“we have to catch him ASAP”
Escrito por Mariano Lozano - Thursday, 23 April 200911 comentarios
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"He has family in Alsasua. Educated. Speaks French and has driver’s license. Wants to get out home. Far away. So we have to catch him ASAP.
This is how ETA leaders, the armed and separatist band but overall, the terrorist gang, see one of their next candidate… And some young Basque people still think these guys are heroes. And also some US newspapers still call them "separatist band". Well, so far these heroes and separatist band have killed more than 800 people in Spain, 486 military and 353 civil people (including babies and children, tourists, etc).
| I wish that young Basques start seeing these heroes as riffraff, they will not defend neither the Basque country interests nor their own collaborators’ interests. They only take care of themselves. It’s time for some Basques to open their eyes, teens and young people mainly, and look at the future with hope instead of hate. And some neuron may help too. |  |
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There is something to ponder about how the media tries to ‘label’ news events that are of a strife nature worldwide, and how these are interpreted by the rest of their reading world.
The U.S. media has, in the past, exhibited a bit of short-sightedness about acts that take place abroad and are of a terrorist nature. They try to explain them out with polite restraint as ‘internal struggles’, and something that has a geo-political envelope around it that should not be penetrated (unless, of course, it hits upon our very country’s interests). I suppose this is also so because historically -when our own country underwent similar struggles back in 1776- we did not wish to be seen by the rest of the world as ‘terrorists’ to our cause (which is basically how the English Parliament portrayed us back then).
So when we read in our modern times of groups such as E.T.A., or the I.R.A., or the P.Q. (Parti Quebecois separatists)- since they do not hit upon or near our interests, and in order to respect sovereignty, our press will paint these group’s acts with the broad brushstroke of “people that wrestle with internal conflict within their own country. Political unrests, nothing more.” And being not versed on other people’s societal makeup (e.g., ignorant in Social Studies and Global Politics), we tend to ignore when these conflicts are really more than what is really painted and are instead acts of terrorism themselves. The very fact that in the aftermath of the March 11th terrorist attack in Madrid, the U.S. press did not draw much interest in the event when the E.T.A. was rumored as prime suspects to the incident is sufficient enough to understand this cultural divide, how we all perceive it, and how does it affect us all.
More should be done to understand the ultimate roots of events- regardless of countries involved, and more attention should be paid to what happens in other countries, not just ours. It is the nationalistic tendency to do so- but as we are slowly learning in these recent years, our whole world is our country nowadays. It is to our interest to understand that acts of human defiance, which are not sometimes the best way to resolve a problem, cannot be afforded the chance to hide anymore under the guise of ‘nationalism’.
Be sure things are changing. We expect a lot from the new not-nationalist government in Euzkadi. But there´s a lot of work to do, for example at school. The last 30 years a whole generation has been educated in the idea of being an opressed country. We need almost a new one to get things like before.
Lo bueno de salir de España es que es entonces cuando percibes que formas parte de un gran país. Mientras vives alli no te das cuenta.
That’s right, Triplete. Spaniards only know they come from a great country when they are abroad. I hope with the new government things going much better in the Basque Country.
Apologizing for writing this after the event reported out of Burgos yesterday, but I was browsing the ‘Net and stumbled upon this forum of comments after the MS-NBC newspiece. I was contemplating if the US -as this article conveyed- indeed was starting to recognize that ETA as a terrorist organization instead of separatist.
But what attracted me further was one commenter who alluded to something I kind of mentioned about the ‘American Revolution’- but his comment was really warped. Here is my response to his:
http://bit.ly/DMJ9C
I am not sure if this guy was a Zapatero fan, or just did not understood ZP’s current policy against ETA (I sure don’t understand it!). I feel it is still a complicated issue, except for the fact that these are terrorists and not separatists.
I went through the whole discussion and certainly, a lot of Spaniards were there. The funny comment was that which still believes that ETA is a muslim group… wow! a long way to run…
Zapatero got a weak position in this issue after he realized that a win-win negotiation didn´t work with terrorists. He tried to move away from Aznar´s position: the police solution. That was time of “dialogue, dialogue” but dialogue never came.
So true that a new Basque government, non nationalist (actually a socialist government, same as Zapatero) is struggling with terrorist negotiations.
They insist on dialogue about how to draw a new picture for the Basque country future but the terrorists are not interested on that. I don´t think that G. Washington had the idea of bombing London after he got the independence. The Basque country has now more autonomy than any State of USA.
By the way, it´s still funny to read comments on US forums and newspapers about the confusion between European Socialist parties and the Communist regime. A long way to run … again :-D
As a long-time resident in Spain, I’d like to add my own two cents, for what it’s worth.
ETA is a group that started fighting the Franco dictatorship. Then, I suppose, they could be termed separatists or even freedom fighters.
When democracy came to Spain, they called it a farce and decided to fight on until complete independence was won. The Basque country soon got self-government attributions far beyond those possessed by states in any federal republic (like the US). In Spain today any citizen can defend any idea -including independence- by democratic means: those ideas can be discussed, published and even voted on, within the rules of a democratic system. The only “oppression” in Spain today is against criminals (including terrorists). Any law, from the constitution down, can be changed by democratically-elected legislators following due process. Any abuse of existing laws can be denounced before the law courts. There is absolutely no justification for violent methods in democratic Spain today.
Of course, ETA still fight for independence, so technically they could be called separatists. But they use violent methods to pursue their goals, so they should be called, above all, terrorists. To term them as just a separatist group is like referring to the perpetrators of 11-9 as freedom fighters.
William, thanks for posting your comments on this article. I always try to learn further from other perspectives given, such as what you have posted; and I thought interesting your descriptions on how democracy is played out in both sides of the Atlantic with relation to this story.
Perhaps Mariano (the webmaster) would consider for his next article to post the theme of democracy as unfolded in post-Franco Spain compared to the Americas…
Thanks both for your comments. They are very appreciated.
Certainly it looks very interesting your suggestion, Polo-Go. I had the chance of living that democratic process and I´m more than glad to share my impressions.
Yes, definitely a good idea.
Spain is an exemplary 21st-century democracy, yet this whole ETA business is successfully harming its image abroad. At least it’s planting doubts in people’s minds who are not very well informed. We tend to think that if there’s a violent separatist group somewhere, it’s probably because there’s some oppressed minority or territory that has no choice but to fight for their rights with car bombs. It sounds like it’s the only choice if they’re desperate enough. And we tend to side with the underdogs or at least give them the benefit of the doubt. As in Tibet and other places.
But really, this is a non-issue. Basques who want independence can publish articles or books, can circulate petitions, can stand on a soapbox and give speeches till their faces turn blue, can run for office, can go on television, and nobody’s going to put them in jail for their ideas. Nobody… ever. Bombs, of course, are another matter.
Their problem is that most Basques are not interested and would not vote for them if they tried to democratically fight for their ideas. So they don’t care very much for the democratic system and opt for other methods that don’t require to take into account the population’s preferences. Simple. They want to save the Basques in spite of the Basques.
In Catalonia there’s a political party called Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, and they’re independists. You can term THEM separatists. They try to convince voters with their arguments, go on debates canvas their voter base, pass out leaflets, shake hands and kiss babies just like anybody else. If they had enough voter weight they would certainly push for whatever changes in the system were necessary for Catalonia to become independent.
Imagine a left-wing political party whose ultimate aim was secession of Alaska from the US? Would they be left alone and respected as just another party? Hard to imagine, huh? Well, in democratic Spain, ERC is recognized as a legitimate party, to the point that it’s part of a coalition that is now governing Catalonia, with the socialists and another left-wing party. But they realize that today independence is not feasible simply because voters are not interested, so they have it as a long-term goal. (Dream on, haha.)
Of course, if the ERC people decided to start killing cops or setting off car bombs in public places in order to achieve their aims, they’d end up in prison. Like they would in any other country. And then I don’t think we would refer to them as separatists, but as terrorists, pure and simple.
Another thing about Spanish democracy: it recognizes and wholeheartedly supports all UN-based organizations, including international law courts. I wish the US would too.
“Another thing about Spanish democracy: it recognizes and wholeheartedly supports all UN-based organizations, including international law courts. I wish the US would too.”
hahaha… you bet!
Some people of Esquerra Republicana were terrorists under Franco´s era. They were part of Terra Llure, which means “Free Land” and they put bombs as well but after some time they decided to disolve and become a legal party. The whole country respected their decision and all of us understand that any idea can be argued from a democratic point of view.
William,
Thanks again for adding further insight. Ha!, I also liked your reference to the Alaskan party (AIP) – I’m sure they are left alone in the States mainly because of the affiliation of a certain national-candidate name that gains no respect anyhow!
Joking aside, I do perceive the matter-of-fact existence of these ‘struggles’ within a democracy, and understand that there are many flavors of them even in countries you would not even consider. Heck, I’m even standing [sitting] on one right now- and didn’t even realize that they are on a terrorism knowledge base of all things (based on their secessionist notions)!:
http://bit.ly/BVowj
Not my state of origin, so I pretend not to pay mind- which brings me back to my initial comments in this article…
I don’t think it’s much of a perception issue or misunderstanding of how the separatist issue in Spain is portrayed in the States. I believe -as you said- that the separation movements in Spain (PNV/ERC) are and can be a valid process in a democracy, such that this country could learn (or own-up) of that definition. The problem is the media- a giant, and like authors of history, they have the edge on their journalistic ‘perspective’. Hence, to all others in this country (besides yourselves gathered virtually in this cozy US forum), ETA will always appear as part of a struggle or cause- a more ‘dramatic’ picture that we ‘posters’ understand as inaccurate.
Outside of this, the Iberian peninsula still intrigues me as a place with a good chance to re-define such definition of a democracy. But I can only understand this further, though, through insight of history and the appeal of first-hand accounts or comments.
Saludos
P.S.- The ICC topic is probably another ‘lengthy’ topic to have, even though I’m into global politics with less emphasis on the ‘politics’