The perks of taking classes solo

I am the only student in my contemporary Spain culture class. Sounds awkward at first, but it means I get to ask all the questions, never feel embarrassed about answering his questions, and sometimes the professor just says, "Hey, want to not have class at 9 a.m. tomorrow and come to my house in the afternoon instead?" Yes, please.

Today I went over to the University residences to discuss terrorism today with Prof. Cepeda. The topic is very complex, but it brings up a lot of thought-provoking points.

Spain is divided up into different "comunidades autonomías," which are essentially like different provinces or states. Some regions have different histories than others -- they have been parts of different kingdoms, etc. One region in particular, called País Vasco, located in the north of Spain, has a substantial population that believes it should be an independent country.

Anyways, the Vascan beliefs about their right to independence led to the formation of ETA, which evolved into a terrorist group.  In July 1973, the group assassinated the president, who was appointed by the dictator Franco. A carefully planned street bomb sent Luis Carrero Blanco's car flying over a four floor apartment building.

Though many did not approve of violence, they understood ETA's place as it was fighting against a dictatorship. Yet as the dictatorship fell and democracy moved in, ETA remained. The violence peaked in the late 70's and early 80's with bombings, shootings, and kidnappings. Though much of the violence has been curtailed today, ETA is responsible for the deaths of around 980 Spaniards.

Here's a YouTube video clip of a movie depicting the president's assassination. The explosion is very striking.

Today the situation is very complicated. ETA has faded, and a new political party called "Surtu" has popped up. To the Spanish police and the people of Spain, ETA and Surtu are the same thing. But officially, they are different. Surtu is now seeking legalization so it can participate in the upcoming May elections.

The Spanish federal government has two major parties -- PSOE (Socialist, leftist party) and PP (conservative party). However, many other nationalist parties exist. These are smaller parties specific to the various regions. In País Vasco, for example, PNV (Partido Nacionalista Vasco) has a strong presence. PNV is a right-winged party that believes in the independence of País Vasco, but not in using violence.  PNV has a few representatives in the federal government, and it controlled the local governments for a long time... until the two big parties (PSOE and PP) decided to form an alliance and take the reigns in the local governments.

Surtu would be different from PNV in that it still believes in Vascan independence, but it is of a more left-winged ideology. The local PSOE supports its legalization because it hopes Surtu would take away votes from PNV. The federal government, on the other hand, has serious reservations. We shall see what happens in the next few weeks.

My professor has a hard time grappling with the topic. The fundamental question he poses is, "How can you prohibit political beliefs in a democracy?" Obviously he does not agree with Surtu or the violent acts of ETA. But as of now, Surtu is just a political party, and forbidding a party because it believes in Vascan independence seems like a threat to freedom of speech.

Really all of the discussion hurt my head. It's a lot of information to digest, and I'm not sure I understood it all. But I'm going to research it some more and keep thinking about it. Once again, what strikes me the most is the recent-ness of these issues. Mercedes was pregnant with her daughter during the height of the terrorist attacks. It's crazy to me.