Sometimes I want to kick the TV. Last night was one of those times. On a British politics programme last night the great and the good were discussing Sunday’s surprise election of the Socialist Party’s Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero as Spain’s new Prime Minister. The reaction of panellists to this turn of events was largely negative. The historian Timothy Garton-Ash lamented the fact that the Spanish electorate were marching to al-Qaida’s tune. Former Conservative cabinet minister Michael Portillo criticised Zapatero for reiterating his opposition to the Iraq war following his election.
So this is what we’ve come to? The rhetoric from the war capitals always speaks of their war as a struggle for democracy and freedom. Yet it’s these same people who describe the democratic transfer of power in a European country as” a good day for al-Qaida”. It’s these same people, claiming to defend free speech, who tell the Spanish PM to shut up. Some democracy, some freedom. Vote how you like, say what you like - as long as you agree with Bush. This is the message.
All this talk of al-Qaida having “won the Spanish election” is contemptible rubbish. Such a line of thought conveniently ignores the fact that the Spanish people were overwhelmingly against the war in Iraq long before al-Qaida attacked Madrid. Some surveys say 4%, some 5%; I even saw one that claimed a massive 9% of Spaniards supported the war in Iraq. Either way, it’s clear that the vast majority were opposed.
In spite of this, up until Thursday the ruling Popular Party were ahead in the polls. Now, I’m no expert on Spanish politics but, putting these two facts together, it’s fair to conclude that, prior to the Madrid bombings, the Iraq war was not a major issue in the election. It's also seems fair to say that such a state of affairs suited the Popular Party.
The bombings in Madrid brought Iraq back to the forefront of the election. This was bad news for the ruling party, hence their despicable attempt to pin the blame for the massacre on ETA. This ploy back-fired spectacularly. A section of the Spanish electorate, reminded of their anger from last year, stirred from their apathy to propel the Socialists to victory.
Spain is a democracy. It now has a government which reflects the view of the vast majority of its citizens on the Iraq war. Rather than railing against “cowardice” or telling people to keep quiet, hawks should reflect on the fact that the Iraq war is still massively unpopular across Europe, both “old” and “new”. One year on from the beginning of the conflict, populations in pro-war states are becoming more and more convinced that their leaders lied to get them into war and continue to lie to cover it up.
I really hope that Britain isn’t next on al-Qaida’s list. I hope that June’s European elections are held in peace. But I also hope that, attack or no attack, the British people go out and vote for anti-war candidates. On June 13th 2004, remember February 15th 2003.