Constructing Memory: The case of threatened people by ETA

in the Basque Country

VICTIMS OF TERRORISM: MULTI-DISCIPLINARY APPROACHES. 16th November 2012. St Andrews, Scotland

Javier Martin-Peña *Álvaro Rodríguez-Carballeira **

Ana Varela-Rey **Jordi Escartín **

* University of Zaragoza ** University of Barcelona

Context: The Basque Country and ETA ETA (Basque Homeland and Freedom) is an armed group with separatist & nationalist motives,

emerged in the Franco’s dictatorship.

After the dictatorship, violence continued as a war of attrition against Spanish State, with the aim to establish a Basque State, in Euskadi, Navarra and three regions at south of France. Nowadays, ETA announced the cease of armed activities last October 2011.

859 killings until 2009, 67,21% perpetrated in the Basque Country (Alonso, Domínguez & García, 2010).

Support tasks

Street Violence (kale

borroka)

Killings

ETA’s Network: Levels of Involvement in Violence The network is formed by people that participate actively in the harassment seeked by

ETA, giving different types of support to the terrorist organization.

Distinction between that network and other groups/persons that may share similar politics motivations, but without support the violence as a mean for getting the ends.

(Adapted from Muro, 2008)

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Violence and Victims: A Wide Casuistry

Selection of targets under threat by ETA: Profession, political belief, or public criticism to ETA

Beyond the damages and killings, a situation of harassment over their targets was perpetrated in the Basque Country.

This situation involved terrorist threats, through strategies of psychological violence and psychosocial effects over direct and indirect victims.

Continuum in the acts of violence: From psychological to physical violence

Psychosocial Consequences of ThreatsPermanent and systematic terrorist threats and often it involved close protection

(e.g., bodyguard).Relevance of the impact of violence without physical aggression (Larizgoitia et al.,

2011).The model shows the connections between stressors, personal reactions and effects

“Threat, close protection, and consequences for professional practice and private life” (Nijdam, Olff, de Vries, Martens, Gersons, 2008 ; Nijdam, Gersons & Olff, 2010 ; Martin-Peña et al., 2011a).

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To examine the experience suffered by victims and threatened people of ETA’s (Basque Homeland and Freedom) terrorist group in the Basque Country.

1. Characteristics of violence2. Terrorist threats3. Psychosocial effects

GOALSResearch Opportunities Lack of scientific research about victims of ETA, principally

about threatened people in the Basque Country

Goals

Sample: people threatened by ETA in the Basque Country

Interviews: N = 18 ; Survey: N = 90

Non probabilistic sampling, snow ball sampling, due safety, distrust attitudes of participants. Useful for hard to reach samples

7METHOD

Two previous qualitative studies pointed out categories:- Strategies of psychological violence/terrorist threats

- Psychosocial consequencesUtilization mentioned categories for survey and analysis

Participants: Males (73,33%) ; 40-49 years ; Sector profs. Public (60%) ; Residence in the Basque Country: 91,10%

Variables %

Location of incidents (N = 82) Public space 30,0Multiples locations 30,0Professional 23,3

  Neighbourhood 7,8

Number of aggressors Group of individuals 80,0

  Isolated individuals 13,3

Victim - aggressor relationship Familiar 27,8

  Unknown 65,6

Duration of threat (N = 80) < 10 years 47,8

  > 10 years 41,1Attribution for motive of violence (N = 89)

Political activity 51,11 Public criticism to ETA 25,56 Professional activity 13,33

  Relative of a target of ETA 8,89

Use of close protection (N = 87)   68,9

Use of self-protection measures (N = 87) 77,8

Report to the police   31,1

Physical violence   35,60

RESULTS: Characteristics of the situation

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1. ISOLATION AND SOCIAL EXCLUSION

2. CONTROL-SURVEILLANCE OF DAILY ACTIVITIES

3. ECONOMIC EXTORTION

4. EMOTIONAL ABUSE

4.1. Threat

4.2. Contempt, humiliation or reject

5. STIGMATIZATION

6. RESTRICTIVE ACTIONS OF FREEDOMS

Indirects

Directs

Extortion

Taxonomy of Strategies Psychological Violence (PV) (Martin-Peña et al., 2010)

Emotional abuse: I received a letter in which they threatened to kill me if I did not stand down as a councillorStigmatization: My name was written in insulting banners at the Faculty in which I studied.Control: Some of my neighbours try to get information on potential targets to pass onto the terrorists. The police told me that a shop assistant of a greengrocer’s close to my home was doing this.

Psychosocial Effects (Martin-Peña et al., 2011a)

Taxonomy of psychosocial consequences 1. Person’s Context

1.1. Necessity of protection and security measures 1.2. Disorder in social activities, in the routine and daily plan 1.3. Disorder in family relations 1.4. Distancing significant social relations 1.5. Necessity move address

2. Cognition2.1. High perception social vulnerability and freedoms restriction2.2. Death thoughts or thought about the risk for the life 2.3. Exhaustion and thoughts of abandoning the situation 2.4. Distrust and concealing the situation experienced 2.5. High perception of social stigma

3. Emotion 3.1. Fear 3.2. Stress, anxiety 3.3. Indignation, anger 3.4. Sadness, depression, self-isolation 3.5. Aversion strong and a continued lost of interest social daily situations

4. Behaviour2

4.1. Taking of medication 4.2. High consumption of alcohol or other illegal drugs

Psychosocial consequencesContext Emotional Cognitive BehavioralStep No. Step No. Step No. Step No.

  1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 Indirects Strategies PV .044 -.079 -.070 -.081 -.145 -.131 .032 -.051 -.041 -.160 -.173 -.158

Extortion 1 .051 .005 .076 .026 .025 .077 .043 .043 .085 -.021 -.021 .037Direct srategies PV .478*** .452*** .347*** .323** .310** .106 .442*** .425*** .261** .261* .258* .028

Close protection .580*** .582*** .301** .298** .392*** .385*** .063 .056Physical effects .162* .349*** .300*** .406***Psychol. effects .212** .379*** .288*** .415***R2 .246 .541 .608 .110 .189 .441 .217 .351 .516 .115 .118 .439***∆R2 .193*** .501*** .562*** .047 .119* .376*** .161** .296*** .459*** .052 .043 .373***

- Multiple regression analysis made for each psychosocial effects settings.

-Direct PV strategies and close protection explained 50% of the variance on contextual effects. Third step of the model (which included physical and psychol. Effects) explained an additional 56%.

- Direct strategies, close protection and stress reactions explained a 45% on cognitive domain.

- Stress reactions were mainly associated to emotional and behavioral domains, explaining a 37,6% and 37,3% of the variances, respectively.

Strategies of PV and Psychosocial Effects

Note. Standarized Betas. 1 Extrotion was underscored by participants. Control variables such as gender and duration of threat were not included because of didn’t show significative association. Physical and psychological effects. (No = 0 Sí = 1). *p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001

DiscussionExtent of the violence and derived effects: 1. direct victims;

indirect victims and society as a whole.

Relevance of PV strategies (i.e., threats) over the health

Direct strategies of PV, close protection and stress reactions, may affect the psychosocial functioning of threatened person lost of social support.

Constant threats increasing uncertainty cover past, present and future, influencing negatively (Nijdam et al., 2008).

A certain degree of acclimation may occur in long time periods of threat and protection.

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Psychological harassment, may be perceived a bit indiferently by society, due the impact is smoothly, different to an attack or a bomb car.

Terrorism uses insidious types of violence, exploiting some little acts of violence for getting a wide range of effects over victims and society.

Limitations of the research are focused on the sample, hard to reach, or on the absence of a control group.

The study pretends to contribute to know better:

The situation of violence suffered, for collective memory.

Perspective from victims and threatened people in the Basque Country

The process between threatsand psychosocial effects

Thank You

jmape@unizar.es

jmape@unizar.es