Assessment of the Basque group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) depends on one's political perspective. From the point of view of the group itself and its supporters, the ETA is comprised of freedom fighters, revolutionaries seeking liberty and independence from Spain's control. From the perspective of the Spanish government, the ETA is a terrorist organization willing to use whatever means are necessary to achieve its radical political goals. Such opponents of the ETA hold that the group is violent and will remain violent even when it vows to give up its violence. To other, less extreme Basque liberation organizations, the ETA is justifiable in its ultimate goals of independence, but counter-productive in its violent tactics and strategy.
The reality is that all of these perspectives are correct to some degree, and the reason for this is that the ETA is an evolutionary as well as a revolutionary group. The changes it has gone through in its forty plus years of existence have shown the nation of Spain and the world a number of group identities as it adjusts its ideology and tactics. To be sure, the group has much extremism and violence in its history, but it has also demonstrated an ability and willingness to alter its direction and thrust on a more pragmatic basis.
An understanding of the ETA must include consideration of the contradictory portraits of observers, and these contradictions are apparent from the very beginning of the organization. The only point on which the sources agree is the ultimate goal of the ETA, which is the establishment of an independent Basque homeland on territory which is now a part of Spain.
One source basically sees the ETA as a Marxist terrorist organization whose principal tactic is violence, with little or no room for change or negotiation:
Euzkadi Ta Askatasuna: founded in 1959 with the aim of establishing an independent homeland based on Marxist principles. . . . Activities: primarily ...