The Sunday Papers.

international | miscellaneous | news report Sunday March 14, 2004 21:04 by iosaf the ipsiphi barcelona

incorporating the rival sunday review, the sun and the papers.

It has long been observed, that on Sunday the mass does different things.
Some go to church, some return from clubs and sleep, some read a book, some do the gardening, some catch up with their kids, some eat a lot, some practise yoga, some Vote.

The exit polls indicate that the PP have lost their absolute majority in the Spanish State.

The people of the Spanish State have gone to the polls under the shadow of the atrocity of M11, which is now being attributed to Islamic Extremist Terrorism in the name of "Al Qaeda".

Five morrocans and two Indians have been held for questioning.

Throughout Spain and the Spanish State people are polarised according to prejudice, and those who often seem incapable of reflection have added to the carnage which hopefully all of Europe and the world beyond is coming to terms with.

In the last days, a basque has been killed by an off duty policeman for refusing to place an "anti-ETA" sign in his shop. In the last 24hours a morrocan has been stabbed in a dormitory suburb of Barcelona known for it's ultra right sympathisers. These same sympathisers reached national news prominence in the last weeks, when two of their members disrupted the silent protest "rejecting in the Catalans name" the offer of a ceasefire by ETA to Catalonia alone, by shouting fascist slogans and waving a fascist era Spanish Flag.
Thereafter the national Police of spain arrested several members of this ultra right grouping, with known and proven links to ultra right groups throughout Europe when they attempted to disrupt the election campaign of the ERC the left republican Catalan Party.

It is difficult to write on this election in the normal mode. The spaniards and catalans and basques who have voted today have done so under the shadow of War, Terror and Manipulation.

They as -a people- are equally frightened, anxious and many of them are looking for scapegoats they can easily fit into their prejudiced view of the world. Left and Right alike are guilty of such prejudice. "Spaniard" and "Basque" and "catalan" are equally guilty of this prejudice.

It can not be denied that many on the right will find the loss by the PP of this election difficult to bear.

The exit polls conducted by Ipsos Ecoconsulting as reported on Catalan TV are
as follows:-

PSOE 41.4% Zapatero 154-158 seats.
PP 36.9% Rajoy 150- 154 seats.
other parties:-
CiU 3% Catalan right nationalist 10 - 12 seats.
IU 6.3% Spanish Left 9 - 11 seats.
ERC 2.3% Catalan Republicans 7 -8 seats
EAI/PNV 1.4 % Basque centreright nationalist "the lehandakari" 6-7 seats-

in addition nationalist candidates have been elected in other regions Galicia, Andalucia, Basque. These are a variety of rightwing and leftwing groupings and will account for approx 8 more seats if the exit polls are accurate.

http://www.telenoticies.com/eleccions2004/r_espanya.htm

There are now several coalition options as neither major party seems to have one an outright majority. This may be seen as a good thing considering the polarisation caused by the atrocity of M11. Even though all indications are now that a islamic group was responsible, there are still questions to be asked as to how they obtained the explosives they used and are they an integral part of what is understood as Al Qaeda.

The Leftwing, which as we can see from the exit polls now accounts for about 50% of voters, and appears to be siding with the AlQ hypothesis understandably as they were opposed to the War on Iraq.
The Rightwing which as we can see from the exit polls now accounts for about 50% of the voters, prefers to suspect ETA involvement in a north african cell.

Both sides feel manipulated, both sides feel they are being lied to, both sides are divided.

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Historically we know that such division is dangerous. In recent times we have seen evidence that such divisions are not solely historical. This is still therefore a time for reflection, calm and tranquility. The people are in shock. It is imperative that both Basque and Islamic minorities are not scapegoated and not provoked into further polarisation. The voters of both the Basque and Catalonia have moved to the left, and/or political philosophies that included constitutional reform and increased autonomy, concepts which were previously anathema to the Spanish Right.
It can not be stressed, that the Spanish right feel they have lost an election because of the atrocity, and that thier grief, and sorrow at the massacre must now be contained within the civil system of democracy.

The Spanish people have voted, because they have the right to do so. They have survived at least technically the most serious threat to the democratic system with all its manifest flaws and limitations which was the effect of M11.

Now they need time and space to build their concensus to face the horror they have lived through. 200 people dead is enough, there is no point in more names being added to the "M11" list.

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famous people:-
Aristide is to visit Jamaica, he was expected on Saturday but was delayed due to unforseen circumstances.
http://www.theworldpress.com/ru/newspap/jamaiq/observ.htm

saving sensible options:-
Unity against Terror.
Terror ought be easy to understand, even "national liberation" heads will probably be able to get their heads around it.

What we now call "Al Qaeda" is not fighting to liberate a country, they are attempting to take down our civilisation. And they have proved to be very effective at sowing division in our society. They wish to take the West down.
All of it. The mobile phones, the internet, the Coca Cola the spliffs, the porn, the church on a sunday morning, the trainjourney to work, the mozart, the memories, the protests, the anarchist chatrooms, the teachers club, the sunday independent, the squats, the fiddle and the boudhrain, all of it.

Gardening:-
really is better without GM maize.
The British are indeed right about many things, but GM food is not one of them.
Hopefully the new European Green Party wil be able to do something. the Mekon bunch had their ard fheis this week.
http://greenparty.ie

Horoscope:-
we will recover. we will go through shock, disbelief, sadnes, anger, disgust, and then we will recover. Together. We all have so much in common, our differences are really so "material".

The Week ahead:-
recovering and seeking concensus not just in Spain, the Spanish State but also Europe.