Las dos Espanas by Nicholas Manganas

Author:Nicholas Manganas [Manganas, Nicholas]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781845198497
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Sussex Academic Press
Published: 2016-08-16T00:00:00+00:00

March 13, 2004—The day of reflection

During the “day of reflection” (the day before a general election) any form of political electioneering is prohibited in Spain. But the media battle on March 13 only heated up. The solidarity evident across Spain on March 11, just two days before, had dissipated. The Spanish people wanted to know who was responsible for the attacks and were becoming increasingly sceptical of the government’s evasions. Eduardo Haro Tecglen, the El País columnist said on Cadena Ser in the early morning:

Es evidente que el Gobierno desea que haya sido ETA, porque es su lucha, es su objetivo desde el principio que ETA es la culpable de todo lo que pasa en el país. Es culpable de mucho, pero no de todo. Se sabe que es un acto de guerra, una respuesta a Europa y especialmente a España, que era agitadora de la guerra en todos los aspectos en las Azores, en la ONU y en todas partes. [ … ] ETA lo ha negado y las organizaciones islamistas lo han afirmado y lo ha afirmado Al-Yazira. [ … ] Pues no hay más vueltas que darle, es un acto de guerra. [ … ] Yo no sé por qué estamos discutiendo sobre quién es. No digo Al-Qaeda, los islámicos. Lo que hay que discutir es sobre qué pasa con la guerra que nos llega a nosotros a Madrid. Cómo vamos a discutir, si no es ETA. (It is evident that the Government wishes that ETA was responsible, because it’s their fight, their objective since the beginning that ETA is responsible for everything that happens in this country. It’s responsible for a lot. But not everything. We know that it’s an act of war, a response to Europe and especially Spain, which was in every aspect a key proponent of war in the Azores, in the U.N. and everywhere. [ … ] ETA has denied responsibility and the Islamists have claimed it and Al-Jazeera has affirmed it. [ … ] There is nothing else to discuss, it is an act of war. [ … ] I don’t know why we are discussing who is responsible. I’m not saying Al-Qaeda, the Islamists. What we have to discuss is what’s going to happen with the war that is coming to Madrid. How are we going to argue if it isn’t ETA?). (Quoted in García-Abadillo 2005, 160)

The sentiments expressed by Tecglen were being discussed in one way or another across bars and homes in Spain. But the PP administration continued to promote the narrative that ETA was responsible. Acebes, the Interior Minister, while informing the media that these had not been suicide attacks, insisted that logic and common sense pointed to an ETA attack. To complicate the PP narrative script, Acebes suggested a possible cooperation among different terrorist organizations, that is, ETA and Islamic terrorists working together (Olmeda 2008, 73).

On the streets, the mood was palpable. In Pamplona, a policeman shot dead a 61 year-old owner of a bakery for refusing to hang a banner outside his shop reading “ETA No.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.