Birth And Ideology Of Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) The moderate actions of the Partido Nacionalista Vasco (PNV, Basque Nationalist Party) during the Franco regime prompted the emergence of another nationalist group by the name of EKIN ("to act"), which was created by several young activists from Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa who wanted to move the Basque cause forward with more energy. EKIN tried to get the support of the PNV but the opposition of some of its leaders prevented cooperation. In 1958, EKIN became Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA, Basque Homeland and Freedom). ETA was the only armed group that emerged in the Spanish state during Franquism. ETA's first activities involved placing explosives in the cities of Bilbo, Vitoria and Santander in 1959. Its first military action occurred in 1961 with the unsuccessful attempt to derail a train carrying civil war veterans going to Donostia to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Spanish Civil War. The police responded with numerous arrests and torture to suspects. The operation of massive repression soon accelerated with constant road controls, arrests, house searches and the widespread use of torture. Basque prisoners filled Spanish jails, and the exodus of young postwar exiles to Northern Basque Country began. Because of the increased repression, ETA's first assembly (ETA I) in 1962 took place in Northern Basque Country. The initial ideology of ETA was inspired by the nationalism of Sabino Arana. But ETA replaced the concept of the Basque race for the Basque language and culture as the main symbols of Basque identity, unity and right to independence. In constrast with the Christian-Democratic ideology of the PNV, ETA brought a radical secularism and the defence of the working classes to Basque nationalism. With ETA Basque nationalism became progressive. In 1962 a general strike was declared in Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa, which later extended to the rest of the state. A Bizkaian intellectual and exile in Northern Basque Country, Federico Krutwig, published his book "Vasconia", which strongly influenced ETA. According to Krutwig, guerrilla warfare was the only means of liberating Euskal Herria. In that same year, the group Enbata (strong seawind preceding a storm) emerged in the northern territories. The work of Enbata (and of its magazine of the same name) was crucial to the development of Basque consciouness in Northern Basque Country and the political support to the militants from the south. The future ETA assemblies took place in consecutive years: ETA II, in 1963; ETA III, in 1964; ETA IV, in 1965; and ETA V, between 1966 and 1967. All but the last two assemblies were celebrated in the north. ETA II hardly had an entity. ETA III approved the principles and methods for the revolutionary war of Basque liberation. ETA IV favored Marxism and saw the national and social problems as two aspects of the same Basque reality. ETA V combined national liberation with social liberation and "el pueblo trabajador vasco" (the Basque workers) became an important subject in the struggle for national liberation. Four action fronts were created: the cultural, the political, the workers, and the military). In the first meeting of the assembly, ETA decided to abandon the idea supported by some of its members, to turn the armed organization into a workers party within the Spanish orbit. In 1968 the clandestine demonstrations organized by ETA to celebrate the Aberri Eguna (Basque Homeland National Day) ended in riots as groups of demonstrators battled with the Spanish police. In June, the leader of ETA V, Txabi Etxebarrieta, killed a policeman at a police control. A few hours later Etxebarrieta was killed by the police. Public protests and masses were conducted in his honor. Following the death of Txabi, ETA killed the chief of the police in Gipuzkoa, Meliton Manzanas, well-known for his use of torture during interrogations. Madrid imposed the State of Exception and hundreds of suspects were arrested. Those put on trial with little evidence and lack of proper defense, were given extremely long prison sentences or sentenced to death. In 1969, the police arrested almost the whole leadership of ETA. In the summer of 1970 the new leadership of ETA called for the first meeting of the VI assembly. ETA VI decided to give priority to the working-class problem over the national problem and to create a workers' party that would lead the Basque revolution. Strong internal ideological differences existed inside ETA between the leadership of ETA VI and the holders of the Marxist thesis (the Celulas Rojas, Red Cells), the holders of the colonialist thesis (ETA V, Emilio Lopez Adan, "Beltza", Krutvig and Madariaga), and the military front led by Juan Jose Etxabe. Following the alliance between ETA V and the military front, the Red Cells abandoned ETA. Sixteen ETA militants were brought before a military tribunal in the Castillian capital of Burgos in 1970 on charges of illegal organization and the murder of Manzanas. Many of the defendants, among them two women and two priests, clearly showed signs of torture. The tribunal handed down six death sentences and more than 700 years of prison sentences. The army was placed on full alert for fear of a popular revolt. There were general strikes and street demonstrations during the trial. The German consul was kidnapped in Donostia. Protesters attacked Spanish embassies in Western Europe. Artists, intellectuals, every organization against the Franco regime, endorsed ETA's struggle. The death sentences were eventually commuted to life imprisonment. For the first time, ETA's political claims were aired outside the French and Spanish states. From January 1971 to May 1971, Basque nationalist forces (including ETA V, ETA VI, Enbata, Branka, Anai Artea, and the PNV's youth branch EGI) held meetings in Northern Basque Country for the creation of a Basque National Front, which would unite all nationalist forces in oppossition to France and Spain. This initiative was presented by Branka (ETA's ethnolinguistic group led by Txillardegi) and Anai-Artea (an association helping Basque refugees in Northern Basque Country) led by Telesforo Monzon. ETA VI abandoned the meetings in disagreement with ETA V, and the PNV rejected the National Front on grounds that "Basque unity must take place within the government of Euskadi". The year of 1973 was a pivotal one for ETA. The first meeting of ETA's sixth assembly was followed by the organization's most spectacular action in its entire history. The Spanish prime minister Carrero Blanco was killed in an explosion that sent his car skyrocketing over the roof of an apartment building. Carrero Blanco was the president of the government and Franco's right-hand man. He was expected to prolong Francoism when the dictator died. The action against Carrero Blanco confirmed the undisputable hegemony of ETA's military front over the other fronts. In 1974 the Workers front left ETA and created a new political organization, the Langile Abertzale Iraultzaileen Alderdia (LAIA, the Party of the Revolutionary and Patriotic Workers). In October 1974 another split inside ETA gave birth to ETA-Politico Military (ETA-pm) and ETA-Military (ETA-m). Those who opted for the politico-military option (ETA VI) wanted ETA divided in two separate organizations: one, leading and political; the other, guided and military. The military front opted for one organization, leading and military. ETA-pm's assemblies took place on the following dates: the second meeting of the VI assembly, at the beginning of 1975; the VII, in September 1976; and the VIII, and last one, in February 1982, at which time ETA-pm decided to create a legal party, the Euskal Iraultzako Alderdia (EIA, Party for the Basque Revolution). It later joined Euskadiko Ezkerra (EE), and finally integrated into the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE). Some activists of ETA-pm joined ETA-m. ETA-pm finally dissolved in 1977. The actual ETA is the heir of ETA-m. The death of three of its leaders pulled ETA dividing it into four decades, each with its own characteristics: Txabi Etxebarrieta, killed by the police in 1968, Jose Miguel Benaran, Argala, killed by paramilitary squads, and Txomin Iturbe who died in an accident in Argelia in 1987. ETA's armed activities has influenced the development of Basque politics. Many people have died or been injured by ETA's actions. Many ETA militants too have died or been injured. ETA's actions have been directed mainly against members of the security forces and their collaborators, the construction of the nuclear plant Lemoiz, drug traffickers, and ecological destruction, etc. In spite of some mistakes with unfortunate consequences, ETA's actions have been selective. The mistakes made by the armed organization have caused outrage, but the fact that ETA has assumed responsibility and explained the mistakes, has made it win credibility. The influence of ETA on Basque society is not measured only by the impact of its armed struggle and the direct and indirect consequences. Since the sixties, ETA's activities have not been confined solely to the military. A concept cherished by ETA is the "renationalization of Euskal Herria", which became a key mobilizing force to try to restore the Basque Country to its full cultural personality. ETA and its surroundings have had a great impact on the social, cultural, and political life of the Basque Country. On January 28, 1988 ETA offered a truce of three months in exchange for talks with the Spanish government. A preliminary agreement was reached between ETA and the government and made public by ETA on Jan 23, 1988. Talks between ETA and the Spanish government began in Algeria in 1989 but ended after just one month when the government broke the preliminary agreement. On April 1995 ETA made public a proposal, the Democratic Alternative, to cease-fire and peace in exchange for the recognition by the Spanish state of the Basques' right to self-determination. The Democratic Alternative includes a plan for a democratic process in the Basque Country on two levels: negotiations between ETA and the Spanish government on amnesty for the political prisoners, refugees, and deportees and measures to prevent the intervention of the Spanish army in a process of self-determination, and; negotiations between the political parties, social and cultural groups on the process to self-determination. The Spanish government has not yet answered ETA's proposal, which remains the current proposal relating to peace offered by one of the main parties in the ongoing conflict. (Source: Euskal Herria Journal WWW Pages )