Understand and explain the differences and similarities between irish and basque nationalism
Irish and Basque Nationalism can fairly be said to be brothers-in-cause, if not brothers-in-arms. Their link is not merely one of commonality, but also one of inspiration and blood. In fact, the Basque Nationalists have a holiday inspired by their Irish counterparts: The Day of the Basque Fatherland, or Aberri Eguna, which was inspired by the 1916 Irish Republican uprising on Easter.
Basque Nationalism, as a movement, does not possess the complicating component of religion as does Irish Nationalism (the Protestant vs. Catholic issue). However, both share a uniquely non-Western sensibility about what the proper origin is for the concept of a nation or a state. For Irish and the Basque, their unique ethnicity determines their loyalty and the boundaries of their state; they subscribe to what Friedrich Meinecke called the concept of the “cultural nation,” as opposed to the strict territorial notion of the “state nation.” Both the Basque and the Irish Nationalists rejected the claims of sovereignty by Spain and Great Britain, respectively, over their unique ethnic communities, and have historically demanded some sort of political autonomy ranging from outright independence to a special semi-autonomous status within their respective countries. In particular, the Basque emphasis is to protect the uniqueness of their language, Euskera, which not only predates all Indo-European languages but appears to be unrelated to them as well. 30% of the 2.5 million people Basques currently speak Euskera and the Basque fiercely protect and propagate the integrity of their language and accompanying culture amongst their young people. With Irish Nationalists, preservation and perpetuation of the ancient Gaelic language was of secondary concern to independence, but nonetheless important.
Whereas the Irish Nationalists historically tended towards violence as a means to achieve their political goals, the Basque Nationalists have been mostly dominated by factions advocating peaceful means of addressing their grievances with Spain; unfortunately, it is the violent sect, not the peaceful one, that has garnered the most global attention. Ironically, the Irish found peace; the Basque have yet to do so. The Basque Autonomous Government, formed in 1979 to administer what is presently known as the Basque Autonomous Community (formerly the Basque Provinces), has been ruled since its inception by the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), members of which are considered political moderates and who have, since the inception of the party in 1959, have pursued a peaceful coexistence with Spaniards. They are differentiated from the ultranationalist ETA (Euzkadi Ta Askatasuna, which is loosely translated as “Basque Fatherland and Freedom”) Basques because ETA’s methodology to win independence has, historically, been the use of terrorism, which has continued to grab headlines. ETA splintered off from the PNV in 1959 and claimed the life of its first victim in 1968, a Spanish police chief named Meliton Manzanas. ETA’s most audacious high-level assassination came in 1973, when they killed Spanish Prime Minister Luis Carrero Blanco in Madrid, claiming justified retaliation against the government for their execution of Basque nationals. Staking a further claim to their brotherhood with the Irish Nationalists, ETA formed a separate political wing, akin to the Irish Sinn Féin, in 1978, called Herri Batasuna. The Spanish government was reluctant to engage in any negotiations, however, and the pattern of violence continued until ETA called a truce in their fight against the Spanish government in September 1998. In this choice, the signing of the Northern Ireland peace agreement in April 1998 inspired ETA and Herri Batasuna; in fact, Sinn Féin had schooled Herri Batasuna in negotiation tactics. In both the cases of Northern Ireland and Spain, public revulsion against the brutal violence sponsored by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and ETA respectively was one of the catalysts for peace. In particular, July 1997’s kidnapping and murder of a Basque politician named Miguel Angel Blanco prompted outrage amongst the general Spanish population, with millions taking to the streets in protests against violence. The 1998 cease-fire was therefore welcomed by the PNV, who were led to believe that ETA had renounced violence, but in January 2000, unsatisfied with the progress (or lack thereof, in their view, of peaceful negotiations), ETA killed a Spanish army officer in Madrid with their favorite weapon of terror, a car bomb. The cycle of uncertainty continues.
Beyond the realm of the political, there is also a deeper level of connection between the Basque and Irish Nationals: genetics. DNA research has shown the genes of the Celtic people are almost identical to those of the Basque people, leading scientists to believe it possible that the two groups may have migrated together to Western Europe some 30,000 years ago. Blood is indeed thicker than arbitrary political boundaries. Unfortunately for the ETA wing of the Basque Nationalists, the belief in the primacy of their separate blood has tinged the extremism of their cause with a racist element that many rank-and-file Basques find repugnant. The racial discrimination of radical Basque Nationalists can perhaps be compared to the religious discrimination found in the more radical Irish Nationalist Sects, the belief amongst some in the primacy of Roman Catholicism and the heresy of Protestantism.
To be fair to ETA, and perhaps to damn the IRA, ETA was arguably produced in an environment in which Basques felt they had no choice but to turn to violence, as the brutal Spanish regime of Franco showed neither tolerance nor mercy for Basque nationalism. While also coming of age in the 1960s, the IRA was rebelling – politically, at least – against a parliamentary democracy, flawed as it may have been. On the other hand, the IRA’s political demands were not necessarily inclusive of an interest in a certain political system underlying the foundation of Irish self-rule, whereas ETA has historically included as part of its ‘platform’ a demand that an independent Basque homeland be a Marxist state – a detail which doubtlessly made their cause even less popular both at home and abroad during an era in which international and internal politics in Western nations were framed by a Cold War anti-Communist mentality.
Ultimately, one of the considerations when judging the relevance and efficacy of any political movement, nationalist or not, is their success at achieving their goals with a minimum of death and destruction. As it stands now, the ETA has failed miserably by these standards. All factions of Irish Nationalists finally united in renouncing violence, turning public opinion in their favor. The cause of the Basque Nationalists remains, whatever its objective legitimacy, unpopular and unlikely to advance in Spain due to the recalcitrance of the ETA, which for many years now has no longer been able to rely on their Irish brethren as role models. Public tolerance for terrorism is at an all-time low since the attacks of September 11, 2001 on New York City, and lest they be relegated to comparisons with Al Qaida, it may be wise for ETA and Herri Batasuna to follow the lead of the IRA and Sinn Féin and finally commit themselves to peace for the Basques.
Bibliography
- Meinecke, Friedrich. Cosmopolitanism and the National State (tr. by Robert B. Kimber). Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1970 (1st German ed. 1908)
- “Genetics Helps Scientists Determine Basque Origins”, San Francisco Gate, July 9, 2003.
- Sullivan, John. ETA and Basque Nationalism: The Fight for Euskadi 1890-1986, Routledge London, 1988.
- McGarry, John (editor). Northern Ireland and the Divided World: The Northern Ireland Conflict and the Good Friday Agreement in Comparative Perspective, Oxford University Press, 2001.
- Cox, Michael; Guelke, Adrian; Stephen, Fiona (editors). A Farewell To Arms?
- From ‘Long War’ to Long Peace in Northern Ireland. Manchest University Press, 2000.
- Lubliner, Cory. “Mailbombs and Car Bombs: the Basque Conundrum,” Euskal Herria Journal, February 12, 2000.
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