Spanish Grief
It’s very easy for someone in their early 20s to forget that Spain is a new democracy. The current king of Spain was involved in leading the country from dictatorship to freedom. He can claim most of the responsibility for saving the nation from an attempted military coup 23 years ago. His appearance on spanish television sets on the day of the bombings must have been a strong reminder for the grieving spanish of what they have fought for, and what they have to protect.
I was touched by Angelique Chrisafis’ column on the reaction of the spanish people to this tragedy:
“It must be related to September 11. It must be,” said a 16-year-old. “The scale of it, the simultaneous attacks. It had to be them. Nobody in Spain could do that to other Spaniards, surely?”
“Why now? Why when everyone has liberty, everyone has everything they want in Spain?” asked a 55-year-old grandmother