El concepto de independencia vasca en Sabino Arana Goiri

Abstract

It might seem obvious to define nationalism in terms of independence, and it is perhaps for this reason that most researchers into Basque nationalism have resorted to the slogan of the first nationalist party, JEL (Jaungoikua eta Lagizarra, God and Old Law in Basque), in order to define this ideology, thinking that the concept of independence was already included, as indeed it is, in the second element of this slogan. This focus upon the slogan has resulted in research being centred upon whether Sabino Arana Goiri attributed more importance to religion or race, for example.

But prioritizing the concept of independence, as I do here, to explain Basque nationalism, above and beyond the JEL slogan, produces unexpected results. For example, that the concept of independence itself predates the JEL slogan, given that for Luis Arana Goiri, the brother's founder and supposedly the person who transmitted the «idea» to Sabino himself, to be pro-independence was sufficient in order to be the first nationalist. The concept of Basque independence was used, in effect, prior to the apperance of nationalism, but the question is whether this ideology assigned it the same meaning that it already had, or if and how it modified this meaning.