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BILBAO The Rhythm of Terrorism Recent escalations of Basque terrorism may come to threaten the structure of the 11-year-old Spanish democracy. The Basques have for centuries inhabited this part of Spain and certain adjoining frontier districts of France over the Pyrenees. They speak their own language, whose origin is unknown. The Basques call their homeland Euskadi, and claim it comprises seven Spanish provinces, including Navarre. Three of these provinces were given an autonomous parliament by the central government seven years ago. But Basque nationalists say this is not enough. For a while, most Basque nationalists were willing to negotiate peacefully with Spanish premier Felipe González. But with partial recognition of Basque claims, as the rhythm of terrorism works, the extreme wing of Basque nationalism has increasingly taken control. Its terrorist arm, the ETA, has been able to mount some impressive attacks of late, especially bombings of the armed forces and the police in Madrid, who, in turn, have reacted sharply to the rising level of violence. Basque political leadership has passed to the radical party Herri Batasuna (“A People United”), and its green, yellow, and white colors are splashed over public buildings and industrial structures throughout Basque territory. The party captured 200,000 votes in recent legislative elections in Navarre, but its five seats in the Cortes remain empty because it does not recognize the jurisdiction of the central government. Herri Batasuna’s program calls for practical independence, including the withdrawal of all Spanish troops and police from the Basque provinces. The Spanish authorities’ task of containment has been made easier of late by a change in the attitude of the French government, which now actively cooperates in combatting terrorist activity, arresting refugee Basques and returning them across the frontier. Basque nationalists, however, paraded ostentatiously in the smart seaside resort of St. Jean de Luz recently, reminding the French that there are also militant Basques among them.

BRUSSELS Plus Ça Change Linguistic antagonism, which has been the curse of the modern Belgian state, has cropped up again in a particularly intense and microcosmic way, threatening the existence of the Belgian government and inflaming opinion throughout the country. Belgium is divided between the Walloons, who speak French, and the Flemings, who speak Flemish, a variety of Dutch. These two communities live together in an uneasy, watchful, and often acrimonious cohabitation, the Flemings in the north and the Walloons in the south, with Brussels a French-speaking island in the middle. (By and large, the Flemings represent the more vigorous industrial sectors of the national economy, and the Walloons the old coal-based smokestack industries.) The status quo has now collapsed in the village of Fourons, which is in the Flemish province of Limburg, but which has a majority of Francophones among its 4,500 people. The mayor of Fourons, José Happart, is fluent in French but not in Flemish, a requirement of the job. The Council of State, the Belgian constitutional court, ordered Happart to be removed from town hall and his place taken by Roger Wynants, who speaks both languages. This nugatory episode resulted in a cabinet crisis.

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BILBAO The Rhythm of Terrorism Recent escalations of Basque terrorism may come to threaten the structure of the 11-year-old Spanish democracy. The Basques have for centuries inhabited this part of Spain and certain adjoining frontier districts of France over the Pyrenees. They speak their own language, whose origin is unknown. The Basques call their homeland Euskadi, and claim it comprises seven Spanish provinces, including Navarre. Three of these provinces were given an autonomous parliament by the central government seven years ago. But Basque nationalists say this is not enough. For a while, most Basque nationalists were willing to negotiate peacefully with Spanish premier Felipe González. But with partial recognition of Basque claims, as the rhythm of terrorism works, the extreme wing of Basque nationalism has increasingly taken control. Its terrorist arm, the ETA, has been able to mount some impressive attacks of late, especially bombings of the armed forces and the police in Madrid, who, in turn, have reacted sharply to the rising level of violence. Basque political leadership has passed to the radical party Herri Batasuna (“A People United”), and its green, yellow, and white colors are splashed over public buildings and industrial structures throughout Basque territory. The party captured 200,000 votes in recent legislative elections in Navarre, but its five seats in the Cortes remain empty because it does not recognize the jurisdiction of the central government. Herri Batasuna’s program calls for practical independence, including the withdrawal of all Spanish troops and police from the Basque provinces. The Spanish authorities’ task of containment has been made easier of late by a change in the attitude of the French government, which now actively cooperates in combatting terrorist activity, arresting refugee Basques and returning them across the frontier. Basque nationalists, however, paraded ostentatiously in the smart seaside resort of St. Jean de Luz recently, reminding the French that there are also militant Basques among them.

BRUSSELS Plus Ça Change Linguistic antagonism, which has been the curse of the modern Belgian state, has cropped up again in a particularly intense and microcosmic way, threatening the existence of the Belgian government and inflaming opinion throughout the country. Belgium is divided between the Walloons, who speak French, and the Flemings, who speak Flemish, a variety of Dutch. These two communities live together in an uneasy, watchful, and often acrimonious cohabitation, the Flemings in the north and the Walloons in the south, with Brussels a French-speaking island in the middle. (By and large, the Flemings represent the more vigorous industrial sectors of the national economy, and the Walloons the old coal-based smokestack industries.) The status quo has now collapsed in the village of Fourons, which is in the Flemish province of Limburg, but which has a majority of Francophones among its 4,500 people. The mayor of Fourons, José Happart, is fluent in French but not in Flemish, a requirement of the job. The Council of State, the Belgian constitutional court, ordered Happart to be removed from town hall and his place taken by Roger Wynants, who speaks both languages. This nugatory episode resulted in a cabinet crisis.