The ‘war on terror’ and Spanish state violence against Basque political dissent

This chapter examines Agamben’s concept of the ‘state of exception’ in the context of the Basque conflict.1 It will use Agamben’s framework to explore the counter-argument made by the Spanish government that its ‘war on terror’ (in contrast with those of the US and UK) is lawful. The chapter will further explore how current strategies of Spanish state terror are based upon political interventions that draw indiscriminate parallels between the Basque separatist groups Izquierda Abertzale (IA) and Euskadi Ta Azkatazuna (ETA) via the Ley de Partidos (Law on Political Parties, 2002).