The Madrid Bombing Takes Place
March 11th, 2004
(Note: the picture is AI generated, but the research and writing was carried out by a human, me)
Today 20 years ago, 10 bombs exploded within 3 minutes of each other during the peak morning rush hour on four trains in Madrid, killing nearly 200 people and injuring over 2000. The coordinated manner of execution was reminiscent of the 9/11 terror attack, but initially Basque separatists were blamed for it. Eventually, the perpetrators were found to be a group of people opposed to Spain’s involvement in the Iraq war, some of whom had links to Al-Qaeda.
The traumatic event came to be known as `11M’ and had immediate political repercussions because it occurred 3 days before the general election in Spain. The ruling center-right party had actively supported the US-led war in Iraq, against the wishes of the majority of the population. Immediately after the attack, its leaders began a frantic telephone and media campaign to convince everyone that the responsibility lay with Basque separatists. However, these allegations soon fell apart, which provoked public demonstrations demanding that the government “tell the truth”. The ruling party lost the election.
Cowardly government leaders who would rather fabricate claims to their electorate than take responsibility for the consequences of their policy decisions may well be a greater threat to a democracy than terrorist attacks. Unfortunately, the stereotype of politicians as people who will say anything that is required at the moment has been normalized, leading to low trust in government. This, in turn, is bound to lead to civic apathy. Civic apathy, in turn, makes a democracy ripe for being taken over by demagogues.
