Berlin Witnesses 1970s Style Leftist Violence

Berlin Fears Resurgence of Radical Leftist Violence

Berlin has witnessed a spate of arson attacks targeting exclusive cars including Mercedes-Benz, Porsches and BMW’s. The German police have warned that these attacks could signify a potential return to leftist and anarchist violence which ravaged the country during the 1970’s. Berlin have prompted police to warn of a resurgence of the leftist and anarchist violence that terrorised Germany in the 1970s.

Head of the German police union, Rainer Wendt, compared the arson attacks to;

"a renaissance of the leftist terror of the 1970s, borne by hatred of the state and its system, directed against the people who represent it".

History of the Red Army Faction

Germany has not witnessed such wide spread anarchy since the infamous Red Army Faction (RAF), founded in 1968, created havoc during much of the 70’s. The radical leftist group were also known as the Baader-Meinhof Gang, named after two of their founding leaders, Andreas Baader (1943–77) and Ulrike Meinhof (1934–76).

The Red Army Faction were the first leftist organisation to conduct a sustained armed struggle to combat anti-imperialism in the West. The organisation was steeped in Marxism-Leninism revolutionary ethos and existed for close to 28 years. The RAF affirmed their commitment to violence in pursuit of their anti-imperialist agenda in its first Manifesto entitled ‘The Concept Of The Urban Guerrilla’. This document concluded by stating;

‘To carry out urban guerrilla warfare means to lead the anti-imperialist struggle offensively. The Red Army Fraction creates the connection between legal and illegal struggle, between national struggle and international struggle, between political struggle and armed struggle, between the strategic and tactical position of the international communist movement.’

Between May 11th and May 24th 1972 the RAF embarked on a bombing spree targeting symbols of Western Imperialism including an American military base, a German Police head quarters in Augsburg, the US Armed Forces European Headquarters based in Heidelberg and Springer Press in Hamburg for printing what they regarded anti-left propaganda. Also, they murdered a Karlsruhe federal court judge, Buddenberg, in direct retaliation for alleged mistreatment of RAF prisoners.

However, within the first two weeks of June ’72 the majority of RAF members had been rounded up by German authorities and imprisoned. Undeterred the leftist faction re-organised their strategies and perspectives whilst in prison awaiting their trials. RAF militant activity was to resurface in 1976 when they seized the German embassy in Stockholm. They demanded the release of imprisoned RAF members in exchange for attaches that they were holding hostage. The siege ended when police stormed the building killing two captors.

Ulrike Meinhof was found murdered in her prison cell in September 1976. Following her death German authorities arrested and imprisoned the principle lawyers representing RAF prisoners and their supporters under anti-terrorism laws.

1976 also witnessed the highest number of 2,956 public demonstrations (2,956) in its history which formed the back drop for the now infamous ‘German Autumn’. It is the collective name given to a chain of events which began with the RAF assassination of Chief Federal Prosecutor Siegfried Buback, this killing signalled a significant shift in tactics by the organisation. Previously, the majority of their attacks were confined to western imperialist symbols whilst this killing signified a shift in emphasis to imperialist figure heads. Within 3 months of this attack the RAF struck again this time turning their attentions to Jurgen Ponto, the President of Dresdner Bank. Punto was one of the top five influential businessmen in Germany at the time and represented German interests in NATO and around the globe. However, it emerged that Punto’s assassination was a kidnap attempt that went drastically wrong. In September of ’77 RFA embarked on their most audacious kidnap attempt of their existence.

There target was Germany’s most influential capitalists of his generation, Hans Martin Schleyer, who was both President of the Federal Association of German Industries and the Federal Employers Association. Schleyer was a former Nazi SS officer and was perceived by many as a link between the Third Reich and the post-war Germany. Almost immediately having kidnapped their victim RAF demanded the release of 11 of their members from prison. As the stalemate continued a Palestinian group “Commando Martyr Halimeh” in solidarity with RAF hijacked a Lufthansa airliner and demanded the release of the 11 RAF prisoners and 2 members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) being held in Istanbul. During the following five stand off the prisoners were refused all communication with their lawyers and media under emergency drafted legislation known as ‘Kontaktsperre’.

On day 5 of the hijacking German Special Forces, GSG-9, stormed the aircraft in Mogadishu, Somalia, killing 3 of the 4 hijackers. In retaliation, RAF killed Schleyer. That same night Gudrun Ensslin, Jan-Carl Raspe, and Andreas Baader were killed in suspicious circumstances whilst in their prison cells. Initially regarded as a suicide pact this was related refuted with medical evidence.

Sporadic violence followed until March 1998, when the Red Army Fraction (RAF) announced its dissolution after 28 years of armed struggle.

Are We Witnessing a Re-Emergence of Leftist Revolutionary Action

Regarding this recent resurgence in violence Rainer Wendt was remaining coy regarding any potential escalation saying;

"It cannot be ruled out that in the next level of escalation, politicians could again be back in their sights,"

German Conservative politicians have denounced Berlin’s left-leaning government of showing undue leniency towards the culprits. No comment has been forthcoming from Germany’s Federal government.

Left-wing protests have witnessed an upsurge in violence so far this year with 479 policemen injured in running battles with agitators at a Labour Day riot in the anarchist heartland of Kreuzberg.

Time will tell if this violence will dissipate or will manifest itself in more radical action.

Read More

Human Rights Watch White Flag Report

When A White Flag Becomes A Target!

"The Israeli military is stonewalling in the face of evidence that its soldiers killed civilians waving white flags in areas it controlled and where there were no Palestinian fighters. These cases need thorough, independent investigations."

~Joe Stork (Deputy Director) Human Rights Watch (Middle East)~

Human Rights Watch has released the latest in serious damning reports on human rights violations during the 22 Day war in Gaza. Each report has scrutinised various accusations of IDF troops flouting international human rights interventions including White Phosphorous use, Israeli drone attacks, indiscriminate Israeli fire and Hamas rocket attacks into Israel.


Their 6th report (63-pages) entitled, "White Flag Deaths: Killings of Palestinian
Civilians during Operation Cast Lead”, alleging blatant disregard to rules of engagement during Israel’s recent 22 Day Invasion of the Gaza Strip. Yet again this report alludes to the perpetration of potential war crimes upon innocent Palestinian civilians.


Their previous 5 reports along with those compiled by the International Red Cross and Amnesty International, have been discounted by Israeli authorities as being pro-Palestinian. However, ‘Breaking the Silence’, an Israeli organisation produced a report based upon the testimonies from front line Israeli troops actively involved during the 22 Day bombardment. The intricacies of their findings and how they correlated to those of those of the fore mentioned human rights organisations have already been examined by the Rebels Yell in two previous posts ‘Breaking The Silence’[Part 1] and [Part 2].  In a bid to stem this wave of negative criticism Israel released their own counter report called "The Operation in Gaza - Legal and Factual Aspects," which the Rebels Yell also scrutinised here . It is suffice to say that the central recurrent theme of all these human rights reports has been the allegation of IDF troops war crimes against residents of the Gaza Strip.

This meticulous document explicitly probes into 11 civilian fatalities during Operation Cast Lead where innocent Palestinians were gunned down whilst waving white flags. In all cases examined the civilians were explicitly attempting to distinguish themselves from combatants in the war torn enclave. During the course of the Human Rights Watch investigations the Israel Defense Force (IDF) refused numerous invitations to meet with the organisation to discuss these allegations and failed to reply to written requests presented to them regarding the incidents.

If the allegations are substantiated then 11 Palestinian civilians included 5 women and 4 children were shot in cold blood by Israeli Defense Force (IDF) personnel as they tried to flee the hostilities. Human Rights Watch has urged the Israeli authorities to perform scrutinising and authenticable internal inquiries into the alleged atrocities in order to counteract the culture of impunity that exists regarding IDF protocol during the invasion.

"White Flag Deaths: Killings of Palestinian Civilians during Operation Cast Lead," was compiled on the basis of exhaustive field work analysis of seven alleged scenes within Gaza where white flag fatalities were reported. Human Rights Watch analysis of the allegations included irrefutable examination of ballistic reports compiled for each case, documented medical evidence pertaining to each victim, and exhaustive interviewing of eye-witnesses (minimum 3 people) to the each crime scene.

Whilst these 11 Palestinian fatalities, constitute a tiny proportion of the 1,100 plus Gazan fatalities during the 22 Days of Operation: Cast Lead, it is the manner of their deaths which is highly alarming. ALL these civilian killings have one common thread linking them; They were waving internationally identifiable conflict zone SYMBOLS (WHIT FLAGS AND/OR GARMENTS) of civilian status. Significantly, Human Rights Watch also revealed that there were NO Palestinian fighters in any of the areas when the killings took place.

This latter observation strictly refutes IDF claims to the contrary that Palestinian deaths were of a direct consequence of Hamas using civilians (Human Shields) and heavily populated areas to launch counter attacks on Israeli forces. The IDF has produced alleged claims from two of their commanders that Palestinian fighters were using the disguise of white flags to protect themselves but no corroborating evidence to substantiate both claims was provided. In an attempt to legitimize their soldiers actions an IDF statement read;

"Any person who displays a white flag in this way acts illegally, does not enjoy protection from retaliatory action, and endangers nearby civilian populations."

Human Rights Watch has drawn two possible scenarios to explain IDF personnel actions during each of the incidents. The first is that irrefutable evidence exists that Israeli troops did not employ sufficient precautions to differentiate between Palestinian civilians and combatants as stipulated by the laws of war. The second scenario is in fact the deliberate targeting by IDF personnel of Palestinian civilians which under international constitutes a WAR CRIME.

This WAR CRIME allegation can be substantiated by one particular incident investigated of the crime scene by Human Rights Watch. It took place in eastern Jabalya (07/01/09) and involved 5 members (2 women and 3 girls) of the Khalid ‘Abd Rabbo family. As they stood waving their white flags outside their house an IDF soldier opened fire instantly slaying two of the young girls (aged 2 and 7 respectively) and wounding the third along with their grandmother.

The grandmother in question testified to Human Rights Watch; "We spent seven to nine minutes waving the flags, and our faces were looking at them [the soldiers],.................."And suddenly they opened fire and the girls fell to the ground."

The Human Rights Watch report also reveals that in five of the seven incidents that unarmed civilians visibly brandishing white flags, were shot by IDF whilst attempting to escape from conflict areas.

One particular incident (13/01/09) is the day time shooting by an IDF soldier of two Palestinian women as they walked down a straight road in full view whilst holding a white flag after being ordered by Israeli personnel to leave the vicinity. As they compliantly left the hostile zone, Rawiya al-Najjar (47) who was carrying the white flag was shot dead and her relative, Jasmin al-Najjar (23), was wounded. Israeli soldiers who had commandeered a Palestinian house 230 yards further down the road had speciously failed to fire any warning shots to dissuade the oncoming women.

On July 29th, faced with increased international condemnation, Israeli military officials claimed to be actively conducting "field investigations” into five white flag related shootings perpetrated by their soldiers during Operation: Cast Lead. Of the five cases purported to be under Israeli scrutiny at least 2 (‘Abd Rabbo and al-Najjar cases) were also included in the Human Rights Watch report. However, as of the August 10th there has been no official approach to either family by IDF personnel involved in their internal investigations.

Consequently, Human Rights Watch has called for a full impartial investigation into the alleged incidents by an international body to counter act an endemic culture of impunity which exists with the Israeli military structure. Their Middle East Deputy Director Joe Stork claimed;

"The Israel Defense Forces have for years permitted a pervasive culture of impunity regarding unlawful Palestinian deaths...................Field investigations may serve a useful military purpose, but they are inadequate to determine whether a soldier violated the laws of war, and serve as a pretext that a serious investigation is taking place."

The human rights watch dog has also appealed to UN member states to implement a specific apparatus to accurately assess how both Israel and Hamas undertake their own inquiries into alleged breaches of laws-of-war by their combatants.

"White Flag Deaths: Killings of Palestinian Civilians during Operation Cast Lead” can be read in its’ entirety here

Read More

Sinn Féin's Political Dilemma

Sinn Féin's Ideological Cross Roads


I am penning this post in response to a recent article addressing the lack of progression on Irish Unity by Sinn Fein’s Declan Kearney in An Phoblacht. The article was a timely rallying cry to the remaining Sinn Fein activists prior to yesterday’s Ard Comhairle, in Navan, Co. Meath.



Given Mr Kearney’s esteem within the party hierarchy I thought that his views on Sinn Fein’s political agenda might make interesting reading. Alas, after the first paragraph my hopes of gaining a new political insight were severely dashed! Although eloquently written, it fails miserably to mask the fundamental problem and serves only to re-iterate the much vaunted but now lack lustre Irish Unity strategy adopted by Sinn Fein.

Did Sinn Fein have a Political Plan B?

From preliminary scanning its contents, Mr. Kearney’s article seems a mere pseudo attempt to stir ‘Irish Republican’ sentiment whilst remaining in a delusional (Sunningdale Mark II) comfort zone, hell bent on propping up THEIR ‘so far’ failed Irish Unity strategy and further side swiping and dissing the so-called dissident Irish Republicans! However, whilst remaining within these ‘safe’ confines might be music to the ears for their band wagon ex-SDLP supporters, many traditional Irish Republicans, the very bed rock of Sinn Fein’s foundation, are presumably less than impressed. One interesting observation form the entire article is the stark omission of the words ’32 County Strategy’. Instead he periodically refers to a specific Sinn Fein 26 county strategy. This is hardly conducive to a political party which is supposed to have an alleged 32 County United Ireland agenda at its core.

The first paragraph is quite predictable in re-enforcing upon the reader, Sinn Fein’s progress in true martyrdom style. It also underlines that their pinnacle strategy for Irish Unity still lies in their ‘Political Theatre of Dreams’, The Republic of Ireland. This single minded dogged stance has been the core selling point to Irish Republicans over the years and its continuous rehashing is making it increasingly suspect that Sinn Fein had no apparent Plan B! The only mention of the wee six counties comes to the end of the first paragraph.

Even without the benefit of hindsight given the North's political history, how anyone could actually expect Sunningdale Mark II would advance the cause of Irish Unity is beyond most rational thinking. It could also be construed that this constant infatuation with becoming a power house in Irish politics is in fact a form of acceptance of the failure of Sinn Fein’s Northern Ireland political strategy.

Try as it may and even by the authors self confessed attempts to the contrary, this article amounts to nothing but a string of vague clichés masking the lack of any clear political strategic fore-sight. As regards Sinn Fein’s less than impressive showing in the recent Republic of Ireland European elections, Mr Kearney seems to blame everything and everybody else bar Sinn Fein’s own political stance on the major issues. He lays the blame firmly at the door of various problems including; implementation of the North’s Peace Process, the physical construction of the Sinn Fein political machine in the Republic of Ireland.

Also internal questioning by party members and the existence of political opportunists within SF ranks were also blamed. These latter points have been a proverbial thorn in the side of the party in recent weeks both North and South of the border. In the Republic of Ireland, Christy Burke , John Dwyer and Louise Minihan all sited irreconcilable differences with party policy as their principle reasons for leaving. Louise Minihan gave this summation of her political discontent by claiming that;

"Sinn Féin has over the last 12 years moved steadily away from the core values of Irish socialist republicanism and is no longer willing, or able, to challenge the British occupation of the Six Counties or the rotten capitalist system which is causing so much hardship to working families across Ireland today,"

These resignations were quickly followed up by a public lambasting by Taoiresa Ferris in An Phoblacht regarding the party’s irrelevancy to the Southern electorate. Whilst in the North the recent resignation of Irish Republican stalwart Gerry ‘Gaffer’ Foley in Strabane sent shock waves through the Sinn Fein fraternity.

Whilst Mr Kearney’s article highlighted several peripheral issues within the Sinn Fein’s political structure it did little to address the fundamental political ideological clash and re-balancing required between their nationalist and socialist aspirations.

Nationalism –Vs-Irish Socialism

The whole problem appears to stem from SF’s inability to consolidate a meeting of minds between nationalism and socialism factions as they seek to fight on two political frontiers. This internal struggle to strike a balance between these schools of thought was seen by many as a natural ideological progression following the ‘perceived’ solving of the nationalist question following the Peace Process. However, an alarming out shot has been that nobody within the Sinn Fein party wants to step up to the plate and grasp the nettle of socialism which the party leadership insists is its very essence. This unwillingness in socialist aspiration is in stark contrast to the vision of James Connolly who wrote in ‘Nationalism and Irish Socialism – 1897’;

‘If the national movement of our day is not merely to re-enact the old sad tragedies of our past history, it must show itself capable of rising to the exigencies of the moment.’

The recent European Elections were a golden opportunity for a leftist political party to proverbially milk the leftward swing in Irish electoral sentiment in the midst of the worst recession of a generation.

In a recent article in the Sunday Tribune, ‘The Partitioning of Sinn Fein’ one disillusioned SF party activist bluntly summed up Sinn Fein’s woes;

"Look, Sinn Féin has been imploding for quite a while. The big mystery to everybody is how the media has managed to miss the story for so long............Republicanism is in turmoil. You've got the careerists at the top in their Armani suits gagging to be in government in both parts of the island in time for the centenary of the Rising and they'll get into bed with any other party to do it. And then you've got the people on the ground campaigning on housing and drugs and they see an unelected party official in Dublin involved in selling truckloads of illegal Sky TV boxes. The ties with the dissidents haven't been severed. The leadership turns a blind eye to that and goes off hobnobbing with Fianna Fáil."

Prior to yesterday’s Navan Ard Comhairle, many political pundits believed that the wheels had well and truly come off the Sinn Fein socialist wagon. Time will quickly tell in the boiler room of Irish politics if Sinn Fein can muster a unifying political ideology embracing nationalism and socialism. Or will political events that have yet to transpire show that the ducks have well and truly flown the nest!

‘Without a re-organisation of society on the basis of a broader and more developed form of that common property which underlay the social structure of Ancient Erin - is only national recreancy.

It would be tantamount to a public declaration that our oppressors had so far succeeded in inoculating us with their perverted conceptions of justice and morality that we had finally decided to accept those conceptions as our own, and no longer needed an alien army to force them upon us.’

~James Connolly~

Read More

Indian Police Read Riot Act

Human Rights Watch Read Riot Act To Indian Police

Indian Police Service (IPS) has been read the riot act by a freshly published report by Human Rights Watch. The 118 page inculpating report by the human rights watchdog entitled ‘"Broken System: Dysfunction, Abuse and Impunity in the Indian Police," catalogues a host of human rights violations committed by the IPS. Highlighted human rights infringements include the deployment of illegal procedures such as arbitrary arrest and detention, torture and extrajudicial killings. 

Successive Indian governments have publicly recognised institutional failings within the Indian Police Service but privately have elected to fudge the controversial issues of reform and accountability. An Indian Supreme Court judgment in 2006 instructed the government to urgently address the specific issues of public accountability and police autonomy relating to staffing procedures.


Whilst Indian society is evolving economically and socially apace the same cannot be said for the IPS implementation of the rule of law. It remains stubbornly fixed in anachronistic British imperialist style time warp and has vehemently resisted international calls for 21st style reform. Asia director at Human Rights Watch Asian Director, Brad Adams, commented;

"India is modernizing rapidly, but the police continue to use their old methods: abuse and threats...............It's time for the government to stop talking about reform and fix the system."

The damning comprehensive report was compiled using material from was interviews conducted with more than 80 police officers of varying ranks, 60 victim statements and also contributions from both regional experts and Indian reform activists. The litany of human rights violations includes accusations of;

• IPS, members adopting an above ‘the law approach’
• Insufficient ethical and professional codes of conduct
• Inability to counteract India’s criminal elements
• IPS was guilty of non registry of crimes, trumping up charges, illegal incarceration, extracting confessions via torture, and extrajudicial murders.

Human Rights Watch representative, Naureen Shah, regards the current Indian police culture is the remnants of institutional practice employed during the reign of British Imperialism in India;

"They are often relying on old methods of policing,.................When they were first constituted as a colonial force in the 1800's they were taught to use repression, fear - the public's fear rather than its cooperation. And, that is still the way they are doing policing today."

The by-product of this endemic attitude has been a wide scale incertitude and consternation towards the fear of police and to people avoiding it, fearing demands for bribes, illegal detention or torture.

Human Rights Watch emphasised a "dangerous state of disrepair" precipitating through all ranks of the Indian Police Service police. Furthermore the generic problems are exacerbated by poor governmental funding leaving the force "overstretched and ill equipped". India currently has triple the global average of police officers per head of population. Coupled with this, the human rights watchdog claims the “police infrastructure is crumbling and decaying police stations lack vehicles, phones or computers. The working environment for low-ranking police is often dismal.” According to Naureen Shah;

"A lot of the police we spoke to did not seem to realize or did not seem to understand that there were other ways of doing things." In the report one police officer said "If we said 'why is it you torture so much to get a confession...............................What do you expect me to do? Do you expect me to sit the fellow down and ask him politely if he committed the crime? He is not going to tell me anything. These harsh methods are necessary.' So, there is a lack of awareness that there are other ways of doing things. "

The comprehensive human rights report identifies that state and local obstruction of IPS implementation of the rule of law is rife throughout India.

Human Rights Watch concludes by invoking the Indian government to urgently address the issues they have highlighted in order to redress the plight of their stricken police force.

Further appraisal and link to the Human Rights Watch report, ‘"Broken System: Dysfunction, Abuse and Impunity in the Indian Police," here

Read More

ETA: 50 Years of Struggle

ETA: 50 Years of Struggle

The ‘Basque Country’ straddles the western end of the Pyrenees and comprises of some 20,000 sq km spanning the geo-political boundaries of France and Spain. Basque society contains a rich vein of genetic and ethnic-cultural constitution, boasting one of Europe’s oldest pre Indo-European unique tongues still spoken today, Euskara.


Euzkadi Ta Askatasuna, ETA, (Basque Homeland and Freedom) have been waging a war of parity of esteem against their Spanish colonists since the 1960’s. Their over-riding goal has been the formation of a separate Basque sovereign state.

ETA was founded in 1953 as a student discussion group in Bilbao’s University of Deusto. Over the last 50 years the militant group has went through several significant transformations to maintain their quest for Basque sovereignty. ETA’s inception filled a political void as a democratic Basque voice to challenge the Franco dictatorship of the time. Although originally affiliated to the PNV, they created their own political identity because they considered the PNV stance as being too moderate in confronting Franco’s dictatorship. This radical approach and tendency for militant action was in keeping with the revolutionary ethos of an era where global national liberation wars raged (e.g. Algerian anti-colonial war).


Euzkadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) Formation

ETA conducted their first assembly meeting in Bayonne, France in 1962, on this historic occasion their leadership called for a collective strategy of Basque "historical regenerationism." This regeneration plan was to have the Basque language, Euskara, as its central focal point. In another break with religious tradition, ETA opted to adopt an "aconfessional" (religiously pluralistic) stance whilst keeping Roman Catholic doctrine to refine their new social program. The slogan for their new socialist agenda read;

"Independence for Euskadi, compatible with European federalism".

• 1968 ETA effected its first high profile assassination by killing Spanish police chief Melitón Manzanas, a suspected torturer, in the Basque city of San Sebastián. 

• 1970 witnessed the Spanish Proceso de Burgos ("Trial of Burgos") where captured ETA members were sentenced to death but only after several were executed did the Franco government succumb to international revolt over the draconian measures.

• 1973 ETA carried out their most daring strike at the Franco regime by assassinating Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco by car bomb in Madrid. The government President was perceived by the dictatorial regime as the natural successor to Franco. Many regarded the direct strike at the heart of the aggressor was a reprisal for the execution of Basque independentistas.

ETA’s Transition to Main Stream Politics

Following Franco's death, Spain embarked on a transition towards democracy which resulted in the factional splitting of ETA into two separate organizations: the vast majority of ETA’s members reformed as ETA political-military or ETA (pm), whilst the remainder formed the ETA military or ETA (m). The former ETA (pm) denounced all forms of violence and aligned themselves to a purely democratic path whilst accepting the Spanish government's offer of a total amnesty for ETA prisoners. Their new political vehicle was named Euskadiko Ezkerra ("Left of the Basque Country") which was itself to fracture in the subsequent years. One ETA faction kept the party name Euskadiko Ezkerra for several years, before self-integrating into Partido Socialista de Euskadi (PSE), the Basque affiliate of the national PSOE); the other faction renamed themselves Euskal Ezkerra (EuE, "Basque Left") before merging into Eusko Alkartasuna.

• 1978-80 Meanwhile, ETA (m) took over the mantle for Basque Freedom and in the subsequent years adopted even more radical and ruthless stance against their Spanish oppressors with deadly consequence. This 3 year period, 1978–80, were to prove ETA's most violent and extreme resulting in 68, 76, and 91 fatalities, respectively.

ETA’s Continued Struggle for Sovereignty under Democracy

• 1985 Madrid witnessed ETA’s first car bomb assassination resulting in one fatality and 16 others injuries.

• 1986 Yet another Madrid bomb attack claimed the lives of 12 Guardia Civil and police officers are killed in Madrid and 50 wounded. Juan Manuel Soares is sentenced to 1,401 years in jail in 2000 for the killings.

• 1987 ETA’s Hipercor bomb on attack in a Barcelona shopping centre represented their bloodiest atrocity, killing 21 shoppers. Their statement in the aftermath of the attack claimed that an advance warning went unheeded by Spanish police.

In a "dirty war" orchestrated against ETA, the Spanish government sponsored an ostensive counter-terrorist organization, Grupos Antiterroristas de Liberación (GAL, "Antiterrorist Liberation Groups"), which operated with a ‘Carte-Blanche’ between the years 1986-1987. This maverick unit was responsible for assassinations, kidnappings and torture, inflicted upon both ETA members and innocent civilians. The true power that this government agency wielded within the Spanish corridors of power was to be fully realised by a Spanish court in 1997. This trial resulted in the conviction and imprisonment of several GAL members, not only foot soldiers but politicians up to the highest levels of government, including a minister of the interior. No major cases of foul play on part of the Spanish government after 1987 have been proven in court, although ETA supporters routinely claim human rights violations and torture by security forces, and international human rights organizations like Amnesty International have backed some of these claims.

1986 also witnessed the formation of Gesto por la Paz (Association for Peace in the Basque Country) which held numerous silent demonstrations throughout the Basque Country direct after any violent killing perpetrated by either ETA or by GAL.

In the same year María Dolores Katarain, "Yoyes", a former ETA director was assassinated for abandoning armed struggle and was branded as a "desertion".

• 1988 all Basque political parties except the ETA-affiliated Herri Batasuna joined the Ajuria-Enea pact designed to establish a lasting peace for the Basque Country. Within weeks of its implementation ETA announced a 60-day "ceasefire.” Further peace negotiations Mesa de Argel ("Algiers Table"), convened in Algeria between ETA (represented by Eugenio Etxebeste, "Antxon") and Spain then ruling PSOE government could not reach as satisfactory conclusion. This failure signalled a familiar to violent opposition by ETA.

• 1992 seen the capture by Spanish authorities in the French Basque town of Bidart off three of ETA's top leaders; their military leader Francisco Mujika Garmendia ("Pakito"), political leader José Luis Alvarez Santacristina ("Txelis") and logistical leader José María Arregi Erostarbe ("Fiti").

These arrests forced ETA to radically change their command structure and the organisation’s direction. Following a two-month truce, ETA founded a new youth wing "Y Groups", consisting of predominantly minors who were dedicated to "kale borroka" (Street Struggle)

• 1995 again witnessed the Basque separatist group involve themselves in peace negotiations. The Democratic Alternative round of negotiations replaced the previous KAS Alternative as a minimum requirement for the formation of Euskal Herria. The Democratic Alternative proposed an ETA cessation of violence in return for Spanish government recognition of Basque sovereignty people the right to self-determination of its peoples. This proposal was emphatically denounced by the Spanish government.

• 1998 ETA declared yet another ceasefire and entered into constructive dialogue with Spain's PP government.

• 2000 However, given the lack of political breakthrough in the Lizarra/Estella Pact negotiations, ETA again resorted to violent assassinations whilst accusing the Spanish government of being "inflexible""not wanting dialogue" and .

• Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and the subsequent toughening of global anti-terrorist measures appeared to many to have spelt the beginning of the of ETA’s campaign for Basque autonomy. The freezing of bank accounts, a concerted worldwide pooling of International police anti-terrorist resources and a public intolerance of such terrorist groups all culminated to seriously damage ETA’s effectiveness.

• 2002 Jarrai, the Basque nationalist youth movement and Herri Batasuna, ETA’s "political arm" of ETA even though it was under Spanish judicial investigation headed by judge Baltasar Garzón.

• 2003 Two policemen are killed by a bomb in the northern town of Sangüesa.

• 2006 In the aftermath of ETA’s bomb attack in Madrid's Barajas airport which killed two Ecuadorians, Spanish President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero called off Spain’s ceasefire agreement.

• 2008 Former Socialist party councillor, Isaías Carrasco, is assassinated two days prior to Spain’s general election.  In the same year a car bomb attack on a military academy in the northern town of Santona results in one fatality and several injuries.

• 2009 A senior investigating officer on combating ETA is killed by a car bomb in Bilbao

• 29 July 2009 a massive car bomb aimed at a Guardia Civil barracks in Burgos injured scores of people.

• 30 July 2009 a car bomb in the holiday resort of Mallorca leaves two police officers dead.

The recent escalation in violence by the Basque separatist group sends a very clear and timely signal to the Spanish government of their intent and how quickly they can rejuvenate their network. Also, it represents a major propaganda coup for the separatist group in making a public mockery of the Spanish governments repeated claims that ETA is a spent entity.

It further underlines the group’s commitment towards the establishment of a separate Basque State and these attacks are a chilling re-iteration of their 2006 statement when they declared;

"confirms its commitment to continue to fight... until independence and socialism for the Basque country is won". "The fight is not a thing of the past. It is the present and the future",

Read More