On 20 October it is ten years since ETA announced the end of the armed struggle. British mediator Jonathan Powell says that there are peace, success and compromise processes that have failed. In his opinion, Euskal Herria is one of the latter.

What opened the new era? Now, the Gogoratuz Institute and the lehendakari Urkullu have pointed to the pressures of Basque society and the police. And yes, there are no reasons, they were decisive, but what about Basque society deserves a key nuance to understand the end of ETA: the pressure of the sociological sphere of the Abertzale left, which had been in existence for a long time, and, above all, of its political sphere, were key. Without its push, always in decline and increasingly marginalised, but ETA could endure several years.

ETA’s violence ended, but it is obvious that the winner has conquered that mythical “you could talk about everything without violence/everything is possible”. The juridical-repressive structure of the Spanish State remains in force so that the Basque Left does not explain to society its vision of the past. In the name of coexistence, but with a clear objective of erosion of the Abertzale left, the PNV insists that it be acknowledged that “violence was unfair”, with the aim of limiting the action of this political sector and the 50 years of the Basque conflict to the violence of ETA.

ETA was a violent political response to the Franco regime that continued to develop politically until it lost the north in its blindness and in the maze opened by the state. More interesting than interpreting, understanding, explaining and discussing all this from pluralism, is to assume the whole vision of the Abertzale left under the roller of its victor, hiding reality and harming future coexistence.

From what this decade has given, many reflect, for example, the following legal facts, which affirm more about state violence than about social pressure: The Bateragune case, the Herrira case, the operation against Tantaz Tantaz, the case of the People's Bars, the case of Altsasu/Alsasua, the 13/13 being held these days, the closure of various media, the arrests of mediators... Hundreds of people who are involved and punished in the process opened by the runway of the Aiete Conference.

And we're certainly much better off than we were in 2010. The desire for peace was at the forefront of society, the accumulated suffering was too great. Interesting steps have been taken, but better use should be made of the opportunity to open a solid peace cycle over time and to build coexistence and future political norms with more consensus. The roll has been chosen, leaving many wounds uncured and feeding the volcanoes of the future. And worst of all, you don't see any other hand movements that use the roller to spin.