J298 student Veronica San Millan is from Spain. In this blog, she gives her analysis of the attacks and the political aftermath.
Excerpt:
Right after the bombing, which costed 200 deaths as of today, ETA was sentenced as responsible for the attacks. Why? For the past 40 years this has been a habit.
But people were skeptical of whether or not ETA was involved. This terrorist attack was not ETA’s style and during the last year more than 200 people related to the organization had been captured. Therefore, it was really hard to believe that ETA had the capacity and infrastructure to perform an attack like 11M.
SPAIN BEFORE 11M
Before the terrorist attacks happened, the election estimations pointed to PP (Partido Popular- “central”-right wing party) as the winners with absolute majority again (it would be their third presidency in a row). Those voting for PP would have supported increased employment rates, improvement in the economy and a very harsh anti-terrorist policy towards the Bask country, historically, the only major threat posed to Spain. The Bask terrorist organization: ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna) claims the independence of the territory which was a main target during Franco’s regime.
PP’s opponents reject the abuse of power and its unilateral decisions. PP cut the budget for social services, increased the price of housing and centralized the powers, degradating the autonomic competences (equal to state power). This was for some already enough to desire a change, but then in November 2002 PP made an awful decision regarding the Prestige Case; a petrol cargo boat that sank in the Spanish Atlantic coast and affected the marine life and the fish market of a vast zone. But the climax for the opposition was achieved when the Government decided to become an ally of Bush’s campaign against Iraq. The gigantic demonstrations by the people of Spain and the disagreement of the Parliament was not enough to prevent J.M. Aznar of being in Bush’s VIP group of friends and hopefully gaining a piece of the pie with the reconstruction of the country
SPAIN IN 11M
Right after the bombing, which costed 200 deaths as of today, ETA was sentenced as responsible for the attacks. Why? For the past 40 years this has been a habit.
But people were skeptical of whether or not ETA was involved. This terrorist attack was not ETA’s style and during the last year more than 200 people related to the organization had been captured. Therefore, it was really hard to believe that ETA had the capacity and infrastructure to perform an attack like 11M.
However, president Aznar appeared on TV claiming that it was ETA who had performed the attacks. Even the King Juan Carlos (who hadn’t made an appearance since the unsuccessful coup d’etat of 1981) expressed his condemnation to the terrorist attack, also making a special reference to the Bask separatist issue.
People began taking to the streets and I thought to myself: Four more years of PP because it has been the strongest party against ETA and people feel safer by electing them.
But everything turned upside-down with the unreliable evidence found in a van close to one of the stations where one of the trains exploded. A videotape with verses of Al Quran and some Arabic scripts were found. It was not very significant proof, but it opened a new door: The possibility of it having been the attack of an Extremist Islamic Organization, which people translate into being Al Qaeda, which people then relate with the War in Iraq, and people then wonder: Why did we put ourselves in other’s business? And suddenly we realize, well, we didn’t, Aznar did.
SPAIN BETWEEN 11M AND 14M
The first 24 hours after the bombings was a time of confusion and emotions, but regardless, there is not excuse for misinformation. The Spanish Government manipulated conspired and occulted information. They continued pointing ETA as target number one, even after the letter sent to Al Qud in which an unknown Islamic group assumed responsibility for the acts. And even after an anonymous voice from ETA called to TeleMadrid TV station to refute PP’s accusation and sent two letters to the Gara newspaper, the publication they usually get in touch with to confirm their responsibility of terrorist attacks, PP still accused ETA of committing the attacks.
The Government was not only being dishonest to those families who had lost loved ones, but also denying the truth to a whole country. People started taking to the streets again to demand the truth from Aznar before casting their vote. When five people were arrested because of a possible link to the attacks PP couldn’t hide the truth anymore, even if it meant losing the elections.
THE DETAINEDS:
Three Moroccans: Jamal Zougam, Mohamad Bekkali and Mohamed Chaoui, appear in recorded conversations from Al Qaeda cells in Spain and might possibly be related to the attacks on 9/11.
Two Spanish of Indian origin: Vinay Kohly and Suresh Kuma, whose names were related to the cell phone cards left in the bag where the bomb that didn’t explode was located.
To these men who have already been captured and to those who will be in the coming months of investigation, the “Parties Law” will be applied. The Parties Law was approved in 2002 by the attorney super hero Baltasar Garzon. The law essentially persecutes and removes the parties that might be a threat to the Constitution. But in the cases that follow 11M, the time of interrogation and detention will increase up to 5 days without a warrant.
THE EXPECTED CHANGE OF 14M
The night before 14M I went to sleep with the resignation of the fact that many people in my country cared more about their growing bank accounts than about social justice. But I hoped that the bloody images on TV and the solidarity people had with the innocent civilians and their families would awake people’s consciousness to vote against an unfair government that perpetuates the inequalities and only seeks international popularity. Unfortunately 200 dead and 1500 injured people were needed for this awakening to happen. But 14M was a day full of hope for Spain and the rest of the world too. Change is possible and the goals for social justice are now closer with a socialist government in power. But there is still a lot to work ahead of us.
Washington Post, by Fareed Zakaria
Does it matter whether the carnage in Madrid last week was the act of the Basque terrorist organization, ETA, or of al Qaeda? Of course there are important differences. ETA is a local organization, al Qaeda a global one. The former is secular, the latter religious. But they have something in common that is revealing about the nature of terrorism. Both groups had political agendas, but as their political causes have lost steam, they are increasingly defined almost exclusively by a macabre culture of violence.
All That's Left Is Violence
By Fareed Zakaria
Sunday, March 14, 2004; Page B07
Does it matter whether the carnage in Madrid last week was the act of the Basque terrorist organization, ETA, or of al Qaeda? Of course there are important differences. ETA is a local organization, al Qaeda a global one. The former is secular, the latter religious. But they have something in common that is revealing about the nature of terrorism. Both groups had political agendas, but as their political causes have lost steam, they are increasingly defined almost exclusively by a macabre culture of violence.
"The purpose of terrorism," Vladimir Lenin once said, "is to terrorize." Like much of what he said, this is wrong. Terrorism has traditionally been used to advance political goals. That's why a rule of terrorists used to be: "We want a few people dead and a lot of people watching." Terrorists sought attention but didn't want people to lose sympathy for their cause.
Yet with many terrorist groups -- like ETA, like al Qaeda -- violence has become an end in itself. They want a lot of people dead, period.
Some in Spain have argued that if an Islamic group proves to be the culprit, Spaniards will blame Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar. It was his support for America and the war in Iraq that invited the wrath of the fundamentalists. But other recent targets of Islamic militants have been Turkey, Morocco, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, not one of which supported the war or sent troops into Iraq in the after-war. Al Qaeda's declaration of jihad had, as its first demand, the withdrawal of American troops from Saudi Arabia. Osama bin Laden does not seem to have noticed, but the troops are gone -- yet the jihad continues. The reasons come and go, the violence endures.
The Middle East scholar Giles Keppel makes an analogy between communist groups and Islamic fundamentalists. In the 1940s and 1950s, communist groups were popular and advanced their cause politically. By the 1960s, after revelations about Joseph Stalin's brutality, few believing communists were left in Europe. Facing irrelevance, the hardcore radicals in the movement turned to violence, hoping to gain attention and adherents by daring acts of bloodshed. Thus the proliferation of terror by groups such as the Red Brigades and the Baader-Meinhof Gang. Similarly, Islamic fundamentalism tried for decades to gain popular support and topple the regimes of the Middle East. When this tactic failed, radicals like bin Laden turned to terrorism.
ETA follows this pattern. Having been founded to protest the brutal suppression of the Basques under Francisco Franco's reign, it has foundered as Spain became democratic and provided the Basques with increasing levels of autonomy. Almost every demand of Basque nationalists has been met over the last decade. Basques run their own region (through a mainstream, non-violent nationalist party), collect their own taxes, have their own police, speak their own language and broadcast their own television and radio programs. As a result support for ETA is down to 5 percent at most. Support for its political sympathizers, the political party Batasuna, hovers under 10 percent. In fact support for Basque nationalism itself has waned considerably. In the last election, 60 percent of Basques voted for parties that did not espouse Basque nationalism.
It is in this context that ETA announced in 2000 the "reactivation of armed struggle" after a 14-month cease-fire. In the next two years it launched 87 bombings and assassinations, in which 38 people were killed. But because of effective police work by Spain and France, ETA's attacks dropped to 20 in 2002, with five deaths, and so far this year there have been 17 hits, in which three people were killed.
In the past ETA hit only Spanish politicians, policemen and other symbols of Spanish rule. Now it targets civilians indiscriminately. In its region, it murders Basques who dare speak out against secession, firebombs bookstores and intimidates the press, creating a pervasive atmosphere of fear.
"Violence has become ETA's main rationale," a former separatist who renounced ETA told the Financial Times in 2002. "The exercise of violence creates antibodies. ETA's new recruits can digest barbaric acts that would have been unthinkable under Franco: the torturing of town councillors, the killing of children, of traffic wardens and local policemen. ETA now is led by its most extreme elements, those who are prepared to go furthest in all this senseless killing."
ETA's goal -- the creation of a single Basque nation -- is not as fantastical as is al Qaeda's dream of a restored caliphate. But given that part of the Basque lands it wants to unify are in France, and none of the French Basques have any interest in this plan, it is utterly unrealistic. The goals are now charades, excuses for bloodletting.
Spanish authorities have estimated that the number of ETA's hard-core activists is well under 100. Most estimates of serious al Qaeda operatives are in the hundreds. Technology means that small numbers can still do great harm -- as last week's tragedy amply illustrates. But that should not obscure the reality that this violence is a sign of weakness.
That's why Friedrich Engels, a shrewder observer than Vladimir Lenin, wrote to Karl Marx in 1870, "Terror is for the most part useless cruelties committed by frightened people to reassure themselves."
comments@fareedzakaria.com
MADRID, Spain (AP) -- Spain's interior minister Saturday announced the arrest of five suspects in the Madrid bombings, including three Moroccans.
The other two are Spaniards of "Hindu" origin, minister Angel Acebes said.
The five were arrested in connection with a cell phone inside an explosives-packed gym bag found on one of the bombed commuter trains.
The suspects "could be related to Moroccan extremist groups," the minister said. "But we should not rule out anything. Police are still investigating all avenues. This opens an important avenue."
MADRID, March 11 — In the bloodiest terrorist attack on a European target, 10 bombs exploded during this morning's rush hour in three commuter train stations here. The Interior Ministry said more than 190 people were killed and more than 1,200 wounded.
Three other bombs were discovered and detonated by the police in the highly coordinated explosions, which went off within a 10-minute period.
As the country struggled to absorb the carnage just three days before general elections, Prime Minister José María Aznar appeared on television and called the attacks "mass murder." He vowed that Spain would never negotiate with "these assassins."
Mr. Aznar added, "March 11 now has it place in the history of infamy."