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.
[...] The neologism invented by Arana, Euzkadi, was later accepted as the national name for the Basque country. Besides, Arana synthesised the geographical extension of Euskadi in the motto Zaspiack-bat (seven in one) and in the formula ‘4+3=7' which alludes to the four provinces of the Basque country in Spain and the three provinces of the Basque country in France. The next step in Arana's fulfilment of the nationalist ideology was the creation of the first Basque nationalist political party, later named the PNV (Partido Nacionalista Vasco, Basque nationalist party) which was informally created in 1895. [...]
[...] The accusation of the Spanish state being a dictatorship then needs to be revised and nuanced. Today, the auto government has new claims that are to be found in a Declaration on the ‘Euzkadi' internet site stating that they are going further in the sense of finding peace, condemning violence and would like more autonomy than they already have. Whatever those claims will lead to, this is a step towards more dialogue. Such expectations are further encouraged by numerous organisations against violence and in favour of peace. [...]
[...] As it wasn't the case, this reinforced them in their new ideas of armed struggle. the 1970s : the official recognition of the organisation with the Burgos Trial The Burgos trial, qualified by John Sullivan as ‘undoubtedly the most crucial event in ETA's history' [7]was that ‘crucial' in the sense that it brought the ideas of the Basque society before the entire population of Spain and the rest of the world. To explain the Burgos trial, we can cite John Sullivan : ‘in members of ETA charged with the murder of Manzanas were brought before a military tribunal in Burgos. [...]
[...] 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. [...]
[...] 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. [...]
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