In this video Isabel Peralta discusses the threat of a new ‘democratic memory’ law, by which the Spanish government aims to impose a politically motivated version of Spain’s history and criminalise those who wish to offer any alternative analysis of the Spanish Civil War and the Franco era.
She focuses in particular on Falangist leader José Antonio Primo de Rivera, who was murdered by his communist jailers in November 1936.
As Isabel points out, José Antonio was himself arguably a victim of Francoism. Some historians have suggested that Franco deliberately turned down the opportunity of a prisoner swap that would have resulted in José Antonio being freed: while maintaining the formality of a Falangist organisation, Franco’s regime effectively suppressed Falangist ideology. Francoism rejected the politics of José Antonio and Ramiro Ledesma.
This video (now subtitled in English for the first time) was recorded in 2021 just after news broke that the Spanish authorities aimed to exhume José Antonio’s remains from the Valle de los Caidos near Madrid.
That immediate threat has receded, but the government remains determined to enact a ‘democratic memory’ law that limits the parameters of historical debate and criminalises alternative views. A renewed attempt at official desecration of José Antonio’s tomb can be expected at some point.
Isabel Peralta has a new Twitter account at https://twitter.com/isabel_mperalta
Since she was previously banned from Twitter this will be an interesting test of new owner Elon Musk’s pledge to defend “freedom of expression”!
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