society as mediator for conflict resolution: elkarri’s 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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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:info@elkarri.orgWeb 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 tonewtactics@cvt.org.
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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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
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Society as Mediator for Conflict Resolution 9
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
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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.
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Society as Mediator for Conflict Resolution 11
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
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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
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Society as Mediator for Conflict Resolution 13
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
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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.
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Society as Mediator for Conflict Resolution 15
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.
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717 East River RoadMinneapol is, MN 55455
w w w.cvt.org /cvt@cvt .orgw w w.newtactics.org /newtactics@cvt .org
To pr int or download this and other publicat ionsin the Tactical Notebook Series,go to ww w.newtactics.org.
Online you will also find a searchable datab ase of tactics andforums for discussion with ot her human r ights pract i t ioners.
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