By Sarah Stephen
Travelling from Madrid to the Basque region in the far north of Spain, I could feel a change in the political atmosphere. In the narrow cobblestone streets of Bilbao, colourful posters advertising upcoming rallies plastered the walls of buildings and telephone poles.
I was in Bilbao on January 6, the day the Basque people celebrate New Year's Eve. Graffiti celebrating heroes like Che Guevara were everywhere, as were people wearing Palestinian scarves — testaments to the internationalist character of the independence struggle, which has spanned almost four centuries.
The Basque country — Euskadi — lies west of the Pyrenees and straddles the Spanish and French borders. Three million people inhabit this 20,000 square kilometre area.
Carlos Rodriguez, a leader of the militant nationalist organisation, Herri Batasuna, spoke to 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly about the movement for independence, which also aims to keep the Basque language, Euskara, alive.
"For 40 years, until 1974, when General Franco died and the dictatorship ended, the Basque language was banned and people were made to learn and only use Spanish at school. Afraid of the consequences of speaking Basque, many people stopped using it altogether.
"Now we have the formal right to speak it, but it is dying; only 25% of people now speak Basque. This issue mobilises thousands of people, because the loss of our language represents the loss of our culture and our people. The movement has begun programs to teach adults, to have Basque taught in schools and to produce a daily newspaper in the Basque language which is read by more than 30,000 people.
"Egin, which started 15 years ago, is important because it's a paper of the movement with a wide distribution. The paper also has a radio station, and we produce a journal once a month. We used to spread a lot of propaganda on the streets — posters, graffiti — but that brings trouble from the government and police. The most important way of spreading our ideas and information continues to be through Egin."
Herri Batasuna, which means "people's unity", was formed as a legal political organisation in 1982. It was the initiative of 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ of ETA (Basque Country and Freedom), which was itself formed in 1959, in response to the conservatism of the right-wing PNV (Basque National Party). ETA began the armed struggle in a period of severe repression.
It is still difficult to organise legally. Rodriguez described the problems faced by the youth organisation, Jarrai. "The police are against Jarrai, because they say that they're the sons of ETA. Jarrai isn't illegal, but it's very difficult for young people to organise openly in this group. There is a lot of persecution.
"Youth are mostly organising in high schools. The student union IA [Nationalist Students] is very important, as is the anti-conscription movement; about 50% of young people are against it, compared to 5-10% in Madrid. Those who defy conscription are punished; many are in prison.
"After the death of Franco, the Spanish government had two aims: to demonstrate to the world that the transition from dictatorship to democracy had been completed and to end the 'Basque problem'.
"The Civil Guard, the Spanish Police, the Spanish Civil Police and, more recently, the Basque Police has been established to fight against the nationalists. There are more than 600 political prisoners in over 100 jails in both France and Spain; about 50 people have been deported to America and Africa, and there are more than 2000 exiles. The Spanish government has also sponsored clandestine anti-ETA death squads which have murdered at least 29 people in recent years."
The government has divided the Basque country into two autonomous communities — Navarrah and Basque.
Herri Batasuna receives about 16% of the vote (200,000 votes) in elections. Rodriguez explained Herri Batasuna's view of the role of parliament in the independence struggle.
"We use parliament to popularise the struggle. We control 35 local governments, and we have one member in the Spanish Senate, and two in the Spanish parliament.
"It's important to have representatives and take part in these institutions, but they are not democratic. We also think that the left must have a presence in the street. It's not possible to build a new society from these institutions.
"We have a majority on the councils of some local villages. The people should be able to administer the public money. If a majority opposes conscription in our electorates, we don't process the papers. In this case, if someone wants to go into the army, he or she must go to another village.
"The money received by our parliamentary representatives goes to the party. People who work for the party get a uniform salary; otherwise high salaries and an 'important' position make it difficult to maintain loyalty."
A few days before I arrived in Bilbao, there was a demonstration of 40,000 people demanding amnesty for political prisoners. Rodriguez explained the role of mass mobilisations in the Basque struggle for independence.
"There has always been a broad cross section of people in Herri Batasuna. We have lots of big demonstrations, both local and national; 40,000-50,000 people is normal. There's a fighting culture among the Basque people.
"The ecology movement is a good example. There was a big campaign when the Spanish state tried to introduce nuclear power into the Basque country. There was a plan for four nuclear power plants, and when they started with the first, there was a huge response from the community and the ETA. This year, after 16 years, they scrapped the plan to build the other three, and have only partially finished the first."
Rodriguez argues that the role of the armed struggle stems from the government's denial of democracy.
"In 1978, the Basque people overwhelmingly rejected the new Spanish constitution in a referendum. All nationalist forces called for a 'no' vote or abstention; only 30% voted 'yes'.
"The constitution states that Spain cannot be divided, and that the army is responsible for regional unity. ETA exists because the Spanish state refuses to recognise the wishes of the Basque people. ETA fights for the rights of our people to self-determination, not for a new model of society or even independence if the majority don't want it. The most important thing is that we are able to decide for ourselves.
"The Spanish government argues there will be peace only if there is no ETA. We don't say that ETA's violence is right or wrong — it's necessary. For many years we have said that a solution will come only through negotiations; it is quite evident that ETA cannot convince the Spanish government to give us self-determination.
"In 1987, the Spanish government initiated negotiations with ETA. Then the ETA was very strong. The Spanish government, which came to power in 1982, and had become part of the European Community in 1986, also felt very strong. Because of the strength of ETA, and the need for good relations with the EC, the government tried to make people in the Basque country think that it was possible to end the conflict. They initiated, but intended to break, negotiations, hoping to persuade people that the armed struggle didn't work.
"After breaking negotiations, the government barred Herri Batasuna from participating in the new 'peace' strategy. In the elections, all the parties attempted to portray us as the main obstacle to peace. Between 1987 and now, there has been some contact between ETA and the Spanish government. ETA has made it clear that it wants to talk, but the violence won't stop until there is a resolution."
Rodriguez said that inside Herri Batasuna, "There has been much discussion about the role of negotiations. Sometimes people get very tired, and the process is very hard. Some view negotiations as the solution, but the [lack of outcome] in El Salvador and Palestine shows this isn't the case.
"We think the focus must be on the real roots of the conflict and its resolution.
"We are following the Irish process very closely, trying to learn from it. We have very friendly relations with Sinn Fein. It's a very interesting, and high risk process. The Spanish government has tried to say, 'In Ireland the IRA have declared a cease-fire. Why doesn't ETA do the same thing?' We responded that there were a lot of changes before the cease-fire.
"The Spanish government is ready to negotiate now — if ETA disappears. They say that there will be lots of money for Herri Batasuna and that prisoners will be released. But this compromise is not possible. We must continue to struggle for real independence, to determine the sort of society we want."