Were Spanish politicians right to stop campaigning?
It was an emotional looking Zapatero who clasped his Basque socialists comrades as he arrived in the north. All Spanish parties had agreed to call off the final hours of campaigning because of the murder of a former Socialist councillor. .
The leader of the conservative PP has also been to the home town of the murdered man to meet his widow. Senior politicians are likely to attend the funeral later today. They immediately called off campaigning and cancelled planned rallies.
I have no way of knowing if every door knocker and leafleter ceased their activity. And in fact because no campaigning is allowed today they have only forfeited a couple of hours of coverage.
As I write Spanish TV is replaying solemn statements from the two leaders, although Spanish law forbids them to broadcast ordinary political statements.
In the Spanish Parliament other leaders gathered to issue a statement condemning the killing and showing solidarity against Eta, which not issued any statement claiming to have committed the murder.
But was it right to react in such a way?
Politicians are always quick to say that terrorism will not influence them. Yet whether it is introducing harsher laws or starting peace talks, it does. But in this case have the Spanish politicians sent out the wrong signals?
It is understandable why they have reacted as they did. After the terrible bombing that killed a 191 people three days before the last election it raised awful memories. When the conservatives blamed Eta rather than Islamists it seemed to change the result. This time they wanted to show dignity and unity.
This was also the first Eta murder on Spanish soil for two years so it wasn’t merely the continuation of a long running campaign. Of course it is right to pay tribute to the murdered man and attempt words of comfort to his family. But won’t the murderer be sitting at home, watching TV, chuckling that he can jerk the strings of a nation? Is it right to cancel the normal democratic process?
I am glad my job is to raise questions not take decisions that answer them.
By the way, in reply to some e-mails I have got I take it the lack of comments on recent items is a technical problem rather than a boycott campaign. It's as frustrating for me as for you (my questions are not rhetorical) and we are trying to fix it.
I’m Mark Mardell, the 91Èȱ¬'s North America editor. These are my reflections on American politics, some thoughts on being a Brit living in the USA, and who knows what else? My 
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As a Spanish voter, I have the gut feeling that terrorists should not be allowed to dictate the political calendar, or how we go about our daily lives.
Whilst having the deepest sympathy for the family, friends and companions, I, for one, believe we cannot give in to murder, however it may be shrouded in political objectives.
By the way, as a resident of Catalunya I am a firm advocate of Catalan and Basque independence from the strangle hold of a centralized state with no sensibility for other peoples, their cultures and languages.
The campaign was about to end yesterday at midnight, 10 hours after ETA killed an innocent man. What would you suggest, Mark, to keep going on with the parties rallies?
Mr. Mardell,
I just would like to pinpoint that the assasination of Isaias Carrasco was not the first within two years on Spanish soil.
Remember the two south americans dead when the terrorists blew up the T4 terminal at Madrid/Barajas airport one year ago.
Thank you
I think it is right to stop the campaign; it was the last day so it would be inappropriate to have the party atmosphere which surrounds the end of the campaign with a dead body in the vicinity.
In any case, the US-British 'War on Terror' syndrome doesn't exist in Spain, where (in US/UK) civil liberties and collective freedoms are trashed in the name of 'winning the war on terror'. In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in London I heard a lot of repressive and threatening government talk (and measures) but very little show of collective mourning. For example, in Spain, after the March 2004 terrorist atrocities there were mass demonstrations which were nowhere to be seen in the UK after the July attacks.
This article itself shows this cultural divide: For a Spanish mindset to stop the campaign is a sign of mourning; it is not a sign of weakness in front of the terrorists. For the British/American cultural mindset, the natural reaction is a more ‘macho’ one, sending police armed to their teeth with tanks and armoured vehicles to patrol airports and train stations and to pass more and more repressive legislation, eg. the Patriot Act, Guantanamo, the 90 day detention, ordinary renditions, etc.
‘Cancelling the normal democratic process’ as you say, Mark, is precisely that: To pass repressive legislation and to undertake actions that trash the democratic principles and values that are supposedly being defended in the so-called ‘war on terror’. Mourning, on the other hand, is not 'cancelling the normal democratic process.
Finally Mark, re your comment, 'By the way, in reply to some e-mails I have got I take it the lack of comments on recent items is a technical problem rather than a boycott campaign. It's as frustrating for me as for you (my questions are not rhetorical) and we are trying to fix it.' I wonder what the 91Èȱ¬ does with their poll-tax money. The 91Èȱ¬ website is the only place where posting a comment seems to be beset with perennial technical problems.
I think they are right to stop campaigning because certain political parties wouldn't be able to resist trying to score political points out of the Eta killing. It is amazing that a country in the European Union cannot have an election without someone being killed.
As a spaniard I know it would be impossible to avoid anyone from the two main parties could try to use ths murder for political goals. So in my opinion it is a decision which not means terrorism influence (the campaign could keep on without any problem) but thought to avoid typical spanish hard political row regarding this murder. I would prefer otherwise that the campaign could have continued.
We need now more law enforcement than ever (after four years of irregular police pressure), but without stopping to teach young students hate to Spain in Basque schools it is going to be difficult to end this madness. And this is a responsibility of the incumbent Basque Nationalist Party, which is not determined to "screw" terrorists and the people supporting them.
I'm so glad that you use the word "terrorism" in this comment on the aftermath of the murder of IsÃas Carrasco.
We who live in the Basque country feel that the 91Èȱ¬ and its reporters have very little idea of the real situation. There seems to be an idea that this is Ulster, when here, there is only ONE terrorist group blowing up or murdering innocent people who do not share their Marxist-Leninist/independence ideas(or whatever they may want, which is not quite clear to us or to the 91Èȱ¬, if I may say so). Here, there is not another armed group fighting ETA. We are all "sitting ducks" and thousands of peaceful, innocent people are living with bodyguards to protect them, simply because they have normal democratic ideas or are trying to perform their ordinary tasks as judges, local concillors or businessmen. Our lives are not free in the Basque Country. We practise self censure. We do not talk in the street or in bars or restaurants, and certainly not to unknown people, about what we feel about politics, press reports and the situation. We may hide the press we read, unless it is Deia or Gara. Some even have to close the window so that the neighbours do not hear them listening to Radio Nacional because it is Spanish. If one says the word "Spain" here, one is condemed as a non-Basque and is therefore not part of the community.
Terror takes other forms too. The "revolutionary tax" is widespread. If you refuse to pay, you may be shot so you end up living with bodyguards, if you can pay for them, or just in terror, or packing up your business and leaving the Basque country. Please look up statistics of the number of people and their companies who have left the Basque country. The nationalist unions ELA/LAB are also destructive for business. The Rioja, Burgos and Navarra are benefitting from companies moving out of the Basque country.
Another giant question at the moment is education. The Basque country is a bilingual community,and each person has the right to speak his own language. 80% of the population speaks Castillian as its mother tongue. The Basque Minister of Education has brought in a new decree, not yet a law, saying that the line A, in Castillian, with Basque as a suject, will cease to exist in September, meaning 80% of the population will lose the right to educate its children in its mother tongue. And Basque is not like Catalan. Its vocabulary and structures are unrelated to any language. Learning Basque will become an obligation rather than a right.
The 91Èȱ¬'s emission in the past of the masked ETA terrorists making declarations was totally shocking and has since then made me and others who believed in the 91Èȱ¬'s impartiality doubt about your reporting. Your Programme in 2000, I believe , about the situation in Durango after the shooting of concillor Pedroso was lamentable. The reporter questioned in great detail the government sources, but never questioned or investigated any of the claims of Herri Batasuna or the Eta youth group Segi. (Or was it Haika then?) Perhaps you should read Le Monde from a couple of days ago, where the anti terrorist judge, Laurence Le Vert, describes the sect supporting ETA.
I hope to see and hear a more impartial view on the Basque Country on the 91Èȱ¬.
M
You don´t have any idea about the spanish politics
I think its right to stop campaigning. this election has been full of insults from the opposition to the government and vice-versa. Economic slow-down vs. recession, negotiate with ETA or not. Environmental policies, etc. Everyone is polarized. It's about time they got together and showed consensus on something. Solidarity and respect for the people they represent. It is a day of mourning, not a day to stand in front of thousands of people and shout how one is better than the other at stopping terrorism, as they have all failed. The real question is whether or not there will be a significant show at tomorrow's polls...
I'm Spanish and I'm very tired and angry with Spanish politicians. The worst thing of this campaign is that, one more time, politicians in Spain never learn about their past mistakes. It happened four years ago with Al-Qaeda's train bombings in Madrid, and it happened yesterday with the assasination commited by terrorist group ETA. There's no unity against terrorism, and both PSOE and PP have used this topic nearly everyday to get potitical rentability. It's a very sad behaviour. Following this way, we'll never be able to defeat ETA.
Hello Mark,
As you state, half a day of campaigning doesn't make much difference. I think it would've been quite awkward if they would've continued. It wouldn't have looked right for people, in the sense 'the politicians' would've lacked respect for the man. The murder of the PSOE-ex-councillor is a political deed, if the perpetrator was an ETA-member of course. The media say his town is a Basque nationalist bulwark, so it's odds-on, besides the fact it seems an ETA-style murder.
The parties may have officially stopped their campaign yesterday, but when the spokesmen of the parties made their respective statements, the discordance began already. The PP couldn't refrain from making remarks on 'to negiotate or not' with 'the terrorists'. When I saw that live, my first reaction was: "There they go again". It has been an issue during the whole campaign and instead of just uniting with the rest of the -very broad- group of subscribers to the joint declaration, they couldn't refrain from doing a little extra campaigning.
There were -indirect- reactions on it, as when the Lehendakari (Basque PM) stated they were united in conviction of the crime, without any remarks whatsoever. In brief, he was saying they were not making any party political statements. I felt it as a sneer at the PP.
But there is another thing too. ETA and radical Basque nationalists have called on the Basques to abstain from voting (the High Court excluded two radical Basque parties from the elections, which I felt was not a very sensible or democratic thing to do. Let the people decide!). As you stated in an earlier post, abstention is disadvantageous for the PSOE. Some time later after the joint declaration, the PSOE-spokesman (some other parties adopted this later on, not the PP) remembered about this abstention-call and called all voters to go and defend democracy on sunday: "Every vote on sunday is a vote for democracy and against ETA".
You can of course make the remark there is nothing to say against this, as it is true, but I couldn't help making the link with the negative influence of high abstention for the PSOE... Or am I being a little cynical here?
Greetings from a Belgian political science Erasmus-student in Barcelona.
there's nothing new about this, we gotta be strong, this group of people means nothing in our society, just a few crazy people, not because their ideologies but the wey they act, hope all them will dessapear soon, as IRA did.
Four years ago, the Socialists benefited mightily from a late surge in support in the wake of the Madrid train bombings, which killed 191 people. [That attack, which was initially blamed on Eta, was in fact the work of Islamist extremists.]
Here's wondering whether Mr. Zapatero had any hard evidence that ETA was behind the assassination when he hastened to make his accusation on the eve of Spanish elections hoping for a similar boost.
You write:
"I am glad my job is to raise questions not take decisions that answer them." Very well, but then try to ask pertinent, unloaded questions!
You ask "Is it right to cancel the normal democratic process?": but only a few hours of campaigning was lost, that can hardly be described as a cancellation of the democratic process.
You ask: "But won’t the murderer be sitting at home, watching TV, chuckling that he can jerk the strings of a nation?": but your question implies the murder was the act of an isolated individual, not the consequence of a decision taken by the leadership of a terrorist group which has announced its termination of a ceasefire and has shown no scruple in murdering in France and in Spain.
Yes, anything less would have been regarded as an insult to the merdered mans family and friends and therefore to the whole community. I believe that it will benefit this two main parties, the PP and PSOE. Here in Catalunya, it will benefit the CiU the Regional 'Middle Class' party which could have national importance. For the first four years of the PP Government only the support of the CiU gave them an overal majority in Parliament. Only in its second term did the PP have an overall majority.
By the way, most of those who turned away from the PP at the last Election, had already decided to do so becuase the PP Government had joined (in a token way) in the War in Ireq. For whatever reason this was done, it was vastly unpopular with the majority of Spanish people. The attack on the trains in Madrid only confirmed public opinion.
Actually, because we have Proportional Representation here, our elections are at least as interestiing for what goes in in and between Parties before Election day. The only excitement this time has been the PP pushing out the (PP) Mayor of Madrid from National Politics.
Hi Mark,
Thanks for your thoughtful blog. My question is quite simple: when is the 91Èȱ¬ going to start labeling ETA as it is: a TERRORIST group and not a separatist group? This is very shameful. How would Britons react if Spain would call the IRA a SEPARATIST group?
Thanks and keep up with the good work!
ETA is just a football. As the saying in Spain goes, the worst thing that could happen to Spanish politics and the media would be for ETA to disband tomorrow as they would have no topic left to talk about and would have to confront the real issues. Exaggerated yes, but with an considerable element of truth. It's not N Ireland for sure but it is rare for ethnic based armed conflicts to be solved by violence only. I guess there's hope though if even the Sudanese Govt can sit round a table with the SPLM and talk.
And M, the Basic Law of the Autonomous Community gives everyone the right to be fully fluent in both languages. Stream B and D students are emerging fluent in BOTH but stream A students are underachieving in Basque miserably. So stop whinging, no one is curtailing your childrens right to learn, speak or use Castilian, it is simple being assured that they're equally fluent in Basque at the same time. Gah, I wish people would stop arguing from gut level.
I could not agree more with some of the comments posted on the author's lack of understanding of Spain and Spanish politics. The reaction to any terrorist killing in Spain is mourning for the victims and families and determination to strengthen democracy, not the impossition of more repressive laws (as is the norm in Britain and the U.S.A.). On the other hand, attributing the killing to ETA so quickly, without ETA claiming it, will only benefit the PP, as they are always boasting they are stronger than the PSOE in fighting terrorism.
Mr Mardell,
Your new photo hardly does you any justice ;-)
D
You say: "I have no way of knowing if every door knocker and leafleter ceased their activity"
In fact, there is no such thing as door-to-door canvassing here in Spain (at least I have never seen any, and I've been here for over 25 years). I don't know where this is due to lack of party machines, or lack of tradition (after 40 years of dictatorship), or what, but that fact is that nobody every knocks on your door to ask you personally for your vote. It's all highly impersonal.
However, a big plus for the Spanish way of democracy, in my opinion, is the fact that polling stations are staffed by ordinary citizens chosen at random (like jury duty). When polls close, the people on each polling station count the votes at their station (a couple of hours at most) and send in the numbers.
The system is in citizens' hands and it is scaleable, obviating any need for voting machines.
As a spanish immigrant I think they did their best to show uniformity while condemning any form of terror.It'd surely give right message to the terror spreaders,that in 21st century the strategy of selective murder is even suicidal for ones who commits.ETA can't have any support if it decides to resume their cowardice war.The laudabe thing from spaniards is that they overcome from terrorism with much more courage whenever it occurs.It's magnificent to see how they hate violence.Obviously they act as nationals from a mature democractic country.
I would only like to say as a basque, that belives that independence is truly necesary for survival of our lenguage, culture and economy, that everybody has the right to cry out for his victims, I respect that. But tell me know, does anybody respect this right when the victim is a tortured young guy that ends up at hospital with ribs broken and a punctured lung after just a day at the hands of spanish police? why dosn´t nobody complain when family members of politic prisioners die on the road, victims of the politic of dispersion that alowes to put basque militants betwen bars to hundreds and hundreds of miles from their inocent families? how is that everybody reacts with silence to basque politicians and social activistes been put in jail for hundreds of years just because of their public work for a political solution? yes ladies and gentlemans, there is people in spanish prisons because of their articles of opionion in newspapers or for giving press conferences, that´s a fact. So if we really willing to put an end to all the violence at the basque country we have to start opening our eyes and been able to react against all kind of humain right violations. That´s the only way that has not been walked yet.
mark
spanish politics are always interesting to learn about.