A segment of Spanish society—the Left’s leaders, if not their voters—has been too quick to paper over the difference between lawful politics and violence.
The connivance of the establishment Left (and, though less explicitly, the Right as well) with the long-term strengthening of separatism has been a feature, not a bug, of Spanish democracy.
Unionism has long been a negative creed—it has defined itself by being opposed to things—while her opponents appear, by contrast, progressive and modern. To win hearts and minds, unionists need to make a positive case for the union of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. But today Ulster’s unionists appear more disunited and demoralized than at any time in the last century.
