A Nationalist’s Global Following

Basque Leader’s Bid for Sovereignty Inspires Separatists World-Wide

WORLD NEWS

The Wall Street Journal
April 15, 2005; Page A8

By ANDRÉS CALA and KEITH JOHNSON, Staff Reporters of
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

BILBAO, SPAIN — On Sunday, voters in the Basque Country of Spain will
go to the polls to elect a new regional government. But interest in
the vote’s outcome won’t be confined to Madrid: Minority movements in
places as far away as Iraq and Indonesia also will be tuning in. The
Basque Country is a relatively small region, but it has become
influential among stateless nations around the world. The reason: Its
leader is pushing an audacious plan for effective independence from
Spain that would give the already autonomous region its own foreign
ministry, judicial system, and even sports teams to compete in
international competitions.

The plan is the brainchild of Juan José Ibarretxe, a soft-spoken
teetotaler, avid bike rider and ardent nationalist who has headed the
Basque regional government the past six years. If he wins re-election
as expected this weekend, he has pledged to defy Madrid’s rejection of
his plan and hold a referendum on it among the Basque Country’s 2.1
million people.

Mr. Ibarretxe’s proposal to unilaterally declare “co-sovereignty” with
Spain has ignited a political firestorm. One opposition-party official
calls it the “ideological triumph of ETA,” the terrorist group that
has waged a 37-year campaign for Basque independence. The Ibarretxe
plan, which Spain’s parliament already has rejected, shares some goals
with ETA, but aims to achieve those ends through peaceful means and
politicking, not terrorism.

For that reason, Mr. Ibarretxe’s plan has attracted attention around
the world. Its roots in territoriality and cultural and linguistic
differences give it broad appeal, political analysts say. Minority
groups in Iraq, Turkey, Ecuador, Bolivia, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and
even Chechnya have studied it as a blueprint for their own disputes.

As globalization and the creation of super-states such as the European
Union spur renewed interest in minority identities, the plan’s success
“could change the political landscape of the 21st century,” says James
Minahan, editor of the Encyclopedia of Stateless Nations.

Mr. Ibarretxe’s approach has struck a chord in Iraq’s Kurdish north,
for example. In late 2002, five months before the U.S. invasion, an
official Basque delegation traveled to Iraq to present Kurdish
strongman Masoud Barzani with a glass-encased oak branch. It came from
the old Guernica tree, which survived the Spanish Civil War-era
bombing of the town of Guernica and is an enduring symbol of Basque
nationalism.

Kurdish politicians say Mr. Ibarretxe’s plan has influenced their
thinking as they prepare to submit proposals for the new Iraqi
constitution. Later this year, a delegation of Kurdish jurists will
study the Basque model firsthand in Spain.

U.S. officials acknowledge that the Kurds have studied the Basque
model, but note they also have looked at many others.

The international interest has emboldened Mr. Ibarretxe, who says his
role model is Mohandas Gandhi. “It’s clear there is a global movement
of stateless nations, and we demand our say in this new world,” he
said in a recent interview.

Within Spain, Mr. Ibarretxe is widely disliked, with many Spaniards
worrying about his Basque Nationalist Party’s policies of ideological
and linguistic re-education and lingering ethnic politics. Even in the
Basque Country, he is a polarizing figure, with only about half the
region’s population describing itself as nationalist.

“This is not a homogenous situation like Kurdistan or Quebec,” says
Joseba Arregi, a former member of Mr. Ibarretxe’s party. “In many
respects, this is a fictional country, and the facade is starting to
come off.” Mr. Arregi gave up his party membership last year after
disagreeing with Mr. Ibarretxe’s sovereignty aims.

For now, Mr. Ibarretxe’s plan is more a bargaining chip than a
realistic template. He is evasive about when he will hold the
referendum if he is re-elected, and the plan — if ever approved in a
popular vote — would be difficult to apply without Spain’s
cooperation. Most constitutional scholars think it is illegal and not
viable. But Mr. Ibarretxe already has used it to squeeze concessions
from Madrid, which promised this week to overhaul the 1979 pact laying
the ground rules for Basque autonomy in the next two years.

Mr. Ibarretxe has made the Basque Country more visible on the
international stage. The region has its own foreign-relations office,
and Mr. Ibarretxe often meets with leaders in Latin America and
Europe. If other movements are studying the Basque model, “I suppose
it is because they find our actions rational,” he says.

Yochi Dreazen in Washington contributed to this article.

Write to Keith Johnson at (keith.johnson@wsj.com).

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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress