The one who gave the orders of shooting to kill and then chanted victory with the infamous phrase "the streets are mine!" was Manuel Fraga, then Minister of Interior (police and such), who died yesterday too comfortably and at a too elderly age for his many crimes.
Yesterday I posted a video of the Montejurra massacre, in which NATO's secret fascist army Gladio with the support of Spanish police murdered left-leaning confederalist Carlistas at a mountain march in Navarre. Today I offer, thanks to Ciudad Futura, a documentary filmed illegally on the massacre of March 3rd 1976 against striking workers in Vitoria-Gasteiz (Araba, Western Basque Country), barely two months before the attack of Montejurra.
It's titled Campanadas a la Muerte ("Death Bells Tolling"):
The conversations between the police agents are real and were recorded with the help of a radio scanner.
Synthesis: a large strike took place in Araba and other areas soon after dictator Franco had died. The answer from the authorities was violence. A large number of striking workers had occupied a church in the hope that the authorities would respect it. They did not: they attacked first with gas canisters and then with live fire. Five people were killed.
The person in charge and generally acknowledged as mastermind of the massacre was Manuel Fraga, then Minister of Interior. Thanks to the 1978 general amnesty his crimes were never judged but worst is that somehow this legal amnesty became a moral amnesty as well and he went on to become the leader of the main opposition party (eventually resigning in favor or J.M. Aznar) and, for many years, President of the autonomous community of Galicia, where he worked hard to make the native language and identity forgotten.
Every year a homage is made for the victims of this massacre.
when I see videos like this and then listen to the views of trade unions and politicians who represent a theoretically democratic government at the Spanish state, I really think that we have a long way to go to achieve true democracy.
ReplyDeleteA truly democratic society does not allow this game of hypocrisy or forget their historical memory. The history of a society can not be deleted, must always be present to prevent unfortunate events from happening again, and closing the eyes and not condemning those who have participated in these events makes our citizens feel ashamed.
Yes, absolutely in agreement again. But for thinking that way you or anyone may well be dubbed of "radical" because for the fascists all is rights, privileges and benefits, while for those who stand for human values, well... prison, death, exile and disdain.
ReplyDeleteAnd it's not just in Spain. The system favors those who are cynically pragmatic to the point of evil and does so everywhere.