E-Notes: Europe's Native Terrorism - FPRIAll of Britain, Germany, Italy, Belgium, and France have experienced native, middle-class Marxist/totalitarian terrorism in recent decades: Britain at the hands of the IRA since the late 1960s; in Germany, Italy, and Belgium, by the Baader-Meinhoff Gang, the Red Brigades, and the Combatant Communist Cells, respectively, during the 1970s; and in France by Action Directe during the early 1980s. All have defeated it, often with legislation tougher than the legislation they now condemn when applied to Colombia, a country facing a far more serious totalitarian threat than they ever were.
Today, it is Spain that has the dubious distinction of being the only EU member with a serious terrorist problem — albeit the Italian Red Brigades are increasingly showing signs of revival, and the IRA in Ulster, its protestations to the contrary notwithstanding, is still engaged in violence and helps others — like the Colombian communists of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)— to promote “socialist revolution.”
What is important here is not Spanish idiosyncrasies, or the rather peculiar problem of the EU community’s not providing Spain with significant and effective support. It is the EU’s general problem in dealing with, or even understanding, the fact that there is a problem with terrorism— domestic or other. Legalistic approaches, such as Britain’s preventive detention of suspected terrorists or the German ban on groups known to be linked to terrorism— are more often than not rejected by courts. Spain’s approach, more radical and realistic, is still limited to domestic (i.e., ETA) terrorists. Indeed, as long as existing legal parameters continue to be applied, the terrorist issue will remain intractable in Europe— just as it may in the U.S., once the legal process weighs in on the Bush administration’s post-September 11 decisions. In the American case, however, unlike in Europe, there is some awareness that the rules have to be changed to meet the new times, while in Europe as a whole, that is far from being the case.
Today, it is Spain that has the dubious distinction of being the only EU member with a serious terrorist problem — albeit the Italian Red Brigades are increasingly showing signs of revival, and the IRA in Ulster, its protestations to the contrary notwithstanding, is still engaged in violence and helps others — like the Colombian communists of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)— to promote “socialist revolution.”
What is important here is not Spanish idiosyncrasies, or the rather peculiar problem of the EU community’s not providing Spain with significant and effective support. It is the EU’s general problem in dealing with, or even understanding, the fact that there is a problem with terrorism— domestic or other. Legalistic approaches, such as Britain’s preventive detention of suspected terrorists or the German ban on groups known to be linked to terrorism— are more often than not rejected by courts. Spain’s approach, more radical and realistic, is still limited to domestic (i.e., ETA) terrorists. Indeed, as long as existing legal parameters continue to be applied, the terrorist issue will remain intractable in Europe— just as it may in the U.S., once the legal process weighs in on the Bush administration’s post-September 11 decisions. In the American case, however, unlike in Europe, there is some awareness that the rules have to be changed to meet the new times, while in Europe as a whole, that is far from being the case.
Comments