February 2, 2005
NO GLOW?:
Madrid prepares to deny Basque secessionists (Renwick McLean, February 2, 2005, International Herald Tribune)
The Spanish Parliament on Tuesday moved toward an overwhelming rejection of a statement by the semiautonomous Basque region that it has the right to break away from Spain.A vote was expected late Tuesday night, but the result was considered largely a foregone conclusion since parties representing about 320 of the 350 members of Parliament had already announced their intention to vote against the measure before the debate began.
Although the outcome was not in doubt, the stakes were considered serious enough that Prime Minister José Luis RodrÃguez Zapatero took to the floor of Parliament to lead the attack against the Basque position.
"The relationship between the Basque country and the rest of Spain will be decided by all Basques," he said, "and by all Spaniards."
Pretty hard to imagine Spanish troops putting down secession--easy to imagine Spain reversing policy because of terrorism. Posted by Orrin Judd at February 2, 2005 8:01 AM
The Basque secession movement, as distinguished from the ETA, is pretty interesting. Like the Catalan secessionists, the Italian Northern League, the Vlaams Blok and Alsatian secessionists, they do not see themselves as a poor people(like the Aztlan movement, Quebec separatism, Kurdish separatists, the IRA) but instead as a wealthy and talented group being overtaxed to pay for other ethnicities which don't pay their fair share.
Pretty much every ethnic Basque is a separatist.
One wonders how Convergence i Union, the Christian Democratic Catalan separatists who are a major factor in the governing coalition, voted.
Posted by: Bart at February 2, 2005 8:37 AM