ETA and the Basque Nationalist Movement

Paper Summary:

This paper explores the origins of the Basque nationalist separatist organization, Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA), and the purpose of its formation. It looks at how ETA has evolved since its foundation in 1959 and investigates the changes that have taken place within the organization itself. The paper also examines ETA's motives and its methods, and what it represents in the minds of the Basque and Spanish people alike. Lastly, the paper discusses how ETA and its actions have affected the Basque Country, Spain, and the rest of the world. The paper concludes that the most significant possible affect of ETA on Basque nationalism is the maintenance of the current ceasefire, which could change the course of the Basque nationalist movement forever.

From the Paper:

"The struggle for an autonomous Euskadi (Basque Country) pre-dates the Franco era, with its emergence being in the 1870s. 'The incorporation of Euskadi into Spain under the hegemony of the province of Castile and the loss of the fueros led to the first manifestations of Basque nationalism.' These "fueros" were rights or privileges of the Basques, which granted them a certain amount of municipal military and fiscal autonomy. At the end of the Second Carlist War in 1876 the government abolished the "fueros" of the provinces of Guipuzcoa, Biscay and Alava as punishment for their support of the Carlist rebellion. This abolition, on top of the rapid industrialisation of the region that caused, much to the displeasure of the working-class, and influx of thousands of maketos (a derogatory term used by the nationalists to describe workers from other parts of Spain), was to mark the beginning of Basque nationalism and prompted the establishment of the PNV (Partido Nacionalista Vasco, Basque Nationalist Party) by Sabino de Arana y Goiri in 1895. The party was founded as a Catholic conservative party canvassing for the restoration of self-government. The slogan used by the PNV around the time of its establishment was "God and the Old Laws", referring to the PNV's defence of both Catholicism and of Basque autonomy through the fueros. Arana himself was an intellectual and a political theorist who left a significant legacy for the Basque people. Essentially, he wanted to return to a pre-industrialised Basque Country. It was he who promoted many of the mythologies of Basque history, while advocating a clearly exclusionist and even racist attitude towards immigrants. Aranismo is the extreme version of Basque nationalism, and it is important to remember during this discussion that the Basque nationalist movement is a multi-faceted one, with many internal disagreements. The PNV represented a compromise between the radical Aranistas and moderate nationalists, an organisation in which all nationalists could feel at home, and this was perhaps Arana's greatest legacy of all."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Alberto Abadie and Javier Gardeazabal, The Economic Costs of Conflict: A Case Study of the Basque Country, 2002.
• Cynthia L. Irvin, Militant Nationalism, Minnesota, 1999.
• John Hooper, The New Spaniards, London, 1995.
• Jose M. Magone, Contemporary Spanish Politics, London, 2004.
• Joseba Zulaika, Basque Violence, Nevada, 1988

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