Breaking Silence and Cyclical Violence: The
Memory of the Civil War and the Dissolution of the
ETA in Spain
Elena Garrido Umaran
Student Number: 12383228
Master’s Thesis Comparative Cultural Analysis
Supervisor: D. A. Duindam
Introduction
Chapter One: Remediation and Frame
1. An Introduction to the Concepts of Remediation and Frame 8 2. Guernica’s Remediation in the Video as a Justification of Violence 10
3. Effects of the ETA Video in the Basque Culture and Reflections around 13 an Artwork's Location
Chapter Two: Forgiveness and the Cycle of Political Violence in Spain
1. An Introduction to the Memory of an Unresolved Past in Spain
2. ETA’s Penultimate Declaration on Harm Caused: Forgiveness and 24 Victims’ Recognition
of Political Violence
Chapter Three: Politics of Fear and Visions of Futurity
in Spain
3. Political Visions of Futurity towards Catalonia
Conclusion Works Cited
6
20
3. Declaration on Harm Caused and Final Statement of Dissolution: the Cycle 27
1. Politics of Fear: the Construction of a Narrative of Threat 33 2. The Role of Affective Fear in the Perception of Regional Nationalism 37
39 1 19 32 43 46
Introduction
There are moments throughout the history of a country that are remembered in time as key events that marked an important shift from a particular situation to the beginning of a new paradigm. Examples of these can be wide-ranging: the end of a war, the death of a dictator, the incarceration of well-known criminals or the adoption of controversial new laws. However, it is not merely the event itself that entails a big change, but moreover the way it is recalled by various agents that can have a strong impact in shaping the characteristics that will be associated to that moment. These agents are the ones that constantly build and rebuild the memory of past events in the present; they ought to be understood in a broad perspective and as agents that are connected with one another. For example, these agents can be people that had an important role within the events, experts on the issue at stake, new media or artists but also, and most importantly, society as a whole. Furthermore, it is not always possible to identify the specific instant of the outcome of such events, often because they are part of an evolving process with no determinate beginning or end. Because memory constructions are such complex and constantly developing phenomena, it is not easy to foresee how an event that is happening now might be understood in the present and recalled in the future. Nevertheless, it is my belief that, within a particular society, it is possible to find common points in how past events, or more precisely tragic past events, are confronted and depicted in the current social context. These similar characteristics can become a good starting point of analysis that allows for the study of memory constructions in a specific country and this knowledge can subsequently be transferred to broader understandings of memory worldwide and within academia.
It is with this goal in mind that this thesis studies four objects that reflect the dissolution process during various years of the Basque armed organisation Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, ETA (“Basque Country/Homeland and Freedom” on its English translation). These four objects are addressed as important agents that mediate memory constructions around this event. The first object approached in Chapter One: “Remediation and Frame”, is a video of ETA’s first disarmament action, recorded by the armed group and broadcast in the year 2014. I start my analysis on memory constructions reflecting on the concept of remediation as approached by Astrid Erll and Ann Rigney in relation to cultural memory. I will focus on the role of art in the creation
of meaning within a medium that depicts the beginnings of ETA’s dissolution process. This video includes a reproduction of Pablo Picasso’s famous Guernica that contains strong symbolism regarding the Spanish Civil War and the dictatorship. For a complete understanding of the ideas provided in this first chapter, it is useful to remember that Picasso’s artwork was named after the bombing of the village of Gernika in 1937, during the Spanish Civil War. In this year, the official name of the village was in Spanish: Guernica. The international news about the bombing and Picasso’s painting also use the Spanish version. However, the official name of the village is now in Basque: Gernika. Throughout this thesis, the Spanish name will be used to address the painting, and the Basque name will be used to address the village. Chapter Two: “Forgiveness and the Cycle of Political Violence in Spain” moves forwards in time to study two different objects: ETA’s penultimate dissolution statement and ETA’s final statement, both publicised in the year 2018. These statements will be helpful for reflecting on ETA’s own interpretations of the past and addressing questions of political violence and forgiveness, two controversial concepts within Spanish memory narratives. For this purpose, Jacques Derrida’s theory around the concept of forgiveness will be used to study the implications of the use of this concept within the statements. This chapter is particularly necessary to focus on how ETA’s trajectory and dissolution will impact new constructions of memory in the country. Finally, Chapter Three: “Politics of Fear and Visions of Futurity” focuses on a fragment of a political speech by Pablo Casado, the current leader of the right-wing Spanish Popular Party, in which he refers to ETA in a conversation about the Catalan Independence Process. This last cultural object was published in 2019 and creates a meaning that casually links nationalist feelings to terrorism in Spain. I will provide a reading of how this comparison aims to frame the Catalan process through the construction of a narrative of threat. This narrative will be related to Sara Ahmed’s theory around the politics of fear and Brian Massumi’s argumentation around the use of pre-emptive actions to fight this threat. Moreover, this chapter will reflect on how current politics use events from the past to influence visions of the future.
The four objects intend to portray the dissolution process realistically, depicting the situation that was being experienced at the time. In this sense, they move forward in time but, because of the topics that they address, they also travel back to the years of the Spanish Civil War and the dictatorship and beyond the present moment to address how violent episodes in Spain should be approached in the future. As a result, this thesis
presents a picture of ETA’s dissolution process that addresses a variety of contexts: media, social, political and historical, providing various narratives of the same topic. Because the memory of past events is a continuous process that evolves every day, this thesis should be perceived as a living project that does not seek to find absolute truth, but rather offer a personal contribution to the research question at stake. Focusing on these four objects, this thesis will analyse how the development of ETA’s dissolution process shapes the memory constructions around the Spanish Civil War, the dictatorship and the Spanish Transition period to a democratic state, focusing on to what extent these constructions will either contribute to a continuation of the way Spain deals with its violent recent past or create a change in this tendency. Throughout this analysis, the study of a specific event like ETA’s dissolution aims to study whether media depictions of a past event are capable of contributing to its on-going memory development. The media considered here are an audio-visual piece, two letters and a political speech.
Before moving on to the explanation of the present relevance of this thesis, it is important to provide a short introduction to ETA. The armed nationalist group was formed in 1958 in the Spanish region known as the Basque Country, located in the north of Spain and south of France. The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), and the subsequent years of oppression in the Basque Country during Franco’s dictatorship (1939-1975) are the main causes of ETA’s formation as an organisation that fought against Franco’s fascist/Francoist regime. In the seventies, ETA was divided into two main groups: ETA político-militar (political-military) and ETA militar (military). In 1975, Franco died and Spain started its difficult process of transition from dictatorship to democracy. After the 1977 Amnesty Law, that allowed the amnesty of political and common prisoners, ETA político-militar decided to focus mainly on political action as a means of obtaining political power and sovereignty for the Basque Country, and new political parties were formed. However, ETA militar decided to continue its violent campaign and was from that moment onwards addressed simply as ETA. Its main objective was to achieve the independence of the Basque Country from Spain. The terrorist group announced a permanent cease-fire in 2011 and started a disarmament process that finished in 2017. Finally, in May 2018 ETA announced its permanent dissolution.
The present relevance of this thesis that discusses ETA’s dissolution process can be found in two main issues that are happening right now in Europe and Spain:
On the one hand, an analysis of ETA’s trajectory and dissolution can help to understand other conflicts that involve questions of nationhood and political violence; for example, the actual rise of far-right and fascist organisations throughout the continent. I consider that understanding these events would be the first step towards a peaceful resolution. Looking back at Europe’s violent past, we can find the origin of many confrontations in the rise of political groups that followed a nationalist, extremist and violent ideology whose main objective was to fight against another section of society that they considered a threat. Hitler’s or Franco’s ideologies are clear examples of this tendency. Moreover, we can find examples of nationalist ideologies that are repressed by bigger powers, creating systems of oppression whose consequences are the use of political violence; this would be the case of the ETA or the IRA terrorist organisations. Currently, the trend towards globalisation has encouraged new waves of nationalist ideologies in various European countries. Some of these ideologies are, as previously explained, practised by more extremist and explicitly violent groups but other types make use of a more subtle kind of violence, proliferated through political discourse or social media. Regardless of their specific strategies, we can observe the repetition of a very similar conflict where narratives of the past play a very important role. All of these groups have one thing in common: their interpretations of past events become key elements in their ideological discourse; they create new meanings about past events in the present that are used to influence visions of the future. In this scenario, reflections on memory constructions of a particular case like ETA’s dissolution process can contribute to wider studies of memory worldwide when the characteristics of the conflicts are similar. It can also help in future processes of dissolution, resolution and reconciliation.
On the other hand, at a more national level, this analysis becomes significant within the actual social and political context in Spain. As we will see in the analysis, constructions of memory in the country are complex, due to the lack of a clear, defining narrative regarding the development of the Spanish Civil War, Franco’s dictatorship or the Transition from dictatorship to democracy. Processes of reflection about the past develop slower compared to other European countries where, even if there are of course disagreements about the past, there is at least a clear narrative that recognises and judges the responsibility of perpetrators of violent crimes and there is also an important apparatus that handles the official recognition of victims. In Spain, there are not many memory politics concerning these issues because they become a controversial point of
discussion among politicians that are not able to reach a consensus. This situation finds reflexion in a social context where the coexistence of differing ideologies is not always peaceful. Moreover, there are various groups of victims that have not yet found justice or reconciliation: victims of Franco’s regime and their relatives, victims of ETA and their relatives, ETA members that themselves became victims of unfair and violent state policies or the relatives of these members that also have to deal with the consequences. However, I consider that in the last year, matters of memory are being raised in Spain more often and more in-depth than ever before, not only by politicians but also by different sectors of the population like victims associations or journalistic radio and television programmes. ETA’s final dissolution has arrived in the middle of this claim for the need of a closer approach to violent events from the past. This is precisely what this thesis aims to provide: an analysis of how memory functions currently in Spain and a reflection on how the official end of a closer violent period in time like ETA’s trajectory might encourage new narratives and memory politics that can be beneficial for society within this new context of a call for change.
Chapter One: Remediation and Frame
This chapter focuses on the first object of analysis in this thesis. The object is a one minute and thirty seconds video recorded by the terrorist organisation ETA and sent to the British broadcaster BBC in 2014. After ETA’s statement of a permanent ceasefire in 2011, the terrorist group initiated a disarmament process that finished in 2017. Finally, in May 2018 ETA announced its permanent dissolution.
At the beginning of the video, the first still shot shows an explanatory title in English and in Basque: “Presentation of arms and munitions by ETA to members of the International Verification Commission prior to sealing, and putting beyond operational use”. There is also a subtitle: “Undisclosed location. January 2014”. A few seconds later, a second still shot presents the title in Spanish and in French. After fading to white, the next scene presents two unidentified members of ETA, dressed in black and wearing balaclavas, standing behind a white table full of weapons and explosive materials. The image is not very clear (see fig. 1) and both the camera movements and editing are very basic throughout the video. On the left side of the table, we can see ETA’s emblem, a snake coiled around an axe and the motto Bietan jarrai (“keep up on both” on its English translation). Although members of ETA have explained the meaning and origin of this emblem differently, they agree on the fact that the snake symbolises cleverness and the axe symbolises strength, the two ways in which they claimed to keep up with their violent actions. Additionally, on the white wall in the back of the scene, there is a reproduction of the painting Guernica, by the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso. Immediately, two other men enter the scene with their faces uncovered while one of the ETA members gives them a document that they begin reading. There is a cut and the next shot shows the two uncovered men and a caption that identifies them as Ram Manikkalingam and Ronald Kasrils, members of the International Verification Commission. This Commission was founded in 2011 to verify ETA’s permanent ceasefire; its members had previously helped to resolve conflicts in Northern Ireland, Iraq and Nepal. The paper that they are reading is a weapon inventory that the verifiers presented two months later in a press conference in Bilbao (Basque Country, Spain).
Fig.1. Two members of ETA handing in a weapon inventory to members of the International Verification Commission from: Libertad Digital YouTube Channel (1:30).
After the reading of the paper, there are a few close-ups of the weapons and the explosive materials and it seems to show that the verifiers are checking that everything is included on the list. Finally, there are some close-ups of the ETA member on the right putting a stamp on the inventory. Afterwards, Ram Manikkalingam signs the inventory. There is only ambient sound in the video, no dialogue between the pair, just exchanges of nodding gestures.
When I first saw this video, two things in particular caught my attention: the multitude of black, heavy weapons on the table and the reproduction of Picasso’s Guernica. It occurred to me that it seemed rather paradoxical to put these things together in the same room. As will be explained later, Guernica was painted precisely to condemn the horrors of war but, in this video, a reproduction is placed together with the weapons of ETA, a violent group that has caused many deaths in Spain. This could easily be interpreted as deliberately provocative, and certainly appeared that way to me. A few years before I first saw Guernica on display in Madrid, I was told that relatives of mine had been killed during the bombing of the Basque village of Gernika in 1937. Hearing this news made me more curious to understand consequences of the Spanish Civil War in the present moment of my country, having formed a much closer connection to me. On the one hand, the aftermath of those events in the Basque Country is deeply personal because of the link to my family. On the other hand, I only moved there after my childhood and this should enable me to observe the situation from a more distanced position.
This chapter is a good opportunity to engage with this video in a more theoretical way in order to analyse ETA’s memory in the present by looking back to the past. I will argue that Guernica’s reproduction shapes the situation of the starting of the disarmament process taking place in the video, creating a possible meaning of justification of violence and new interpretations that will be discussed throughout this first chapter. These features will be discussed as elements that play a part in the continuous construction of memory around ETA in Spain. For this purpose, Section One: An Introduction to the Concepts of Remediation and Frame focuses on the explanations of two concepts: remediation and frame, the former as explained by Astrid Erll and Ann Rigney in relation to cultural memory, and the latter as expanded on by K. Malcolm Richards. They will be used to build the argumentation on how the presence of Guernica’s reproduction plays an important role in the video. Section Two: Guernica’s Remediation in the Video as a Justification of Violence analyses the effects of the presence of the reproduction in the video. Finally, Section Three: Effects of the ETA Video in the Basque Culture and Reflections around an Artwork's Location studies new effects of placing the same artwork in different contexts and locations.
1. An Introduction to the Concepts of Remediation and Frame
This chapter makes use of the concept of remediation to study how the presence of Guernica's reproduction has an impact on the way ETA’s video will be interpreted by society. It will be argued that these interpretations play a role in the construction of memory about the terrorist organisation and its dissolution trough media representations. This particular section offers an explanation of the concept of remediation as the main theory used to analyse this first object. Additionally, the concept of frame is presented here to propose a link between the various remediations of historical events and the previous background that people have before encountering cultural objects like the painting Guernica or ETA’s video.
Regarding the concept of remediation, in their book Mediation, Remediation, and the Dynamics of Cultural Memory Astrid Erll and Ann Rigney describe media as key elements in the construction of memory. They explain how, in their view, these media are agents that are placed between events of the past and society, depicting certain moments as more significant than others and thus creating collective memories of the past in the present. The authors do not perceive these constructions as fixed, but as an on-going process that constantly reshapes the memory of a society. The media are
always being developed due to new technological advances. As a result, past events are represented in new ways that change our perception of them in the present. Erll and Rigney use the concept of remediation, coined by Jay Bolter and Richard Grusin, to address this development of media in time and the new cultural depictions that are created (Erll and Rigney, 1-8). In this regard, I will argue that the bombing of Gernika is remediated through Guernica’s reproduction. In this case, the remediation of the bombing of Gernika is made through a smaller copy of the Guernica painting. The medium is changed from a painting on canvas to its reproduction. I suggest that this particular remediation challenges or expands on Erll’s and Rigney’s concept: it does not automatically create new cultural meanings for the bombing since it is just a copy of the original and there are no new depictions of the event. However, this kind of remediation could be quite significant because it is a new, smaller, portable version of Guernica that can be placed anywhere easily, creating new interpretations of the bombing depending on the location and context. This is exactly what I will suggest happens in this video, the reproduction placed in this particular context reshapes the bombing of Gernika, and at the same time, frames ETA’s situation within the video.
Considering the concept of frame, K. Malcolm Richards’ explanations about frame can be useful in explaining how my personal background knowledge about Guernica has shaped my thoughts about this object. Moreover, the concept might be useful in this analysis to transfer my own individual thoughts to a more collective account, helping to understand how meaning is created in a cultural object, affecting the memory of a society. Richards’ explanations can be found in his text “Framing the Truth in Painting”, where he expands on some of the arguments and concepts coined by Jacques Derrida related to the visual arts in his book The Truth in Painting. Richards starts his reflection with a basic definition of the frame in terms of a painting’s physical limit that separates it from the wall. Following this, he continues to describe it as a flexible term that alludes to all the things that can shape people’s thoughts and reactions regarding a work of art. For example, institutions, museums or any information provided before the audience encounters an artwork can function as framing agents. Moreover, he transfers the idea of a frame in a work of art to how the frame intervenes in every idea people might have about the world (Richards, 33). Expanding on Richards’ argument, I consider that Guernica’s reproduction inside ETA’s video is an important feature that frames my perceptions of the video as a cultural object. The bombing of Gernika has been brought to society through various different media: news reporting, films,
academic written texts, and that which is likely most transcendental: Picasso’s painting. As a result, my understanding of this historical event is shaped by all the remediations that I have encountered in my life that, at the same time, work as framing agents when I watch ETA’s video. I reckon that the feeling of contradiction that I experienced when I first saw the painting Guernica placed in a room with ETA’s weapons can be explained by my personal previous perception of the painting as a protest against war. This particular meaning was given to Picasso’s painting in 1937 and has framed my initial thought on the video. In this chapter, I will argue that this video mediates ETA’s starting process of disarmament through a remediation of the bombing of Gernika with the presence of Guernica’s reproduction.
2. Guernica’s Remediation in the Video as a Justification of Violence
The bombing of Gernika was first mediated by the international journalists that witnessed the incident, and then described it in their news. This led to worldwide coverage of the tragic event by the international press, especially in France and England. On a national level, although propaganda and censorship strategies were common on both sides of the Spanish Civil War, the information provided by the Republican side was in line with the international news regarding the bombing. The newspapers of that year (1937) are the first media that brought the bombing to the attention of society worldwide. At the same time, the Spanish Republican Government, which was fighting Franco during this period, requested an artwork from Picasso for the Spanish Pavilion in the 1937 Paris International Exposition. Picasso was an avid newspaper reader; he was living in France when both the bombing and the request occurred. One of the newspapers that published a story about the bombing of Gernika in the most tragic terms was L’Humanité, the official organ of the Communist Party and assiduously read by Picasso. The article included a picture and a graphic description of the bombing. The historian Martin Minchom suggests in an article for the online magazine Fronterad that Picasso was profoundly affected by the news coverage of the war in Spain, including the attacks in Málaga, the artist’s hometown. Minchom also claims that the painting Guernica does not only represent this particular bombing, but all attacks during the Spanish Civil War. He also suggests that the article about Gernika in L’Humanité was decisive for the artist to start the requested painting. The article stated that the bombing in Gernika was the biggest attack in Spain so far (Minchom). The painting was finally exhibited in the 1937 Paris International Exposition. The
victims of violence and the deep pain and suffering depicted in the painting together with the Guernica title inevitably framed the painting as a protest against the war in Spain. The painting is one of the many remediations of the bombing of Gernika and is probably the one that positioned the bombing as an important event within Spanish memory. Throughout the years and due to the subsequent fame of the painting worldwide, the bombing of Gernika was consolidated as an important part of the memory of the Spanish Civil War at an international level. It became a symbol of protest against war worldwide and a claim for peace1. Since then, the bombing has been remediated many times through cinema, written texts, cultural and social events and new media.
Throughout this section, I will argue that all the meanings associated to the painting explained above have an impact in the ETA disarmament video. This video was sent to the BBC in the first place, providing the news broadcaster with an exclusive. This action could be working to ensure the international relevance of the video. Additionally, as stated in object description, the explanatory title of the video is first presented in English. This is essential to understanding the video due to the lack of dialogue. Exchanges between ETA members and the verifiers occur through non-verbal communication, making the situation understandable for everyone regardless of their language. In my view, the situation even resembles a theatrical narration of ETA’s starting process of disarmament interpreted through mime, with the predominantly black and white colours of the video possibly reinforcing this perception. Because of the lack of verbal communication, the various objects in the video become more relevant. The reproduction of Guernica, probably one of the most internationally well-known artistic expressions from Spain, is visible at all times in the video providing meaning to the scene and framing the situation. One possible meaning revolves around an idea of justification of ETA’s violent campaign since the fifties.
By placing the reproduction in this scene, the violent context of the past depicted in the painting reminds us that the village of Gernika and the Basque Country were victims of Franco’s regime. This violent frame is what could create a meaning of justification in
1 Despite the horror presented in Guernica, the painting became a symbol for peace. In fact, there is a
reproduction of this painting in the building of the United Nations in New York. This painting was covered in 2003 so that it would not appear in the cameras when the United States Secretary of State, Colin Powell, spoke to the press about war in Iraq.
the object. ETA was formed in 1958, while Franco was still ruling the country as a dictator. As a result of the presence of the reproduction, this meaning of justification could be intended to frame ETA’s violent campaign as a response to Franco’s actions, legitimising their right to retaliate and justifying their terrorist attacks and murders. Franco becomes the subject of responsibility for ETA’s terrorism and the Spanish Civil War is presented as the origin that made their terrorist organisation necessary. In this discourse of justification, the remediation of the bombing of Gernika through the reproduction transfers Guernica’s historical context and symbolism and frames ETA’s campaign as legitimate because of past violent events.
Other objects that can be quite relevant and shocking for the viewers are the black weapons placed across the table. The violence that they symbolize creates a stark contrast with the calm attitude of the terrorists and the verifiers, who merely appear to be performing a routine, bureaucratic activity by signing the weapon inventory. ETA’s emblem and the covered faces of the terrorists are what allow us to identify them as such. Hiding their identity functions as a confirmation for the viewer of the fact that these two people are linked to something that is morally wrong, otherwise, they would not need to cover their faces. It could be said that, in the disarmament situation depicted in this video, ETA shows the weapons as proof of their intentions of dissolution. However, were these weapons without Guernica’s reproduction, they would only remind the viewer of the numerous deaths perpetrated by the terrorist organisation. By placing the reproduction in the same room as the weapons, the likely intention is to portray ETA’s violent campaign as justified, due to Franco’s own killings. As a result, within the context of their final dissolution, displaying a reproduction of Guernica in this video works as an attempt to justify ETA’s own violent responsibility. In this justification reading, the association of the original painting with peace would not be transferred to the disarmament situation. I believe this is also what made me perceive the video as paradoxical. The explanatory title in the beginning says that ETA has decided to relinquish the weapons on the table as part of dissolution. The end of ETA ensures a final, long-awaited peace for Spain. Nevertheless, it can be argued that the presence of the reproduction as a remediation has the opposite effect of the original painting; it justifies violence rather than calls for peace. Guernica’s reproduction in the violent present time of the video frames the painting as linked to ETA’s extreme ideology, removing it from its peaceful connotations.
3. Effects of the ETA Video in the Basque Culture and Reflections around an Artwork's Location
Thus far, I have focused on how the presence of Guernica’s reproduction builds a meaning of justification of ETA’s violence within the context of the video. This section will continue to reflect on how the context where an artwork that depicts the past is placed has an effect on the construction of memory around those past events. For this purpose, it will firstly be argued that, because the painting Guernica is such a strong symbol of Basque culture, its reproduction in the video creates an association of Basque culture with ETA, presenting the Basque Country as violent as well. Secondly, I will provide another example where a reproduction of Guernica creates different meanings for the past event than the ones we have observed in the video. Additionally, I include a humoristic remediation of the ETA video to reflect on how memory cannot be created by one cultural object but rather by a set of media that depict the past in the present.
To understand the connections between the painting Guernica and the Basque Country, it is important to know that apart from the interpretations of the painting as a symbol against war and as a call for peace, Guernica also became a strong symbol of Basque culture. It worked as a commemoration of the tragic incident and as proof of oppression against the Basque Country. Indeed, in 2013 the City Hall of Gernika started a petition on the platform Change.org to move the Guernica painting from Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid to the village of Gernika. This petition was named in the Basque language Guernica Gernikara (“The Guernica painting to Gernika” on its English translation). There is a reproduction of the painting in a wall in Gernika with this message written under it. This unsuccessful petition argued that the painting “was painted in memory of an indiscriminate bombing that should have never happened (…) Gernika’s City Hall and its neighbours consider this painting as a symbol of Peace and Freedom as well as a permanent reminder of this tragic massacre perpetrated against Basque citizens” (Ayuntamiento de Gernika-Lumo).
I consider that, because the painting is such an important symbol of the Basque society, placing it together with ETA transfers the terrorists’ violence to the Basque culture in general. As explained before, Guernica’s reproduction as a remediation of the bombing of Gernika in the video creates a reading of justification of violence in the representation of ETA’s disarmament process. As a result, the painting loses its peace interpretation and, at the same time, frames an important symbol of the Basque culture
as violent. Moreover, every region in Spain shares a violent memory of the war. However, if he video as a mediation of ETA’s dissolution process remediates the bombing as a justification framing for ETA’s violence, the recognition of the Basque Country’s connection to violence could still be the most remembered characteristic of the region in the future. In this reading, violence in the Basque Country is not something that merely happened in the past as in the rest of the Spanish regions, it is something that did not definitively cease until 2018, with ETA’s final dissolution. The reproduction in the video creates a connection between the original painting and ETA’s campaign as an expression of violence at a closer moment in time. Other regions in Spain might no longer be connected with violence in the future because they do not have such a strong link to tragedy in the present.
Returning now to the implications of a remediation that takes form by exactly copying another remediation, I argue that the material characteristics of these copies play an important role in shaping the cultural memory of the event that is being depicted. The original Guernica was painted on a 3.51 x 7.82 metre jute canvas, making its transportation considerably complicated and dangerous for its maintenance. Nevertheless, after the Paris Exhibition, the Spanish Republican Government continued with their propagandistic intentions, allowing the painting to travel throughout the world. Gijs Van Hensbergen explains in his book Guernica: The Biography of a Twentieth-Century Icon that, among other places, in May 1939 the painting travelled to New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago. After other travels inside and outside the United States, in 1956 the painting was located permanently in the Museum of Modern Arts (MOMA) in New York because of its fragility (Van Hensbergen, 307-357). It was not until 1981, at the end of the Spanish Transition and when it is understood that democracy in Spain was consolidated, that the painting arrived in Spain after complicated negotiations and significant media coverage. It was first installed in the Casón del Buen Retiro, a building that is part of the Museo del Prado in Madrid. In 1992 the painting was moved to the Museo Reina Sofía, where it is still exhibited nowadays. These travels throughout the world are an important key in the construction of the memory of the bombing in the present; they created the meanings that are more commonly associated with the bombing nowadays. As Van Hensbergen explains, throughout the decades, Guernica reinvented itself and its connotations changed from a painting born from the war to an artwork that represents reconciliation and the hope of a global and lasting peace (Van Hensbergen, 19). The portability becomes considerably
easier in the two kinds of reproduction that I have mentioned so far: the one in the video (see fig. 1), and the reproduction made of black and white tiles on the wall in the village of Gernika (see fig. 2).
Fig.2. A reproduction of Guernica in the Basque village of Gernika, from: Ayuntamiento de Gernika-Lumo (Gernika’s City Hal).
In all these examples: worldwide travels, the video and this wall, Guernica seems to be a constantly travelling exhibition where the physical contexts in which the reproductions are remediated have an impact on the constant reconstruction of the memory around the bombing. I already mentioned that the first mediation of the bombing was made through newspaper, making the small village of Gernika known worldwide. The first remediation would be the painting that constructed a whole symbolism of protest against war and a claim for peace. This analysis has taken into consideration the video as a mediation of ETA’s dissolution process that frames the painting as a justification of terrorist violence. Finally, in this last example, I wanted to stress the strong relevance that the painting, as a cultural object, has in the construction of Basque memory. As I see it, this remediation does not highlight peace and a protest against war or a justification for violence. In this example, because the reproduction is placed in the public space of the village where the bombing took place, the memory of the bombing depicted in the painting works simply as a commemoration, reminder and respect for the victims. Constructing the reproduction from tiles in the street ensures its durability in time, protecting it from the damage of the weather, and equally emphasises that the painting belongs to everyone by being publicly accessible. We have seen so far
how meanings can be temporal and transferable. The meanings that are created by the original painting and the reproduction in the village also affect ETA’s video, making it complicated to predict which meanings will have an effect in the constructions of memory through cultural media. As Erll and Rigney remind in their book Mediation, Remediation, and the Dynamics of Cultural Memory, single media like this video that are generated in culture do not always shape memory. As I will study in chapter two and three, it is society or the “social framework” that decides which remediations will have an important role in cultural memory (Erll and Rigney, 5).
Regarding the relationship between mediations, Erll and Rigney also mention Bolter’s and Grusin’s idea of the fact that one medium is not capable of shaping cultural memory without taking other sets of media into consideration (Erll and Rigney, 5). In this regard, it is interesting to mention that in the Basque Country, since the beginning of the 2000s there has been a tendency to deal with terrorism in a more humoristic way. There are two relevant TV programmes that create sketches that imitate existing videos of ETA or create fictional comedic situations where terrorists are the main protagonists: Vaya Semanita (“What a week” on its English translation) and Euskadi Movie (Basque Country Movie). The latter performed a parody sketch of the object of this analysis, making some points that in my view build a remediation of the original video and frame their effects in the future. The sketch (see fig.3) shows fictional, comedic “unpublished and unknown images” of the moments before and after the disarmament situation that has been analysed so far.
Fig.3. Still shot of a humoristic sketch that depicts ETA members storing the weapons they were supposed to hand over, from: Euskadi Movie.
In this sketch, the terrorists are depicted as being very unsure about how to distribute the weapons on the table; they are concerned about the fact that “this will be screened by the BBC and the whole world will watch it”. They care about small details, such as the fact that maybe they should organise the weapons by matching colours, and one of them tells the other to place ETA’s emblem properly so that “it can be well seen”. These humoristic messages stress the theatrical feeling that I mentioned initially, addressing the real video as a staged scene. By the end of the sketch, one of the terrorists accidentally fires a gun; the other one makes a joke about the fact that the verifiers have not even checked if the guns were indeed sealed. Finally, one of them mentions that before the next national elections, they could announce a new disarmament and show those very same weapons. I consider that, reflecting on the arguments explained by Erll and Rigney, the construction of memory around ETA and its dissolution will not be affected by a single mediation like the main object analysed so far. This humoristic remediation produces new meanings for the original ETA video. For example, by highlighting the theatrical character of the original video, this first step towards complete disarmament is seeing as not enough evidence of dissolution, the terrorists are framed as a kind of joke that should not be taken seriously. As a result, this first step towards a disarmament process is regarded as comical; the number of weapons that they have decided to relinquish would not be sufficient to really believe that ETA will indeed be disarmed. In fact, in 2017 ETA made another move towards disarmament by giving the location of 8 weapons deposits to the French Government. In these deposits, they found 120 weapons and 3 tonnes of explosives among other things. Moreover, in my opinion, after living nine years in Bilbao and being close to various situations regarding the effects of violent events in the Basque society, I think the wound that Franco’s regime and ETA’s trajectory have opened in the Basque Country is undeniable. This remediation of the video tries to deal with this wound through the use of humour. It tries to deviate from the violent characteristics associated with the memory of the Basque Country that is stressed in the justification meaning previously proposed.
In conclusion, this first cultural object has been especially useful to start analysing the construction of memory around ETA because it returns us to the origins of violence in the Spanish Civil War and Franco’s dictatorship from a more recent perspective in 2014. This past violence is brought into the video by Guernica’s reproduction, a key element in the analysis that frames ETA’s disarmament process by, at the same time, creating new meanings for the original painting and associations for the Basque culture.
The main discussed effect created by the presence of the reproduction in the video has been a meaning of justification for ETA’s violent actions. This reading has argued that the horrors of Franco’s violence in the Basque Country depicted in the original painting and in the reproduction function as a justification for ETA’s actions. This justification has certain implications in ETA’s disarmament process. On the one hand, ETA is indeed handing over its weapons as can be seen in the video, showing evidence of the dissolution plans. On the other hand, the video also presents the violence of the terrorists as necessary to fight previous violent episodes in Spain. As a result, this cultural object shapes ETA’s dissolution process by including a narrative in which violence becomes cyclical in Spain, previous brutal events legitimate new versions of the same danger. Moreover, throughout the years, the painting Guernica became a valuable symbol of the Basque culture. Within the Basque cultural heritage, this painting maintains the worldwide connotations of a protest against war and a claim for peace but it is also a more regional commemoration of the victims of the bombing and the family members of these victims. It is also a symbol of resistance against oppression. However, it has been argued that all these connotations are somehow lost when placing a reproduction of such a significant artwork to justify the violent actions of ETA. The Basque culture appears as identified with a brutality that did not just happen in the past but also at a more recent time until ETA’s ceasefire in 2011. Finally, this chapter also includes a humoristic parody version of the main object of analysis to reflect on how ETA’s dissolution is mediated by more than one cultural object. In this case, the parody has an impact on the way society perceives the ETA video. The disarmament process is remediated with humour and presented as comical rather than as a serious and truthful step towards dissolution.
This thesis will continue to reflect on the construction of memory around ETA’s dissolution process. For this purpose, the next chapter analyses two cultural objects from the year 2018 and deals more deeply with questions of violence including new arguments around the concept of forgiveness.
Chapter Two: Forgiveness and the Cycle of Political Violence in Spain
Since the announcement of ETA’s ceasefire in 2011, its dissolution has been a long process where, from time to time, the terrorist organisation has been using news media to announce new steps towards their end. In Chapter One, the analysis focused on their first disarmament video published as an exclusive by the BBC, and then by various media in Spain in 2014. In this chapter, I concluded that Guernica’s reproduction placed in the video created a meaning of justification for ETA’s violent actions, claiming that Franco’s oppression made it necessary for them to also become violent. In this chapter, I will focus on the two other more significant objects within this ending process, ETA’s penultimate and final statements: ETA Statement to the Basque Country: Declaration on Harm Caused, published in April 2018 by the Basque journals Gara and Berria; and the Final Statement from ETA to the Basque Country, published in May 2018 by the same journals. These two objects find a continuation of this justification narrative in the year 2018; they address this topic in depth by also including new issues regarding forgiveness and the recognition of victims of brutal events in the past.
The penultimate Declaration on Harm Caused is a letter published in four different languages: Basque, Spanish, English and French, following the guidelines that were also used in the video analysed in Chapter One. In this letter, ETA approaches Basque society to address, for the first time, questions of responsibility, political violence and forgiveness. The letter prompted a strong response among the whole of Spanish society, particularly from the various associations of victims of ETA’s terrorism, politicians, journalists and authors. ETA’s Final Statement is significantly shorter than the penultimate statement and works as an official announcement of ETA’s historical end. It does mention political violence and responsibility, but forgiveness is absent from this text. It was also published as a letter and in the four languages already mentioned; it too generated a similar reaction from society.
These two final statements are key objects to reflect on how the construction of memory around ETA will be developed in the following years after its final dissolution. These texts are the most complete and clear source to look for ETA’s view regarding the cycle of political violence in the country and ETA’s own interpretation of the recent violent Spanish history. In this chapter, we will see how ETA reflects on the various existing narratives around Franco’s oppression and their own response to it. They are
also the first and only sources where ETA acknowledges its own responsibility in the conflict. Additionally, I consider that these two statements become even more relevant because, as it will be argued, they are the objects that ETA choses with which to address society for the last time, making sure that its voice regarding how its activity will be perceived in time is present throughout the texts.
For the purpose of this analysis, Section One: An Introduction to the Memory of an Unresolved Past in Spain, provides an explanation of the particular way in which memory of violent past events develops in Spain as opposed to how other European countries like Germany and The Netherlands face their own tragic history. This analysis uses Ann Rigney’s text “Ongoing: Changing Memory and the European Project” to reflect on how the stages that Europe followed in regards to constructions of narratives about the past were not transferred to the evolution of Spanish memory. Additionally, the text “From Anti-fascism to Humanism: The Spanish Civil War as a Crisis of Memory” by Spanish historian Antonio Cazorla-Sánchez will help to introduce the theory of the pact of silence that will be also used to build an argument around ETA’s interpretation of the past in Section Three of this chapter. Section Two: ETA’s Penultimate Declaration on Harm Caused: Forgiveness and Victims’ Recognition analyses the forgiveness petition that the terrorist organisation includes in its penultimate statement. In this section, Derrida’s concepts of conditional and unconditional forgiveness presented in his text “On Forgiveness” will be used to approach the effects that the concept of forgiveness can have in the construction of memory in Spain regarding victims’ recognition and confrontations with violence. Finally, Section Three: Declaration on Harm Caused and Final Statement of Dissolution: the Cycle of Political Violence approaches ETA’s interpretation of the past in line with the theory of the pact of silence, analysing questions of cyclical political violence, impunity and responsibility in both final statements of dissolution.
1. An Introduction to the Memory of an Unresolved Past in Spain
This first section seeks to provide an explanation of the current situation in Spain regarding the way in which the country deals with violent events from the past. I consider that it is important to have in mind the general characteristics of Spanish memory constructions to be able to understand ETA’s own historical interpretations provided in the two final statements. For this purpose, I include here a reflection of the main differences in the evolution of memory narratives between other European
countries and Spain and an outline of how ETA connects these discourses with its own accounts of the past.
During the time that I have lived in Germany and The Netherlands, one of the things that has caught my attention the most is the difference in dealing with extremely violent past events; specifically, comparing the similarities between Germany and The Netherlands, and the important differences between these two countries and Spain. Just to mention a few significant examples, I was able to notice these contrasts mostly in cultural exhibitions as places of remembrance and in the laws.
Regarding cultural exhibitions, I was impressed by the numerous museums that address the past in Germany and The Netherlands, providing explanations of the Holocaust and the Second World War and their consequences in each of the two countries. I have been also told by the people I have met that it was common for them to visit these museums during their school years and to discuss the past as part of their lectures. Moreover, I could also see various monuments built in remembrance of the victims of these tragic events. I realised that, unlike in Spain, the past was present in public space and people could choose to revisit it, allowing memory to be developed in a way that calls for common reflexion.
Together with this openness about the past, I was able to notice differences in German and Spanish laws. In its Criminal Code, Germany clearly prohibits public or private advocacy of Nazism, a denial of the actions perpetrated during that time, or the exhibition of Nazi symbols. In Spain, despite the progress made so far, these policies are still being discussed among political parties. Far-right and Francoist demonstrations are common in public spaces, and monuments built in tribute to Franco or Francoist history are spread throughout the country; the Valley of the Fallen is the most characteristic of these, as it is the burial site of dictator Francisco Franco. These cases, among many others, reinforced my perception of the memory of Spain. The country has built a democracy without confronting its violent past or providing justice for the victims of the war and the dictatorship.
We can find the origins of these aforementioned differences in dealing with the past in the way historical events took place during the post war period. As Ann Rigney explains in her article “Ongoing: Changing Memory and the European Project”, the first post war narrative about memory developed in Europe clearly condemned fascism and was willing to fight against it in order to establish democracy as the main
characteristic of the future. However, in 1960, as the real extent of the Holocaust and evidence of collaborations with the Nazi regime came to light, memory constructions started to focus on questions of culpability and genocide, placing the Holocaust as a key tragic event to learn from and never repeat (Rigney, 344). In this regard, countries like Germany and The Netherlands have been making use of the Holocaust as an event that concentrates all evil to be avoided for decades. However, while most of Europe was involved in World War II, Spain had just fought its own civil war that gave victory to an authoritarian regime and, later on, while Europe was condemning fascism in the fifties, Spain was still ruled by the same dictator. As a result, in Spain, the process of reflection is still at an immature phase compared with some other countries within Europe, and there is not one clear narrative about the events of the Spanish Civil War and the dictatorship were victims have been officially recognised as such and perpetrators have been held responsible.
The two final statements of ETA’s dissolution reflect this particularity in the construction of memory in Spain. As it will be addressed in detail in Sections Two and Three, ETA’s interpretation of the country’s violent past provide yet another different narrative to the development of the war in Spain, the events during Franco’s regime and the arrival of democracy in Spain. In his article “From Anti-fascism to Humanism: the Spanish Civil War as a Crisis of Memory”, Spanish historian Antonio Cazorla-Sánchez reflects on the late arrival of political freedom to the country as the reason for a slow development in memory research and historiography. He also provides a good account of the two main memory narratives in Spain after Franco’s death. He claims that discourses that come from a right-wing ideology accuse historians with a leftist ideology of providing a pro-Marxist and incomplete account of the events that took place during the war and Franco’s regime. Meanwhile, as Cazorla-Sánchez explains, there is also a substantial group of historians that insist on reading the establishment of democracy in the country as an unfair and incomplete event that enforced what he refers to as a “pact to forget”, an unspoken pact that continued to silence all the injustices committed by the Francoist side (Cazorla-Sánchez, 36-37). This theory is commonly known in Spain among academics, but also among society in general as pacto del olvido (pact of oblivion/forgetting) or pacto del silencio (pact of silence). After dictator Franco died in 1975, politicians decided to avoid legal actions against both sides of the Civil War (Francoist and Republican) so that the transition could take place without confrontation. As a result, the 1978 Spanish Constitution marked the end of the
Transition period. The theory of the pact of silence mainly condemns that, despite the success of finally achieving democracy, this unspoken pact continued to hide all the injustices committed by the Francoist side. As we will see in Chapter Three, the Transition period and the so-called pact of silence continue to be issues that divide opinions among society and are still used in political discourse about memory policies.
Set against this background, we will see how ETA provides a new reading of the events from the past and introduces political violence in Spain as a cyclical issue. It will be argued that, in ETA’s view, the transition meant neither peace nor the arrival of a democratic Government because the new Spanish Government, led by the party Unión de Centro Democrático, UCD (Union of the Democratic Centre on its English translation) did not allow their main objective of independence. In ETA’s particular reading of the Civil War, the confrontation took place between the Spanish State (regardless of the two different sides during the war: Republican and Francoists) and the Basque Country. Their narrative focuses on the invasion of a foreign power (Spain) in their territory (the Basque Country), so the transition did not make a particular difference to their objective. Moreover, as Ross B. MacDonald and Mónica C. Bernardo explain in their text “The Politics of Victimhood: Historical Memory and Peace in Spain and the Basque Region”, the strategies against ETA’s terrorism after the transition carried out by the next party in charge, the Socialist Party in 1982, reflected the undemocratic and violent past of the State. This government created the so-called Grupos Antiterroristas de Liberación, GAL (“Antiterrorist Group of Liberation” on its English translation). As Macdonald and Bernardo explain, it has been documented and proved that GAL, under the Spanish State’s command, was responsible between 1983 and 1987 for the violation of the human rights of numerous ETA members and other people that had a connection to the group. Their violent actions include “twenty-three targeted assassinations and numerous instances of torture” (Macdonald and Bernardo, 182-183). As we will see, this form of political violence is used throughout the statement to justify ETA’s actions and to address violence as a continuous cycle in the country. Moreover, the other main topic addressed by ETA is forgiveness. It will be argued that ETA’s petition of forgiveness in the penultimate statement reflects the lack of victims’ recognition in the country by, at the same time, proposing a categorisation of ETA’s own victims.
2. ETA’s Penultimate Declaration on Harm Caused: Forgiveness and Victims’ recognition
This section seeks to analyse questions of forgiveness presented in ETA’s penultimate statement ETA Statement to the Basque Country: Declaration on Harm Caused by studying the possible effects and changes that the characteristics of this petition of forgiveness might entail for the construction of memory in Spain. It will be argued that this statement has the potential to break the tendency in Spain that forgets victims of violent and tragic events although, at the same time, it only asks for partial forgiveness that does not include every victim. Additionally, ETA’s forgiveness will be analysed using the concepts of conditional and unconditional forgiveness, coined by Jacques Derrida in his text “On Forgiveness”. This theory will be used to study the effects that the public action of asking for forgiveness can have in the construction of memory in the country, as opposed to how a kind of individual option of forgiving perpetrators that do not appear to be repentant might impact past narratives.
Questions of forgiveness are approached in paragraphs three and four of the penultimate Declaration on Harm Caused. This statement firstly addresses victims that were harmed “as a consequence of the conflict” in paragraph three, and afterwards, in paragraph four it deals with the ones that “had no direct part in the conflict”. Paragraph three states: “We wish to express our respect to all the victims of ETA’s actions, in that
they were harmed as a consequence of the conflict, whether they were killed, injured or harmed in any other way. We are truly sorry”. In this quote, the word forgiveness is not used; ETA pays its respect and says that they are sorry for the victims. However, paragraph four deals with the concept of forgiveness differently by specifically using the word forgiveness. ETA asks the victims that had no implications in the conflict, that is, people that were not targeted victims, to accept its apology: “We know that, due to the various requirements of the armed struggle, our activity has harmed a number of people who had no responsibility whatsoever in the conflict (…) we ask the forgiveness of these people and their relatives”. The use of two separated paragraphs highlights the creation of two different categories of victims in the statement: ETA’s concrete targets and people who happened to be near the places where terrorist attacks took place. To the first category, ETA says “they are truly sorry”; to the second category ETA asks “the forgiveness of these people”. A meaning of regret is present when addressing both kinds of victim categorisation, saying that you “are sorry” and “asking for forgiveness”
implies that you acknowledge that what happened was morally wrong and that you experience a feeling of repentance. However, ETA only demands an action back from the second kind of victims: the collateral ones, the ones that were non-targeted. By “asking for forgiveness”, ETA looks for reciprocity, asks these people to forgive the violent actions, implying that the reaction to this statement and forgiveness from these victims is more important for ETA than the forgiveness of targeted people. Moreover, the expression “ask for forgiveness” has a stronger significance due to its religious implications. This is an important idea as it can explain the reasons why ETA decides to include forgiveness in the penultimate statement. In Spain, and especially in the Basque Country, there is a strong Catholic tradition that has an important effect on many cultural aspects. Regardless of the number of Spaniards that address themselves as Catholic nowadays, the values of the Catholic tradition are transferred to our education in society. Within this religious context, forgiveness is a concept that most people understand in a very similar way. It implies repentance and respect for the harmed person. Including it in the statement ensures the presence of a common language. As a result, it might be easier for victims to forgive ETA when they are able to understand what they mean and because they have been taught that they should be able to forgive the sins of others.
Regarding the effect of this penultimate statement in the construction of memory in the country, the fact that a perpetrator, ETA in this case, asks for forgiveness is already a change. In this sense, perpetrators of the Spanish Civil War and the dictatorship in Spain have never appeared in public to ask for forgiveness. On the one hand, forgiveness is a concept known to Spaniards because of religion. On the other hand, within Spanish memory, forgiveness rituals are not a common step towards national reconciliation. With this in mind, ETA’s acknowledgement of its own responsibility and inclusion of questions of forgiveness in the penultimate statement could entail a positive change regarding the construction of a clear narrative that clearly condemns perpetrators of violence in the country. Moreover, in paragraph five, ETA asks for a broader perspective regarding the victims of violence in Spain: “Much of what the State forces and their regional allies have done too, even though it was done under the guise of the law, was absolutely unfair for many Basque citizens and they do not deserve to be humiliated”. They do not specify whether they are referring here to oppression during Franco’s regime in the Basque Country or to GAL’s crimes towards ETA members already in democracy, but they do insist on the fact that questions of responsibility and
forgiveness should be addressed by everyone implicated in political violence, and not only terrorist violence in particular. For memory constructions in Spain, this statement contributes to the asking of respect for the victims of violent action. However, ETA’s petition for forgiveness appears as partial in this statement; the two kinds of victim categorisation imply that some victims are more worthy of repentance and respect than others. Because of this, the Spanish tendency to not officially recognise victims of violent events would experience a continuation where this penultimate statement would not create any positive change towards the future.
In his text “On forgiveness”, Jacques Derrida reflects on the concept of forgiveness and its implications for the relationship between perpetrator and victim. He differentiates between two kinds of forgiveness: conditional and unconditional. “On the one side, unconditional, granted to the guilty as guilty, without counterpart, even to those who do not repent or ask for forgiveness (…) On the other side, conditional forgiveness proportionate to the recognition of the fault” (Derrida, 34-35). In Derrida’s view, pure forgiveness should not aim for any clear finality such as national reconciliation or salvation. It should also not be part of a step to “re-establish a normality”, either social, political or psychological. In all these case, he says, forgiveness would not be “pure” (Derrida, 31-39). In Spain, in the cases where forgiveness has been dealt with, it has been constructed as a kind of unconditional forgiveness. If a Spanish citizen has chosen to forgive violent events of Franco’s era, it has been forgiveness without the perpetrators’ acknowledgement of being guilty and without transferring this forgiveness to a national level. This kind of individual, unmediated forgiveness has not proved to be successful in questions of reconciliation. For Derrida, this might be pure forgiveness. However, considering the situation in Spain as a pragmatic or practical case, it could be said that this unconditional forgiveness has blocked the possibility of a confrontation with the past that results in both peace and the end of violence. Conversely, ETA’s penultimate statement follows Derrida’s notion of conditional forgiveness, where victims are given the chance to forgive after actively being asked to do so. ETA’s forgiveness can also become conditional because it might be working to achieve finality. In this case, the finality behind this forgiveness could be to help ETA create a better relationship with the state in questions that matter to the terrorist organisation. For example, moving terrorist convicts to prisons closer to the Basque Country so that it becomes easier and cheaper for their families to visit. The Socialist provisional Government lead by Pedro Sánchez and formed in June 2018, two
