by Frederick A. Babb

Created on: May 05, 2008

Terrorism exist more than just those covered under the religious umbrella. Permit me to expose a terrorist group that justifies its killings on political ideology. For over thirty years, ETA has claimed the lives of almost a thousand innocent victims as a way to express their political. They stand for a false promise of an independent country and their rally of nationalism in the Basque Country in Northern Spain and Southern France. Violent acts are their way of rooting support to justify their killings of innocent victims.

ETA, or Euskadi Ta Askatasuna which is Basque for "Basque Homeland and Freedom", was founded in 1959 while Francisco Franco was the dictator of Spain. Franco was intolerant to any regional heritage, whether it was Gallego, Basque or Catalan, and would only permit the heritage of Spain as the norm for the entire country. This intolerance was the root of ETA as they sought to recuperate their own heritage.

The land that ETA defends is called the Basque country, or Euskal Herria as it is called in the Basque language. The area they claim straddles the western end of the Pyrenees that lie between France and Spain. It is an area that covers approximately 20,664 square kilometers. Spain recognizes three Basque provinces: Alava, Guipuzcoa and Vizcaya. The neighboring province of Navarra is not recognized as part a Basque province by the Spanish government but has Basque heritage.

The ETA separatists consider these four provinces and three additional ones in France Basse Navarre, Labourd and Soule as their country, or the Basque country. It possesses a population of approximately three million habitants. This zone has always had a fame for being fiercely independent and the Basque are one of the oldest indigenous ethnic groups in Europe. They have lived, uninterrupted, in the same region of Europe since recorded history as taken place. Their language, Euskera, is spoken regularly by forty percent of the population. This particular language has no roots in any other Indo-European tongue. Uniquely, the Basque language dates back to pre-Roman occupation of Spain.

Be that has it may, the Basques had always been given a certain degree of autonomy by the Spanish government. All that ended abruptly after the Spanish Civil War. The Basque provinces of Guipuzcoa and Vizcaya fought against General Franco while the provinces of Alava and Navarra sided with him. When General Franco emerged victorious from the Civil War, he rescinded the autonomy the Basque region

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