Lokarri

CITIZEN NETWORK FOR AGREEMENT AND CONSULTATION

Lokarri is a social organization, independent and plural, which struggles for peace and the normalization of coexistence in Euskal Herria. This organization’s name responds to the following meaning: instrument of unification. The mission, project, and denomination of this citizen network are a commitment reflecting the predominant social will for agreement, consultation, and reconciliation.

 

Mission               Principles               Priorities

Mission

During its thirteen years of history, Elkarri has focused its activity principally on promoting non-violence alongside human rights, dialogue without exclusion alongside pluralism, and multi-party talks alongside democratic principles. These demands are still not totally guaranteed but they have been socially and politically conquered and can be considered as accepted preliminary needs for the peace process. It has been precisely the majority social will for non-violence, dialogue, and multi-party talks, which has allowed the creation of the current conditions for pre-conciliation. Upon this base, the social priorities are now situated around conciliation and reconciliation.

• A desirable conciliation is that which is based upon a level of agreement sufficiently broad and plural so that it can be ratified by the society in a popular consultation. The inevitable conciliation, after so many years of destructive conflict, would be that in which the society itself would have to take a direct stand in order to avoid an infinite disagreement between political parties or an unstoppable deterioration of the situation.
• Reconciliation requires conciliation and an additional effort to conduct a critical assessment of the past, reparation for the victims, and acceptance of the differences that exist. All of this will be necessary in order to recover political normalization and to live together, respecting each other and respecting human dignity.

Conciliation and reconciliation must fulfill an essential prerequisite: social and political inclusion. With a historical perspective, we can say that Elkarri, through dialogue, served to provide content to the struggle for peace. Lokarri should exist in order to unify, without exclusions and without conquerors and conquered, in the process of creating a solution. The mission of Lokarri is, therefore, be that which unifies, specifically to build unity and social and political integration from the proposal for agreement, popular consultation, and reconciliation.

This mission can be pursued in two possible scenarios that, in two different forms, create an orientational outline of its application:

• Expressed positively and assuming favorable progress in the peace process, Lokarri’s preferred mission is to contribute to an integrated channeling of the majority social will for plural agreement, popular consultation, and reconciliation.
• Expressed negatively and assuming deterioration of the situation, Lokarri’s alternative mission is to contribute to avoiding the failure of a process to create solutions through the presentation of an integrated proposal for society to take a direct stance, clear and democratic, regarding the way forward in overcoming the crisis.

This organization’s name responds to the following meaning: instrument of unification. The mission, project, and denomination of this citizen network are a commitment reflecting the predominant social will for agreement, consultation, and reconciliation. Each trimester, Lokarri will make these demands by holding a single major mobilization so that this social message does not cease to be present in the scenario of political decision-making.

 

Principles
Lokarri is a social organization, independent and plural, which struggles for peace and the normalization of coexistence in Euskal Herria. Its principles correspond to three overarching commitments, which it assumes from the moment of its creation:

• The defense of non-violence, life, and human rights as an ethical absolute. No cause justifies the use of means that acts as an attack on human dignity. Fundamental rights and liberties, in their individual and collective expression, should be respected without exception.
• Opting for pluralism and dialogue without exclusion as a foundation for living together. The diversity in our society demands constant effort towards dialogue and inclusion. Multilateralism, agreement, and the responsibility to pact are basic criteria for our coexistence.
• Respect for the popular will and for democratic principles as a basic rule for politics. Our society is capable of and willing to decide its own future without vetoes nor impositions and using exclusively democratic processes. This will should be politically respected and legally channeled.

Priorities and objectives
The primary objective of Lokarri is to demand and promote a pluralistic agreement and a popular consultation as the axes of conciliation that our society requires and demands. Three others are added to this primary objective:

• to contribute to preparing reconciliation through the defense of all-inclusive discourse and proposals.
• to foment and facilitate citizen participation in the peace process.
• and to defend our victories: non-violence and dialogue as conditions for pre-conciliation.

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