THIS FIGHT WAS LOST LONG AGO:

Playing the Basque card (Jonathan Power, March 11, 2004, International Herald Tribune)

As with its counterpart, the Northern Ireland conflict, the Basque nationalist terrorism in Spain is also fueled by historical sentiment and myth on one side and by narrow-minded authoritarianism on the other for easy settlement.

Nevertheless, Northern Ireland has found a peace of sorts and the lion is lying down with the lamb, at least to the extent that the truce of 1998 is prevailing. But Basque militancy, in the form of the ETA guerrillas army, continues with its ferocious policy of assassination and intimidation, albeit at a slower pace than before -- out of step not only with the rest of Europe, not just with the majority mood of the rest of the country, but also with the predominant majority mood of the Basque country itself.

This is the clear reading not just of what is said and done today but also of the regional elections two and a half years ago, the last time the militants had a legitimate party to vote for. [...]

The clear winner was the moderate Basque Nationalist Party with 42 percent of the vote. While the party eschews violence, it has adopted the ETA goal of breaking away from Spain, or at least some status very close to that. The region is almost the antithesis of Northern Ireland. While Northern Ireland has been depressed economically and divided by ancient religious hatreds, the Basque people share the same religion with Spaniards; they have won a great degree of autonomy, including control of their own police force, and they are now at the heart of one of the more bustling parts of Europe with a marvelous art museum, the Guggenheim Bilbao, helping trigger the urban renewal of its largest city.

In the simple light of day there is no contest. Northern Ireland should be the difficult one and the Basque cause should have been blown away long ago by the winds of post-Franco democratic change. It has not happened, and shows little sign of happening, despite the repudiation at the polls of the pro-ETA party. Its appeal even to middle class young recruits remains strong. This is why Juan Jose Ibarretxe, leader of the Basque Nationalist Party regional government, says the central gov ernment has to re-engage in dialogue with Basque nationalism. "Dialogue to achieve what?" Aznar replies. "I have nothing to say on the question of self-determination." It is this absolutism, this arrogance of power, common to both the government and its predecessor, the Socialists of former Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez, that has helped make ETA the formidable and dangerous force it has become.

Good, bad, or indeterminate, it's simply reality that in the modern world any people which sees itself as a nationality is going to end up with its own state.

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 11, 2004 1:38 PM