The Death of "Wilson" : ETA & Democracy

by Companero - SI Thu Mar 13, 2008 17:14

Excellent post, thought provoking and insightful

by Sceptic Thu Mar 13, 2008 22:20

This is counterfactual and invalid. The proposition is:

1. Carrero was assassinated by ETA
2. Thereafter Span became a democracy
3. Therefore it was the assassination that begat or at least began the democracy.

The factors that really brought democracy were the personality and policies of the new King and the pull of the European Community economically and politically. Plus it was what the people wanted and were prepared to vote for. Luckily the times gave Spanish democracy a fair wind.

Incidentally what do Ogra Sinn Fein think of the murder of Isaias Carrasco? Normally they have plenty to say on Basque matters. Does their silence denote disapproval perhaps? They should say so. Far less newsworthy things happen in the Basque country that they post about incessantly.

by iosaf .:. ipsiphi Thu Mar 13, 2008 22:52

Mendiz mendi. Mendirik mendi ( = from one mountain to another ) as some say in Euskera or Basque.

__________________________

Sceptic, you were not amongst the intended readerership. If you follow the link I provided to the BBC coverage of the Carrero assassination & read the BBC concised history you would have seen that just as I wrote, most explanations of the transition began with that event. The BBC point out that Franco in the final years of the dictatorship split the powers of his regime. From the late 1960's Juan Carlos had been declared as his successor as "head of state" but not as "chief of armed forces" nor as head of the executive. If you had bothered to read the wikipedia pages provided you would have seen the assassination of Carrero lead to the subsequent appointment of Carlos Arias Navarro who announced the new direction. The first prime minister of the state after Franco, Saurez was himself a member of the Arias Navarro lobby. Without the reforms of Arias Navarro the plans to present a rival candidate to the Bourbon throne (that of Franco's daughter's husband) which were favoured by Carrero would have sidelined Juan Carlos before he even enjoyed the powers to play his undeniable later role in the Transition.
Yet again, in your need to play some sort of I'll answer that game you have shown your ignorance of European history. IF you can cite a single historian who does not include the assassination of Carrero in a direct line of causilty with the transition, then I take you seriously. As it is even the revisionist historians of the far right accept the beginning of the transition was the end of the authoritarian military clique. Their only proposed revision is the identification of the culprits. The Spanish far right have argued the CIA played a part in the logistic support & strategic planning of "operation ogre".

Now I'd thank you to have a go on some other thread. You know nothing about Spanish or Basque history in the 1970's nor Spanish or Basque affairs today.

by Sceptic Fri Mar 14, 2008 14:48

The assassination was an important event, one in a chain. But that is not to say that it was so pivotal that if the assassination has not taken place Spain would still not be a democracy which was virtually the implication of your post. There are chance events in history and there are long term trends. The assassination was a chance event which in this case did not interact unduly with the long term trend towards democracy in western Europe in the 1970s. Little credit is due to ETA that Spain is now a democracy.

by iosaf Sat Mar 15, 2008 15:34

Oh you are sad. But I am very patient with you. I won't try and teach you anymore about the final years of Francoism & the desperate attempts to keep the dictatorship viable. The international appeals to pardon the young sent to the garrote. I won't remind the readership of the paucity of social democracy in Europe or the Hispanic world in the 60's or early 70's.
& I will not sully my own writing & purpose in writing by engaging in condemnation without contemplation, toying in explanation without foundation. I gave no credit nor did I seek dues. I will ask you to read just one article I linked to above. That's all. You can't comment on it. It's way passed its time now. "The Selective & Collective memory : Memory as fetishised community : Communality as fetishised memorial" "The Selective & Collective memory : Memory as fetishised community : Communality as fetishised memorial" https://www.indymedia.ie/article/74873

On Monday you will celebrate Ireland's Paddy's day & national holiday, & I will mark 4 years since the last statue of Franco was removed at dawn 17/3/04 in Madrid. I reported it in my article on the Feb23 fascist coup d'etat attempt anniversary with my thoughts on how democracy emerges. "lest we forget http://www.indymedia.ie/article/68739#comment102837

So your taunts don't really get me Mr septic Sceptic. Types like you don't seem to understand either may have or exit wound . Read my last 2 lines in the article above again :-

" Democracy in the modern Spanish state may have begun with Carrero's car bomb -
Terrorism in the modern Spanish state must end with that 9mm exit wound in Carresco's face. "

by Sceptic Sat Mar 15, 2008 17:36

I was not taunting you but making observations on your apparent excuse making for the violence of ETA. ETA is a terrorist group the tactics of which is the opposite of democracy. Democracy is about persuasion and accepting the results if you fail to persuade. Terror is about not accepting democratic results and getting your objectives by way of fear rather than persuasion. Its no credit to ETA that Spain is democratic since they have made it their business to kill and bomb for decades since the democracy was re-introduced. And what is your attitude to the killing of Carrasco? Is it ok so long as it bookends the ETE terror campaign or is it to be condemned as an atrocious and senseless murder by nihilists?

Ogra Sinn Fein normally so vocal and verbose about Basque matters, no matter how trivial, have yet to enlighten us on their view of the latest killing.

by iosaf Sat Mar 15, 2008 18:22

I am not a spokesperson for any political party.

I repeat my link to the list of all victims of terrorism in the British / Irish conflict & Spanish state which i provided & it's subtitle - "The Selective & Collective memory : Memory as fetishised community : Communality as fetishised memorial"

https://www.indymedia.ie/article/74873

I repeat the final two lines of the article. I will do so every time you return under your mask to mislead others through the latest comment page. You are a LIAR sceptic.


" Democracy in the modern Spanish state may have begun with Carrero's car bomb -
Terrorism in the modern Spanish state must end with that 9mm exit wound in Carresco's face. "

by iosaf mac diarmada Thu Mar 30, 2017 19:09

Between 2013 and 2015, Cassandra Vera tweeted 13 times making fun of the assassination of Carrero Blanco, the work of ETA's Wilson whose life was the subject of this article. She was charged with glorifying terrorism and her case ended up before the top court of the Spanish state yesterday. Obviously there is as much wrong in the Spanish state now as when I wrote the article above. But some things have altered. She was accompanied to court by the leader of "Podemos" Spain´s popular left wing party, Pablo Iglesias. Podemos emerged from the street protests in Madrid and Barcelona the same year as the Arab spring. The umbrella of left wing groups would eventually win control of Barcelona´s city government, whose mayor Ada Colau has won respect and admiration throughout Europe for applying anarchist and alternative theories to the municipal government. If you ever visit Barcelona I do a wlkaing tour which explores and explains the social projects and problems being addressed which are key to understanding the administration. feel free contact me if you visit : ( iosaf.guide(at)gmail.com )
At the last general election in Spain, Podemos won about 25% of the votes. The conservative PP won the most votes but did not secure enough to govern. True to Spanish form, the prime minister continued in functions regardless. He now rules in minority. & to those who know Spain, it is no surprise that his ilk would now seek to imprison Cassandra Vera for a year for tweets she tweeted as a teenager about the death of a fascist over 40 years ago. Oh did I mention that Cassandra is trans? Perhaps that is incidental. who knows how these things work? Of course when she began tweeting at 15 years of age she had yet to become a historian, trans activist and general pain in the side of the post-fascist establishment which masquerades as democratic modernity over here.

Her tweeted jokes were so terribly offensive here are three of the worst -

Kissenger offered Carrero Blanco a piece of the moon
and ETA sent him there

Did Carrero Blanco also go back in time in his car?

& the utterly henious :-
Happy December 20! (with a photo of the car)

This is her paypal account .https://www.paypal.me/Cassandra430/

by Diarmuid Breatnach - independent Fri Nov 03, 2017 22:37

I met Wison in Brixton jail -- he told me that he was then a member of the Communist Party of Spain and I, an anarchist then, told him I had no time for the communist parties in Europe. He was awaiting trial for throwing a petrol bomb at the Spanish Embassy there and I think he pled guilty to get it over with. I was awaiting trial on charges to do with occupying empty houses in order to house homeless families. The State regularly objected to bail in order to ensure activists got a taste of prison, whether they were likely to be found guilty or not or, in the former case, likely to get a custodial sentence or not. That practice became the subject of a TV documentary later.

I never heard more about him after he left Brixton and although I was aware of the struggle of ETA, I never associated him with it. Some years later I was watching a documentary by the BBC I think, called "Portrait of a Terrorist" and realised with a shock that it was he. But I had no associations with the movement then, which began tentatively around 2005. A few years later I tried to find him but by the time I found someone who knew where he was, he had died.

You say he is widely recognised as the brains behind Blanco's assassination but I have heard that claimed for Argala.