Civil Resistance to Non-State Violence in Basque Country

Studies of civil resistance tend to emphasise nonviolent conflict carried out by civil society organisations against the state. Yet comparatively less attention has been paid to the role of civil society in challenging the use of violence by non-state actors. This contribution aims at addressing this gap by examining the case of anti-ETA terrorism mobilisations in Basque Country, especially during the 1980s and 1990s. It will examine the work of victims groups that integrated the Basque peace movement, analysing their collective action repertoire. It will look at the factors facilitating the emergence and growth of these actors and the reasons behind the evolution of the civic movement from the pacifism of the eighties to the constitutionalism of the nineties. Finally, it will discuss their impact on the social delegitimisation of ETA’s political violence and the extent to which these forms of civil resistance contributed to the decline of ETA.