Elections held in Spain last Sunday, with socialist victory, have proved once more that there are two Spains: a traditional, conservative one (in the moral sense, I'm not talking about economics) which will side with the church and still, in many cases, doesn't see Franco as a such bad part of our past (that would be PP), and a more progressive one that would definately condemn Franco's regime... The gay-lesbian marriage thing is just one of the laws Zapatero has brought (Socialists have also passed a law to harden the punishments for domestic violence and protect abused women more effectively, and have improved conditions for the working young people to access housing, given the huge rise in prices.
However, I don't think many people vote for that as much as they vote out of fear, fear of the others... to understand that, we'd have to take a look at our recent past ... Many of our problems still stem from the civil war (1936-1939) which brought a long dictatorship with Franco supported always by the catholic church. Among other things, Franco was determined to erradicate any trace of identity except Spanish, thus Catalan was forbidden (my mom would be spanked if she was caught speaking her own language at school!). In general terms, Catalans and most peripheral Spain fought to maintain a republic and avoid Franco rising to power, while another part of Spain was siding with the dictator, and they won.
We still have these two sides in Spain. Many people vote out of fear. Socialists have played that card: "Vote for us, or they will come!", and PP has played that card too: "Vote for us, or Catalans will rule and Spain will break!" PP has once again used the language/cultural issue, and Catalans have played a big role in Zapatero winning, not so much because they love him, but because we see the alternative as far worse.
The debates on TV didn't help PP either, their leader (Rajoy) actually brought up Irak on the debate, when that was a major factor for their losing elections in the past! That was clearly unwise (in my opinion). So Catalans fear PP and have been decisive in the socialist victory, and the same has happened in the basque country. They have voted more for socialists, and the killing of a former councilman triggered the anger in many people who rebelled against ETA's "recommendation" that they should abstain from voting, and have hugely supported socialists....
So to answer your question, James, the socialists victory is ok with me... but only ok...
Trying to explain this in English is a bit of a challenge...!
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6 comments:
Less politics......More pictures.....haha.....unless you want me to create some huge uprising :-)
Just Kidding.....
Thank you, Nuri. I'll have to study your post to try to put it in perspective. Spanish politics is very different from US politics.
Makes sense to me, Nuri. Had no idea the spector of Franco loomed so large.
Buffalo, his dictatorship lasted until 1975, so it was a long period. But it's not just about him, there's been other episodes of conflict in our history. That's just the most recent one!
Jessica, don't worry, I'm going back to pictures... I took some yesterday in the park but I didn't like ANY of the 50 or so I took!!!
Nuri,
So citizens in Spain vote the same way they do in the US. Vote for the candidate that will harm you the least.
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