Basque Separatists

[CubanFox]

Who exactly are the Basque separatists? Where are some sites where I can find out more? What sort of political system were they envisioning for their Basque Republic? Are they 'goodies' in the eyes of us leftists?

[MEXCAN]

Here are some site that will help you understand the basque movement !!!

http://www.basque-red.net/homei.htm
http://www.batasuna.org/g_index.htm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/spain/flash/0,55...,191251,00.html (http://www.guardian.co.uk/spain/flash/0,5543,191251,00.html)

[Soul Rebel]

ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna) started in the 60's as a result of feeling betrayed by the spanish government. During WW2 German planes flew over Guernica and dropped bombs, which you can imagine caused many deaths and tons of damage. The exact date is April 26 1937. This was a contribution by Hitler to the fascist war effort in Spain. I guess the Spanish government knew about it the whole time and didnt try to stop it. Well in 1939 Franco gained power and went on to blame the Basques themselves for what happened, but the Basques blame Franco. When he was in power Franco did everything he could to try and destroy the Basque people. They retaliated against him and he didnt like that one bit. What was Franco's way of destroying them? He tried to limit their language and culture. See Spain is divided into many different provinces and each speaks spanish, but also has a different/distinct language/dialect. For example, I am from Galicia in Spain so i speak spanish as well as Gallego, and i have my own cultural traditions. But Franco didnt try to stop everyones, just the Basques.

Well in 1998 Germany apologized to the Basque people. The Spanish government still has to do so. This is why ETA is so enraged. The Spanish government is not acknowlegding what happened. So as a result ETA wants the Basque area to be seperated from Spain.

This is a tough topic for me, being from spain. On one hand i totally understand why the Basque people and ETA are so angry. I would be too. However, on the other hand i dont agree with their methods. I find it sad that they have to take out innocent people. For example, during the summer a young girl was killed on a bus that was bombed by ETA. I dont think it is necessary to take out Spanish civilians. At the same time though i know that they feel this is the only way their message will get heard. I think they should take a nation wide vote to see if the Basque area should be granted its wish to be seperated. Just one thing- dont think that all Basques are for ETA. Many are actually against it but cannot be vocal about it otherwise they will suffer horrible consequences. Most people feel like i do--- we know why they do what they do, but we just dont agree with their methods.