ETA AT THE DAY OF THE BASQUE SOLDIER
A couple of weeks ago ETA, one of the last active terrorist groups in Western Europe, announced that it was giving up ‘armed actions’. This, on the face of it, was excellent news. However, to my surprise, it was met with almost universal scepticism in Spain itself.
ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna) is, of course, a para military organisation based in the Basque Country of Spain. This is a ‘cultural’ region that encompasses a couple of the 17 autonomous regions of Spain, with the area itself located at the far centre-north of Spain. In fact, it overlaps into the Pyrenean area of Southern France.
The Basque country is known as the País Vasco by the Spanish and Euskal Herria by the Basques themselves – with their name providing an interesting clue as to the very different identity of the Basques.
Certainly, the Basque language (Euskara) has no connection with the other languages of Spain and has no Romance base. It is spoken by around 25% of the roughly 2.5 million Basque population – although there are various dialects.
The aim of ETA, since its foundation 50 years ago in 1959, has been to create an independent Basque state based, somewhat curiously, on a Marxist philosophy. To this end, an armed struggle has been conducted, which has resulted in the deaths of some 820 people, of whom around 340 have been civilians. Of course, along with the deaths, there have also been numerous injuries, together with kidnappings.
The most famous casualty of ETA was in 1973 when General Franco’s ‘prime minister’ Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco was killed in Madrid by a bomb so huge that his car was hurled over a five or six storey building. Since then there have been (failed) attempts to kill King Juan Carlos and José María Aznar (when he was opposition leader). ETA have been nothing if not violent!
In turn, the Spanish state cannot claim completely ‘clean hands’.
In the 1980s the socialist (PSOE) government under Felipe Gonzalez condoned a ‘dirty’ war against ETA. A government sponsored para military group called GAL (Grupos Antiterroristas de Liberación) set out to assasinate anyone to do with ETA. This was profoundly against the constitution and, in any case, incompetently conducted.
The new ETA ceasefire first mooted in March of this year was not the first time that an ETA ceasefire has occured. There have been two previous ones but both of these ended and resulted in the continuance of ETA’s terrorist activities – which may be why Spain seems so unimpressed by the recent ‘ending’ by ETA of armed activity.
Of course, to most observers, it is pretty hard to fathom what on earth ETA are really seeking to gain? Certainly, 9/11 had much the same impact for the ETA movement as it did for the IRA in Britain. The horror of what happened in New York was followed by a palpable loss in the glamour of ‘freedom’ fighters within democracies - and a marked reduction in funding.
In reality, I suspect that the ETA movement has been outflanked by the realities of the EU. It is all very well fighting for an independent state but little point in fighting, in this case, the Spanish state – when we are all now European citizens and, effectively part of the united states of Europe. As such, ultimately, we are all governed by Brussels rather than Madrid, London or Paris…
So, if you gain freedom, as in the case of ETA for the Basque country, then what changes? Not much, frankly. As an ‘independent’ state within Europe, the Basque country would have to be a part of the EU – or commit economic suicide. The latter, of course, would not be tolerated by the rest of the Basque population, who would also suffer from any freezing of funding and help from the remaining Spanish state.
Hardline Marxist principles, as 1989 showed, are all very well in theory – but never last if people cannot enjoy a comparable way of life to the rest of First World Europe (or the US). Knowing this, I wonder how much real (thought-out) support ETA has.
Certainly, I suspect that the ‘Brussels’ factor and 9/11 have both (almost equally) contributed to the de facto pointlessness of the IRA and ETA. In a way, quite simply, the development of the EU, over the past twenty five years, has ineluctably moved the goal posts for both organisations.
Interestingly, when I discussed the ETA ceasefire with a Spanish friend, he just shrugged his shoulders. ‘It’s just a PR stunt,’ he said, phlegmatically. ‘It raises ETA’s profile and keeps the money coming in – the protection rackets and so on…’
Where had I heard similar comments before, I wondered? The IRA, of course…
Will the ETA movement last and will the ceasefire continue?
Truly, I have no idea but I have a sneaky feeling that the ETA movement may have real problems justifying its existence at the moment. If that is the case and it continues – then I suspect that it does so for all the wrong reasons…