March 12, 2005

"11 de marzo" is remembered all over Spain with a national moment of silence --and a loud Fatwa
by Liza Sabater

Yesterday was a national day of mourning in Spain. It was the anniversary of the Madrid terrorist attacks that killed 191 people and injured thousands. To mark this tragedy, the government and the King and Queen of Spain held a silent vigil all across the country.

All government agencies were closed down. Employers were asked to stop work during the ceremonies. Mass transit, especially the train system, was completely halted. People all over Spain were encouraged to take to the streets to remember in silence the fallen.

Telenoticias - TELEMADRID

Las puertas de los Ayuntamientos, los centros de trabajo, las calles y plazas de las ciudades fueron el escenario de las concentraciones de cinco minutos, convocadas por el Gobierno y la Federación de Municipios, y que estuvieron acompañadas por la interrupción de diversos servicios de transporte y de la actividad de comercios y empresas.

A la misma hora, los Reyes de España, acompañados por los Príncipes de Asturias, las principales autoridades del país y varios mandatarios extranjeros como el rey de Marruecos, Mohamed VI, se sumaron al silencio en el llamado Bosque de los Ausentes del Parque del Retiro de Madrid, un lugar en el que 192 cipreses y olivos recuerdan desde hoy la memoria de los fallecidos.

El homenaje silencioso se repitió en miles de lugares de toda España, donde los ciudadanos se concentraron atendiendo a las convocatorias previamente realizadas o de forma espontánea, como hicieron cientos de conductores madrileños y de otras ciudades.

And it was to mark this tragedy that the Islamic Commission of Spain issued a fatwa against Osama Bin Laden --the first ever islamic legal judgement against the Al-Quaeda leader; and possibly the first ever against any terrorist leader.

Guardian Unlimited | World Latest | Spain Falls Silent to Honor Train Victims

Spain's Muslims say they have suffered no backlash, but felt compelled to speak out against other Muslims who punished their adopted homeland so severely. The March 11 cell was made up largely of North African immigrants who had lived here for years.

The main organization representing Spain's million-member Muslim community, largely Sunni, condemned the train bombing and on Thursday issued what it said was the world's first fatwa, or Islamic edict, against bin Laden.

[...]

The fatwa called bin Laden unworthy of considering himself or being treated as a Muslim, and claimed support from Muslim leaders in Morocco - home to most of the 22 jailed suspects in the Madrid attack - as well as Algeria and Libya.

"We felt now we had the responsibility and obligation to make this declaration," Escudero said. Outside Madrid's main mosque - where many March 11 suspects prayed - about 50 people gathered Friday with banners in Spanish and Arabic denouncing terrorism.

In Puerto Rico, national days of remembrance or mourning are marked by a country-wide silence. Not just one-minute, but by a brown-out of businesses, schools, government agencies. Everything STOPS. I feel it's a concept that still evades US Americans.

I don't know if it is the national story that the country is too big to stop --too many times zones and what not. Or if it is just plain arrogance. But it never seems like the United States, as a country, can slow down enough to remember. It's as if as a nation, we're always running away from our real memories; the one's not manufactured through celluloid.

How can we explain the fast and furious dismantling of all our civil rights codes and laws; the recent outrageous selling out to corporate interests with the infamous bankruptcy bill; the sending out to war, once again, our soldiers with not enough body armor, not enough first aid supplies but plenty of mind-controlling drugs like speed and ecstacy? How can we explain the flat out co-optation of our electoral process by Diebold and their corporate cronies? How can we explain once again, another Bush White House with links to prostitution? And how can we explain Negroponte, Gonzalez and the infamy of Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo and the still captive "maybe they are terrorists, maybe not" suspects that remain in our prisons?

I think what is most unnerving to the government and mass media elite is that they have no longer a monopoly on the country's memory machine. It's not up to them to manufacture reverie anymore.

I remember how as a child we'd wait for those yearly Life and then Time magazine "the year in pictures". As I got older it was then a decade, then a quarter century, then 50 years of memories and finally a whole century --even a whole millenia.

And then came the blogs.

With blogs, a nation's memory is not only in the hands of the publishing, broadcasting, recording, film producing elite. Now, it is truly in the hands of the nation. And no matter how many blogs "die" in a year, as long as they are somewhere hosted, they'll remain part of our collective memory.

With blogs, there's no excuse for a nation to forget.

Posted by Liza Sabater in Blogs, Culture, Fascism, History, Osama Bin Laden, Religion, Terrorism
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