Abstract

The in-depth comparative analysis of political rhetoric in a Basque newspaper's editorials, published on 17/18 October 1997, and reporting similar events in Basque or Spanish, suggests that the use of these languages involved different constructions of the readership and strategies to express writer/reader communality. The Basque language editorial eventually conveyed an assertive we Basques, stressing the search of unity, differentiation and sovereignty. Conflict/differences between the Basques were omitted, backgrounded or ironised, while differences with the Spanish were foregrounded. The Spanish editorial avoided using the rhetoric of we and blamed specific Basques for the repression of Basque secessionism. Subtle criticism against Euskadi Ta Askatasuna served to include it among the human victims. The implications of such fine-detailed differences are discussed as those linked to the struggle to strengthen a representative democracy patterned on Western models, which presuppose that since conflicting proposals can co-exist, the use of violence is unnecessary for the communities/political institutions’ implementation.