In Spanish public life there are some politicians who continue to need ETA in order to construct any sort of discourse. Everything is ETA. And what is not acceptable is that the bloody memories that the terrorists have left are used in an attempt to steal a great democratic victory from society. On Friday former Basque president Juan José Ibarretxe asked: "Wasn't this what we were wanting, for 40 years?" And his point was valid. The only terrorist group based anywhere in Europe which was continuing to murder innocent people until just a few years ago has surrendered. Catalonia has experienced its violence on several occasions across these decades and has lost both anonymous individuals and well-known ones, like Ernest Lluch. They were all victims of barbarism, but the new era must not be built on resentment. The pain of the victims is wholly legitimate, but there has to be an effort to look forward. And in this regard, Basque society has for some time been offering a shining example.
People cannot carry on living off their opposition to ETA, since the terrorist group has ceased to exist. From now on, this has to be the great lesson because, as Ibarretxe said, for many years this announcement has been what everyone was hoping for, and those people who have made this issue their modus vivendi must not contaminate the current situation. Speeches like that of former Spanish interior minister Jaime Mayor Oreja linking ETA terrorism with the Catalan independence movement are not only an insult to Catalan society as a whole, pro-independence or not, but also a great lie. Not only has Catalonia always opposed any type of violence, but as well, the pro-independence movement in the period — in the 1990s, to be specific— helped to dismantle the tiny pockets which sympathised with ETA. Any other analysis is far removed from the truth and Mayor Oreja knows this well. Another thing is whether he likes it.
The Basque independence movement may be stronger or weaker than its Catalan counterpart. At present it is difficult to know the everyday reality of Basque society, but institutionally, the Catalan movement holds a certain advantage. Current Basque president Iñigo Urkullu has made a commitment to a moderate approach, with strong majority support from the Basque Nationalist Party (PNB), founded in the incomparably different financial situation faced by the Basque Country's autonomous administration. The PNB's chosen path is legitimate, just as the path of the Catalan independence movement is legitimate. That famous speech made during Spain's transition - that in the absence of violence it would be possible to speak about everything - has been exposed as empty words. People weren't able to speak about everything in the past and nor are they able to today. But ETA no longer exists and it won't be possible to carry on using many of those discourses except at the risk of looking ridiculous. Mayor Oreja has brought the Popular Party (PP) in the Basque Country to a situation where its parlamentary representation has fallen low, and never has the combined weight of Spain's two established parties of government - the PP and the PSOE - had such a small presence in the Basque parliament: 18 out of 75 seats. Not to mention Citizens (Cs), who have no seats at all.
Let's leave ETA to dissipate over time and take the opportunity to move those who are in prison close to their communities. The goal of peace makes this action worthwhile.