FUNDACIÓN VÍCTIMAS DEL TERRORISMO 93 - ENGLISH

56 23RD FERNANDO BUESA SEMINAR 2000. THE RETURN OF TERROR The Fernando Buesa Blanco Foundation and the Valentín de Foronda jointly organised their annual seminar, which addressed the socialisation of suffering after the 1999 truce. FERNANDO BUESA BLANCO FOUNDATION T wenty-five years have passed since ETA's te- rrorist escalation in the last year of the 20th century, allowing us to look back with greater perspective on what ha- ppened in that terrible year. The various experts participating in the 23rd Seminar undoubtedly contributed to the analysis of this dark period, both from the point of view of the movements that took place within ETA and its social and political environ- ment, and from the point of view of the changes in Basque society itself, which had never before been so close to a fracture that would have turned it into a divi- ded society. The approval in 1995 of the Ol- dartzen report, with which the Basque nationalist left deployed a strategy of "socialisation of su- ffering" to extend "the conflict" to the entire population, led to the implementation, through kale borroka, of widespread ac- tions of intimidation and harass- ment of citizens. Then, in 1999, the breakdown of the ETA tru- ce, with selective attacks targe- ting democratic representatives, magistrates, military and police personnel, intellectuals and jour- nalists, constituted an unprece- dented challenge to the rule of law, in a supposed show of stren- gth that, in the end, was nothing more than the swan song of the terrorist organisation, the begin- ning of the end. The murders of Fernando Buesa, José Luis López de La-calle, Juan Mari Jauregui, Ernest Lluch and many other local political repre- sentatives, as well as the attack on José Ramón Recalde, have led to talk of a year of assassinations. The approval of the Estella-Li- zarra Pact in 1998, which broke with the principles that inspired the Ajuria Enea Pact and demo- cratic unity in the face of terror, replacing it with the accumu- lation of nationalist forces and the exclusion of non-nationalist parties, dramatically fractured Basque society. The seminar analysed the social, institutio- nal, police and judicial response to ETA's offensive, as well as the political reaction through the Pact for Freedoms and Against Terrorism, the approval of the Law on Political Parties and the subsequent banning of those who supported terrorism. This multifaceted response was de- cisive in bringing about the end of ETA. Of particular note was the round table that brought together representatives of the various political groups, prota- gonists in those fateful times, who set an example of sincerity, self-criticism and respect for di- fference, which is much appre- ciated in these times so unfavou- rable to democratic dialogue. The seminar began on the mor- ning of 23 October with speeches by Sara Buesa (Vice-President of ASSOCIATIONS AND FOUNDATIONS