# What's up with the French Basques? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 23, 2008, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-french-basques/438846 "2008-02-23T14:21:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2008, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-french-basques/438846/1 "2008-02-23T14:21:04Z")
I know that the Basque country includes portions of Spain and France, so why do we (and by “we” I mean “I”) only hear about the ones in Spain? Do the French Basques just not care as much about independence as those in Spain? If the Basques in Spain ever achieved independence, would they offer citizenship to French Basques fleeing from, er, repression? Where’s **Nava**? I bet she knows. ---
**Author:** ![Asympotically\_fat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47c2d/32.png) [@Asympotically\_fat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asympotically_fat)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2008, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-french-basques/438846/2 "2008-02-23T14:26:32Z")
[QUOTE=Kyla] I know that the Basque country includes portions of Spain and France, so why do we (and by “we” I mean “I”) only hear about the ones in Spain? Do the French Basques just not care as much about independence as those in Spain? If the Basques in Spain ever achieved independence, would they offer citizenship to French Basques fleeing from, er, repression? Where’s **Nava**? I bet she knows. [/QUOTE] ETA operate in France, but not so much. Often arrests and seizures of weapons caches take place in the French Basque country as that’s where they have many of their hideouts. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2008, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-french-basques/438846/3 "2008-02-23T14:32:56Z")
Waiting for **Nava,** one of my favorite posters. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2008, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-french-basques/438846/4 "2008-02-23T15:04:19Z")
Not that I’m an expert in any way. However, it would appear that the primary reasons for lack of Basque nationalism activities in France are: 1. The activities of ETA started during the Franco regime in Spain, and were a response to efforts by Franco to stamp out nationalist sentiment among the Basques; France didn’t attempt to stamp out Basque nationalists, and, indeed, appears to have facilitated their efforts in Spain by allowing them sanctuary in France, in the hopes they would help end the Franco regime. 2. The Basques in France are much happier being “French” than the Basques in Spain are with being “Spanish.” 3. Hi, Opal! 😃 See, for example, [Wikipedia: ETA](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ETA). ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2008, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-french-basques/438846/5 "2008-02-23T16:20:30Z")
There are a lot of separatist and revolutionary movements you never hear about. This article is old (2000) and short on detail, but it mentions the Breton separatists’ connection with the ETA. Apparently there are also Corsican separatists. [NY Times article](http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9402EEDF1131F933A15757C0A9669C8B63) I think we only tend to hear about the ones who blow things up. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2008, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-french-basques/438846/6 "2008-02-24T01:33:00Z")
Of course Basque fighters have a long history of ducking across the frontier to France to hide. For some reason France only seems to crack down on them episodically. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2008, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-french-basques/438846/7 "2008-02-24T01:54:37Z")
[QUOTE=DSYoungEsq] Not that I’m an expert in any way. However, it would appear that the primary reasons for lack of Basque nationalism activities in France are: 1. The activities of ETA started during the Franco regime in Spain, and were a response to efforts by Franco to stamp out nationalist sentiment among the Basques; France didn’t attempt to stamp out Basque nationalists, and, indeed, appears to have facilitated their efforts in Spain by allowing them sanctuary in France, in the hopes they would help end the Franco regime. [/QUOTE] It’s easy to forget that Spain didn’t become a democracy until 1978, and that for decades Franco had actively suppressed not only Basque but also Catalonian and Galician autonomy and culture.