Today the ceasefire announced on Wednesday by ETA has begun. In this entry, I would like to make a brainstorm about this fact, longly awaited but still not definitive with terrorism in Spain.
1.- I was born in 1978 and I have always lived with the terrorist menace around me. In fact, I have witnessed two explosions in my life (and not three because that day I did not go to work). For that reason, my first reaction on Wednesday was of huge hapiness. I felt something in my stomach and it was not lunch.
2.- Wording of the document by ETA has changed since latest similar documents. For the first time, they do not require "freedom" for the Basque Country, but they speak of asking the Basque People. From a certain point of view, they admit somebody can disagree with their opinions. As a personal opinion, I could say they were looking forward to declare this ceasefire, but they had to disguise it somehow.
3.- The referendum proposed by ETA (and by some nationalists) is not a solution from my point of view. It can bring more questions than answers. For example, what to do is the outcome is 51-49?, what to do if one province vote "yes" and the other "no"?, what to do if my village votes "no" and the next village vote "yes"?, who could vote: people living in the Basque Country but born elsewhere, people born in the Basque Country but living elsewhere?, what happens if somebody is not satisfied with the results?, shall we repeat it until we obtain what we are looking for?, etc. There is not an easy solution for this problem, but maybe the easiest could be not to give so much importance to the name that appears in our passport.
4.- ETA has not said that they are going to abandon their "fight". Nothing has been said about what they will do in case they are not satisfied with the results of the dialogue. Therefore, as we have had to get used to them, people is not especially happy in Spain. These are good news, but they can be even better.
5.- A lot has been said about the convenience of talking with terrorists. Well, as Economic Theory demonstrates for hijackers, the most reasonable action to do is stating that no word will be exchanged with terrorists, but in fact, do talk with them. Leaving apart ethical matters, please do not forget that the main objective of any government is to ensure life and security of citizens, even if it implies (secret) conversations with terrorists. That is at least what I require to every Spanish Prime Minister.
6.- One does not finish being a terrorist like that. It is not so easy, as it has been shown in Northern Ireland with IRA. Everybody must take care in order to prevent ETA to become a Mafia organisation.
7.- Nobody should forget that a nationality cannot be forced to anyone. Basques have the right of not feeling Spanish, of course (as I have the right of not feeling French, for instance). But as they get respect towards their ideas, they should also respect those who think that one person can feel Basque and Spanish at the same time.
8.- One of the positive (if any) consequences of September 11th and March 11th, among others, has been that ETA lost his support in some communities in Europe and in South America. They were simply considered as terrorists (not anymore freedom fighters), in the same way that Bin Laden and that meant his final defeat. Since then, the public understood that no one can be murdered just for not sharing an opinion.
9.- Finally, all of this deals with countries, freedom and similar feelings, very much fashionable in the XIX century but nowadays not so much, since we are living in a global village. Why this necessity of affirmation of our origins? I only feel a strong Spanish feeling at Olympic Games and similar sport events. Being Basque or Catalan or Castillian does not make any difference at all.
Ok, that is a summary of all the ideas that have come to my mind in the late days. Many opposite feeling, but a common wish for peace.
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