ETA and the role of the Spanish government in the war on terrorism

Résumé du document

Basque nationalists claim that there has always been Basque speaking people (speaking Euskera- the name of the Basque language) in the territory that extends from Bordeaux in the north to Zaragoza and Burgos in the South and to Santander in the West. Such claims are not believed to be true by ethnologists. Their unit is however been on their common language. Today, the Basque country is made of 2 parts, a Spanish one and a French one and includes the 7 provinces land namely Spain: Vizcaya, Guipuzkoa, Alava and in France: Labourd, Basse-Navarre, Soule, Navarre.

Extraits

[...] Secondly, he relied as well on his charismatic personality. And in this matter, one has to take into account the fact that few nationalisms in the modern world can be said to have been shaped by a single person but Basque nationalism is an exception, since it owes most of its symbols and values to one man, Sabino Arana. By himself, he determined Basque nationalism's political programme, coined its name, defined its geographical extent, founded its first political organisation , wrote its anthem and designed its flag. [...]

[...] They even compare the Spanish state to that of France under the Second World War and is qualified as a ‘vychist' state, a country under dictatorship. Concluding remarks about the lack of democracy in the Spanish state and the accusation of ETA being a terrorist group To conclude about the accusation the Spanish state led upon the ETA being a ‘terrorist' organisation and its then ensuring reaction that triggered the debate about the lack of democracy in the Spanish state, we can state what the journalist Cedric Gouverneur. [...]

[...] The Spanish society approves the decision of forbidding Batasuna because they are tired of the ETA's attacks. As far as the deputies are concerned of them voted in favour of the interdiction. In the Spanish Basque country, more than 2000 persons live with a bodyguard. This kind of situation creates in the society a need for reaction and as such, they support the decision of the government to outlaw the political wing of ETA as one of Aznar's main policies since his election and one of the reasons why he was elected. [...]

[...] It is a well-known fact that the Spanish state commits torture against its enemies such as the nationalists of the ETA. This accusation is now official and publicly recognised as it has been the topic of investigation for Amnesty International. Moreover, what is more shocking for the public opinion is for example, the fact that some of the police officers convinced of exercising torture have been granted a pardon by the executive or even promoted. Meliton Manzanas, the first person killed by the ETA in 1968, was a chief police officer in Franco's government : he was an ex-collaborator of the Gestapo and tortured hundreds of Basques, but he still was posthumously rewarded a decoration in 2001 as a ‘victim of political violence' This is a further sign of the ambiguous relation that the PP has with the Spanish right's past. [...]

[...] Other parts of the Spanish opinion said it was a good solution because they expected the votes for Batasuna to be transferred for the PNV (Basque nationalist party) which is traditionally moderate. This is not a sure thing as the social basis of Batasuna considers the PNV as ‘collaborator'. As we have seen in the historical part of the creation of ETA, there have been numerous splits among the political organisation in terms of their ideology, so it is difficult to imagine the nationalists to vote for a party that doesn't share the same vision of the Basque cause and the same methods. [...]