Terra Lliure (, "Free Land"), sometimes referred to as TLL, was a far-left, Marxist-Leninist, and separatist paramilitary group active in Catalonia, Spain. Formed in 1978, the group carried out hundreds of attacks, leaving many people injured and five dead (four of them members of the organization while handling explosive devices in three separate incidents).
Terra Lliure, became known to the public with a protest at a mass meeting at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona in 1981. An important police raid in 1991 and the renunciation of violence by some of the group members led to the dissolution of Terra Lliure in 1995. After disbanding, many members joined the political party Republican Left of Catalonia. During the most active period of its activity it was considered a terrorist organization by SpanishTS Penal and European courts, Spanish press, and at least parts of the Catalan press.http://hemeroteca.lavanguardia.com/preview/1987/04/26/pagina-36/32988026/pdf.html>
Ideology Terra Lliure was described as a Marxist, nationalist and a separatist organization that sought to establish an independent Catalan state. Founded during the period of Spanish transition to democracy, Terra Lliure decried what it considered to be a persistence of anti-Catalan discrimination and state violence. It was placed on the far-left fringe of Catalan political forces and sought to be an imitation of Basque Euskadi Ta Askatasuna and became a bridge between Catalan anarchists and nationalists. In its 1981 Declaration of Principles, Terra Lliure described itself as a movement that "fights to defend the land, the language, national sovereignty, the interests of workers and against the Spanishization of Catalan society".
Similarly to Basque ETA, Terra Lliure was also influenced by the far-left liberation theology and had a faction directly dedicated to it. This is in line with the Basque ETA that Terra Lliure aspired to become a Catalan equivalent of; ETA was founded in the Benedictine seminary in Lazkao and was supported by Basque clergy, which harboured separatist and nationalist tendencies, especially at local level. Pro-ETA Basque priests accepted violent actions of ETA, considering it justified as part of the oppressed people's aspiration for freedom and independence. One of the most prominent supporters of ETA amongst the Basque clergy was José María Setién, the Archbishop of San Sebastián. In case of Catalonia, despite the fact that Catalonia was a heavily anti-clerical nation prior to WW2, the nationalist movement became increasingly "Catholicized" between 1940s and 1960s, as the Catholic Church became the only institution that the Francoist regime was unable to persecute for its usage and promotion of the Catalan language. Following Vatican II, Catalan clergy would increasingly emerge as a vocal opponent of the Francoist regime, and many parishes provided refugee and aid to anti-Francoist groups. In 1963, Catalan abbot Aureli Maria Escarré went as far as arguing that the Francoist regime "does not obey the basic principles of Christianity". The commitment of the Catholic Church to preserve the Catalan language and aid anti-Francoist resistance earned the respect of Catalan Communists who abandoned the traditional Catalan anti-clericalism and instead "began to see the Church as a potential ally". Terra Lliure sought to continue the link between Catalan socialists and the Catholic clergy, seeing the post-Francoist Spain as merely a continuation of Francoism and its repressive structures.
Politically, Terra Lliure emerged from a split in the Socialist Party of National Liberation (, PSAN), a pro-independence party with a Marxist-Leninist ideology created in 1969 and based in Catalonia and the Valencian Community, and the Independentists of the Catalan Countries (, IPC) party, which emerged in Catalonia and was the result of a split in the PSAN in 1979. In July 1984, the Movement for Defence of the Land (, MDT) was formed, another Catalan pro-independence left-wing party that integrated these two parties and became the political arm of Terra Lliure. Terra Lliure's objectives, made explicit and explained in its internal bulletins called Alerta, were: independence, socialism and the reunification of the "Països Catalans", a cultural entity comprising the Principality of Catalonia, the Valencian Country, the Balearic Islands, as well as its bordering areas (the so-called Catalunya Nord to the north and the Franja to the west). Terra Lliure argued that only Catalan independence can protect its culture and bring about socialism, while rejecting autonomismo (autonomism) and sucursalismo ("sectionalism", a regional political party's dependence on the central party).
Despite calling for "Països Catalans", Terra Lliure envisioned that Greater Catalonia would be further separated, either through federalization or subsequent separatism, into regions "with different languages", with the Valencian language being cited as an example. According to Terra Lliure, these languages were forced to communicate in Spanish, and Spanish assimilationist policies resulted in fragmentation of Catalan society, where the "Catalan working people" (poble treballador català) were now alienated in their own homeland by privileged Spanish speakers. In its program, Terra Lliure also decried the decline of traditional Catalan industries, environmental destruction, and state-sanctioned repression. Through this, the organization also had protectionist, environmentalist and anarchist overtones (with anarchism being represented by some of the factions within Terra Lliure). It also called for the defence of Catalan territory, language and national sovereignty from espanyolistas and anti-nationalist, along with "protecting the interests of workers" against "the forces of occupation".
In a 1982 letter released by Terra Lliure, the organization wrote: "Ever since the French and Spanish states conquered the Països Catalans, we have walked towards our destruction as a people." Terra Lliure described Catalonia as "subject to continued aggression from the Spanish and French oligarchies and the regional bourgeoise, that endanger everything that constitutes our national heritage: land, work, language, customs. Not only do they call into question our national identity, but also our survival as [the] people who [make up] Catalan society." Terra Lliure argued that class and national liberation were inextricable from each other and could only be achieved through armed struggle. The party accused Spain of "attempted annihilation of the Catalan nation" and warned of the loss of national consciousness and replacement of Catalan cultures through the hegemonic culture of Spain. It warned that disappearance of Catala language from public use meant that the "Catalan culture was reduced to catacombs". Terra Lliure also argued that democratized Spain continues "attempts at cultural and national genocide" and stated its belief that the prevalence of Spanish language in Catalonia must be prevented and fought against, writing: "We do not accept the existence of two communities or two languages as a perpetual fact, as this can only lead to the disappearance of our language and our community and to an artificial division of our working people."
History In the 1960s, a new generation of anti-Franco activists reshaped Catalanism and separatism. In 1968, the Socialist Party of National Liberation (, PSAN) was founded, which combined Marxist revolutionary ideology with Catalan separatism. PSAN took anti-colonial struggles and third-world anti-imperialist nationalism as its model for Catalan separatism. The party grew increasingly divided during the Spanish transition of democracy, with many left-wing radical, revolutional socialist, but also moderate and reformist currents emerging. Terra Liure was founded in 1978 by a small faction of PSAN that endorsed violent tactics despite the end of Francoism, arguing that a "symbolic" damage is necessary in order to assist and bring about national and class liberation.
As small Catalan terrorist cells coalesced around Terra Liure and started its activities in 1979, the movement struggled with lack of support and popularity as the sociopolitical conditions were no longer favorable to violent tactics. The exiled regional government of Catalonia officially returned in late 1977 and was the transitional Catalan government until the 1980 Catalan regional election. Unlike in Basque Country, in Catalonia voters overwhelmingly approved of the new constitution in 1978, with 61% voting in favour with a turnout of 68% - in comparison, only 31% of Basque voters voted in favour with a turnout of 45%. The 1979 Spanish local elections showed that the Catalan movement had great potential to become a powerful force in Spanish politics and take power in the upcoming regional elections, leading many Catalan nationalists to embrace reformist and Spanish democracy. The Catalan statute of autonomy also proved popular, with 53% of voters supporting it in October 1979 (with a 60% turnout).
In the 1980 Catalan elections, the centrist Convergence and Union (CiU) unexpectedly won with 28% of the vote, ahead of the socialist PSC and communist PSUC. This allowed Terra Lliure to gain some support for its tactics and to escalate violence as radical nationalists grew disillusioned with CiU governments, resulting in some support for terrorism. The foundation of the Movement for Defence of the Land in 1984 marked the best period in the history of Terra Lliure, as a known political front and terrorist organization shifted towards more radical actions. The organization was then severely weakened in late 1985 as its leadership was arrested and its political front suffered splits along strategic issue. The separatist Republican Left of Catalonia (, ERC) also attracted the members of Terra Lliure into its ranks by negotiationg individual solutions for jailed activists, resulting in separatist voters and militants embracing ERC, which became the third largest party in Catalan parliament.
In May 1981, Terra Lliure kidnapped Spanish cultural activist and teacher Federico Jiménez Losantos who helped organizing and then signed the Manifesto of the 2,300, which decried legal protections given to the Catalan language. The manifesto alleged that Spanish speakers are discriminated against in Catalonia, and warned against "Catalanization" of Catalan schools and public spaces. After verifying his identity and locating him, Terra Lliure members tied Jiménez to a tree and shot him in the knee, but allowed him to be rescued. Terra Lliure called their attack a "retaliation for activities against the Catalan language".
Despite struggling to gain widespread approval for its radical militancy amongst the Catalan public before, Terra Lliure's attack on Jiménez was not met with outrage as the overwhelming majority of Catalans were strongly critical of the Manifesto of the 2,300 signed and organized by Jiménez. The Catalan public vehemently rejected the claim that Spanish speakers were discriminated against, and Catalan newspapers unanimously condemned the manifesto. The University of Barcelona organized a counter-declaration "in defense of the Catalan language, culture, and nation", which was endorsed by over 1300 Catalan institutions and voluntary associations. This sparked the foundation of a Catalan organization Crida a la Solidaritat en Defensa de la Llengua which organized a rally at Camp Nou in June 1981, with the slogan “Som una nació” (). The rally had around 100,000 attenders and sparked a political and cultural movement in favor of Catalanization and Catalan autonomy, and against Spanish centralization. Terra Lliure also attended the event and distributed its leaflets, gaining recognition and new recruits.