In the
70s, when much of South and Central America were in political
turmoil, I read an impressive book about the violation of human rights there. The
book was full of torture stories. I was most impressed by the way that ordinary people didn't buckle under but I also pondered where the torturers came from. One Sunday you have a
nice civilised country but by Monday morning there are people
connecting electric wires to mens' testicles and stubbing out their
fag ends on the soles of peoples' feet. What's the selection process, what skills and qualities are on the job description?
At the
time when the IRA and UFF and everyone else in Northern Ireland was
going at it I heard some bloke, who'd served in the British Army, describing a common technique for obtaining information from prisoners. They put a
plastic bucket over their victim's head and then beat the bucket with a
mop handle. It made me realise just how easy torture can be and I still, sometimes, think of that as I shop amongst the Addis stuff in the supermarket.
About a
month ago a judge, talking in some conference here in Spain, said
that he thought ETA (The Basque terrorist organisation) members had been routinely tortured by Spanish
Security Forces. Now I have no idea whether he's right but in all probability he is. If I were a Guardia Civil member, who
had just seen some mates blown to pieces by a bomb, I might well
become a little over zealous too. The Association of the Victims of
Terrorism thought the judge should be sacked. They thought that it was outrageous that he should suggest that the Security Forces were other than on the side of the angels.
A couple of days ago a branch of Local Government in Madrid decided to ban a flag from a big football match final due to take part in the capital on Sunday. The flag is a
version of the official Catalan flag with some adaptations. It has a nationlist
significance and is a symbol often used by people who want an
independent Catlonia. I was apalled, incensed and troubled by the decision in equal measure. The idea of trying to stop an opinion being expressed, in a democracy, by waving a flag seems akin to totalitarianism to me. I know that some Spaniards were of the same opinion but I got the feeling that for many Spaniards the equation was flag waving equals Catalan Separatists, Catalan Separatists bad, Stop them. Four legs good, two legs bad!
During the
last twelve months a law has been enacted in Spain that fines or
imprisons people for doing things that the Government thinks
endangers citizens. It's not as though Spain is short of laws to deal
with wrongdoers. You can get into trouble if you go burning and
looting. Attacking people is also considered to be a bit beyond the pale. In
fact if you can think of some bad thing I 'm pretty sure there is a
Spanish law against doing it. There wasn't, though, a law to stop
people posting videos to YouTube of police officers beating people
with sticks for no obvious reason. The fines for scaling the fence at
a nuclear power plant and hanging up a banner were related to
trespass and damage to property. Organising a demonstration without a
licence wasn't that big a deal either in the punishment afterwards sense. But the new law toughened that
up. I forget, and I can't be bothered to look because it makes me seethe, but that banner might
now cost 300,000 or 600,000€. Suck on that you Greenpeace types!
The result? Someone was arrested in a town close to us when they
posted a picture on Facebook of a police car parked in a disabled parking slot. It was considered a slur on the local police. Now I may just have an alternative view about that incident but it's perhaps better that I don't write it down or they may be knocking on my door.
So,
suggesting that police officers may have been involved in torture or lazy parking,
waving a flag or taking a video could, under certain circumstances,
lead to people being sacked, fined or jailed. These things don't go unchallenged of course, the courts overturned the flag waving ban yesterday, but the concensus view makes me wonder if
Spaniards have quite got the hang of this democracy thing.
What seems
blatantly obvious to me, that having a different opinion should not,
generally, lead to legal action seems to slip by a lot of Spaniards.
The judge's opinion that torture happened is confused with siding
with the evil that was or is ETA. Supporting the right of anyone to wave a Nationalist flag is confused with supporting that Nationalism and exposing police officers for abusing their role is only a step away from robbing a bank.
Maybe it's just a case of old habits
dying hard.
