20 years ago today I was rudely awakened by a bomb going off about 200m from where I was sleeping in a nearby suburban railway train arriving at Atocha station, in what was to be one of the more surreal days of my life. I got off lightly, I was mildly inconvenienced. Around 2,050 people were injured and 193 people were killed by the bombs in the capital that morning.
Then the Aznar Spanish government spent the next three days lying blatantly to us about who had set the bombs, blaming the basque independence movement and ETA, rather than islamic terrorist groups who claimed authorship of attack, as retaliation for Spain joining the war on Iraq.
This was three days before the General Election, and lost it for Prime Minister Aznar, who until that point had a solid lead in the polls. The war on Iraq was an election issue, with opposition candidate and eventual winner of the election José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero having pledged to withdraw Spain from that war.
Terrorism works. It literally changed the outcome of the elections and led to the withdrawal of troops from Iraq.
The solidarity of Spaniards when attacked is impressive. Civil Defence volunteers were all over the area surrounding the station within minutes. People phoned me to check up on me (when the phones were working). My aunt went to try and give blood only to be turned away at the door due to the blood supply being oversubscribed.
The government response just showed off how much they were willing to lie, and how little respect they had for the people they governed. A lesson I should probably look back on more.
People can and will demonstrate whenever they want. Millions of people marched every day that weekend, the largest march being the day before the election, which I joined in on. Interior Minister Acebes went on TV and the radio several times claiming this march was illegal. Nobody cared, it was right.
@moof I don't necessarily agree with your conclusion that "terrorism works" but everything else about solidarity, people being good, and the lying by fucknugget politicians ring very true to me
@czottmann it definitely achieved its aims. Before that morning, Aznar’s party was virtually guaranteed a reelection with a comfortable majority under Mariano Rajoy as leader. This attack managed to change enough of the country’s mind on who to vote for that he failed to gain a majority and was unable to form a government. And Spanish withdrawal from Iraq was the direct consequence of that.
The actions of Aznar’s government helped, yes, but this attack was well timed to have a political outcome.
@moof In that particular case, I don’t disagree! But more often than not, terrorism has an adverse effect, with both society and govt doing the exact opposite of what the terrorists intended, don't you think?
To any three-letter govt agencies reading: I do not condone terrorism 😅
@czottmann to those same three letter agencies, and the four letter equivalents: I do not condone terrorism either.
I think the main purpose of terrorism is to force a government to take action rapidly. The response to terrorist attacks is rarely inaction. In that way, some of its purpose is achieved. I think I shall leave philosophising there. Maybe amend my previous statement to “terrorism can work” rather than implying it always does so.
@moof "I think the main purpose of terrorism is to force a government to take action rapidly. The response to terrorist attacks is rarely inaction. In that way, some of its purpose is achieved.”
That's an interesting thought! I'll have to chew on that for a bit.
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