- Abertzale
"Abertzale" in the
Basque language means roughly, "patriot", and is used to mean "Basque nationalist". It comes from the fusion of "aberri(a)" ("fatherland", aneologism created bySabino Arana ) with the suffix "-(t)zale" (someone who loves, is a friend of, has affection towards, or dedicates him- or herself to something).Although the term is etymologically parallel to "patriot", its use in Basque and (even more so) in Spanish refers specifically to
Basque nationalism . The use of the term by members and sympathizers of de Herri Batasuna (associated with theterrorist groupETA ), and the fact that the followers of the rivalBasque Nationalist Party ("Partido Nacionalista Vasco", PNV) call themselves "jeltzales" more than "abertzales", has brought about a situation where the word is strongly associated with that particular leftist current of Basque nationalism.The
Real Academia Española , the body that overseesSpain 's officialdictionary of the Spanish language, has officially recognized the adapted word "aberzale" (rather than "abertzale") as a Spanish-language word, with this narrower meaning; however, even in Spanish "abertzale" retains greater currency.Several organizations past and present have used this word in their official Basque-language names:
*
Abertzaleen Batasuna ("Unity of the Abertzales"): A political party in the French Basque Country.
*Emakume Abertzale Batza ("Women's Abertzale Organization"), onetime women's section of the PNV, made illegal by the rebel junta inBurgos during theSpanish Civil War .
*Euskal Abertzaletasunaren Museoa ("Museum of Basque Nationalism").
*Ezker Mugimendu Abertzalea ("Leftist Abertzale Movement"): A political party in the French Basque Country.
*Gazte Abertzaleak ("Abertzale Youths"): the youth group of the Spanish Basque political partyEusko Alkartasuna , left of the PNV but not aligned with ETA or Batasuna.
*Koordinadora Abertzale Sozialista ("Abertzale Socialist Coordinating Council", KAS).
*The namesEzker Abertzalea ("Izquierda Abertzale" or "Abertzale Left"), NafarroakoSozialista Abertzaleak ("Abertzale Socialist ofNavarre ") and Araba, Bizkai eta Gipuzkoako Sozialista Abertzaleak ("Abertzale Socialists ofÁlava ,Biscay , andGuipuscoa ") have been used by variousparliament ary groups ofHerri Batasuna andEuskal Herritarrok in different parliaments.External links
* [http://www.abertzaletasunarenmuseoa.org/ing/inicio.htm The Museum of Basque Nationalism] in
Artea , Vizcaya explains the history of Basque nationalism from a perspective close to the PNV.
* [http://www.abertzale.eu Abertzale news and opinion website]References
* This article draws on the equivalent article in the Spanish-language Wikipedia, accessed
December 6 ,2004 .
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