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Spain—A national model for international democracy
Spain is a country with a very long history. Democracy in Spain, one of the strongest in the world, flourished only after centuries of monarchic rule, many bloody civil wars, a ruthless dictatorship and a period of severe instability. Yet, for the past 30 years, my country has had one of the strongest democracies in the world, where more than 70 percent of the registered voters exercise their right and power to vote on elections. It is the democracy of this country, which has recently voted the socialists into power, and has established and authorized a government, and pulled its 1,300 troops out of Iraq. More than 90 percent of the Spanish people were against the war. It’s their right to change the direction of a government that went against the will of the people. Spain has been suffering terrorist attacks for several decades, and many Spaniards have died as a result. What lessons has Spain learned from more than 20 years of terrorist attacks in its national soil? Spain has learned that terrorists groups, like Al Qaeda do not have conventionally organized armies and do not have normalized ways of engaging a conventional army. Hence, the Spanish government has tried to use a strategy that is both discursive and proactive. Conventional warfare, the forced invasion and continuous occupation of a country are clear mistakes. Those who have categorized the Spanish as cowards, should ask this—how was the invasion of Iraq a discursive and proactive engagement in weakening the terrorist cells that function in a global environment? Are we to believe that the invasion of an oil-rich, Arab, Muslim country will intimidate and discourage the terrorists who so seek reasons to justify their violence? If anything, the invasion of Iraq has awakened dormant terrorist cells, and has inflamed and aided the recruitment of terrorists around the globe. How has the continuous invasion of Iraq stabilized the region, made advances in capturing Osama bin Laden and encouraged democracy in the region? These are questions that need answers in order to legitimize the military invasion and occupation of Iraq. Spain is a pacifist entity but not a cowardly country. After so many years of enduring terrorist attacks by the Basque separatist group, ETA, we have not let terrorism undermine the strong sense of unity, freedom and the hard-earned democracy we posses. Spain has never given into terrorists’ demands of independence. In the case of Iraq Spanish law—as does American and international law—stipulates war is a last resort that can be justified only when the dialogue has completely broken down, and when all the other alternatives have been explored. José María Aznar deceived the Spanish people when he involved Spain in the war in Iraq. It is the right of a people to change the direction that their government has taken against their will. Is this not one of democracy’s most basic tenets? Aznar joined a war that the Spanish people rejected, and Spaniards were no longer convinced by speeches given by demagogues like Aznar or Bush. It is the collective conscience and memory of hundreds of years of history that have given the Spaniards a perspective based on an evaluation of the situation at hand—one that sees a problem from a multiplicity, instead of a one-dimensional plane. In participating in the democratic laws established by the international community, and defended by the U.N., Spain chose to take a different path in dealing with its own domestic and international problems with terrorism. To state that a democratic action that the Spaniards approve is a cowardly act is to undermine the basic democratic principles that the U.S. intends to represent around the world. — Ms. Villaseñor would like to thank Professor Saul Jiménez-Sandoval for his input. Responses may be sent to collegian@csufresno.edu |