I've put together a series of links, generally in English, on the horrific event of a week ago, the election last Sunday, and their aftermath. It's been a strange week: a student told me that she thought Madrid was in a kind of trance, which I thought was about right. The nation is currently split, quite dangerously, into two distinct camps with very little to say to each other. At the Complutense University, I gave one of the most intense classes of my life last week to a group of about thirty students, mostly Spaniards, some of whom were part of the protests the night before the elections. Many of them were unconditionally thrilled that Zapatero had been elected. They'd voted for the first time, and their vote had made a difference. On the other hand, there are the rather dour people who are saying that there were "two attacks" last week, one on Thursday and one on Sunday, which is quite simply in appalling bad taste. Or the taxi driver who was listening to the radio, just muttering to himself "joder, han jodido el país", as a presenter on the Onda Cero radio station assured us that with the election of the PSOE, there'd be "an end to debate and analysis" on the radio. Apropos of that, it should be fairly clear to all by now that the PSOE victory was not simply cowtowing to El Qaeda, as has widely been reported by much of the neoconservative press in America, where the military perspective dominates. It was also very much a protest against misinformation and media manipulation at home. But anyone who believes that media manipulation is over now that the PP is out should think again: it goes with the territory.

And then there was last night, St Patrick's, which was also the night of the Spanish cup final (Zaragoza beat Real Madrid 3-2, which cheered me up no end). I was playing guitar with an Irish band in the centre of Madrid. About half the people in the bar were watching us, and went respectfully silent as our singer did a fine version of "Danny Boy" in memory of the victims of the bombing. In the next room, the other half of the people carried on watching the football, cheering and groaning, heedless. That's another split: the people who are concerned, whatever their political perspective, about what's happening to Spain at the moment, and the millions - the 23% of people who didn't vote - who couldn't care either way as long as there's soccer on the TV. Or who, unforgivably, have already forgotten.

Anyway, those links:

A concise, clearly-organized and informative history of the day of the bombing and its aftermath. And the BBC, offering its usual wealth of perspectives.

The standard neo-con "appeasement" arguments, suggesting that last Sunday's vote was a vote for terrorism, are rehearsed here. And here, a nicely balanced argument from the other side.

An impassioned insider's view from the left wing by Spanish novelist and anti-war campaigner Almudena Grandes.

A warning against trying to make instant sense of the senseless.

Some bloggers and their threads. Calpundit reflects a range of opinions; Roger L. Simon and Beautiful Horizons blog from different sides of the political spectrum.

A series of powerful cartoons from around the world.

Brief reflections on the significance of technology for both the bombings and the anti-government protests. Technology as both threat and liberator.

A special Spanish-language site with many more links, to both blogs and official sites.

And lastly, some very moving biographies of the victims (in Spanish).
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