Spanish views from a small town

Twenty years ago, the Basque terrorist group, ETA, began its downhill ride into oblivion. It kidnapped a councilor of the town of Ermua, Miguel Ángel Blanco, on 10 July, 1997. ETA sent out a message to the central government; send all prisoners of ETA from prisons all over Spain to the Basque country within forty-eight hours. Otherwise, they would kill Miguel Ángel. The government said no. The people said no. Protests all over Spain shot up and recriminated ETA, telling the terrorists people would not stand for their tactics any longer. ETA didn't listen, and, as the government didn't meet its demands, on 12 July, it shot Miguel Ángel in the back of the head and left him for dead on a path in the woods near San Sebastian. There, he was found and taken to the hospital, but he died the next day. His death marked the end of ETA and the beginning of peace attempts, which has since seemed to have come about. Yet, it was one more death of many murders which ETA committed over the y...

There are the important dead, and then there are the unimportant dead. The important dead are those who are well-known and rich. When David Bowie died from cancer, the world mourned. Fine, because his work marked many lives. His was an important death. But there are many workers who have marked many lives, and yet are never recognized for what they have done. I can't name them, simply because they are anonymous! They are the simple workers who create infrastructure that make our lives easier, or who save our lives by keeping us healthy and safe through their jobs. They are the workers that might live paycheck to paycheck. Only their families mourn them. They are the unimportant dead. Globally speaking, there are the important victims and the unimportant victims. Every time there is a victim of terrorism on European, American, or Australasian soil, everyone puts a flag of the country affected over their Facebook picture. Everyone holds vigils for them. Everyone decries the barbary...