How to collaborate?

The Civic Initiative "Enough is Enough!" is an action group open to citizens of different ideologies who are united about three common and constituent principles:

1. To actively oppose terrorism of any sort, origin or intensity.
2. To support all victims of terrorism or political violence.
3. To defend the validity of the Rule of Law, as defined in the Constitution and the Statute of Autonomy.

To be a part of "Enough is Enough!" you only have to embrace these three principles and take part, as far as you can, in the actions aimed at disseminating them.

"Enough is Enough!" was created and exists because basic civil liberties and human rights are under threat in the Basque Country, especially for "non-nationalist" citizens, due to ETA's terrorism and the activities of groups related to it, some legal others less so. It is also due to the increase of an ethnic and xenophobic nationalism among the more moderate nationalist parties, and groups who seek to come to an agreement with ETA in favour of their nationalist interests at the expense of Basques citizens with different ideas and identities.

In the Basque Country thousands of people are suffering campaigns of intimidation, extortion, and blackmail, and deadly attacks against themselves and their families. The vast majority of the so-called minor attacks remain unpunished due either to the apathy of the police and judiciary or to legal subterfuges. Any citizen - and there are already thousands in this situation - who has taken a stand against terrorism, either by belonging to a constitutionalist party or by speaking out against the abuses of radical nationalism, can become the victim of aggression.

"Enough is Enough!" was created to promote social mobilisation against the perpetrators of these outrages, to support those who are suffering them, and to demand of all the authorities that they fulfil the requirements of current legislation, respecting the Rule of Law. We believe that criticism of terrorism on moral grounds is important but not enough. Criticism on political grounds is also very important, and we understand such criticism to be based on those values - such as human rights - which are common to all democrats regardless of their party affiliations or their political leanings.

Moral indignation is not enough: terrorism will only be defeated by adequate policies. It is not a matter of pleading with the terrorists to stop, but of impeding them, by all possible legal means, from committing new crimes, and of prosecuting the perpetrators of crimes already committed. To achieve this end, civil mobilisation is very important: not only to denounce terrorism and to acknowledge its victims, but also to reclaim the streets - for so long made their own by the friends of terrorism - and to remind the institutions of their duties.

Among us there are non-affiliated persons as well as activists belonging to political parties, trades union and various civil groups. We are all involved in "Enough is Enough!" as independent individuals without collectively representing any particular group. Many hundreds of people have taken part, at some time or another, in the activities of "Enough is Enough!", either collecting signatures or distributing manifestos or organising demonstrations. The group takes its decisions by reaching a consensus: we discuss different initiatives of mobilisation before choosing one and then working for it to become successful. Once the initiative has been launched, "Enough is Enough!" counts on the participation of many more citizens to demonstrate their support of it. Thus, the last manifesto published by "Enough is Enough!", on the occasion of the demonstration of the 23rd of September in San Sebastian, got over six thousand signatures of support in just two weeks. It included some four thousand Basque citizens who, regardless of the risk they were running, allowed their signatures to be published together with their full name and surname. The money raised by private donations to pay for the costs incurred also exceeded our best expectations.

In "Enough is Enough" we do not want to displace political parties, or compete against other civic and pacifist groups who share our aims. They all command our respect and they have other fields of activity or other areas of representation than ourselves. To preserve as far as possible the open and pluralistic character of this initiative we have decided to forgo a professional and hierarchical organisation. "Enough is Enough!" does not have a board of management; instead we appoint by common consent, whenever necessary, someone to act as our authorised spokesperson in public.

The activities of "Enough is Enough!" are governed by a few specific principles: besides not wanting to replace political parties nor wishing to compete with other civic groups, "Enough is Enough!" seeks to restrict its actions to specific initiatives, regardless of the timing of terrorist crimes. This means that "Enough is Enough!" does not need an outrage to be committed in order to protest against terrorism, and also, that, when there is an outrage that claims victims, it supports the mobilisations traditionally called for by other groups and institutions.

All the activities of "Enough is Enough!" have been financed by the contributions of private citizens and by the "Miguel Angel Blanco Foundation's" subvention for the September demonstration for the defence of the Constitution and the Statute. Some other civic groups such as "The Gregorio Ordoñez Foundation", "White Hands" and "Denon Artean" have also helped us in different ways. We now also have at our disposal the 50,000 Euros of the Sakharov Prize for the defence of human rights granted to us unanimously by the European Parliament in the year 2000.

Civic Initiative "Enough is Enough!" would dearly wish to be able to dissolve itself as soon as possible because it had become unnecessary. That is, because no citizens of this country any longer ran the risk of being assassinated or attacked because of their ideas or identities, and because the Rule of Law worked in a reasonable way. But until then, while our public and private life carries on being threatened by terrorism and we live in an atmosphere of extortion and permanent violence, "Enough is Enough!" is determined to carry on functioning and calling on all citizens to mobilise whenever it is seems necessary.