(I've decided to stop clipping news articles for this page. The various newspapers keep erasing all their outdated articles, & I can't keep up.)
I put this page up when Basuqe terrorist organization ETA named Dec. 3, 1999, as the end of its 14-month "truce" with the Spanish government. It seemed the group had never really intended to seek a compromise, as had been hoped. The organization declared openly its intention to begin killing again, using violence to obtain "independence" for the so-called Euskal Herría, the name of the theoretical Basque (vasco) homeland, which would include autonomous communities Pais Vasco and Navarra, as well as a portion of southern France. The declaration was met with protests across Spain -- even the majority of Basque nationalists, it seems, have decided that terrorism is NOT the proper road to "peace." The months of the truce saw an increase in kale borroka, or "street violence" -- threats, vandalism, and such. Now, a few months after ETA's return to real activity, the group has killed three more people. These deaths are added to a toll of up to 800 Spaniards -- politicians, policemen, bystanders, and children.
I was an American student in Spain -- in Sevilla, far from Pais Vasco. The only thing that ties me to this issue is a strange love for Euskadi, a desire to learn more about the Basque people -- and a deep repugnance for violence. I don't have to be Basque -- or even Spanish -- to stand with hundreds of sevillanos in Plaza Nueva and call for an end to the senseless killing; and I'll call for it again, here, and repeatedly, until the terrorism ceases.
May 7, 2000 -- José Luis López de Lacalle. Journalist. Communist. Strong anti-Franco activist during the dictatorship. A firm stance against violence. Newspaper columns denouncing ETA. Two shots in the head, two in the thorax. A journalist, for God's sake. And the most bitter irony is that this organization claims to be fighting for the liberty of the Basque people. Is there really anything else to say?
That's the sort of thing they do.
There have been several more murders since De Lacalle was killed. I've stopped trying to keep my page up to date on that count; it's too much.
Did you know?
The blue ribbon, widely recognized as the symbol of support for freedom of speech
on the Internet, was a symbol of the public's opposition
towards the terrorist organization years before it came to the web.
La Evolución del PNV: This is a paper I wrote (my first academic writing on this subject!) on, well, the evolution of the Partido Nacionalista Vasco, or the Basque Nationalist Party, Sabino Arana's organization that started it all. It's in Spanish and the Spanish isn't perfect.
El País: Here, the newspaper El País has conveniently gathered all its major articles on the problema vasco since the end of the truce.
Defining the terms: In Spanish. This is a little dictionary of importand words in euskera, the language of Pais Vasco.
Manos Blancos: Still waiting on the English version. This is an anti-ETA organization that explains a lot of the symbols that are in the media now. Contains memorials to the victims of ETA's violence. Powerful.
A Detailed Profile: The Terrorism Research Center's report on ETA.
Also on Geocities: a page appropriately titled "ETA Asesina," which is true. One of the best features of this page is a compilation of the various anti-ETA chants and shouts heard across Spain.
From the Spanish Ministry of the Interior: the website on ETA sponsored by the Spanish government. Detailed. Fuerte.
Euskal Herria Journal: the new url of the Euskal Herria journal, a pro-ETA publication. Well, one should always be aware of all sides of an argument.
