RACISM probably seems very remote for people who've never been on the receiving end.

It is the bed-fellow of extreme nationalism, which I witnessed at first hand recently, when I was invited to Spain's Basque country for their regional elections.

Spain's regions, including the Basque country, enjoy enormous devolved powers. But for many Basque nationalists, devolution is not enough -- they want complete independence from Spain. Some take it to extremes. The terrorist group, ETA, uses murder, blackmail and intimidation to further its cause.

Now if ETA was just a fringe element, it would be bad enough. But the main nationalist party in the Basque country often refuses to condemn ETA's actions, thereby fuelling the fire of extremism.

When I arrived in Bilbao, I found a country on edge. Non-nationalist politicians were always accompanied by, at least, two bodyguards. Many ordinary people like university teachers find themselves in the same position. Some even have had to leave Spain altogether because of death threats. There can be no real freedom or democracy in this climate of fear.

Extreme nationalism and racism is based on fear and intimidation. It ends up consuming the society which created it -- a cancer eating away at civilised life and ultimately destroying it.

We should always remember that "the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men and women to do nothing". Whenever we keep our mouths shut and fail to denounce the evils of racism and extreme nationalism, then the power of the thugs in our society grows.

By Gary Titley, Labour MEP for the North-west