The Politics of Terror
Tonight there are news helicopters flying above the center of Madrid. About a mile from where I live people are protesting in front of the offices of the governing Popular Party. With national elections only hours away the politics surrounding Thursday's tragedy are intense and reactionary. Last night I surfed the web a bit reading blogs from here and The States and it didn't take long for me to tire of theorizing and political commentary. Somehow, turning this event into something about politics instead of human beings feels like it's own sort of terrorism. It seems that this is exactly what the perpetrators would wish - political division and flaring tempers.
On the other hand I understand the urgency and passion with which the protesters took to the streets tonight. As I walked among them I saw countless signs reading simply, "Paz" as people chanted that they wanted the truth and they wanted it now. The implications of the bombings on Thursday are complicated and far reaching and despite what some have said it does understandably matter to the Spanish people who committed these heinous crimes.
In the end though I neither feel qualified nor comfortable talking about the politics of terror here in Spain so I will point you to Jonathan Holland of Puerta del Sol Blog. He does a much better job than I could of walking this fine line. His entries from both 11 and 13 March are worth reading.