Guilty Pleasure

This one really comes as a surprise.

Hillel Halkin from the Jerusalem Post recently penned an essay in which he points a finger at Europe's hypocrisy when it comes to how the right to the self-determination of the nations without state is approached by the big powers.

Mr. Halkin tell us about the German term Schadenfreude, and how it has a Hebrew translation in simha le'eyd. He was unable to come up with an English translation, well, I'm here to help him out, it is called "guilty pleasure".

And just like the Spanish arrogance and double standard gave him a "guilty pleasure", he also provided me with one, since I do not approve of the present occupation of Palestine by Israel and the brutal repression of the Palestine people, I was not expecting a writer from Israel to come up with the best reasonings in behalf of the Basque right to self-determination in a long time. He even makes fun of something I derided earlier at this blog:

Spain, declared Spanish prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, would never agree to an independent Basque state, even if that's what a majority of Basques wanted. Spanish territorial integrity would never be compromised.This, mind you, from a country that has been, like all its enlightened European neighbors, preaching to Israel for years about the need for Palestinian statehood. How could we Israelis be so obtuse as to thwart the Palestinian right to national self-determination?It turns out that what's urgent for the Palestinians is out of the question for the Basques. How come? Because the right to national self-determination, apparently, does not apply to Europe.

Mr Halkin points out the obvious for those who do not want to see:

SPAIN, ON the other hand, is a huge country. The Basque region is a tiny and remote part of it. An independent Basque state could not by any stretch of the imagination jeopardize Spain or harm its vital interests. What possible reason, besides pigheaded nationalist Spanish pride, or the worry that someone else (the Catalans, say?) might be encouraged, God forbid, to want self-determination too, do the Spanish have for opposing it?

After referering to the fact that the Palestinians are an Arabic people and that Arab language and culture are not about to disappear, he uncorks this one:

The Basques are the exact opposite. They speak a language that is unique (although some linguists think it is distantly related to Burushaki, which is spoken by a few thousand people in an isolated valley in Pakistan) and have a history that is unique, too, being directly descended, according to current theories, from the first homo sapiens to inhabit Europe some 40,000 years ago. All other European peoples are Johnny-come-latelies by comparison; when you see a Basque, you may be looking at the progeny of Cro-Magnon man.

Unlike some people comfortably living in the USA, Hillel Halkin does understand what "ethnic nationalism" really means, and he goes on to tell us the clear and present danger of the elimimation of Basque culture from the face of Europe:

Already today, the Basque language is not spoken by most Basques; Basque culture and folklore are in danger of disappearing, too. If the Basque region continues to be an appendage of Spain, they are likely to vanish entirely. What is the one thing that can save them? A Basque state, in which all the institutions of government - the bureaucracy, the educational system, the media - are put at their service. It is a sad fact that without such institutions behind them, languages and cultures have little chance in the modern world.

Finally, he puts the often paraded Basque violence into context, and this comes from someone that has experienced violence in Jerusalem due to a long armed conflict.

True, even Schadenfreude has its limits. If the Basques were to vote at some future date for real independence, and Spain tried forcibly to quash it, the inevitable results would be the vigorous revival of the Basque terror that has been quiescent in recent years and the outbreak of mass violence - in short, a Spanish-style intifada. Enjoying the spectacle of that would mean adding more malice to my pleasure than I'd like. Meanwhile, though, I can't wait to see what happens next. There's nothing like seeing a hypocritical country hoisted by its own petard.

You can read the entire article here.

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One last thing, that hypocrisy he talks about is not endemic of Europe only, it is thriving in the USA and Latin America also.

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