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There are a lot of backgroung articles on this right now. El Pais, for instance, is beginning to publish behind-the-scenes accounts on how this came to pass.

tens of millions of people stand to see their lives ruined because the bureaucrats at the ECB don't understand introductory economics -- Dean Baker
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Mar 23rd, 2006 at 06:12:56 AM EST
This article seems important:
El Pais: Zapatero received the first ETA letter in August 2004 (23-03-2006)
The president [PM] has asserted that this time it will be La Moncloa [the office of the PM] that will steer the conversations to end violence

...

Zapatero is seen by the world of Batasuna and ETA as the last plank to hold on to [in order to] save themselves from a shipwreck after the police, judicial and international harassment they suffer, and to find an end through dialogue. Therefore, the gang had a letter delivered to Zapatero in August 2004, in which they requested that comunication with his government be established. It was the start of a process which, on the political arena, had a previous and parallel correspondence between Batasuna's leader, Arnaldo Otegi, and the president of the Basque Socialist Parti (PSE, Partido Socialista de Euskadi), Jesús Eguiguren, whose conversation, which have eased the road to ETA's ceasefire declaration, go back to four years ago.



tens of millions of people stand to see their lives ruined because the bureaucrats at the ECB don't understand introductory economics -- Dean Baker
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Mar 23rd, 2006 at 06:28:08 AM EST
[ Parent ]
The use of "gang" to describe is interesting, to say the least.
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Thu Mar 23rd, 2006 at 06:28:53 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Oh, it's your translation. Group might be a better word to use in English: gang really has purely criminal connotations.
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Thu Mar 23rd, 2006 at 06:30:05 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I think 'gang' is the proper translation: see my other comment.

tens of millions of people stand to see their lives ruined because the bureaucrats at the ECB don't understand introductory economics -- Dean Baker
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Mar 23rd, 2006 at 06:32:03 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Ok, the Real Academia gives the following meanings:

banda
  1. group of armed people
  2. partisans or number of people following someone
  3. flock, pack
  4. youth gang with a tendency to behave aggressively
...


tens of millions of people stand to see their lives ruined because the bureaucrats at the ECB don't understand introductory economics -- Dean Baker
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Mar 23rd, 2006 at 06:37:38 AM EST
[ Parent ]
"armed group" would work.
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Thu Mar 23rd, 2006 at 06:39:16 AM EST
[ Parent ]
But I'll stop molesting commas now.
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Thu Mar 23rd, 2006 at 06:39:50 AM EST
[ Parent ]
No, this is an interesting deconstruction.

tens of millions of people stand to see their lives ruined because the bureaucrats at the ECB don't understand introductory economics -- Dean Baker
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Mar 23rd, 2006 at 06:40:34 AM EST
[ Parent ]
In that case, it was interesting to watch how the descriptions of the terrorist groups changed over the course of the peace process and according to who was speaking. The phrases became much more neutral as time went on.
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Thu Mar 23rd, 2006 at 06:42:45 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I don't intend to be reading ABC much, but their headline is nothing short of amazing.

tens of millions of people stand to see their lives ruined because the bureaucrats at the ECB don't understand introductory economics -- Dean Baker
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Mar 23rd, 2006 at 06:44:51 AM EST
[ Parent ]
It is customary to call ETA "La banda terrorista", and ETA members are usually charged with  pertenencia a banda armada. "Gang" is the best translation I can muster (but is not to be confused with "street gang": pandilla).

tens of millions of people stand to see their lives ruined because the bureaucrats at the ECB don't understand introductory economics -- Dean Baker
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Mar 23rd, 2006 at 06:31:11 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Unfortunately, "gang" in English really has the connotations of street or criminal gang. "terrorist band" would seem like a perfectly fine translation of "La banda terrorista", if a bit archaic. It just clashes a bit with the way Northern Irish terrorists would have been described: only their opponents would call them a gang.
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Thu Mar 23rd, 2006 at 06:36:43 AM EST
[ Parent ]
If I translate la banda as "the band" it almost sounds like a music band. I suppose group is ok. But, really, only ETA is banda terrorista or banda armada in the Spanish press. Foreign groups are called grupo terrorista or grupo armado.

tens of millions of people stand to see their lives ruined because the bureaucrats at the ECB don't understand introductory economics -- Dean Baker
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Mar 23rd, 2006 at 06:39:39 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I think group is probably the best English translation, unless the original was meant to be pejorative.
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Thu Mar 23rd, 2006 at 06:41:22 AM EST
[ Parent ]
That would be my contention, actually.

I am not going to pretend the Spanish press is impartial on this, and El Mundo, ABC and La Razon are going to be hostile, also to Zapatero.

tens of millions of people stand to see their lives ruined because the bureaucrats at the ECB don't understand introductory economics -- Dean Baker

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Mar 23rd, 2006 at 06:43:30 AM EST
[ Parent ]
That's not going to be helpful to the process. Media engagement is important. How much of a grassroots does ETA have? One of the things in the North was watching how carefully the IRA/Sinn Fein leadership(s) had to coax their grassroots along with them.
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Thu Mar 23rd, 2006 at 06:45:40 AM EST
[ Parent ]
ETA grassroots can be measured by Batasuna's vote: 10% to 15%.

By the way, among the Basque press, notice the difference in headlines between Gara (Batasuna) ETA (Basque Nationalist Party) and El Diario Vasco and El Correo Vasco.

tens of millions of people stand to see their lives ruined because the bureaucrats at the ECB don't understand introductory economics -- Dean Baker

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Mar 23rd, 2006 at 06:47:37 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Is Batasuna as linked to ETA as Sinn Fein is to the IRA? Shared leadership and so on?
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Thu Mar 23rd, 2006 at 06:52:46 AM EST
[ Parent ]
That is why Batasuna has been made illegal. Baltasar Garzon of Pinochet fame doggedly investigated the whole MLNV (Basque National Liberation Movement) and contended that Herri Batasuna and the newspaper Egin were ETA appendages controlled through the KAS (Koordinadora Abertzale Sozialista or Socialist Patriotic Coordinator). This happened in the late 1990's and is the reason why Batasuna has gone through so many incarnations over the past 7 or 8 years.

tens of millions of people stand to see their lives ruined because the bureaucrats at the ECB don't understand introductory economics -- Dean Baker
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Mar 23rd, 2006 at 06:59:37 AM EST
[ Parent ]
In this process it's going to be invaluable to have you along pointing out parallels and differences with the Ulster process.

tens of millions of people stand to see their lives ruined because the bureaucrats at the ECB don't understand introductory economics -- Dean Baker
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Mar 23rd, 2006 at 06:48:27 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Some of the same people are involved:

Fr Alec Reid of Belfast, who was a key figure in the Irish peace process and who was a witness to IRA decommissioning, confirmed yesterday to the BBC that he had assisted in discussions leading to Eta's statement.

Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams told a press conference in Belfast yesterday afternoon that "Eta's announcement provides all sides to the conflict with an opportunity of historic proportions.
(Irish Times)

by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Thu Mar 23rd, 2006 at 06:50:51 AM EST
[ Parent ]
By the way, in the ABC headline The gang announces a «ceasefire» within hours of Catalonia being declared «a nation», the use of gang is entirely appropriate. Notice the non-sequitur of mentioning ETA's truce right next to the approval of the Catalan statute by the Parliament's constitutional committe.

tens of millions of people stand to see their lives ruined because the bureaucrats at the ECB don't understand introductory economics -- Dean Baker
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Mar 23rd, 2006 at 06:42:19 AM EST
[ Parent ]
And notice the scare quotes around "truce".

tens of millions of people stand to see their lives ruined because the bureaucrats at the ECB don't understand introductory economics -- Dean Baker
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Mar 23rd, 2006 at 06:43:53 AM EST
[ Parent ]

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