A night out in San Sebastián & a brief history of the ETA.
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“We go to make a party”
Our host and friend planned a night out for us to celebrate my younger brother’s birthday. “We go to make a party” he said and we met up with a few of his friends. One would assume that you wouldn’t also get a history lesson during your night out in the city but we would soon find out that the undercurrent of politics plays a role in many aspects of Basque life.
Our first stop was a small local bar where we enjoyed beers outside in the courtyard. As we were imbibing, a small parade/ demonstration of solidarity came through the side street next to the bar.
Everything stopped.
The bars and all night-life happening in this neighborhood closed down for an hour. It felt so abrupt and I asked our friend why this was happening. He said these protests were in support of the Basque prisoners who have been jailed for being alleged members of the ETA. To clarify: I understand this to mean that they want their incarcerated family members to be moved to jails closer to home and to be treated fairly, not that they necessarily support the violent aspects of the cause.
“Don’t worry. Everything closes for an hour and then we go to make another party”.
I had seen a lot of banners and posters around town with the photos of the prisoners and those who had been killed in the incidents over the years. The sentiment on this particular night was one of a people who have been working towards independence for over 60 years. I will offer you my VERY basic knowledge here but I am in no way educated enough to comment with any true understanding of the separatist group.
The Basque region consists of 4 municipalities in Spain and 3 in France. The Basque people have been seeking autonomy and independence for generations and during the Franco years, their language and traditions were banned. The Basque language is thought to be the oldest European language whose origins are unknown. During Franco’s rule, the language almost became extinct because it was no longer taught in schools and neither were the traditions of the Basque people.
In 1959 the ETA was created and it means “Basque Homeland and Liberty” (It was originally the ATA but they changed it for semantic reasons) . It is considered to be a terrorist group who fights against what they consider to be the race based nationalist movement of the government. In 1968 a police officer killed an ETA member and this set off years of unrest. The ETA retaliated by killing the head of the secret police in San Sebastián, Meliton Manzanas. Manzanas was known to have helped the Nazi’s in WW2. In 1970 6 members of the ETA were arrested and sentenced to death which caused outrage amongst the Basque people and the international community. This international press led to support for the ETA cause and even the Pope condemned the fact that they had been sentenced to death.
Assassination of Blanco
In 1970 the ETA planted a bomb that killed Luis Carrero Blanco, Franco’s choice for who would take over once he died. This was the impetuous for democracy after Franco’s death and things became more violent. The ETA splintered into 2 groups, one focused on politics and military while the other focused only on military style action (violence). In 1980 the Spanish government offered to pardon all ETA prisoners if they denounced all acts of violence. This further splintered the group as part of the group agreed while one faction did not.
Years of conflict
The government began a dirty war and funded a group (GAL) to use the same tactics as the ETA against them within the Basque region. This was picked up by news agencies and was highly illegal so the ETA did gain some support from this. Sympathy for the ETA started in wane in 1985 when they began bombing campaigns in cities around Spain. In 1995 there was a failed attack on the Royal Family and over the following years many attempts at a ceasefire were made. Finally, in 2010 a permanent ceasefire was created and in 2017 the ETA officially lay down their weapons and destroyed their arsenal.
We visited just one year later, in 2018 and the sentiment I felt was that the Basque people still desire to be separate from Spain and France. This is not to say that they support acts of violence but one look at the walls around various cities and you’ll find that the desire for independence is alive and well.
The peaceful protests that we encountered was a way for the people of San Sebastián to keep the prisoners and the idea of independence alive. While acts of violence are not on the top of my list as a great thing to participate in, I do admire the resilience and determination of the Basque people to hold tight to their sovereignty over their culture and language. The pride they have in their heritage is clear.
There are murals all over Basque country (much like the IRA murals in Ireland) and this resource is a great place to check them out.
Street Art in San Sebastián
I was given a flag while in a small town outside of San Sebastián later during my trip that reads "Euskal preso eta iheslariak etxera", "Basque prisoners and exiles home", which was gathered very clandestinely and handed to me as though we were in a spy novel.
Very hush-hush and honestly now I wonder if having this flag in my suitcase could maybe have caused problems at the airport had it been found since it does in some ways represent supporting a labeled terrorist group (sort of).
Fellow travel writing site Marko Polo Travels has an entertaining story about this flag, warnings given (avoid bars where the flag is displayed. My flag came from a bar but I was told to keep it on the down-low, the bar was not advertising it. This is likely different from Marko’s story as his was written several years before mine.. before the ETA gave up armaments). Marko also writes about being interrogated by the police for being a suspected terrorist supporter and that’s a wild story you should read.
Now that I have done a deeper dive into all of this, I realize what it *might mean to be carrying this flag just a year after the ETA called it quits. It seems as though the support has gone further underground in that 1 year span or that there is a sense of paranoia that is still evident on both sides. Regardless, it is made very clear when you visit Basque-land that the people here keep this history close to them. So much so, that they have regular demonstrations such as the one I am writing about now.
An hour later……
People were still gathered on the streets and an hour later everything reopened and the block party continued. I thought it was so interesting how a collective group of people pushed pause on their night to remember their fellow citizens and then continued right along as though these instances were a part of the fabric of everyday life. Can you imagine anything like this happening in the U.S. ? Where an entire part of a city just shuts down for an hour in solidarity and demonstration? And nothing violent occurs, just true sentiment? Not likely.
We ventured to another bar that was bustling and the crowd was pouring out into the streets. Hundreds of people were outside thoroughly enjoying themselves. Laughter rang all around and echoed off the stone buildings. We were having a great time of our own when all of the sudden, a flatbed truck arrived outside the bar like none I have ever witnessed before and came to a stop in front of the crowd.
Perched on this trailer was an energetic rock band playing AC/DC- “T.N.T”. The crowd went wild. They also played Lynyrd Skynyrd “Sweet Home Alabama”, which if you’ve ever found yourself in a bar in the U.S., you know that that is THE bar song. I looked around and noticed that literally everyone in this crowd of a few hundred, was happy and despite the alcohol factor, there was not one single fight or argument, no one was irresponsibly inebriated.
I’ll ask the question again: Can you imagine anything like this happening in the U.S.? My brothers and I both commented on this later as they too found the lack of ego and anger at this party full of strangers to be so different from what would happen here in the States.
I did spot two people who were not thrilled with this street party though. A grandma and grandpa (both in their nightgowns) appeared on their 2nd story balcony which was directly across from the bar.
Grandma had her hands on her hips and her scowl was deeper than the Mariana Trench.
In her defense, this band was LOUD and the crowd equally so. The block party lasted late into the night and as the band drove away (to hit up another street at some other block party), the crowd began to dissipate. It seemed as though everyone was dragging their feet, not wanting the night to end. We made it home at 4am and it remains one of my fondest memories from this trip. A birthday celebration, a joyful crowd, friends, laughter and somehow in the middle of all of that, a solemn hour where people set their plans aside to remember others.
I am not a luxury traveler so I can’t speak to the hottest clubs and swanky bars but I can tell you as a regular joe-schmo, San Sebastián hosts some fun nights out and in this story, interesting historical context mixed in.
If you happen to be there when one of these demonstrations occurs, don’t worry, you can go to “make another party” after the event has passed.
I hope you get to experience this cultural moment while there, it really is interesting to learn the history of an area as rich as Donostia’s.
