Basque National Liberation Movement

The Basque National Liberation Movement (Spanish: Movimiento de Liberación Nacional Vasco, MLNV; Basque: Euskal Nazio Askapenerako Mugimendua, "ENAM") is an umbrella term that comprises all social, political and armed organizations orbiting around the ideas of the illegal armed organisation Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA), proscribed internationally as a terrorist organisation.^[1]

The wide variety of organizations and their different levels of belonging to this political space made this name very common in the 80s and 90s.

The MLNV has suffered in the past decade a judicial persecution that has brought many of its members to jail and illegalized many but not all its elements. Generally the judicial actions were in connection with the direct links between ETA and many of these organizations.

Some of the most relevant organizations that can be considered to have formed part of this political current are listed below.

Armed organizations

• ETA militarra
• ETA politiko-militarra (disbanded in 1984),
• Iparretarrak, active in France between 1973 and 2000,
• Irrintzi, acting in the French Basque Country between 2006 and 2009,
• Hordago, active in France in the 80s,
• Euskal Zuzentasuna, active in France between 1977 and 1979.

Political parties

• Eusko Abertzale Ekintza, EAE-ANV (Basque National Action, integrated successively in the different electoral fronts of the MLNV. In February 2008, after a legal process, a Spanish court declared EAE-ANV illegal on charges of being a part of ETA.
• Herri Alderdi Sozialista Iraultzailea, HASI (People's Socialist Revolutionary Party, illegal, always run in the successive MLNV fronts until the formation of Batasuna), it was considered the political arm of ETA
• Herri Batasuna, HB (People's Union, an electoral coalition formed by both parties and independents)
• Euskal Herritarrok, EH ("We Basque Citizens") was the moniker under which the coalition previously known as Herri Batasuna took part in elections in 1998 and 1999.
• Batasuna ("Unity" in Basque language) Political party outlawed in Spain in 2003 after ties with ETA were legally proved; this has not affected its French branch.
• Euskal Herrialdeetako Alderdi Komunista, EHAK-PCTV ("Communist Party of the Basque Homelands") had been a tiny a political party which came to be known to the public when it announced in 2005 that it would assume Batasuna's guidelines after the latter was banned in Spain according to the Ley de Partidos.
• Herritarren Zerrenda (HZ, List of Fellow Citizens) is a Basque nationalist political party in Spain and France, created in 2004 to run in the European Parliament election, it was outlawed in Spain but not in France.
• Autodeterminaziorako Bilgunea (AuB, Gathering for Self-determination) another Basque nationalist political party in Spain, created in 2004 to run in the European Parliament election, but it was outlawed.
• Askatasuna (Freedom) is a Basque political party registered on 31 August 1998, and outlawed on February 8, 2009, for proven ties with ETA.
• D3M Demokrazia Hiru Milioi (Spanish: Democracia Tres Millones; D3M; also called Demokrazia 3,000,000) is an electoral platform which was formed to participate in the Basque Parliament elections in 2009. It was declared illegal on February 8, 2009 for the same reason as Askatasuna.

Other relevant organizations

• Langile Abertzaleen Batzordeak (LAB) (Nationalist Workers' Committees) a legal trade union.
• Jarrai (In English, "Follow", a youth organization), became Haika and later Segi, all of them were declared illegal in 2006 after being proved to be a part of ETA.
• Koordinadora Abertzale Sozialista (KAS), for a long time an actual political organization that envelopped most of the entities mentioned in this article. Its poorly known KAS Platform was the political manifesto of the MLNV in the 1980s.

References

1. ↑ EU list of terrorist organisations PDF (43.6 KiB), 29 May 2006