Sainthood
by Jorge Vargas
In 1936, a human dream was crushed, led on by a military coup staged by none other than General Francisco Franco. The dream was of equal rights for homosexuals, of an absolute separation of Church and State, of the end of a then-corrupted monarchy, of equal rights for women, and, in short, of the creation of a true republic; a nation run by the people. Unfortunately for this dream, it was run in part by Spanish anarchists and communists.
The Spanish right, sponsored by 1930s Germany and 1930s Italy, overlooked by the United States, Great Britain, and France, launched a coup against the republic. Three years of a vicious war ensued, thousands died, thousands more went missing, and, at the end of it, the Spanish Right won the war. Fascism was the order of the day and would be until 1975 when General Franco died.
By the end of Franco's dictatorship, the Roman Catholic Church was a vicious, unrelenting, and intolerant entity. the Civil Guards were a feared force that hauled people away without requiring a reason. Spain was, essentially, a Third World, agricultural country; Spain was isolated from most of the civilized countries in the world, though it did receive strong support from the United States due to Cold War decisions made by the US government; and it was ready to emerge from this time in history as a broken and divided nation.
Today, Madrid - and other major cities throughout Spain - continues to be a bastion of franquismo. It continues to hold countless statues and monuments celebrating the defender of Hispanism, the defender of the white Spanish race, the defender of Spanish honour and the Spanish Imperial tradition: Francisco Franco. His followers continue to have racist views of Africans, Arabs - some of the greatest contributors to Spain's culture, Jews, and Latin Americans - the modern-day contributors to Spanish culture. Furthermore, his followers are behind efforts to maintain the Spanish Royal Family at the helm of several key aspects of Spanish society and government - including control of the military - and they oppose any form of negotiations with the ETA terrorist organization, though that is not necessarily a questionable decision since separatism in Spain should not be considered a viable option.
The Roman Catholic Church is today decorating and pushing toward sainthood some 498 priests who were killed during the Spanish Civil War - 1936-1939. The Church is obviously not ignorant of the Spanish situation - after all, Spain is one of the largest and richest Catholic countries in the world - and the Church knows that decorating these 498 individuals is more an act of punishing and demonizing the Spanish republicans - leftist supporters of the Spanish Republic, not right-wing American war-hawks - than actually remembering the 498 priests. The Vatican is fueling more resentment for the left in a country that is clearly embracing traditionally left-wing social practices and socialist national policies - the Aznar exception notwithstanding.
The Vatican is openly interfering in an internal Spanish affair in order to fuel the Spanish right, a segment of society that has fallen into decadence and political insignificance, as demonstrated not only by Zapatero's election but also by the 2006 decision to openly engage ETA in talks and by the fact that homosexual marriage is now legally permissible in Spain. When will the Vatican finally learn that its role, if the Vatican and Catholicism are ever to stand against the religious fervor of the Protestants and the Muslims, should be a spiritual rather than a political one? How can the Spanish left embrace Catholicism when the Church insists on ancient political tricks?
I do not say that the Spanish left is necessarily right in all issues - but, yes, perhaps in most - nor even that the Vatican is necessarily in the wrong in all issues pertaining to Spain, but rather that the Spanish left is a group that has long since been abused, trampled, secuestered, assassinated, beaten, and violated, and it is now high time for their heroes to also be commemorated. Spain, and all of the characters that played a role in the Civil War, must recognize that the war included two sides, neither of which was proven right but only one of which had a chance to even try - the right - and failed. Let's face it; Franco was a failure for the Spanish geopolitical and economic situation.
In the 1930s, people in the United States, France, Great Britain, and Latin America realized that the battle for the Spanish republic was a battle for humanity, more so even than the battle for Europe in the 1940s. After all, the Germans were destroying governments, militaries, and, sadly, individuals. The Spanish right destroyed all of those things and something that, in the collective mind, is more important: A dream. The world failed Spain in the 1930s but that battle for humanity continues today.
Will we fail Spain again? Will we fail humanity again?
