The Basques, divided between northern Spain and southwestern France, have long been stereotyped as mysterious xenophobic radicals. The Basques are unique in Europe as they historically have almost no cultural or linguistic ties with other peoples even though they’ve been ruled by the governments of Spain and France for almost half a millennium. Recently, however, the Basques have been seeking independence but the governments controlling them have not granted the Basques their requests.
In 1895 the Basque Nationalist Party (the PNV) was formed near the Basque Country’s biggest city, Bilbao. The PNV, though being moderate and friendly towards the Spanish government, soon became the most popular political party in all of Spanish Basque Country and brought a new identity to the Basques. However, after Spanish dictator Francisco Franco suppressed minority languages and cultures after he took power shortly before World War II, the PNV retreated temporarily. In 1959, during the height of the Franco regime, Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (the ETA) was formed. In the 1960’s, the ETA became violent and began a series of bombings and terrorist attacks.
The ETA has causes over 800 deaths since 1968, besmirching the reputation of Basques worldwide (www.cnn.com). Though according to journalist Mark Kurlansky in his book “The Basque History of the World” in 1973 during the peak of the ETA the organization only had 600 members, a very small fraction of the Basque populous, the international community is reluctant to provide the Basques with independence because of the terrorist attacks which the ETA spurred. According to Junior IB Spanish student Dan Ryave, “America should get involved.”
Though Spain conquered the Basques in the middle of the 16th century, they still claim that the Basques should continue to be part of their nation. Recently, the Spanish have avoided and squashed any Basque nationalist developments no matter how harmless the development is. For example, in 2008 the President of the Basque Autonomous Community Juan José Ibarretxe proposed on simply having a referendum to see how many Basques desired independence. However, the Spanish supreme court declared such an event illegal, even though it did not directly violate any Spanish law (www.abc.net.au).
The origin of the Basques is unclear, but it is known that they are not from the same cultural descent as any of their neighbors. Certain theories exist saying that the Basques came from Russia, Turkey, or Scotland, but there has never been enough scientific support to back up these claims. The Basque language is one of the few currently used countries in the world which has absolutely no linguistic relation to any other language. The fact that the Basques lack a cultural tie with Spain and France makes the fact that they are still part of the nations of Spain and France ludicrous. Senior geography maestro Pranav Krishnan, “If they honestly feel like they don’t identify with their [mother] country they shouldn’t be part of it.”
John Milton Yinger, Emeritus Professor of Sociology at Oberlin College, writes in his book Ethnicity: source of strength? source of conflict? “Critics of Basque separatism say that ‘money is what lies behind the recent expressions of nationalistic fervor.’” As crude as it is, economic independence is a crucial reason for why many Basques seek independence. The Basque Autonomous Region of Spain is the wealthiest region of Spain, 33.8% wealthier per capita than Spain (www.eustat.es). The Basques are European powers in naval trade, finance, and wind energy, thus total economic autonomy is necessary to remove the flourishing Basques from the struggling Spanish economy.