¡Basta Ya! The Basque civic movement and nonviolent resistance to ETA’s terrorism

Abstract

This paper examines the impact that the Basque civic movement had in the civil resistance against the armed separatist group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA). The ‘civic’ or ‘constitutionalist’ movement, whose best-known representative was the social movement organization ¡Basta Ya!, emerged to demand the protection of Basque citizens’ human and political rights, which were routinely abused by ETA and their sympathisers. The movement impacted on the cycle of contention against terrorism through the diffusion of democratic norms and anti-ETA political narratives, by sustaining civil resistance against terrorism while enduring persecution by their militants and sympathisers and by protecting the social fabric through the channelling of non-nationalist grievances into collective action that was pro-democratic and nonviolent. The case highlights the parallels that exist between civil resistance to authoritarian regimes and non-state groups and the crucial role that civil society actors can play in the social delegitimisation of terrorist organisations.