Crossposted at EuroTribune when I can get to it.
I apologize in advance for the lack of citations.
I't way to late, but I really wanted to get this out. Ever since the victory of Zapatero and the socialists in the the elections following the 11-M attacks in Madrid there's been a rising anger on the Spanish right, and disturbing questions about state of civil society in Spain have been raise by a series of events culminating in open death threats against ERC(Catalan Republican left, a nationalist party in the PSOE gov't) leader Carod-Rovira.
The siutation has become so serious that there are now calls for an investigation into the PP's role in signs threatening Carod Rovira with death. Worse the leader of CiU (Convergencia i Unio, a right Catalan nationalist party formerly in gov't with Aznar's Partico Popular) called for members of the PP to denounce the signs, and Mariano Rajoy the current leader of the PP refused to apologize saying that Rovira had no room to complain about threats of violence. This is most likley a reference to the meeting between Carod and representatives of the Baque terrorist group ETA preceding the 2004 elections that led to ETA declaring a cease to all operations in Catalunya, and declaring common cause in the fight for independence.
There has been a rising crescendo of anger from the right ever since Zapatero won the election, and there is a continuing effort by some on the Spanish right to deny that AL Qaeda was resonsible for the 11-M, and argue instead that ETA preformed the attacks. Thus the thinking goes Zapatero is the benfeciary of ETA, and current efforts to negotiate for a end to arms are payback for rigging the elections. Carod's meeting with ETA in Perpignan in 2004 is cited as evidence of a VLWC to attack the PP.
Having lived in Spain's basque country and watched first hand the overreaction by Spanish national police to a demonstration against the forced closure of a Basque paper alledged to be a mouthpiece for ETA, I think that Aznar's democratic credentials are up for discussion. Allegations of torture were made by the detained editors of the banned Egunkarria paper, and given the fact that as recently as the 90's the Spanish gov't ran illegal paramilitaries in the region to murder Basque nationalist leaders, these allegations can not be dismissed without further investigation.
Rather than delve into the details of the events from Aznar blaming ETA for the 11-M attacks to the recent elections in the Basque country which produced a stalemate, I will link to my diary that I wrote prior to the Basque elections. When the elections produced a stalemate in which PCTV, the latest reincarnation of ETA's polical wing, was the kingmaker, it required several days of balloting to form a goverment. Polls prior to the election showed a majority of Spanish favored miltary occupation if the Basques voted for independence. Zapatero's willingess to acknowledge that the allowing for discourse is better than banning parties and papers, as the former gov't did, has gotten Zapatero into trouble.
I'm going to rattle of a few more instance of concern with the Spanish right wing, and hopefully try to start a discussion. When Zapatero removed the last statue of Franco in Madrid hundreds of right wing zealots demonstrated replete with facists salutes at the site. Earlier this year during a march in Madrid of the AVT (Victims of Terror Association), the defense minister was roughed up by PP militants. Later in demonstrations prior to the Basque elections, during a march in Madrid, right wing marchers called for sender Carod Rovira to the "gas chamber", yes I shit you not, the gas chamber.
I'm going to rattle of a few more instance of concern with the Spanish right wing, and hopefully try to start a discussion. When Zapatero removed the last statue of Franco in Madrid hundreds of right wing zealots demonstrated replete with facists salutes at the site. Earlier this year during a march in Madrid of the AVT (Victims of Terror Association), the defense minister was roughed up by PP militants. Later in demonstrations prior to the Basque elections, during a march in Madrid, right wing marchers called for sender Carod Rovira to the "gas chamber", yes I shit you not, the gas chamber. Obviously the Spanish right is proud of it's heritage. The same weekend, a geriatric leader of the Spanish PCE, Sanitiago Carrillo, was assaulted by right wing thugs. There's a rising tide of violence on the right, and ugly memories of the Pistoleros de Cristo Rey and other right wing paramilitaries of the transition era are rearing their heads.
My question, or rather point for discussion is whether the ignomoious defeat of Aznar has weakened the committment of the Spanish right to civil society. Aznar claims in his memoirs that he was committed to political liberalism (ie democracy). 14 years of Felipismo left an indelible mark on Spain, so that the country is a functioning stable democracy at this point. But the anger of the right, and the willingess to employ violence, lead me to question whether the Spanish right is turning away from the post Franco universal embrace of civil society. Is the Spanish right a threat to civil society and democracy?