ABSTRACT
This chapter substantiates the point by reviewing the example of Basque nationalism. The earliest successful organisers of Basque nationalism were members of the petty bourgeoisie who, in the 1870s, correctly perceived the rapid industrialisation of their country (especially the province of Vizcaya) as a real threat both to their position within local society and to the traditional way of rural life. In the late 1950s Basque youths reacted against the passivity of parents by forming Euskadi ta askatasuna (ETA, ‘The Basque Country and Freedom’). Members of ETA and their sympathisers do not think of themselves in racial terms, but in cultural ones. At the root of this continuing controversy are contrasting conceptions of the roles the two Euskera-teaching institutions play in the contemporary Basque Country. Students of Basque collectively camp out for days, and sponsored thousands run in marathons pacing out the extent of the Basque Country, all for the sake of raising money to promote the teaching of Basque.
