How It Started

1
How It Started ?

• Euskadi Ta Azkatasuna, Eta, whose name stands for
  Basque Homeland and Freedom, first emerged in the
  1960s as a student resistance movement bitterly
  opposed to General Franco's repressive military
  dictatorship.
• Under Franco the Basque language was banned,
  their distinctive culture suppressed, and
  intellectuals imprisoned and tortured for their
  political and cultural beliefs.
• In June 1973 Luis Carrero Blanco was appointed
  prime minister. He was assassinated by ETA, the
  Basque nationalist organization, on 20th December
  1973.
•  

Eta in 1968 Five years later it launched this
bombing, killing Spanish Prime Minister Luis Car
rero Blanco.
2
Reasons for Resistance

• Reasons for Resistance
• 1) As one of the few non-Indo-European
  languages spoken in Europe, Basque is considered
  to be a language isolate with no known linguistic
  affiliation. As a relic of the prehistoric
  language spoken in the Iberian Peninsula before
  the arrival of Indo-European, Basque is one of
  the oldest documented languages.
• 2) Nazi allies bombing of Gernika in
  1937.Franco attacked the heart of Basque
  nationalism.
  
• 3) 1968 - West African colony of Spanish
  Guinea is granted independence as Equatorial
  Guinea.
  
• In terms of Geography 1 Sense of place 2
  distrust of Spaniards 3 Freedom of colonies
  

3
Equatorial Guinea
4
What They Want Euskadi Ta Azkatasuna

• For more than three decades the armed
  organization Eta has waged a bloody campaign for
  independence for the seven regions in northern
  Spain and south-west France that Basque
  separatists claim as their own.

5
Current Political Reality

• But despite the fact that Spain's Basque country
  today enjoys more autonomy than any other - it
  has its own parliament, police force, controls
  education and collects its own taxes - Eta and
  its hardliner supporters have remained determined
  to push for full independence
• Is Eta loosing support?
• The attacks alienated many Spaniards. Hundreds of
  thousands marched in Madrid in January 2000 to
  show their disgust at Eta's violence . BBC ,2006
  

6
Changing Times

• 1997 July ETA kidnaps and kills Basque
  councilor Miguel Angel Blanco. Killing sparks
  national outrage and brings an estimated 6
  million Spaniards onto the streets
• 1998 September - Eta announces its first
  indefinite ceasefire since its campaign of
  violence began.

7
Terror Attack in Madrid

• 2004 March - 191 people killed in explosions on
  packed rush-hour trains in Madrid in
  near-simultaneous pre-election attacks. An
  Islamic group with links to al-Qaeda is later
  blamed.
• Aznar ruling conservative Popular Party (PP)
  first blamed the Eta for the attack to energized
  their Castilians base .
  
• The voters rejected the government and voted in
  the Socialist Party, partly because the Popular
  Party was perceived to have misled them.
  
• Socialist Party shows sympathy to Basque autonomy

8
Questions ?Name a country which got
independence based on language?Clues Southern
Hemisphere

• Sources
• www.bbc.co.uk
• Gibson, Ian. Fire in the Blood The New Spain.
  Faber and Faber. London
  
• University of Cambridge, Language classification
  center. Cambridge, UK