Mugarik ez ! Subverting the Border in the Bas que Country

l n what cou l d be cons idered a paradox in the present globa l isation era, po l it ica l borders, f'ront iers a n d bou ndaries i n genera l , h ave become more than ever a poi n t o f' i n terel:it a n d resea rch fi1cus o f an i ncreas i n g mt mber o f'scho lars, a s the exten;;ive and burgeon i ng l i teratu re on the topic h i gh l ights (Alvaro:>: 1 995, Don nan and Wi lson 1 999, Pujadas 1 999) . Now that n ational structu res seem to be overw hel m ed by the en forcemen t a n d con solid ation of all ki nd of su pranational structu re:; and organ isat ion s, econom ic an d pol itica l among others , talking about borders as sovereignty limits would not seem to make much sense. However, states are not as eage r to re l i nquish their grip on territory and control on its borders as could be cxpcct,cd . Th is article aims to poi nt out how borders can be considered sign i ficant p l uccs i n the pol i t ical arena, stages at which divergent representations of sover­ eignty and territoriality are performed.

The Basque Country is a good example of how state policies can contradict EU policies, partic ularly in a Europe now nominally 'without fron tiers', as in the case of the maintenance of borders despite their official shut down. This territory of20. 864km2, approximately the size of Slovenia, is divided since the 17'11 century by the state boundary setting apart France from Spain.1 As will be discussed below, borders are far from disappearing in the Basque Country. Not only do they continue to have major symbol ic significance, but also control over the border area remains an important issue for adj acent states, which still continue to close border posts at particular dates. At the same time, the actual porosity of the border, based on the mainte nance of historical ties across it and the impor tant increase of cross-border local or EU pro moted projects and initiatives, compromises any attempt at control. In this paper I argue that borders still are contested places, frontiers in the original sense of the word, front-lines where nation-states battle for their mainte nance despite European integration, and where nations divided by such frontiers, as in the Basque case, struggle for their abolition, not only in discursive ways, but also through sym bolic actions.

Mugarik ez!
Coinciding with the 1986 widely diffused slo gan "a Europe without frontiers" nationalist movements have incorporated similar slogans in various campaigns aimed to strengthen the notion of national unity despite and above the border. Slogans like "mugarik ez" (no to the border), "ez da mugarik" (there is no border), or "mugak ap urtu" (dismantle the borders) have become common and recurrent in the Basque nationalist political agenda. Referring to the border as muga, these slogans point out the complexity of this concept and its meanings (Leizaola 1996). Muga is the usual Basque term designating any kind of boundary or limit, en compassing among others both spatial and/or temporal meanings, although the former is much more usual than the latter. In the traditional society, this concept is particularly relevant. Borders and boundari es in the Basque Country.
thing ends and its limits. It refers to the linear division separating two territories as well as to the physical elements marking those limits. As many scholars have noted (Del Valle 1988, De scheemaeker 1946, Barandiaran 1972, the muga was rarely imposed, but resulted from negotiation. In contemporary Basque, muga includes the notion of "political border" among its meanings. Furthermore, nowadays, when no other precision is given it refers explicitly to the interstate border in the Basque Country. M uga is one of the few words Spanish has borrowed from Basque. In the past, the location of the muga and of the mugarri , boundary stone, had to be ap proved by all the parties involved. According to historians, the councils of limiting villages de cided the setting of the muga and this had to be respected by the communities involved. The location of limits and the setting of landmarks 36 marking the boundaries between villages had thus to be approved by each of the limiting units. Removing muga boundary stones was a serious offence, formally defined as such by customary laws, and even punished with dcath2 at certain periods. Many myths too, refer to this conventional aspect ofthe muga and to the fatal consequences of removing them without per mission, such as the wandering of the soul of the remover until the mugarri was returned to its original location (Barandiaran, 1972 : 173-175). Boundaries were thus to be highly respected.
As many scholars have pointed out (Del Valle 1988, Descheemaeker 1946, Gomez-Ibanez 1975, the present political border resulting from the Pyrenees Peace of1659 and the demar cation of the mid-19Lh century overlaps muga limits previous to the border. In contrast with other Pyrenean regions such as Catalunya, the state boundary in the Basque area was drawn along the old i n ter-com m u n a l l i ncH (G6mcz Ibaricz, 1 975:4 9). Ai t.hough ::;orne exceptions a rc to be n oted i n parts o f the borde rland d iHput.ed in the pa::;i, ::; uch a::; the Ki nioa, th i ::; cou l d be considered a::; a r u l e i n th i s pari orthc Py renccH. Hence, some bou n daries happen to be at the same time l i mit::; between v i l l ages, region or prov i n ce boundarie::;, and even a uto nomous re gion bou ndaries and, in the bordering area, inter state boundaries. It is common to have variou::; territoria l markers at tho same spot. Th is overlappi n g is rolloded in language too, a::; it has been referred previou sly. Referri ng to tho border the term m uga may be ambiguous be cause of the multipl e m ea nings th i s words con veys . Playing w i th that m u ltipl icity of mean ings, explicit reference to th e border can be somehow blurred when using the term'1 • The interstate fron tier concept, with its administra tive and political dimension shades off and the idea ofboundary comes out. This is particularly noticeable when using the Basque word in a Spanish speaking context: in appearance, the border becomes a boundary like any other.

Drawing the Line. Landmarks and Territoriality
The present political border between France and Spain, said to be one of the most stable borders in the political map of Europe, was defined as a result of the Treaty of the Pyrenees ( 1659) putting an end to the long-lasting con frontation for the control of the oriental area of the Pyrenees (Sahlins 1989). The boundary line was not demarcated until the middle of the 19 t h century, though. In 1856, the signing of the Treaty of Bayonne set down the border's defi nite delimitation, drawing an imaginary line between France and Spain at which the sover eignty of each of the states ends. This boundary line is since marked out with tall granite stone landmarks. Starting from the most occidental point of the border at the very mouth of the Bidasoa river, to the most oriental one on the Mediterranean coast, 602 numbered landmarks, deeply buried on earth stand up at a certain distance one from another drawing an imagi nary line.
Si t. uaterl strategical ly on one oft he two m a i n entrances from the North of Europe to tho l beri an pon i n R u l a , on the way to Po rtugal and the North of" Africa, the Basque Country h as a long tradi tion of being a passage region . A::; such , thi s l an d has known all throughou t h i sto ry nonstop flows of people and cultures cross i n g i t i n both d i rections. Followi ng the cour::;c of European history, the imposition of a ::;tate boundary with all the structures and control paraphern a l ia it entails a ffected not on ly l ocal people, specially borderlanders' life, but also popul ation movements in a broader sense, mai n ly economic migration flows, as well as other population transfers. Particularly during the 201 > century, the border area became one of the gateways of a European version of Eldorado for thousands of migrants willing to enter France and Northern Europe -Portuguese workers in the 60s, and l ater, labour from Maghreb and other areas of Mrica -as well as the shelter for political refugees and Resistance fighters at different historical moments .4 All through this last century, and particular ly due to the recent history of Spain, the border became, as in other areas of Europe, a highly controlled and militarised area. From the first years ofFranco's dictatorship and for more than three decades, the border was formally closed, preventing the exit as well as the entrance of many Spanish nationals, namely all those con sidered to have lost the 1936 war, republicans, partisans of nationalist movements in Spain (Basques, Catalans and Galicians among oth ers), anarchists etc. This highly militarised con trol ofthe border was temporarily intensified by the German border patrols during the occupa tion of France in the Second World War. Cross ing the border was not free and it en tailed a long bureaucratic process to obtain the papers to leave the country, which were denied in many cases. Limited in time, one-day permits were nevertheless frequent in the borderland area.
Even if the opening of Spain to tourism in the 1960s signified a certain loosening in border control, the revitalisation of nationalist move ments and independence claims together with the emergence ofETA were accompanied by the strengthening of control on the border area. Applied to the Basque context, the metaphor of the wound takes another nuance and strong ly renders a conception of the border shared in nationalist spheres and not unknown to border landers. Although in many cases it has contrib uted actively to the strengthening and mainte nance of various links astride the border, the frontier is conceived as a dividing line, a line splitting up a unity, putting it apart. The slash is then a source of pain, one of the recurrent representations of the border in Basque con temporary imaginary. As the bertsolari Otaiio, a well-known oral poet of the turn of the 19 th century, put it in improvised verses, the Basque Country is "the cloth of seven sisters, cut in the middle"5 , the border being the scissors setting apart the seven provinces or "sisters". Consid ered one ofihe mosi beauti fu l and mea n i n gful metaph or�; of" ihe Basqu e Coun try, ii rep re�o;en is an idea o fthe Basque Country based on �:;h ared cultural and linguistic grounds.
Claims to the Basque Country by Basque nationalist movements draw on speci fically ter ritorial notions ofthe Basque nation . Although since ihe 1 960s Basque n ati onalism can noi any longer be considered as a homogeneous move ment, territoriality as a concept is largely agreed upon. Nevertheless, the various nation alist projects have specific political goals as wel l as ditlering ways of implementing political aciion. Despite a shared representation of the exten sion of the Basqu e Coun try, concrete proposals and policies are not applicable to the whole territory. For some, the present admini strative and political frame is the basis and the setting for political action, while for others territorial ity constitutes one of the major goals of political action . Thus, for those whose project is the independence of the whole Basque Country, the present political frame has to be substantially changed. This later representation calls into question Spanish and French states' territori ality, and as such, it is considered as a direct attack on their sovereignty. The state boundary is one of the most representative places where these differing and opposed conceptions of ter ritory are to be materialised.
In this context, the border becomes a contest ed place where symbolic events and political actions are performed to deny the political bor der. Considering borders as "meaning-making and meaning-carrying places" (Donnan and Wilson, 1999:4), special attention will be paid to rituals highlighting the border as a place of contest. Many of these rituals challenging the partition of the Basque Country, attempt to subvert the state border, mainly denying its legitimacy. Such rituals have identifiable polit ical aims, and advance agendas of radical polit ical change. I argue that the importance of the border is not merely a concern of nationalist or pro-independence movements or other political organisations challenging state sovereignty and legitimacy and leading such subverting rituals.
It also concerns the states, which in response, by different means, emphasise the role of the border as a marker of territorial sovereignty. Now th a i the E u ropean U n ion hu�:� enco u r aged the d i�:�sol uiion ol' i n terna l bord e rs, partic ularly since the Si ngle E u ropean Act and tho Maa�:�iri chi Treaty, and more recen tly w ith the signing o l' iho Schongen Treaty, �:�uch sy m boli c, and too often rea l battles do not seem to m a ke much ::;ense. However, tho fact is thai si nce the border was oflici a l ly s h u t dow n , it has become a major space of contest. Besi des the frequent protests of truck drivers who in the l ast years have chosen border areas as on e of the main scenes li1r thei r road blocki ng, the bo rder h a::; become a particularly meaningful arena for demonstrations and protest acti ons. Since Spain's inclu sion fi rst i n the E u ropean Market and later in the Eu ropean Union, the Spanish French frontier h a s kn ow n an i n creasing number of demon strati ons held in th e border.
Location and symbolic value of space have to be considered when dealing with demonstrations (Raento 1997: 199), especially when the place is as symbolically meaningful as the border. How ever, far from being a simple scene of protest, the border is explicitly called into question through these examples of political activism.
Hence, the frontier is a terrain of resistance and in most of the cases it is at the very core of the political mobilisation's raison d'etre.
This is the case of demonstrations or march es willing to cross the border and thus unify symbolically both parts of the Basque Country.
As will be discussed further on, most of the times and until very recently, they were not officially permitted to do so. Either one or both states have closed the border at different times in order to prevent such demonstrations from crossing the border. Border checkpoints at which until recently states materialised in the form of customs and police posts constitute the favour ite frame for these political rituals. Neverthe less, as Douglass ( 1 998) pointed out, the border land is far from being a homogeneous area all along its layout and whilst some spots in the border are the scene of major contest actions, other areas are rarely concerned. Most of the protest actions and rituals aimed at subverting the political boundary are performed at three checkpoints, the busiest of the whole French Spanish border6 • The traffic is extremely heavy and chaotic at Behobia and specially at Biriatu, on the highway, as the mai n bu lk oftruck tra ffic ira m ;porti ng goods not only to and from Spai n , but also to Portu gal and Morocco crosse::; the border at one of these points. Seasonal traffi c i s important too, as thi s is the route thousands o f Portuguese and Moroccan migrants choose to cross the peninsula every year to spend th e summer holidays in their countries. All th i ::; explains the fact that Biriatu i s considered one of the places in Europe to have the heavi est road traffic. Hen dai a, remains a crossing point fre qu ented by more local and occasional trailic.
Border landmarks and other markers, such as customs houses, frontier posts or even traflic signs, convey a particular meaning, they repre sent the state at its limits. As such, they are comparable to monuments, "the most conspicu ous concrete manifestations of political power" (Hershkovitz 1993:397). However, in the case of border markers, their meaning is directly lin ked to space, to the location where they are placed. Because of the symbolic weight of the border as evidence of state imposition, the frontier and its markers have deliberately been attacked sever al times. Among other various actions, attacks on state sovereignty through its territorial lim it markers constitute the most visible example of subverting the border. Attempts to eliminate the border have been quite common and popu lar before border controls were officially dis mantled after the Single European Act and the Schengen Treaty came into effect. Attacks have been quite frequent in the last two decades. They recall similar destructive actions against monuments and the symbols they represent, as in the case of the Nelson pillar in Dublin dyna mited by the republicans in the 1960s (Johnson 1995:62). Mostly they have consisted of symbol ic sabotage, such as countless erasing of road signs displaying "France" or "Spain" and spray ing of "E .H", standing for Euskal Herria, the Basque name of the Basque Country, or the corresponding province name. These actions have to be considered as part of a broader movement including campaigns led by different organisations at various levels demanding the displaying of Basque place names correctly spelled instead ofthe Spanish/French versions. · I n other cases, state territorial landmarks have been totally destroyed. The case of the borde r-stone scu l ptu re by the wel l -known sculp to r Oteizu i n the m i d d l e of' the Sa nti ago-Sa i nt J acque::; i n ternational bridge over the River Bida:;oa w hich hu:; been p ul led down several ti mes i::; particu larly meaningf' u l . Fo r a long ti me, it was red uced to nothing more than a pile of' rubble u nti l it wa::; roughly repaired. After it was returned to i ts origin al l an dmark, tied with w i r·e, the engraved mention of France and Spain wa::; painted out. Instead, the name of each of the bordering provinces, G ipu zkoa and Lapurdi were spraypai n ted i n red on it. Today, the boundary stone is non-existent and there is nothing left on th i::; site other than some scarce ly v i sible m arks of its previous empl acement. Sim i l arly, border checkpoints and customs have been a main target for armed groups in the North Basque Country.
Protest is not al ways viol en t though. Follow ing these last years ever increasing trend to thi nk up innovative ways of protest and denun ciation, a spectacular action was recently car ried out against the border. Calling to rebellion agai n st French and Spanish states, two people tied themselves with a rope hanging from the Santiago-Saint Jacques international bridge.7 It took some time until the police were able to free both of them without letting them fall into the river. Such actions intend to redefine the territory, denying the border, giving place to a reformulation and reshaping of Basque land according to nationalist conception .
Other dimensions apart from the ones pre sented above have to be taken into account, too.
The destruction of some twenty boundary stones in 1997 aroused the border issue in the context ofEuropean integration. At the time, the MLNV8 had launched a broad campaign to raise public awareness about territory and one of its major repercussions was the questioning of the legit imacy of the border and the role of the muga in the Basque territory definition. Related to this, a group of youths from both sides of the border decided to undertake the systematic destruc tion of state boundary stones to protest against an "imposed and artificial border".9 Many of those landmarks are situated in not easily ac cessible spots, on the top of mountains, as the boundary line follows the crest line. Local peo ple from a village north of the border reported the sabotage and the French gen da rm erie took ch a rge o f' the i::;s ue, patrol ling the border a rea, specially the boundary stone emplacements. Som e days after the first actions were reported, {(mr young people from the North w e re caught red handed, hammer in h and as they tried to smash into pieces one of the 276 bou nd ary ston es in the Basque area. As one o f' the acti v ists explained some months later during the trial, the sabotage was conceived as "a symbolic action against the border dividing our cou n try in two." This event did not provoke any s ubstan tial reaction from local authorities who did not even present a complaint to superior authori ties. Surpri singly enough, France was the only country to feel involved by the attack and to present charges against the activists who were taken to court an d lightly ch arged, while Span ish authorities did not mention a word about it -even ifthe landmarks are under their jurisdic tion too. The incident came quickly to public notice though: a picture of one of the smashed boundary stones was later used as a poster displaying a slogan explicitly referring to the dismantling1 0 of the border and claiming the unity and sovereignty of the Basque Country.

Making Up One from Two: Unifying the Basque Country Symbolically
In 1992, Bai Independentziari "Yes to independ ence", a large platform gathering most of the Basque nationalist parties 1 1 from both North and South called what was considered the first united National Day since the 1936 War. This Aberri Eguna , literally "the day of the Basque Fatherland" was to be held that year on both sides ofthe border. Two villages on the banks of the Bidasoa River, Hondarribia and Hendaia, were the setting ofthe commemoration. Organ isers had been careful to acknowledge promi nence to both sides of the border, and the main events of the day were a demonstration in Hondarribia in the morning and a political meeting in Hendaia in the afternoon. The sched uled programme went ahead despite the fact that the border had been closed since very early that morning preventing any circulation across the frontier. The border closure generated a spontaneous reaction amongst the crowd gath ered on both ba n k::; of' th e B ida::;oa a n d re::; u l ted in a dialogue-l i ke ::;hou ti n g o f' ::; loga n::; from each side o f' the river. Songs, irri n tzinh -lou d , long and joyous yell::; -and ::; loga n s were sh outed from one s ide to th e other, establ i ::; h i ng co m mu nication over th e dosed border. As two tradi tional rowi ng boats crossed th e river a n d met at its centre, where the border l i n e streams into the sea and pulled up their oars in a symbol of victory, the climax was reached. Slogans for independence, agai nst the bord er and the Prench and Spanish states were v i gorously sh outed from both banks . From the Town Hall of Hendaia, the demon stration made its way towards Irun, the first town on the other side of the border. The in creasingly elaborate icons carried in mass pro tests and presenting a carefully prepared set ting, the demonstration was spectacular. An impressively huge ilwrri na, the Basque fl ag, carried by dancers in traditional dress followed close behind by big size emblems of the six historical Basque lands or provinces (Behe N afarroa being represented by the coat of arms of the kingdom of Nafarroa) marched at the head of the demonstration . Immediately be hind, the main banner, with the slogan Euskal Herriak, Askatasuna (Basque Country, Free dom) was carried by politicians of the organis ing parties and coalitions. As the demonstra tion was getting closer to the international bridge, tension grew. Since very early in the morning, because of previous unsuccessful ex periences and above all because of the police in assault uniforms, there had been a lot of expec tation about crossing the border. Anticipation of crossing the border was the main topic of con versation among the demonstrators. Suspicion and fear about whether the border crossing would be peaceful was evident among the crowd. As the demonstration passed the border con trols, tension dissipated. Enthusiastic comments like "this is a historical moment", "we got it", could be heard at the very moment of the cross ing. The political leaders who spoke at the meeting giving an end to the march in Irun described the demonstration as a success and defined it as a "historical event". In fact, never before had such a demonstration succeeded in crossing the border.
There had been severa l p reced en ts prior to the 1 996 A berri E!{II IW , though . Both states in tu rn o r together had prevented any demonstra tion from cros::; i n g the fronti e r either by closing the border, or by fi ri n g plastic bul lets against the demon stra tors . As Del Val le ( 1988: 122) po ints out in her study on the Korrika, a popu lar [()otrace fi>r Ba squ e lan guage speakers all th rough th e Basqu e Coun try, the border cross ing is particularly meaningful. Through the ri tu a l isation or c ross i n g, the border is tran scended materi al ising sy m bol ically the meta phoi· or Basque unity. For years, various protest actions, including that of Korrika had system atical ly been denied crossing the border. Even th e fu neral p rocession marches accompanying the transfer of the corpses ofpolitical refugees, ETA militants living in the North were blocked.
As Aretxaga re ports i n her study of funeral rituals in Basque radical nationalism, border crossing is parti cularly meani ngful. The terri torial unity symbol for which the militant has struggled and died becomes significant as the mortal remains are returned to the family on the other side of the border (Aretxaga 1988:47).
At this very moment is enhanced another strong and recurrent metaphor of the border, that of the divided family -present in Otaiio's verses.
Although the funeral cortege, wife and children, friends and militants are not permitted to cross the state boundary, the border does not stop the funeral procession. Frequently, as in the Korri ka case, a relay system is organised, the border being the end and starting point of a divided demonstration. Slogans and songs would unite people -and family -astride the borderline, symbolically transcending it.
The following year, and as a continuation of the 1996 experience of bringing together North and South on such a special day, there was again a call for a united National Day. The celebration of the Aberri Eguna was part of a large cam paign of co-operation between nationalist par ties and social movements astride the border. The celebration had two different settings, Baio na, provincial capital of Lapurdi and the main urban centre in the North, and Iruiiea, an emblematic city of high symbolic value, capital city of the former Kingdom of Nafarroa in the South. Although the idea was not new -the 42 PNV for i nstance had organised dou ble even ts of th i�:� kind before -the aim was to bring together people from both sides. Because of the distance between the two cities, about 140 kil ometres, organisers had foreseen that peopl e would mainly join one of the two events. Never theless, responding to the unity idea of the call the celebration was organised to m ake i t possi ble to attend both . That way, demonstration traditions of North and South were respected too : as in previous years, the demonstrati on in I ru iica was scheduled in the morning and that in Baiona in the afternoon. Hence, a bus link was to operate between the two cities. However, the unexpected finding of the corpse of an ETA activist found dead in strange circu mstances the day before the Aberri Eguna disrupted the scheduled programmeY The Reification of the Border.

Opening and Closing Policies in a "Europe without Frontiers"
Until the present, borders have been highly significant all through the process of state for mation. Examples taken not only from the Eu ropean context, but also in other settings show the importance of the frontier concept world wide in the definition and consolidation of states at different periods. Now that the European Union has stressed the need to open economic and political borders in order to achieve Euro pean integration, the meaning and role of bor ders and territorial boundaries in general, seem to have altered radically. I will argue, though, that states still manifest their willingness to maintain and even emphasise their territorial jurisdiction as a means of sovereignty. To do so, rituals and specific actions are again activated.
The most visible one is without any doubt the presence of police corps at former checkpoints despite the closing down of frontier posts.
Other visible examples of border mainte nance are related to space and to the inscription of memory through monuments. As in other cases that have deserved special attention, par ticularly the war monuments to the dead as a way to embody national identity through the highest sacrifice to the Nation, the location of the monuments remains an outstanding mat ter. Joh nson po i n ts out the relation of space and more p a rticu l :.t rly territo ry, defi ni ng it as "as intrinsic to memory as h i storical consciousness in the definition of a nati onal identity" ( 1995:55). The locati on of monu men ts i s rarely left to the whims of fate. Rather, it responds to an often previou sly well planned conception of space and its meani ngs. However, it can be seen in the case of border markers sabotage, monumental space becomes social property and can thus be "used in ways that are diflerent from and even contrary to the uses to which their builders or "owners" intended they be put" (Hershkovitz, 1993:397). This raises again the issue of place and monu ment location . Some months before the formal abolition of cu stoms and traveller controls, twelve huge pil lars where erected at the Biriatu no man's land, between the border post and the highway toll barrier. Apparently, the pillars had no special function or purpose. They had no name either. Their emplacement was significant though: ifborders were to disap pear together with the paraphernalia signal ling them, the pillars would be a visible out standing mark at the very location ofthe former border.
Apart from maintaining the border icons, states still actively emphasise their role at the borderline. One ofthe less known rites reassert ing the border is the reconnaissance every two years of all the boundary stones on the Pyrene an borderline. Through a ritual recalling very much the muga reviewing, quite frequent now adays in many Basque villages and towns, au thorities from both states meet at a pre-fixed date in order to check together the condition and correct situation of the landmarks. As can be noticed from the analysis of reports at the municipal archives of bordering villages where fieldwork was conducted, this ritual has evolved.
Since the 80s, state representation is not any longer ensured by state agents and officials, such as the prefet for the French side, or the gobernador for the Spanish one. Even the po lice, which in the past witnessed the operation, are no longer present. In a movement that could be very much considered as part of the actual European trend towards regionalising politics, states have delegated their representation to village mayors.
Too often, though, states continue to h o l d control o f the frontier i n what could be easily understood as a way of publicly displaying th at they still master border matters. As it happens in the case of subverting rituals, states arc aware that "political understandings are m edi ated through symbols" (Kertzer 1988:79). The border becomes thus one of the most visible and concrete symbols of power legitimacy and con trol. As has been described in the case of th e National Day celebrations and other protest events, the presence of the state at the borde r becomes more than evident on particular dates.
On dates significant to the Basque nationalist agenda, control measures are reinforced and police return to the abandoned border posts and to checkpoints that no longer exist. On such occasions, and without giving any consistent explanation, main-crossing roads -even the highway -can be closed for some hours or for a whole day. Other minor routes are also affected by these measures. When the border is not totally closed, despite the free circulation agree ments, people are stopped at the border. Police start what is known as "filter operation": cross ing is controlled and can be refused. The conse quences ofborder closing affect anyone wishing to cross the border on these dates. That means that on such occasions commercial and private traffic is stopped at the border and compelled to wait for the opening and regularisation of the situation. This situation provokes above all important traffic j ams. No mention is ever made of the fact that these actions go against one of the main bases of the Single European Act. As a matter of fact, most of the time the media consider it only as locally relevant news. 14 However, border closing does not affect only events specifically linked to Basque national ism. Cultural events and other kinds of celebra tions are also touched. For the last 25 years one of the most significant dates for border closing is the Herri Urrats, a festival to raise funds for ikastolak , Basque schools in the North. Because of the frequency of controls and the difficulty of crossing the border, border crossing has become part of the day's program for thousands of people from the southern provinces willing to join the festival. Due to this, drivers plan the trip thinking of alternative routes and taking extra t i me as a preca ution aga i nst possibl e d i stu rba nces and objection:;. When " n ation a l demon ::;trations" arc called in the North , the border i::; very li kely to be clo::;od by e i ther one or both states. It may occur too, when protest adions are sched u l ed in France a:; h a ppened on 1 0 November 1 995. That day Fra n ce closed the border to prevent 22 buses from cro::; si ng the border on the i r way to Paris. Al mo::;t 1,500 people from the South were in the buses to take part in a demonstration the next d ay in Paris to p rotest ag-a i n ::;t a case involving

Blurred Borders?
More than ever, as the Basque case shows, borders are being continuously transcended particularly in recent decades. The variety of examples stresses however, that this transcend ing is not exclusively related to the Basque nationalistic cause. While local co-operation astride the border has increased, to the extent of establishing formal agreements between sev eral political institutions, states too have felt the need for co-operation more than ever. This has resulted mainly in ensuring an active co operation policy between French and Spanish authorities concerning terrorism matters. To achieve this, both states have evoked at differ ent times the European integration, stressing 44 the need of i mplementing the necessary m eans to bri n g an end to the "Basque prob lem". H ow ever, both states have too quickly silenced t h eir responsibility in border transgression i ssues such as the GA V " aflair. Notes 1. l u r t her : H i nl i n is t m t i vu d i v i:;ionH co m pi icate the map: sou t h o f' the border, two A utonom o us Com m u n i t ies, t h e Basque Autonomous Com m u n i ty (Arnba, G i puzkoa a n d 13 i z k a i a ) and the Fora! Co m m u n i ty o f' N a lir rroa . North of' the border, the Basq ue p rov i n ces ( La p u rd i , Bchc Na f' arroa a n d Zubcro:.t) l ack any decision La k i ng i nst i tution and a rc i n c l uded in the Atl anti c Py renees De partm ent. J?or s i m p l i city, Basque toponym:; will be used th roughout the text. S i m i l arly, to case th e reading, the tcrmR South and North will be used i n stead ofihu Hasq u c terms Hewm.ld.ea. an d lparrafdea , w h e n referring respectively to the Spanis h a n d to the French side o l' ih c border.
2. The fiumm , or cha rters speci fi c to each of the Basq ue te rritories, give clear i ndications ofihc oflcnsivc n a tu re of' such acti ons and th e p un ish ment that they i n c u rTed . J.?or more detai l s, sec Leizaola 1996 :95. 3. There arc other cases of avo iding explicit refer ence to the border. O n e o fthe most interesting to analyse is the use of' the ph rase "the other side", either in Basque, Spanish or French when talk i n g of' the border, where the stale bo undary is euphemistically mentioned. 4. Even though most of th e references emphasise the role of the borderl and as a "sanctuary" for ETA m ilitants (Douglass 1994:48), it must not be forgotten that durin g 1 936 and l ater during the Second World War, the borderl and was a relative ly secure shelter. 5. The whole poem highlights the central role ofthe border as a dividi ng line (the original is in Basque, the translation is mine): "Cloth of seven sisters cut in the middle, three dresses in one side, four others left on the other. Even if cut with scissors, each of them apart, it is known that all seven are dressed with one same cloth. Consider Basque language the cloth, the Bidasoa river the scis sors, it is a mere stream compared to the sea. All seven are close from each other, the border is called Pausua -the passage. Why can not we be a single family?". 6. It is significant too that the N1, the main Spanish national road heading to Madrid, starts precise ly at the very border, in Behobia. Straddling the Bidasoa river marking the international bound ary, Behobie-Behobia is a clear example ofborder influenced development. 7. Euskaldunon Egunkaria 04-03-2000. 8. The MNLV, the Basque National Liberation Move ment, through some of the organisations under its patronage, mainly the political party Herri Batasuna, launched in the mid-90s the cam paign "This is not France nor Spain" to condemn the present political frame the non recognition of the Basque Country as a nation -as well as to increase public awareness on territoriality. 9. Interview, June 1997. 1 0. Even th ro ugh the poster waR not si gned by a ny parti cu l ar organ isation, the mcRsagc, "A bout• aff borders, the Basque Cou n t ry. No to the bordt•t: This is n ot Fran ce, nor Spa in. It is the Basqul' Country", recalls the moiio ofthe mentioned llB. Fol low i ng an ever spread ing trend since the 90s in this kind of alternative mass communication and w i l l i ng to target not only local popu lation, but tourists too, the last two sentences w e re written in five languages: Basque, French, Spa n ish, English and German. 11. There were significant exceptions, though : the PNV, th e main n ati onalist party in th e South rl i rl not joi n in. 12. The so-called "national demonstrations" arc ma jor protest actions taking place in the main cities gathering many thousands ofpcople from al l over the Basque Country called by political parties or organizations, defi ned as lefl-independcns. 13. Foll owing one of the main tradi tions of th e rad ical or left nationalist movement (for more riP tails, see Aretxaga 1988), a political homage organised in the activist's home village that afternoon attracted most of the demonstratorl; concentrated in Iruiiea. 14. This is not the case, for instance, when the border is blocked by truck drivers. The way the media deal with these two new events is completely different. The road-blocking is treated as nation al or international news, while on the rare occa sions when the border closing has been men tioned on the TV daily news, it is considered as local information. 15. GAL stands for Anti terrorists Groups of Libera tion. It is the most known of the many param i l itary groups (AAA , BVE . . . ) that emerged after the end of Franco's dictatorship and carried out terrorist attacks against Basque activists.