Word: separatist
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...separatist movement is only the latest incarnation of a tradition of resistance that goes back thousands of years. Settled in the Western Pyrenees since Paleolithic times, the round-faced, stocky Basques are probably Europe's first known people. In earlier periods they resisted the Romans, the Visigoths, the Moors and the Franks under Charlemagne. Similarly, the E.T.A. is now struggling to regain for the Basques their ancient, almost tribal traditions of self-government...
When the returns were in, Bourassa's Liberal Party had buried the separatist opposition, winning 102 out of 110 seats in the assembly. Despite the landslide, the separatist Parti Québécois did score a victory of sorts. By winning six seats, it became the official opposition in the assembly and gained about 30% of the total popular vote...
...centuries. But only in the past decade has it emerged as a potent political force. In the 1970 election, the péquistes (for the initials P.Q. in Parti Québécois) won 23.7% of the vote and seven seats in the assembly. In 1970 a separatist terror organization called the Front de Libération du Québec (F.L.Q.) kidnaped the British trade commissioner and murdered Pierre Laporte, the Liberal Party's Labor Minister. Ottawa's response was blunt: it imposed near martial law under the War Measures Act, and the Montreal streets were...
Although the F.L.Q. violence diminished after the government crackdown, separatism-and the problems that gave it birth-remained. Many French-speaking Quebeckers still saw themselves as what Separatist Theoretician Pierre Valliéres acidly calls "the white niggers of Canada." They are still paid less than English-speaking Canadians, in a province whose economy is controlled by English interests...
...disappoint them. He appeared in the House of Commons in ascot and sandals, frugged, dated Barbra Streisand, and in general looked and behaved more like a playboy than in the usual stodgy manner of Canadian Prime Ministers. He also fashioned solid accomplishments such as his firm handling of the separatist crisis in 1970, pushing a tax reform through the Commons and opening relations with China...