ETA and the armed struggle

By Rogelio Alonso

The massive demonstrations against ETA held in Spain and the Basque Country in the aftermath of the renewal of the campaign of violence may not deter the separatist group. Nonetheless the lack of support for armed struggle by the Basque people is a fact that ETA itself has clearly admitted, as illustrated in a document signed in 1997 by five leading members of the organisation. The document written by the prominent José Luis Alvarez Santacristana (Txelis) stressed that armed struggle suffered from social and political unpopularity and was contrary to the will of the majority of the Basque people. Consequently it demanded the end of violence.

The signatories proposed a "deep political debate" within the movement to discuss the way forward. They recognised the right of the Basque people to take arms to defend itself against the state, but asked: "Is armed struggle beneficial and necessary in order to achieve social justice and political freedom for Euskal Herria?"

They went on to say: "In the light of the results achieved in the last years we have no doubt that armed struggle has become an obstacle to achieve unity within the nationalist left, to obtain wider self government and to unite the fight for self determination".

The document stated that it was not right "to infringe general ethical principles" over and over again, so it put forward new methods such as active civil disobedience and other steps which would help to achieve unity with other nationalists.

A year after, in the autumn of 1998, ETA declared a cease-fire. Although this step implicitly recognised what had been outlined in the document quoted above, Txelis was expelled from the organisation. The necessary self-criticism was thus suppressed, eliminating what could be seen as a threatening expression of dissidence if armed struggle returned. Are these not self defeating exercises for Basque nationalism?