January 24, 2001

9:15 AM

Basques separatists: a long-standing problemThe Basque separatist movement is symptomatic of ethnic , religious, and cultural desire to be distinct and to have their own "place." And yet, at the same time, the world moves toward globalization, with economics becoming trans-national. A push and a pull at the same time. Can this contradiction be resolved without violence?
posted by Postroad (4 comments total)

Odd, since the similar Quebec Separatist movement is basically dead. Maybe the globalization forces that have affected the Canadian movement will eventually affect Spain's as well.
posted by stevis at 12:45 PM on January 24, 2001

stevis: unlike the Quebecois, Basque identity extends back to, well, the beginnings of history. The Basques have also been subject to extended persecution.

In the post-Franco era, Spain has been good at devolving power to the regions: it's good to see young Catalans using their Catalan names, rather than the Castillian ones imposed upon parents during military rule. Extending that tolerance to the Basque region, though, is as delicate a task as the settlement in Northern Ireland.

As for the general question: I don't see the contradiction between global perspectives and local identity. In fact, one of the driving impulses of the European Union's expansion is a notion of "disintermediation": the delegation of decision-making to regional authorities, rather than the "rush to Brussels" claimed by Eurosceptics in Britain.

So: a closer European Union empowers the Basques, as it does the Welsh or the Flemish.
posted by holgate at 2:04 PM on January 24, 2001

Eurosceptics, eh? little freudian typing
posted by cell divide at 3:47 PM on January 24, 2001

Eurosceptics, eh? little freudian typing

hmm?
posted by holgate at 5:02 PM on January 24, 2001