The Bully

Bullying is the act of intentionally causing harm to others, through verbal harassment, physical assault, or other more subtle methods of coercion such as manipulation. Bullying often describes a form of harassment perpetrated by an abuser who possesses more physical and/or social power and dominance than the victim.

A bully like Jose Maria Aznar draws his strength from the silent complicity of those in the international community that are supposed to keep an eye on authoritarian governments. Even worst in the case of Aznar who is the leader of a party with a bleak past since it is directly related to Francisco Franco's regime.

This article describes what Aznar is doing these days with the power given to him by the so called "war on terror", it was published by The New York Times:

Buoyed by World's Focus on Terror, Spain Cracks Down in Basque Region

By TIM GOLDEN
Published: August 29, 2002

On a recent afternoon in this well-kept Basque town, police officers marched up to a hip-looking tavern, pulled out a court order, and announced that the place was being shut down. Within hours, the street outside the bar was a froth of speeches, chants and spiky hair.

''These young people are not going to stay home,'' Ainhoa Zavala, 28, warned after dozens of the bar's patrons set off through the streets in protest. ''Everyone wants to fight!''

Anywhere else, the scene might have been taken for a small-town battle between local cops and rebellious kids. But here, in one of the strongholds of Basque nationalism, the episode was an early skirmish in what has become a deepening conflict between Basque separatists and the Spanish state.

Seizing on new international support for the fight against terrorism, the government of Prime Minister José María Aznar has toughened its already hard line against Basque violence, stepping up political and police pressure on the separatist group Basque Homeland and Liberty, or E.T.A. by its Basque initials.

The Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón has pressed his own long-standing campaign against separatist violence, moving to seize $23 million in assets of the radical party Batasuna. He has argued that the group and others affiliated with it -- and even social clubs and bars like the tavern in Andoain -- act on E.T.A.'s orders or to finance its attacks.

[On Monday, Judge Garzón ordered a three-year ban on political activities by Batasuna, which is widely viewed as E.T.A.'s political wing, and the police began shutting down its offices. The Spanish Parliament also voted to endorse a government proposal asking the Supreme Court to outlaw Batasuna altogether under new legislation barring any political group that gives ''active or tacit support'' to terrorists.]

The government's new actions go well beyond its previous antiterrorism stance, possibly marking an end to the policy of accommodation with more moderate Basque nationalists that Spanish leaders have generally followed since democracy was restored after the death of the dictator Francisco Franco in 1975.

Since then, autonomous Spanish regions like the Basque country have amassed more powers of self-government than any similar areas in Europe, taking control of their police forces, schools and social welfare systems with ample tax revenues ceded by the state.

As a strategy to undermine separatist violence, however, the autonomy policies have largely failed: E.T.A. has continued its attacks, which are blamed for more than 800 killings since 1968, when the group began its fight for a Basque state straddling Spain and France. Moderate nationalists have also continued to make common cause with Batasuna, confounding the government's efforts to isolate those who condone terrorism.

In July, the moderate nationalists who control the Basque parliament answered Batasuna's proposed ban by voting to consider seizing new administrative powers from the Spanish government, including control over prisons and social security. A Batasuna leader, Koldo Gorostiaga, while maintaining the group had no direct ties to E.T.A., warned that the ban on its legal political activities would force its supporters underground, increasing the likelihood of violence.

Others oppose the party's proscription on different grounds. Catholic bishops in the Basque country have warned that a ban might place innocent civilians in greater danger by deepening the political conflict. Though Spaniards often reject comparisons between the Basque country and Northern Ireland, more liberal analysts have noted that the political wing of the Irish Republican Army, Sinn Fein, was an important part of successful peace talks there.

Mr. Aznar insists that there is nothing to talk about. The Spanish leader, who survived an assassination attempt by E.T.A. in 1995, has long taken a hard line against Basque violence, and his government made only cursory efforts at dialogue during a 15-month truce that E.T.A. ended in December 1999.

But since Sept. 11, Mr. Aznar has gone further, equating E.T.A. with Al Qaeda. He has strongly endorsed American efforts against Islamic terrorism, and he has taken advantage of the new focus on the problem to press European governments and the United States to do more to fight terrorism in Spain.

The police and intelligence agencies in France have uncovered a string of weapons caches since last fall, seizing arms and explosives and arresting suspected militants. The Bush administration and the European Union have also imposed financial sanctions on E.T.A., calling it a terrorist organization.

The toughest such actions to date have been those of Judge Garzón, the investigative magistrate, who has issued a series of court orders arguing that Batasuna and affiliated groups, including the party's youth wing and a support group for E.T.A. prisoners, compose an integrated movement under E.T.A.'s command.

In July, the judge ordered Batasuna to pay $23.4 million in damages from more than a year of bombings and vandalism attributed to pro-E.T.A. demonstrators. When Batasuna refused, the judge began steps to seize its bank accounts and close down its network of more than 100 ''peoples' taverns'' around the Basque country.

Spanish police officials said they believe E.T.A.'s operations have been somewhat disrupted by the crackdown. After 15 killings last year, E.T.A. has been blamed for three killings this year.

While polls suggest that Basque support for E.T.A. is falling, there is no sense of triumphalism among those who oppose the separatists in places like Andoain, an industrial town just south of San Sebastián.

In the afternoons here, friends gather at outdoor cafes for coffee or a glass of wine. Young mothers push their strollers past an ancient stone church in the town square, and boys play spirited games of fronton on a court with high, polished walls.

But inside the storefront social club used by members of Spain's Socialist Party, the fear is almost suffocating. All of the party's local officials have received death threats from the separatists, and when a few town councilmen meet for a beer, the club fills up with bodyguards.

''It's like the Old West here,'' said José Antonio Pérez Gabaráin, a Socialist labor union leader who served two terms as Andoain's mayor. ''They have 'Wanted' posters. The difference is that those of us who are on them are not the criminals.''

Several of the Socialists, who are singled out because they and their party oppose Basque independence, have had their cars or homes hit by gasoline bombs. Across Spain's Basque country, the number of people with government-paid bodyguards has risen to more than 1,000, including not only legislators, but newspaper editors, housewives and even mail carriers.

''More than fear, the thing you feel most strongly is the loneliness,'' said José Luis Vela, 48, a mechanic and Socialist councilman who has been threatened repeatedly. ''People who used to say hello to you on the street don't do that anymore, or they look around to make sure no one sees.''

Many people in Andoain minimize the issue, saying that the violence has been exaggerated by the Spanish media. ''You take away those councilmen and nobody else really has a problem,'' said Xabier Lekuona, 38, an editor of a Basque-language newspaper that is published in the town.

But silencing those who oppose Basque independence is clearly part of the separatists' strategy. Polls show that slightly more than a third of Basques want independence, and though Batasuna had its worst showing in years in 2001, winning only 10 percent of the vote in Basque legislative elections, supporters of indepdendence contend that their backing would rise if a referendum on the question were ever held.

With the government adamantly opposed to such a vote, the question may now be whether it can effectively marginalize the separatists.

The Batasuna mayor of Andoain, José Antonio Barandiarán, 49, said he joined E.T.A. as a teenager and served six years in its underground but was now counseling his 18-year-old daughter against following in his path. ''I think the armed struggle will have to end sooner or later,'' he said he had told her. ''It will very difficult to achieve political goals by those means.''

Still, Mr. Barandiaran acknowledged that his views were not persuasive to many young activists in Andoain. This reality was evident in conversations at the Batasuna tavern, where the stereo system pounded out Basque rock and the walls were decorated with portraits of local E.T.A. militants who have been jailed or killed. ''We are Spaniards by force -- that is what we fight against,'' said Haritz Barrado, 27.

By the way, a comment to the editor, Aznar has toughened his already hard line against the Basques, period.

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