Do you think Spain Fascist?

national | miscellaneous | news report

Tuesday February 25, 2003 13:18

by ipsiphi

bcn

A guide to the current Spanish State for an Irish Readership.

February 23rd 1981 Francoists held the Madrid Parliament at gun point and proclaimed a coup d´etat. February 23rd 2003 Over a half a million people march in Madrid from Galicia the birthplace of Franco under a banner "Nunca Mais" and call for the resignation of the last Franco era Minister.

The parallels, the connections, the hints at the past effect every foreigner who writes of Spain.
Modern Spain, a member of the UN, EU, NATO and candidate for an enlarged G8 has inherited much from its history.
Thus a brief introduction to 20th Century Spanish history.

Francesc Macià, the prestigious leader of Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC), a Republican left-wing party, won a clear victory in the elections held on 12 April 1931. On 14 April, Macià proclaimed the Catalan Republic within an Iberian Federation. A few hours later the second Spanish Republic was proclaimed in Madrid. Negotiations between the two new powers, in Madrid and Barcelona, resulted on 17 April in the provisional reestablishment of the Generalitat de Catalunya as the government of Catalonia with Francesc Macià as its first President.

The Spanish Republic recognised two national peoples within an "iberian pluralist entity" in both Catalonia and the Basque countries. This was anethema to Spanish nationalists who looked to Franco for leadership.

In 1936, Franco as Chief of Staff of all the Spanish armed forces was sent to the Canary Islands in order to remove him from politics. He was later posted to Spanish Morocco where he planned a revolution against the Spanish Republican Government.

On July 17, 1936, he transported his Foreign Legion and his Moroccan troops to Spain. He was now in command of his revolutionary army, he had the support of three million fascists and 800 000 monarchists. His military aid came from Italy and from Germany. After a three-year battle, accompanied with his foreign troops and international brigades, he defeated the Spanish governmental forces who were joined by international brigades and Stalin´s support.

In 1941, when Germany attacked Russia, Franco sent a blue army division to fight alongside the Germans. In 1944, the United States placed a petroleum embargo on Spain forcing that country to leave active assistance of the Axis powers for the duration of WWII.
At the close of WWII, in 1945, the United Nations voted to bar Spain from becoming a member nation. In 1946, the United Nations once again took action against Spain and recommended to its members that they withdraw their ambassadors and their ministers from Madrid. The boycott remained in effect until November 4, 1950. At that time, the United Nations made the statement that the exchange of Ambassadors between Spain and other States was at the discretion of its members.

Then the United States began a friendlier relation with Spain and sent them some much needed aid. In 1951, the United States made a proposal to Spain to include them in the defence organization of Europe. It is at this point in time that Franco purged his government and aligned himself with western democracies. In 1947, he had been declared by his government to be the sole leader of Spain, his appointment was a life appointment.

Franco was also given the power to choose his own successor. He chose the monarchist solution and nominated Juan Carlos (1936-) as his succesor. Franco took responsiblity for the education of his heir.

In December 26, 1953, the United States and Spain signed a defence agreement. Under this agreement, Spain gave the United States the right to utilize Spanish Naval and air bases for the defence of Western Europe. In return, Spain received military and economic assistance from the United States. Franco used considerable foreign investment to develop a tourism industry on the Costa Brava and Costa del Sol.

The grandson of King Alfonso XIII, he was born in Rome and educated in Switzerland and Madrid. In 1962 he married Princess Sofia of Greece, daughter of King Paul I.

Carefully groomed for his succession by Franco, Juan Carlos was proclaimed heir to the throne in 1969 and became king after Franco's death. As king, Juan Carlos is commander in chief of the armed forces. He also has the responsibility for submitting a candidate for prime minister who must then be approved by parliament. Favouring gradual democratic reform, he instituted a parliamentary government based on a new constitution that was popularly approved in 1978.

"The Transition" is that period between the death of Franco in November 1975 and the acceptance of the modern Constitution in 1978. One of the key ministers in that period was Manuel Fraga. The constitution enacted in 1978 divided Spain into many regions of limited local authority with assemblies. It is not a federation. Several of the "comunidades" thus created reflected older ethnic, linguistic or national communities.
Thus "La Generalitat" the Catalan government was re-instated in Catalonia affording the CAtalans a limited sense of home rule, and the Basques were allowed institutions as well. Manuel Fraga took up the office of President of Gallicia the birthplace of Franco which he holds to this day.

"When in 1981 a band of Francoist die-hards burst into the parliament building and held the assembled representatives hostage in a misguided attempt to turn back the clock, it was largely thanks to the King's intervention that the coup failed".. that is an excerpt from a modern spanish history schoolbook. IT refers to the TV broadcasts made by Juan Carlos on Feb23-25 1981. In which he called on "Spaniards to respect Democracy".

Spain was confirmed as a modern western social democracy when the incumbent centrist party handed over power to the PSOE after their victory in general elections in 1982. The country's political scene had evolved towards a bipartisan system, with added interest provided by the increasingly influential regional parties representing some of Spain's Autonomous Communities. Regional parties such as the Basque-based PNV (Partido Nacionalista Vasco) and Catalonia's Convergencia i Unió, both of which seek greater home rule for their regions, are players to be reckoned with at a national level.

The two main national parties are the historical Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE, the left-of-center social-democratic party) and the right-of-center Partido Popular (PP). While the first started out as a Marxist socialist party and the second can trace its origins to the bureaucracy of the Franco regime, the ideological gap between the two has narrowed to the point where it is almost imperceptible, although the PP is identified with the Catholic Church on such issues as education.

The richest "regions" of Spain are now in order.
Madrid, Catalonia and Basque country. IT has only been in the last ten years that Madrid has grown to such prosperity. Most of the industrialisation of Spain is concentrated in the north and east.

The socialist party's (PSOE) personable leader, Felipe González, became the youngest premier elected to office in Europe. He would go on to become the continent's longest-governing premier.

Economic bouyancy in the 80s bolstered the government's popularity, but scandals involving corruption in the administration gradually chipped away at the credibility of the PSOE government. The president of the Bank of Spain and the head of the Civil Guard corps were among those prosecuted for corruption. The most serious case involved the GAL, a shadowy organization set up by officials within the government to wage a dirty war against the Basque terrorist group, ETA, using kidnaping and assassination as their tactics. Several top officials were sentenced for their involvement.

González accepted a process of communication with ETA through the intermediary of Argentine born Esquival who had won the Nobel for Peace in 1980.
The centralised government of Spain seemed to recognise key issues in the Basque malcontent. The Language was allowed to be taught, spoken and published. Franco true to Fascist characteristics had attempted to place a heavy centralised beurocracy on all of Spain. He had also attempted to impose a homogenous culture. Catalan was as Basque a forbidden language.

While no responsibility was ever pinned on Felipe Gonzalez himself for allegations of corruption his image and that of his party were tarnished beyond repair and the socialists lost the general elections in 1996.

The Partido Popular won led by José Maria Aznar born Madrid the 25th of february 1953.
The PP, which won a relative majority in the 1996 general elections, was able to form a government thanks only to the support of the Catalan nationalists. The CiU.

In March 2000, aided by a buoyant Spanish economy, the PP won an absolute majority, and most regional parties had gains, while the PSOE and Izquierda Unida suffered heavy losses at the polling stations.

The Spanish prime minister (called the Presidente del Gobierno, or President of the Government) is not chosen by direct ballot, but is elected by the members of the Spanish parliament, who in turn are voted to office in general elections every four years.

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22% of the Basque population are bilingual.
They speak Euskadi.

Like in Ireland the minority that speak Euskadi everyday have a political experience of rule and history that is often at bitter odds with the majority tongue.

The Basque countries appear to be united in their wish for a peaceful settlement. They have been through several previous truces and have been thought to have entered into a "Peace Process" at more than one stage of their history.

The newspaper Eugnakaria was closed by the Spanish state over the weekend. A closure that sparked marches in Donasti Bilbao and outspoken criticism of the Madrid government by journalists, civil rights groups, language groups and the Basque government itself.

The Present Pais Vasco, has a nationalist government with a solid majority. The leader of that government is called the Lehendakari at is quite obviously unhappy with Madrid´s policy on ETA.

Since last year Madrid and Aznar´s presidency has sought to end the violence of ETA with a judicial campaign fought in the main by Judge Baaltazar Garzón.

The žwishž by the PP to end ETA is perhaps their only popular policy in Spain.
But is not only a žwishž

The tactics that have been adopted have been open to the much criticism.
This strategy places "excessive" Spanish nationalism at the heart of Spain and its internal conflict resolution. This has been seen in anti-regional langauge policy long before the closure of "Egunkaria", and ecological policy that has little thought for the wishes of local people in the Ebro valley. And an overt militarism which has led to the "homage of the flag". It has attempted to discount european regionalism which is a natural local reaction to the emergent superstate status of the EU.

During žthe transitionž extensive discussion was had between agents of the Spanish Secret Service and representatives of both Catalan and Basque nationalism. The communication between Madrid and the nascent Generalitat led by Josep Tarradellas are now on open record.

on 15 June 1977 In Catalonia the elections were won by the parties which included the reestablishment of the Generalitat and the return of their exiled President in their electoral programmes. This was done to emphasise the continuity of the Institution, which had symbolically continued in exile.

As a result, on 29 September 1977, the Generalitat de Catalunya was reestablished by royal decree and Josep Tarradellas returned to his country after an exile of forty years to be recognised as President of the Generalitat. Shortly thereafter, a commission of experts appointed by the Catalan Assembly composed of Members of Parliament who had been elected in the June 1977 elections began drafting the Statute of Autonomy known, after the place where it was drawn up, as the Statute of Sau.

In December 1978, King Juan Carlos sanctioned the Spanish Constitution before the Cortes Generales. A year later, on 18 December 1979, he also sanctioned the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia which had been approved first by the Spanish Cortes and subsequently by a referendum of the people of Catalonia held in October 1979. According to its preamble, this Statute “is the expression of the collective identity of Catalonia and defines its institutions and relations with the State within a framework of free solidarity with the other nationalities and regions”. In the same document the Generalitat is defined as “the institution around which the self-government of Catalonia is politically organised”.

A historic date in the annals of Catalan democracy was 20 March 1980 when the second legislative elections were held to constitute the new Parliament of Catalonia (the first had been held forty-eight years earlier on 20 November 1932). On 10 April, the Parliament and its deputies elected Heribert Barrera as President of the restored Parliament, and Jordi Pujol i Soley as the hundred-and-fifteenth president of the historic Generalitat.

In 2000 the leader of the ERC the republican nationalist party of Catalonia held extensive contact with representatives of ETA and their political wing to request an end to ETA bombings in Catalonia.

The campaign led in the name of Basque independence has not raised more than 20% of the electorates vote at any stage. In fact in the past year regular demonstrations have been seen of in excess of a half a million people to call on ETA to stop. A cartoon in last weekend´s Catalan edition of a national newspaper perhaps summed it up. Two equal crowds of protesters holding a banner ripped in two. One crowd standing on a hilltop supporting "Egunkaria" the other ona hilltop not supporting "egunkaria". The banner ripped between the two is "Basta Ya!". "Basta Ya!" is the slogan of the Basque nationalist party supported peace campaign.

What is clear is that the vision of Euskadi held by Madrid and the PP is very different from that aspired to by the Basque people. Be they supporters of the now criminalised pro-ETA party HB or readers of "Egunkaria" which is now published as "Egunero". Last year the PP launched a policy of "destroying ETA in all its parts" with a much vaunted ceremony involving State Prosecutor Baaltazar Garzón displaying evidence against ETA, HB and other groups that ran to over half a million pages, hundreds of hours of audio tape and many boces of video tape. Since that campaign was launched Madrid has made slow and beurocratic progress through that evidence.

It has occured to me and many, that Madrid has decided to imprison all Basque seperatists. But I do not think that will end Basque seperatism. A Fascist regime to be considered truly Fascist must meet many criteria. A few are as following...

It must be excesively nationalist.
It must vest authority in one person or a few.
It generally carries very heavy and centralised beurocracy.
It generally compiles information on all citizens.
It generally looks back to some previous time of "general national well being".
It generally promises some type of future national utopia "once the malcontents have been removed".
It thus always requires an internal enemy.

In Ireland we saw a conflict interpreted on ethnic indentity, national aspiration, religous difference, class difference, self determination against a hostile imperial power.

We all hold opinion on what happened in Ireland. We all hold aspirations for what will happen in Ireland. But perhaps we more than most know how Ireland was mismanaged often by the British when the British were themselves subject to "excessive nationalism". It is my premise that Madrid of today demonstrates "excessive nationalism" which is irreconcilable with the aspirations to a "pluralist national unity" of the Spanish Constitution established in 1978. That "pluralist natational unity" seems to be fall short of the trans Iberian idealism of the Spanish Republic but it has offered a mechanism to allow Catalan and Basques a sense of auto-government.

But a sense of auto-government is never enough for a national movement.

Madrid wishes to stop the disintegration of Spain.
IT thus faces similar problems to London which would stop the disintegration of the UK.

But the regions of Spain are historically and culturally different. It has only been as a result of continuity in their respective histories that a modern Spain can exist.

That is to say that without the consent of wither Basque or Catalan peoples I do not believe a modern Spain is possible. The modern Spain that I have grown to love. Where there is continuity between the aspirations of those who died in a War that acted as preamble to European Fascism. Where there is at times seemingly mutually inreconcilable difference between Andalusia and the Pyrennees.
A land where so many langauges are spoken. A European country that still carries its long long history and global place be it as portal to understanding South American or the Maghreb.

links.
eu ban list org + info
http://www.ireland.indymedia.org/cgi-bin/newswire.cgi?id=6697
friendship message at launch of link between Basque and Ireland indymedia (both centres are young).
> http://www.ireland.indymedia.org/cgi-bin/newswire.cgi?id=7242
imc basque bishops condemned Madrid.
http://www.ireland.indymedia.org/cgi-bin/newswire.cgi?id=7021
a video on the transition.November 1975.
http://www.tvc.es/cataleg/doc60_28.htm
a biography of the King at "spanish property"
WHO IS THE KING-
http://www.spanishpropertyco.com/4.htm
What Do The Mormons Think?
http://www.sltrib.com/2002/Dec/12272002/nation_w/14923.asp