“No Time for Love”: Radical Basque Nationalist-Irish Republican Relations and the Emergence of a Shared Political Culture (1981–98)

Niall Cullen

doi:10.12795/araucaria.2022.i50.10

Autores/as

Niall Cullen University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9400-0284

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12795/araucaria.2022.i50.10

Palabras clave:

Nacionalismo Vasco, Republicanismo Irlandés, Transnacionalismo, Relaciones Vasco-Irlandesas

Resumen

Tras la muerte de diez republicanos irlandeses en huelga de hambre en 1981, nacionalistas vascos radicales y republicanos irlandeses de la izquierda abertzale y del movimiento republicano irlandés respectivamente, empezaron a estrechar cada vez más, lazos de “solidaridad” transnacional. Además de la relación entre Herri Batasuna y Sinn Féin, otros vínculos organizativos más ad hoc en los ámbitos, por ejemplo, de la juventud, defensa de los presos y la lengua, fomentaron una cultura política compartida en la intersección de ambos movimientos, que se reflejaba periódicamente a través del prisma de la expresión cultural (música, arte político [murales], literatura, medios audiovisuales). Utilizando una amplia gama de fuentes primarias, este artículo explora y analiza, por primera vez, el surgimiento y desarrollo de este nexo transnacional, desde las huelgas de hambre de 1981 hasta la firma del Acuerdo de Viernes Santo en 1998.

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McCreesh to ETA, 9 Feb. 1981, Personal correspondence with Danny Morrison. Underline of “death” in original.

Ed Moloney, A Secret History of the IRA (2nd ed.), London, Penguin, 2007, p. 209.

Egin, 06.05.1981; Herri Batasuna, Herri Batasuna. 20 años de lucha por la libertad, San Sebastián, Herri Batasuna, 1999, p. 408; Author interview with Iñaki Ruiz de Pinedo (2017) [All interview and print translations by the author unless otherwise stated].

For Benedict Anderson, the nation is essentially an “imagined political community”. Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities (revised ed.), London, Verso, 2006, p. 6.

https://www.bobbysandstrust.com/multimedia/songs-lyrics/#7 (02.08.2021).

An Phoblacht/Republican News (AP/RN), 09.05.1981; AP/RN, 20.06.1981; AP/RN, 04.07.1981.

PHEH, 15–22.05.1981.

PHEH, 08–15.05.1981; PHEH, 15–22.05.1981; PHEH, 25.09–02.10.1981; PHEH, 04–18.09.1981.

Hitz, no. 12, May 1981.

An Phoblacht, 26.10.1977; Author interview with José Ramón Peñagarikano (2017).

AP/RN, 05.11.1981.

Moloney, A Secret History of the IRA (2nd ed.), pp. 208–15.

Author interview with José Ramón Peñagarikano (2017); Author interview with Eduardo “Teo” Uriarte (2016); Author interview with Javier Olaverri Zazpe (2017).

https://app.congreso.es/consti/elecciones/generales/resultados.jsp?fecha=01/03/1979 (01.08.2021); Gaizka Fernández Soldevilla, “¿Al Borde del Abismo? La Violencia Política (y sus Víctimas) durante la Transición” [in Gaizka Fernández Soldevilla, María Jiménez Ramos (coords.), 1980. El Terrorismo Contra La Transición, Madrid, Tecnos, 2020], pp. 19–48 (specifically p. 26).

AP/RN, 17.11.1983; Moloney, A Secret History of the IRA (2nd ed.), pp. 150–1; Gaizka Fernández Soldevilla, “The origins of ETA: between Francoism and democracy, 1958–1981” [in Rafael Leonisio, Fernando Molina, Diego Muro (eds.), ETA’s Terrorist Campaign. From Violence to Politics, 1968–2015, London and New York, Routledge, 2016], pp. 19–34 (specifically p. 30).

SF’s “kitchen cabinet” is a term used by commentators regarding Gerry Adams’ close allies and associates since the late 1970s. See: Brian Feeney, Sinn Féin. A Hundred Turbulent Years, Dublin, O’Brien Press, 2002, p. 383. On SF’s international relations from this period, see: Martyn Frampton, “‘Squaring the circle’: the foreign policy of Sinn Féin, 1983–1989”, Irish Political Studies, vol. 19, 2, 2004, pp. 43–63; Adrian Guelke, “The Peace Process in South Africa, Israel and Northern Ireland: A Farewell to Arms?”, Irish Studies in International Affairs, vol. 5, 1994, pp. 93–106.

Author interview with Joseba Álvarez (2017); Author interview with Alexander Ugalde Zubiri (2017); Florencio Domínguez Iribarren, Josu Ternera: Una Vida En ETA, Madrid, La Esfera de los libros, 2006, p. 90.

AP/RN, 15.03.1984; PHEH, 16–23.03.1984.

PHEH, 16–23.03.1984.

PHEH, 23–30.11.1984; AP/RN, 20.12.1984.

AP/RN, 08.11.1984.

https://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/gallsum.htm#lg (04.08.2021); Henry Patterson, The Politics of Illusion. A Political History of the IRA (2nd ed.), London, Serif, 1997, pp. 196–8. The Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985 gave the Irish State a consultative role in Northern Irish affairs. It also aimed to increase cross-border cooperation in legal, judicial and security matters.

http://erria.eus/elkarrizketak/an-cara-eireannach-el-amigo-irlandes-de-losas-vascosas (11.08.21); Author interview with Pat Rice (2017).

AP/RN, 09.01.1986.

PHEH, 04-11.11.1983; PHEH, 27.04-04.05.1984; PHEH, 19.10.1984. I am grateful to AF for translating the lyrics of Tatxer.

AP/RN, 03.07.1986.

Herri Batasuna, Herri Batasuna. 20 años de lucha por la libertad, p. 407.

Author interview with Pat Rice (2017).

AP/RN, 13.08.1987.

Jesús Casquete, En el nombre de Euskal Herria. La religión política del nacionalismo vasco radical, Madrid, Tecnos, 2009, p. 65.

Imanol Murua, Ending ETA’s Armed Campaign. How and why the Basque armed group abandoned violence, London and New York, Routledge, 2017, p. 25.

Mao Tse-tung, On Guerrilla Warfare, New York, Dover Publications, 2005, p. 93; Agnès Maillot, New Sinn Féin: Irish Republicanism in the Twenty-first Century, London and New York, Routledge, 2005, pp. 74–6.

PHEH, December 1986 Cuaderno. See also: PHEH, 01–08.10.1987; PHEH, 19–26.11.1987; PHEH, 03–10.03.1988.

AP/RN, 18.08.1988; Author interview with Irish source.

Author interview with Basque source. Further research is needed to verify this claim.

Author interview with Pernando Barrena (2017). Italics by author for emphasis.

https://www.cancioneros.com/letras/cancion/1742029/no-time-for-love-hertzainak (05.08.21).

Author interview with José María “Txema” Montero (2016); Azkatzen, No. 12, November 1990.

Murua, Ending ETA’s Armed Campaign, p. 164.

AP/RN, 05.11.1987.

Moloney, A Secret History of the IRA (2nd ed.), pp. 340–2.

Irish Times, 19.03.2018.

Moloney, A Secret History of the IRA (2nd ed.), pp. 261–86, p. 406, pp. 677–9.

https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/events/peace/pp8893.htm (05.08.2021).

PHEH, 30.11–14.12.1989.

AP/RN, 08.02.1990; AP/RN, 10.05.1990.

The Independent, 13.10.1993.

Niall Cullen, Gora Rebeldiak! A History of Radical Basque Nationalist-Irish Republican Relations [forthcoming].

AP/RN, 19.05.1994.

AP/RN, 09.06.1994.

“Declaración conjunta de las mesas nacionales del Sinn Féin y de Herri Batasuna”, 21 October 1994, Elkarri, Lazkaoko Beneditarren Fundazioa.

AP/RN, 21.06.1990; AP/RN, 06.12.90; The Captive Voice/An Glór Gafa. Winter 1990.

Author interview with Bairbre de Brún (2016); AP/RN, 3 October 1991.

Author interview with Pernando Barrena (2017).

AP/RN, 01.08.1991; Azkatzen, December 1991; AP/RN, 08.08.1991; AP/RN, 15.08.1991.

Author interview with various Basque sources; Author interview with Irish source.

AP/RN, 27.02.1992; AP/RN, 19.03.1992; AP/RN, 09.04.1992; AP/RN, 11.06.1992.

AP/RN, 13.08.1992.

AP/RN, 27.08.1992.

AP/RN, 10.08.1995.

AP/RN, 26.10.1995.

Author interview with Eoin Ó Broin (2015).

Author interview with Josetxo Otegi Arrugaeta (2016).

Author interview with Eoin Ó Broin (2015).

AP/RN, 28.03.1996.

“Sinn Féin Youth. 1st National Congress. Annual Report”, 17 October 1998, PH1607, Linenhall Library (LL).

Author interview with Eoin Ó Broin (2015).

AP/RN, 27.03.1997; AP/RN, 03.04.1997; AP/RN, 05.06. 1997.

“Sinn Féin Youth. 1st National Congress. Annual Report”, 17 October 1998, PH1607, LL; AP/RN, 28.08.1997.

Author interview with Eoin Ó Broin (2015).

AP/RN, 28.08.1997.

Author interview with Irish source; Eoin Ó Broin, Matxinada: Historia del Movimiento Juvenil Radical Vasco, Tafalla, Txalaparta, 2004.

AP/RN, 02.04.1998; AP/RN, 09.04.1998; AP/RN, 30.04.1998.

AP/RN, 02.07.1998; AP/RN, 18.06.1998.

Irish Times, 31.10.1998.

https://www.politico.eu/article/arnaldo-otegi-the-basque-gerry-adams/ (17.08.21).

Cullen, Gora Rebeldiak! A History of Radical Basque Nationalist-Irish Republican Relations [forthcoming].

Pascal Pragnère, “Exporter la guerre – importer la paix. Dimensions transnationales de deux conflits nationalistes. Irlande du Nord, Pays Basque” [in Catherine Maignant (ed.), La France et l´Irlande: destins croisés 16e-21e siécles, Lille, CECILLE – Université Lille, 2012], pp. 195–210.

Casquete, En el nombre de Euskal Herria, pp. 19–21, pp. 106–8; Raúl López Romo, Gaizka Fernández Soldevilla, “Deuda de sangre. La visión del pasado de ETA y el IRA”, APORTES. Revista de Historia Contemporánea, vol. 33, no. 97, 2018, pp. 267–94.

Author interview with Eoin Ó Broin (2015).

AP/RN, 28.03.1996; Iñaki Iriondo, Ramón Sola, Mañana, Euskal Herria. Entrevista con Arnaldo Otegi, Bilbao, Baigorri Argitaletxea, 2005, p. 76; AP/RN, 01.12.2005; AP/RN, 16.06.2005.

PHEH, 19.10.1984; PHEH, Cuaderno April 1985; AP/RN, 13.06.1985.