Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA), a terrorist organisation in Spain has since its formation in 1959 been responsible for over 800 deaths, including the lives of the Guardia Civil, the local police, politicians and civilians. The main objective of the organisation is obtaining total self determination of the Basque Country in the north of Spain; indeed the name ETA translates to ‘Basque Homeland and Freedom’. They believe the Basque Country should be separated from Spain due to their cultural differences, most importantly the difference in language. They view the Spanish as an ‘occupying force’ suppressing Basque culture and identity. For a video telling the history of the Basque Country please view: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCmVuIccESM.
Indeed this was true, as during Franco’s dictatorship the culture of the Basque people was extremely suppressed. They were forbidden from speaking and teaching their own language, the national flag, the Ikurriña, was banned in public as were nationalist holidays. This was due to the fact that parts of the Basque, notably Biscay and Guipuscoa, fought for the Republican government against Franco during the Civil War, and after they lost the ‘rebels’ were punished.
The first decade of ETA's existence was relatively peaceful as in its early years ETA's activity seems to have consisted mostly of theorizing and of protesting by destroying infrastructure and Spanish symbols and by hanging forbidden Basque flags, this however all ended in 1968 when a Guardia Civil was killed by ETA, which sparked a long campaign of violence and assasinations. For a brief factsheet of ETA please refer to the following link: http://www.iwar.org.uk/news-archive/2004/03-11-3.htm
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