The lower house of the Spanish Parliament approved a new law this week allowing the Supreme Court to dissolve political parties perceived as endorsing terrorist activities. The bill is clearly aimed at Batasuna, a Basque pro-independence party formed in 1978, widely viewed in Spain as the political arm of the radical ETA movement. Batasuna officials deny links to ETA, but refuse to condemn the bombings attributed to the group. Batasuna garnered 10 percent of the votes in last year’s elections in the Basque region. The Basques are thought to be Europe’s oldest ethnic group, predating Indo-Europeans who arrived in on the continent 3,000 years ago.
