Batasuna (; en, Unity) was a
Basque nationalist political party
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...
. Based mainly in
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
, it was banned in 2003, after a court ruling declared proven that the party was financing
ETA
Eta (uppercase , lowercase ; grc, ἦτα ''ē̂ta'' or ell, ήτα ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative in most dialects, ...
with public money.
The party is included in the "European Union list of terrorist persons and organizations" as a component of ETA.
[ , 29 May 2006
:*''Euskadi Ta Askatasuna The following organisations are allegedly part of the terrorist group ETA: KAS, Xaki; Ekin, Jarrai- Haika- Segi, Gestoras Pro-amnistía, ]Askatasuna
Askatasuna (from the Basque word meaning "Freedom") is a Basque political party registered on 31 August 1998, outlawed in 2009 by the Audiencia Nacional under the 2002 Political Parties Law.
History
In 1998 several notable events occurred aroun ...
, Batasuna (also known as Herri Batasuna, also known as Euskal Herritarrok) Right after having been banned, Batasuna still managed to organize or support some
rallies, public actions and several workplace
strike
Strike may refer to:
People
* Strike (surname)
Physical confrontation or removal
*Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm
*Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...
s. The Spanish ruling was appealed before and, later on, confirmed by the
European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that a ...
.
As an association and not as a political party, Batasuna had a minor presence in the
French Basque country
The French Basque Country, or Northern Basque Country ( eu, Iparralde (), french: Pays basque, es, País Vasco francés) is a region lying on the west of the French department of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques. Since 1 January 2017, it constitu ...
, where it remained legal as "Batasuna" until its self-dissolution in January 2013.
Batasuna's ranks and support base have been represented under different names since it was first declared legal in the late 1970s with the
Spanish Transition
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
** Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Ca ...
to democracy. Thus, Batasuna's predecessors were the original
Herri Batasuna
Herri Batasuna (; en, Popular Unity; HB) was a far-left Basque nationalist coalition in Spain. It was founded in 1978 and defined itself as abertzale, left-wing, socialist, and supported the independence of the Greater Basque Country. It was r ...
and, then,
Euskal Herritarrok
Euskal Herritarrok ( en, Basque Citizens, EH) was a Basque independentist and socialist political party in the Basque Country. EH was banned in 2003 by the Supreme Court of Spain on the grounds that it sympathized with ETA.
History
In February ...
. After having been outlawed in 2003, Batasuna's core support revamped yet again by co-opting the thus far marginal parties
EHAK
The Communist Party of the Basque Homelands ( eu, Euskal Herrialdeetako Alderdi Komunista, EHAK; es, Partido Comunista de las Tierras Vascas, PCTV) was a communist Basque separatist party in the Basque Country, Spain. The party was outlawed by ...
and
Acción Nacionalista Vasca
Basque Nationalist Action ( eu, Eusko Abertzale Ekintza, es, Acción Nacionalista Vasca, EAE–ANV) is a Basque nationalist party based in Spain. Founded in 1930, it was the first Basque nationalist political party to exist running on a socialist ...
(ANV).
Batasuna was a part of the ''
Basque National Liberation Movement
The Basque National Liberation Movement ( es, Movimiento de Liberación Nacional Vasco, MLNV; Basque: Euskal Nazio Askapenerako Mugimendua, "ENAM") was an umbrella term that comprised all social, political and armed organizations orbiting around t ...
'' which includes social organizations, trade unions, youth (
Jarrai and Gazteriak, now merged in Haika and Segi), and women's groups (
Egizan). Jarrai-Haika-Segi, Gestoras pro-Amnistia, Askatasuna and other groups closely related to Batasuna were also declared illegal by different court rulings on the same charges of having collaborated with or being part of ETA.
History and outline
The party was founded in April 1978 as Herri Batasuna, a coalition of leftist nationalist political groups mostly originating from
Euskadiko Ezkerra
Euskadiko Ezkerra (EE; en, Basque Country Left) was a Basque socialist political organisation. It was founded as a coalition of Euskal Iraultzarako Alderdia (EIA, ''Basque Party for Revolution'' or ''Party for Basque Revolution'') and other Ba ...
initially brought together to advocate for "no" in the
referendum to be held that year on the
Spanish constitution
The Spanish Constitution (Spanish, Asturleonese, and gl, Constitución Española; eu, Espainiako Konstituzioa; ca, Constitució Espanyola; oc, Constitucion espanhòla) is the democratic law that is supreme in the Kingdom of Spain. It was e ...
.
Its constituent parties had been called together by senior Basque nationalist
Telesforo de Monzón in a 1978 meeting called "the table of
Alsasua." Herri Batasuna's founding convention was held in
Lekeitio
Lekeitio (; es, Lequeitio) is a town and municipality located in the province of Biscay, in the Spanish Autonomous Community of Basque Country, northeast from Bilbao. The municipality has 7,307 inhabitants (2019) and is one of the most importa ...
, home of
Santiago Brouard
Santiago Brouard or Santi Brouard (1919 in Lekeitio – 20 November 1984 in Bilbao) was a doctor and Basque politician. He was one of the leaders of Herri Batasuna, and deputy mayor of Bilbao. He was killed by the Spanish government's death ...
who was then the leader of
HASI (Herriko Alderdi Sozialista Iraultzailea or Revolutionary Socialist People's Party). The party won 150,000 votes in the Basque Country (15%) and 22,000 additional votes in Navarre (9%) in its first
Spanish general election
There are four types of elections in Spain: general elections, elections to the legislatures of the autonomous communities (regional elections), local elections and elections to the European Parliament. General elections and elections to the legi ...
in March 1979. Thus, they won three seats in the Spanish Parliament, which they did not occupy. Same happened in 1980 in the
first elections to the Basque Parliament, in which HB stood as second political force, with 151,636 votes (16.55%) winning 11 seats. Its absence allowed a
BNP-only Basque Government led by
Carlos Garaikoetxea
Carlos Garaikoetxea Urriza (born 2 June 1938) is a former politician from the Spanish Basque Country. He became the second elected ''Lehendakari'' (President of the Basque Autonomous Community), after José Antonio Aguirre, who had held that ...
. On 20 November 1984 Brouard was assassinated by two members of the
GAL. The killing is perhaps the only one performed by the GAL
death squad within Spain itself.
Another well-known Herri Batasuna leader and newly elected Spanish MP,
Josu Muguruza
Josu Muguruza (1958–1989) was a Basque journalist and politician who was assassinated in Madrid on 20 November 1989. Muguruza was among the leaders of Herri Batasuna, a Basque nationalist political party. He was about to serve at the Cortes Gen ...
, was assassinated by right-wing extremists in November 1989 in
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
.
GAL claimed responsibility for Muguruza's assassination. Suspicions also centered on Spanish neo-Nazi group
Bases Autónomas.
Recent times
Amid the first talk of the Spanish government investigating the ties of Herri Batasuna with ETA, in 1998 Herri Batasuna was the driving force of the newly formed Euskal Herritarrok (''We Basque Citizens'') coalition, an acronym which got the best results to date for Basque left separatism in the Basque community, with 224,000 votes out of a total of 1,250,000 in the Basque election
held that year.
The most recent public party spokesmen was
Arnaldo Otegi
Arnaldo Otegi Mondragón (born 6 July 1958) is a Basque politician who is currently General Secretary of Basque nationalist party EH Bildu. He was member of the Basque Parliament for both Herri Batasuna and Euskal Herritarrok. He was one of th ...
. Otegi, like a number of other top-ranks in Herri Batasuna, had been a member of ETA and served several years in prison for bank assault. He is currently serving time in prison for ties with ETA.
Another important member of Batasuna was
José Antonio Urrutikoetxea Bengoetxea, alias Josu Ternera, the main leader of ETA between 1987 and 1989 and accused of a number of assassinations like the
1987 Hipercor bombing which killed 21 people at
Hipercor
Hipercor S.A. is an upscale chain of hypermarkets in Spain, belonging to the same group as El Corte Inglés. It has its head office in the El Corte Inglés head office building in Madrid.
Hipercor generally stocks a wide range of household and f ...
- a shopping center in
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
. He was imprisoned in France after 1989, released after finishing his sentence and was transferred to Spanish prisons, where he stayed for 2 more years until his release by the Constitutional Court, which stipulated that he had served his prison term in France. He was included in the Batasuna electoral ticket and elected to the Basque parliament between 1999 and 2001, where he was appointed as his party's representative in the Human Rights commission at the
Basque Parliament
The Basque Parliament ( Basque: ''Eusko Legebiltzarra'', Spanish: ''Parlamento Vasco'') is the legislative body of the Basque Autonomous Community of Spain and the elected assembly to which the Basque Government is responsible.
The Parliament ...
, which, given his criminal background caused a stir in the rest of parties. He disappeared when the Spanish courts reopened cold charges and presented new ones about his current membership in ETA. Presently he lives in hiding and is considered one of the leaders of ETA that are pushing for negotiations.
Amid a period of separatist
kale borroka
(, "Street Fighting") refers to urban guerrilla actions carried out by Basque nationalist youth who are integrated into the ''abertzale left''. Along with ETA, the kale borroka was the only remaining armed faction of Basque nationalists in the B ...
street attacks on the offices of the
Basque Nationalist Party and other establishment targets, Batasuna together with the union
Langile Abertzaleen Batzordeak
(, Basque for "Nationalist Workers' Committees") is a Basque left-wing nationalist and separatist trade union operating mainly in Spain currently led by Garbiñe Aranburu.
It was created in 1974 by Jon Idigoras among others. They are part of ...
convoked a day of protest and
general strike
A general strike refers to a strike action in which participants cease all economic activity, such as working, to strengthen the bargaining position of a trade union or achieve a common social or political goal. They are organised by large co ...
on 9 March 2006. On the morning of the strike, ETA detonated several bombs near highways, with no injuries. Employers reported scant overall participation in the strike, approximately 0.5% of private sector workers, 1% of government workers and 3-4% of workers in education. A few thousands of Batasuna militants joined protests, while others blocked rail lines and roads and occupied municipal halls Batasuna leader Arnaldo Otegi was ordered to appear in court to answer for the bomb attacks and disruption, but delayed his appearance repeatedly on the grounds of illness.
In September 2008, in what has been the closest to a disengagement of ETA so far, members of the party, while not condemning ETA's tactics whatsoever, did say the "political-military strategy" of the latter is an "obstacle" to aspirations for Basque independence. They called for a "unifying project for the pro-independence left" which would be aimed at creating an electoral list for regional elections to be held in Spring 2009.
Electoral results
Batasuna's support in the elections to the parliament of the
Basque Autonomous Community
The Basque Country (; eu, Euskadi ; es, País Vasco ), also called Basque Autonomous Community ( eu, Euskal Autonomia Erkidegoa, links=no, EAE; es, Comunidad Autónoma del País Vasco, links=no, CAPV), is an autonomous community of Spain. It ...
(under the three brands it has used, i.e., Herri Batasuna, Euskal Herritarrok and EHAK) oscillates around 15% of the total votes, its best result being the 18.33% achieved in 1990 and the lowest the 10.12% of the total votes obtained in 2001.
In
Navarre
Navarre (; es, Navarra ; eu, Nafarroa ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre ( es, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, links=no ; eu, Nafarroako Foru Komunitatea, links=no ), is a foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, ...
its results in the elections to the Navarrese
Foral
200px, Foral of Castro Verde - Portugal
The word ''foral'' ({{IPA-pt, fuˈɾaɫ, eu, plural: ''forais'') is a noun derived from the Portuguese word ''foro'', ultimately from Latin ''forum'', equivalent to Spanish ''fuero'', Galician '' foro'', ...
parliament have been historically slightly less than 15% of the total votes, reaching their highest result in 1999 (15.95% of the total votes) and their lowest in 1995 (9.22% of the total votes). In this territory other Basque pro-independence left wing parties which reject violence and so remain legal - namely
Batzarre and specifically,
Aralar- eroded Batasuna's support in a more significant way than in the Basque Autonomous Community.
Batasuna had representatives in the
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...
and in the parliaments of
Navarre
Navarre (; es, Navarra ; eu, Nafarroa ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre ( es, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, links=no ; eu, Nafarroako Foru Komunitatea, links=no ), is a foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, ...
and the provinces of the
Basque Autonomous Community
The Basque Country (; eu, Euskadi ; es, País Vasco ), also called Basque Autonomous Community ( eu, Euskal Autonomia Erkidegoa, links=no, EAE; es, Comunidad Autónoma del País Vasco, links=no, CAPV), is an autonomous community of Spain. It ...
. It also ruled some 62 local councils, and had members in many more. While it was fairly represented in all Basque and Navarrese Spanish territories, Batasuna counted as its stronghold the province of
Gipuzkoa
Gipuzkoa (, , ; es, Guipúzcoa ; french: Guipuscoa) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French depa ...
. After being banned, Batasuna lost all its representatives in the Spanish Parliament, since regaining (under different names) some their seats in elections held after its banning.
While the party has been barred from formally taking part in elections since 2003 (see below), it has coordinated a variety of forms of participation (or "quantifiable non-participation") in recent elections. After the May 2003 provincial and local elections, followers of the local lists protested claiming the council seats corresponding to the invalid votes (127,000, 10% of the total vote in the Basque Country).
For the Basque elections of 2005, Batasuna presented lists of candidates but they were dismissed as illegal. After the new election was held for the Basque regional parliament, Batasuna lost all their remaining elected representatives.
Like those parties, representatives of EHAK refused to explicitly condemn the ETA attacks but, given the fact that elections were to be held in a matter of days, the courts did not have the time to assess EHAK's compliance with the Ley de Partidos. The People's Party requested that the Spanish government conducts investigations to ban EHAK-PCTV too, though the State Legal Service (''Abogacía General del Estado'') and the Attorney General's Office (''Fiscalía General del Estado'') found no evidence to support legal actions against the party. Batasuna asked their supporters to vote for EHAK.
In the Basque elections of 17 April 2005, EHAK obtained 150,188 votes (12.5%), entering the
Basque Parliament
The Basque Parliament ( Basque: ''Eusko Legebiltzarra'', Spanish: ''Parlamento Vasco'') is the legislative body of the Basque Autonomous Community of Spain and the elected assembly to which the Basque Government is responsible.
The Parliament ...
with nine seats (all but one being women).
Spanish Parliament
Batasuna stood in a number of elections for the
Spanish Parliament
The Cortes Generales (; en, Spanish Parliament, lit=General Courts) are the bicameral legislative chambers of Spain, consisting of the Congress of Deputies (the lower house), and the Senate (the upper house).
The Congress of Deputies meet ...
. They first stood in
1979 obtaining their best results in the Basque autonomous community where they polled 15% and won 3 seats. In Navarre they polled almost 9% but failed to win a seat.
They lost a seat in the
1982 election. Their high point came in the
1986 election where they won 5 seats, including one seat in
Navarre
Navarre (; es, Navarra ; eu, Nafarroa ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre ( es, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, links=no ; eu, Nafarroako Foru Komunitatea, links=no ), is a foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, ...
, the only occasion in which they have won a seat there. They lost their Navarre seat in the
1989 election and lost a further 2 seats in the
1996 election, which overall proved to be the party's worst performance in terms of vote share. At provincial level, their best results came in
Guipúzcoa
Gipuzkoa (, , ; es, Guipúzcoa ; french: Guipuscoa) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French depa ...
where the party topped the poll in the 1989 general election.
Outlawed in Spain
The party denied any links to ETA. However, proponents of the party's illegalization pointed to a coincidence of Batasuna and ETA's strategies. A significant number of Batasuna leaders have been imprisoned because of their activities in ETA. The party has never condemned any attack by ETA and its leaders have referred sometimes to the ETA members as 'Basque soldiers', and justified their actions: "ETA does not use the armed struggle as a mean to defend this or that political project but to give
he Basque Country/nowiki> democratic channels that enable the popular will to be expressed in full freedom." It is also common to refer to ETA militants as ''Gudariak'', soldiers in Basque language.
Since the 1980s there had been talk of attempts to ban the party, which resulted in Batasuna frequently changing its name as part of the effort to avoid this, from the original ''Herri Batasuna'', then becoming part of the ''Euskal Herritarrok'' coalition in the 1990s and, finally, Batasuna. Members of the Basque left consider the Spanish government's efforts against Batasuna and its successors to be part of an organized campaign targeting the social support for the independence movement. They point to government crackdowns against the newspaper ''Egin'', the radio station Herri Irratia and the network of pubs that were gathering places for the independentist left.
In 2002 started the first serious attempt by the Spanish government to ban the party. In June the parliament passed legislation that outlawed parties under certain conditions, on the grounds of their support for terrorism. In July Batasuna was fined €24 million for vandalism and street violence in 2001. Following an ETA car bomb attack on 4 August the Spanish parliament was recalled. The party was suspended for three years by Judge Baltasar Garzón
Baltasar Garzón Real (; born 26 October 1955) is a former Spanish judge. Garzón formerly served on Spain's central criminal court, the ''Audiencia Nacional'', and was the examining magistrate of the ''Juzgado Central de Instrucción No. 5'', ...
on 27 August to allow him to investigate the party links to ETA. Garzón and the government presented 23 arguments for the ban, focusing on the party's refusal to condemn ETA attacks, its reference to detainees as political prisoner
A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention.
There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although n ...
s, collaboration with other banned abertzale forces, and ETA's support in communiqués for Batasuna's political strategy.
In 2003, Batasuna was declared illegal in Spain by a court ruling of the Spanish Supreme Court
The Supreme Court ('', TS'') is the highest court in the Kingdom of Spain. Originally established pursuant to Title V of the Constitution of 1812 to replace —in all matters that affected justice— the System of Councils, and currently regula ...
, then confirmed by the Constitutional Court of Spain. The decision automatically cut them off from the state funding received by all legal political parties with Parliament representation. In spite of legal text forbidding its reorganization under another name, its members tried to use, ever since the outlawing, a plethora of local lists. Most of these lists were considered to be a front for Batasuna by the Spanish Supreme Court. This decision was confirmed by the Spanish Constitutional Court. The ban prohibits their representatives from contesting elections, holding public demonstrations or rallies and freezes their assets. On the 26th the Spanish parliament voted for an indefinite ban, 295 to 10. The party's main offices in Pamplona
Pamplona (; eu, Iruña or ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. It is also the third-largest city in the greater Basque cultural region.
Lying at near above ...
were closed by the police and further offices in San Sebastián
San Sebastian, officially known as Donostia–San Sebastián (names in both local languages: ''Donostia'' () and ''San Sebastián'' ()) is a city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality located in the Basque Country (autonomous community), B ...
, Bilbao
)
, motto =
, image_map =
, mapsize = 275 px
, map_caption = Interactive map outlining Bilbao
, pushpin_map = Spain Basque Country#Spain#Europe
, pushpin_map_caption ...
and Vitoria-Gasteiz
es, vitoriano, vitoriana,
, population_density_km2 = auto
, blank_name_sec1 = Official language(s)
, blank_info_sec1 = Spanish, Basque
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
were targeted.
Still, party activity did not cease completely, as proved by the fact that on 4 October 2007 twenty-three top members of Batasuna were arrested as they left a secret meeting in Segura (Guipúzcoa)
Segura is a small town and municipality in the Goierri region of the province of Gipuzkoa in the autonomous community of the Basque Country in northern Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de ...
, accused of holding an illegal political meeting.
Schism
Prior to the outlaw effort, a dissenting minority had left the party to form Aralar. While sharing separatist aims with Batasuna, Aralar rejected political violence and ETA's assassinations and therefore remains a legal party.
Attempts to reorganize
In spite of the prohibition of reorganizing under different names in order to circumvent the legal ruling, Batasuna's ranks have tried a series of attempts to reorganize under new names, which include, among others, Autodeterminaziorako Bilgunea, Aukera Guztiak
Batasuna (; en, Unity) was a Basque nationalist political party. Based mainly in Spain, it was banned in 2003, after a court ruling declared proven that the party was financing ETA with public money.
The party is included in the "European Unio ...
, Askatasuna
Askatasuna (from the Basque word meaning "Freedom") is a Basque political party registered on 31 August 1998, outlawed in 2009 by the Audiencia Nacional under the 2002 Political Parties Law.
History
In 1998 several notable events occurred aroun ...
or D3M
Demokrazia Hiru Milioi (Spanish: ''Democracia Tres Millones''; D3M; also called Demokrazia 3,000,000) was an electoral platform which was formed to participate in the Basque Parliament elections in 2009. It was declared illegal on February 8, 2009 ...
. All have been legally banned for alleged ties to Batasuna and, in turn, to ETA.
In May 2004, a list named ''Herritarren Zerrenda
The Herritarren Zerrenda (HZ, en, List of Fellow Citizens; ) is a Basque nationalist political party in Spain and France, created in 2004 to run in the European Parliament election. Since these elections were simultaneous throughout the European ...
'' ("Citizens' List") was presented in Spain and France to the 2004 European Parliament election. Spanish tribunals rejected it, as a successor of Batasuna. However, the HZ list in France remained legal.
HZ candidates in Spain then campaigned for using the French HZ ballot in Spain, which was to be counted as a null vote.
There were more than 98,000 null votes in the Basque Autonomous Country and more than 15,000 in Navarre. HZ leaders interpreted the high rate of null votes, which was 12% of the total, to mean that most of the nulls were for HZ, since in the previous European elections the null vote was less than 1%.
A more successful strategy for Batasuna proved to be the one of co-opting existing marginal parties giving the shortest possible notice before an election, so that there was no time for the Spanish Supreme Court
The Supreme Court ('', TS'') is the highest court in the Kingdom of Spain. Originally established pursuant to Title V of the Constitution of 1812 to replace —in all matters that affected justice— the System of Councils, and currently regula ...
to legally assess the lawfulness of this move before the election was held. Thus, for the regional 2005 Basque parliamentary election the so-far marginal EHAK
The Communist Party of the Basque Homelands ( eu, Euskal Herrialdeetako Alderdi Komunista, EHAK; es, Partido Comunista de las Tierras Vascas, PCTV) was a communist Basque separatist party in the Basque Country, Spain. The party was outlawed by ...
party announced that they were ready to bring the programs of Batasuna to the Basque regional parliament.
(EHAK had been legally registered in 2002 but had no known activity until 2005). The party could participate in those elections, but then was declared illegal by a court ruling because of ties with Batasuna, which prevented it from contesting the 2007 Spanish regional elections.
Then, the same strategy was tried by co-opting Acción Nacionalista Vasca
Basque Nationalist Action ( eu, Eusko Abertzale Ekintza, es, Acción Nacionalista Vasca, EAE–ANV) is a Basque nationalist party based in Spain. Founded in 1930, it was the first Basque nationalist political party to exist running on a socialist ...
a historical, yet basically inactive Basque party. This time, the Spanish Supreme Court could make a quick assessment of ANV's municipal candidates, which resulted in roughly half of them being banned (because the candidates included people who had previously run for the illegal Herri Batasuna or Batasuna) while the other half was ruled lawful and could participate in the elections to be held shortly after the ruling.
Then, in September 2008 the full legal inquiry on the party was finalized, ruling that ANV as a whole was illegal, due to ties with Batasuna-ETA. The Basque regional government, then led by a Basque nationalist coalition of the PNV and EA objected to these legal rulings.
As a result of this pressure, for the first time since Herri Batasuna was formed, neither Batasuna nor its proxies could participate in the Basque regional parliament at the time of the 2009 Basque parliamentary election.
In February 2011, Sortu
Sortu ( en, Create) is a Basque socialist political party. Founded in February 2011, it is the first political party belonging to the Basque nationalist "abertzale left" that openly rejects any kind of political violence.
Before Sortu, sections o ...
, a party described as "the new Batasuna",["El nuevo partido de la izquierda abertzale se denomina 'Sortu'", La Vanguardia, 8 February 2011](_blank)
/ref> was launched. Unlike predecessor parties, Sortu claimed that it explicitly rejected politically motivated violence, including that of ETA; however it did not condemn the record of ETA nor ask for the disbandment of the armed organization. Sortu was banned in March 2011 from registering as a political party by the Supreme Court of Spain.
Some members went on to form another party called Bildu, which was first banned but then allowed to register. Currently, it is Bildu which represents at the Parliament the electoral base of Batasuna.
Reaction
In October 2008 demonstrations were held in Bilbao to protest a Supreme Court decision the month before to ban ANV and EHAK, because of their ties to Batasuna. The protesters had a banner that read "Freedom for Euskal Herria." The protests was organised by left-wing Basque nationalists. ANV president, Kepa Bereziartua, and the former spokesman for Batasuna, Arnaldo Otegi
Arnaldo Otegi Mondragón (born 6 July 1958) is a Basque politician who is currently General Secretary of Basque nationalist party EH Bildu. He was member of the Basque Parliament for both Herri Batasuna and Euskal Herritarrok. He was one of th ...
, were present in the march.
Rulings of the European Court of Human Rights
At the time of its outlawing in Spain, Batasuna lawyers took the case to the European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that a ...
(ECHR). After a long legal inquiry, in July 2009 the ECHR backed the Spanish rulings banning Batasuna and its proxies.
The ECHR said that disbanding the parties was a response "to a pressing social need" given their ties to ETA. "Given the situation in Spain for several years regarding terrorist attacks, these ties can be considered objectively as a threat to democracy," the court said, also adding that these parties "contradicted the concept of a 'democratic society' and presented a major danger to Spain's democracy".
Similarly, when the outlawed Batasuna tried to use Acción Nacionalista Vasca as a proxy to re-organize its ranks, in a different case the ECHR also upheld in 2011 the previous Spanish court rulings which had outlawed ANV, noting that this party had not run by itself in elections since 1977 and that it basically conformed a "fraud" to circumvent the outlawing of Batasuna.
Status in France
Batasuna has a minor presence in the Basque French country, where it runs elections as a civic organization, not like a political party. In France it used to get a few hundred votes
and did not reach any kind of representation at either local or regional level so far.
In September 2008, 14 people were detained by the French police, 10 of whom were from the French-wing of the party (including their spokesman Xabi Larralde), and charged with links to ETA. They were released four days later; it remained unclear whether the ongoing investigation would lead to an illegalization process similar to that in Spain.
In January 2013, Batasuna in France announced its self-dissolution, citing a process of "political reflection".
See also
* Herri Batasuna
Herri Batasuna (; en, Popular Unity; HB) was a far-left Basque nationalist coalition in Spain. It was founded in 1978 and defined itself as abertzale, left-wing, socialist, and supported the independence of the Greater Basque Country. It was r ...
* Julen Madariaga
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
* Fernández Soldevilla, Gaizka
"El nacionalismo vasco radical ante la transición española"
''Historia contemporánea'', , vol 35, 2007, pp. 817–844
* Casquete Badallo, Jesús María
"Abertzale sí pero, ¿quién dijo que de izquierda?"
en ''El Viejo topo'', , vol 268, 2010, pp. 14–19.
* Fernández Soldevilla, Gaizka,
''Revista de estudios políticos'', , vol 148, 2010,
pp. 71–103
External links
BBC news story regarding call to stop armed conflict
14 November 2004
*{{webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030808170431/http://batasuna.org/, date=August 8, 2003, title=Official website
Ezker Abertzalea (Left Independentist) official website
2001 establishments in Spain
2013 disestablishments in Spain
Banned secessionist parties
Banned socialist parties
Basque conflict
Basque history
Basque nationalism
Defunct socialist parties in the Basque Country (autonomous community)
ETA (separatist group)
Far-left politics in Spain
Left-wing nationalist parties
Organizations based in Europe designated as terrorist
Pro-independence parties
Political parties disestablished in 2013
Political parties established in 2001
Political parties in Northern Basque Country
Politics of Spain
Secessionist organizations in Europe
Banned political parties in the Basque Country (autonomous community)
Political parties in Navarre