There is a little known revolution being conducted along the French and Spanish borders, where, until just before World War II, in 1937, Basque people lived in what was referred to as "Basque Country," perceived by them to be their country (Nunez Astrain, Louis and Stephens, Meic, 1997, p. 1). While the Basque movement probably is one of the least known and reported on movements, it does occasionally make it to the papers when the level of violence is such that it draws widespread attention.
Basque attaches such importance to his language that he defines himself by his ability to speak it, that is to say, in linguistic terms. He does not refer to himself in terms of race or tribe, or religion, or geographical locality, but exclusively in relationship to his language. In the Basque language, in order to convey that someone is a Basque, one says that he or she is euskaldun, which means more precisely 'Basque-speaking' or 'in possession of the Basque language'. Basque has no other way of saying 'a Basque'. We therefore have a problem in knowing how to refer to those who are native to the Basque Country but do not speak its language; this, however, is only a secondary problem. For the moment, the most important thing is to underline the supreme significance which the Basque has traditionally given to his or her language (Nunez Astrain and Stephens, p. 1)."
The Basque story goes back to the 8th century, and begins with a rising against Charlemagne (p. 70). It began as the Kingdom of Pamploan, becoming the Kingdom of Navarra, and remained independent until the 16th century, when it became folded into the greater campaigns being waged in the are by the greater forces of Spain, France, and:
in 1512 by the troops of the Duke of Alba, who with the connivance of Cardinal Cisneros expelled the Navarrese monarchs Catalina de Foix and Juan de Albret, the invasion winning moral support from the Papal bull, Pastor Illae Caelestis. We do not know whether this bull had been approved by the Spanish Kings or whether they had falsified it, but it excommunicated the Kings of Navarra and declared their Kingdom to be 'without legitimate monarchs', which meant that they would fall to the first invader (p. 71)."
While the intricacies of the Basque resistance are complex, the move for autonomy and independence began anew in the 1980s, with terrorism as its main tool (p. 48). Largely, the Basque move for independence is one that has been quashed by the Spanish government, and efforts have been made to keep the victories on either side out of the press (p. 95). The Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, otherwise known as ETA, is the organization that is behind the move to keep the Basque goal of independence alive.
It should be noted that ETA has never been in favour of indiscriminate terrorism, by which is meant random attacks, but has always chosen its targets carefully. In an interview broadcast by the German television station West-3 on 12 April 1994, ETA made the following statement: 'Our struggle has always been and continues to be selective. If we use a booby-trapped car, it is to strike against our enemies, those who oppress our people, and no one else. On the other hand, while we are aware that there have been mistakes in recent years, the victims were not deliberately chosen. The way we operate does not and will not allow that. There have been blunders and errors and we have given much thought to preventing them from happening again. We try to use methods that will not result in the death of innocent people, for our sole targets are those who oppress the Basque people (p. 36).'
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