As the election draws near, Graeme at South of Watford has been investigating a series of different factors which could change the outcome of the vote. The economy and terrorism are important considerations for many Spaniards, as are problems with the national infrastructure, education and immigration.
The right-wing PP, keen to regain power after two terms of PSOE government, have been hammering on about terrorism more than anyone else (plus ça change…!), and recently, Spanish Catholic bishops raised their voices in support of Mariano Rajoy’s moribund campaign. One of the key points agreed on now by the major parties is that there shouldn’t be negotiation with political parties who refuse condemn ETA bombings, past and present. People who tacitly ‘approve’ of terrorism.
But the PP have a history of tacitly approving much worse movements than ETA will ever be. Born out of the ashes of Franco’s fascist dictatorship, the PP are the standard bearers for a type of neo-fascism, shrouded in the clothing of democracy but with no great love for democratic institutions, self-labelled of the ‘centre’ but retaining ultra-conservative views, explicitly in favour of the constitution yet permanently opposed to rescinding fascist-era legislation.
In fact, the PP fail their own test by refusing to explicitly condemn the atrocious crimes carried out by Franco’s regime (which, by the way, did not end in 1945 as some would have you believe). Claiming that it’s better to ‘let sleeping dogs lie’, the PP argue that nothing would be gained by their formally condemning Franco’s regime. So why not come out and do it? The answer is that the PP want to have their cake and eat it: they want to contest democratic elections and then disseminate lies about the results; they want to claim to represent the ‘centre’ while constantly appealing to the hard-right of Spanish politics; they claim ‘solidarity’ with the victims of terrorism, but only talk to the ones who are members of one of their own grassroots campaigns. They talk about looking to the future and still refuse to remove Franco as ‘Honourary Mayor in perpetuity’ of the city of Salamanca.
I couldn’t vote for a party with such a short-sighted view of history or such a terrible record of equivocation.
El PP lo condenó en 2002. ¿Cuándo va a condenar Izquierda Unida la dictadura de Fidel Castro?
Unfortunately, they seem to have changed their minds since then. More recently, they have refused to condemn Franco’s dictatorship in various forums, from the debacle over ‘Mayor in perpetuity of Salamanca’ to the European Parliament.
Actually, what they condemned in 2002 was ‘the repression of the Francoist dictatorship’, rather than the dictatorship itself, or the political philosophy behind it. ‘The repression’ means different things to different people and the declaration was worded carefully enough that it amounts to saying ‘I condemn that which I consider to be wrong’. For example, were the many executions carried out by military tribunals part of the repression or actually completely legal instruments of the state?
¿Y cuántas veces tiene que condenar el PP el franquismo? Te recuerdo que el PP se creó en 1989 y la dictadura franquista acabó en 1975, por lo tanto el PP no es un partido franquista. Además, el PP mira hacia el futuro, y no hacia el pasado como otros partidos. Hablando de condenar, ¿cuándo va a condenar IU la dictadura de Fidel Castro y el trato que reciben los homosexuales en Cuba?
Y para terminar, en las elecciones generales de 2004, el PP tuvo 9.763.144 votos. ¿Hay 9.763.144 franquistas en España?
ElPensador:
PP is the follow-up of Alianza Popular (AP), a party that was founded by Manuel Fraga, one of Franco’s ministers.
The PP espouses the same nationalist rethoric than the pre-democratic AP or Falange: Una, Grande y Libre.
Yes, there are 9m of franquistas in Spain, since they vote for a Spanish nationalist party which is intent on finishing the job that Franco started.
elpensador1987 – should Franco be Mayor in perpetuity of Salamanca?
A Rab:
¿Sabes que AP (Alianza Popular) pidió el sí en el referundum de la Constitución Española de 1978, ai igual que el PSOE, la UCD y el Partido Comunista?
Claro que Manuel Fraga fue ministro de Franco. Y Adolfo Suárez ocupó cargos en tiempos de Franco, y luego fue la persona que hizo posible que hubiera democracia en España.
Rob, si el PP tiene más de 9.700.000 votos, ¿hay 9.700.000 de fascistas en España? Por cierto, el PP forma parte del Partido Popular Europeo, y en el PPE está el partido de Sarkozy y el de Angela Merkel. ¿Son Sarkozy y Merkel unos fachas?
Va a resultar que Europa está llena de fascistas, según vosotros (Rajoy, Merkel, Sarkozy) y yo no me he enterado.
A Tom:
¿Qué te parece lo que ocurrió ayer en la Universidad de Santiago de Compostela?
Elpensador – your lack of common courtesy makes you unwelcmoe here. You’re barred.
Everyone else – please do not feed the troll.