Spanish state terrorism: Writing the story of its violence

Abstract

Basque society has been exposed to the terrorist violence of the Spanish state during and after the dictatorship and to that of ETA until its definitive cessation of violence on 21 October 2011. The search for the truth demands revealing the existence of state terrorism, regardless of how some historians attempt to diminish its gravity. In this article, the focus will be on cultural productions that make the writing of the history of terrorism in Spain more nuanced. The cultural texts studied include Pablo Malo’s film, Lasa eta Zabala (‘Lasa and Zabala’) (2014), Ion Arretxe’s novel Intxaurrondo: La sombra del nogal (‘Intxaurrondo: The shade of the walnut tree’) (2015), Miguel Ángel Llamas and Amaia Merino’s documentary, Non dago Mikel? (‘Where is Mikel?’) (2020) and the Centro Memorial de las Víctimas del Terrorismo (‘Memorial Center for the Victims of Terrorism’), which opened its doors in 2021.