureship: they silence everything which goes against their ideas, as if it didn’t exist. They call the pain ETA caused and consequent hatred “the surroundings” and put everything into that category in order to repress any type of opposition. If you don’t show the other side of a story, if injustice is not shown, you prevent empathy arising between different groups. Humanity’s removed and anything goes: political parties and organizations are banned, media gets closed down, workers in the political arena and in other areas get sent to prison, people arrested get tortured, prisoners are sent far away from home, and all these years nobody’s protested. In all the Spanish media, left and right-wing, nobody’s opposed all of that. Not at my work either. Actors are a group of people who usually oppose injustice, but, in this case, almost everyone’s looked the other way. For many Basques, and certainly for me, that’s all been very sad. It’s good to condemn the war in Iraq and the conflict in Western Sahara, and to talk about the victims of ETA. It’s necessary and it must be done, that’s true. But who has the energy to make the attacks on left-wing Basque nationalists public? That has to change.
Asier and I have managed it: many workmates, all of whom have been my friends for years, got together with a former member of ETA, and we managed that thanks to their friendship with me.
In general, there are ideas we will never share but we all have the same objective: taking a step
towards understanding each other, getting together and getting over that boundary. We don’t want anything like that to carry on happening or to ever happen again.
With such a personal starting point, and such a risk of becoming a target for so many sectors,
don’t you get nervous?
Well, a little bit, but I don’t think they’ll make me a target. Perhaps I’ll have to pay a price professionally. I hope not, but I have to be ready just in case. Even so, when some doors close, others open, that’s what I prefer to think. In any case, we’re trying to make the documentary in a serious way. We felt the need to do it and we don’t have any reason to hide anything. We want to share our experience;
and then everyone can draw the conclusions they want to.
In an interview on a national radio station we heard the presenter say your being friends with
a member of ETA was incomprehensible. Companions, friends ... where is the boundary? How do you feel when people don’t understand your friendships and criticise you because of them?
Yes, that was quite a peculiar interview. ETA killed a friend of that journalist’s a few years ago and I’m friends with a member of ETA. I’d say that was a reflection of many real situations and many points which still have to be dealt with came up, but we both agreed that it is very important to take steps to cure the wounds. What’s more, my friends in Madrid know me very well and they’ve never despised me for having an ETA member as a friend. I’d like them to understand this conflict better, and that’s why we’re making this film, for my friends and thousands of people like them.
You’ve got a very attractive, active website. Do you aim to share the whole experience of
making a film?
It’s a team that keeps the website alive. Doxa Producciones, Amaia and I are working on the project, and each of us tries to explain our work, it’s great to have the opportunity to explain what making a film involves. We also give people a chance to take part via crowd-funding, by giving their opinions about many things and, for the moment, we’ve had a very positive response. The objective’s to arouse as many people as possible’s interest and the Internet is the perfect tool for that.
Is crowdfunding working for you?
Yes, it really is. We’ve got a little bit more than we had asked for. We want to thank the people who have helped us financially and in other ways too. Thanks to them, we’re going to be able to finish the documentary.
The project and the film, its contents and process all look really interesting. When will we
be able to see it?
We still have a lot of work to do to finish it, but it will be ready by spring. I hope you manage to meet the expectations you’ve created! Whatever happens, if we manage to get a debate going, in our country and abroad, about this unfinished conflict, we’ll be very pleased.
