Social Responses to Political Violence in the Basque Country

Abstract

In the Basque country of Spain, a violent political conflict has continued from the time of the Franco dictatorship. A terrorist group directs indiscriminate violence against the population. Over the past 10 years, a grassroots reaction against violence has built a pacifist protest. Groups of citizens have organized collective action. This article studies the strategies of these pacifist groups to gain support from Basque society. It shows how they gain an audience's attention in different sectors of the audience that tend to identify with each group. Through routine street mobilization and many other forms of social pressure, they have markedly changed the social landscape, constructing a new citizen consensus. Their activities affect political leaders, Spanish and Basque governments, and social conditions, seriously diminishing the terrorist group's influence.