THE POLITICAL leaders of the Basque pro-independence movement issued an unprecedented declaration in the highly symbolic location of Gernika last Saturday.
They called on terror group Eta to make its recently-declared ceasefire “permanent, unilateral and verifiable by the international community”, and for a “definitive end to its armed activities”.
Yesterday, however, the radical Basque newspaper Gara published an extensive interview with two unnamed Eta members, the first since the ceasefire, in which they fell well short of agreeing to these terms. They were also deeply ambiguous as to whether their ceasefire was conditional on the achievement of political aims.
The Spanish government, most Spanish, and much Basque public opinion is clearly opposed to any quid pro quo for an end to Eta.
The interviewees made positive noises about being willing to “go further” than a ceasefire, and to cede any role in hypothetical talks with the Spanish government to political parties. They also made explicit points left disturbingly vague in the September 5th ceasefire statement. They would continue to defend themselves in any encounters with the security forces, and would maintain the “usual tasks” of provisioning the organisation, which presumably means extortion and robbery.
Delicately sequenced choreography is pivotal to peace processes. But the new situation in the Basque country is moving, on one side, at a much faster pace than most observers anticipated. It seems the key players on the radical nationalist side moved so swiftly this weekend that they tripped each other up.
On the positive side, the Gernika declaration confirms that radical politicians, formerly associated with the banned Batasuna party, once a mouthpiece for Eta, have found their own voices and are acting unconstrained by the Eta leadership.
However, such a departure brings with it the danger of a split. Eta’s mystique in some sectors of Basque society, and especially among the young, remains powerful, although declining sharply in recent years.
Keeping Eta on board with an unarmed strategy for Basque independence will require fancy and unfamiliar footwork from the political leadership.
It did persuade two small but significant pro-independence parties, never associated with Eta, and powerful trade unions and civil society groups, to join it on the platform in Gernika.
But the political leadership has so far failed to draw any support from the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), always the major force in Basque nationalist politics.
With neither the Socialist Party, in government in Madrid and the Basque country, nor the PNV showing any interest in joining the dance, the peace process remains a tricky two-step.