History! Blog Genís Barnosell

Apologies. 48 hours are what my house has no electricity. For some, the wait has been much shorter. Others, even thousands, have spent a third night in the dark (and perhaps some others there will a quarter). The consequences of the storm on 8 have been phenomenal: isolated cities, traffic chaos, hundreds of cars standing on the roads, 220,000 subscribers (official figures) without light ...

The facts I suggest two thoughts, certainly very different from each other.

Firstly, the absence of electricity in some way returns us to the past-a past very different between them. We experienced some feelings that makes humans the early twenty-first century or longer lived at all or were forgotten. Am I n'acudeixen few.

• Darkness. Until the nineteenth century in most cities and later to force in small towns, the night is dark. You can not go out when the sun was after dark because the streets are dangerous. The night can only live when the lighting has appeared everywhere.
• Penumbra. Contrary to the absolute light of our homes in the evening and night, inside the houses there reigns the shadows. The fireplaces, oil lamps, candles, whatever ... depending on the season, breaking the darkness but not eliminated. The details are lost, the shadows s'allargassen ... sensations very different from today.
• The cold. See the rooms on the courts of animals, fireplaces, the braziers, wood or oil stoves, ... had historically fought the cold, but had not achieved what we are now so familiar: the set of heating a home . The lack of electricity makes us return to this often limited or heat, depending on the cold directly.
• The power outages. In the early days of electricity, during the Franco years and until relatively few years, power outages, light and water, were very frequent. So, now it was used. Candles abound in every home, and ran with buckets and pots so the water pressure decreased.
• Radio. No TV, no Internet, no newspapers, radio these days has regained dominance on TV that he was snatched. Has emerged, again in the media for excellence. Small batteries or cars, not linked to electricity networks, radio stations have spread the word around and no images have allowed us to hear what was going on. Although a tribute to the media through which, for example, grandparents were told of the outbreak of civil war.
• We could also mention the cold water, or their absence, or refrigerator, etc.. etc..

In short, what's all this is that our daily lives and our society as a whole depends on the edge of a regular and stable energy supply. Without it, everything is sinking: the lighting, heating, food preservation, communication. Without this provision, as did desapareixeríem Mesopotamia or Egypt!

The second point has to do with what we do in cases like this. Certainly, the site of a storm like this is quite exceptional in comparative terms, although it is far less. Most likely it is impossible to have all means to return to normal immediately. But precisely why, if we can not afford the device would be required in cases like this, maybe you should apply a principle of prudence. Firstly, it is clear that the predictions of Red Eléctrica on atmospheric conditions that must hold its towers are completely inadequate. Drop down a stick here or there may be unpredictable, that fall in abundance in addition to 33 towers and is unpresentable. Justifying it by saying that normally serve as both absurd as it is accepted that the roofs had collapsed because of all the houses not normally snows. On the other hand, perhaps not enough to say that people do not move, but what we need is to put the measures because people will not move, closing, for example, schools and businesses. The question is very clear: what is the best preferred sinning occasionally exaggerated or of falling into the chaos of these days? (incidentally, if that solves the MAT also tell us that the basic network has been "chopped"?)

Saturday March 6 took place in Salt tribute to the repressed by Franco and La Selva Jungle, organized by the Generalitat of Catalonia and the City of Salt in the Express series of tributes to everything that took place in Catalonia . There intervened Joan Boada (Secretary of Interior, Institutional Relations and Participation), Iolanda Pineda (Mayor), Paul Pallars (control). Ivette Nadal has performed two songs and the Coral Country My Country, she excels playing small Lluis Llach (adding the first Earth Wind Maria Perpignan), the flag of peace John Vilamala, Bella Ciao (Traditional Italian) , txorien, Txori for Mikel Laboa, N. Luciani and Company. There I spoke myself as a historian.

My intervention has been as follows:

Our recent past has certainly been a traumatic past, marked by the ravages of civil war and a long dictatorship, Franco, who was evil all the time to impose a single view present and past. How did those other totalitarian regimes of the twentieth century have been of color who have been political, the Franco on a Manichean divide in society, giving recognition to the winners, similar to the regime, and pursuing and despised, while in all kinds of opponents.

The Spanish Civil War and Franco have been in the last 35 years of historical research and a deep well at the height of 2002 it had already spent about 20,000 books. We know today that Franco conducted a broad crackdown, violent and prolonged in time. As has been written recently, Franco had no "interest to join the politically defeated, nor to seek a reconciliation, they only wanted to destroy or put. To build the new order and the new state had to stop all manifestations of root movements and forces that had defended and spread democratic ideas and revolutionary. Therefore the repression from 1 April 1939 was coldly planned and systematically carried out numerous laws with several political, judicial and administrative. It was actually the continuation of civil war with other procedures. " The validity delacions given to a judicial system whatsoever guarantees the advice of war, the death penalty, prisons, concentration camps and labor, child abduction, social control in the workplace or residence, the purification of public administrations, confiscations of property, expulsion from the workplace, loss-of-course any organization outside the Movement, were the instruments of this repression. If in 1933 there were approximately 12,500 people in Spanish prisons, in 1942 there were 124,423, and in 1950 there were still some 30,600. The number of executed for political reasons has been estimated at approximately 140,000, of which some 45 or 50,000 would have been finished after the war. Thousands more die 15,000-to-shore prisons and camps for the poor living conditions. The aim of all this, remember, not only looking for the "punishment" of actual or alleged culprits to fight the new order, but "inspire fear and terror assets to potential supporters of the detainees' *. Many of these issues, with greater or lesser detail, as I said before, we know them for long enough.

What I think has changed since the 1990s in Spain is the requirement for a public debate about the traumatic events of recent history and the demands of institutional recognition for all those who had been left band, which had been left out, not only by Franco to a democracy but little interest in confronting the past. We are here today is because this has been gradually assuming these needs.

I would have two ideas that have emerged in the legislation that has been generated in recent years. First, in democratic society has the duty to proceed to the moral recognition of victims of war and the Franco regime, which includes acts such as today the repair material or the dignity of the mass graves that There are in our country. A recognition that, consistently, was complemented by the condemnation of the Franco-an act that, while it cost more than 25 years, meant a whole change of attitude by the Spanish democracy.

Secondly, I stress that these acts of recognition or may not involve an idealization of the period before the Civil War, the Republic or the construction of a single memory of those times. As underlined by a recent book, the memory will always be plural and diverse and unlike the reports should be a "conflict free because unlike totalitarian regimes, debate, confrontation of ideas, principles and reporting (... ) are the foundation of the democratic system "**.

So how does the law of historical memory, a democratic state can not impose a single vision of history. On the contrary, must support sound serious and rigorous study of the past and should provide the means for everyone to look past this the most rational way possible. Learn to face the past, it is traumatic, is undoubtedly one of the best demonstrations of democratic maturity, while a year of growth, development of this maturity. With events like today, in short, we grow out of democracy and good to remember, at the same time, more than 3,700 million people worldwide (54% of world population) who live without freedom and for where such acts are prohibited. Thank you very much.

* Borja de Riquer, La Franco, Barcelona / Madrid Criticism / Marcial Pons, 2009, pp.121-177

** A. Segura / A. MAYAYO / Q. Solé, eds. Mass graves and symbolism Franco Catarroja / Barcelona, Editorial Affairs, 2009, p.187

The description of these events makes the website of democratic Memorial is as follows:

The Directorate General for Democratic Memory and organize various municipalities in Catalonia in January, February and March a total of 24 events in various cities throughout Catalonia. This is a series of memorials dedicated to those who fought for democracy and national rights of Catalonia. In March, the tribute acts will be held in Tarragona, Montblanc, Salt, Reus, Manresa, Lleida, Manlleu, Seu d'Urgell and Sort.

Many were honored to pay dearly to fight Franco's dictatorship: years imprisonment, torture, repression and persecution and even death.

During the ceremony will receive a certificate of recognition to compensate people for having suffered imprisonment during the dictatorship. It is a symbolic document that have already delivered other countries like France, in summer, the Andalusian.

The document, signed by President José Montilla and the Minister Joan Saura, is given "in recognition of his contribution to the cause of freedom and democracy during the civil war and Franco dictatorship."

The text adds, "Be committed during those years of darkness example of generosity, dignity, courage and love of freedom, democracy and Catalonia for later generations."

See an extensive photo essay here.

In the last post talked about the memory of the mass graves and the symbols of Franco. This blog has already discussed similar issues at other times. The violence in the Catalan rearguard I dedicate the first review I did for the advance. Many diaries tell us about those days but you must edit them and read them critically.

The situation, therefore, went worse day by day and became chaotic, and [Casanovas] not took any action against uncontrolled, despite being well known their political or union affiliation, mainly from Communists and faistes, without forgetting some Uncontrolled my own party [ERC] (Joan Pons, a Republican amid faistes, Ed.62, 2008, p.68)

The anthology of poems by Mary Perpignan gave to talk about Francoist repression of Catalan culture and the Catalan Catholic.

And second is important because the rupture of intense literary production of Maria Perpignan is another example of the breakdown that led to the brutal civil war and Franco in the Catalan culture and literature, even for sectors Catholics. It is another example of the proposed destruction of an entire culture, the Catalan, who conducted the Franco regime. So at this time of recovery of "historical memory" is important in bringing all of these texts as allowing us to connect with the richness and diversity of Catalan culture from the 1930s. The publication of texts of that time is an essential step in building a solid and dynamic Catalan culture today.

Among Franco's repression, I have also talked about the shootings of Lluis Companys and Carles Rahola.

Colleagues had assumed the chairmanship of the Government in January 1934 after the death of first president of the restored Generalitat, Francesc Macia (died 25 December 1933). With the triumph of Franco's troops, Partners was exiled to France, but there was surprised by the Nazi invasion of France and was arrested, he was transferred to Spain where he was tried, sentenced to death, and quickly shot 15 of October 1940.

Finally, I talked about the entire process of building a symbol of Franco in Girona, with many religious references, after the destruction of religious buildings that had occurred in 1936.

In the book Girona 1939-53. Exile, repression, there is complicity published the text of my talk, we briefly highlight the demographic characteristics from the city's post-war and their living conditions, deals specifically with the symbolic reconstruction of the city how the new power he ordered the city to accommodate it to his worldview. Essential elements of this task were the changing names of certain streets, erecting monuments and, in general, dissemination of iconography and symbolism of the regime. Indeed, the urban space, the street is not a neutral field, but who historically has had capacity to do so has shaped space at your convenience, imposing benchmarks to become identifiers, giving them power symbolic capacity saving or recall relevant facts. In these public spaces, on the other, and are allowed to promote or prohibit some or pursue other activities. Especially those pursuing activities that are seen as contrary to power or its symbols, while those that promote the spread, often in ritualized form, whether military or civilian processions or events such as parades. Through this action, the space of everyday life becomes full of meaning and, ultimately, seeks to identify the community with power. Hence also the inherently symbolic nature of many social movements to discuss the organization and its use of space. This politicization of work and / or worship space also has a private side, from the moment that the house appeared headed for political symbols and / or religious. Whether the action of the republic and then wanted to violent revolutionary action to destroy the traditional space of meanings, and especially wanted to apply a "project of liberation of space sacralitzadores presences" that affects both temples and images located at street level, then objects such as crucifixes private, religious prints or family altars.

One of the fundamental objectives of the early Franco was, therefore, destruction of public space that had started to build with the revolution and replaced by a new one that prevails in the icons of the church and the new system (pp.148-149).

This title reviews the latest issue of the advance two essential books on the "historical memory". One of Queralt Solé on the graves of Catalonia in the period 1936-39 and another containing the texts of the congress also dedicated to the mass graves and the symbols of Franco.

• Queralt Solé, The dead illegal. The graves of the Civil War in Catalonia (1936-1939), Catarroja / Barcelona: Editorial Affairs, 2008.
• Antonio Segura, Andreu MAYAYO, Queralt Solé (eds.), Mass graves and symbolism Franco Catarroja / Barcelona, Editorial Affairs, 2009.

These two cases "of history applied to the culture of democracy" because both show how a democratic reflection and action can not do without a rigorous and thorough historical knowledge. Thus,

In the study, which includes both the mass produced by the Republican and Francoist repression (this, only the 1939) as well as host killed in action, it appears that most of it are graves of soldiers and Catalan are located on the front of the Ebro and Pallars and that from here and toward more land in the northeast, both their number and their size was reduced.

In addition, another important conclusion: that many of the graves which house Franco dead were some kind of dignity while this was not the case which house the graves of dead Republicans, both because there was no republican army " much care or attention by pointing to the soldiers who were dying and taking note of where to die "(p.465) because as Franco, a little Christian gesture, completely ignored the graves of their enemies.

In an international perspective that seems consistent algunn type dignify these graves, which does not necessarily mean exhumation

Both as regards the mass graves as symbols of Franco, it must be remembered that the management of this memory

will always be a "conflict free because unlike totalitarian regimes, debate, confrontation of ideas, principles and reporting (...) are the foundation of the democratic system. In this context, the set of work emphasizes that memory is "always plural, always different, always oscillating between memory individual, family, group, class and forged a collective memory and identity, sometimes of social cohesion. " And the management of this memory and solid historical facts always require careful consideration. Both volumes are a useful contribution to these needs.

The specific reference is: Barnosell Genis, "The history applied to the democratic culture," The Advancement, n.355, March 2010, pp.50-51

In addition to advancing this March will find

The OPINION

• Editorial / A centennial and two steals
• Notes / 6 questions and 4 answers to history. Francesc Roca
• Eumo il'edició university in Catalonia. Josep Fontana
• Neighborhoods industrial look of the past with today. Javier Marti
• You're not anything / Silverfish. Imma monsoon
• The interview / John H. Elliott, a vision of being outside. Josep M. Munoz

FOCUS

• The gallery of portraits of the counts-kings. Rodolfo Galdeano (I talked about this gallery in a post you can see here)
• The beginnings of skiing in Catalonia. Josep Casanovas
• The affair Narwicz. Jaime Moreno

VIEWPOINT

• History / History Applied to democratic culture. Genesius Barnosell
• Heritage / The peasant life. Editorial
• The allegorical statue of Minerva. Mary Ojuel
• Literature / The estremiments of the soul. Louis Mounted
• A new way of narrating. Vincent Pagès Jordan
• The blog of the pottery / These things happen. Manel Ollé
• Film / In search of a poetic truth. Imma Merino
• Music / Cathar A book of hours. Joaquim Rabaseda
• The showcase / The war of succession in Spain (1700-1714). Joaquim Albareda
• The latest / A market in Brooklyn. George Puntí

And the supplement "Newsletter History Museum of Barcelona"

The return to the Generalitat of Catalonia of the portrait gallery of kings, counts and counts of the house of Aragon, painted in the late sixteenth century and until now forgotten and menystinguda Montjuic Military Museum, illustrates the breakdown and discontinuities in our history. His research on a key moment in this history, the War of the Reapers, by John Elliott is evoked in an interview this month, recounts his stay in Barcelona in the mid 1950s and his relationship with Jaime Vicens and Vives. Otherwise, Francis Rock breaks down the questions that are the Swiss about their national history. In addition, the usual sections, Manel Ollé talks about the first novel by George points and Imma Merino film by Werner Herzog (drafting of the advance)

How is the political system to be built in Afghanistan in recent years? All indicators agree that the situation is really improved. To give some examples of the latest report features the Freedom House, an American organization dedicated to assessing the democratic world, taken by many conservative-Corruption affects all levels of government and its ineficència is tremendous and growing; insecurity has increased in recent years because of Taliban attacks, failures of international forces, struggles between various factions and criminal violence; basic services are insufficient if the presidential elections of 2004 were relatively free of last in 2009 were largely fraudulent, the central government of the Islamic republic appears the federal govern effectively only the area of Kabul while the rest of the country is largely ruled by warlords, while maintaining many of the elected members links with armed groups accused of human rights violations and violations of these is still frequent. In summary, Freedom House, which believes that Afghanistan is not an electoral democracy institutionally, as described in his latest report was "not free" when the last reports were considered "partly free" . The change under consideration is due to a deterioration of civil rights (see full report 2009 in English)

Malgrat que alguns s'han estat entestant a qualificar el tema de l'Afganistan de missió humanitària, qualsevol que es mirés de tant en tant els mitjans de comunicació internacionals sabia que el que hi ha a l'Afganistan és una guerra.

Aquesta enèssima guerra de l'Afganistan va començar amb la invasió americana de l'octubre de 2001, que va derrocar el règim dels talibans, i que va rebrer el vist-i-plau de l'ONU el desembre següent (de qui són els talibans i com van arribar al poder en parlarem un altre dia). Des d'aleshores una coalició internacional liderada pels EUA i la Gran Bretanya, i que compta, com se sap, també amb participació espanyola, ha intentat estabilitzar els país. Els objectius bàsics havien de ser reconstruir econòmicament el país, construir un règim mínimament representatiu que governés el país i asessorar un exèrcit que permetés a aquest règim de ser autònom.

A finals del 2009, tanmateix, cap d'aquests objectius s'havia assolit satisfactòriament, i d'aquí n'ha nascut l'actual ofensiva contra la província de Helmand. Repassarem aquests objectius en els posts següents, començant ara per la reconstrucció econòmica. Obtenir dades de l'Afganistan és francament difícil i els reports habituals de les Nacions Unides només en dónen de fragmentàries. Així, algunes dades indiquen una lleu millora de la situació general de l'Afganistan entre 2005 i 2007, però quan s'intenten fer comparacions al llarg de la dècada que acabem de passar, la valoració que se'n pot fer és més aviat pessimista. Així el Programa per al Desenvolupament de la ONU (PNUD) estimava en 42,5 anys l'esperança de vida en aquest país per al quinquenni 1995-2000 (una dada pobríssima davant els quasi 80 dels països més desenvolupats). Per al quinquenni següent, 2000-05, la situació hauria millorat assolint el 46 anys d'esperança de vida, però la dada de 2005 tornava la situació al punt de partida: 42,9. L'última disponible, la de 2009, és 43,6, és a dir, un any per sobre de la dada de 1995-2000 i que indica que la millora ha estat mínima. De manera semblant, en aquests darrers anys, l'Afganistan ha consolidat la seva situació en les darreres posicions del rànquing de desenvolupament humà de l'ONU.

En definitiva, la valoració dels èxits de la reconstrucció econòmica del país no pot ser gaire optimista.

Mentre els grans mitjans de comunicació internacionals s'esforcen per demostrar que els seus corresponsals són al rovell de l'ou dels combats a la provincia afganesa de Helmand (a la foto, un corresponsal de l'NBC), algunes notícies dónen idea dels problemes posteriors a l'ofensiva -problemes que trobem sempre en situacions com la d'Afganistan. I és que l'ofensiva actual en ella mateixa no portarà gaire maldecaps a les tropes de l'OTAN i de l'Afganistan. El problema serà el dia després. Ho mostra una notícia encara no confirmada que portava avui el New York Times: en un remot llogarret, 25 policies afganesos poden haver desertat tot passant-se amb armes i bagatges als talibans. La notícia, insisteixo, no està confirmada, però el NYT aprofita per explicar les condicions en què treballa aquesta policia. Entre elles destaca, la seva manca de formació i preparació i la mala paga que reben -quan la reben. Perquè la corrupció és tant alta que sovint ni saben exactament què han de cobrar i molt sovint no cobren o ho fan de forma molt espaiada. No sé si la notícia de la deserció és veritat o no, però no hi ha dubte que, amb aquestes condicions, si no és certa aquesta pot ser certa qualsevol dia una de semblant.

No és per casualitat que l'Afganistan sigui un dels estats més corruptes del món.

Un blindat dels marines nordamericans passa al costat d'un camperol amb les seves cabres en l'ofensiva que duen a terme a l'Afganistan a la província de Helmand (en l'operació anomenada Mushtarak -”junts”). La fotografia evoca, per descomptat, la desproporció de tecnologia a banda i banda dels combatents, però aquesta és una imatge simplista, perquè els talibans ja han demostrat que poden oferir una molt notable resistència. La imatge evoca quelcom més complex: les dificultats dels moderns exèrcits, o dels exèrcits convencionals, per imposar-se de forma permanent i estable sobre societats rurals amb escasses infraestructures, amb fronteres fluïdes, i situades geogràficament en llocs allunyats de la capital i de les principals vies de comunicació. En aquestes condicions, els insurgents difícilment poden fer front directament a un invasor, però esquiven els seus cops directes i reapareixen quan aquest es retira a les ciutats.

Per això els EUA busquen ara un acostament als habitants d'aquests llocs. I això ens porta a la segona fotografia. Pactar amb ells vol dir inevitablement sumergir-se en un univers estrictament masculí per als quals res de semblant a les democràcies occidentals té sentit. Si la democràcia ha estat mai un objectiu a l'Afganistan ara veurem com es deixa de banda definitivament davant la necessitat de pactar amb els caps tribals o els senyors de la guerra. Amb això Obama no fa sinó retornar al passat. A les velles formes d'estructurar els imperis en les seves regions més allunyades: demostrar que no es pot véncer l'invasor i oferir un pacte a les elits locals.

Seria interessant de saber què pensen aquests homes asseguts a l'ombra d'aquestes tandes, als quals, per descomptat, el periodista res pregunta. Potser pensen el més evident: “Parleu, parleu. Vosaltres un n'anireu i nosaltres ens quedarem. I els talibans, també”.

L'ofensiva més publicitada de la història (o gairebé) contra un enemic que es fa fonedís. Aquest podria ser el resum dels tres primers dies de l'ofensiva que les tropes de l'OTAN i del govern afganès protagonitzen a la província de Helmand. Amb gran aparell publicitari, sense usar artilleria pesada i trobant (almenys de moment) només la resistència de grups de franctiradors i de mines casolanes l'ofensiva sembla tenir com a objectius molt més una bona publicitat per Obama als EUA i donar oportunitats als talibans perquè es passin al govern, que no pas derrotar-los militarment. El problema, és clar, és de recursos i de terminis. 15.000 homes són més que suficients per a una campanya com aquesta. Però, quants d'aquests es quedaran sobre el terreny? Per quant de temps? El govern afganès farà alguna cosa més per aquesta província fora de desplaçar-hi tropes? Els contactes amb els caps tribals van de veritat? O els talibans tornaran a fer-se amos del terreny així que les tropes i les càmeres tornin a fixar-se en els nuclis urbans? Una bona colla de dilemes per a unes tropes occidentals que, en teoria, han de marxar molt aviat.