Herri Batasuna (; en, Popular Unity; HB) was a

far-left Far-left politics, also known as the radical left or the extreme left, are politics further to the left on the left–right political spectrum than the standard political left. The term does not have a single definition. Some scholars consider ...

Basque nationalist coalition 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 founded in 1978 and defined itself as

abertzale ''Abertzale'' (; English: "patriot", literally "fond of the fatherland") is a Basque term usually referring to people or political groups who are associated with Basque nationalism. Although the term is synonym of "patriot", its common use in Ba ...

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

, and supported the independence of the Greater Basque Country. It was refounded as

Batasuna 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 ...

in 2001 and subsequently outlawed by the Spanish

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

for being considered the political wing of the separatist group

Euskadi Ta Askatasuna ETA, an acronym for Euskadi Ta Askatasuna ("Basque Homeland and Liberty"ETA BASQUE ORGANIZA ...

(ETA).

History

The party was founded in April 1978 as Herri Batasuna, a coalition of leftist nationalist political groups initially brought together to advocate for "No" in the referendum to be held that year on the

Spanish constitution The Spanish Constitution (Spanish, Asturleonese language, Asturleonese, and gl, Constitución Española; eu, Espainiako Konstituzioa; ca, Constitució Espanyola; oc, Constitucion espanhòla) is the Democracy, democratic law that is supreme l ...

. 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 people, Basque politician. He was one of the leaders of Herri Batasuna, and deputy mayor of Bilbao. He was killed by the Spanish gove ...

, who was then the leader of

HASI People's Socialist Revolutionary Party ( eu, Herri Alderdi Sozialista Iraultzailea; HASI) was a non-legal Basque political party, considered commonly to be the political branch of ETA. It always ran as part of the coalition of the Basque National ...

(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. The same happened in 1980 in the first elections to the Basque Parliament, in which HB stood as a 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 A death squad is an armed group whose primary activity is carrying out extrajudicial killings or forced disappearances as part of political repression, genocide, ethnic cleansing, or revolutionary terror. Except in rare cases in which they are ...

within Spain itself. Another well-known Herri Batasuna leader,

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 also killed by members of the neo-fascist

Bases Autónomas Bases Autónomas (''Bases Autonomes'' in French; "Autonomous Bases") was a Spanish neo-Nazi group, later moving to France, and known for its youthful membership and its violent rhetoric and propaganda. History The group was formed in Madrid in ...

in 1989, while he was in a hotel 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 ...

. He was a congressman in the Spanish Parliament when he was assassinated.

Electoral performance

Since its foundation, Herri Batasuna ran for every election in the Basque Country and in Navarre, as well as in Spanish general elections (from 1979 to 1996) and the European elections of 1987, 1989 and 1994. In the 2000 Spanish general election, it supported abstention. In the elections held from 1998 to 2001 it was part of the coalition

Euskal Herritarrok Euskal Herritarrok ( en, Basque Citizens, EH) was a Basque nationalism, Basque independentist and Socialism, socialist political party in the Euskal Herria, Basque Country. EH was banned in 2003 by the Supreme Court of Spain on the grounds that it ...

. Herri Batasuna refused to participate in many of the institutions it won seats in, with the exception of local town halls.

Spanish general elections

References

Bibliography

* {{Authority control Political parties in the Basque Country (autonomous community) Banned secessionist parties Banned socialist parties Basque conflict Basque history Political parties established in 1978 Political parties disestablished in 2001 Politics of Spain Pro-independence parties Secessionist organizations in Europe Socialist parties in Spain 1978 establishments in Spain Political parties in Navarre Banned political parties in the Basque Country (autonomous community) Organisations based in Bilbao