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Banning political parties that support terrorism
BillieTheBot
Posts: 8,721 Bot
As some might have heard, the Spanish government and judiciary have suspended for 3 years a political party, Batasuna, for supporting the terrorist group ETA. Some are also seeking that the party is permanently disbanded. The full story can be found here .
I must say I have mixed feeling about this. From a purely democratic point of view this has to be wrong. Batasuna receives about 10% of the votes of the Basque electorate and under democratic rules has the right to exist. However this party is nothing but ETA's puppet. Many of its leaders/MPs are ex-members of ETA (some with convictions for various crimes) and indeed a few of them are still actively involved with the terrorists. They collect ransom and extortion money on behalf of ETA, pass on logistical information and not only refuse to condemn but glorify every last murder, car bomb and kidnapping committed. In addition, items found in Batasuna's headquarters include guns and explosives destined for the terrorists.
It's interesting to see that some newspapers in Britain have compared this situation with Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland, wondering what would have happened if it had too been banned by the British government. Predictably the Telegraph has not been that hostile to the banning of Batasuna, and the Guardian has criticised the move more vigorously. Just wondered what people's opinions here are.
I must say I have mixed feeling about this. From a purely democratic point of view this has to be wrong. Batasuna receives about 10% of the votes of the Basque electorate and under democratic rules has the right to exist. However this party is nothing but ETA's puppet. Many of its leaders/MPs are ex-members of ETA (some with convictions for various crimes) and indeed a few of them are still actively involved with the terrorists. They collect ransom and extortion money on behalf of ETA, pass on logistical information and not only refuse to condemn but glorify every last murder, car bomb and kidnapping committed. In addition, items found in Batasuna's headquarters include guns and explosives destined for the terrorists.
It's interesting to see that some newspapers in Britain have compared this situation with Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland, wondering what would have happened if it had too been banned by the British government. Predictably the Telegraph has not been that hostile to the banning of Batasuna, and the Guardian has criticised the move more vigorously. Just wondered what people's opinions here are.
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Comments
If any of its members commit a crime then they can be prosecuted and sentanced, and you cannot stand for election if you are in prison.
If they do not have support from the people then they will not be a party for long.
If they have enough support to keep running then the "terrorists" message must be agreed with by some people in the nation, and if people agree with it then they should be allowed to vote in that favor. Banning the party would be like saying "you are not allowed to have this political view".
If the Basque separatists have a political voice (i.e. through the Batasuna party) then the Spanish government is in a stronger position to condemn terrorist acts committed in the name of this cause, as the terrorists have a legitimate political party to represent them and should therefore have no need to resort to violence. If the peaceful, democratic way of expressing themselves is taken away, the next obvious outlet for their political beliefs is violence.
Also, banning the party will give the separatists more cause to resent the Spanish government, more reason to believe they are not being listened to on a central level etc etc.
The difference between NI and The Basque region is that the numbers of people in NI wanting independance are relatively small, the numbers in northern Spain are quite high.
I believe terrorist action is the wrong way to go, perhaps if they stop paying their taxes, start to demand a referendum or something similar?
The funniest part is that ETA was initially formed to fight the tyranny of Franco, and a lot of people in the rest of Spain supported their fight against the dictator. Once the bastard died and democracy was restored, ETA decided not to disband and demanded an independent Basque state, killing civilians as well as the police and the military.
At present about 52% of the population would want to see an independent Basque state, against 48% who wouldn't. It has always been roughly half and half. It is only 10% of the population who supports campaigning for an independent state by terrorist means. The other 90%, including most of those who want independence, reject ETA and Batasuna and are actually sick to their stomachs of them.
Whereas I believe independence would ultimately be harmful for both the Basque Country and the rest of Spain, if the majority of the population wants out then they should be allowed to have a vote on it. I'm not sure banning Batasuna is a smart move. I guess the Spanish- including most of the Basques are sick of the killings, especially when there is no conflict or cultural divide between the Basque region and Spain and there are already several democratic and peaceful political parties campaigning for an independent Basque Country.
For that same reason Sinn Fein, the UDP and the BNP should be allowed a voice in Britain, no matter how disgusting their message is.
Do we see the banning of the Democrats and Republicans in the US for while being in Government, supporting Terrorist activities throughout the world? I dont think so. There should be no double standards.
If people don't agree with the parties stance then it will soon die, if the people do agree then it shows there is a problem that must be fixed. I agree that 'terrorism' in effect, is wrong, but swerving away from Spain here, what do people in such regions as Israel and Palestine have left to do? They are persecuted for wanting an indipendant state (the palestinians) and so their last resort is to use 'terrorism' as a means to freedom.
In a true democratic society, which many countries say they are under, the populace should have the right to speak, think what they like. The banning of parties is totally wrong.
And on a similar note : In Germany it's ILLEGAL to believe/think that the holocaust didn't happen. Thats like saying its illegal to believe in Creationism or Evolutionism either way. I dont agree with the Nazi's of world war 2 and i do believe the Holocaust occured, all evidence leads to that, but for the right to THINK something differant be taken away by the government? Even if your wrong? .. Is bloody fascist.
Sorry for the rant.
Drum
Drum :crazyeyes
Its not illegal to hold the opinion, its illegal to spread it. He publically spread it, so he should either be jailed or sectioned.