Basque National Liberation Movement
Encyclopedia
The Basque National Liberation Movement ' onMouseout='HidePop("27601")' href="/topics/Basque_language">Basque
Euskal Herri Askapenerako Mugimendua) is an umbrella term that comprises all social
, political and armed organizations orbiting around the ideas of the illegal armed organisation Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA), proscribed internationally as a terrorist organisation.
The wide variety of organizations and their different levels of belonging to this political space made this name very common in the 80s and 90s.
The MLNV has suffered in the past decade a judicial persecution that has brought many of its members to jail and illegalized many but not all its elements. Generally the judicial actions were in connection with the direct links between ETA and many of these organizations.
Some of the most relevant organizations that can be considered to have formed part of this political current are listed below.
Basque language
Basque is the ancestral language of the Basque people, who inhabit the Basque Country, a region spanning an area in northeastern Spain and southwestern France. It is spoken by 25.7% of Basques in all territories...
Euskal Herri Askapenerako Mugimendua) is an umbrella term that comprises all social
Social
The term social refers to a characteristic of living organisms...
, political and armed organizations orbiting around the ideas of the illegal armed organisation Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA), proscribed internationally as a terrorist organisation.
The wide variety of organizations and their different levels of belonging to this political space made this name very common in the 80s and 90s.
The MLNV has suffered in the past decade a judicial persecution that has brought many of its members to jail and illegalized many but not all its elements. Generally the judicial actions were in connection with the direct links between ETA and many of these organizations.
Some of the most relevant organizations that can be considered to have formed part of this political current are listed below.
Armed organizations
- ETA militar (ETA(m)ETAETA , an acronym for Euskadi Ta Askatasuna is an armed Basque nationalist and separatist organization. The group was founded in 1959 and has since evolved from a group promoting traditional Basque culture to a paramilitary group with the goal of gaining independence for the Greater Basque Country...
), - ETA political-militar (ETA(pm), disbanded in 1984),
- Street violence (Kale BorrokaKale borrokaKale borroka refers to urban guerrilla actions carried out by Basque nationalist youth who are integrated into the abertzale left. Along with ETA, the kale borroka is the only remaining armed faction of Basque nationalists in the Basque Conflict....
) street gangs, - Comandos Autónomos AnticapitalistasComandos Autónomos AnticapitalistasThe Comandos Autónomos Anticapitalistas were a Basque armed group with Autonomist Marxist politics, defined as an anarchistic breakaway of ETA....
, very active in the 70s and 80s, - IraultzaIraultzaIraultza, meaning Revolution in the Basque language, was a small Basque militant armed group of the Trotskyist tendency that may be remembered for being the only one of its kind not to have killed anyone except three of its own members, who died preparing an explosive device in the early 1990s...
, small Trotskyist group, - IparretarrakIparretarrakIparretarrak or IK was a Basque nationalist terrorist organization operating in the French Basque Country.It was founded in 1973 by Philippe Bidart, to date, 1982 remains as their most active year, with 32 attacks; despite having mostly targeted tourist developments, it has also assassinated a...
, active in France between 1973 and 2000, - IrrintziIrrintziIrrintzi is an armed Basque nationalist group or cell that acts in the French Basque Country . The word irrintzi refers originally to the traditional Basque folk high pitched scream used to express celebration or happiness....
, active in France between 2006 and 2009, - Hordago, active in France in the 80s,
- Euskal Zuzentasuna, active in France between 1977 and 1979.
Political parties
- Eusko Abertzale EkintzaEusko Abertzale EkintzaBasque Nationalist Action 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 program. On 16 September 2008, the party was outlawed by the Spanish Supreme Court based on ties with ETA...
, EAE-ANV (Basque National Action, integrated successively in the different electoral fronts of the MLNV. In February 2008, after a legal process, a Spanish court declared EAE-ANV illegal on charges of being a part of ETA. - Herri Alderdi Sozialista IraultzaileaHerri Alderdi Sozialista IraultzaileaHerri Alderdi Sozialista Iraultzailea best known for its acronym HASI, that in Basque language means to begin, was a non-legal Basque political party, considered commonly to be the political branch of ETA...
, HASI (People's Socialist Revolutionary Party, illegal, always run in the successive MLNV fronts until the formation of Batasuna), it was considered the political arm of ETA - Herri Batasuna, HB (People's Union, an electoral coalition formed by both parties and independents)
- Euskal Herritarrok, EH ("We Basque Citizens") was the moniker under which the coalition previously known as Herri Batasuna took part in elections in 1998 and 1999.
- BatasunaBatasunaBatasuna was a Basque nationalist political party based mainly in Spain, where it was outlawed in 2003, after a court ruling declared proven that the party was financing ETA with public money. Batasuna is included in the "European Union list of terrorist persons and organizations" as a component...
("Unity" in Basque language) Political party outlawed in Spain in 2003 after ties with ETA were legally proved; this has not affected its French branch. - Euskal Herrialdeetako Alderdi KomunistaCommunist Party of the Basque HomelandsThe Communist Party of the Basque Homelands was a communist Basque separatist party in the Basque Country, Spain...
, EHAK-PCTV ("Communist Party of the Basque Homelands") had been a tiny a political party which came to be known to the public when it announced in 2005 that it would assume Batasuna's guidelines after the latter was banned in Spain according to the Ley de Partidos. - Herritarren ZerrendaHerritarren ZerrendaThe Herritarren Zerrenda is a Basque nationalist political party in Spain and France, created in 2004 to run in the European Parliament election...
(HZ, List of Fellow Citizens) is a Basque nationalist political party in Spain and France, created in 2004 to run in the European Parliament election, it was outlawed in Spain but not in France. - Autodeterminaziorako Bilgunea (AuB, Gathering for Self determination) another Basque nationalist political party in Spain, created in 2004 to run in the European Parliament election, but it was outlawed.
- AskatasunaAskatasunaAskatasuna is a Basque political party registered on the 31st August, 1998, outlawed in 2009....
(Freedom) is a Basque political party registered on the 31st August, 1998, and outlawed on February 8, 2009, for proven ties with ETA. - D3MD3MDemokrazia Hiru Milioi was an electoral platform which was formed to participate in the Basque Parliament elections in 2009. It was declared illegal on February 8, 2009, as the Supreme Court of Spain considered that it was linked with the separatist organization ETA....
Demokrazia Hiru Milioi (Spanish: Democracia Tres Millones; D3M; also called Demokrazia 3,000,000) is an electoral platform which was formed to participate in the Basque Parliament elections in 2009. It was declared illegal on February 8, 2009 for the same reason as Askatasuna. - SortuSortuSortu 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 ETA's violence....
(Create) was a political party which had been illegalized, accused of being part of ETA. - BilduBilduBildu is a Basque nationalist, separatist and abertzale leftist political coalition active in the Basque Country and Navarre. It was official launched on 3 April 2011...
("gather" in Basque) is a coalition of the Basque Country and its official launch was on April 3, 2011. The Constitutional Court accepted its legallity.
Other relevant organizations
- Langile Abertzaleen BatzordeakLangile Abertzaleen BatzordeakLAB is a Basque nationalist trade union operating mainly in Spain currently led by Ainhoa Etxaide.It was created in 1974 by Jon Idigoras among others...
(LAB) (Nationalist Workers' Committees) a legal trade union. - Jarrai (In English, "Follow", a youth organization), became Haika and later SegiSEGISegi is a Basque pro-independence and revolutionary left-wing organization. It forms part of the Basque National Liberation Movement and is aligned with Langile Abertzaleen Batzordeak and Batasuna....
, all of them were declared illegal in 2006 after being proved to be a part of ETA. - Koordinadora Abertzale Sozialista (KAS), for a long time an actual political organization that envelopped most of the entities mentioned in this article. Its poorly-known KAS Platform was the political manifesto of the MLNV in the 1980s.