Madrid gets rid of its favourite son
In this case, El Caudillo himself, Francisco Franco:
"There was a rare moment of almost total unanimity in Madrid City Hall yesterday when the majority Popular Party (PP) added the lion’s share of its votes to left wing parties and agreed to revoke the honors the capital had once bestowed on General Francisco Franco, dictator of Spain from 1939 until his death in 1975... [these being] the titles of honorary mayor and city’s favorite son as well as two other medals". (Source. Link will only work today)
A few points come to mind. Franco may have suffered from ego problems if he let it be known he wanted these things to happen, it is all a bit late in the day to revoke them and I am not convinced of the wisdom of judging past actions by contemporary standards. Where the end of Franco's Spain differs from various other C20th European undemocratic regimes is that it was not a war or a revolution that ended it, and thus an Eastern Bloc style smashing of the idols never came to pass.
Anyway, it will be pretty quiet here until mid afternoon. Places to go, people to see and all that.
"There was a rare moment of almost total unanimity in Madrid City Hall yesterday when the majority Popular Party (PP) added the lion’s share of its votes to left wing parties and agreed to revoke the honors the capital had once bestowed on General Francisco Franco, dictator of Spain from 1939 until his death in 1975... [these being] the titles of honorary mayor and city’s favorite son as well as two other medals". (Source. Link will only work today)
A few points come to mind. Franco may have suffered from ego problems if he let it be known he wanted these things to happen, it is all a bit late in the day to revoke them and I am not convinced of the wisdom of judging past actions by contemporary standards. Where the end of Franco's Spain differs from various other C20th European undemocratic regimes is that it was not a war or a revolution that ended it, and thus an Eastern Bloc style smashing of the idols never came to pass.
Anyway, it will be pretty quiet here until mid afternoon. Places to go, people to see and all that.
Labels: Spain
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on Tuesday, June 30, 2009 at 7:55 am.
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I am not convinced of the wisdom of judging past actions by contemporary standards.
No, you're right there.
Always nice to be agreed with.
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