A battle of narratives - Spanish victims organisations international action to delegitimise terrorism and political violence

Abstract

Spanish victims groups have provided a visible contribution to European terrorist violence prevention efforts. Instrumental and knowledge transfer motivations partly explain this interest but a separate driver that requires more attention is their opposition to the international narrative that legitimises ETAs violence promulgated by the political movement of the Basque Patriotic Left. This has resulted in a 'battle of narratives' played out at the international level in order to shape the future of Basque politics where victims are challenging a discourse that frames the past in a way that justifies terrorism and that leaves the door open to a future return to violence.