The status of the Basque homeland changed significantly with the end of Francisco Franco's regime and the return of democracy in 1979. Franco tried to suppress Basque nationalism and separatism. The new democratic government, on the other hand, offered significant autonomy to the Basque provinces. In a deal struck in 1980, the Basque region acquired its own parliament similarly to the other regions in Spain. It was also allowed to have its own independent tax legislation. In addition, the language Euskara became more prominent in public culture and education. However, the new autonomous region did not deter the radical separatists that comprised ETA. ETA has committed approximately 900 murders and dozens of kidnappings.
ETA’s level of activity has changed over the years. The group has attempted several ceasefires, including a 14-month one that lasted until December 1999. While there have been a number of ETA attacks since 2000, the group has claimed fewer victims. It is believed to be shrinking. Spanish officials believe that recent crackdowns have led to a serious weakening of the group and sense that its future as a terrorist organization may be limited. There are more than one hundred suspected ETA members in Spanish prisons today.
In the past several years, ETA has done sporadic attacks, including bombings in September 2004, December 2005, and early 2006. However, these bombings were generally preceded by warnings and did not result in any deaths.
In March 2006, ETA declared a permanent ceasefire and expressed to join the political process. The decision may have been linked to the 2004 Madrid train bombings, which killed nearly 200 people. The attack was originally blamed on ETA, though it was soon discovered to be the work of militant Islamists linked to al-Qaeda. Like the IRA, ETA leaders may have felt that the mass casualty terrorism practiced by some radical Islamist groups discredited its violent tactics—though this is not known for certain. ETA had a secretive leadership structure.
In June 2007, ETA declared its March 2006 ceasefire null-and-void. Although many had seen ETA’s December 2006 bombing of an airport parking garage as an indication that the truce would not hold. An ETA spokesperson accused the Spanish government of interfering in Basque local elections as well as continuing with the prosecution and conviction of ETA members during the ceasefire.
It must be noted that ETA did not officially renounce violence or initiate steps to decommission its weapons (as the IRA did in July 2005) as part of its ceasefire declaration. ETA ceasefires have deteriorated into violence before.
On 20 October 2011, ETA announced publicly the definite cessation of its armed activities. Although it vowed to continue to seek an independent Basque state. It was announced in 2 prominent nationalist newspapers, Gara and Berria.
In May 2018 ETA announced that it was formally disbanding. The move marked the end of a half-century of violence that had claimed the lives of more than 800 people.
Petr Eben
Petr Eben (Žamberk, 22 January 1929; died Prague 24 October 2007) was a Czech composer and organist. Many musicians think of him as the most important Czech composer of the late 20th century. He was known world wide for his organ playing. He was especially good at improvisation.
Eben grew up in Český Krumlov in south Bohemia. He learned to play the piano, and later the cello and organ. Because his father was a Jew he had to leave school in 1943 and spent the rest of the war years in concentration camp in Buchenwald. In the camp he saw many terrible things, including graves into which the Nazis were throwing lots of murdered Jews. These terrible things influenced his music in later years. He had a strong faith and this helped him to survive during 40 years of living in Czechoslovakia under communist rule.
After the war he went to Prague Academy for Music where he studied the piano with František Rauch and composition with Pavel Bořkovec. In 1955 he got a job as lecturer at Charles University in Prague. He stayed there until 1990. He was the country’s best composer, and he should have had promotion, but the communist politicians did not allow this. He went to church every Sunday with his family. This did not help his career in a communist state.
After the Velvet Revolution in 1989, when his country became free from the Soviet Union, he started to become a national hero. He was made Professor of Composition and president of the Prague Spring Music Festival. Many music festivals performed his compositions, and he traveled to hear the concerts in spite of the fact that he was starting to become ill. His music was often played in England, where he had spent two years as professor of composition at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester from 1978 to 1979. In March 2007 the BBC Symphony Orchestra under their Czech conductor Jiří Bělohlávek performed his "Vox Clamantis", a work he had written in 1968 which shows the Czech people’s longing to be free.
Eben continued during his lifetime to develop the style of music in which he wrote. He was interested in Czech folk music and he wrote down many folk songs that he heard in Moravia. He listened to plainchant in church music. All this helped him to develop his own style of composition. He is best-known abroad for his organ music, especially works such as "Musica Dominicalis" ("Sunday Music") which includes a popular piece called "Moto Ostinato". Other organ works include "Faust" (1980), "Job" (1987) and "A Festive Voluntary" which is a set of variations on the tune of "Good King Wenceslas", written for the reopening in 1986 of the organ at Chichester Cathedral which had just been restored. He also wrote a lot of music for orchestra as well as chamber music. He composed some beautiful music for children’s choir, including church music called "Liturgical Songs".
Czech
Czech might mean:
Totalitarianism
Totalitarianism is when regimes (political systems) control all public behaviour and as much of private behaviour as they can. No elections are held, or if they are, candidates must be approved by the ruling group. Physical force and/or arrests and detentions are used on people who protest against the regime. There are events such as parades or rallies. These suggest to the people that the ruling group is in complete control.
For some, totalitarianism is as old as history. However, their main examples in modern times are Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, North Korea, the Soviet Union, Eritrea and China.
There are other countries which had dictatorships, but never reached full totalitarianism. Italian fascism under Benito Mussolini, Spain under General Franco, Portugal under Dr. Salazar, China under Mao Zedong, and many Latin American countries for periods were dictatorships with some aspects of totalitarianism. Some African countries have been dictatorships for long periods (e.g. Zimbabwe). The Empire of Japan (predecessor state of the modern nation-state of Japan) was a well-known example of a totalitarian military dictatorship during World War II. The satire "Nineteen Eighty-Four" by George Orwell was about such a society taken to extremes.
The list is long: it is not true that most countries today are democratic.
According to some, authoritarianism "does not attempt to change the world and human nature". In contrast, a totalitarian regime attempts to control virtually all aspects of the social life, including the economy, education, art, science, private life and morals of citizens.
Gothic metal
Gothic metal is a heavy metal genre. It is fusion of gothic rock, doom metal and death metal.
Lüneburg
Lüneburg is a city in Lower Saxony in north Germany. It is about 50 km southeast of Hamburg. It is the capital of the District of Lüneburg. About 102,660 people live there.
The Ilmenau River, a tributary of the Elbe, flows through Lüneburg.