Social conflict and alternative mass communications: public art and politics in the service of Spanish-Basque nationalism

Abstract. Mass communication is multi-dimensional. One often overlooked alternative medium of mass communication, when it is systematic and not random, is public art - murals, graffiti, wall painting and posters. The linking of art and politics has precedents in Basque culture. It is the thesis of this article that public art is an important factor in the political communication process in the Basque region, that Basque nationalists, especially radical Basques revolving around the ETA movement, have used public art as one source for increasing visibility, raising consciousness, and building a mass based movement. What is particular about Basque nationalism is that it is a cultural-political movement, a reawakening from a 'culture of silence' induced by the Franco regime. Today, public art is an accepted channel for communicating the gamut of socio-political issues relevant to the social conflict in the Basque homeland.