Keep Him Dead
Finally, finally, Spain is not an exception among European countries. Finally, finally, her dictator is no longer interred in a national monument created for his adoration.
Last Thursday, Franco was finally taken out of the mausoleum he built outside Madrid, the Valle de los Caídos. This being Spain, and gossip being king of just about every television channel, it was plastered on every television screen. Even an online newspaper, of which I have an app, was sending out minute by minute notifications. "En directo..." The only ones allowed to be present were the crew carrying out the exhumation, the Minister of Justice, and part of the Franco family, now grandchildren. The press was only allowed to film outside. Absolutely no filming, not even by the family, was allowed at the exhumation nor at the final burial.
So, news coverage was ample that day, showing every moment, every hiccup, every "Viva Franco" uttered, every outstretched hand upraised, every pre-constitutional flag waved. Because there were plenty of followers at the Mingorubio cemetery outside Madrid where the dictator was finally interred, alongside his wife in a private crypt that no one can enter, not even the family, at least not without express permission from the government.
That was the problem. That it was televised, that the date was published in advance, and that so much attention was given to it. Franco, in his exhumation, was not laid to rest. His family was the center of attention throughout Spain, and they took advantage of it. Clips of how they complained that this was a dictatorship in the way they weren't allowed to take pictures were ironic, to say the least. The ultra right followers of the old regime were also shown on television, with their ugly, unbending hands stretched out in honor of a man with blood on his hands.
All this, coupled with the ongoing revolts in Catalunya over the sentences against former regional lawmakers, gives fuel to the far right, just before general elections next month. It legitimizes them, and it legitimizes Franco. THE EXHUMATION SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN ABSOLUTELY NO ATTENTION. Only one representative of family should have been present. No special burial Mass should have been allowed at Mingorubio. No coverage should have been given. The date should have been kept secret. Franco does not deserve any more attention than he's gotten all these years.
Personally? I feel that his remains should have been dug up and thrown in a ditch, like he ordered so many thousands dumped after having them executed. Forgive and forget, like so many from the right want to do? Never. Crimes against humanity have no forgiveness, not from other humans. And if we forget, we will stumble on the same stone again. But what we should do is put things in their place. Now, what needs to be done is to find all the mass graves, and give the descendants the right to lay their family members to rest as they wish, as they should have been after living long lives. These are the dead that we should memorialize. These are the dead we should remember and honor.
Last Thursday, Franco was finally taken out of the mausoleum he built outside Madrid, the Valle de los Caídos. This being Spain, and gossip being king of just about every television channel, it was plastered on every television screen. Even an online newspaper, of which I have an app, was sending out minute by minute notifications. "En directo..." The only ones allowed to be present were the crew carrying out the exhumation, the Minister of Justice, and part of the Franco family, now grandchildren. The press was only allowed to film outside. Absolutely no filming, not even by the family, was allowed at the exhumation nor at the final burial.
So, news coverage was ample that day, showing every moment, every hiccup, every "Viva Franco" uttered, every outstretched hand upraised, every pre-constitutional flag waved. Because there were plenty of followers at the Mingorubio cemetery outside Madrid where the dictator was finally interred, alongside his wife in a private crypt that no one can enter, not even the family, at least not without express permission from the government.
That was the problem. That it was televised, that the date was published in advance, and that so much attention was given to it. Franco, in his exhumation, was not laid to rest. His family was the center of attention throughout Spain, and they took advantage of it. Clips of how they complained that this was a dictatorship in the way they weren't allowed to take pictures were ironic, to say the least. The ultra right followers of the old regime were also shown on television, with their ugly, unbending hands stretched out in honor of a man with blood on his hands.
All this, coupled with the ongoing revolts in Catalunya over the sentences against former regional lawmakers, gives fuel to the far right, just before general elections next month. It legitimizes them, and it legitimizes Franco. THE EXHUMATION SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN ABSOLUTELY NO ATTENTION. Only one representative of family should have been present. No special burial Mass should have been allowed at Mingorubio. No coverage should have been given. The date should have been kept secret. Franco does not deserve any more attention than he's gotten all these years.
Personally? I feel that his remains should have been dug up and thrown in a ditch, like he ordered so many thousands dumped after having them executed. Forgive and forget, like so many from the right want to do? Never. Crimes against humanity have no forgiveness, not from other humans. And if we forget, we will stumble on the same stone again. But what we should do is put things in their place. Now, what needs to be done is to find all the mass graves, and give the descendants the right to lay their family members to rest as they wish, as they should have been after living long lives. These are the dead that we should memorialize. These are the dead we should remember and honor.
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| El Torno, Cáceres, monument to the forgotten of the Civil War |
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