Let´s talk about democracy (March 2004, after 11-M terrorist attack)

El rincón de Víctor

Artículo envíado por Víctor al New York Times en 2004 después de los atentados del 11-M

Article sent to the New York Times on 2004 after the terrorist attack on March 11th

Democracy (Greek demos,”the people”; kratein, “to rule”), political system in which the people of a country rule through any form of government they choose to establish.

As a Spaniard, I’m embarrassed at what I’m reading these days in the U.S. papers concerning the Spanish election of March 14th . How anyone can say that terrorism has won in Spain? In a Democracy people decide, people have the power. The majority of the Spanish people have voted for a change. Some papers are questioning the election results in Spain saying that this represents a victory for the terrorism. How someone can doubt what people decide, especially in this country where there is a President “elected” in such special circumstances; when some people are asked when they vote if they are Republican or Democrat , violating one of the very principles of a Democracy: The secret vote.

The opportunity to vote is the principal weapon that the people have in a Democracy. In Spain, People have political compromise. We lived under an authoritarian regime for almost 40 years, being lied, manipulated, where principles such as: freedom, political pluralism, disagreement didn’t exist. We value too much what we’ve achieved in the last 30 years of Democracy. We don’t want to come back to that dark period We ’ll never support a government than tries to impose his point of views, against our will. We’ve had enough. That’s why, let me explain to you what a Democracy isn’t: A democracy isn’t a government that doesn’t listen to the people. Ninety-three percent of the Spanish public were against the Iraq war, but Mr. Jose Maria Aznar, Spanish Prime Minister at the time, made a personal and irresponsible decision and brought Spain into an irrational conflict. A democracy isn’t a government that lies and releases or hides information for electoral purposes: The Spanish government lied to the people when it insisted that ETA (a separatist Basque terrorist group) was behind the attacks, giving no evidence to support this idea and when there was evidence clearly indicating that a radical Islamic group might have been involved. The Spanish government assured the United Nations that ETA was responsible and obliged the United Nations to carry a resolution against ETA, condemning the attacks. The Spanish government sent letters to all Spanish Ambassadors instructing them to always reiterate the idea that ETA was responsible for the incident. The Spanish government tried to manipulate the foreign media, calling all foreign journalists to let them know that ETA was the one to blame. Aznar personally called directors of the major newspapers in Spain to persuade them to continue with the ETA story. These were the facts and they’re undeniable. That’s why people reacted. They don’t want to be manipulated.

To a Government that doesn’t listen, lies, hides information and makes decisions expressly against the will of the people, there’s just one possible action: The vote. The vote is the key in a Democracy. The people have spoken and that’s what matters. Democracy has obtained a victory in Spain and it has been a lesson to all the governments around the world, a democratic lesson. I hope people in this country learn something from it.

Please, inform the people about the issues and let them build their opinions by themselves. How someone can say that Democracy is the foundation in this country, but doesn’t respect a country that has democratically decided a change? Please, come back to the school, because some of you missed the day when the teacher explained what a democracy means.

Say good bye to hypocrisy and welcome Democracy!