Bullet for Franco
The independent past of the Basques dates back seven centuries: in the 9th-16th centuries they were part of the Kingdom of Navarre. Catalonia was the most developed area in the Kingdom of Aragon. Since the 1800s, Catalan literature has been devoted mainly to nostalgia for a self-sufficient past. Poets called life within Spain slavery, historians spoke about the special role of the people in European civilization. Catalan nationalists sought, first of all, to protect their native language and the positions of the Catholic Church. Artists painted sketches from the life of the “glorious” Middle Ages.
40 tons of bombs were dropped on Guernica. This is the basis of Basque propaganda
At the beginning of the 20th century, the nationalism of the Basques and Catalans experienced an unprecedented rise. Both peoples were overly economical - the joys of the siesta were not for them. Landowners worked tirelessly, and at the beginning of the 20th century, the Basque Country and Catalonia became one of the most prosperous regions of Spain. Today the Basques contain up to 40 thousand large farms, and Catalonia produces more than 25% of the gross national product Spain. This is one of the reasons that prompted residents of the regions to seek independence with arms in hand. “Previously, the backbone of the movement was leftist youth and relatives of those who suffered from Franco’s repressions. Today, large and medium-sized businesses have joined the independence movement, as well as conservative people who see the economic benefits of independence from Spain,” notes journalist Samara Welte.
Under Franco, it was forbidden to call children by Basque names
In 1919, the Catalans prepared a draft Statute of Autonomy. Madrid, of course, did not support this initiative. Later the region gained partial independence, but was obliged to obey directives from the center.
Spain, 1939
During 1936–1939, Catalonia and the Basque Country became strongholds of resistance to Franco. Dictatorship would mean the collapse of hope for autonomy. The main “trump card” of the Basques was air superiority. However, it was still not possible to repel the rebels: at the height of the conflict, foreign allies stopped supplying ammunition and food to the region. In April 1937, the Basques lost their main shrine - Guernica. 40 tons of bombs were dropped on the city. Guernica was engulfed in fire, hundreds of citizens fled their homes. Subsequently, Pablo Picasso captured these events in the painting “Guernica.” Radical Basques used the destruction of the city in their propaganda. In February 1939, Catalonia was occupied.
Guernica after the bombing
During the dictatorship, exemplary reprisals were carried out against separatists. In 1974, 25-year-old anti-fascist Salvador Puig Antique was executed. He organized an underground printing house that produced anarchist literature. In 1975, Francisco Franco signed the death warrant for five imprisoned terrorists. During 36 years of dictatorship, the Basques lost their hard-won rights. They were prohibited from publishing literature and teaching in native language, use national symbols and give children Basque names. At that time, up to 2 million Basques lived in Spain; the total population reached 35 million people. Another 15 million Basques settled in Latin America.
The same fate befell the Catalans. Researcher Gómez Pin wrote: “The Catalan language was limited exclusively to the domestic sphere. Only traditional Catalan dances and music recognized by official propaganda were allowed.” The unification of the country's linguistic space fueled nationalist sentiments.
How the Basques laid down their arms
In 1959, the Basque separatist group “Basque Country and Freedom” (ETA) was born. ETA has taken the path of armed struggle. Policy document groups proclaimed a course towards a socialist revolution. She carried out her first terrorist attack in 1968. Then a high-ranking police officer was killed. Throughout Spain, militants blew up government buildings and railway lines. "Basque Country and Freedom" enjoyed widespread popular support. Their actions were regarded as the only way opposition to dictatorship. In 1973, Prime Minister Carrero Blanco was killed in an explosion. Terrorists made a tunnel under one of the central streets in Madrid. The armored car weighing 1.5 tons, which the official was driving, flew up to a height of several floors at the time of the explosion.
Francisco Franco
After Franco's death in 1975, the Basque Country and Catalonia gained autonomy. Issues at the regional level were now the responsibility of local parliaments. “Part of the taxes was sent to Madrid. Since 1975, local authorities have independently made decisions in the fields of education, healthcare, production, and infrastructure,” Samara said.
Basque terrorists protected businesses and kidnapped people
Despite these measures, “Basque Country and Freedom” did not cease its activities. Detachments of 20-30 people operated in different points Spain. According to experts, there were about 500 militants in total in the 1970s and 1980s. To obtain funds for terrorism, ETA kidnapped people and demanded huge ransoms from relatives. In addition, representatives of the organization “protected” Basque entrepreneurs for substantial contributions. Major terrorist attack occurred in 2009 in Burgos - then 46 people were injured as a result of a car explosion. In 2011, the security services eliminated some of the leaders of the Basque separatists, and in April 2017, ETA announced its disarmament.
Armored car Blanco took off to the height of a 6-story building
According to Samara, in last years in the Basque Country there is an increase in separatist sentiments. “The Catalans have been demanding a referendum since 2010. Then more than a million people took part in the march through Barcelona. Protests were held annually, the number of participants reached 2 million. Trade unions, universities and the Barcelona football club joined the movement. As a result, the referendum on Catalan independence in 2014 was symbolic. The Spanish court found it inconsistent with the country's constitution and it had no legal force. However, in 2016, right-wing nationalists won the parliamentary elections in the Basque Country,” the journalist emphasized.
A number of experts claim that ISIS is “hunting” for radical Basques. According to Samara, this information is not true: “There is no chance that the group will replenish its ranks with the Basques. Firstly, people of the same religion and nationality live here, and it’s unlikely to “play” on their religious feelings. Secondly, the Basques have just ended 50 years of armed struggle. The conflict was not of an ethnic nature - it was about gaining independence and building socialism. But at the same time, we are seeing a disturbing trend in the region: girls and boys who have never participated in armed struggle idealize it.”
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said yesterday that he would “under no circumstances” allow a referendum on Catalan independence to be held.
*The organization is banned in Russia by decision of the Supreme Court
tions of the Basque separatists ETA seemed bloody monsters.
In the 21st century, against the backdrop of World War II planes Shopping Center,
Chechen suicide bombers, Islamic fanatics and Somali pirates,
ETA looks like children playing in the sandbox, or
old-fashioned gentlemen in white gloves:
the organization has only two hundred fighters, terrorist attacks are carried out
against the army, police or officials, about every explosion
communicated in advance maximum number victims in one terrorist attack
after the 1987 record, it never exceeded two dozen people.
However, ETA is strong and continues its war today.
June 19, 1987 was hot in Madrid. In one of the capital's Hipercor supermarkets, customers, leaving their cars in the underground parking lot, went up to the supermarket halls, scurried between the shelves, and rolled baskets loaded with purchases to the cash registers. Suddenly there was a deafening explosion, the floor jumped and exploded, the walls and ceiling collapsed, everything was covered in clouds of smoke and dust. Madrid police will later publish a list of victims: 21 killed and 30 wounded. A car filled with explosives, left by terrorists in an underground parking lot under a supermarket, exploded. Responsibility for the explosion was claimed by ETA, a terrorist organization fighting for the independence of the people inhabiting a small piece of Spain called the Basque Land. ETA would later apologize for the deaths of civilians - the terrorist attack was directed against a nearby commissariat. This was the bloodiest ETA action in the organization's history. When in March 2004 the Spanish capital was rocked by 7 explosions in city trains, which took 200 lives, many security officials, despite the hysteria of the press, doubted that the explosions were organized by ETA: there were no anonymous calls with warnings usual for this organization, but the scale and cruelty of the largest throughout the history of Europe, terrorist attacks did not correspond to the “handwriting” of the Basque separatists. And indeed: later, a branch of al-Qaeda called the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades took responsibility for the explosions. This time the Basques had nothing to do with it.
WHO ARE BASQUES
Basques are one of the oldest peoples in Europe, speaking unusual language and has a very unique cultural traditions. They are considered descendants of the Iberians and Celts, and are credited with Caucasian, Berber and even Jewish roots. This people arose 14 thousand years BC, for which they are called the oldest people on the planet. The Basques are different from other peoples inhabiting Spain. “We are not Spaniards,” they say about themselves. They are considered unfriendly and hot-tempered, proud and suspicious, honest and proud. They are famous as fishermen and sailors (it is believed that they mastered the route to America long before Columbus). By the standards of the long-overpopulated Old World, the Basques are a large people. There are more than a million of them, while in all of Spain today there are only 44 million people. They inhabit the mountains and foothills of the Pyrenees on both sides of the Spanish-French border, and long ago - even before the Romans arrived there, the mountains were already inhabited by this small people, who in their history successfully survived the Roman invasion, several waves of barbarian invasions and the Arab conquest. However, the Basques were unable to create a state: the people were surrounded by strong warlike neighbors, and the small principalities could not compete with neighboring Castile, Navarre and France. TO XIV century the Basque lands were completely absorbed by them, and later became part of Spain. The Basques have never been distinguished by their loyalty to the Spanish crown and loyalty to Spanish laws, but for hundreds of years they fought for their independence with varying success: already in 1425, the Basque Land received the status of an autonomous region. Later, the Spanish rulers Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile graciously agreed to this status. This continued until 1876, when King Alfonso XII abolished the autonomy by a special decree, and it was restored in the 20th century, in 1936. However, during the time of the fascist General Franco, the Basques suffered greatly: they became the most oppressed nation in Spain. They were forbidden to publish books and newspapers, teach in their native Euskera language, or call their children Basque names. They had no right to sing their folk songs, dance to bagpipes or wear National costumes. In 1939, Franco officially declared the Basques “traitors to the motherland”, the authorities sent police units and military gendarmerie to the Basque Country... It is not surprising that in the end the proud and hot-tempered people took up arms.
"BASQUE COUNTRY AND FREEDOM"
In 1959, 20 years after the Francoist pogrom of 1939 and the defeat of the Republicans, a new organization Basque resistance to the fascist regime - Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA), translated - “Basque Country and Freedom”. It is believed that ETA spun off from the Basque nationalist party, founded in 1894. The ideologist of this party was Sabino Arana, who back in the 19th century declared that Spain had turned the Basque Country into its colony and demanded complete independence of the Basque lands. In 1959, several young members of the BNP, dissatisfied with the party's abandonment of armed struggle, left it and founded ETA. Gradually it grew from a small group of students into a powerful underground army and became the vanguard of the Basque liberation movement. Very soon, ETA adopted terrorist methods - the murder of prominent political figures and kidnappings and businessmen for whom ransom could be obtained. The practice of a “revolutionary tax” was widely used (and is still used to this day), which is collected from Basque entrepreneurs and goes to support the organization. In the early 1960s, ETA began blowing up police stations, barracks, railway lines, and killing gendarmes and officials. After the repressions of 1962, the organization curtailed its activities, but since 1964 the terror resumed and became systematic. Despite extreme measures against anyone suspected of links to ETA, the terror continued unabated. Everyone was under threat - from a simple civil servant to a general. In the 1960-70s, ETA was the only real opposition to the dictatorship; many Spaniards sympathized with it, who had many reasons to be dissatisfied with the regime. The organization's popularity rose sharply after its fighters killed secret police commissioner Melton Manzañas in 1968, who widely tortured opposition members who fell into the hands of the security service. And the highest" political achievement" ETA was the assassination of Spanish Prime Minister Carrero Blanco in December 1973. Franco, victorious in the Civil War, was powerless against a handful of ETA militants.
In 1975, after the death of the dictator, the Basque Country received everything that ETA had fought for: broad autonomy, its own government, president, parliament and police, the right to independently collect taxes, the regional authorities began to control the education sector themselves, they began teaching in Basque in schools . Most radio stations and television channels began to broadcast their programs in Basque. ETA acquired a political wing, the Yeri Batasuna (People's Unity) party, which could represent the interests of terrorists in the parliament of the Basque Country. It would seem: the triumph of separatism. But support for ETA has waned sharply, with many in Spain deciding that the moment has come for ETA and other resistance groups to lay down their arms and operate as normal. political process. However, this is exactly what did not happen...
The time of the most active terror was precisely the years 1976-1980, when everything that ETA fought for seemed to be achieved. But the militants continued to hunt for judges, high-ranking military and civilian officials, and intractable businessmen. Apparently, the group’s business, built on terror, turned out to be quite profitable. An adjustment in ideology was required, and from now on the goal of ETA’s activities was declared to be the fight against the Spanish colonialists for the creation of the now independent state. The Spanish side called on ETA to stop the terror and offered in exchange for this a complete amnesty for all fighters of the organization, but received a refusal from the separatists.
Since that time, more than 900 people have died at the hands of militants, including about four hundred political figures of various ranks, officials, entrepreneurs, more than two hundred civil guards, about two hundred police officers, and more than a hundred military personnel. The victims of the terrorists were five generals, the completely apolitical Admiral Carvajal de Colon, former President of the Constitutional Court Francisco Tomas y Valiente, Fernando Mujica, personal lawyer former head government of Felipe Gonzalez. In August 1995, militants even intended to kill the head of state, King Juan Carlos I, by firing a Stinger missile purchased from Osama bin Laden himself at his Boeing, but the conspiracy was discovered in time, its participants were arrested and convicted. During its existence, ETA carried out more than 100 terrorist attacks in hotels, restaurants and boarding houses, more than 80 - at airports, on railways and roads, and more than 30 - on all kinds of tourist sites.
HOW IS IT DESIGNED?
ETA is a small organization. Today the number of members does not exceed 500 people, of which 300 are engaged in support and intelligence, and only 200 are militants. The organization consists of detachments of 20-30 people that operate only in the Basque Country, and separate “mobile groups” that operate in major cities. Many ETA fighters were trained in Lebanon, Libya, South Yemen, Nicaragua and Cuba, and ETA has strong ties to the Irish Republican Army.
On average, a militant is involved in terrorism for three years, then usually he either dies or is arrested. ETA's finances consist of a "revolutionary tax" on entrepreneurs, bank robberies, kidnappings for ransom and voluntary donations. The annual income from the “revolutionary tax” is about 120 thousand euros. The money goes to organizing the underground and terrorist attacks, buying weapons and living in exile, as well as helping prisoners and their relatives.
Except combat vehicle, ETA's structure includes ETA-EKIN - the political leadership, and organizations promoting Basque culture, such as schools Basque language and culture: from the very first days of life, young Basques are taught that their people suffer under the yoke of the enemy, that the main goal in their life is self-sacrifice in the name of the nation. Thus, a new generation of separatists from youth groups is replacing the killed and arrested fighters. They operate in Basque cities and towns, stage clashes with the police, set fire to cars and attacks on the homes of Basque police officers, go to demonstrations demanding the release of militants from prisons, throw Molotov cocktails at city buses, bank branches, shops, and build barricades on the streets. . Among young people, the separatists have authority, and many seek to imitate them: on the walls of buildings in the cities of the Basque region you can see posters and graffiti praising the exploits of ETA fighters, and in every alley, banners with slogans in support of imprisoned ETA members hang from balconies. It's simple: the Basques sympathize not with ETA itself, but with the fact that it has challenged the powerful Madrid and is waging an undeclared war with the center, the main milestones of which are:
Explosion in a cafe in Madrid on September 3, 1974 - 12 victims; explosion at two Madrid railway stations on July 29, 1979 - 7 people killed; explosion on the Square Dominican Republic in Madrid on July 14, 1986 - 12 policemen were killed; terrorist attack in a supermarket in Barcelona on June 19, 1987 - 21 people were killed, 45 were injured; a car bomb near a police station in Zaragoza killed 11 people on December 11, 1987; explosion in the police station building on May 29, 1991 - 10 people were killed; explosion of 5 bombs in different cities of Spain on June 22, 2002 - ETA tried to disrupt the summit European Union in Seville.
THIS IS TODAY
In Spain itself, the attitude towards ETA until 1997 was more or less tolerant: the Spaniards remembered ETA’s struggle with the Franco regime. However, what happened in the summer of 1997 changed the population's attitude towards the organization.
In July 1997, separatists kidnapped 29-year-old Basque politician and provincial economist Miguel Angel Blanco, a representative of the ruling People's Party in the Basque region. The kidnappers demanded the release of 460 prisoners from Spanish prisons and allow them to return to the Basque Country. Madrid rejected this claim, and Blanco was found in the street with two bullets in his head. Millions of Spaniards, outraged by the murder, took to protests demanding an end to the bloody violence. Unexpectedly for everyone, even some of its members spoke out against such actions by ETA.
ETA's leadership had to take unprecedented measures: In September 1998, the organization announced that it was suspending military operations indefinitely and began negotiations with the Spanish government. As a result, ETA did not commit a single terrorist attack for 14 months. Explosions and gunshots resumed in the Basque Country only after the Spanish government arrested 66 people on charges of collaborating with ETA.
The police and government constantly have to pretend that the situation with ETA is under control: the Spanish Ministry of Internal Affairs regularly states that the police know almost everything about ETA: names, nicknames, methods of action, structure of the organization, locations, number of militants. More than two thousand police officers, trained by specialists from the United States, Germany, Great Britain and Israel, are constantly involved in operations against the organization. But the experience of fighting ETA shows that it is impossible to deal with the organization by force: even the “death squads” that were created in the 80s to fight ETA turned out to be powerless, despite the fact that they consisted of mercenaries experienced in massacres. purges." “Targeted” actions do not affect the situation either: neither the arrest in May 2008 of ETA head Javier Lopez-Peña, who had been wanted since 1983, nor the arrest of his successor Cherokee in November 2008, nor regular raids and arrests of ordinary ETA members. In the analytical report of the Civil Guard for 2008, the security forces summed up the disappointing result of the half-century struggle against ETA: “There is no doubt that ETA has an infrastructure, stable and reliable contacts and connections, a widely ramified network not only in Spain, but also in France, large material, including weapons, and financial and economic capabilities, as well as human resources, which allows it to remain resistant to the forces of law and order and continue to carry out appropriate operations."
This conclusion is clearly illustrated by reports on ETA shares last months:
Murder of a railway contractor, businessman Ignacio Uría Mendizábal, in the Basque town of Azpeitia (December 2008).
An explosion in Madrid of a van filled with explosives near the office of Ferrovial, which is building a highway from the Basque Country to Madrid. (February 2009);
An assassination attempt on judge Balthazar Garzón, known for his trials of extremists. The militants planned to send the judge a bottle of poisoned cognac in a gift box, accompanied by a note whose fictitious author, allegedly a law student, admired the judge's success in the fight against terrorism; (June 2009)
Terrorist attack near the office of the ruling party of the Basque Country in which a policeman was killed (June 2009);
Explosion at the office of the Socialist Party in the city of Durango (July 2009);
ETA is not going to give up and stop the terror. Several times the organization lost goals and invented new ones, and experienced “cleansing” and truces. Over the fifty years of its existence, the world has changed, but ETA with its main slogan has not changed: “Basque Country and Freedom.”
Terrorist organizations arise on different ideological platforms and for different reasons. There are organizations whose emergence was facilitated by some ideological considerations (for example, the Red Brigades in Italy or Action directe 
in France). There are terrorist groups based on certain religious tenets (for example, the famous Al-Qaeda is the most shining example Islamic fundamentalism). And there are organizations that feed on nationalist and separatist motives - and these are the Basque terrorist organizations.
Basques are a proud people
The characteristics of the Basque people are such that it would be surprising if separatist ideas were not popular among them. The fact is that the Basques are a unique people, living in Western Europe, they can be called “Europeans” only geographically, since they do not belong to the Indo-European peoples. Scientists note the uniqueness of the Basque language and still cannot trace its family ties with any language in the world. So this is one of the oldest distinct ethnic groups that have always paid special attention to their independence. In the Late Middle Ages, Basque territories, located mainly in the Pyrenees and their foothills, became part of the Kingdom of Spain.
However, this step was almost nominal, because for centuries there had been a system of "fueros", which included almost complete independence of the Basques from the central government, with the exception of the fact of recognition of this power. The situation for the Basques began to change in the 19th century. Then Spain experienced a series of Carlist wars, which ended in 1876. The Basques, to their regret, supported Don Carlos in those wars, so after his defeat some of the benefits and privileges of an administrative and economic nature were taken away from them. In addition, the central government began a gradual attack on the autonomous cultural character of the Basque territories - elements of Spanish culture began to be increasingly introduced, Spanish and so on.
Origins of Basque separatism
Therefore, in late XIX century through the efforts of Sabino de Arana, who then received the status national hero, and the ideology of Basque separatism appeared. Its essence was the idea that without Spain the Basques lived very well, did not need anything, and did not experience any problems with their neighbors. In addition, the Basques themselves are a unique people who have ancient traditions and must preserve their cultural and national identity. This can only be done within the framework of an independent state, which will unite the territories historically inhabited by the Basques. However, these territories are part of primarily Spain and, to some extent, France, in its mountainous Pyrenees regions. Therefore, it is necessary to unite the Basque territories and create a sovereign state, the Basque Country.
De Arana's ideas found a wide response in Basque society and served as the beginning of a movement for independence and the creation of their own state. With his participation, the Basque Nationalist Party was created, which still exists today. But then the urgency of the issue subsided somewhat: after Spain became a republic, the Basques were granted broad autonomy, much like the fueros system, so the separatist movement subsided. But the Civil War of 1936-1939 began, after which the victorious Francisco Franco decided that Basque autonomy was too broad, could serve as a tempting example for other outskirts (for example, Catalonia), and was also a breeding ground for the emergence of political opposition. Therefore, during the years of the Franco regime, Basque autonomy was abolished and an active campaign was launched to Spanishize the Basque Country - the official use of the Basque language was prohibited, everything Spanish was implanted. From that moment on, Basque separatism was revived with renewed vigor and became much more radical.
Terrorists and politicians
It was then that the Basque terrorist organizations appeared. More precisely, one terrorist organization appeared - ETA (“Basque Country and Freedom”), founded in 1959 and from the mid-1960s began an armed struggle for independence. Another organization often classified as Basque terrorists is actually political party and is called “Batasuna” (“Erri Batasuna”, “Unity of the People”). The identification of Batasuna as a terrorist organization is nothing more than a precautionary measure by the Spanish state, which allowed the activities of this party to be banned in court in 2003.
The fact is that “Batasuna” is a kind of political voice of ETA, that is, in the context of legal political life voices the ideas, principles and demands that ETA is trying to defend through terrorist attacks. The connections between Batasuna and ETA are indisputable and repeatedly proven, and from a formal point of view, Batasuna, as a party collaborating with a terrorist organization, can also be considered terrorist. However, in practice, “combat operations” are carried out only by ETA, which, since the 1960s, has been responsible for hundreds of actions, explosions of cars, police stations, railway lines, army barracks, kidnappings and murders of representatives of Spanish authorities and departments. About 900 people became victims of the ETA “war of liberation”. True, by 2012 this “war” was considered over: ETA had lost a significant part of its influence, most of the organization’s leadership was arrested, and in 2011 the cessation of the armed struggle was repeatedly announced.
Spain is an example of a multinational state where influential forces in some regions “encroach” on state sovereignty, claiming the sovereign status of their territories. At the forefront of the struggle for sovereignty in Spain are representatives of the most developed autonomous regions - the Basque Country and Catalonia, putting forward demands of a political, cultural and linguistic nature. Regional separatism in recent decades has manifested itself in two main forms - armed terrorist struggle (ETA in the Basque Country) and peaceful, often mass demands for independence (in the same Basque Country and Catalonia). How great is the threat to the territorial integrity of the Spanish state today?
Territorial organization of modern Spain
The existing State of Autonomous Regions (it includes 17 autonomous communities and two autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla on the coast of North Africa) over the years democratic development has proven its viability. At the same time, this model of state-territorial organization has constantly remained the object of political struggle, which has noticeably intensified in recent years. Some political forces insist on preserving the State of Autonomy with the possible introduction of some adjustments, others demand its transformation into a federation, others into a confederation, and others are fighting for the complete independence of their territories.
The basis for disagreement is largely the very nature of the State of Autonomy, which is a unitary decentralized entity with numerous features typologically inherent in federal states. These features include the following: unity in diversity, delimitation of subjects of competence and powers between at different levels management, a combination of symmetry and asymmetry, divided loyalty - multiple forms of self-identification of Spaniards, including with the people of their autonomy, city, village, etc.
The presence of all these features cannot, however, obscure the most important distinctive features of the State of Autonomy as a unitary entity. Among the proofs of this, let us cite at least the Constitution of Spain. A number of its articles state that the authority to make final decisions remains with the central government. This fundamentally distinguishes the State of Autonomous States from federal states, where there is a system of division of powers between the center and regions in relation to decision-making. The Spanish State of Autonomous States proceeds from a single and indivisible sovereignty (the Spanish nation), which recognizes the autonomies and cedes to them part of its competence. A nation is defined as a collection of nationalities (although the meaning of the concept of “nationality” is not explained in the constitution), in other words, the multinational character of the Spanish state is recognized.
The autonomy of Spain took place in a bitter struggle with conservative forces brought up on the Francoist ideas of a unitary, tightly centralized Spanish state. The 1978 Constitution, adopted during the transition to democracy, was the result of a compromise between right and left, not free from a number of contradictions and unresolved problems. In the constitution, the state-territorial structure of Spain is “written” only in general view, there is no complete scheme for the division of powers between the center, autonomous regions and municipalities, and some of its provisions are ambiguous and are perceived differently by different political forces.
This is partly why the granting of autonomy (this happened everywhere by the mid-1980s) only whetted the appetites of radicals, and even some moderate nationalists, who considered the rights received insufficient and demanded their further expansion. The desire of the nationalities and regions of Spain to improve their status is also explained by the unfolding processes of European integration and globalization and the associated fears of losing their language and traditions and dissolving in the globalized world environment. In the Basque Country and Catalonia, an important part of the ideological arsenal of the separatists is myth-making, the artificial construction of the traditions of the “ancient sovereign nation” while simultaneously rejecting those truly existing traditions, which unite these regions with Spain. The interest of autonomous communities in increasing the range of powers is also determined by the trend towards a “Europe of regions”, which dictates the need to expand independent external relations. There is also no doubt that the decay of the series multinational states(USSR, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia) strengthened disintegration processes in Spain.
Basque Country: types of separatism
Separatist sentiments in Spain are most pronounced in the Basque Country. For more than half a century, the terrorist organization ETA (formed in 1959), which declared itself as “the Basque socialist movement for national liberation,” fought for the creation of an independent Basque state from the seven provinces they inhabited (four in Spain and three in France). The bulk of her “actions” occurred during the years of democracy. It would seem that it was at this time that all the conditions appeared for ETA to stop the armed struggle with the Spanish state. After all, the Basque Country was granted such a volume of rights and freedoms that it had never had in its history. It has its own parliament, police, radio, two television channels, a bilingual education system, and its own tax system. The Basques received more rights than all other autonomous regions of Spain.
However, the militants did not lay down their arms. For several decades, blood was shed in Spain, for which ETA was directly responsible, and acute political crises. The militants accounted for over 800 killed, 2 thousand wounded and dozens of abducted. To this must be added entire families forced to leave the Basque Country, entrepreneurs and small traders from whom the “revolutionary tax” was levied, and many people exposed to terrorist threats - politicians, journalists, judges, professors. On October 20, 2011, ETA announced the “final cessation of the armed struggle.” The fundamental shift in the militants' position is largely explained by effective actions Spanish and French intelligence services, who arrested some of the terrorists, including the leaders, and confiscated several arsenals of weapons. A change in attitude towards ETA in Spain, primarily in the Basque Country, also played a role. If in the first decades of its activity many saw the Etarians as heroes, then later they began to be considered criminals and murderers. Shifts in the position of the “left Basque patriots” from the Basque National Liberation Movement, a semi-legal network structure uniting a number of parties, also had an impact. public organizations and groups and for a long time controlled by ETA. Some organizations within the Movement, most notably Batasuna, showed disobedience for the first time by calling on ETA to end the armed struggle. Finally, we cannot discount the pressure on ETA from international community– European Parliament, famous political figures.
It is noteworthy that, having declared the end of the armed struggle, ETA did not disarm. ETA's statement can only be seen as one link in a long and difficult process of solving the problem of terrorism in the Basque Country. The government of the conservative People's Party, which took office in December 2011, like the previous government of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, advocates the unconditional disarmament of terrorists.
The influential “separatist minority” advocating independence for the region includes not only “left-wing Basque patriots”, but also some supporters of nationalist parties, especially the oldest Basque Nationalist Party here (founded in 1895). A distinctive feature of the BNP was initially dualism, manifested in a combination of a radical political goal (gaining independence of the region from Spain) with moderate practice, participation in political institutions Spanish state. The BNP’s “two souls” allowed it to remain the leading political organization in the region for many decades, uniting disparate nationalist forces.
In the late 1990s, the BNP's position radicalized. She went beyond the legal framework, openly raising the question of the sovereignty of the Basque Country. In 2003, one of its leaders, the chairman of the autonomous government of the Basque Country, Juan José Ibarretxe, came up with a plan providing for the “free association” of this autonomy with Spain. When voting in the Basque parliament, supporters of the “Ibarretxe plan” managed to achieve its approval with a slight majority of votes. However, the Spanish Cortes rejected the Ibarretxe Plan as unconstitutional. The Basque separatists did not accept this. In the cities of the autonomy, demonstrations are regularly held by representatives of the radical wing of the BNP and “left-wing Basque patriots”, at which demands are put forward to the authorities - the legalization of banned radical nationalist organizations, the transfer of Etarians in prison from remote places conclusion “closer to home” and, naturally, granting independence to the Basque Country. According to a representative sociological survey, in May 2010, 25% of the inhabitants of the Basque Country were in favor of independence. It should also be borne in mind that the surprise of the last parliamentary elections in Spain, held in November 2011, was the election of seven deputies from the Basque radical nationalist bloc "Amayur", which many experts consider the heir to Batasuna.
So, in the Basque Country, the armed conflict between ETA and the Spanish state is being replaced by political conflict with him were radical Basque nationalists.
Separatist aspirations in Catalonia
A noticeable tendency towards separation from Spain also exists among some of the Catalans, who have always demanded recognition of their difference from the rest of Spain. “We are different”, “Catalans are not Spaniards, and Spaniards are not Catalans” - this is the attitude of many residents of the region. The nationalism of the Catalans is also fueled by the fact that their region until recently gave up the state budget a significant part of the funds earned, providing up to a quarter of the entire budget of Spain. The Catalans believed that they were feeding the whole country and were “noble donors to the rest of Spain,” while some projects in the autonomy itself were not being implemented. The development of separatist sentiments in the region was not stopped by the fact that, according to the Autonomous Statute of 1979, Catalonia acquired a wide range of powers in matters local government, public safety(its own police, not subordinate to Madrid), transport, communications, public education, culture, language, protection environment. Unlike the Basque separatists, Catalan separatists for many years have preferred unarmed methods of fighting the central government and are focused on the peaceful coexistence of various political forces. Note that the word “seny”, symbolizing the specificity of the Catalan mentality, means prudence, psychological balance
The desire to gain sovereignty materializes at the level of both political organizations(the most prominent representative is the Left Republican Party of Catalonia), and public consciousness. The most influential political force in the region is the “Convergence and Union” coalition, whose activities combine cooperation with the central government with radical nationalist rhetoric and a willingness to lead the struggle for national self-determination in favorable conditions.
The most important milestone in determining the current political and legal status of Catalonia and its rights in relations with the center was the adoption of its new statute. It was approved in a referendum held in the autonomy on June 18, 2006. The adoption of the statute was preceded by an intense struggle related to the intention of its drafters to define Catalonia as a “nation”. This position, consonant with the sentiments of the majority of the population of the region, contradicted the constitution, which provides for the existence of only one nation on the territory of Spain - the Spanish. The concept of “nation” is interpreted in different ways. For some nationalists, the definition of Catalonia as a nation does not mean its secession from Spain. Radical nationalists clearly interpret this definition of their region as the possibility of secession. Political struggle around the term “nation” is important for them because it creates a platform for further steps to distance themselves from Madrid, in particular, to hold a referendum on the issue of secession.
As a result of a lengthy discussion in the Cortes, the term “nation” remained only in the preamble of the new statute, which has no legal force. In articles that have legal force, Catalonia is referred to as a "nationality". At the same time, the flag, national holiday and anthem of Catalonia are officially recognized. In many other areas (judicial and law enforcement, tax collection, language rights) the rights of autonomy have expanded compared to the 1979 statute. After the adoption of the new autonomous statute of Catalonia, seven legal entities (the People's Party and several autonomies) challenged a number of its provisions in the constitutional court, first of all, the definition of Catalonia as a “nation”. After a long consideration, the constitutional court issued a verdict to leave this interpretation unchanged.
So, unlike the Basque Country, the autonomous statute of Catalonia has been reformed in terms of expanding its powers. However, radical nationalists are not satisfied and continue to strive for the region to gain sovereignty. Their conflict with the center remains, it just becomes less tangible.
Alternative Scenarios
Theoretically, a break between certain regions and Spain cannot be ruled out. It should be borne in mind that domestic and international conditions are not favorable for the development of such a scenario. Legal standards The EU does not provide for the entry into it of individual regions that want to separate from member countries. We should not forget that the process of European integration, accompanied by the abolition of borders, the creation of a single market for goods, capital and services, and the expansion of the competence of supranational bodies, works against national separatism. According to available estimates, the consequences of secession and the exit of the Basque Country from the EU will be a massive flight of capital from the region, the relocation of some enterprises, the loss of many tens of thousands of jobs, and high costs associated with the creation of new government agencies and a new currency, the general impoverishment of the population, the deterioration of relations between the Basques and the rest of the population of Spain (with the exception of nationalist groups). It is also extremely important that the majority of the region’s population does not want to break off relations with Spain.
In the coming years, a different scenario seems much more likely: maintaining the status quo or modifying the legal statutes of autonomy within the framework of the current constitution. Relations between the center and the regions will develop in accordance with the logic of a single Spanish nation and the indivisibility of its sovereignty, as enshrined in the constitution. In such a scenario, the central government will have to constantly deal with manifestations of separatist sentiments among part of the elites and the population of the autonomous regions, stimulated by the climate of the global economic crisis, which has hit Spain hard. Separatist aspirations can be counteracted by active political and propaganda activities that prove the advantages of life in a diverse democratic Spain and explain that secession is an extremely painful process for numerous groups of the population of the regions that have decided to take such a step.
Sergey Khenkin, Doctor of Historical Sciences, professor of the department. Comparative Political Science MGIMO (U) MFA of Russia
Russian International Affairs Council
The terrorist group ETA, which has sought the secession of the Basque Country from Spain since 1959 and at whose hands 853 people have died during this time, has announced its dissolution. Its leaders asked for forgiveness from those “who were hurt a lot” and announced the end of “ political activity" Meanwhile, experts interviewed by Kommersant warn: the fight against terrorism in Spain is not over, and many ex-members of the group will continue to engage in politics, joining radical parties or creating new ones.
“ETA has completely dissolved its structures and announces the cessation of all political activities,” the group said in a statement released through Spanish media. At the same time, the text notes that “ex-ETA members will continue to fight for a reunified, independent, socialist Basque Country” and will defend the “democratic scenario” for the separation of Basque autonomy from Spain.
ETA was created in the Spanish autonomous region of the Basque Country in 1959. The acronym stands for Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, which means "Basque Country and Freedom" in Basque. For almost 60 years, ETA members sought the secession of their region from Spain and the creation of an independent state, which would include a number of provinces of Southern France. According to the Spanish Ministry of Internal Affairs, as a result of terrorist attacks committed by members of the group, 853 people were killed and more than 6 thousand were injured.
ETA members have been working towards yesterday for the past seven years. They declared a ceasefire in 2011 and have not carried out terrorist attacks since then. However, they still had warehouses with weapons, and they continued to actively seek the independence of the Basque Country through peaceful means. For example, in the fall of 2014, when Scotland was holding a referendum on independence from Great Britain and Catalonia was conducting a poll about the political future of the region, the Basque newspaper Gara published a call on behalf of ETA members to “radicalize the struggle for independence.” According to members of the group, events in Catalonia and Scotland created a favorable moment for the “launch of democratic processes” in the Basque Country. The autonomy parties, however, did not follow this advice, listening to the sentiments of their voters, the majority of whom are against secession from Spain. According to a poll conducted by the University of Deusto (Basque Country) at the end of 2017, 23% of Basques would support secession, 43% would vote against, and the rest were undecided.
Since 2011, Spanish authorities have insisted on the complete disarmament of ETA. But the group hoped for concessions from Madrid - in particular, the transfer of terrorists behind bars to prisons in the Basque Country. Now prison term About 300 members of the organization are serving (more than 50 of them in France, the rest in Spain). However, Spanish prisons are mainly located in the south of the country, and the Basque Country is in the north. Relatives of terrorists regularly organize protest rallies on this issue, demanding that prisoners be transferred closer to home.
Having failed to achieve concessions, ETA announced its dissolution in early spring and soon asked for forgiveness on the pages of Gara from everyone “to whom it caused a lot of pain.” A week before the official disbandment, the group's leadership provided the French police with the coordinates of two weapons caches.
According to Raul Lopez Romo, an expert at the Spanish Center for the Remembrance of Victims of Terrorism, ETA decided to disband for two reasons: “The first is the work of the security forces, which have significantly weakened the group. The second is the rejection by the overwhelming majority of society of the idea that terrorism can be justified to achieve political goals.” “The strategy of ETA members has always been to impose their political goals with the help of force, but now it has completely failed,” historian, author of books about Basque terrorists Gaizka Fernandez Soldevilla assured Kommersant.
And although the farewell address states that “ETA is completing all its political activity“Experts interviewed by Kommersant believe that this is deceit. Former members of the organization have no intention of leaving the political scene, explains Gaizka Fernandez Soldevilla: “ETA has survived for 60 years, and one of the reasons explaining its long existence organizations - support from certain political groups, such as Basque extremists and radical nationalists. For these people, terrorists are heroes.”
Thanks to this support, some ex-ETA members are still actively involved in the political life of the Basque Country. Thus, former terrorist Arnaldo Otegui heads the Bildu coalition, which advocates independence from Spain and is the second most supported political force in the region: it has 18 of the 75 seats in the local parliament. “ETA operated with bombs, and its legal wing, in different times worn different names, participated in elections and received votes,” notes Raul Lopez Romo. “I would not be surprised if other ETA members want to follow in the footsteps of Arnaldo Otegui.”
However, this will only apply to those who are clean before the law. “Representatives of the police and the court have already stated that they will continue to work to detain terrorists who remain at large and to investigate unsolved crimes,” Raul Lopez Romo reminded Kommersant, adding: “ETA seeks to remain unpunished by completing its activities. But there will be no pardon, because it would be disrespectful to the victims of terrorism.” Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has already confirmed this thesis. “ETA terrorists may declare dissolution, but their crimes will not disappear because of this, nor will our attempts to catch and punish them stop,” he assured.
Ekaterina Mareeva
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