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The Basque: A Culture of Resistance
Annie (Tute Nere Collective - USA)
The Birth of The ETA in Fascist Spain
Franco's oppressive regime ruled Spain and resistance sparked up in every corner,
including the formation of a new and unique group, the ETA.
The young Basques were frustrated and ready to call on their rich heritage of
resistance, but upon meeting with the famed Basque Nationalist Party, they were
shocked and disappointed to find this older generation was simply content with
hiding and waiting for Franco to die.
These young Basques, including Jose Luis Alvarez, were not content with this
response. Alvarez had just recently spent time in jail for belonging to a student
movement and though he admits that he and others lacked political philosophy
after jail time and the disappointing meeting the Basque Nationalist Party,
they knew something had to be done against Franco's oppression of Euskera(Basque
language) and the people.
In 1952 five of these students organized their own movement. They structured
the newfound group, Aberri Ta Askatasuna (Homeland and Liberty), into small
cell units in different areas, one in San Sebastian and the other in Bilbao,
to with stand the Gaurdia Civil's penetration and oppression. They quickly found
however that 'ata' in a certain dialect of Euskera 'ata' translated to 'duck',
which led to the new name- Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) and official founding
date.
ETA immediately began undertaking it's anti-Franco activities. They published
an underground journal, Ekin (to act, to persist), promoting the forbidden Basque
language and agitating for an end of Spain's imperialist regime in Basque country.
By the end of 1959 the ETA had grown to over 200 members who studied devoutly
other liberation movements.
From their examination of liberation movements the ETA began to use more confrontational
tactics, this is not surprising due to the fact that their long history was
based on strong resistance. Statues and walls through out the country started
to bare the message: GORA EUSKADI!
As the message spread and the walls became covered, the ETA kept pushing forward.
The ETA's first claimed act of revolution was the bombing of the elevator in
the Gauardia Civil headquarters. Then in 1961 they derailed a train carrying
Spanish statesmen celebrating the anniversary of the 1936 coup d'etat. There
were no casualties but the ETA had sent a message that could not be ignored
like those sprayed across statues, Franco's regime entered Basque Country at
their own risk.
Franco's government responded quickly with mass arrests and torture of 100
Basque people. However the prisoners were soon released as Franco was not concerned
with stopping the ETA but extracting revenge . This would define the future
of the ETA movement under Franco's regime, a cycle.
The ETA also during this time began to develop political ideology, mainly that
stemming from Marx, towards a society based on Socialism. With a socialist ideology
the ETA began to move further away from the Basque Nationalist Party. The ETA
turned its attention on organizing and working with the working class. As the
ETA began to key the phrases of class struggle and revolution, Franco became
more worried. His worry turned to more oppressive action when two ETA members
killed a Guardia Civil. The eye for an eye cycle continued when the Guardia
Civil assassinated a known ETA member. The acts of defiance and oppression became
more violent and open. The ETA hope that these provocations would first provoke
the Basque people, and then would lead to a general uprising.
The resistance and fight with Franco's regime continued. The new slogan waved
by the ETA read: Iraultza ala hil! (Revolution or Death!). Other groups (primarily
Anarchist and Catalan) began to issue their support to the ETA's fight. When
3 ETA members were condemned to death, demonstrations broke out, not only in
Pamplona and Bilbao, but also in Barcelona and Madrid, not mention support poured
in from France, Belgium, Sweden, Norway, and Australia. Due to this pressure
Franco canceled the executions and commuted the sentences to life in prison.
The ETA was not defeated by the oppression and imprisonment. ETA commandos
carried out one of their most effective and dangerous political assassinations
in December of 1973. After staking out Franco's right hand man, Admiral Carrero
Blanco, the man who was sure to fill Franco's shoes after his passing, and carry
on Francoism in Franco's tradition, the ETA commandos set a trap for him at
his routine church service. At 9:30am Carrero Blanco's car pulled up and parked.
Then a large crash and explosion, the car was blown several stories in the air
care of dynamite packed deep under the pavement of the spot he always parked.
This action led to the popular anti-fascist joke in Spanish. 'Una bache mas,
un carbon menos" (One more pothole, one less asshole).
By 1975 the ETA were suspected of killing 38 and countless attacks against
the state. In response Franco had two Basque political prisoners assassinated
by firing squad. Riots broke out and one angry mob set fire to the Spanish embassy
in Lisbon. But Franco was not going anywhere.
The ETA remained an active fighting force up until Franco's death. However the mass uprising they had hoped for never came to fruition. Today the ETA has once again been launched into the media spotlight with various car bombings and actions against the Spanish government, which has once again led to great oppression against the Basque and various anarchist and revolutionary groups due to supportive ties to the ETA. Though nationalism is a false divide and usually implemented by the State to keep the masses ignorant, Basque country, much like countless others, still remains absorbed by western capitalist powers (France and Spain). The Basque struggle for freedom is an important one, it is one of the countless battles still being waged against centuries of fascist oppression.
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