Thomas Bischoff
12-12-18
4th, Mr. Cruze
An ethnic conflict that is currently going on is the conflict in the beautiful country of Spain is between Basque and the Spanish. The conflict began when the Basque separatists' group formed the ETA in 1959. In the next few years, the ETA started to aim toward creating an independent Basque state. They proved they would do this in later actions. Often the actions by the ETA were acts of terrorism such as open violence, assassination, and bombing. Even though they have many terrorist acts, the Basque community have their own structure of parliament, taxes, and local police force. The EU tried to help the Basque people however they could not because they needed consent from Spain
The Basque people have a stronger claim and though they use terror to show their urge to have independence, the country of Spain should give a peace treaty. This peace treaty would stop the conflict, but at the same time Spain should give the Basque people their independence and support, so they may be more likely to accept a peace treaty and be happily co-existing. This would work because Spain will no longer have any terrorist acts affecting their people and causing casualties. The Basque people will also be glad that they have been given what they have wanted, so the conflicts will end.
Timeline of Ethnic Conflicts Between Spain and Basque:
1959 – ETA is formed during the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco to fight for Basque self-determination.
1980 – In its bloodiest year, ETA kills nearly 100 people despite Spain’s return to democracy.
September 1998 – ETA announces a truce which ends in December 1999.
September 23, 2011 – ETA prisoners across Spain and France join a call for a permanent ceasefire by the separatist group. The government says the next day that the move is welcome but is welcome but does not go far enough as ETA must disband.
One country is Western Europe has some extreme ethnic tension, it’s Belgium. Though it is very wealthy. The conflicts are caused by the division when it was ruled by four different countries. Holland, France, Spanish, and Germany. All at different times throughout the early-mid-1900s. This results in 4 different languages being in the country and different states from this separation. The biggest problem is each language wants to be the main language, so there is a lot of political unrest in Belgium. On the other hand, Switzerland seems to be immune from ethnic conflict for that they came together voluntarily so they were not conquered and came to be. They are a nation that was made at their own will and created a good democracy and the opposite to Belgium, they were not conquered by many countries and were not even conquered at all making them a free country.
An interesting ethnic neighborhood is the one in New York, the famous Chinatown. New York’s Chinatown is the biggest Chinatown in the country, and its history shows why. In the 19th century a small number of Chinese immigrants moved to the town, but in the 20th century, more Chinese immigrants moved for chain migration and more chance for jobs. Later Chinese gold rush miners moved into the town increasing their population more. The buildings from the 18th century and 19th century are still standing today. This city was mainly chosen by the Chinese ethnicity because some visited just to get jobs and leave back to China, making it a popular spot. However, what increased the population the most was in 1960 when the immigration quota was removed. With it gone the population increased largely and mainly went to Chinatown making it increase rapidly and known has today has the largest Chinatown in the United States. Ethnic neighborhoods are beneficial in that they can bring diversity to a country, new food and culture comes into the country, and it can bring families together. It can also help new immigrants go to an area where they will feel like they belong with people that have the same culture and language. However, they are problematic when they do not expand with local people and do not learn their language or culture.
Sources:
Hannon, Maddie. “Ethnic Conflicts in Spain.” Prezi.com, 4 Feb. 2016, prezi.com/m/upaf5fnt25bh/ethnic-conflicts-in-spain/.
Henry, Elizabeth. “Ethnic Conflict: Belgium.” Prezi.com, 9 Dec. 2014, prezi.com/m/a7uxzzgipgkw/ethnic-conflict-belgium/.
Morrison, Taylor. “SWITZERLAND: A COUNTRY OF MULTILINGUALISM.” Prospect Journal, Prospect Journal, 14 Oct. 2013, prospectjournal.org/2013/07/08/switzerland-a-country-of-multilingualism-3/.
“New York Chinatown History.” New York Chinatown, new-york-chinatown.info/chinatown-history/.
Cutler, David. “Timeline: Key Events in History of Basque Separatists ETA.” Edited by Sophie Hares, Thomson Reuters, 17 Oct. 2011, www.reuters.com/article/us-spain-eta-events/timeline-key-events-in-history-of-basque-separatists-eta-idUSTRE79G5FC20111017.