On Wed, 17 Mar 2004 10:33:47 -0600, "Pat"
<
[email protected]> wrote:
>Then add me to the list. My people are from Ennistymon,
>County Clare.
Some of mine are from Clare, some from Cork.
>Have you considered that the Spanish vote just might have
>given Al Qaeda the idea that they toppled a Western
>government by the use of bombs?
Of course I've read that interpretation by conservative
columnists in the local rag. And al-Qaeda will certainly
choose to believe that. But here is a letter from a Spanish
lady that is posted on
http://beautifulhorizons.typepad.com-
/weblog/2004/03/arrogance_to_th.html
>>>>
I was watching TV this afternoon and there was footage
showing how the railway service affected by the attack is
working as usual since early this morning. It showed a
trainful of commuters, some of them with tears in their
eyes, some of them with an openly defiant expression on
their faces. Some recognised they had felt a tingle in
their stomach when boarding the train, but all said they
were not going to change their life because of, and give in
to, the assassins who had committed the atrocity. I can
assure you that appeasement doesn't come into the equation.
Those who think otherwise forget that we have thousands of
PP and PSOE councillors, old and young, who are risking
their lives on a daily basis in the Basque country,
sometimes getting killed for it, precisely because they
refuse to appease the ETA thugs.
And they forget a very simple thing: Aznar had huge support
for his hardline policy of non-appeasement of the ETA
terrorists and their supporters, however, there was
discontent about his lap-dog act towards Bush's war on
'global terror' which, wrong or right, was perceived as
inefficient and counterproductive. Discontent extended to
other pressing domestic issues, he had antagonised
practically all other political parties and more than a few
regional governments due to his "you-are-with-me-or-against-
me" attitude, his arrogance and his intolerance. However,
there was a degree of apathy in the socialist camp, as
Rodríguez Zapatero was thought not to have enough
experience just yet.
So, the PP knew that their antiterrorist policy (against
ETA) was one of its main winning cards, and they didn't
hesitate to blatantly manipulate the 11-M attack,
suppressing information, calling people to demonstrate
against ETA, knowing all the while that the Antiterrorist
Information Brigade had as good as discarded ETA authorship
a few hours after the attack. The antiterrorist police heads
even threatened to resign at the madness of it all, and this
was leaked to the opposition and the press. And all the
while the state TVE showing documentaries about ETA
activities right until late Saturday night, on the eve of
the election, and failing to report live on Minister Acebes
informing about the Al-Q line of investigation which he had
been forced to acknowledge - forced by his own angered
police heads and by the media which had all the information
but was withholding it just long enough for the Minister to
do the decent thing. This heartless manipulation of the dead
for political gain clinched it - it was the last straw, it
galvanised a portion of apathetic socialist voters who would
have otherwise abstained, galvanised first-time voters, and
galvanised Izquierda Unida voters (which include communists)
who opted for heaping their vote on the PSOE for a higher
chance of defeating Aznar (IU lost 5 seats because of that).
In Spain, government change has always been heralded by a
higher participation of voters. In a nutshell, many
Spaniards felt badly abused, and acted accordingly. So, yes,
11-M influenced the vote, but not because we are overcome by
fear, or because we think that we can avert further attacks,
but because we will only put up with so much lying and
manipulation, and especially not when it is the dead and
their families that are being heartlessly and shamelessly
manipulated.
>>>>
Donal Fagan AIA Donal@DonalO'Fagan.com (Anglicise the name
to reply by e-mail)
