Franco is dead

Elio Di Rupo, Pablo Iglesias, Carles Puigdemont or any other figure who these days goes so far as to attribute Francoist, fascist or authoritarian policies to Spain would do well to clarify their thoughts by falling back on any reasonable and objective exercise of recollection, or indeed any Hispanist or book of recent history, or simply, even to the weekly satirical newspaper Le Canard Enchain¨¦, which, in a recent issue, mocked the accusations of the former Catalan regional premier, explaining how he, ¡°in spite of everything, managed to escape the fascist militias that are roaming Catalonia and reached Belgium. What an astonishing feat.¡±

It is insulting, offensive and intolerable that an ex-Belgian prime minister would accuse Rajoy of acting as an ¡°authoritarian Francoist¡±

It¡¯s funny, but this confusion needs something more than just humor.

The accusations of Francoism levelled at Spain and its government are not just extemporaneous, absurd and striking. It is above all else insulting, offensive and intolerable that an ex-Belgian prime minister such as Elio di Rupo, a francophone socialist who was at the head of the Belgian government between 2011 and 2014, would accuse Rajoy of acting as an ¡°authoritarian Francoist,¡± something that would be the same as accusing Angela Merkel of being a ¡°totalitarian Nazi¡± for a decision taken by the German justice system and with which Mr Di Rupo disagrees. A British newspaper has been editorializing about Rajoy¡¯s ¡°political prisoners.¡± And a radio station has been asking its listeners whether Spain is acting ¡°as a fascist state.¡± Would they ask the same about Germany? Or is a strange paternalism toward Spain, linked to the Civil War mystique that has been so long crafted both in literature and journalism, still running in a simplistic fashion through the British press, in the midst of its own confusion in the face of Brexit and Eurosceptic populism?

Attacks on the prestige of Spanish democracy from outside are, without a doubt, matters that the government should monitor and combat with intelligence, but the true problem is surely that they have been made possible thanks to the ease with which they are made and repeated in our own country. Pablo Iglesias, Irene Montero, Pablo Echenique and many other politicians have all tuned in to the raging discourse of Puigdemont about supposed Spanish Francoism, in a disturbing mimesis. This is even more so due to the fact that well-known figures from the left wing such as Paco Frutos and Alberto Garz¨®n ¨C not to mention professional historians and common sense itself ¨C have distanced themselves from any similarity between the political prisoners of the dictatorship and the current suspects being investigated for rebellion, sedition and misuse of funds by the Spanish courts. Amnesty International itself, an organization that is a doyenne in terms of its fight for the rights of those who are persecuted, has stated that the former members of the Catalan parliament and its speakers committee, as well as the heads of the pro-independence citizens associations, cannot be defined as prisoners of conscience. Hispanists such as Henry Kamen have clarified that if anyone is acting in a Francoist manner it is the separatist front, which has been falsifying historical information to build its narrative.

Spain is a mature democracy that has given plenty of lessons of tolerance in matters of sex, religion and ideology

Spain is a mature democracy that has given plenty of lessons of tolerance in matters of sex, religion and ideology, and that has taken in without traumas nor racist incidents millions of immigrants. It has risen in democratic quality to position number seven on The Economist¡¯s index, for example, just below the United Kingdom and above the United States, Italy, France and even Belgium. It is suffering problems that must be addressed, such as corruption, job insecurity and the renovation of the Constitution, which ¨C among other issues ¨C will allow for the Catalan issue to be addressed and resolved. But no attack of empty rhetoric and related to the Civil War such as those being perpetrated by the populists, pro-independence forces and certain elements of the Anglo-American press can justify the allegations of the survival of Francoism. We are in 2017, but, if it is still necessary, we¡¯ll remind everyone: Spaniards (and Europeans!), Franco is dead.