Spain Shifting Leftward in Spain:

Spain

Shifting leftward in Spain: The aftermath of 2004

In America, after the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, the mood of the country grew more conservative. For virtually the only time during his divisive presidency, George Bush had overwhelming public support. Mayor of New York City Rudolph Giuliani was hailed for his heroism and leadership, and Americans all over began to enlist in greater numbers in the army, joined the police, and volunteered for their respective fire departments and EMT squads. However, after the 2004 subway terrorist bombings in Madrid, the reaction was precisely the opposite. The Spanish government experienced a profound shift leftward, as the attacks were seen not as an attack on Spanish pride, but as an attack on Spanish military support for America in the Iraq War and the international community.

The attacks caused a crisis of confidence in the Spanish government's ability to protect its people. Weeks after the attacks, black ribbons of mourning were still seen hanging in shops, cafes and even car windows. Relatives and strangers made shrines to the victims of candles, flowers and hand written prayers, at the Atocha station where 191 people lost their lives (Adler 2004). The 11 March train attacks were timed to explode at the height of the Spanish rush hour. Only weeks later, officials found explosives on the high speed train line that runs between Seville and Madrid. The attack, had it occurred, would have been even more deadly than the March attack given that it would have transpired at the beginning of the Easter holiday (Adler 2008).

Spaniards were shaken at this revelation, given that more rigorous security measures had been introduced to monitor train services and public transportation after the attacks. Although Spain determinedly restored subway and rail service as soon as possible, new security controls were introduced, including army helicopters, sniffer dog teams and armored vehicles to monitor major transportation hubs. While some Spaniards said that terrorist attacks on Spanish soil were nothing new -- "We Spaniards have lived with Basque separatist violence for over 30 years" said one woman, defiantly -- the attacks were almost immediately attributed to Islamic violence (Adler 2004). As well as blaming the Islamic groups to whom the attacks were eventually attributed (Basques were also initially suspected), the Spanish public blamed the United States for inflaming Middle Eastern and Islamic tensions. The pro-U.S. Spanish government that had assumed control over the nation for nearly ten years, after disastrous socialist rule during the post-Franco era, was also blamed. A new nationalism erupted in Spain, as it had in the United States, but the Spanish version of this reaction to terrorism was leftist, rather than conservative in character.

The March 11 bombings came at a time of tremendous political change for Spain, right before the nation's elections. The Socialist Party won in a surprising landslide over the ruling Partido Popular party. Turnout for the elections was 77.2%, around 9% higher than in 2000. The victory over the right-wing government by the left was precedent-shattering: "never in the history of our democracy has a party beaten the absolute majority of the opposition, never has a candidate achieved power at the first attempt" wrote El Mundo, Spain's largest newspaper (Bailey 2004). The newspaper characterized the turnout and the results as a demonstration of the resiliency of the Spanish people and a new era for Spain.

The combination of the attacks and Spain's decision to join the war in Iraq were deemed to be a decisive factor both in the level of turnout and the result, according to El Pais, another major Spanish newspaper. "I wouldn't say Zapatero won - more that the government lost. The result is a punishment for getting involved in a war people didn't want," said Rosa Rodriguez, when interviewed about her view of the voting results by the BBC news (in pictures: Spain's shock result, 2004, March, BBC News, p.2). Rocio Gonzalez Borja, age twenty-three, a telephone operator, said she though people would regret voting for the socialists, whom she believed had destroyed the economy eight years ago (long before she could vote, presumably). But even this conservative young woman felt it "was wrong to send troops to Iraq," and said that despite her Partido Popular vote, "I think the attacks helped Zapatero," the socialist leader known for his critical view of the United States (in pictures: Spain's shock result, 2004, March, BBC News, p.3). Although the Socialist Party leader was not known as anti-American, he did advocate for a stronger and more independent role for Spain in terms of its foreign policy and the world economy.

Another voter was more optimistic "I think we'll see social policies such as aid for the poor, better working conditions, and better living conditions as there are not enough homes. I think there will be a general change in internal and external policies" now that the socialists were in power, she said (Bailey 2004). One young man who identified himself as 'unemployed' said: "I hope he [the socialist leader] does pull out of Iraq. Spain should not be involved in something that is nothing to do with us" (in pictures: Spain's shock result, 2004, March, BBC News, p.2004). In short, Spain's government was blamed for putting loyalty to America above Spanish national interests. Anger at America was almost as strong as anger against the terrorists.

Relations between Spain and America, put under strain by the election, became further aggravated when President George Bush and administration officials criticized Spanish policies and intelligence before the attacks. The Bush Administration said "that the Spanish government had mishandled early information about the Madrid bombing when it played down evidence that Islamic extremists were behind the plot...He suggested that the Spanish government had clung to the supposition that a Basque separatist group, ETA, was responsible and failed to tell the public about emerging evidence that Islamic extremists might have detonated the bombs" (Sanger & Johnston 2004). The administration's suggestion that Spain was partially to blame for the attacks further soured relations between the two countries, even though the government's leadership had changed radically.