society as mediator for conflict resolution: elkarri’s peace conference (english)

8/9/2019 Society as Mediator for Conflict Resolution: Elkarris Peace Conference (English)

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by Tamara Murue tagoien a

edited by Nancy L . Pearson

Society as Mediator for Conflict ResolutionElkarrisPeace Conference

A Tact ical Notebook publ ished bythe Ne w TacticsProject

of th e Center for Victims of Torture


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PublishedbyThe Center for Victims of TortureNe w Tactics in Human RightsProject717 East River RoadMinneapol is, MN 55455 USAw w w.cvt.org, w w w.newtactics.org

NotebookSeriesEditorLiam Mah ony

La

yo

utand

Copye

ditingTricia Cornell

The Danish Inst i tute for Human Rights and The Center for Vict im s of Torture wish to acknowledge thefol lowing inst i tut ions that provided support for the Ne w Tact ics in Human Rights West Group regionaltraining workshop , of which this and other tactical notebooks are a product:

Th e Paul & PhyllisFi reman Chari table Foundat ion,

The United States Department of State ,

The United StatesInst i tute of Peace ,

The European M astersProgramme in Human Rights and Democrat izat ion

Donors who wish to remain anonymous.We are also great ly indebte d to the work of numerous interns and volunteers who have contributed their

t ime and expert ise to the advancement of the project and of human rights.

The Ne w Tact ics project has also benef i ted from more tha n 2000 hours of w ork from individual volunteersand interns as well as donat ions of in-kind support.Some of the inst i tut ional sponsors of th is work includeM acale ster Col lege , the Universi ty of Minnesota , the Higher Educat ion Consort ium for Urban Affairs, t heMinnesota Justice Founda tion and the public relat ions f irm of Padilla Speer Beardsle y.

The opinions, f indings andconclusio ns or recommendat ions expressed on thi ssi te are those of the NewTact ics project and do not necessarily reflect the views of our fundersFor a full l i st of projectsponsorsseew w w.newta ctics.or g.

The views expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect those of the Ne w Tactics in Human RightsProject . The project does not advocate specif ic tactics or policie s.

2004CenterforVictimsofTortureThis publication may be freely reprod uced in print and in electronic form as longas thiscopyright n otice appears on all copies.


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76

54Author biography

Letter from the New Tact ics project manager

Introduct ion

The Basque Country and itsculture

8Elkarrissocial mediation process

The Center for Victims of TortureNew Tactics in Human RightsProject

717 East River Road

Minneapol is, MN 55455 USAw w w.cvt.org , w w w.newtactics.org

10Steps for implementing the Peace Conference

13Lessons learned and challenges

15Conclusion


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ElkarriElkarri(Together)definesitselfasasocialmovement

fordialogueandagreement.ItwasfoundedinDecem-

ber 1992withthegoaloftransformingtheexistingsitua-

tionofstalemate, conflictandviolenceintheBasque

Country intooneof communicationandconsensus.

Elkarriaspirestoadynamicandrealisticapproachto

peacenotasastatic, isolatedeventormagicformula but

asacontinuingprocess. Sinceitsfounding, Elkarrihas

beenworkingtoreformthelanguage, relationshipsand

structuresintegraltothecontinuingBasquepoliticalcon-

flictanditsviolentmanifestations. Elkarriisworkingto

establishdialogueandagreement by broadeningthepro-

cessesandavenuesforsocialparticipationatalllevels.

Tamara MuruetagoienaBornandraised intheBasqueCountryandMadrid,

TamaraMuruetagoienareceiveda bachelorsdegreein

politicalsciencefromWashingtonStateUniversityanda

mastersinbusinessadministrationfromtheUniversityof

California,Berkeley.

BeginningasanassistanttoamemberoftheEuropean

Parliament from theGreens/EuropeanFreeAlliance

Group,Ms.MuruetagoienaspentthreeyearsasapolicyadvisorfortheGreenGroupintheEuropeanParliament.

Shehasalso beenElkarrisrepresentativetotheEuro-

peanUnion. SheisnowanadvisortotheInternational

CommitteeoftheGreenPartyoftheUSAandElkarris

coordinatorintheUnitedStates.

Ms.MuruetagoienaiscurrentlylivinginNewYorkCity,

workingforColumbiaUniversityasanenvironmental

researcher.

Contact informationBizkaia

Arenal 5, OfficeSVRNE 209

48005Bilbao

Tel. +34 94 479 03 16

Fax+34 94 415 80 03

E-mail:[email protected] site:www.elkarri.org

AcknowledgementsThewriterwishestoacknowledgetheinvaluablecontri-

butionsofthefollowingindividualsinthepreparationof

thisdocument:

JonanFernandez, founderandcoordinatorofElkarri

GorkaEspiau, spokespersonanddirectoroftheInter-

nationalDepartmentofElkarri

MarianoFerrer, peaceconferencemediator

ItziarFernandezBeaskoetxea, programofficer in

ElkarrisInternationalDepartment

KoldoZuazua, producerofLaPelotaVasca:LaPielContralaPiedra

NancyPearson, NewTacticstrainingmanager

MarkHolterhaus, NewTacticsprojectassistant


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September 2004

DearFriend,

Welcome to the NewTactics in HumanRightsTactical NotebookSeries. Ineachnotebookahuman

rightspractitionerdescribes an innovative tactic thatwasused successfully in advancinghuman

rights. Theauthorsarepartof the broad anddiversehuman rightsmovement, including

nongovernment andgovernmentperspectives, educators, law enforcementpersonnel, truth and

reconciliationprocesses, womens rightsandmentalhealth advocates. Theyhave both adapted and

pioneered tactics thathave contributed tohuman rights in theirhome countries. Inaddition, they

haveused tactics that, whenadapted, can beapplied inothercountriesandother situations to

addressavarietyof issues.

Eachnotebookcontainsdetailed informationonhow theauthorandhisorherorganizationachievedwhat theydid. Wewant to inspireotherhuman rightspractitioners to think tactically and to

broaden the realmof tacticsconsidered toeffectivelyadvancehuman rights.

Inthisnotebookyouwill learnhowElkarri, agroup based intheBasqueRegion, hasusedaformof

dialogue theycall socialmediation toencourage the broadestpossibleparticipation fromallarenasof

society todiscuss solutions to theconflict. Communitymembersweregivena broadchoiceofways

toget involved: from signingapetition to becomingamember toparticipating inandorganizing

discussiongroups. Buthoweverpeoplechose toparticipate, they learned that theyhada role toplay

inmediating theconflict thataffected their livesandcreatedpressureon thegroups inconflict to

make steps toward seekingpeaceful resolution.

The entire seriesofTactical Notebooks isavailableonlineatwww.newtactics.org. Additional

notebooksarealreadyavailableandotherswillcontinue to beaddedover time. Onourweb siteyou

willalso findother tools, includinga searchabledatabaseof tactics, adiscussion forum forhuman

rightspractitionersand information aboutourworkshopsand symposium. To subscribe to the New

Tacticsnewsletter, please send an e-mail [email protected].

The NewTactics in HumanRightsProject isan international initiative led byadiversegroupof

organizationsandpractitioners fromaround theworld. Theproject iscoordinated by theCenter for

VictimsofTortureandgrewoutofourexperiencesasacreatorofnewtacticsandasatreatment

center thatalsoadvocates for theprotectionofhumanrightsfromauniqueposition oneofhealing

and reclaimingcivic leadership.

Wehope thatyouwill find thesenotebooks informationaland thought-provoking.

Sincerely,

KateKelsch

NewTacticsProjectManager


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6

IntroductionThere are more than forty significant ong oing politi-

cal confl icts in the world today. One of these is the

continuing conflict in the Basque Country.1 More andmore ,civilian populatio ns f ind themselvescaught in

the crossfire, powerless to influence the conflicts that

profoundly affect th eir daily lives. Elkarri is attempt-ing to empow er all elements of Basque society,con-

structing a space w herein the people of the Basque

Country can mediate f or their own well-being.

Acro ss the polit ical spectrum , all public opinion sur-

ve ysconducted over the last 10 years reflect consen-

sus amongst Ba sques on several principal points.

Foremost, the po pulatio n firmly rejects the use of vio-

le nce to achieve political aims. Even as the Basque

population recognizes that there are serious political

problems requiring resolution, the population strongly

supports dialogue as the path to resolve these differ-

ences and wishes a voice in determining the future ofthe Basque Country.

In the last tw elve years Elkarri has taken up this man-

date and sought to promote a culture of dialogue and

peace.In an effort to overcome the dynamic of con-

frontation , the organization has worked to create an

atmosphere of cooperation , leveraging publicsenti-

ment tow ard the establishment and maintenance o fa continuing viable dialogue .In thissense , Elkarris

endeavors have been directed toward society as a

whole: the citizens, mass media, political parties, insti-

tutions and all the actors in the conflict.

Given the context of extreme political polarization inthe Basque Country, the founders of Elkarri felt it was

essential, from the start , to clearly establish the inde-

pendent character of thissocial group along wit h itscomplete independence from all of the involve d par-

ties. A fresh outlook and a new vocabulary have proven

fundament al in creating spaces for meeting and dis-

course instead of the common attitudes and expres-

sio ns of hostility,coercion and intractability. Elkarri

does not ad here blindly to rigid criteria such as neu-

tral ity or equidistance . Rather, the movement is

guided by an active commitment to the establishment

o f co n d i t i o n s f a v o r a b l e t o a b a l a n ce d a n d

democratic process of dialogue. Th issocial moveme nt

iscontinu ally evolving its own language and modes of

action, unmistakably distinct from the concepts, words

and methods employed by the parties embroiled inthe conflict.

Elkarri provides ana la carte men u of participation

to maximize grassrootssupport .Rather than dictat-

ing one or two prescr ibed means of involvement,Elkarri aims to maximize accessibility by providing a

wide range of options. Because the pace o f contem-

porary society limits the amount of t ime , energy and

Members and supportersofElkarrimarchwith representativesofpoliticalparties and thegovernment, including theBasqueministerofjusticeand the founderofETA (althoughhe isno longer involved inETA). The banner reads, Dialogueandagreementamongall

1 Source:http://www.flashpoints.info/FlashPoints_home.html.


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Society as Mediator for Conflict Resolution 7

resources that peo ple are willing and able to commit,we allow p eople to tailor their involvement to match

their capacities.

The ef fect iveness of this approach is demonst rated

by the broad supp ort for ElkarrisPeace Conference

of 2001-2002. While it culminated in a single event,the Peace Conference encompassed a year-long , four-

part process operating on three levelsamong the

general population, amon g political parties and inter-

nationally.It began with a signature drive that net ted

50 ,000 signatures and small donatio ns that added up

to US$500,000. Eventually more tha n 4,000 people

joined the organization as members while 1,200 vol-

unte ered their time and 180 ongoin g local workshops

and one-time events were held throughout the Basqu e

Autonomous Community and Navarre, as well as in

Madrid , Barcelona, Brussels and Ne w York.

This notebook is an attempt to share some of thevaluable insights and experience we gained through

this pr ocess of social participation. We hope that this

in formation wi l l be useful to others seek ing to

broaden the base of participation in confl ict resolu-

tion.

Background:The Basque Countryand itscultureSome familiarity with Basque history and culture is

helpful in understanding the current conflict and the

tactics employed by Elkarri in the q uest for peace.

Co nsidered a cultural and geographic region by someand a stateless nation by others, the Basque Coun-

try comprises 2.7 million pe ople in seven provinces,three in Fra nce and fo ur in Spain, and is roug hly 8,200

square miles.It issituated along the northern coast of

the Iberian Peninsul a stretching from Bayonne and

the Adour River westw ard along the Bay of Biscay to

Bilbao and inland to the Ebro River which forms i ts

southern border.

The Basque language, known as Euskera, is at the

heart of Basque culture. The Basque name for the

coun try is Euskal Herria, land of the Euskera speak-

ers. Althoug h the exact origin of the Euskera is un-clear, it is may well be the oldest l iving European

language, perhaps dating from the early Bronze Ag e.

It is unrelated to the Indo-European languag es of Eu-

rope or to Finnish , Estonian or Hung arian . Whatever

their origins, it is generally accepted by scholars that

Ba sques have occupied their corner of the w orld forthousands of years.

The Basque country has a long tradition of self-deter-

mination. Basque lands were divided betw een Fra nce

and Spain during the Renaissance and eventually the

French Revolution brought an end to self-government

in the northern Basque region . The end of 19 th cen-tury saw a burgeo ning of Basque nationalism which

culminated in a brief period self-government of th e

autonomous region of Euskadi, which existed from

1936-37 during the Span ish Civil War (1936-39).

Fra ncos victory in 1939 ushered in 40 years of dicta-torship; his governments efforts to homogenize Span-

ish culture resulted in the loss of the Basque Coun trys

autonomy and presented a serious organized threatto the continued existence of Basque language and

culture.

In 1959, Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA), an illegal orga-

nization of militant Basque separatists, was founded

in response to systematized repression by the Spanish

government. ETA iscommitted to the independence

of the Basque Country from both Spain and Fra nce.

More than 800 deaths have been attr ibuted to the

group since 1968. Despite the fact that the end of the

Fra nco regime in November 1975 brought a n end to

governmental suppression of Basques, restoration of

Ba sque cultural and l inguist ic freedom and the cre -ation of an autonomous Basque region in Spain , ETA

continues i ts act ions, f ighting for ful l indepen dence

and socialism. During this period of violence, only one

complete, unilateral and unconditional ceasefire was

declared .

That ceasefire ushered in talks in May 1999 bet we en

ETA and th e Spanish governme nt held in Zurich,Swit-zerland. The meeting failed to produce an agreement

when the Spanish police summarily arrested th e ETA

delegation . That ef fect ively ended t he ceasefire in

December and in January 2000 violent activity re-

sumed and continues to the present .Following theevents of Septemb er 11, 2001, the government made

ETAs polit ical wing , Herri Batasuna , illegal;sup-

pr essed publicationssympathetic to ETAs views; and

continues effor ts to apprehend and prosecute indi-

viduals with suspected ties to the organization.In the

present debate on the sea rch for peace there are three

main posi t ions represente d by ETA , the Spanish gov-

ernment and the Basque population at large, all with

different and competing perspectives regarding the

situation.


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8

Elkarrissocial mediation process:Goal,strategic plan and tacticaldecisionThe philosophy behin d Elkarris goal to transform the

conflict and violence in the Basque Country into a situ-

ation of dialogue and eventual agreement is the con-

cept that peace is not a stat ic, isolated event but is aconstructive processa process that Elkarri cal lsso-

cial mediatio n.

Elkarri determined tha t a strategy to build a civil soci-

ety movement for social mediation was essential and

the Peace Conference mentioned above was one of

the tactical means to move that strategy forward .In

order for a viable solution to be reached ,civil society

must take part in the constr uct ion of the dialogue

and agreement,making Basquesociety itself the me-

diator.

The people of the Basque country hold a wide rangeof political opinions bu t share the demand for a peace

pr ocessbased on no nviolence and talks involving all

polit i cal parties.Surveys that have been carried out

on thissubject over the last 10 yearsshow that the

majority of Basque society (and Spanish society too)

supports dialogue as a way of approaching the con-

fl ict.Incredibly, no previous dialogue has taken place

betw een the political forces embroiled in the dispute.Th e creation of the necessary conditions for holding

such talkscontinues to be one of the greatest chal-

lenges for Basque and Spanish society. Elkarri set out

to vigorously pursue this alternative to the current

situation.

CREATING THECONDITIONSFOR DIALOGUE:

THEPEACECONFERENCE

In order to both engage Basque society and put them

at the center of the dialogue, Elkarri needed t o focuson spreading the idea of dialogue and agreement .

Elkarri put this idea into pract ice with concrete pro-

posals and metho dology to encourage public partici-pat ion. The participatory process was promoted on

three critical levelssocia l, political and interna tional.

Th is tripartite approach has made possible the identi-

fication and refinemen t of viable scenarios for dia-

logue and defining agreement .

In developing the Peace Conference, Elkarri looke d at

other confl icts, re solutions and accor ds all over the

world to gather information and experiences. Tw o

peace processes were particularly instrumental to

Elkarris work in developing the Peace Conference:the Northern Ireland Peace Process and the Oslo A c-

cor ds between Israelis and Pal estinians.

Northern Ireland Peace Process.All-party negotiatio ns

held in 1998 produced the Belfast Agreement (more

commonly known as the Good Friday Agreement and

also known as th e Stormont Agreement).It wassigned

in Belfast on A pril 10, 1998, by the British and Irish

Governments and most Northern Ireland political par-

tie s.It wassubsequently endorsed by the voters ofNorthern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in sepa-

rate referenda.

Due to the similarities between the two si tuations,

Elkarri has kept regular contact with t he main playersinvolved in t he Irish peace process: the polit ical par-

ti es, governments and civic movements.

Oslo Accords.Th ese were a series of agreements ne-

got iated between the Israeli government and the

Pal estine Liberation Organization (PLO , acting as rep-

resentatives of the Pal estinian peo ple) in 1993 as part

of a peace process and of f icially called the Declara-

tion ofPrinciples. Despite the high hopes expressed in

the Accords and in the subsequent agreements, which

also promised the normalization of Israels relations

with the Arab world , the conflict clearly has not been

re solved . The talks leading to the agreement wereinitiated by the Norwegian government , then on rea-

sonably good terms with both parties. The mediators

chosen by the Norwegian government were Johan

Jrgen Holst ( the Norwegian minister of foreign af-

fairs), Terje Rd-Larsen and Mona Juul . The negotia-

tions were undertaken in total secrecy.

Elkarri gleaned lessons from both: from Northern Ire-

land came th e idea of all-party talks directed toward

forging a formal agreement , and from the Oslo Ac-

cordscame the idea of nonpartisan moderators work-

ing with the parties.

Lessons Learned from NorthernLessons Learned from NorthernLessons Learned from NorthernLessons Learned from NorthernLessons Learned from NorthernIrelandIrelandIrelandIrelandIrelandInSeptember 1994 anElkarridelegationtraveledtoNorthernIre-

landtolearnthedetailsofthepeaceprocessthatwasinprogress.

Elkarrimetleadingmembersofthepoliticalparties, Irishsocialmove-

ments, tradeunions,journalistsandothers.The bookletElkarrikasi

(ElkarriLearning)sumsupthedetailsofthispeaceprocessandthe

conclusionsdrawn.

ElkarrikasiisavailableinSpanishandBasqueatwww.elkarri.org.

Phases of the Peace ConferenceTheWord:Equality(seeFigure 1)

TheBook:Opinionsgatheredfrom 12 roundtableeventswithcom-

munityandinternationalexperts

TheDossier:Asummaryofmorethan 5,000 citizenopinions

ThePage:Nonpartisanmoderatorsworkingwithpoliticalpartiesto

developthe basisforagreement


9/16


Through the Pe ace Conference

Elkarri has acted as a facilitator to

the social, political and international

realms, by promoting dialogue, des-ignating points of public recognition

and evaluat ing progress toward

peace. Th e Peace Conference waslaunched in two phases, the prepa-

ratory stage and the implementa-

tion stage , and made up of four

dist inct but interl inking projectskn o wn as the Word , Book ,

Dossier and Page . (Detailed

information o n all four levelscan be

found at http://www.elkarri.org/en/

p d f /P e a c e C o n f e r e n c e

Folder.pd f.)

THEWORD

In the preparatory stage , the Wordwas designed to gau ge the will and sentiment of the

Ba sque population as well as international support

for a process of dialogue toward peacethe word

being equality. (See Figure 1.) The pu blicsigned on

for a dialogue tow ard peace b ased on the word or

the concept of eq uality as the starting point and a

minimum level of consensus expected .Following the

initial publicsupport for this mandate , Elkarri mailedinformation on this equality principle as the basis for

dialogue. Th is principle also became the starting point

for discussions distributed in the participation folder,

a guide for local-level discussio ns. Over the course o f

the one-year implementa tion phase, Elkarri organize dmore th an 180 local events to engage public partici-

pat ion. Thousands of contributions from the public

were generated as a result of these local discussio ns.

Th is preparatory stage, promoting the concept of the

Peace Conference , was announced by Elkarri on th e

Februa ry 11, 2001.In the eight-month preparat ory

process, Elkarri collected 50,000 names, along with

1,000 pesetas (a little more than US$7) from each

person who signed the petit ion . Th is

concrete indication of publicsupport

for a process of dialogue toward peace

through their signatures and willing-ness to provide a small monet ary do-

nation provided the backbone of the

m a n d a t e a n d f i n a nci a l r eso urces(US$500,000) to implemen t the Peace

Conference. The preparatory process

culminated on October 7, 2001, in apublic event at the Palacio Euskalduna

in Bilbao w ith 2,500 people . Th is offi-

cially launched the Peace Conference

methodology, which wasconceived and

developed to f ind the widest p ossible

consensus among the public and politi-

cal forcesconcerning their participationin dialogue.

In addition to the signature campaign,support for the

process was gathered in a variety of wayssuch as

mailings, e-mail and web contacts and networks of

organizations.

Over the last 12 years, Elkarri has gathered a data-

base of the names of people who want to receive

information through signa ture drives, demonstrations,local worksho ps and political party talks, among other

initiatives. Th ese people were mailed a packag e invit-

ing them to contribute their signature , become a vol-

unteer, participate in a workshop , make a donation

or become a member.People are given a wide rangeof ways to participate in Elkarris work. Given a choice,many people readily do more than just sign some-

thing and want to participate in other ways as well.

Elkarri has gathered l ists of e-mail addresses in very

similar ways.It h as also used the m any directories list-

ing political parties, members of parliaments, govern-

ment officia ls, organizations working on human rights

and peace, etc.From these lists Elkarri amassed a da-

Collecting signatures:Askingpeople to endorse equalityanddialogue.

FIGURE 1


10/16

10

tabase of potential positive contacts. However, Elkarri

sends information t o private individualsthose notassociated with an organizationonly if they have

agreed to receive informatio n .

E-mail is also important in collecting signatures. Elkarri

has a large mailing list of people wh o might be inter-ested in our initiatives and th ey forward our e-mail

messages to their own contacts,creating a much wider

network.People also give their signatures on our web

sit e. We also collect signatures through a wide net-

work of organizations that sympathize with us, in -

cluding Gesto por la Paz, Hegoa , Bakea Orain and

others. M uch of the work of collect ing signatures is

done by volunte ers. Moreover, we did not underesti -

mate the pow er of word of mouth in attracting people

to give their signature.

Having gaine d initial publicsupport for this guiding

principle in the preparat ory stage , Elkarri was readyto launch the next phases the Book, the Dossie r

and the Pagethe processes that engaged people

on the socia l, political and internation al levels of the

Peace Conference.

THEBOOK

The Book is a compilation of 36 opinions gathered in

12 roundta ble events. Vict ims, political representa-

tives,social players, international experts, opinion lead-

ers and confl ict-resolution experts who have been

involved in other pe ace processescompared an d re-

fl ected upon t heir ideas for achieving peace.

THEDOSSIER

Th is document summarizes and groups the opinions

of more than 5 ,000 citizens. Th ese were expressed by

individuals or organizations or were gathered throughopinion surveys from Octob er 2001 to M ay 2002. Th e

Dossier outlines the basis of consensusor principles

and some possible procedures for implemen ting thoseprinciples. On a fundam ental level, this process linked

the principle of peace to the tool of huma n rights,

pluralism to dialogue and equ ality to democratic rule.

The task of ordering and interpreting these opinions,

though complex, proved feasible, as the vast majority

of the contributions tended to converge, or at least

share basiccharacterist ics.Fortunately, there iscon-

siderable common groun d in Basque society, as we

have observed in all the surveys made in recent years.

Th is makes our work somewhat easier and constitutesthe principal asset of the peace movement and the

strongest antidote to social divisio n .

THEPAGE

The Page of agreement was a core objective of the

Peace Conference. Eight moderators drew up a docu-

ment reflect ing what they considered a positive vo-

cabulary and a proposal for rules that w ould govern

the process of developing an agreement between

political parties tow ard the goal of peace and coexist-ence.

Steps for implementing the PeaceConference

Elkarri specif ically addressed the three levels men-tioned abovesocia l, political and interna tionalin

the Peace Conference because these are the levelsthat affect and are affected by the ongoing conflict in

the Basque Country. Elkarri want ed to reach as many

levels as possible in order to bring in as many active

participants as possible.

SOCIALLEVEL

Elkarri as a social movement espouses the idea that

participation has to be encourag ed at all levels with

great emphasis placed on local work.Providing infor-

mation to society and in return get ting societyssup-

port , opinion and participation has been one of thefour core elements of the Peace Conference process.

The goal of our work on the social level was to reach

as many people as possible. Because Elkarri is a socia l

movement, it has to enga ge people from all over the

region who agree w ith the principle of dialogue but,in fact , hold divergent polit ical views. To do this, we

had to determine how people want to be involved .

We know how hard i t is for people to be active in

pr ocesses like this,so instead of presenting just a few

inflexible mea ns of participation , we created a f lex-

ible la carte system .From the very beginning we

IbelieveElkarrisPeaceConferenceisaveryimportantpathtotake, itisfresh

airinasituationofblockage, violenceandintransigence. JavierMadrazo,

SecretaryGeneral, IzquierdaUnida-EskerBatua(left-wingparty)and

MinisterofHousingandSocialAffairs,BasqueGovernment, quoted

inthe bookandfilm, LaPelotaVasca:lapielcontralapiedra/Euskal

Pilota:larruaharriarenkontra.

IwouldsaythatthecurrentconflictintheBasqueCountryhasarrivedata

momentofhope. Forexample,ElkarrihasmadeaproposalthatIbelieveopensadoortodialogueamongpoliticalparties. FatherAlecReid,

SpokespersoninthepeacetalksinNorthernIreland.

Elkarri isoneofthemanythingsthatBasquesocietyneeds. Agroupof

citizensthat, atleast, inthisoceanofconfusion, hasclearideas.Elkarri

proposesthatifthesolutionissought, itcanbefound. MarianoFerrer,

journalistandmoderatorduringthePeaceConference, quotedinthe

bookandfilmLaPelotaVasca:lapielcontralapiedra/EuskalPilota:

larruaharriarenkontra

IwouldsaythatElkarri, fundamentally, fightsforacourseofactionthatI

wouldcallhealthyandfresh, andthatitismoreconcernedwiththesearch

foraprocessinwhichallparticipate, thanintheultimateoutcomeofthatprocess. RamonEtxezarrieta, electedofficialfromtheSocialistParty,

threatened byETA, quotedinthe bookandfilm, LaPelotaVasca:la

pielcontralapiedra/EuskalPilota:larruaharriarenkontra.


11/16


offered several levels of public participation , but asthe organization grew the num ber of worksho ps,con-

tributing members, volunteers, etc. incre ased expo-

nentially.

Before starting the workshops, we looked around the

world for examples of best pract ices and found amethod ology used in El Salvador for local conflict-reso-

lution forums. Using this model, we institut ed a pro-

cess that did not l imit the numb er of participants or

local workshops.For example, a town might establish

one local workshop whereas a city might have several

to cover several neighborhoods. The idea was that a

flexible structure would most ful ly engag e peoples

lives and interests. There is nothing more grassroots

than local gatherings where decisions are made di-

rectly affecting peoples lives.

At these ongoing local workshops a wide range of

people meet, discuss, debate ,study and develop ar-guments, proposals and initiatives related to the con-

fl ict that af fects the Basque Country.Some of the

common issues discussed have been:

Th e cause of the conflict, Proposals for specif icsolutions,

Living togeth er in harmony,

Local contributions and init iatives to construct apeace process,

Individual and collective human rights and

Tolerance in the Basque Country.

By the time the Peace Conference began , Elkarri hadestablished more tha n 100 worksho psone in almost

every major to wn in the Basque Country and even in

Madrid, Ba rcelona an d Brussels, home of the institu-

tions of the European Union .So an established , vital

social netw ork had already been in place for several

years. Th e Peace Conference was a departure from

the ongoing workshop netw ork and a step beyond

previous grassroots initiatives, in that there was a very

ambitious goal and a speci f ied timeframe . The posi-

tive social objectives and ambitious goals of the Peace

Conference energized the general public. This was just

a few years after the peace process in Northern Ire-

land and the longest ETA ceasefire in history. BasqueSociety was, and still is, tired of violence and political

confrontation. Th is pr ocess provided visio n, opportu-

nity, an d possibilities. The idea that people themselvescould present a solution to the problem was very ex-

citing and the existing grassrootssupport grew even

stronger as new people became involved . The initiallevels of participationsmall donations,signatures,

signature collect ing , answering quest ionnairesall

served as gateways to much greater levels of partici-

pation.

POLITICALLEVEL

A polit ically diverse eight-person moderating team

was asked to draw up , in langua ge that could be ac-

cepte d by all, a proposal on the rules of engagementfor developing a process for agreement betw een the

political parties tow ard the pursuit of peace and coex-

istencewhat was known as the Page.

The work began discreetly, with no publicit y. The par-

ties involved used an interactive method ology to ex-

plore means of creating the Pagean agreement we

hoped would be capable of unlocking the current situ-

ation.

Each of the moderators wascarefully chosen by Elkarri

and accepted by each political party, with the excep-

tion of Batasuna (the polit ical wing o f ETA), which

elected to choose it s own moderator. The parties

tr ustessential to the processwas built on the fact

that the moderators were respected or even well-know n individuals.Some were members of the par-

t ie s they represented whi le some only shared a

general ideology. The moderators also had to be inde-

pende nt enough from the party to be object ive and

able to work with the moderators from oth er politi-

cal parties.

When Batasuna decided not to comply with the metho dproposed and chose a moderator who w as indeed an

act ive member at the executive level of the party,

Elkarris re act ion was very flexible . The movement

decided to accept the demand with a view to ward the

larger goal of working tow ard agreement . The othermoderators also agreed to accept this departure from

the rules.

Peace Conference Working LevelsSOCIALLEVEL:

TheWord, theBookandtheDossier

Memberships: 4,000

Localforums: 100

Volunteers

High-profilecontacts

POLITICALLEVEL:Researchandworkforumwithpoliticalparties

ThePageExplorationofgroundsfordialogueandagreement

Interactivemethodology

Discretion, nopublicity

INTERNATIONALLEVEL:

TheBook

High-profilesupporters

Cooperationwithinternationalinstitutionsandorganizations, in-

cludingtheEuropeanUnion

Shapinginternationalpublicopinion


12/16

12

not even consider si tt ing across the table from each

other, let alone working on a common project.

The methodology wasstraightforward but laborious,

consisting of the following steps:

Debate: The moderatorsselected the issues thatmight serve as a b asis for an agreement;

Co nsultation: The moderators worke d with the par-

ti es to refine these ideas;

Drafting text: Texts were developed for submissio n

to the polit ical parties for their further consider-

ation;

Text revision and resubmission to the parties: Texts

were prepared integrating the contributions re -

ceived;

Consultation: a new round of consultations followed,

continuing unti l the greatest possible rapproche-

ment was re ached .

The provisional balance of the process illustrated two

points.First, that reaching a multi lateral agreement

in the service of peace w as not an impossible missio n.

Second , that a climate of adversit y can impede what

is possible , necessary and urgent.

INTERNATIONALLEVEL

The Basque conflict is a very local conflict, but Elkarrisaim has also been to inform and engage th e interna-

tional community,so it was important to make the

Peace Conference a project with internation al pres-

tige . We got the support of high-profi le people de-

voted to peace and human rights,creating a chainre action and exerting a positive external influence on

the parties in the confl ict . This high-profile support

both attracts the attention of people who would not

otherwise be interested and reminds the local politi-

cal parties of the importance of the process in which

they are participating.

Gaining the support of several Nobel Pr ize winners

was in part due to the reputation that Elkarri hasamong Basques. However, i t was the commitment of

the members of Elkarri to make personal contacts

that led to the signatures of support from high profile

people .It is important to remember that the peopleinvolved with Elkarri, by and large , feel very strongly

about the need f or a peaceful solution to the Basque

confl ict. They are extremely act ive people who are

devoted to Elkarriscause. Elkarri asks little of itssup-

porters and yet their energy and enthusiasm are the

true engine of the movement tow ards peace.

In addition to getting supp ort from high-profile indi-

viduals, Elkarri also sought the cooperation of int er-

nat ional collaborating inst i tut ions, including the

European Union; worked to inform international public

opinion; and followed the development of peace pro-

cesses in other countries to gain insights to apply tothe Basque conflict.

Political Participants

Thefollowingaresomecommentsmadebythemajorpoliticalparties

intheBasqueCountryandNavarreregardingthedraftsprepared by

theeightmoderators(thePage).

EAJ-PNV:(RulingpartyinthegovernmentoftheBasqueCountry)

considersitessentialthataprocess beinitiatedtowardreachingan

agreement betweenthepoliticalforces,withtheaimofovercoming

theseriousproblemsandconflictsthatourpeoplessuffer.ThePNV

subscribestothetotalityofthetext.

SocialistParty(PSE-EE):(Basquechapterofthepresentgoverning

partyofSpain)inordertodevelopanyprocessofagreement, a basic

assumptionisthecessationofallterroristactivityandtheclimateof

coercionandthreatsuffered byapartofoursociety. Manyofthe

subjectstheproposaladdressesrequireahigherdegreeofdefinition.

Batasuna:unfortunately, ithas becomecommonpracticeforthe

majorityofthepoliticalforcesparticipatingintheConferenceto

refusetodebateorsubscribetoanyagreementoreventoholdtalks

withBatasuna.

EskerBatua(IU/EB):(BasquewingofIsquierdaUnidaSpanishLeft

Party)commitsitselfto boththeprinciplesandtheobjectivesof

ElkarrisPeaceConference.

An additional hurdle was the fact that the Partido

Popularthe dominant conservative Spanish political

partywas not interested in the Peace Conference

at all. Th e Partido Popular denies the existence of apolitical problem and the need for dialogue,consider-

ing the Basque conflict an int ernal (Spanish) policin g

problem. It could not engage itself in a project sea rch-ing for a solution to a p olit ical problem it does not

believe exists and using a method ology it does not

support . Th e Partido Popular did not produce a docu-

ment of its own; moreover, it did not agree to a mo d-

erator and thus there was no way we could produce a

document agreed upon by al lpolitical parties.

So we ha d to be f lexible and seek an intermediate

solution. We found a person who was a trustee of the

Partido Popular but independent of it . This person did

not work as a moderator (since there was no feed-

back from the party) but w as instrumental in drafting

the joint document. We realized that in order to e n-gage as many political parties as possible, the project

had to allow room for modifications and a certain level

of flexibility. We could not forget that these political

parties are very antagonist ic and at present would


13/16


Elkarri set up support committees of hig h-profile indi-

viduals representing a wide range of backgrounds in

Brussels, Barcelona and Ma drid and engag ed a highly

respected group of people to serve as honorary com-mittee members of the Peace Conference.It also made

contact with organizations and experts who could

engage directly in debat es on the social and politicallevel including Ha rry Barnes (MP),Father AlecRei d

from Northern Ireland , and representatives from the

Carter Center in the United States.Federico Mayor

Zaragoza instantly understood the need for such a

project and through his involvement several other

Nobel Prize winnerssupport ed Elkarris efforts.

Elkarris web si te was launched in 1996 as a rudimen-

tary page that hasslowly evolved. Currently, a monthly

newsletter issent to more than 30,000 intern ation al

organizations (a number which has incre ased by 80

percent since the Peace Conference.) The w eb si te is

interactive and attracts about 10,000 visitors a month.People can become volunteers, participate in work-

sho ps, get information, answer surveys, become mem-

bers, give their signatures, etc., all through the w eb

sit e. A visi tor can see the development step-by-step

of the Peace Conference and ot her initiatives; in many

cases just seeing how many signatures have been col-

lected , ge ts people involved collect ing more . A t

pre sent the web si te is offered in Basque, English ,

Fre nch and Spanish.

Lessons learned and challengesIt is difficult to make gen eric recommendations about

use of this tactic in other contexts because e ach con-fl ict is defined by its o wn speci ficcharacterist ics. Ac-

cepting this limitation, a process of direct comparison

and contrast may be productive.In this way, other

organizationscan draw from o ur experience thoseaspects that seem most pertinent and feasible in their

own situations.

There are several general principles that have been

useful to Elkarri and may prove so for others. Th e

most important of these are:

a)The movement structures all activities around three

levels of work:societal participation , involvementof the f ul l range of p olit ical parties (or proxies if

necessary) and th e garnering of intern ation al rec-

ognition , input and influence.

b)Elkarri activities are not reactive; they are not ori-

ented tow ard protest o r symbolic gestures. About90 percent of our activities are proactive , aimed at

generating opportunities,creating spaces for ex-

change and sheddin g light on possibilities often ob-

scured by opposing rhetoric.

c) Elkarri clearly established and diligently guards it s

independent character and recognized lack of biasthrough economic independence. The 4000 mem-

Honorary Committee

IncludessixNobelPeacePrizewinners:

MaireadMaguire, 1976

AdolfoPerezEsquivel, 1980

TheDalaiLama, 1989

RigobertaMenchu

, 1992 JoseRamos-Horta, 1996

JohnHume, 1998

Additionalfiguresofinternationalprestige:

DanielleMitterrand, PresidentofFranceLibertes

JosSaramago, NobelLiteraturePrizewinner, 1998

CoraWeiss, InternationalPeaceBureau

FedericoMayorZaragoza, Presidentof theCultureofPeace

Foundation

MediaCoverage

ThePeaceConferencegarneredsignificantmediacoveragewithjour-

nalistsattendingeventsandpressconferences. Televisioncoverage

wasconsiderable, andheadlinesinmajornewspapersincluded:

NewpeaceprocessinBasqueCountry bringsrivalfactionstogether

indialogue

ElPaisInternational, October 5, 2001

ElkarriwillincludeapublicopinionpollinitsPeaceConference

ElCorreo, December 6, 2001

APeaceConference

Sud-Ouest, February 13, 2001

ElkarrideclaresenoughattacksagainsthumanlivesintheBasque

Country

ElCorreo,May 19, 2002

Elkarrimobilizes 100.000 peopleanddemandsthatETAlistento

society

ElMundo,May 19, 2002


14/16

14

bers of our organization comprise i ts entire infra-

str ucture: personnel, offices, newsletters, mailings

and web activities are completely independ ent of

external f inancin g . Donat ions and contributionsfrom busin esses are applied directly and completely

to the fu nding of initiatives.

d)Any independent social organization must estab-

lish means of direct communication with society.

Established avenues of masscommunication may

be useful but they do not ofte n al low the dissemi-

nation and exchange of ideas with the frequency or

degree of det ai l desirable .For this re ason , Elkarri

established its database of a pproximately 150,000

individuals and a large number of organizations in-

terested in our work , allowin g direct contact by e-

mail, teleph one or mail whenever necessary.

Perhaps the paramount factors which must be consid-

ered before implementing a tact ic l ike this one arethe desir es and demands of the public. To tra nsform

society from collective victim or pow erless bystander

into empowered protagonist it is essential to identify

the areas of consensus that can energize th e majority

and empo wer the people in their role as active me-

diators.

Several characterist ics endemic to Basque societywhich p ositively aff ected the Peace Conference and

may not be present in other contexts include the fol-

lowing:

a)Basque society is highly politically and socially ac-tive .

b)Basque society is wealthy, open and democratic.

c) The Basque conflict is ethno-political in nature.

d)Like the rest of Western Europe, Basque society has

widespread contemporary communication technol-

ogy : mass media , the Internet and diverse outletsfor the free press.

Acknowledging those conditions, it neverthelesssee ms

entirely possible and practicable to modify the tact icfor effective use in other contexts. This approach might

prove most effective where the following criteria are

pr esent in one form or anot her:

a)Violent conflict, especially terrorist activity by a rela-

tively small but highly motivated segment of soci-ety ;

b)A politically and socially active society;

c) The possibility of getting fun ding and maintaining

impartiality through contributions from individuals.

JonanFernandez, coordinatorofElkarri, explains the basis for compromise

amongpoliticalparties.

Apresentationat thePeaceConferenceinEuskaldunaPalace, Bilbao.

ApresentationatthePeaceConference inBilbao. Thenumberon thescreen,

50,847, is thenumberof signatures collected in supportof theprocess.


15/16


The three levels of worksocia l, political , interna-

tionalwere extremely important in the Peace Con-

ference.It was a very ambitious underta king requiring

tremendous resources and involvemen t . Elkarri gen-erally operat es with a staf f of 10 to 12, how ever dur-

ing this period we incre ased that number to 15 .

Financia l support for the Peace Conference w as ra isedthrough the signature collection process, adding both

legitimacy and public investment. Th is wascritical to

the overa ll process and the outcome on the social level

and far exceede d Elkarris expectations.

One of th e main objectives at the political level, how-

ever, was not fully achieved: Th e consensus drafts

were never transformed into an explicit agreement

the Page . Althou gh Elkarri did succeed in creating a

process and the conditions for a convergence of points

of view, it was not able to bring about a practical con-

sensus that could be carried to the next stage, which

would be talks amon g the political parties.It w as ex-ceedingly difficult to engage some political parties in

any aspect of the process, particularly the Partido Popu-

lar, at the time t he ruling party in the Spanish govern-

ment , and the Unin del Pueblo Navarro , the ruling

party in the government of Navarre. Neither produced

a draft of their positions for Elkarri since both parties

deny that a political conflict exists in the Basque Coun-

try.It w as difficult to engage th em in a process meantto resolve a political conflict they decline to acknowl-

edge.

There is almost nothin g Elkarri would have changed

in conducting the Peace Conference, because the out-come actually far exceeded expectations.It would have

been na ve to think that all political parties were go-

ing to si t down toget her and talk based on an Elkarri

initiative. However, the goals and the capacity to en-

gage peo ple to put pressure on as many of th e politi-

cal parties as possible was a great achievement.

ConclusionBased on the lessons learned during all four stages of

the f irst Peace Conference and at the culminating

event , Elkarri is undertaking a new Peace Conferenceprocess involving the right to petitio n recognized in

Article 29 of the Spanish Const i tution . Citizens and

social organizations have the r ight to collect signa-tures on proposals that must then be processed and

responded t o by parl iament . Elkarri plans to make a

formal petition to bot h the Basque an d Navarre par-

l iaments to creat e leverage for all-party talks on the

conflict. The formu la will build on the process used in

the first Peace Conference but with legislative impli-

cations. Elkarri launched the new Peace Conference

campaign on March 6, 2004, with a massive signature

drive. The result was 44 ,000 signaturescollected in

one day in the Basque Country and N avarre.

Oth er areas of the w orld experiencing polit ical and

violent conflict due to ethnic and cultural causescouldbene fit from Elkarris experience in engaging society

at large, the political arena and the internation al com-

munity in seeking solutions to the ongoing confl ict.

Elkarri iscontinuin g to move the process forward with

a new Peace Conference and is refining the original

pr ocess based on lessons that w ere learned .

Elkarri istryingtocreateanewpoliticalcultureandstopthehatredspiral

thatispresentintheideologyandpoliticsoftheBasqueCountry.Alberto

Surio,journalist, ElDiarioVasco.

IwasoneofthosewhosupportedElkarrisinitiative, notbecauseIbelievedin

miracles, butbecauseIbelievethatallthatcouldbedonetosearchfor

encountersandrapprochementsisagoodsolutionfortheBasqueconflict.

InakiGabilondo,journalist.

IamparticipatinginElkarrisPeaceConference, andIcantellyouthat

peopleareworkingrigorouslyandingoodfaith.Differentpoliticalpositions

andconcernsarebeingexpressedclearly.RamonMugica, notary.

ElkarrisPeaceConferenceisanactioninwhichcivilsocietyismakinggreat

effortstoconvincethepoliticalworldthatsomethingneedstobedone.

AntxonLafont, presidentofBaionasChamberofCommerce(French

BasqueCountry)

(Thequotesaboveweretaken fromthe bookand film, LaPelota

Vasca:lapielcontralapiedra/EuskalPilota:larruaharriarenkontra.)

IhavetosaythatElkarriscauseisalsomycause. Ifeeldialogueistheonly

way, andinfacttheonlywaythathasnotreallybeenexploredyet.Julio

Medem, writeranddirectorofthe bookandfilmLaPelotaVasca:la

pielcontralapiedra/EuskalPilota:larruaharriarenkontra, quotedin

ElkarriMagazine, January 2004.


16/16

The Center for Victims of TortureNew Tactics in Human RightsProject

717 East River RoadMinneapol is, MN 55455

w w w.cvt.org /cvt@cvt .orgw w w.newtactics.org /newtactics@cvt .org

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society as mediator for conflict resolution: elkarri’s peace conference (english)

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