The politics of war memory in radical Basque nationalism -Diego Muro

The role of war memory in the Basque provinces has received little attention. Interest in the Basque nationalist’s memory of the Civil War (1936-9) initially stemmed from a need to explain why the transition to democracy in the Basque Country had been so ‘peculiar’. The process of political reform of the late 1970s had different characteristics in the northern provinces of Spain. Between 1975 and 1982 there were more strikes and killings in the Basque Country than anywhere else in Spain. However, the explanatory power of war memory goes beyond revealing the different character of democratization in the Basque Country. In fact, the ‘war memory’ of radical Basque nationalists provides crucial clues for understanding the current use of political violence. The emergence of ETA has often been explained by the oppressive character of the Franco dictatorship (1939-75) which created objective grievances in the population. A combination of grievances and other factors, such as resources and political opportunity structures, explains why political violence was chosen by ETA as a cost-effective means of pursuing a given set of interests. Although the rational choice explanation has several merits, it sheds very little light on the reasons why ETA continued to use extra-institutional means after the authoritarian polity disappeared. A meaningful explanation of the armed group’s survival in recent decades needs to go beyond the restrictions of the rational choice paradigm and must incorporate an examination of the building blocks of the violent culture.