Tag Archives: eta

El Mundo's corruption allegations – a November surprise

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Wednesday - 21 November 2012

A few days ago, the pro-PP Spanish newspaper El Mundo published a story indicating that Artur Mas and Jordi Pujol were under suspicion of having secret Swiss bank accounts filled with money gained through corrupt practices linked to the Palau criminal case. The newspaper presented a police memo which suggested that these suspicions were already under court investigation.

In the days that have followed, Mas and Pujol have opened legal proceedings against the journalists behind the story and they've repeatedly denied the accusations. At the same time, they've asked the Spanish ministry of justice to explain how an apparently secret police report could have been leaked, and to identify who's responsible. The judge investigating the Palau corruption case also made clear that he hadn't been given any such police report. The following day, El Mundo accused the Mossos d'Esquadra, Catalonia's police force, of helping to destroy evidence linked to the case. The Mossos are also opening legal proceedings against the newspaper.

Yesterday, the ministry of justice informed the Catalan newspaper ARA that it couldn't find the original police report but that it seemed to be at least partly based on several different unofficial reports that it has found. Meanwhile, the same ministry informed the EFE agency that it thought the rest of the info on the mysterious police report could well be sourced from internet rumours, and not from any formal investigation. The rumours, not hard to find online, contain several names linked with the Catalan government. Many of the other names implicated are of senior PP officials in various central or autonomous governments. El Mundo did not publish any of these names in its story.

El Mundo has a mixed record when it comes to political revelations. In the past it helped uncover corruption scandals and government involvement with the GAL terrorist group. More recently, it spent months insisting that ETA was involved in the 11M Madrid bombings, despite a lack of evidence. Historically, El Mundo's targets for these exposés have been either politically neutral civil servants or political opponents of the PP.

Right now, it's not clear how this story will develop. Is it possible that Mas and Pujol have actually received funds from corrupt public contract deals? Of course it is. But the absence of an actual police report on which the story depends, and irregularities in the info presented by El Mundo suggest that there is at least a chance that this might not join the ranks of El Mundo's illustrious investigations. Some police sources apparently blame central government HQ for the leaks.

El Mundo most likely planned this story as a sort of late 'October surprise'. Will it have any effect on the Catalan elections? I doubt it.

State of alert: How the PSOE used Franco's strike breaking tactics

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Wednesday - 8 December 2010

[I intended to write this sooner but I've been rather knocked out with flu since Saturday.]

The press was full of it: on the evening of December 3rd, the Spanish military 'took over' air traffic control towers across Spain at the request of the government. Air traffic controllers (ATCs) had, we were told, abandoned their duties en masse, calling in sick in a wildcat strike that brought the 'public infrastructure' of the airports to a grinding halt. But once again, the story we were being told was a narrow and distorted version of events. One that omitted key details intentionally. So it was little wonder that Spanish workers fel little solidarity for the ATCs.

The truth is that the air traffic controllers strike of December 2010 was precipitated intentionally by an agressive PSOE government, and then dealt with by that same government using the weapons of Franco's dictatorship.

Step one is always to demonise the strikers, removing the risk that solidarity poses.

  • We were told that ATCs had an average state-funded salary of €370,000. LIE. ATC salaries are paid out of airport levies. Last available figures point to an average salary of €138,000. Which sounds like a lot, but bear in mind that ATCs are held criminally responsible for mistakes, and the awful stress that this must put on people. There are plenty of other people who earn a lot more than ATCs but few with such a horribly stressful and injurious type of work. Spanish ATCs are among the lowest-paid in Europe.
  • We were told that ATCs phoned in sick, en masse, asking for more money. LIE. On December 3rd, the government announced plans to partially privatise Spain's airports (the 'public infrastructure' that the government fought so hard to protect the very next day). Simultaneously, AENA (Spanish airports management agency) had been engaged in a policy of cancelling vacations, demanding that people 'pay back' sick leave. AENA also intentionally named fewer personnel than were necessary for rotas that week, knowing that the puente weekend would see increased air traffic. AENA, without question, intentionally precipitated the situation.
  • We were told that the ATCs operate a closed shop and keep numbers down in order to keep their pay up. LIE. AENA is responsible for all hiring. AENA has not announced public entrance procedures for four years.
  • We were told that ATCs carried out a strike. LIE. After AENA deliberately sabotaged air traffic control, delays were always going to happen. But AENA publicly claimed that ATCs had walked out. These false accusations led to verbal and physical attacks on ATCs.

So the stage was set for interior minister Alfredo Rubalcaba to deal a vicious blow against the ATCs. And that he did. On December 4th, he declared a 'state of alert' (you could also use the term 'state of emergency' but that lacks something of the nuance of the various 'states' Spain can be in, like alerta, excepción, etc). It was the first time in Spain's current democracy that such a measure had been used. And unless you'd been here in the 60s and 70s, you might well think it was a pretty standard, if very grave, response to a crisis.

The truth is that the state of alert is a peculiar item of Spanish law that has its roots in Franco's fascist dictatorship. Throughout the 60s and 70s, Franco's government used the state of alert to smash strikes. It works by declaring all workers of a specific convenio (like metro drivers or, in this case, ATCs) as 'mobilised' military personnel. So you start the day an ATC and before you know it, you're a military ATC with orders from military staff to attend work as and when they demand it. It doesn't matter when your shift was supposed to start because the army can tell you to start when it wants you to. And if you fail to do so? Because you've just become a member of the military, failure to turn up for work on their command means that you are committing sedition. Mutiny. And anyone who does this is sent to court martial and can end up in a military prison for up to 7 years.

So the state of alert is a method controlling workers by bringing in the army. Thus, ATCs were forced to work at gunpoint in some Spanish airports.

The lessons here are clear. Firstly, whenever there's a labour dispute, the last people to trust are (a) the government, (b) the management, and (c) the media. This should have been clear before but it bears repeating. Secondly, the failure of the general strike on September 29th had one major effect: as we warned, the government felt it could move on and get away with anything. Thirdly, the PSOE has once again displayed a flagrant disregard for workers' rights. The state of alert has set a nasty new precedent. By breaking one of the last taboos of Spanish democracy (the army permitted to take command of civilian infrastructure and the militarisation of civilian staff), the PSOE has made Spain a less just, more dangerous country. Now the cat is out of the bag, we can only wait and see when the state of alert will next be used.

We've been warned by the PSOE not to undertake more strikes against its dismantling of Spain's social system and public infrastructure. Now is the time for another general strike. This time, lets make sure it works.

Reference links:

http://www.slideshare.net/jfsanchiz/desmontando-mentiras-sobres-controladores-areos

http://www.diariodemallorca.es/mallorca/2010/11/28/razones-atasco-acabado/623975.html

http://www.corrientemarxista.org/estado-espanol/9-estado-espanol/348-decretado-el-estado-de-alarma.html

Updated: Reports of electoral fraud in Spain

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Tuesday - 9 June 2009

As mentioned in comments on my last post, there are reports today of numerous discrepancies in vote counting across Spain. Many of these incidents involve relatively small numbers of votes. But taken together, there are enough examples to plausibly suggest a widespread campaign against parties of the left, and those supporting independence for some of the 'autonomous regions' in Spain.

The story is being widely reported in the Catalan and Basque pro-independence media but has had few mentions in the mainstream Spanish press. The main party apparently affected by these discrepancies is Iniciativa Internacionalista (II-SP), which the Spanish government failed to have banned shortly before the elections. Zapatero's government accused II-SP of being a front organisation for ETA but failed to present evidence supporting this claim to the courts. II-SP received a vote of support from Arnaldo Otegi, spokesman for the outlawed Basque party Batasuna days before the elections. PP leader, Mariano Rajoy named them "the ETA list", while UPyD leader Rosa Díez declared that II-SP "is ETA". Apparently taking the lead from the USA's former right-wing government, neither party leader deigned to share their evidence with the voters they were appealing to.

The allegations fall into three groups: (a) the general feeling that the huge increase in blank and spoiled votes coincides a little too smoothly with II-SP and other parties faring more poorly than expected; (b) specific examples of localities reporting examples of discrepancies between town-hall and Spanish Ministry of Interior official figures; and (c) inexplicable displays of support for far-right parties in areas where they have never previously shown any support (normally at the expense of another party which did worse than expected).

It's too late for me to scurry around collecting examples of the three groups now, but the comments pages of this Avui story list several (at least one of which, the Vilafranca del Penedès one, seems to have been 'corrected', though by which side, I can't tell). Rab is sure that the way that these discrepancies affect specific parties suggests a fraud. I'll wait and see what appears tomorrow before I make the same judgement.

UPDATE

OK this is getting silly.

María Teresa Fernández de la Vega (Spanish VP)'s constituency recorded no votes for the PSOE

Europe of the Peoples-Greens have denounced irregularities

II-SP officials removed from recounts

Numerous towns appear to have returned erroneous numbers, major Spanish press outlets stay silent

Another political party banned in Spain

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Saturday - 16 May 2009

Iniciativa Internacionalista, a new party formed for the EU elections, has been banned by the Spanish supreme court. The court judged that it is a reformed edition of Acción Nationalista Vasca and Batasuna. and therefore represents the political wing of separatist group ETA.

The party, which seems to have been standing accross Spain, describes itself as supporting 'state socialism', the protection of rights, an end to capitalism in Europe, independence for the Basque and Catalan countries, and has links with some internationalist/Trotskyite groups in Spain. The Spanish government, which retains the right to ban any political party it alleges is working to represent ETA at the ballot box, stated that it had received information from state security forces that various members of II have differing levels of contact with multiple far-let, violent and 'terrorist' groups in the Basque Country. Among those accused are the party's leader, writer Alfonso Sastre [ES].

It should be clear to anyone that banning political parties is not the way to deal with problems in a democracy. Whether or not Spain is still deemed to be 'emergent', it strikes me that this is not the measured action of a mature government. And now, the illegalisation of parties is beginning to affect polls in the other regions of Spain.

thebadPoll: How should the British press refer to ETA?

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Monday - 17 November 2008

Today's news of a senior commander's arrest in France has brought ETA into the British press again, rasing as it always does the question of nomenclature.

It is standard for British media organisations to refer to ETA as 'the Basque separatist group, ETA', a title which seems perfectly logical to me but which clearly upsets some Spaniards. So this week's poll considers the linguistics of terror and asks: how should the British press refer to ETA? Please feel free to use the comments section to explain why you picked what you picked.

UPDATED: Oops, forgot one of the choices.

thebadPoll: republic versus constitutional monarchy in Spain

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Sunday - 2 November 2008

Over the last 30-odd years, Spain's politics have been relatively stable. Despite the occasional fascist coup attempt or the more frequent ETA bombings, Spain's constitutional monarchy seems to have stayed the course. But democracy in Spain wasn't always presided over by a king. The Second Spanish Republic, target of the 1936 military rebellion, aimed to create a Spain without kings or princes, while Franco's dictatorship is still praised by some sections of Spanish society for its imposition of order and Catholic purity.

In the end, the Republic failed for various reasons. This week's poll asks you to pick the best way ahead for Spain. The choices are fairly simple: Constitutional monarchy, republic, or dictatorship. There's also an "other" option for those who'd like to propose an alternative. As always, your comments are welcome.

News: Women, unions and blogging

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Sunday - 20 April 2008

The reason for a lack of updates here is simple: too much work. However, the world has carried on spinning.

The Spanish political arena is currently fairly dull. Zapatero announced a female majority cabinet, which is obviously an interesting statement. It doesn't say much about what his second government will achieve. My guess is: not a hell of a lot. Libertad Digital reckons that ETA are pushing for talks with the government by letting off bombs. Talks should happen, but probably won't, given that the PP is committed to breaking the historic pact of support for the government's terrorism policy. The struggle for power in the PP is the only story really worth following.

Good news: unionised dock workers in Durban refused to unload millions of dollars worth of Chinese weapons bound for Zimbabwe. Action by local human rights groups and trade unions prevented the delivery of arms and ammunition for Mugabe's regime from a Chinese ship. Apparently, the ship is now enroute for Mozambique. I can only hope that union workers there will also fight the 'free market' which allows China to arm Mugabe's psychotic and murderous regime. I mean, could the timing be any more obvious? This is the moral equivalent of Mussolini's assistance to Franco's rebellion.

We met up with Graeme of South of Watford fame (Madrid's best English-language blog) last night. I got a bit drunk (sorry about that) but we had a great evening, ending up in Plaça Reial, where I insulted an arsehole of a waiter.

The next few weekends will be pretty busy and work is going to be intense over the coming weeks. But I'll try to blog a bit more because I enjoy this.

FT: PP has not moved on from Francoism

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Tuesday - 4 March 2008

While the Financial Times is not normally particularly high-up on my reading list, it does carry some interesting political comment from time to time. A few years back, I recall that the FT attacked the PP for failing to properly criticise Lt Gen. Mena Aguado who famously threatened military intervention should Catalonia pass its new Statute of Autonomy.

Well in this most recent editorial, both Zapatero and Rajoy come in for criticism, but Rajoy and the PP far more so. The present government is credited with having 'managed the macroeconomy competently but [doing] little to address structural weaknesses such as low productivity growth, a weak technology base and a huge current account deficit".

Then, after referring to the PP's constant scaremongering and manufacturing of doubts about the integrity of Spain, this sucker punch:

Mr Aznar also negotiated with Eta, and allied with regional forces, just like the Socialists – as whoever wins next Sunday may well have to do. The PP’s problem is that its current leaders have not completed their journey from Francoist roots to a modern centre-right.

Thank you, FT. All it took was one paragraph but you've finally printed something which we here in Spain all know to be true and have been trying to get outsiders (as well as misguided expats here) to see. The language and non-dialogue of Francoism (if not its bizarre economic policies) live on in most of the PP's currents. The 'left wing' of the party (Piqué, Gallardon etc) has just been effectively shut down. Rajoy finished yesterday's debate with the words of the fascist Movimiento Nacional. They haven't moved on and many of us here in Spain have been saying that for years.

Unlike in the UK, general elections in Spain remain a choice between two generally very different political parties. The PP, which simply is not a natural party of the centre-right, remains deeply conservative and has been painfully ineffective as an opposition. It would be a disaster if they were elected next weekend.

[Via: From Catalonia To Caledonia]

Rajoy – Una grande y libre

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Tuesday - 4 March 2008

Mariano Rajoy rounded-up his vision of Spain at the end of today's debate by harking back to the days of 'España – una, grande y libre' – the catchphrase of the fascist Movimiento Nacional. Coming at the end of a debate marked by several major mistakes on Rajoy's part as well as continued interruption from Zapatero, the closing comments were particularly interesting. Zapatero spoke of 'convivancia' and correcting the mistakes of the past (he also named at least 3 times as many concrete proposals for the next legislature), and he once again finished up with 'Good night and good luck'. Rajoy also chose to make mention of 'la niña', the hypothetical little girl who's 'inside [his] head' – a device he was roundly mocked for using the first time around.

Rajoy said various things which make it difficult for me to call this another draw. His claim that Zapatero 'Lies constantly and never tells the truth', along with his accusation that the PSOE had 'done nothing' over the last four years were pretty foolish. He also tacitly admitted that public spening would be cut if the PP came to power, and roundly failed to win any points when he economy, Iraq and ETA were mentioned.

Zapatero appeared much more combative and self assured than last time, though he still had trouble filling all the time allotted to him (and continued to interrupt Rajoy constantly). He was right, I feel, to defend his stewardship of the economy, which is doing pretty well.

Though no-one can be certain of the outcome of the forthcoming election, I suspect that Mariano Rajoy's political career is close to collapse. I'd be very surprised if he survived what is now a likely electoral defeat. More on uncle Mariano this week.

When will the PP condemn Francoism?

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Thursday - 7 February 2008

As the election draws near, Graeme at South of Watford has been investigating a series of different factors which could change the outcome of the vote. The economy and terrorism are important considerations for many Spaniards, as are problems with the national infrastructure, education and immigration.

The right-wing PP, keen to regain power after two terms of PSOE government, have been hammering on about terrorism more than anyone else (plus ça change…!), and recently, Spanish Catholic bishops raised their voices in support of Mariano Rajoy's moribund campaign. One of the key points agreed on now by the major parties is that there shouldn't be negotiation with political parties who refuse condemn ETA bombings, past and present. People who tacitly 'approve' of terrorism.

But the PP have a history of tacitly approving much worse movements than ETA will ever be. Born out of the ashes of Franco's fascist dictatorship, the PP are the standard bearers for a type of neo-fascism, shrouded in the clothing of democracy but with no great love for democratic institutions, self-labelled of the 'centre' but retaining ultra-conservative views, explicitly in favour of the constitution yet permanently opposed to rescinding fascist-era legislation.

In fact, the PP fail their own test by refusing to explicitly condemn the atrocious crimes carried out by Franco's regime (which, by the way, did not end in 1945 as some would have you believe). Claiming that it's better to 'let sleeping dogs lie', the PP argue that nothing would be gained by their formally condemning Franco's regime. So why not come out and do it? The answer is that the PP want to have their cake and eat it: they want to contest democratic elections and then disseminate lies about the results; they want to claim to represent the 'centre' while constantly appealing to the hard-right of Spanish politics; they claim 'solidarity' with the victims of terrorism, but only talk to the ones who are members of one of their own grassroots campaigns. They talk about looking to the future and still refuse to remove Franco as 'Honourary Mayor in perpetuity' of the city of Salamanca.

I couldn't vote for a party with such a short-sighted view of history or such a terrible record of equivocation.

Church to catholics: don't vote!

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Saturday - 2 February 2008

A gang of bishops (yes, this is the formal collective noun) yesterday called on Spaniards not to vote for a party who 'negotiates with terrorists', in a clear sign that they want their fold not to vote at all. As everyone here knows, all of the main political parties in Spain have negotiated with terrorists over the last decade, meaning that loyal sheep have no choice but to either abstain or vote for one of the several Falange parties jostling for the fascist-fetishist constituency.

On the other hand, the bishops may have been suffering from the same collective memory failure that the PP have shown symptoms of. This debilitating sickness has led the right-wing party and its supporters to lash out at any suggestion that talks be held with ETA or Batasuna, even though this was precisely their own policy when they were in power.

My point of view: if the bishops don't keep their big noses out of politics, perhaps we should have one of those traditional anti-clerical carnivals which happen here every now and then. Religion has a place in some people's hearts but it has absolutely no place in democratic politics. We should all support the cutting away of any parasitic agency which seeks to pervert our democracy.

Barcelona 'terror' suspects "planned suicide bombings"

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Friday - 25 January 2008

It seems that six of the men arrested over the weekend in Raval were planning to commit suicide in (I presume) a synchronised series of bomb attacks on the Barcelona metro system. As if we didn't have enough problems with infrastructure here already.

The PP have been trying to use this as an excuse to force Joan Saura to resign because his statements to the Catalan parliament have not been as complete as they might have. Honestly, when will they learn? It's not like he alleged that the men arrested were members of ETA. I'm of the opinion that the fewer 'statements' made about such arrests, the better. Let's wait for the court proceedings to start.

Telemadrid, immigration and the Police Confederation

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Wednesday - 23 January 2008

You may recall that last year, on the anniversary of the 11M bombings, Telemadrid, a TV station controlled by the PP's Esperanza Aguirre and her regional government, chose to mark the day and honour the victims by broadcasting a 'documentary' which gave credence to the most absurd conspiracy theory I've ever read. Basically, it supported the idea that the Socialist party had pacted with ETA to carry out the Madrid bombings so that they could win the elections a few days later and continue with their plan to 'destroy Spain'.

The other day, Telemadrid's magic realism department broadcast another 'documentary' which was designed to incite anger (and votes) against the PSOE. Investigating a plot to smuggle immigrants into Spain via a service corridor in Madrid's Barajas airport,the Telemadrid programme claimed that 'countless' immigrants are still flowing into Spain via this secret door. All this despite the journalists who made the film knowing full well that the Colombian gang who had been running people through this access route was liquidated by the police in July, and that security has been increased since the smuggling technique was discovered. [Video from El País, in Spanish]

More worryingly, journalist Laura Gómez used a hidden camera to film her 'secret arrival' in Spain using the door in question. "We're now in Spain!" she declared as she strolled through the security door. But she neglected to mention that the door's security measures had already been disabled for her by none other than Rodrigo Gavilán, spokesman for the 'Spanish Police Confederation' and fierce critic of the Socialist government. CCTV from the airport shows Gavilán and a uniformed police officer (now suspended) interfering with security measures before Gómez swanned through, but this footage never made it to the final cut of the 'documentary'. Shame.

In a nutshell then, Telemadrid has yet again used subterfuge, misinformation, lies and misleading footage in an attempt to smear the Socialist government. And they chose their target very carefully. Because there are illegal immigrants who arrive in Spain, but a lot of them come via routes which don't need them to pass through some secret corridor in Barajas. The PP and their TV station  know full well that Spain's enormous coastline, proximity to Africa and custodianship of the Canary islands are all major factors affecting the level of immigration to Spain, for which it is still difficult to blame the Socialists (I'm sure they'll give it a go soon though). So to make immigration a real election issue, they had to partially fabricate a documentary, again, in their pursuit of mistruth.

The sad thing is that they broadcast it just too late to be nominated for an Oscar. Can we hope for a Best Supporting Actress gong for Laura Gómez in next year's ceremony?

By the way, this Gavilán is an interesting fellow. He's spokesman for the 'Spanish Police Confederation', outspoken in his attacks on the government's immigration policy and something of a talk-show regular, where he likes to make political remarks and complain about the politicisation of the police service. He has also publicly alleged that left-wing groups and the students' union are 'friends' of Batasuna and ETA, though he presented no evidence to support this claim. Incidentally, this 'Confederation' is little more than a far-right wing pressure group with links to the Spanish Legion and Los Peones Negros,  and it was also at least partly responsible for disseminating the 11M conspiracy theory… and so, it all comes full circle.

Of course, police officers should have the right to form professional and labour organisations. But when these are used to promote anti-democratic propaganda, with the direct collusion of the so-called 'centrist' PP, well… these creeping tentacles of right-wing activism worry me.

11-M Verdicts Due Today

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Wednesday - 31 October 2007

By lunchtime today, we should all know the verdicts decided by the court deliberating the case of the Al Qaeda operatives charged with attacking Madrid in 2004. South of Watford has an interesting post about the possible outcomes, and how they might affect the forthcoming general elections.

Another thing he points out is a poll in Público which reveals that 1/3 of PP voters still believe that ETA was involved in the bombings. Astounding. This is almost certainly as much because of the seeds of doubt sown by the PP in the months and years since the bombings, as it is thanks to the wild conspiracy theories spread by El Mundo, El COPE, Libertad Digital, Red Liberal, Telemadrid etc.

Like the Fox News channel, the first three on that list often rail against what they call 'the mainstream media' (they love the abbreviation 'MSM') which refers to other media source but themselves. While El País may have the edge on newspaper readership (Christ it's a dull read, though), El Mundo is one of the most popular websites in Spain, ranking considerably higher than ElPaís.com. This says to me that however skewed and unbelievable their news coverage might be, El Mundo is the mainstream media (just like Fox News is, just as El COPE is).

I first came across these bizarre conspiracy theories while reading Libertad Digital. For those of you who haven't read it, it sums up the false-centrism of the hard right in Spanish politics. A lot of waffle about economics (that's where the 'Libertad' seems to come from), accompanied by vitriolic 'news' 'reports' all targeted against the Socialists, the Basques, the Catalans, history, free speech, democracy and modernity. Give it a whirl, it'd actually be hilarious if it weren't the 20th most popular Spanish website.