Madrid
on elections eve
needs to emulate Northern Ireland
when dealing with the Basque
terrorists
By
Jonathan
Power
March 11, 2004
LONDON - The on going terrorist threat from the
Basque separatist group, ETA, has become the trump card
for the ruling Popular Party in Spain's general election
on Sunday. This goes to show that, while the Spanish
think the Americans overdid it with their reaction to
September 11th and 90% of them opposed Prime Minister
Jose Maria Aznar's decision to align himself with
Washington in the Iraq war, when terrorism knocks on
their own door they jump to the right like everyone
else.
As with its counterpart, the Northern Ireland
conflict, the continuation of Basque nationalist
terrorism in Spain is too fueled by historical sentiment
and myth on one side and by narrow minded
authoritarianism on the other for easy settlement.
Hot
debate
Ana Palacio, Spain's Minister of Foreign Affairs,
answers Jonathan Power in International Herald
Tribune, March 13, 2004: Spain
and terrorism
Nevertheless, Northern Ireland has found a peace of
sorts and the lion is lying down with the lamb, at least
to the extent that the truce of 1998 is prevailing. But
Basque militancy, in the form of the ETA guerrilla army,
continues with its ferocious policy of assassination and
intimidation, albeit at a slower pace than before, out of
step not only with the rest of Europe, not just with the
majority mood of the rest of the country, but also with
the majority mood of the Basque country itself.
This is the clear reading of not just what is said and
done today but of the last regional elections two and a
half years' ago, the last time the militants had a
legitimate party to vote for. The radical leftist party,
Batasuna, widely considered to be ETA's political wing
and one that is associated with the necessity for
violence in pursuit of the aim of winning independence
from Spain, had its vote share cut in half. (The party
has sinced been banned.)
If violence was repudiated it wasn't defeated and
neither was the common cause of at least half the
citizens of this beleaguered but prosperous region. The
joint effort of Spain's two principal national parties-
the Popular party and the opposition Socialist party-
failed to win a clear mandate against independence,
gaining just 41% of the vote between them. The clear
winner was the moderate Basque Nationalist Party (PNV)
with 42% of the vote. While the party eschews violence,
it has adopted the ETA goal of a breakaway from Spain, or
at least some status very close to that.
The region is almost the antithesis of Northern
Ireland. Whilst Northern Ireland has been depressed
economically and divided by ancient religious hatreds,
the Basque people share the same religion, have won a
great degree of autonomy, including control of their own
police force, and are now at the heart of one of the more
bustling parts of Europe with the marvelous art museum,
the Guggenheim, helping trigger the urban renewal of its
largest city, Bilbao.
In the simple light of day there is no contest.
Northern Ireland should be the difficult one and the
Basque cause should have been blown away long ago with
the winds of post Franco democratic change. It has not
happened and shows little sign of happening, despite the
repudiation at the poll of the pro ETA party. Its appeal
even to middle class young recruits remains strong.
This is why Juan Jose Ibarretxe, leader of the PNV,
says the central government has to re-engage in dialogue
with Basque nationalism. "Dialogue to achieve what?"
replies Mr. Aznar. "I have nothing to say on the question
of self-determination."
It is this absolutism, this arrogance of power, common
to both the government and its predecessor, the
Socialists of former prime minister Felipe Gonzalez, that
has helped make ETA the formidable and dangerous force it
has become.
It is not sufficient, as the government does, to query
the historical depth of the Basque cause, though often
enough Basque loyalists have inflated the uniqueness of
Basque culture. It is, to use shorthand, important to
remember Guernica. When elements in the government of
Gonzalez unleashed their dirty war against ETA it
resuscitated these bad old memories of repression and
brutality.
What Aznar does and says today- and under his
government human rights abuses have been less, but still
happen- is to keep alive that sense of being badly done
by. Though the depth of bitterness and grievance among
Basques might appear overdone to non-emotionally involved
outsiders, it was enough to give the parties of
independence 53% of the vote in 2001. This has to mean
the solution lies in negotiation.
Ireland reminds us that democrats do, sooner or later,
talk to terrorists who have significant political
support. In Spain too it is time to talk.
Hot
debate
Ana Palacio, Spain's Minister of Foreign Affairs,
March 13, 2004, in International Herald
Tribune:
Spain
and terrorism
"Regrettably, the article evidences an astounding
ignorance of the true situation in the Basque
country," Palacio says in response to Power's March
12 column in the International Herald Tribune.
I can be reached by phone +44
7785 351172 and e-mail: JonatPower@aol.com
Copyright © 2004 By
JONATHAN POWER
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