Euskadi Ta Askatasuna Research Articles

The Coercion-Manipulation-Persuasion Framework: Analyzing the Modus Operandi of Systems of Non-State Actors

ABSTRACT Non-state actors conducting terrorist attacks have shown to also rely on a mosaic of tactics to advance their strategic agendas, such as misusing educational curricula, infiltrating political institutions, and providing welfare, among others. Nevertheless, when analyzing their modus operandi, the attention has focused on violent and illegal tactics, to the detriment of non-violent and legal tactics. In light of this, and inspired by the literature on hybrid threats, this paper introduces the Coercion-Manipulation-Persuasion framework (CMPf) to holistically analyze the modus operandi of such actors, conceptually labelled as Systems of Non-State Actors (SNSAs). The CMPf is an analytical framework that combines influence modes (i.e., coercion, manipulation, and persuasion) with different categories (i.e., physical/material, symbolic, institutional, and strategic) to hypothesize over the tactics that could be used by SNSAs, thus facilitating analyses and assessments on their activities and providing anticipation and understanding. To exemplify this, three cases are non-exhaustively analyzed through the CMPf: the Nordic Resistance Movement, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Euskadi Ta Askatasuna. This study is a first step towards exploring how studies on terrorism and hybrid threats intersect, and answers the call of the EU Security Union Strategy for mainstreaming hybrid threat considerations into all policy initiatives.

Spanish Intelligence in the Early Days of Late-Francoism: Fault Lines and Continuity

Conflicting factions within the late-Francoist regime, starting around 1968, prompted a slow-paced decline of the regime’s internal power structures, with an uncertain expiry date. Clandestine groups within universities and workers’ organizations pressed for regime change at different levels, and voices also emerged from within the Catholic Church and the army, often with the aim of restoring Spain’s international relations with its European neighbors and ending isolation. Increasingly rattled by the violence and the organized terrorist activity of Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, the repressive apparatus of the regime was determined not to relinquish control. It retaliated with large doses of information, disinformation, propaganda, and outright violence. Late-Francoist Spain thus presents a case study of practices and dynamics initiated during a nondemocratic period, whose legacy survived over the years and influenced the intelligence apparatus of the democratic country in which the Spanish now live.

Denaturalizing cruelty: Maixabel Lasa, victim and peacemaker, in Zubiak (Jon Sistiaga and Alfonso Cortés-Cavanillas 2019) and Maixabel (Iciar Bollaín 2021)

Within Basque society there exists a special subset of human beings, painful I–You binomials, forever linked through blood, by the lethal terrorist gun. Fortunately, today victims face a much more hospitable society, but it is still a moment rife with contradiction. One part of Basque society finds it difficult to imagine a shared collective memory that will faithfully reflect the excesses committed by Euskadi ta Askatasuna (ETA) and the Spanish state regarding human rights abuses. These misgivings are easily understood when some still debate the humanity of the victims themselves. Another part of Basque (and Spanish) society questions the political intent of restorative practices, of those experiences that bring victims and victimizers together within the framework of restorative justice, a political stance that, like in the first case, highlights the need to humanize the Other in the name of peace. The creative world of the arts, more specifically, the films studied in this article, move in a different direction and beg the question: if the processes of restorative justice are uniquely designed to be experienced in a triangulated scenario – one shared by victim, victimizer, and the dead – what might these conversations offer a society in need of better models of co-existence when put on the screen? Can art mediate?

Recovering the offender for society

In October 2011, the terrorist organization Euskadi ta Askatasuna (ETA) announced a definitive cease fire. Just a few months prior, restorative justice experiences had started between imprisoned former ETA members and victims of terrorism along with coexistence workshops in the Nanclares prison, events geared towards trying to heal wounds in the aftermath of political violence. Although these are mainly private and personal experiences, with emotional effects in the participants in the encounters, they may also facilitate projects of wider social reconciliation. This article points out the lessons we have learned during these experiences as far as ex-ETA militants are concerned and the potential of these restorative justice practices for active responsibility, individual healing and reintegration in the community.

What the fog hid(es)

Through the analysis of several cultural metaphors, this article reflects on the fractures, both social and personal, brought about by politics and violence in the Basque Country. The author suggests that – regardless of the optimistic public transcript concerning the new ‘democratic scenario’ opening after the end of Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) in 2018 – a thick ideological fog has still not burned off. In a landscape that has been profoundly impacted by violence, only the shadows and silhouettes goaded by the fog have been transformed.

¡Basta Ya! The Basque Civic Movement and Nonviolent Resistance to eta’s Terrorism

Abstract This paper examines the impact that the Basque civic movement had in the civil resistance against the armed separatist group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (eta). The ‘civic’ or ‘constitutionalist’ movement, whose best-known representative was the social movement organization ¡Basta Ya!, emerged to demand the protection of Basque citizens’ human and political rights, which were routinely abused by eta and their sympathisers. The movement impacted on the cycle of contention against terrorism through the diffusion of democratic norms and anti-eta political narratives, by sustaining civil resistance against terrorism while enduring persecution by their militants and sympathisers and by protecting the social fabric through the channelling of non-nationalist grievances into collective action that was pro-democratic and nonviolent. The case highlights the crucial parallels that exist between civil resistance to authoritarian regimes and non-state groups and the crucial role that civil society actors can play in the social delegitimisation of terrorist organisations.

Discourses on the Spanish Civil War in Basque novels

The aim of this article is to examine the literary discourses of Basque novels that deal with the memory of the Spanish Civil War, and to compare them with the sociopolitical context in which they were published. Firstly, we offer a summary of the period from the Spanish transition to the dissolution of Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA, Euskadi and Freedom), focusing on the factors that worked either in favour of or against remembrance of the war. Then we interpret accounts of the war in Basque novels. Finally, our conclusion is that, in general terms, there is a parallelism between political and literary dynamics, although by the 1990s Basque novels were ahead of the times in seeing the need to provide a new, critical image of the Civil War; in the political field, however, that process was to take place at the beginning of the new millennium.

Incompatible Maternity: Motherhood and Terrorism in J. A. González Sainz’s Ojos que no ven and Arantxa Urretabizkaia’s El cuaderno rojo

ABSTRACT As members of Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA), female characters in J. A. González Sainz’s Ojos que no ven and Arantxa Urretabizkaia’s El cuaderno rojo challenge the traditionally held idea that women are naturally life-giving, peace-loving beings. The works present two different perspectives; Asun, in Ojos que no ven, is represented solely through her husband’s gaze, whereas la Madre, in El cuaderno rojo, provides context and nuance for her actions through first-person letters written to her children. Despite the dichotomy of these perspectives, both works ultimately uphold the fundamental incompatibility of motherhood with the proscribed violence usually associated with terrorist organizations.

“From street soldiers to political soldiers”: assessing how extreme right violence has been criminalised in Portugal

ABSTRACT Historical evidence points to the fact that extreme right-wing (ERW) violence has not always been prosecuted under terrorism legislation, but under various other criminal statutes. In Portugal, since the regulation of terrorism in the general Criminal Code in 1982, which was then replaced by counterterrorism (CT) legislation in 2003, there have been five terrorism convictions. However, none was related to ERW violence, despite the existence of numerous ideologically motivated crimes committed by groups and individuals occupying this side of the political spectrum. In this study, we aim to understand the reasons behind such penal selectivity in contemporary Portugal by comparing two legal files: the first case sentenced according to the Portuguese CT Law, whose defendant was a Spanish national, and member of Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA); and the first case of ERW violence sentenced after the introduction of the Portuguese CT Law, in which 36 alleged skinheads were sentenced for racial discrimination and incitement to hatred and violence, as expressed in section 240 of the Portuguese Criminal Code. We discuss how the Portuguese case can contribute to the international debate regarding the criminalisation of ideologically motivated violence.

La répression, facteur d’annihiliation du terrorisme ou de sa radicalisation ? Le cas du conflit basque

"Faced with a terrorist movement, the authoritarian or democratic power deploys a repressive response. At certain times, it was massive against the armed group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA). To study its effects on the group’s operationality, we used two original databases (ETA actions, arrests of its activists). Statistical analysis underlines that the most intense deployments of police repression had a radicalising effect on the Basque national liberation movement, whether under authoritarian or democratic regimes until at least the 1980s, and that this radicalisation phenomenon does not occur at the end of a protest cycle as a backlash against its exhaustion. The effectiveness of repression is only real when it is not only police-related but also judicial, and when it is supported by transnational cooperation. Keywords: Counter-terrorism, Basque country, ETA, legal and illegal repression, statistical analysis. "

Methodological approach to the evolution of a terrorist organisation: ETA, 1959–2018

Founded in December 1958, Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) was dissolved on 11 May 2018. During its almost sixty years of existence, ETA underwent phases of military offensive and then a decline in its operational activity. In order to understand the limits of these episodes and their reasons, we have created an original database listing all the actions of the armed group. Our analysis contributes to highlighting the strategic developments of the clandestine organisation and stimulating discussion of the conclusions previously drawn from the group’s databases of fatal victims. We will thus consider the consequences of methodological choices on the interpretation of the history of a clandestine organisation.

LESS DIVIDED AFTER ETA? THE EVOLUTION OF IDEOLOGICAL CLEAVAGES IN THE BASQUE ENVIRONMENTAL FIELD, 2007–2017

The Basque Country has traditionally been considered a strongly polarized political community. The influence of the center-periphery cleavage and the shadow of political violence have conditioned many aspects of social life, including relations among civic organizations. Previous literature suggests that differences in organizations’ national identities and/or position towards ETA’s (Euskadi ta Askatasuna, or Basque Country and Freedom in the Basque language) violence have often acted as cleavages fragmenting collective action fields. This research examines whether this picture changed substantially after ETA’s abandonment of violence in 2011 by taking the environmental field as a case study and looking at the evolution of patterns of interorganizational collaboration between 2007 and 2017. The results of statistical network analyses show that both Basque nationalism and ideological positions towards ETA’s use of violence had a strong influence on organizations’ decisions to collaborate with one another up to 2011, whereas during the more recent postconflict period, collaboration seems to occur in a more pluralistic and less ideologically driven fashion.

Jihadist prisoners in Spain and the application of the high security prison regime

The presence in Spanish prisons of individuals linked with jihadist terrorism has alerted the authorities to the risk that these prisoners may pose as agents for radicalization and the establishment of organizational structures inside prisons. To address this risk, Spanish authorities have used similar policies to those applied to prisoners belonging to the Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) terrorist group, subjecting jihadist prisoners to a restrictive detention regime. Based on the data obtained from analysis of the judicial proceedings of 264 individuals imprisoned for jihadist acts and information from the questionnaires completed by 60 prison officers in direct contact with those persons, this article considers whether it is appropriate to indiscriminately apply a high security regime to these types of prisoners.

What do our future teachers think about terrorism and politically motivated violence in the Basque Country?

Euskadi Ta Askatasuna—Basque Country and Freedom (ETA) was an armed organisation from the Basque Country and after it declared that it would cease violent actions and subsequently disbanded, the Basque Country has been involved in a peace process. The Adi-adian programme that is part of this process has been implemented as a part of teacher training programmes. By means of a mixed model that combines both qualitative and quantitative elements, the present study has attempted to identify the attitudes of future teachers—prior to implementation of Adi-adian—regarding terrorism and politically motivated violence that occurred in and from the Basque country since 1960, the information they have received with respect thereto, and their opinions as to how the issues are dealt with in the classroom. The results obtained reveal a generally respectful attitude toward human rights and the delegitimisation of violence; lack of satisfaction regarding the information they have received throughout their lives; and, as future teachers, a lack of certainty as to how to approach such issues in the classroom. It was noted that these future teachers had a high degree of motivation and interest with respect to these matters.

Terrorist-Turned-Entrepreneur: Basque Masculinities in Fe de etarras

This essay examines representations of masculinity in Fe de etarras (2017), a dark comedy film directed by Borja Cobeaga and written by Cobeaga and Diego San José. This film is groundbreaking in its comedic treatment of the Basque separatist terrorist organization ETA, which permanently dissolved five months after the film's release. This essay situates the film in the context of ETA's disbandment, a turning point in Basque-Spanish relations and Basque cultural production, as well as during Spain's ongoing economic and political crises. Fe de etarras serves as an example of how Spain's post-ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna [Basque Homeland and Freedom]) recessionary culture envisions economic recovery and unification as hinging on a particular masculine ideal. By tracing the protagonist's redemptive arc from ETA terrorist to Madrid-based business owner, this essay shows how the film promotes entrepreneurial Basque masculinity while disposing of the competing warrior ideal that has died out with ETA. In Fe de etarras, the conversion of the obsolete, terrorist holdout into entrepreneur is key to Spain's recovery. This essay links the film's conservative gender politics to its limited reimagining of Basque identity, contending that the film exemplifies how commercial cultural products preserve the status quo during moments of transition.

A Legacy of Violence: The Lack of Transitional Justice in Post-Franco Spain and its Impact on Victimhood

In order for a country to transform from a society in which rights were severely repressed to a society in which rights are respected and protected, the violations of the past must be properly and adequately addressed. However, instead of using the transition to democracy to confront the country’s history of violence and repression, the Spanish government and society actively stifled the memory of the Civil War and forty-year dictatorship, failing to address the country’s legacy of violence and the victims left in its wake. Despite the Spanish transition being regarded as a remarkable success story, an institutionalized historical amnesia resulted in many oppositional counter-memories as forms of cultural resistance. This paper will demonstrate how repressing memory left the door open for the legacy of political violence to persist in Spain. Prioritizing processes of transitional justice and historical memory is crucial in working toward sustainable peace in Spain and the Basque Region today. This paper will provide an overview of transitional justice and historical memory and an analysis of the impact of Spain’s lack of transitional justice, specifically regarding the politicization of victimhood. It is important to examine the implications of the pacto del olivido (pact of silence) and the 1977 Amnesty Law in rendering Franco’s victims invisible and in sustaining Spain’s legacy of political violence. Furthermore, this paper will explore how the Basque terrorist group, Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA), carried on Spain’s legacy of political violence for another four decades following the end of the Franco dictatorship. The next section of this paper will analyze how the ‘memory boom’ of the early 2000s led to greater recognition of the victims of Francoism and to the passing of the 2007 Historical Memory Law. This analysis will show how the politicization of victimhood resulted in an inequity between the measures taken to recognize and protect different victims’ groups, subsequently providing more protection for victims of ETA violence. Overall, this paper contends that, in the case of Spain, a lack of transitional justice has perpetuated a long legacy of violence and a silencing of the victims of Francoism that remain unresolved.

Conséquences de choix méthodologiques sur l’analyse de l’évolution de l’organisation clandestine ETA

"Born in December 1958, Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) was dissolved on May, 11th 2018. During its almost sixty years of existence, ETA has undergone phases of military offensive and then a decline in its operational activity. In order to understand the limits of these episodes and their reasons, we have created an original database listing all the actions of the armed group. Its analysis contributes to highlight the strategic developments of the clandestine organisation and makes possible to discuss the conclusions previously drawn from the group’s databases of fatal victims. We will thus consider the consequences of methodological choices on the interpretation the history of a clandestine organisation and of its key moments. Keywords: ETA, clandestine violence, armed strategy, Basque country, statistical analysis."

The Culture of Emergency in Italy and Spain: State Antiterrorism

After nearly six decades, on May 2, 2018, Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) announced its dissolution. This announcement brought an end to the last ripples of the wave of political violence in Europe that began in the sixties, which coincided with a cycle of protests during the sixties and seventies. In response to serious political conflict and its drift toward armed violence, some liberal-democratic states established an antiterrorism framework involving legislative and practical transformations at every level of the criminal justice system. From a critical criminology perspective, the concept of a ‘culture of emergency’ was developed in the field of il garantismo in order to analyze the phenomenon. The present article explores the construction of this exceptionalism in two cases: that of Italy (‘revolutionary wave’) and of Spain (ETA). While attempting to identify a common pattern of emergency, this study also identifies the specificities of each conflict.

Catholic Mediation in the Basque Peace Process: Questioning the Transnational Dimension

The Basque conflict was one of the last ethnonationalist violent struggles in Western Europe, until the self-dissolution in 2018 of ETA (Euskadi ta Askatasuna, Basque Country and Freedom). The role played by some sectors of the Roman Catholic Church in the mediation efforts leading to this positive outcome has long been underestimated, as has the internal pluralism of the Church in this regard. This article specifically examines the transnational dimension of this mediation, including its symbolic aspect. The call to involve the Catholic institution transnationally was not limited to the tangible outcomes of mediation. The mere fact of involving transnational religious and non-religious actors represented a symbolic gain for the parties in the conflict struggling to impose their definitions of peace. Transnational mediation conveyed in itself explicit or implicit comparisons with other ethnonationalist conflicts, a comparison that constituted political resources for or, conversely, unacceptable constraints upon the actors involved.

Mémoire graphique et conflit: La violence de l’ETA dans le neuvième art

After 40 years of violence and a thousand deaths, Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) accepted a political and democratic solution to the Basque conflict in 2011. Nine years on, the main questions that remain to be solved are first, the status of ETA prisoners and second, the question of the memory of the conflict. This last question has not only invaded the political and media space, but also that of literary, cinematographic and artistic creation, such as comics. Thanks to the theories developed by McCloud (1994) and Groensteen (2011) about comics’ language and Catalá Carrasco, Drinot & Scorer (2019) or Delorme (2019) about comics and memory, this article analyses the representation of the violence in the Basque Country in four comics and shows that the armed conflict has morphed into a memory conflict.