Spain

Bilbao, the Basque country, northern Spain. Not so long ago a sleeping port and industrial town, allegedly with little charm. But the mayor and the citizens had visions – and put them to work. Many couldn’t believe their ears when they heard that the new  Guggenheim Museum would be built in their town, partly under a bridge. And there it is, beyond doubt one of the most amazing buildings in the world. Says TFF co-founder Christina Spannar, upon visiting it: “The memory of the museum, especially seen from the hill in moonlight when it looks like a silvery boat from a fairy tale, is something to cherish and be inspired by. The surface is covered by thin titan plates that look a bit like fish scales. As a small boy, Frank Gehry its architect, often went with his grandmother to the fish market; upon returning he played with the carps she...

LONDON – A thousand days has passed without a killing by ETA, the Basque terrorist movement- the only homegrown one active on European soil now that the IRA continues to turn its back on violence. Setting ETA an example it cannot ignore, the IRA and its political wing Sinn Fein has never been so politically potent. How long do we have to wait for ETA to declare the truce that could take it in the same direction? The Spanish prime minister, José Luis Rodríquez Zapatero, told parliament on February 15th that ” I am convinced we have never been so close to the end of violence…we may be at the start of the beginning of the end of ETA”. But the opposition, the Popular Party – whose former prime minister José Maria Aznar is still smarting at losing the last election and refuses to acknowledge his below-the-belt attempt on election...

LONDON – Spain’s Socialist government continues its heady run of the bulls overturning one sacred applecart after another. A few months ago it was legislation to permit gay marriages, the third country in Europe to take this step, and a cold slap on the face for Spain’s Catholic heritage. Now there is the cold turkey of stopping the smoking habits of Spain’s bar-visiting populace who smoke more than any other nation in Europe except Greece. Prime Minister José Zapatero who surprised all the pundits by winning the election nearly two years ago and who had no previous experience of government and precious little of leadership appears to have the all confidence of an experienced matador. Last week he coined a new phrase to mark his philosophy of government- “social patriotism”, which presumably means that Spaniards should hold their heads high as their country bucks the United States over Iraq, its...

LONDON – What the peace negotiators of Northern Ireland have taught the world with its plethora of ethnic conflicts- albeit many less than a decade ago- is the power of ambiguity. But can ambiguity live forever? Northern Ireland is working out an answer to that question still, eleven years since the ceasefire of the Irish Republican Army in August, 1994, and seven years since the momentous Good Friday peace agreement. Maybe not, but it appears it can live long enough to change the culture of violence. Spain now confronts the same question with the Basque struggle for independence. As Saturday’s mass march organized by the Association of the Victims of Terrorism in Madrid reminded us passions on both side of the fence run very high. The relatively new socialist government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has broken the long-standing logjam of Spanish politics by announcing that it is prepared to...