Herri Batasuna (; ; HB) was a

far-left Far-left politics, also known as extreme left politics or left-wing extremism, are politics further to the left on the left–right political spectrum than the standard political left. The term does not have a single, coherent definition; some ...

Basque nationalist Basque nationalism ( ; ; ) is a form of nationalism that asserts that Basques, an ethnic group indigenous to the western Pyrenees, are a nation and promotes the political unity of the Basques, today scattered between Spain and France. Since ...

coalition in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. It was founded in 1978 and defined itself as

abertzale ''Abertzale'' (; English: "patriot", literally "fond of the fatherland") is a Basque term usually referring to people or political groups who are associated with Basque nationalism. Although the term is a synonym of "patriot", its common use in ...

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

, and supported the independence of the Greater Basque Country. It was refounded as

Batasuna Batasuna (; ) was a Basque nationalist political party. Based mainly in Spain, it was banned in 2003, after a court ruling declared proven that the party was financing ETA with public money. The party is included in the "European Union list of ...

in 2001 and subsequently outlawed by the Spanish

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

for being considered the political wing of the separatist group

Euskadi Ta Askatasuna ETA, an acronym for ("Basque Homeland and Liberty"ETA BASQUE ORGANIZATION
Encyclo ...

(ETA).

History

The party was founded in April 1978 as Herri Batasuna, a coalition of leftist nationalist political groups initially brought together to advocate for "No" in the referendum to be held that year on the

Spanish constitution The Spanish Constitution () is the supreme law of the Kingdom of Spain. It was enacted after its approval in 1978 in a constitutional referendum; it represents the culmination of the Spanish transition to democracy. The current version was a ...

. Its constituent parties had been called together by senior Basque nationalist Telesforo de Monzón in a 1978 meeting called "The table of Alsasua". Herri Batasuna's founding convention was held in

Lekeitio Lekeitio (; ) is a town and municipality located in the province of Biscay, in the Spanish Autonomous Community of Basque Country, northeast from Bilbao. The municipality has 7,307 inhabitants (2019) and is one of the most important fishing po ...

, home of

Santiago Brouard Santiago Brouard or Santi Brouard (1919 – 20 November 1984) was a doctor and Basque people, Basque politician. He was one of the leaders of Herri Batasuna, and deputy mayor of Bilbao. He was killed by the Spanish government's death squad, the ...

, who was then the leader of

HASI People's Socialist Revolutionary Party (; HASI) was a non-legal Basque political party, considered commonly to be the political branch of ETA. It always ran as part of the coalition of the Basque National Liberation Movement The Basque National ...

(Herriko Alderdi Sozialista Iraultzailea or Revolutionary Socialist People's Party). The party won 150,000 votes in the Basque Country (15%) and 22,000 additional votes in Navarre (9%) in its first

Spanish general election Elections in Spain encompass four different types: general elections, regional elections, local elections, and elections to the European Parliament. General elections and regional elections are typically conducted at the conclusion of the nation ...

in March 1979. Thus, they won three seats in the Spanish Parliament, which they did not occupy. The same happened in 1980 in the first elections to the Basque Parliament, in which HB stood as a second political force, with 151,636 votes (16.55%), winning 11 seats. Its absence allowed a BNP-only Basque government led by

Carlos Garaikoetxea Carlos Garaikoetxea Urriza (born 2 June 1938) is a former politician from the Spanish Basque Country. He became the second elected ''Lehendakari'' (President of the Basque Autonomous Community), after José Antonio Aguirre, and held that offi ...

. On 20 November 1984, Brouard was assassinated by two members of the GAL. The killing is perhaps the only one performed by the GAL

death squad A death squad is an armed group whose primary activity is carrying out extrajudicial killings, massacres, or enforced disappearances as part of political repression, genocide, ethnic cleansing, or revolutionary terror. Except in rare cases in w ...

within Spain itself. Another well-known Herri Batasuna leader,

Josu Muguruza Josu Muguruza (1958 – 20 November 1989) was a Basque journalist and politician who was assassinated in Madrid on 20 November 1989. Muguruza was among the leaders of Herri Batasuna, a Basque nationalist political party. He was about to serve at ...

, was also killed by members of the neo-fascist Bases Autónomas in 1989, while he was in a hotel in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

. He was a congressman in the Spanish Parliament when he was assassinated.

Electoral performance

Since its foundation, Herri Batasuna ran for every election in the Basque Country and in Navarre, as well as in Spanish general elections (from 1979 to 1996) and the European elections of 1987, 1989 and 1994. In the

2000 Spanish general election A general election was held in Spain on Sunday, 12 March 2000, to elect the members of the 7th . All 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as 208 of 259 seats in the Senate. At four years since the previous election, ...

, it supported abstention. In the elections held from 1998 to 2001, it was part of the coalition

Euskal Herritarrok Euskal Herritarrok (, EH) was a Basque nationalism, Basque independentist and Socialism, socialist political party in the Euskal Herria, Basque Country. EH was banned in 2003 by the Supreme Court of Spain on the grounds that it sympathized with Eu ...

. Herri Batasuna refused to participate in many of the institutions where it won seats, with the exception of local town halls.

Spanish general elections

References

Bibliography

* {{Authority control Political parties in the Basque Country (autonomous community) Banned secessionist parties Banned socialist parties Basque conflict 1978 establishments in the Basque Country (autonomous community) Political parties established in 1978 Political parties disestablished in 2001 Politics of Spain Pro-independence parties Secessionist organizations in Europe Socialist parties in Spain 1978 establishments in Spain Political parties in Navarre Banned political parties in the Basque Country (autonomous community) Organisations based in Bilbao 1980s disestablishments in the Basque Country (autonomous community)