The study begins with the conclusion that not everyone has been in the same part of the conflict and this has enriched the investigation. Being the sister of a refugee, the mother of a fugitive in a state of wickedness, of a jailed person, a colleague of a newcomer to the jail or a colleague of a murdered by ETA has given each one different kinds of experiences, but in spite of that, the fact of being a woman and, therefore, living the conflict “from the periphery” has given each one several common variables.

According to Galardi, the presence of women in the coexistence forums and in the days to address the consequences of the conflict is scarce. In addition, despite the fact that several studies have been carried out on feminist subjects of the Basque conflict, so far, even if they are women, only the front-line protagonists have been given a voice and no proposal has been made to address the Basque conflict in a transversal way to gender.

The main objective of the research is, therefore, to collect the reports of the women who have so far been in the second line in the exercises of coexistence and in the collection of the collective memory that are taking place in the process of resolving the conflict and to publicize their sociopolitical participation. The researcher proposes a review of what has happened so far, making these women visible beyond their condition of victims as political subjects, so that in the future, feminist bases will be established as transgressors to make a more complete reading of the collective memory.

Memory and conflict of memory

In Premio’s words, “a unique conflict that has made many others invisible has been recognized in our country.” With a predominant logic of war (winner vs. defeated; one side vs. the other), a direct and simplified account has been made within a single axis and, consequently, several edges and variables have been left out. An androcentric reading of the conflict and violence has only taken up the story of the people who have participated in this first line and has made other subjects who have participated in the conflict invisible, especially women. These have been identified more as the effects of the conflict than as parts of it.

Thus, women have been harassed twice. Firstly, because in times of conflict different forms of violence have been used against women (sexual abuse, marginalization, rape…) and secondly, because heteropatriarchal structures have been maintained in the peace processes.

Among the main actors there is an obvious shock, provoked by the desire to achieve the hegemony of memory or story. As mentioned above, in a single axis, victims are placed within this axis and, depending on that axis, they recognize each other (or not). What is true is that if we look at another axis and take into account the role differentiation according to the gender system, the story would totally change, since the experience of women on both sides can be similar.

In Premio’s opinion, “there may be similarities between a woman who suffers the constant contacts and control of an official when visiting her husband and the experiences of a woman who every day has to be escorted by her political status or by the failure of her network of friends by killing her best friend of ETA, and a woman who had to move to Iparralde to be able to continue caring.”

First line and rearguard

The location of women in the second invisible line of the conflict is a consequence of the division of spaces structured according to the gender system. This defense is associated, of course, with feminized duties, intimacy and individual non-collectivized experiences.

According to several researchers, in times of conflict, gender differences become even more extreme. The role of the male militant is opposed to that of the woman: reproductive work, care work… The role of the mother or unconditional partner, polarizing the militants of all day and the female caregivers of all day (Zuriñe Rodríguez, 2016).

Some of the interviewees feel comfortable with the role of the female caregiver, naturalize it and even essentialize it. The mothers say that they have been the support of the one in prison, that they have had in their hands the management of lists of visits, the relationship with the lawyers and the people's mitigators, etc. In addition, what one of the interviewees says is significant: unlike his countrymen, he felt very calm when they arrested his son because, while in jail, he could take care of him. The question asked by Mr Premio is as follows: “When those frontline men enter prison, what have become the frontline?”

For others, the forced bond with the role of the female caregiver is a source of conflict. One of the interviewees, for example, reported that, despite going to the first visits as a militant, those around him have taken him as a partner.

These examples highlight the existence of a complete imaginary that has deprived these women of the ability to be an active element in the story. Therefore, the researcher considers it important to recognize that yes, the conflict has affected them and directly, even if they are “in the second line”. Moreover, it must be acknowledged that violence has been suffered in two ways: from the hegemonic concept of violence to the feminist review of the concept of violence.

Reviewing the concepts of sociopolitical participation and violence

They have certainly been active agents, although they feel that they have acted with the intention of playing a role that has been assigned to them. In Premio’s words, “they have put love above all, but that love must also politicize it.” They are aware of what they have done, but they do not link it to the conceptualization of the political participation that we have internalized. The people who are in the plaza, who grab the banner, who throw their rallies, who participate in a more organized way, do not understand what they have done: tie them doctors, go visit the North and bring a lot of food…

It is evident that the rigid, hegemonic and supposedly neutral sense of politics (i.e. masculinized) has been used to define the political actors of the Basque conflict: militants, politicians, businessmen, police… Most women have participated and woven into different associations, especially with women in their same situation (Etxerat, ETA victims’ associations…) but also these associations have been closely linked to gender. However, the participation of these women cannot be denied both publicly and in the resistant practices that must be carried out in daily life.

The same is true of the concept of violence. When you ask if you've lived in a situation of violence, you say no. However, as we begin to delve into the subject, we are told that they have suffered records, follow-up, retouching of officials, lynchings of opponents.

Non-confession has two directions. On the one hand, it is they who do not recognize themselves the importance of what they have done and, on the other, they have not received any recognition from outside, either at institutional level or from members of the same group.

For Premio, “we should talk more about conflicts than about conflict.” Recognizing that these women have also experienced the conflict in all its fullness and even stressing that the conflict as a woman has had differentiated variables in them.

Only men, the protagonists of the public space, have the recognition of having suffered violence. But it is important to look at the eleven borders of the violence, giving way to the hidden. In fact, the violence suffered by women on both sides often has similar patterns. To begin with, on both occasions, there has been sexual violence as a woman. Women who have suffered violence from their opponents or within the group (often more painful): hyper-sexualization, sexist insults, concrete threats, media treatment…

The repetition of patterns breaks with the bilateral logic of armed conflict. Violence is, therefore, twofold and cross-over: on the one hand, what is suffered by women who have placed themselves in a particular collective (not expressly framed within that collective) and on the other, what is suffered by women who have placed them in pejorative roles according to the gender system.

The situations of violence they have experienced are due to psychological violence (fear, control, instability…), family and friendly consequences (change of private space, ruptures of survival networks…), exclusion from employment, lack of a dignified life and denial of cultural identity (abandoning one's identity, moving away from the original environments…). He also joins the discipline of silence and the great economic damage suffered by the club bilbaíno.

Resilient daily practices

He wanted to symbolize these women as subjects with capacity for action and, in addition to recognizing the agency, he recognizes that they also have power, “because they intend to transform the situation to which they have lived (conscious sometimes unconscious, sometimes unconscious)”.

He referred to the small practices and changes that have been made on a daily basis, at least to balance the situation and, in some cases, the mechanisms of the revolution. In daily life they have developed strategies to deal with violent situations: they have invented strategies to deal with authority (policemen in the house register, officials asking for the removal of the bra, citizens behind the back…) or ways to get out of conflictive situations. Everyone speaks, for example, of the need to have opportunities to stand outside their delicate situation. On the other hand, they consider essential the support networks, spaces to collectively work their own experiences: the militancy network and the support of the closest ones.

In this sense, it is significant that four of the interviewees have asked the researcher to perform the interview in the presence of one of the members of their support network.

“This is not our peace”

The United Nations Organization issued resolution 13/25 2000.urtean assigning women the duty to build peace as if they had their own component. This allocation obviously only reinforces the distribution of roles according to the gender system mentioned above. At the international level, the references of the last two decades can be numerous: Colombia, Guatemala, Western Sahara… and there are researchers who work on the consequences of international armed conflicts from a gender perspective, such as Monte Irantzu.

In Euskal Herria, on the contrary, the French State and especially Spanish have not recognized that what happened in Euskal Herria was a conflict, nor that there is more than one part, which directly affects the difficulty of analyzing it from a gender perspective. As pointed out by Mr. Gafdi, integrating the feminist perspective is not only giving a voice to the women who have participated in the conflict, but also questioning the conflict in its full dimension.

“It is believed that it is making a transition to a possible state of peace,” explains Mr. Gafdi, “but only men are building peace, they are the active subjects, making women invisible again and further reinforcing gender roles and stereotypes.”

Through an androcentric understanding of the political conflict, a reading of the armed conflict (and its consequences) has been carried out, a report of two polarized lines in the opposition. On the contrary, following the indications of Premio, many conflicts have been crossed. These women are currently on the periphery of the debate, but the conflict has been and is at the heart of their daily lives. However, they have remained out of the stories of the great epic and have difficulty understanding personal pain as “political”.

Taking into account the sex/gender variable and making a cross, we will observe that what women on both sides have suffered can have similar forms, as the patterns and the reports are very similar. The researcher asks us: “What if the story was not built from the separation of the members of the Spanish and French states and of ETA, but from the distinction between men and women?”

From this point of view, the key is not in the distinction between lines, but in the distinction according to the gender system.