Spain - An Election That Seems Very Familiar

For the second time in a row, I am witnessing the build-up to the Spanish election first hand. The last time I was here in the lead up to an election, I witnessed the way an entire country was affected by a horrendous terrorist attack. I also witnessed an incredible collective bravery the likes of which I have never seen before or since. The sight of thousands of Spanish people lining the streets of every major city in Spain in protest at the horror of 3/11 will stay with me for the rest of my life. It was a moment that had a profound affect on all those who participated, including myself. However, I think that this event lingered in my mind for rather different reasons.

Upon arriving back in England, I was horrified to learn that the collective bravery of the Spanish was ignored in favour of the preferred stereotype of foreigners as weak willed and scared of the terrorist threat. Although I had witnessed with my very eyes immense bravery, I was being told by every media outlet that the subsequent election showed how weak the Spanish are. People failed to understand the intense anger at the government. The fact that, had the PP won the election, there was a very real danger of violence spilling over in a country that had not long experienced the effect of citizens turning on one another, was casually overlooked. Sneering morons like Douglas Murray had their fill and the truth was somehow obscured.

The current period of pre-election campaigning had Zapatero's PSOE virtually guaranteed of victory. They are roughly 5 percentage points ahead of the Popular Party, and it is inconceivable that this lead will be surrendered. However, from a progressive's point of view, there is little to rejoice in these elections. Replace the PSOE with New Labour and the Popular Party with Cameron's Conservatives, and you have an almost identical political situation. As in the UK, there is very little to choose between the two parties. It would make little difference who was in power, as both parties are beholden to the capitalist economic system. The only other party remotely capable of challenging these two, is Izquierda Unida (or United Left). Much like the Liberal Democrats, they hover around the fringes of the political debate. However, unlike the libs, IU is a viable left-wing alternative to the parties of the establishment. One hopes very much that IU increase their vote across Spain and begin to wield influence although, for the moment at least, this seems unlikely.

This year's election result certainly will not send shockwaves across Europe as the last one did. Rather, this is a case of as you were as the main political parties fight over the much beloved 'centre-ground'. Ah, the surroundings may change, but the political system stays very much the same. And with that, one can be sure that the steady decline in voting, coupled with the erosion of individual liberty, will surely follow.

Phillips - Australians Are A Bunch Of Cowardly Fuckwits. Now Take Me Roughly Howard You Dirty Boy

So, John Howard gets the kicking he deserves and how does the reactionary right respond?? In typical fashion of course:

Now he is gone, knocked out by a man who copied to the letter the trick pulled by Tony Blair in persuading blue-collar workers who had previously abandoned Labour for the Liberals (the equivalent of the British Conservative party) that it was safe to return to Labour because he was a Howard wannabe in contrast to his rabble of a party. But just as with Blair, no-one really knows what Kevin Rudd actually stands for — and whether he will now move back towards the left. Whatever now happens, the fact that he ran on a platform of pulling troops out of Iraq and endorsing the ludicrous scam of man-made global warming are enough in themselves to tell the jihadis that Australia has now lost its (one-man) nerve. Australia just made itself (and the rest of us) a whole lot less safe.

Mmm, as last seen after the Spanish election. Good work Melanie. Why is it that as soon as an election result goes against them, they suggest that the people have put themselves at greater risk?? It's like a less subtle version of the games played by Blair and Bush in their prime. Looks like Phillips is as big an enemy of democracy as the so-called Islamists.

Oh, I wrote a comment at the end of Phillips' despicable rant, wonder if it gets posted??

The Madrid Bombing Verdict and the Disdain of the Establishment

The establishment have really had it in for the Spanish ever since their apparent 'craven' surrender to the terrorists after the Madrid bombings. That they are so dismissive of the Spanish for their bravery in standing up to their lying government and kicking them out, speaks volumes of the true nature of democracy in the West. I have written about this at length in the past (I was in the country at the time), but the judgement of the Spanish court yesterday brought all the old establishment disdain out into the public once more.

The Times (the chosen paper of the establishment) was, of course, at the forefront of the attacks on the Spanish legal system. One look at their piece told you all you needed to know:

191 dead, thousands of victims - but the ‘mastermind’ is cleared

The accused mastermind of Europe’s worst Islamist terrorist attack was cleared of all charges along with six others yesterday in a shock judgment that angered victims.

After hitting the reader with the initial 'What the f*&k opening', purely designed to make you spit out your breakfast with disgust upon reading it, it then adds:

Twenty-one others were convicted of playing a role in the 2004 Madrid train bombings, though many of them on much lesser charges than the prosecution had sought.

Oh, so 21 were convicted?? That's pretty impressive. We have hardly convicted anyone. But, before you digest that:

Family members of the 191 people killed and 1,800 injured expressed astonishment, branding the sentences as lenient and feeble, and vowing to appeal.

"Bloody judiciary. Full of softy liberals."

"Didn't it say something about 21 convictions?"

"Brrrr, yes, but......"

Pilar Manjón, who heads the largest association of victims, said: “I don’t like to see murderers walk free.” She lost her 20-year-old son when ten bombs packed into sports bags and detonated by mobile phone ripped through four commuter trains.

"There, you see? Murderers walking free. Bloody disgrace."

"Yes, but the 21 convictions??"

"21 what? You lefties are all the same. These murderers walk free and all you can keep banging on about is a trifling 21 convictions."

It's interesting how it works. First the set-up, guaranteed to shock all those bowler hatted types eating their cornflakes. Then the tiny piece of fact that drops the anger down a notch, which is then quickly forgotten as the apocalyptic rage is cranked up several notches with talk of murderers being let off and the poor families that were affected. In the first four paragraphs, three are clearly designed to make you rage, while the other one is hidden amongst the anger so that it is broadly ignored by the red-faced establishment stooges settling down to their daily fix. And just in case you fail to grasp the subtle subtext of the piece, it blazes across the headline:

191 dead, thousands of victims - but the ‘mastermind’ is cleared

Well, that's clear then.

Thankfully, The Guardian's leader (a paper that has been as guilty of defending the establishment line as other papers) puts the trial into its proper perspective:

Nevertheless Spain's experience challenges Britain to do these things better than it has done so far. Our systems may not be the same - and the Spanish police also had some lucky breaks in their post-Madrid investigations. But there are important parallels too. Spain has deep historic links with the Islamic world, as we do. Spain had built up a strong corpus of laws during the Eta terrorist years, just as we did during the IRA ones. Yet, with all the provisos, Spain has managed to secure lawful convictions under these pre-existing laws without either legislative hyperactivity or threatening to do away with essential liberties. Suspects in Spain are rarely held for more than a maximum of 10 days without charge, compared with Britain's already draconian 28 days, which Gordon Brown now wants to increase. There are many differences between our situations, but Britain needs to learn a Spanish lesson.

Now the Spanish system is not perfect (far from it), but they have certainly dealt with this situation in a far better way than we have. Perhaps that is what really sticks in the throat of the establishment. Here are a people who bravely marched on the streets of every town and city in Spain in the aftermath of a horrendous terrorist attack to show their unity and strength. A people who had the temerity to kick out a government that lied about the bombings in the days leading up to the election. A people who dared to utilise their democratic rights. Clearly such people are to be condemned. Democracy should work for the establishment, not against it, right?