ABSTRACT
There are a fairly large number of Basque people living in Spain, but the political problem is limited to the 'Basque Provinces' of Alava, Guibuzcoa and Vizcaya. Interviews with Euzkadi Ta Azkatasuna (ETA) activists, carried out by Dominic Ridley of The Guardian, give a good picture of the cocoon-like atmosphere in which the ETA campaign of violence exists and carries on its activities. The 1978 constitution defines national identity in a paradoxical way. It speaks of 'the indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation, the common and indivisible patria of all Spaniards' and yet recognises and guarantees the right to autonomy of all the nationalities and regions. The more the revolutionary resistance uses violence against central control, the more it is necessary for police forces, both local and national, to take action against the body practising this violence. There are many difficult faced in order to maintain both the status of the sovereign land and the integrity of the Spanish state.
