Friday, June 27, 2003

Terror and Indigenous Peoples

This is an old article, but it is worth to be posted here:

November 3, 2001

Terror and Indigenous Peoples War Without End
By David Price

When President Bush declared war on terrorism with his neo-McCarthyistic threat to the world that "you are either with us, or with the terrorists" he struck a chord with many frightened Americans, but other peoples around the world heard other important harmonics within this chord. For many of the world's indigenous peoples, these words brought terror and anticipation of new levels of outright oppression from the nation states that repressively surround and manage them.

In the time since this declaration the President has not clarified who these new terrorist enemies are, and the administration and its allies have since carefully avoided defining just who is and who isn't a terrorist-beyond this initial defining claim that they are those who are against "us". The administration understands that any behavioral definition of terrorism risks exposing the nonsense of behaviorally distinguishing between such categories of actors as terrorists, freedom fighters or military forces. The relativist adage that the difference between a terrorist and a freedom fighter depends on who owns the newspaper that reports on their actions, seems to be forgotten by many on the American left who watched Washington play roughshod with the self determination of peoples of Central America in the 1980s. While a few pundits note the dangers of engaging in a war without any identifiable landmark of victory, there are equally real dangers to many minority populations around the world if the governments managing their native lands are given the green light to repress them as "terrorists".

As the United Nation's supports new anti-terrorist policies we find new levels of cooperation and agreement among member nations, though these talks occur with an explicit agreement that terrorism shall remain undefined. Concerns are being raised by international human rights groups and the German Foreign Minister that these policies will usher in high levels of State terrorism against minority populations, but for the most part these objections have been suppressed in the interest of a new found unity of purpose.

There are growing fears among anthropologists and others who work with indigenous peoples around the world that this new secret war on terrorism will have devastating effects on indigenous peoples' struggles for human rights and political recognition. Many fear that Secretary of State Powell-the-coalition-builder will purchase the cooperation and approval of nation leaders around the world by adopting policies in which the United States will not protest or intervene when these states suppress and annihilate their own ethnic minority populations. When police and military units use force against these groups their actions are "legitimate", while the use of these same tactics-even defensively-by indigenous groups, minority populations or separatist groups these actions become "terrorism".

As Powell signals Russia that the US can learn to see their bloody war in Chechnya as part of the global war on terrorism, this signal is welcomed by other world leaders wishing a free hand to deal with their own domestic indigenous troubles. Most of the world's nation states maintain hostile relations with one or more troublesome domestic groups contesting power relations; these hostile relations are frequently marked by violence and counter-violence. The idiom of power dictates that the violence of the state is legitimized as peace keeping, while that of the dispossessed becomes terrorism. But acts of "terrorism" are not limited to acts of violence. The range of non-violent actions that have in the past been defined as terrorism is disturbing and have included teaching native languages and engaging in outlawed religious or cultural ceremonies.

The world is filled with peoples who have legitimate, historical disputes with the nation states that rule them. Whether it is the Basques in Spain, the Irish in the United Kingdom, the Tamils in Sri Lanka, Zapatistas in Mexico, Chechens in Russia, or hundreds of other groups of native peoples, there are contentious battles for power that will rapidly become even more lopsided if the current hysteria of ill-defined anti-terrorism is allowed to continue. The post-colonial wars of Africa smolder along ethnic lines in which minorities, and the lesser-armed are freely defined as terrorists. We need to demand that our government clarify what deals have been made with other governments regarding their treatment of natives peoples.

While many of the payoffs to client nations for joining the US-led coalition before the Gulf War were monetary (for example, the US forgave half of Egypt's crippling sixty billion dollar debt for symbolically joining the western coalition), there are signs that one currency of payoff in the war on "terrorism" will be the granting of a new degree of latitude for coalition members to oppress their troublesome internal resistance groups. Powell seems willing to encourage such potentially genocidal tit-for-tat arrangements if this will buy him a coalition willing to risk the wrath of this new yet-to-be-named enemy.

While the current military focus is on Afghanistan and the surrounding region, the Bush administration's suggestion that this could be a forty-year war on terrorism much like the Cold War threatens to bring harm to hundreds of indigenous groups around the world. Currently, many on the American left appear divided in their opposition and support for this new Afghani war, be this as it may, the left must resist the temptation to transfer this new found fear of "terrorism" into support for the oppression of indigenous peoples around the globe. CP

David Price is an associate professor of anthropology at St. Martin's College in Lacey, Washington. He is the author of A World Atlas to Cultures.


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Wednesday, June 25, 2003

Dealing With the Basques

And this is what I call a fine example of fair and responsible journalism:

Dealing with the Basques
NYT Wednesday, June 25, 2003
For 35 years, ETA separatists have waged a campaign of terror to wrest an independent state for the Basques in northwest Spain. More than 800 people have been killed. The Spanish government has responded with dogged police work and, more recently, by outlawing Batasuna, the party that is widely regarded as ETA's political wing. The first strategy has been working - ETA is reported to be weaker now than it has been for years - but the ban on Batasuna only fuels extremism by disenfranchising a section of the moderate Basque electorate.

The desire to crack down on Batasuna is understandable . But so far, no direct link has been established between Batasuna and terrorist acts. There are only allegations by Parliament, which passed a law last summer designed to enable the ban, and by the investigating magistrate who suspended the party's political activities last August. When Batasuna was formally banned in March this year, its members immediately formed alternative parties. But Spain's highest court ruled almost all of them illegal in May, striking 1,500 pro-independence candidates from the lists for local elections held on May 25. Mayors of more than 60 towns and villages found themselves unable to run, and 10 percent of Basque voters - roughly the proportion who have voted for Batasuna in the past - registered their discontent by casting spoiled ballots.

Last week, Spain's prosecutor-general laid charges against the speaker of the region's Parliament for failing to dissolve a grouping of seven former Batasuna legislators. Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar weighed in with a warning to the moderate Basque Nationalist Party, or PNV, which controls the regional assembly, not to disobey the courts.

Aznar's strategy of outlawing Batasuna has proved popular with a broad spectrum of the Spanish electorate. But the real way to undermine the ETA, as Aznar should know, is to hunt down the bombers and snipers one by one - the police say they detained 185 ETA suspects last year, and 20 since January this year - while promoting dialogue between Madrid and those who peacefully seek greater autonomy for the Basque region. The PNV last year proposed limited sovereignty, and there is ample room for compromise.

The danger now is that Aznar will respond to the PNV's opposition by suspending the regional Parliament's powers, which would help drive a new generation of Basques into the arms of ETA. Spain's government and courts should step back from their growing confrontation with moderate Basque nationalists, and limit the political ban to individuals convicted of supporting terrorist acts.

I was being sarcastic with my first paragraph.


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Tuesday, June 24, 2003

Defending Euskal Herria

In the mean time, the Basques have to defend their land from open attacks on their history and their natural resources, for those of you interested, see what is taking place in Itoiz and Irunea.

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Suspending Basque Autonomy

Threats, that is about the only thing that Madrid dispenses to the Basques.

Here you have the latest development:

24 Jun 2003 15:34:05 GMT

Spain warns Basques it may suspend autonomy


BILBAO, Spain, June 24 (Reuters) - The Spanish government's senior representative in the Basque country warned on Tuesday that Madrid could suspend the region's autonomous status if its nationalist government continued to defy court orders.

The repeated refusal of the Basque parliament in recent weeks to implement a Supreme Court order to dissolve a party alleged to support the armed separatist group ETA has brought its political relations with Madrid to the brink of collapse.

"If there is uninterrupted defiance then clearly there will come a point when it will be possible to apply the famous constitutional clause allowing the suspension of autonomy," Jaime Mayor Oreja, the head of Spain's ruling Popular Party in the Basque Country, told local radio.

Talk of suspending Basque autonomy for the first time since Spain's 1979 constitution raised an outcry from the region's ruling nationalist coalition.

"This is not a gracious concession from the PP's government which can be installed or eliminated by decree in a manner reminiscent of past times," said Basque government spokesman Josu Jon Imaz, in reference to the 1939-1975 rule of dictator Francisco Franco.

"These are historical rights recognised by the Spanish constitution as predating it," he added.

Spanish prosecutors filed criminal charges against three leaders of the Basque parliament on Friday for "defying authority" by refusing to disband Sozialista Abertzaleak.

The party is the successor to outlawed group Batasuna which the Supreme Court banned in March as the political wing of ETA.

The armed guerrillas, listed as terrorists by the United States and the European Union, have killed some 841 people since 1968 in a bloody campaign for an independent Basque state in northern Spain and southwest France.


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Monday, June 16, 2003

National Endowment for the Arts

Basque "rappers" get recognition, here is the note:

16 in Traditional, Folk Arts Get Honors
1 hour, 30 minutes ago

By CARL HARTMAN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - From a Florida designer of diving helmets to four Westerners who write poetry in the Basque language, 16 Americans will share this year's annual awards given by the National Endowment for the Arts to creators in popular and folk traditions.

They will share 11 National Heritage Fellowships worth $20,000 each.

The Basque poets are Jesus Arriada and Johnny Curutchet of the San Francisco area; Martin Goicoechea of Rock Springs, Wyo.; and Jesus Goni of Reno, Nev. They perform regularly for the 60,000 American descendants of Basques. Immigrants from mountainous northern Spain and southern France, the Basques were drawn to the West first by the California Gold Rush and came later as shepherds.

At Basque gatherings, the performers improvise songs in traditional patterns on subjects picked in advance, engaging in a kind of musical joust against one another. The NEA says the unusual Basque language is one of the world's few with an increasing number of speakers.

For achievement in the traditional arts field as a whole, Carmencristina Moreno of Fresno, Calif., was singled out to receive the year's Bess Lomax Hawes Award. She is an administrator as well as a singer, composer and teacher.

Nicholas Toth of Tarpon Springs, Fla., carries on a family tradition of designing helmets for divers who harvest natural sponges, a local commercial specialty. His one-piece helmets, made of spun copper have been sought by collectors and museums for their beauty.

Agnes Kenmille, who has spent most of her 87 years on Montana's Flathead Indian Reservation, won the award for her work with beads and the regalia of her people. New York's Rosa Elena Egipciaco carries on a 500-year-old tradition of making mundillo, the weaving of lace from wooden bobbins.

Other winners include two father-and-son teams: Roberto and Lorenzo Martinez, Hispanic musicians from Albuquerque, N.M.; and Felipe and Joseph Ruak, who perform traditional stick dances from the Northern Mariana Islands in the Pacific.

Norman Kennedy is a Scottish weaver, singer and storyteller from Marshfield, Vt.

Norma Miller of Las Vegas is a dancer and choreographer who helped create the acrobatic style of the Lindy Hop.

Ron Poast makes the Hardanger fiddle, Norway's national folk instrument, in Black Earth, Wis.

Monoochehr Sadeghi was born in Tehran, Iran, and performed on the santur, a stringed instrument played with hammers, in the orchestra that played for the late Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlevi. Sadeghi later emigrated to Los Angeles, an area now home to half a million Iranian-Americans.



I met Martin Goicochea down in San Francisco last february. Congratulations to him and all the other recipients of this award.

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Wednesday, June 11, 2003

Europe Endorses Political Apartheid

So, the European Union, a commonwealth of nations that fancy considering themselves champions of democracy and human rights have decided to add a political party, yes, a political party to a list of so called "terrorist organizations".

They do this on behalf of the Spain, a country that is unwilling to close the darkest chapter in recent history, a state that has not come clean on its shady alliances with Nazi Germany and Italy during WWII, a nation that has never asked for forgiveness for all its crimes against the peoples and nations that it conquered and colonized.

This note was published by the BBC:

EU blacklists Basque party

The European Union has decided to add the radical Basque nationalist party Batasuna to its list of terrorist organisations.

The decision, which was made at the request of the Spanish Government, took effect on Thursday when the list was published during a meeting of EU interior ministers in Luxembourg.

Inclusion on the list obliges all EU countries to co-operate with officials investigating of prosecuting the party.

Batasuna, which is regarded as the political wing of the separatist organisation ETA, has already been banned by the Spanish Supreme Court.

Last month it was put on a United States blacklist of terror groups.

News of the ban coincided with reports that ETA had claimed responsibility for a car bomb last week in northern Spain which killed two policemen.

'Broadest assistance'

The EU list was drawn up after the 11 September attacks on the US, and includes groups and individuals believed to be linked to terrorism.

It requires all member states to give the "broadest possible assistance" to police and prosecutors working to prevent terrorist acts.

But it leaves decisions on whether or not to freeze an organisation's assets up to individual governments.

ETA first emerged in the 1960s as a student resistance movement bitterly opposed to General Franco's repressive military dictatorship.

In subsequent decades the armed organisation has waged a bloody campaign for independence for the seven regions in northern Spain and south-western France that Basque separatists claim as their own.


Now Europe, taking a self righteous stand, adds a political party that is being accused of having links to ETA to a list of "terrorist organization", let me repeat it, they are being accused. What ever happened to the presumption of innocence?

Hypocrites, all of them.

And no, Basque separatists do not claim those seven provinces as their own, history claims it.



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Tuesday, June 10, 2003

Euskera and Gascon

A friend from Madrid sent this information to the Basque Diaspora group:

BASQUE AND GASCON LANGUAGE CONTACT

Martin Haase
Universitae„t Osnabrueck, GERMANY

Basque and Gascon are genetically unrelated and typologically very different languages, yet they happen to be in close contact in the Southwest of France. Overcoming genetical and typological differences, they have thus been able to influence each other over the centuries. Moreover, in this century, French has gained more and more impact on both languages.

1. THE SCENARIO

1.1. Bilingual communities

On both sides of the language border we find a number of bilingual communities. In these communities, speakers (from the age of about 40 to 45 upwards) who define themselves as Basque or bilingual usually speak Basque, Gascon, and French with equal native or native-like proficiency. Speakers who define themselves as Gascon speak Gascon and French with equal proficiency. They know a few words of Basque, but do not speak it; they usually understand Basque only to a very limited extent.

As the parents-child transmission of Gascon has almost completely stopped after the second Word War and substituted by French, it is nearly impossible to find speakers of Gascon under the age of forty. Basque speakers are slightly more loyal to their language. Some families keep on raising their children in Basque and French, although French monolingualism is the rule.

There is a strong political movement in favor of Basque, whereas efforts to conserve Gascon are very weak. So it happens that children of traditionally Gascon (i.e. non-Basque) families may start learning Basque in evening courses or the like. As a result, even in bilingual communities with a considerable proportion of non-Basque Gascon speakers (e.g. Bastida / Labastide-Clairence with about 70%) the Basque proportion is increasing, although this will not delay the rise of French.

1.2. Commerce (market-place language)

Gascon is the traditional language of the market places in the North-Eastern part of the Basque country (Eastern Lower Navarra and Soule).

The important market places of this area are in Bastida / Labastide-Clairence and Garruze / Garris, the latter having been transferred to Donapaleu / St. Palais about 25 years ago (with a remarkable change in linguistic habits from Gascon to French).

People used to go to the market not only for commercial reasons, but also for their amusement and in order to meet people. Among the social functions that they fulfilled, they were a favorite place to pave the way for marriages. Traders from Gascony came here to sell their goods, Basque farmers from behind the contact zone also went to these markets, and had to have at least some basic knowledge of Gascon in the field of commercial exchange.

1.3. Migrant farm hands

Young Basques used to go and work on farms in Gascony. This migration had two reasons: First of all, they could improve their knowledge of Gascon. More important was, however, the fact that only the first child (male or female) of a Basque family would inherit the parents' farm, which could not be devided. Therefore, the younger children had to find work outside the family-farm system of the Basque country.

The market-place contacts and the migration of young people can explain the high number of Basco-Gascon intermarriages, which in their turn account for Basque names in surrounding parts of Gascony and vice versa.

1.4. Other ways of contact

Sheep breeding is a very important occupation in the Basque country. In the search for good pasture places, shepherds travel around a lot, and come in contact with people of different tongues. That is the reason why they usually show a proficiency in an impressive number of languages: Basque, French, Gascon, and Spanish as well as some sort of shepherd jargon, called 'Black Spanish', heavily drawing upon Gascon and Aragonese.

A similar case is that of smugglers, although smuggling is not a traditional craft of this area, since the political frontier became a customs-frontier only in the second half of the 19th century.

2. CONTACT-INDUCED LANGUAGE CHANGE

Three ways of contact-induced change will have to be distinguished:

Gascon influence in Basque

Basque influence in Gascon

Changes due to language loss

It has to be emphasized that the phenomena we encounter in each of these cases differ very much from each other (for the first two types of interference cf. Thomason / Kaufman 1985).

2.1. Gascon influence in Basque

As can be deduced from the scenario presented above, Gascon is the more prestigious language in the contact situation with Basque. It functions as a model language (LM), whereas the latter is the replicant language (LR), borrowing from Gascon: In this case mainly lexical borrowings are introduced, but on the long run subsequent phonological and morphosyntactic changes come about. On a grammaticalization scale this kind of language change procedes from less to more grammaticalized entities.

Here is an example of a lexically based structural change: Negations are formed on the basis of question words, to which an element e- or i- is prefixed (in some dialects with metathesis, by which i¤or becomes nehor 'nobody'). If a sentence contains such an element a negation marker is (additionally) inserted before the finite verb of the negative sentence. Here is a table of the ques- tion/negation correlatives:

(1) nor 'who' i¤or, nehor 'nobody'

non 'where' i¤on, nehon 'nowhere'

noiz 'when' i¤oiz, nehoiz 'never'

nola 'how' i¤ola, nehola 'no way'

zer 'what' ezer 'nothing'

zein/zoin 'which' ezein/ezoin 'none'

Especially in the Northern contact zones, some of the negative correlatives are substituted by new negative words (negator nouns):

(2) instead of ezoin: bihi(r)ik 'none'

instead of ezer: deus(ik), fitxik 'nothing'

instead of nehoiz: sekula(n) 'never'

These nouns originally were independent lexical borrowings (bihi can still be found independently), which have been grammaticalized as negator nouns in the course of the time. With the exception of bihi, all of them can be used as negators only.

Lexically initiated structural changes include the introduction of new phonemes, a number of modifications in the case system, restructuring of the tense-aspect-mood system, new subordination strategies and other innovations. I have treated this kind of contact-induced changes in Haase (1992).

2.2. Basque influence in Gascon

In Gascon it is almost impossible to find loan words from Basque, on the other hand it shows a great many phonological and morphosyntactic peculiarities (with respect to other Romance languages) which probably go back to Basque substratum influence. On a grammaticalization scale such changes are located at the grammaticalized pole. Substratum influence is due to prior language shift from a less prestigious substratum language (LS) to a new target language (LT), in this case from Basque to Gascon. As LS is less prestigious, speakers (i.e. language shifters) have no interest in borrowing from that language, which they have decided to shift away from. On the other hand, they do not have full access to LT. The new language they speak is a version of LT modified under the influence of LS.

Basque words cannot begin with an [r]. Foreign words are integrated by prefixing an anaptyctic [e], so the Latin loan word rege(m) becomes errege. Basque speakers shifting to Romance were confronted with lots of words beginning with [r], which they could not pronounce without an anaptyctic vowel. Since they did not use Basque as a model language, the inserted vowel did not necessarily have to be [e]. Actually, Gascon inserts [a] in such a context. AlliŠeres (1987) gives examples of phenomena in Gascon which may be explained by substratum interference.

The important point here is that substratum interference does not result in a 1:1 correspondance of linguistic items between LS and LT, all the more as LS is not used as a model to draw upon.

An interesting morphosyntactic example in this context is the so called enunciative (cf. Pilawa 1990 for details). In the dialects in contact with Basque, every main clause contains an obligatory que (cf. (3) and (4), my own field-work data).

(3) La hemna qu' arrit. - Qu' arrit la hemna.

ART woman ENC laugh.3S.PRS

'The woman is laughing.' (ART: article, ENC: enunciative,

PRS: present)

(4) Que lo bon diu que '[n]s perdoni.

COMP ART good god ENC us forgive

3S.SBJ

'May God forgive us.' (SBJ: subjunctive)

In Basque we find an element which is often taken to be the source for the Gascon phenomenon, and therefore also called enunciative, viz. preverbal ba-. The equation of the two forms is made too easily, because ba- can appear under conditions where que would not (e.g. as marker of a conditional protasis), whereas it would not appear with imperatives or subjunctives as in (4). The use of que can be better explained: It serves as a delimitator of the verbal complex of a clause, the enclitic object pronouns can 'lean' upon it (cf. (4) above), and just as in Basque the verbal complex (containing both subject and object marking) can freely be moved around in the sentence (cf. (3), scrambling word order).

2.3. Changes due to language loss

Gascon shows quite a number of changes which are due to language loss, as it is more and more substituted by French. Basque seems to be more resistent. Loss can affect all spheres of the language in an equally heavy way.

Here is just one example: Rusty speakers of Gascon tend to reduce the three-level system of demonstratives and local adverbs (proximal, medial, and distal deixis) to a two-level system; even Basco-Gascon bilinguals do so, although Basque has a three-level system as well.

3. CONCLUSION

In this paper I could give only some limited insight into the contact situation of the Western Pyrenees.

When we get nearer to the Spanish border, Castilian and Aragonese enter the scenario (cf. 1.3. and 1.4.). The complex contact situation, including prestigious 'national' languages overlaying others, can explain the structural convergences, which can be seen as the outset of a Sprachbund.

The distinction of different types of contact-induced change is crucial for the understanding of the relation between language contact and change in general. It also shows that contact-induced change depends on the sociolinguistic setting (language prestige, shift, maintenance etc.) of the contact situation.

REFERENCES

AllieŠres, J. (1987), Gascón y euskera: afinidades e interrelaciones lingüisticas, in: Cierbide Martinena, Ricardo (ed.) ([1987]): Pirenaico navarro-aragon‚s gascón y euskera (V. cursos de verano en San Sebasti n), Euskal Herriko Uniber- tsitatea: 181-198.

Haase, M. (1992), Sprachkontakt und Sprachwandel im Baskenland: Die Einflsse des Gaskognischen und Franz"sischen auf das Baskische, Hamburg: Buske.

Pilawa, J. (1990), Enunziative. Eine sprachliche Neuerung im Spiegel der gaskognischen Schriftkultur (= ScriptOralia 15), Tbingen: Narr.

Thomason, S.G. / Kaufman, T. (1988), Language Contact, Creolization, and Genetic Linguistics, Berkeley etc.: Univer- sity of California Press.


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Thursday, June 05, 2003

Mark Hill : Basque Nationalism and Cycling V

Well, even good things come to an end, here you have the last delivery on Mark A. Hill's magnificent piece title "The Spokes of Nationalism", an in depth analysis of the influence of Basque nationalism in cycling which was published at Daily Peloton.

Here it is:

1996/97 Conclusion

This study has demonstrated that throughout the region’s history, cycling has been part of the projection of Basque modernity and distinction from the Spanish state. Cycle sport can also be seen to have provided a nationalist focus that mirrors that of football. Despite the Franco era curtailing the explicit use of sport as a nationalist tool by the regions, since 1975 overt Basque nationalism has evidently been promoted via the capitalist sponsorship of cycle sport and has culminated in one of the strongest examples of a correlation between sport and national identity.

There are many areas within this initial study which require more in depth analysis. These will be expanded upon following a number of visits to the Basque Country itself and interviews with key protagonists. However, the study does provide an initial investigation of the links between cycle sport and nationalism in the Basque Country, which should lead to a subsequent post-graduate study or independent publication.

It remains the case that the Basque Country provides a fascinating and in many ways unique use of sport as a nationalist medium. The interaction between the region’s businesses and the nationalist nature of the Euskadi team has not been truly rivalled in any other Spanish region, despite failed attempts in Galicia and Catalunya. Furthermore, the different utilisation of sporting events by the capitalists and ETA, provides an interesting comparative example of how to promote nationalist claims at an international level. Whilst militants attempted to block the progress of stage 16 of the 1996 Tour de France on route to the Spanish border, most Basques rejected any disruption of the event. International recognition of Basque sensibilities was made by the Société du Tour de France, as all race publicity and information was written in French and Euskera. All Euskadi Foundation material is published in Euskera and Spanish, whilst El Diario Vasco has published all San Sabastián Classic information in Euskera, Spanish and French.1

The remarks of the German winner of the 1996 San Sabastian Classic, Udo Bolts, “I looked at the race programme this morning and saw Lance (Armstrong) wearing the Basque hat they give the winner each year - I thought I’d really like one of those. The Basque Country is very special, the people here love cycling”, expresses the recognition which Basques have achieved in cycle sport. Of symbolic cultural significance is the presentation of the Basque beret to the winner.2

The use of nationalist symbolism and imagery in Basque cycling remains unmatched by other sports. Its international prestige sets it apart from native sports such as pelota. The themes embodied in this study confirm that cycle sport has provided a significant form of nationalist expression, through which the Basque Country has promoted its unique identity. It also demonstrates that cycling unlike any other modern sport, including football, has been constantly inter-twined with the very development of Basque nationalism from the 1890’s to the present day.

Footnotes:

1. El Diario Vasco: Organizaciones Deportivas, San Sabastián Clásica programme, 1996.
2. Press Conference as quoted in Cycling Weekly, IPC Magazines, UK, 1996. p12

Bibliography

1: Newspapers and Journals

a) Newspapers and Magazines:

ABC, (29 September 1996.)

Diario 16, (19 February 1989.)

El Pais, (15 July 1994.)

Gazzetto Dello Sport, (5 January 1997.)

Marca, (14 July 1992, 8 July 1994, 17+18 July 1996, 11 September 1996.)

Cycle Sport, IPC Magazines UK. (August 1994, May 1995, August 1995, October 1995, November 1995, March 1996, July 1996, November 1996, February 1997, March 1997, April 1997).

Cycling Weekly, IPC Magazines UK. (6 and 20 July 1996, 12 August 1996).


b) Journals:

J. Harrison, “The Regenerationist Movement in Spain After the Disaster of 1898”, European Studies Review, vol 9, number 1, January 1979.

J. Harrison, “Big Business and the Rise of Basque Nationalism”, European Studies Review, number 7, 1977.

S.G. Jones, “The European Workers’ Sports Movement”, European History Quarterly, vol 18, 1988.

S.G. Payne, “Catalan and Basque Nationalism”, Journal of Contemporary History, vol 6, number 1, 1971.

2: Books

B. Anderson, Imagined Communities, Verso, London, 1983.

J. Breuilly, Nationalism and the State, Manchester University Press, GB, 1993.

R. Carr, Modern Spain, Opus, Hong-Kong, 1980.

R. Carr & J.P. Fusi, Spain: Dictatorship to Democracy, UK, 1979.

J. Evans, The Guiness Book of Cycling Facts and Feats, Guiness Publishing, London, 1996.

José Luis de la Granja Sainz, El Navionalismo Vasco: Un Siglo de Historia, Madrid, 1995.

M. Heiberg, The Making of the Basque Nation, CUP, GB, 1989.

J.A. Mangan, Tribal Identities: Nationalism, Europe, Sport, Frank Cass, London, 1996

S.G. Payne, Basque Nationalism, University of Nevada Press, USA, 1975.

P. Preston, Franco, Fontana, London, 1995.

P. Preston, Politics of Revenge, Routledge, London, 1995.

P. Preston, The Triumph of Democracy in Spain, Routledge, London, 1996 edn.

J. Sullivan, ETA and Basque Nationalism: The Fight for Euskadi 1890-1986, Routledge, London, 1988.

C. Williams, National Separatism, (ed), University of Cardiff, Wales, 1982.


3: Unpublished Work

D.R. Shaw, “The political instrumentalisation of football in Francoist Spain, 1939-1975”, University of London Phd Thesis, Queen Mary & Westfield, 1988.

L. Shand, “Centre Periphery Relations: The Basque Region of Northern Spain”, University of London, LSE MA dissertation, 1989.

4: Other Sources

Euskadi Cycle Team Foundation, information brochure, number 2, 1996.

Federe Ciclismo, Vuelta a España, programme, 1996.


If you are interested, here you have the links to all the previous entries:


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Wednesday, June 04, 2003

Mark Hill : Basque Nationalism and Cycling IV

Time to post the third chapter of Mark A. Hill's study entitled "The Spokes of Basque Nationalism" published at Daily Peloton.

I would like to warn you, Mr. Hill fell pray to the official version that Juan Carlos Borbon "betrayed" Franco and ushered a new age of democracy in Spain. Far from that, Juan Carlos Borbon staged a fake coupe d'etat that gave him the opportunity to reassert the dominance of the Spanish military forces in the political life of Basques, Catalonians, Galizans and Spaniards. With Borbon commanding both the PP and the PSOE the Francoist regime has been able to continue unabated in Spain.

Without furthere intro, here you have it:
Chapter 3: Transition, Autonomy and Basque Domination in Cycling 1975-1996

Basque Nationalist Capitalism and Cycle Sport

Following Franco’s death Spain’s political future faced immediate crisis. Crucially, Franco’s 1969 decision to make the Prince, Juan Carlos, his successor and embodiment of continuismo, proved flawed as the new King favoured a cautious democratisation process.

The death of Franco was met with much enthusiasm in the Basque Country and quietly within other Spanish political circles, but the Prime Minister, Arias Navarro’s objective of a limited reformism from above, proved impossible to implement, as it was rejected by the extreme right institutions as too liberal. Conversely, the promised ‘Spanish Democracy’ project, announced by Arias on 28 January, remained unacceptable to the opposition parties as it retained features of the old regime.

Government remained under the control of Arias Navarro until his resignation on 1 July 1976.1 Juan Carlos appointed Adolfo Suárez as the new Prime Minister and it was under Suárez that a programme of democratisation from above was accomplished, using the legal institutions of Francoism, with the King’s support. Public opinion at large backed democratic reforms and this was demonstrated by the December 1976 positive referendum result. The abandonment of Francoism’s ‘organic democracy’ was completed by the first Spanish general election in forty years on 15 June 1977.2

Critically in respect to Basque nationalist revival, the election results proved a regionalist pattern to voting sympathies. Nationally, Suárez’s own coalition of Christian Democrats, Liberals and Social Democrats, the UCD (Union of the Democratic Centre), emerged as the strongest party with 34.3 per cent of the vote. The Socialists (PSOE) of Felipe González came second, with 28.5 per cent.3 In the Basque Country, the elections indicated that Basque nationalism had clearly returned as a political force through party representation, despite very high levels of abstention in the region. The key divide within the nationalist movement as a whole, was the question of autonomy, or separatism as envisaged by ETA. PNV concerns related to the issue of a centralised Basque government and provincial powers for the individual provinces within Euskadi. However, the most significant problem encountered by the PNV was that of negotiating the new constitution.4

The drafting of the Spanish Constitution began with the appointment of a seven man Ponencia (drafting sub-committee), following the 1977 election, comprised of representatives from parties with fifteen deputies in the Cortes. The PNV only had eight deputies and were thus excluded from the process despite protestations and the contrary inclusion of a Catalan representative, given they only had thirteen deputies. PNV attempts to alter the draft text concerning National Sovereignty and the position of the regional peoples within the Spanish state failed, as did negotiations to revive the Foral rights of the territories in July 1978.

At the final vote in the Cortes, 31 October 1978, the PNV were defeated on all contested points. The PNV abstained during the Cortes acceptance vote. Additionally, the PNV urged all Basques to abstain in the Constitutional referendum due to the Constitution’s violation of and non-recognition of the historic fueros. The referendum achieved an overall majority of 66 per cent, but in the Basque region it received a 51 per cent abstention rate and a 25.3 per cent negative vote.5

Conversely, the Statute of Autonomy negotiations 1978-1979 did ameliorate some of the discontent over the constitution. The statute was drawn up by the UCD and the PNV and was accepted by all major parties, including the EE, apart from the intransigent HB (Herri Batasuna). The subsequent referendum to approve the Basque Statute of Autonomy was a success for the PNV, with 60.7 per cent of those entitled to vote doing so. The 40 per cent abstentions were largely derived from non-Basque immigrants and die-hard separatists. A total of 53 per cent voted in favour of accepting the statute. Despite this apparent gain, the wording of the Statute was ambiguous as it appeared to suggest that the Basques had achieved a semi-federal status within Spain.6

During the regional elections of 1980 the vote for the nationalist parties increased on the state-wide election results, as table 2 indicates. Nonetheless, the divides within the nationalist movement that plagued it even during Arana’s days, developed a more polarised nature. The difference in approach of the bourgeois PNV (formerly in exile in France) and the multifarious factions of ETA and its political parties (of varying Marxist ideologies), such as HB, became clear through the return of Basque sponsorship to cycle sport. This increased the nationalist message and mobilisation through capitalism and sport rather than guerrilla activities.

Table 2: Election Results in the Basque Country

(Source: Politics in Western Europe, Dorfman and Duignon. Adaptation from L. Shand)

Regional Parties 1977 1979 1980 (regional election)

PNV 30% 27.6% 38.1%
EE 6.5% 8.0% 9.8%
HB ** 15.6% 16.6%

TOTAL 36.5% 50.6% 64.5%

State-wide Parties

AP 7.2% 3.4% 4.8%
UCD 12.9% 16.9% 8.5%
PSOE 26.7% 19.1% 14.2%
PCE 4.6% 4.7% 4.0%

TOTAL 51.4% 44.1% 31.5%

The Political Parties:

PNV Partido Nacionalista Vasco
EE Euskadido Ezkerra (Basque Left)
HB Herri Batasuna
AP Alianza Popular (Now PP - Partido Popular)
UCD Union de Centro Democratico
PSOE Partido Socialista Obrero Español
PCE Partido Communista Español

The revival of regional capitalist interests was boosted by the constitution’s consideration of different approaches to achieving autonomy. In the case of the Basque Country and Catalunya, an historical approach to their claims was adopted, enabling a ‘fast-track’ or rapid route to autonomy concerning taxation, regional police and regional government. Other regions, which the central government believed had less historical claims, were restricted to two more lengthy procedures. These were the ‘special regime’ and the ‘normal route’, both of which required large municipal majorities in favour of autonomy and in the latter case, a further five year delay after the statue’s approval prior to autonomy.7

Basque Cycling After 1975: New Era - New Heroes

The death of Franco, whilst prompting serious political crisis in Spain as a whole and pushing the issues of Basque autonomy to the fore, enabled a more explicit regionalisation of cycle sport. The revival of the Tour of the Basque Country in 1969, signalled the potential softening of the regime.

The Voz de España newspaper first put the race back on the road by running the race in conjunction with the Bicicleta Vasca stage race for four years. It was not until 1973 that the Tour of the Basque Country took on its old explicit identity. The Voz de España bought the rights to the race in 1973 and began to run it as a separate event to the summertime Bicicleta Vasca. The Voz de España bankrupted in 1980, but the post-Franco era enabled the newly re-established Basque Federation and Unipublic (the Vuelta organisers), to take over the race for a further two years.

Critically, the developing regional press was now free of the Francoist shackles that had impeded the sports commercialisation and in 1982 the Basque newspaper El Diario Vasco became the new organisers. The newspaper’s owners considered the race so important in terms of Basque national identity that they established a sporting organisation within the paper to run the event. Furthermore, in 1981 the paper helped establish the San Sabastian one day race. Later this became part of the World Cup Classic series from 1987, which its sporting organisation also ran in addition to the world class track event the Six Hours of Euskadi. Economically, El Diario Vasco support of the region’s cycle sport was unparalleled. The national organisation, Unipublic, was no longer required to support the Tour of the Basque Country, indicating a virtually unique form of sporting autonomy within Spain. 8

The Basque economic revitalisation of cycle sport during the 1980’s was aided by a new breed of riders heavily influenced by the Basque national cause during the transition to democracy 1975-1982. Most notable amongst these was Marino Lejaretta. Explicit about his Basque identity, in a manner previously ill-advised under Franco, Lejaretta replaced Ocaña as the region’s hero. In 1981 and 1982 Lejaretta won the San Sabastian Classic allowing El Diario Vasco to bask in reflected glory. In 1982 he won the Vuelta and achieved second in 1983. Remarkably, Lejaretta enjoyed a long career, winning the first fully professional San Sabastian Classic again in 1987 and he was third overall in the 1991 edition of the Vuelta behind none other than Miguel Indurain.

Lejaretta’s retirement from the peloton did not remove him from promoting the Basque identity. Significantly, it was Lejaretta who provided much of the impetus for the establishment of the Euskadi Foundacion and the development of the unique Euskadi Cycle team in 1992.

Marino Lejaretta’s success at international level also helped revitalise Spanish cycle sport as a whole. Between 1975 and 1980 Spanish cycling achievements were fewer than in previous years, reflecting the crisis of the domestic situation. During this time ETA activity reached its peak, with numerous bombings and kidnappings, much of which discredited it even within the Basque Country. The 23 February 1981 attempted coup of Colonel Tejero in the Cortes, marked the last gasp of the military right and coincided with the decline of the Suárez UCD government.

The October 1982 election of the PSOE government of Felipe González, saw the Socialists achieve 47.6 per cent of the votes cast, gaining 202 seats to the right wing Alianza Popular’s 25.89 per cent and 107 seats.10 In the Basque Country the PSOE share of the vote was good at 29.4 per cent, dwarfing the AP, whilst the PNV gained 32.1 per cent. The political wing of ETA the HB suffered from its acquiescence to the ETA terrorist activity and the widespread indignation this caused in the region, polling 14.8 per cent. 11 This momentous event marked a consolidation of Spain’s new democracy after the years of uncertainty and threats of military coup.

By the mid-1980’s Spanish professional cyclists were again beginning to dominate the international sport. Pedro Delgado’s rise in the sport also reflected very much a rejuvenation of the Spanish national psyche. In Delgado, many Spaniards saw a sportsman around whom they could rally, without the Francoist legacies of Real Madrid or the regionalist limitations of Barcelona and Athletic de Bilbao.

Delgado’s team sponsor from 1990 was the Spanish banking corporation Banesto, consolidating the strong notions of national imagery. In 1987 Delgado was second overall in the Tour de France, whilst his 1988 victory in the Tour returned Spain to the pinnacle of the professional sport. This win, though marred by a positive drugs test, which detected the masking agent probenecid, did not result in disqualification due to it not being on the UCI’s (the international cycling governing body) banned list. In any event it did nothing to quell greater Spanish national pride.

The Spanish public’s desire to concentrate on this sporting diversion from the political tensions of transition ensured that Delgado remained largely immune from scandal. It remains the case that the most bizarre incident in Spanish cycling history, was the events of stage 17 in the 1985 Vuelta. The race leader at stage 16 was the Scottish rider Robert Millar, but during the following stage he became isolated from his French Peugeot team-mates by a closed level crossing barrier. His colleagues waited for several minutes for a train that never came, by which time Delgado and a number of his squad and some other Spanish riders, including the Basque Ruiz Cabestany, were able to work together to ensure Delgado’s ultimate victory and a Spanish domination of the national event.12

Such controversies as the 1985 and 1988 incidents may have marked Delgado’s career, but in many respects his achievements in the sport ensured greater commercial interest nationally and especially within the Basque Country. Though Delgado was not Basque, his sponsor Banesto had significant Basque connections and was based in Navarra. Delgado’s time as team leader at Banesto also gave rise to a new talent in the wings, that of the Navarran, Miguel Indurain.

Miguel Indurain - Basque Icon or Navarran Farm Boy

Miguel Indurain, 32 in 1996, has achieved more than any other cyclist since the Frenchman, Bernard Hinault’s domination of the sport in the early 1980’s. In 1995 Indurain set a unique record by winning five consecutive Tour de France, becoming only the fourth rider ever to win five Tours. This placed Indurain amongst the ranks of the cycling legends Eddy Merckx, Jacques Anquetil and Hinault. Indurain’s Navarran birth place, Villava and the province’s historic links to the Basque Country have led to him becoming an undeniable icon to many Basques. In terms of nationalism in cycle sport, Miguel Indurain has prompted the most overt expressions of Basque imagery and symbolism ever focused upon one sportsman.

Delgado’s domination of the sport ensured that Indurain was able to rise within the Reynolds and Banesto teams without excessive media focus and pressure until the inevitable questions as to who would be Delgado’s successor? Banesto team manager José Miguel Echavarri was asked by a Spanish journalist in 1989, “Hey we are really worried about what’s going to happen after Delgado.” Echavarri’s response was “Take it easy, we’ve got Miguel Indurain.” Echavarri recalls the response, “ the journalist just spat out, ‘Miguel?’ as if I was nuts.” 13

With Indurain’s victory in the 1990 Paris-Nice stage race, media attention began to shift towards his career prospects. However, at an early stage the Spanish media discovered that Indurain’s personality was not easily penetrated. In 1994 a journalist for El Pais summed up, “He has never said anything interesting...like all peasants he is ashamed of talking on the record, he is afraid to show emotion in public.” 14

These characteristics had ensured that interest in Indurain had remained low as late as 1987. His inarticulate nature or unwillingness to be drawn, proved a clear limitation initially in media terms. Conversely, he was blessed with the good fortune to avoid conscription in 1983, due to an excessive intake that year. This enabled him to build upon his junior and amateur successes. During his first professional season in 1985, Indurain won a stage of the Vuelta, but it was not until 1990, that Banesto realised his potential and his suitability to replace Delgado.

In 1991 Indurain won his first Tour de France with a 3 minute and 36 second advantage over the Italian Giani Bugno. It was a stylish win and was only Spain’s third ever Tour win. Therefore from 1991 Indurain’s career became the focus of competing nationalist messages. 15

Indurain’s Navarran status made him a cyclist that could be adopted by Basque cycling fans and nationalists. With Delgado’s career waning, the sport appeared to reassert its regional bias. Wherever, Indurain rode, the distinctive Basque flag (Ikurriña), dominated the stage routes to 1996. Navarran or Basque, Indurain was adopted as the sports icon of Spain as a whole. The question of Navarra’s status as a part of Euskadi revived in a new vibrant manner. In 1989, a survey by the journal Diario 16, revealed that 60 per cent of respondents in Alava, Guipúzcoa and Vizcaya, regarded Navarra as inextricably part of Euskadi and that it should be annexed accordingly. To the Basques therefore, Navarra and Indurain were part of Euskadi. 16

This enthusiastic adoption of Indurain, posed a clear challenge to the sports nationalism of the Spanish state and the Castilian press. The failure of the province to join the other Basque provinces in their pursuit of autonomy during the early 1930’s, led to the home province of the Civil War conspirator General Mola, enjoying preferential treatment during the Franco dictatorship.

The Province provided considerable support to the insurgents, divorced from the other Basque provinces, by its reactionary and more politically backward rural nature. By 1990, in the post-Franco era, Indurain’s success as a Navarran, represented a second challenge to the sporting nationalism of the Madrid based media. Indurain was continually projected as a Spanish or as a Navarran champion, never as a Basque. This situation increased the existence of Spanish sports nationalism and the oppositional Basque sports nationalism throughout the height of Indurain’s career. As the Barcelona Olympics approached in 1992, Indurain’s decision not to ride the Vuelta in favour of the more prestigious Giro d’Italia brought cries of treason from some sections of the Madrid based press. In the Basque Country Indurain’s absence from the Vuelta drew little criticism as he continued to compete in El Diario Vasco’s San Sabastian Classic. 18

Indurain, remained however keen to avoid being brought into nationalist dialogue and debate. In June 1996 when asked about being Navarran he stated, “I was born here, I like this region and its customs, but I don’t feel especially patriotic.” On ETA activities he stated that, “ETA terrorists have the same lack of respect for life as any other group of delinquents have. The Basque Country is not the only place to have terrorists in that respect. What hurts is that human values have been cast aside.” On politics in general Indurain claimed it did not interest him. 19

Indurain thus, found himself part of a nationalist discourse that existed despite his opinions, but the media continued its subtle manipulation of the nationalist dialogue surrounding the sportsman. In 1996 the Spanish press and public awaited an historic sixth Tour de France victory. The Tour route passed through Indurain’s hometown, Villava, on route to Pamplona. Ikurriñas dominated the route and especially the towns. The victory was not to be, but whilst ETA threatened to sabotage the Tour and set off bombs in Pamplona, the Madrid based sports daily, Marca failed incredibly to picture a single Ikurriña in its extensive coverage.20 Conversely, Meta 2 Mil, a Basque based journal succeeded, as did most of the international press, in showing the mass of Basque flags. 21

Indurain’s domination of the Spanish sports media since 1991 assured his status as both a Spanish and Basque national icon. During the 1996 Tour, as the Indurain dream seemed to fade, the Spanish press appeared to come to terms with the reality that Indurain might be beaten. Marca began to define Indurain as a Navarran more explicitly once the famous yellow jersey could no longer be regained. Despite this, Indurain was unanimously lauded as a hero by all the Spanish press. Marca even established a phone-in so that supporters could give their appreciation of Indurain’s achievements.22 Behind the scenes however, Indurain’s relationship with the team management of Banesto had been souring since 1995. As rumours of Indurain’s early retirement grew after the 1996 Tour, so did talk of a rift with Echavarri and the Banesto sponsor.

Indurain’s January 1997 decision to retire completely from the sport and return to his Villava farm, caused a media sensation in Spain and a sense of national sporting crisis. Indurain’s enforced participation in the September 1996 Vuelta by Banesto is widely tipped to have been the last straw of a crumbling relationship and thus he retired despite negotiations with other teams such as Spain’s ONCE. The poor showing by Spanish cyclists and Indurain’s retirement, during the 1996 Vuelta prompted the Spanish newspaper ABC to report that Spain’s cycling had descended into “revolting crisis”.23

These reports of doom were exaggerated, as Spanish sports nationalists believed Spanish cycling faced a similar fate to that which befell Belgium and France after spells of prolonged success in the sport. This situation had effectively been produced by the nature and focus of sponsorship upon Indurain alone in a manner detrimental to the rest of the sport. This was not the case in the Basque Country. Indurain’s hero status remained intact especially in Pamplona, where he received Navarra’s gold medal of honour in December 1996.

Additionally, 60 per cent of Spaniards interviewed by Hablan magazine believed Indurain should be named Duke of Villava.24 Indurain’s guest appearance at the Six Hours of Euskadi track race received a standing ovation from the 10,000 strong crowd and was used by the Basque organisers to highlight his overshadowed Olympic time-trial gold medal gained at Atlanta in 1996. 25 It is therefore, important not to underestimate the role of Miguel Indurain to the projection of Basque nationalism. The Marca headline following the Atlanta gold medal read, “ The King is back - long live the King!”.

Euskadi - Cycling’s Heartland

Whilst Indurain’s status as a Basque remained open to question or manipulation by some, the rise of a Abraham Olano during 1994-95 enabled an unquestionable demonstration of Basque nationalist expression through the sport. Olano’s Basque credentials and willingness to overtly display them represented a God send to nationalism not seen since Lejaretta.

Olano’s decision to remain resident in the tiny farming village of Altzo, 50 kilometres south of San Sabastian, provided nationalists with a sports star that reflected so many of the requirements of Basque nationalism’s core doctrines. Olano’s home province of Guipuzcoa, unlike Navarra is unquestionably Basque; Olano even speaks Basque (Euskera) and lived in a traditional Basque farmhouse. His second place in the 1995 Vuelta and victory ahead of Indurain at the 1995 World Championships in Colombia ensured his elevation to a Basque cult status nearly like that of Indurain’s.

The transition to Basque hero was completed as Indurain’s retirement saw Olano’s recruitment to Banesto. However, Olano’s importance is in terms of what he symbolised as a representative of Basque sporting nationalism and as evidence of life after Indurain. The years of expansion in Spain’s economy during the late 1980’s ran out of steam just as Indurain began his domination of the sport. In 1990 Spain had eleven fully professional cycling teams, by 1996 there were only five. This apparent contraction of the sport’s economy was as a result of an unwillingness on the part of sponsors to risk money on teams whilst Indurain dominated the international and domestic sport.26 Manuel Castillo of Marca concurs, but notes that the Basque Country is the only region where this crisis can be overcome because, “the Basque Country is the heartland of Spanish cycling”.27

Whilst the major Spanish cycling teams such as Banesto, ONCE and Kelme typified the international pattern of sponsorship gained from capitalist enterprises and demonstrated the commercial popularity of the sport in terms of TV figures. In the Basque Country a new phenomenon germinated in the form of the Euskadi Foundation and its cycling team.

This project was unique in the sport and demonstrated the originality of Basque business and its realisation of the nationalist potential of such an overtly ‘national’ team. The original idea was that of José Alberto Pradera, former parliamentary deputy for Vizcaya. His vision was a team that would represent a country, but which was paid for by individuals in partnership with business. Pradera visited the Tour de France in 1990 with the present team president Miguel Madariaga. Aware of the imminent crisis in Spanish cycling sponsorship, concrete plans were in place after the Tour’s visit to San Sabastian in 1992, to create a unique form of a nationalist professional team. The three Basque provincial cycling federations co-operated with the scheme, encouraged by none other than Marino Lejaretta. 28

A subsequent survey of local cycling fans revealed 20,000 promises of support for an Euskadi team. By Christmas 1992 the team’s existence was officially announced. The team’s requirement for riders was that they had been based in the Basque Country as amateurs, including the French Basque departments and Navarra, which Madariaga explains is accepted as part of Euskadi by most people in the region.

Initial success in terms of results was limited as the budget of about three quarters of a million pounds could not stretch to high quality professionals. Instead the Euskadi project settled itself with a springboard role to the bigger teams whilst still gaining considerable TV coverage. This was a key aim of the business contributors. As team officials state, “ the aims are to sell the country and the country’s products and prove that we aren’t just a place where people throw bombs at each other”.29

Euskadi’s debut in the professional peloton came in 1994. Unique in the sport, the Euskadi jersey displayed no sponsorship names, only the colours of the Ikurriña. All sponsors, including those of business origins were simply listed in the back of the team’s yearly brochure.30 Early talk indicated that the management believed revenue gained through individual contributions might enable the team to make an offer to Miguel Indurain. This soon proved an illusion. The 20,000 promises of 1992 was undermined by the reality of only 3,500 individual sponsors each paying the equivalent of £60 a month. By 1994 this increased to 4,520 and in 1995 to around 7,000.

The aim during 1995 was to achieve 45 per cent of the budget through fans alone. The remaining portion gained from small business contributions has in some ways mirrored the early ideology of de Sota. The biggest sponsor in 1994 was Petronor, providing £125,000. By 1995 the budget increased to £1.5 million with over 800 businesses involved. Crucially during 1995 Euskadi negotiated a deal with Basque television, whereby in exchange for the display of the TV company’s motif on the jersey, the company would make up any shortfall in the budget.31

The idea to promote the region and simultaneously deliver a nationalist message through the team’s symbolic imagery, received a further boost in 1995. At this time the Tour de France organisers the Société du Tour de France invited Euskadi to participate in a number of the organisation’s races with a view to a place in the Tour itself. However, during 1996 the team failed to qualify and appeared unlikely to do so again by 1997. Nonetheless, the future of the team despite its financially precarious set up, highlighted by delays in paying the riders during August 1996, secured enough finance to continue well beyond expectations.32

In September 1996 ABC predicted the imminent demise of Euskadi.33 However, Basque bicycle manufacturer Zeus received payment for two years worth of bikes and Basque cycle clothing manufacturer Etxe-Ondo continued to produce the jerseys.34 Thus during a time when the Spanish economy contracted and cycling sponsorship declined, Equipo Euskadi provided evidence through its links with businesses in the Basque Country, that cycle sport provides a strong form of nationalist expression which transcends considerable economic problems.

Ultimately, the team has survived and evolved beyond all expectation. At the time of writing this revision of my original 1997 work, the current team is known as Euskaltel – Euskadi and is about to commence its second Tour de France.

Euskaltel is the Basque Country’s main telecommunications and internet provider. The arrival of their sponsorship in 1998 secured the team’s future and marked a shift from the traditional Basque national colours of the team jerseys to the corporate colours of the new sponsor. For the first two years of sponsorship the kit was, white, turquoise and blue, however in 2000, a radical change to bright orange and navy, marked perhaps one of the most successful and curiously intriguing nationalist statements in any modern sport.

During the last three seasons (2000-2002), Euskaltel – Euskadi has had astonishing success in projecting itself, potentially unexpectedly, as the embodiment of Basque nationalism in cycling. Qualification to and a stage win during the team’s first Tour de France in 2001, ensured a step change for the relatively low budget team to undeniable Division One status. Interestingly the shrewd adoption of the words Pays Basque, on the kit issued for races held in France paid off and in itself represented a challenge to the contrary nationalist point of the Grand Boucle itself.

Whilst the historical and political developments since 1997 remain to be fully completed and added to this study by the author, there is perhaps no greater image of Basque nationalism in cycling than the scenes at Luz Ardiden. It was there that an incredible sea of orange clad fans and waving Ikurriñas marked Roberto Laiseka’s impressive mountain top victory for the team and his homeland – Euskadi.

Footnotes:

1. Carr, Modern Spain. p174
2. Ibid. p175
3. Preston, Triumph of Democracy, p119
4. L. Shand, “The Basque Region of Northern Spain”, LSE, unpublished MA theseis, 1989. p16
5. Ibid. p21
6. Ibid. p26
7. Ibid. p28
8. Cycle Sport, May 1995. p73
9. Euskadi Foundacion, Team Brochure, Number 3, 1996.
10. Preston, The Triumph of Democracy in Spain. pp225-226
11. L. Shand, LSE, MA thesis. p9
12. El Pais, 15 July, 1994. p60
13. Cycle Sport, March 1997. p20
14. Ibid. p21
15. Ibid. p61
16. Diario 16, 19 February 1989.
17. Gazzetto Dello Sport, 5 January 1997.
18. El Diario Vasco : Organizaciones Deportivas, San Sabastian Classic race programme 1996.
19. Cycle Sport, Interview with Indurain, July 1996. p20
20. Cycling Weekly, 6 and 20 July 1996. p6
21. Marca, 18 July 1996.
22. Marca, 17 July 1996.
23. ABC, 29 September 1996. p92
24. Cycle Sport, February 1997. p10
25. Cycle Sport, April 1997. p40
26. Cycle Sport, March 1996. p61: opinion expressed by Jeff Van Looy, Meta 2 Mil.
27. Ibid. p47
28. Cycle Sport, November 1995. pp50-53
29. Ibid. p50
30. Euskadi Equipo Ciclista, Team brochure 1996.
31. Cycle Sport, November 1995. p53
32. Cycle Sport, November 1996. p11
33. ABC, 29 September 1996. p92
34. Information obtained from conversations between the author and owner of Prendas Ciclismo - UK sole importer of Etxe-Ondo.


Link to the Introduction.

Link to the First Chapter.

Link to the Second Chapter.

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Basque Priests Support Egunkaria

While some priests and bishops use the money of their diocesis to cover up the sexual predatory practices of some of their own people, in other places the men that dedicate their lives to their religious beliefs direct their efforts to defend justice, as the one who died on a cross did. Of course, the Pope is known for wasting more ink and time on getting the sexual predators out of trouble than to meet those that from within bring a degree of respectability to the damaged image of the Catholic Church.



CONCERNING THE CLOSING OF THE DAILY BASQUE PAPER EGUNKARIA AND THE ARREST OF THOSE IN CHARGE OF THE PAPER


The closing of the only Basque daily paper, by the minister of interior of the Spanish government, and the arrest of those responsible for the paper have raised up strong feelings of an entire population of journalists of other papers in the Basque Country and beyond, and of a certain number of associations in the Southern and Northern parts of the Basque country. Some priests of our diocese who are part of the "Herriarekin" Association, have shown their solidarity with these prisoners.

Saint*Palais(64120), March 3, 2003

The Basque priests of the "Herriarekin" Association were reunited for their monthly assembly and were informed of the closing of Egunkaria (Feb. 20, 2003) and of the arrests of those in charge of the daily paper.

We ourselves have been subscribers to this paper since its creation. We show our solidarity with these tortured prisoners and with the personnel affected by the closure of the paper. Despite the denials and the threats by the minister of interior ACEBES of the AZNAR government, we believe these prisoner's allegations of the torture to which they have been subjected inside the prisons of the Guardia Civil. Already, the FIJ (Federation International of Journalists who represent more than 500,000 journalists in more than 100 countries) and the European office of languages least known have made unambiguous statements concerning the matter.
We wish that the press and the media provide the best publicity to this affair.

From the Archdiocese of Bayonne Newsletter:

We think:

That an attack on the freedom of speech is a very serious offense and even more: That this attack affects the only means of daily press in the Basque Language, read on both sides of the Bidassoa; That this attack intervenes with all serious investigations; That those arrested, like all people, have the right to the respect of their dignity and that competent authorities should objectively and calmly, verify the accusations of the torture to which the police have been accused; That the freedom given to a journal written in the Basque language is a right that all democratic governments should permit and that the respect of this right should be supported by the Spanish government and not confused between the peaceful defense of the Basque culture and a movement that feeds violence that we condemn.

With this said, the Church throughout the world accomplishes its prophetic mission so full of human truth, justice and love. It's the reason in which, some priests authorize themselves to interfere like this in this profound public debate, by their minister of reconciliation.


.... ... .

Tuesday, June 03, 2003

Mark Hill : Basque Nationalism and Cycling III

As promised, here you have the second chapter of the interesting essay titled "The Spokes of Nationalism" by Mark A. Hill published at Daily Peloton:

Chapter 2: Cycle Sport Through the Franco Years 1936-1975

Franco’s Spain - cycling pariah

The fortunes of Spanish cycle sport were mixed during the Franco regime and reflected economic, national and international factors to 1975. The period after World War Two and the Cold War era, especially provide interesting parallels between Spain’s international performance of the sport and the policy directions of Franco’s regime.

The Second World War brought a halt to genuine international competition in all sports. The last pre-war Giro D’Italia was held May 1940 recommencing in 1946; the last Tour de France occurred in July 1939, only resuming in 1947. By contrast, cycle sport continued in Spain. The disruption caused by the Civil War provided obstacles to the resumption of the sport, including extensive devastation of the road network and the implementation of a police state - diverting resources away from the pursuit of national sports.

The complexion of the government of Spain after the end of the Civil War, with its undertones of fascism, precluded any possibility of international events. Likewise, despite relative Spanish neutrality during World War Two (fascist Spain had supported the Axis until 1943), the war prevented any international events, even with Franco’s ideological allies, Germany and Italy. Nonetheless, competitive cycle races resumed in Spain during 1941, with the first edition of the Vuelta since 1936, albeit with a decidedly national and nationalistic flavour. Of significance was the very fact that this edition was and remains the longest ever, reflecting a keen desire of the Franco regime to demarcate the victors’ Spanish National State boundary across the regions and the former Republican strongholds.

The staging of the races did however, remain economically problematic. The historical reliance of such races upon private finance, particularly often derived from newspapers, was disrupted by the implementation of economic autarky (1945-1957).1 The Basque economy did not escape the impacts of Spanish post-war international isolationism and the fascist state was not favourable to capitalist support of sports. This corporate state model, still in some economic disarray, backed by a police apparatus and repressive system, not best disposed to unfettered newspaper publication, contained the development of capitalist links with the professionalising sponsorship of teams and events. Despite this, editions of the Vuelta were held in 1941 over a distance of 4442 km, 1942 over 3634 km and 1945 over 3723 km, with the participation of Spanish nationals only, until 1946 when foreign nationals resumed participation.2

Between 1945 and 1950, despite the participation of some foreign nationals in the Vuelta, Spanish cycling remained internationally limited due to the diplomatic and economic boycotts imposed after the war. Many Basque cyclists left for exile in France or further afield to the United States and Latin America. Many exiles to France participated in French amateur squads and could base themselves in the French Pays Basque departments.

In Spain, the economic effects of autarky and depression contributed to the abandonment of the Vuelta between 1950 and 1955. The most able Spanish cyclists were forced to prove themselves abroad. In 1952 Barnardo Ruiz achieved third place in the Tour de France, having won the Vuelta in 1948; in 1954 Federico Bahamontes won the gruelling ‘King of the Mountains’ points jersey in the Tour, providing a glimpse of a Spanish renaissance at an international level in the sport.3

This renaissance coincided with the reality of East-West political polarisation during the 1950’s Cold-War and the abandonment of autarky by the Franco regime. The strategic position of the Iberian Peninsular and the ideological antithesis of its regimes to communism, brought the dictatorships of Franco in Spain and Salazar in Portugal back in to the sphere of Western politics, strategic importance and economics.

In 1950, Franco offered Spanish troops towards the US effort in the anti-Communist Korean War; in 1953 Spain was clearly seen in a new light as the USA formed a mutual defence pact with Franco, bringing massive economic and military assistance at a crucial time for the regime.4 Such infringements of Spanish sovereignty were not entirely domestically popular. By February 1957, the inclusion of a number of economic technocrats from the Catholic Opus Dei order, indicated the regime’s move towards economic modernisation and integration into world capitalism, confirming the abandonment of autarky.5

Almost symbolically, in 1959 Federico Bahamontes became the first Spaniard to win the Tour de France. However, Bahamontes was no true friend of the regime. In 1957 he came second in the Vuelta, after which he based his career in France. Problematically for Spain’s cyclists and especially for objectors to the regime, the international sport was based around national squads - commercial teams having been abandoned from 1930, due to the effects of the ‘Great Depression’. Thus, Bahamontes’ objections remained subdued sufficiently in order to allow inclusion in the national squad, allowing the regime to claim these performances in the name of Spain and indirectly the regime.

Bahamontes later achieved second place behind the great Frenchman and five times Tour winner Jacques Anquetil in 1963 and third in 1964, but he dominated the ‘King of the Mountains’ jersey, winning again in 1958, 1959, 1962, 1963 and 1964.

The ending of autarky and the 1960’s subsequent Spanish economic boom, consequently coincided with the apparent rise of Spanish cycling as Julio Jiminez continued the Spanish domination of the ‘King of the Mountains’ jersey, winning in 1965, 1966 and 1967. In 1967 he also achieved second place in the Tour’s overall classification.

By 1968, the necessary infrastructure of an internationally competitive Spanish cycling team was consolidated by Spain’s strengthening economic position. This was exhibited by Spain’s overall points win in the 1968 Tour de France and by the resumption of the Vuelta, characterised by an increased international participation post 1958.6

By 1968, the opening of Spain to tourism and the slight liberalisation of the regime allowed the resurgence of Basque nationalism and significantly the re-emergence of explicitly Basque cyclists at an international level. The renewed commercialisation of the professional sport during 1962-1967 and from 1969 to the present day, enabled Basque business to again rally behind the region’s cycling and other sports clubs, without the previous levels of state interference. However, this does not mean that a covert PNV structure was unable to exist during the Franco regime.

The Spanish nationalist project of Franco, with its repression of regional identities prevented overt Basque or Catalan nationalist expression through sport and culture. Sports that were not specifically Basque were not outlawed. Franco regarded Basque culture, especially the language, as an excuse for and sign of separatism.7

Football, basketball and cycling were all key elements in Franco’s concept of sport as a nationalist tool. The Real Madrid football team and the national squad were essential elements of Spanish nationalism at both a national and international political level. Franco’s prohibition of the European Nations Cup football match against the USSR in 1960 and the eventual win against the USSR at the 1964 event, hosted by Spain demonstrated this still further. This the press hailed as the "logical culmination of Franco’s victory in the Civil War", indicating the nature of nationalism in Spanish sport.8

The introduction of television to Spain during the early 1960’s, was a state run enterprise, dominated by movies and especially sport. Despite, Franco’s rejection of international criticism and resentment at the change in the social and political direction of the Second Vatican Council, real social and economic changes occurred in 1960’s Spain. Attempts by the most reactionary in the regime to denounce any liberalisation in Spain was out of kilter with the reality of change in the country, especially in the Basque Country.

The cultural and political assault on the region after the Civil War did not mean long-term economic neglect. Although the Basque Country remained industrially weak compared to other west European economies, the policy of autarky had allowed some consolidation of the Basque industrial elite. The economic crisis of the late 1950’s and the re-entry of the Spanish economy into world trade after autarky, benefited the region. Industrial growth, after the readjustments of the Plan of Stabilisation, particularly in the heavy industries of steel and ship building, expanded as a consequence of the state’s modernisation programme.

This had the net effect of increasing labour immigration to the region, as population growth indicates (1955-1975 average population growth of 59.95% in Basque Country) and of boosting the average per capita income of Basque residents well above the national norm (averaging 35% to 60% higher by the mid-70’s). The Plan brought modernisation and industrialisation closer to previously isolated rural communities.9 Furthermore, it laid a secure foundation upon which Basque businesses could re-enter the commercial support of cycle sport by the late 1960’s. Additionally, it provided a significant financial and political base for the reorganisation of PNV activity to 1975.

In 1960 the first ikastolas (schools in which Euskara is the language of instruction) opened since the Civil War, but the best known militant form of Basque nationalism was embodied in the emergence of the radical ETA movement (Euskadi’ ta Askatasuna - Euskadi and Liberty), which developed during the late 1950’s. Its programme has generally been associated with guerrilla activity to secure a separate Euskadi rather than regional autonomy or a federation of Spanish provinces.

Though there is not space to discuss the movement in depth here, importantly, it did increase interest in the nationalist issue as a whole. Although its role with regards to sporting events has been paradoxical to that of the PNV, from which it split in 1959 due to the PNV exiled leadership’s refusal to give support to a military response to Francoism.

The issue of Basque nationalism regained attention through the activity of Basque Catholic priests, many of whom were young and of rural extraction. Such priests were influenced by the general concept of liberation theology that evolved during the 1960’s and was consolidated by Vatican II. This challenge to the essence of Franco’s belief that the regime was a crusade for Christianity surprised much of the population and the authorities. The church provided a sanctuary to some extent in which criticism of the suppression of Basque culture and liberties could be discussed. It is often argued that many ETA activists came from or were influenced by the seminaries and convents of the rural Catholic Church.10

ETA mounted its military campaign in 1961. During the 1960’s much of ETA’s activity focused upon symbols of the Spanish State and Franco. In 1968 ETA organised clandestine demonstrations that coincided with Aberri Eguna (Basque national day), which erupted into riots. The same year, Txabi Echevarrieta became the first ETA militant shot by police, ensuring his martyrdom and sympathetic public protests. In revenge ETA assassinated the head of the political police in Guipúzcoa, consequently the Spanish authorities imposed a state of emergency in the province and Vizcaya. Significant repression and arrests culminated in the Burgos trials of sixteen people, including two priests and two women, implicated in the killing.11

Despite Spain hosting the World Championships at Lasarte in 1965 and although the Tour of the Basque Country resumed in 1969, professional cycle sport did not avoid the wider political tensions prevalent in Spain at this time. The new stars of the late 1960’s and 1970’s were more politicised than many of their predecessors. Additionally, their careers were not dependent upon national squads as commercial sponsorship resumed extensively by 1969.

Like Bahamontes before him Luis Ocaña, won the Tour de France in 1973 whilst basing most of his training in France due to his dislike of the Franco regime, endearing him to the Basques. However, he did participate in the Vuelta, winning in 1970.12 At the 1973 World Championships held in Montjuich in Spain Ocaña achieved third place as part of the Spanish squad. However, his major Spanish rival during this time was far less concerned with the excesses of the regime. The rivalry between the Asturian born José-Manuel Fuente and Ocaña reached its peak during the 1973 Tour when Fuente achieved third place eighteen minutes behind his rival. Fuente won the Vuelta in 1972 and 1974.13 To many, their rivalry was symbolic of the difficult times in Spain between 1970 and 1975, as the regime underwent a turbulent transition to democracy.14 Even cycling did not escape the activities of ETA during this time as protesters forced a stage of the Vuelta to be abandoned during 1973.15

No editions of the Vuelta or the Tour of the Basque Country were cancelled by the atmosphere of political crises brought about by the Burgos trials. Or indeed the reactionary activity of the fascist civilian or military ‘bunkers’ that preferred Francoism without Franco, brought to the fore whilst the aged Generalisimo’s health degenerated as a result of Parkinson’s and blood diseases.16 Those that favoured continuismo were dominant, particularly after ETA assassinated Franco’s right hand man, the Prime Minister Admiral Carrero Blanco with a car bomb in Madrid on 20th December 1973. The more liberal elements in the regime, whom favoured a democratic transition were effectively out manoeuvred by the so called ultras in the military and the fascist movement.

The April 1974 coup d’état in Portugal heightened the general insecurity of the regime as a neighbouring dictatorship collapsed.17 Amid increased suppression of Basque nationalism during 1975 and especially as a result of the trials and executions of ETA activists in September, international criticism and internal concerns from economists and industrialists grew, echoed by most of the Basque population.18

Significantly, it has to be remembered that most of the Basque professional cyclists of the 1980’s (notably Marino Lejarreta) and 1990’s were brought up during this time or would have been influenced by the accounts of their parents and relatives.

Thus, the death of Franco on 20th November 1975, although removing the figurehead of the extreme right, also heralded the beginning of a new era in not only Spanish politics, but in the politics and economics of Basque cycle sport as a nationalist force.

Footnotes:

1. Carr, Modern Spain, p155
2. Statistics obtained from Federe Ciclismo. 1996.
3. Evans, Facts and Feats. p40
4. P.Preston, Politics of Revenge, 1995. p143
5. R.Carr and J.P. Fusi, Spain: Dictatorship to Democracy, UK, 1979. p53
6. Cycle Sport, August 1995. p29
7. Heiberg, The Making of the Basque Nation. p90
8. Preston, Franco, p717
9. Heiberg, The Making of the Basque Nation. p94
10. Ibid. p103
11. Sullivan, ETA and Basque Nationalism. p72
12. Cycle Sport, August, 1994. p50
13. Facts and Feats, p60
14. Cycle Sport, October, 1995. p10
15. Marca, July, 1994.
16. Preston, Franco, p768
17. Preston, Politics of Revenge, p156
18. Preston, The Triumph of Democracy in Spain,edn 1996. p75


Link to the Introduction.

Link to the First Chapter.

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Monday, June 02, 2003

AI and Egunkaria

This is what Amnesty International says about the Egunkaria case in its most recent report on Spain:

Amnesty International Annual Report 2003 Updates

Selected events covering the period from January to April 2003

In Spain, on 20 February 2003, Euskaldunon Egunkaria, the only newspaper written entirely in Basque, was closed down as a "precautionary" measure and 10 managers, journalists and various associates were arrested under anti-terrorist legislation, by order of a National Court judge on ETA-related charges. All those arrested were held incommunicado under the anti-terrorist legislation and taken to the National Court in
Madrid. In March, the Spanish government announced that it was taking legal action against four directors of the newspaper for "falsely accusing" Civil Guards of acts of torture.

Amnesty International wrote to the Spanish authorities after it received reports that Martxelo Otamendi, one of the newspaper's directors, and other detainees, had been subjected to forms of torture such as the "bolsa" (asphyxiation with a plastic bag), exhausting physical exercises, threats and simulated execution. The organization called for a thorough and impartial investigation, irrrespective of whether a formal complaint of torture had been lodged.

Amnesty International, which opposes the use of incommunicado detention on the grounds that it facilitates torture, is also deeply concerned by disturbing new legislative proposals to extend the incommunicado regime.


I wonder if Günther Grass in Germany or Monsivais and Fuentes in Mexico read the reports by AI, I mean, they did sign the one manifesto in support of Savater didn't they?

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Aznar's Threats

The Francisco Franco wannabe by the name of Jose Maria Aznar is quite upset. He decided that he needed to apply some damage control for the electoral process that just took place in Spain last week. He knew his extreme-right political party was facing tough times due to Aznar's political blunders. Both his support of the war against Iraq (where Spanish troops have been deployed and Iraqi civilians are being murdered by the thousands) and his Prestige oil tanker blunder were a heavy weight on every single one of the candidates running for his party. So he resorted to the historic scape goat for Spain, Euskal Herria.

February saw the first stages of his strategy, his attack against Egunkaria and Ikastolak heralded a new period of violence against Basque society. The goal was simple, to cut the losses by appearing like the great hero of Spain's unity before the average joe.

The strategy did not work as he expected, so now he's mad and he wants to retaliate, and guess who is the target of his fury?

Read this article and you'll find out:

Spain's Aznar Warns Basques Against Autonomy Push

World - Reuters to My Yahoo!

MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria ruled out Sunday any negotiation on Basque proposals to hold a referendum for more autonomy, saying any vote would be illegal.

While Aznar's tough line against Basque separatists is applauded in most of Spain, it is highly divisive in the northern Basque country where at least half the population of two million seeks greater autonomy from Madrid.

Aznar said Basque Premier Juan Jose Ibarretxe's push for a referendum was a "capitulation to the blackmail of terror" of armed Basque separatists ETA.

A bomb killed two police officers in northern Spain last Friday in an attack which the government immediately blamed on the armed Basque separatist group ETA.

"Either Ibarretxe withdraws his plan or he will be presenting a challenge to the rule of law," Aznar said in an interview published by conservative daily ABC.

"The rule of law does not admit challenges from anyone. The law must be complied with," Aznar said. He added there was not sufficient support in the Basque Country for Ibarretxe's plan.

Ibarretxe is due to present his proposals before the Basque regional parliament when it reconvenes after the summer break in September.

To win approval it would require the support of banned Basque separatist party Batasuna, which the Supreme Court outlawed in March as the political wing of ETA.

Batasuna deputies are still allowed to sit in the regional parliament in Vitoria until the end of the current legislature.

A protest vote for Batasuna won almost 10 percent of the ballot in the Basque Country in May 25 municipal elections.

Can someone ask Aznar how come "the rule of law" was never applied against the Franco regime's members? Oh wait, they are all part of the Partido Popular today... nevermind.


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