Originally posted by AKFokerFoder+:
You Europeans turn your IRA and other bombers back loose on the streets. Do you smile when you here that?
Okay, Mister, you earned a loooong post from me...so go and grab a cold beer and start reading...
I am Basque. I live in Basque country, Northern Spain. I feel myself as Basque. I feel mysef as Spanish.
But there is some people who doesnt feel spanish, and that is quite a number of people (maybe rounding 40-45%). Basque country has a long past independent...it is said that the basque people was here even before the arrival of the Celts and the Iberics...and that is a long long time.
I'll make this part of the story a short one...historically this feeling of independence, or authonomy, has leaded to a lot of problems for the people here. But more or less things went OK until XIX century, when succesion problems leaded to Carlist wars...the Basque people always was alligned with the wrong side (the aspirant to the throne Charles)...and so we payed the bill of the losers. We lost all authonomy. But still our culture, our language (Euzkera, a millenary language of still unknown procedence), our way of life was respected.
In XX century, 1931 in Spain was declared the II republic. In that time Catalonia and the Basque country (the 2 zones with more independentism within them) won a level of autodetermination never reached before...so when the Civil war started in 1936 with a spanish nationalist alliance of generals like Franco and Mola at the head of it, there was no doubt of the side both zones would allign with...Republican.
Republicans lost Civil War. And with it, Basque country and Catalonia lost their last remnants of authonomy. So here in Basque country (and in Catalonia too) our language was forbidden, our culture restricted, anything that resembled the Basque country as something different of Spain was banned...and was seriously dangerous to be owner of something that had any significance in that way.
Republican soldiers payed a high price...some went to concentration camps, some were to forced work (if you visit the "valle de los caidos" near Madrid you'll see a Pharaonic work...pharaonic on the side that it meant the blood of thousands of ex-republican soldiers to build that)...
And some had no way to find a decent work...my grandparent, by example. And if someone dared to raise the head and shout that it was a shame for everyone what was happenning there, the unlucky one who did it was shot, hit until death...or simply dissapeared...like my grandpa.
So much oppresion lead to some secret organizations here in Basque country...there were some of them but the most important one was called E.T.A. wich stands for Euzkadi Ta Askatasuna...literally Euskadi and Freedom (Euskadi is the name of our land in Euzkera).
At first it was only an idealistic formation,like many others...but then it started to do radical things...kidnapping was first (kidnapping is here a much lesser crime in US, BTW), then they started with some assasinations...
Until 1973. Franco was on his last breaths (he lasted until 1975, but he was a mummy)...he had made his succesor to the then Prince of Asturias, Juan Carlos, the current king of spain...but he had designed too the man who would make sure that the dictatorship way of government would go ahead...the Admirald Carrero Blanco.
ETA killed him (making Democracy a BIG Favour) in a very spectacular way. A bomb under the car that when blew up, make the 1800kg armoured car where he was go up to more than 25meters in vertical.
That made ETA the most famous independentist terrorist group in Spain (there were others ,but ETA was the most famous). in 1975, few days before the death of franco the last death penalties were made in Burgos. 5 members of ETA were killed.
After Franco, King Juan Carlos I with no Carrero Blanco behind him, started the transition to the democracy. Many parties were raised in this time, from the Communist Party to HB (Herri Batasuna----->people together) HB is what Jerry Adams' party is for the IRA, the politic branch of a terrorist group.
Still this terrorist group was doing quite restricted things, assasinations,and so. In Europe HB was seen as a "romantic" independence party...until 1987 and Hipercor.
In 1987 ETA put a bomb car in the parking of the Hipercor Market, in Catalonia. more than 30 people died there, women, kids and men. All parties condemned the action...
HB lamented it. Never condemned.
Then a race of terror started. Bombs on particular cars of people involved in projects that ETA didnt like...
bombs on the center of cities aimed to policemen, Military men...ever schools...
Coward attacks with guns firing to the head of people taking their breakfast, people whose only "crime" was to say that ETA was bad...or people who rejected to pay the "revolutionary tax", chantage to working people to pay 50% or more of their income to ETA so they could finance their actions...if they didnt pay they died...
you know wich are the grounds of ETA to do all this things?...
"the Spanish State oppreses Basque people...remember Burgos...remember Lasa and Zabala (two ETA members who were horrendously tortured before being assasinated by a police group)...remember..."
That was their grounds to make all this...people here in Basque country were all frightened by those assasins, here if you go on a street and say bad things about ETA you may be heard...and the next thing you find are 5 young ETA followers who are hitting you so bad that you go direct to the hospital...
if they dont kill you before...
if they dont throw a Molotov Coctel to you...
If they dont...
They even put a bomb car on the way of the then leader of the opposition in Spain, Jose Maria Aznar (our current president)...starting the next "offensive"
it started 3 years ago, when in San Sebastian they killed a PP member, Gregorio Ordoñez...for the reason that he was of a "spanish politic Party"...
but the worse was to come...
in summer 2 years ago , Miguel Angel Blanco, a PP member of Ermua council was kidnapped. An ultimatum followed saying that if in 48 hours the government (yet of PP) didnt make all of their points they would shot the guy...a 27 year old man who was part of the council of a little town...
The reaction was inmense. In Bilbao more than half a million people (in a city with an estimated 350.000 people on it and surroundings...the hole Basque country has one 1.200.000 people) lead by the President of the nation, and all the leaders of the important parties, went out to the street asking for the freedom and the life of an innocent man...thing that never happened in a frightened place as our land used to be...
In Madrid happened the same...
And so in Barcelona...
Valencia, Santander, Sevilla...all citiessaw literally millions of people on the street asking for his life.
After the 48 hours passed, they carried the guy to a forest and, immobilized ,they shot him twice on the head.
The rage here was inmense, and in my land changed all...now we arent frightened anymore...well at least not that much as we had before...for a while seemed that we all would stay together and make ETA stop...
Seemed it even more when past year they declared a unilateral temporal peace...but they used it not to start talks of peace...but to reorganize themselves...
From november until now this has been a nightmare...starting with politicians of PP and PSOE (both major parties in spain) ded by bombs on their cars or shot on the neck in the middle of the streets by coward people with masks to hidden their faces...
When the press said that ETA is a cancer they started shooting the periodists, too...so far 2 have died last months because they told the truth...
Last week when 4 ETA members were driving a bomb car to a place where they were going to blew it up killing still more pleople, the car blew with them inside...
as result next 3 days they put 2 bomb cars and killed another innocent man by a shot on the head...
They launch Molotov Cocktels to the business of council people of all councils in Basque country, they kill people, they are the worse cowardest scum in Europe...they are a n(true) Nazi group between us...
and they base their actions on the "opression" of the Spanish government...
You want to KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF HERE WAS A DEATH PENALTY,DAMNIT, SIR?!
That they'd have a point. They'd have martirs, they'd have ICONS TO ADORE...DAMNIT THE FOUR ASSASINS KILLED WHEN THEY DROVE A BOMB CAR THAT BLEWED UP BEFORE REACHING THEIR TARGET ARE SAID TO BE "LOYAL PATRIOTS" "HEROES AGAINST THE REPRESSION", "MARTIRS OF THE BASQUE CAUSE"
All this has been said by the leader of the current HB, Arnaldo Otegi...can you IMAGINE what would he SAY if there were people killed by DEATH PENALTIES, SIR!?
AKFokerfoder, take this advice from a unexperienced 22 year old guy...never NEVER mess in such complicated things as terrorist groups in Europe...NEVER, because you have NO IDEA of what are you talking about, SIR!
In USA ETA is known as an "independist group"...that says it all about your "knowledge" on the matter, SIR! to call an independist group a FU****G TERRORIST GROUP is quite a signal of ALL you know.
AND BTW IF I DONT RECALL BAD 80% OF THE INCOME OF THE IRA CAME FROM UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, SIR!
So clean YOUR HOUSE before entering the others' SIR!
[/rant off]
Sorry the rant. We are all really raged with the current situation here and now I have to listen to crap as this:
Originally posted by AKFokerFoder+:
You Europeans turn your IRA and other bombers back loose on the streets. Do you smile when you here that?
[This message has been edited by RAM (edited 08-11-2000).]
