PP-Vox, civil war rhetoric against memory

If the PP leaders are bothered by being labeled the ideological heirs of Francoism, they'd better get used to it. They will be considered as such, and more than deservedly so, as long as they make such government decisions. anti-democratic, vengeful, and painful like the one that prevailed, with the votes of Vox and the PP itself, in the plenary session of the Catalan Parliament on Tuesday, March 10. democratic memory lawThe law, finally repealed in this session after several back-and-forths of low-level politicking, was not a law against anyone, but a reparation law that offered, after more than eighty years of pain and oblivion, recognition to the victims of Francoism and their families.

Destroying this law and trying to justify it with subterfuge (for example, claiming it wasn't necessary because a state law already exists on the same matter—an absurd way of trying to evade the issue) doesn't mask the reality: the victims of Francoism are being attacked again out of pure vengeance. The People's Party (PP) may not be willing to say it this way, but Vox's members of parliament are making it abundantly clear with their interventions and actions in the Catalan Parliament. The erratic interventions of spokesperson Sergio Rodríguez, or the fits of rage from Speaker Gabriel Le Senne, are unacceptable mockery in the seat of sovereignty of a people who believe in democracy and want to live in it. Fascism is never compatible with democracy: it parasitizes it and exploits its very nature (democracy cannot deny anyone freedom of expression or the right to vote) to destroy it from within and spread its message of hatred and revenge. The Spanish nationalist right already won the Civil War and is eager to win it again: the spirit that guides the abolition of the memory law is none other than a poorly disguised civil war mentality.

For their part, Marga Prohens and her inner circle weren't supposed to go down that road. They were supposed to represent a young, modern, and well-prepared right wing, one that wouldn't fall into such outdated policies as attacks on the language itself or the destruction of the land, nor into the current proposals of the far right: hatred of immigrants, racism, supremacism, and, in the case of the Spanish state, denial of Francoism. Well, they've fallen into each and every one of these pitfalls. It's reasonable to wonder if they're doing this solely to maintain Vox's support in parliamentary votes, or if there's something more: if they actually subscribe to the far-right positions of their partners. Personally, I have a clear answer to that question.

Whatever the underlying reason, Prohens has achieved what seemed impossible: not to make José Ramón Bauzá look good, because that simply cannot be done, but to be an even worse president than him. The assessment of her term, now that we are approaching the third year of the legislature, is not only poor in terms of governing action, but also full of the indignity and baseness that necessarily prevail when fascism is accepted and whitewashed as if it were a democratic option. The PP has never wanted to condemn the crimes of the Franco regime; Vox, on the contrary, applauds them. The repeal of the Historical Memory Law constitutes one of the most devastating moments in the history of democracy in the Balearic Islands. Prohens, who at the end of the plenary session posed for photographs with Vox parliamentarians to celebrate this feat, will have to live with that shame for the rest of her life.