
St James and the Two Faces of Spain - prismatic
https://www.historytoday.com/miscellanies/st-james-and-two-faces-spain
======
spanxx
Some background about why Anglo-Saxons usually consider Spain a backwards
country:
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Legend](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Legend)
(i.e. pure propaganda).

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hevi_jos
"But when El Caudillo died in 1975, Spain miraculously left her troubled past
behind her, embarking on a rare, successful transition to democracy that was
sealed by a landmark referendum in 1978."

Not that miraculously. More like the CIA financed and trained in France a
terrorist attract to kill the person that Franco has selected as successor,
Carrero Blanco and then appointing the most stupid person in the regime, Arias
Navarro.

The "successful" transition to democracy was initiated by stupid decisions
like giving the Sahara territories to Morroco so they can slaughter the native
population and occupy it with Morrocan(It should have been given independence
instead) and creating the State of Autonomias.

The State of Autonomias was the transition from a highly centralized State, to
one of the more decentralized countries on Earth.

It was done this way in order to appease the Independentist that were a
minority at the time,(In Catalunia a 6-12%) and now in places like Catalunia
and Vasque country are becoming near to a majority(50%).

The electoral system in Spain(chosen in the "succesful" transition to
democracy, favored minorities over majorities giving way more representation
than they should have.

They made the effective eradication of the use of Spanish, even in places like
Basque country(the Spanish language comes from the territory between it and
Cantabria) in education and brainwashing of kids propagating hatred against
anything spanish.

That was also helped by the terrorist organization ETA that just killed and
ostracized those that were not secessionist in Basque country.

In Catalunia kids were taught that Catalonia were a kingdom in the past(never
happened), the myth of the Segadors as independentist when they were a
movement against the rich or that the war for Sucesion(succession) was a war
for Secession in Catalunia.

BTW, this lie is the the linked article.

This is all false and very easy for anyone to check, because Truth doesn't
matter because when repeating a lie a thousand times it becomes a truth. And
they controlled local TV and education for 40 years.

They even meet each year in front of a guy called Rafael Casanovas as a
secession leader when every time he talked always finished with a "Viva
España"(long live Spain).

Spanish history is no more violent than that of the rest of European
countries, or the UK and US(that have fought or invaded most of the countries
on the rest of the world).

~~~
nextos
I don't think one can summarize the history of Spain since 1970 any better.

~~~
switch007
Well, 95% less bias would be good.

~~~
spanxx
We got it, if it doesn't attack Spain, is bad.

~~~
icebraining
It is attacking Spain; it's treating Spanish people as mere children,
incapable of making their own decisions because local TV told them what to
think. While conveniently not applying the same reasoning to their opinion in
1975, despite _all_ the media and education having been controlled by the same
guy for the previous 40 years.

As someone who was predisposed to think the push for independence was foolish,
there's nothing like reading a bit of anti-independence propaganda to get one
to think that maybe the independentists have a point.

------
pmarin
It’s allways fascinating what a crime novelist with a degree in islamic
history has to say about Spain.

~~~
bitcurious
I can’t tell if you mean to be dismissive, but if you are you should know that
the south of Spain was under Islamic rule for good deal of time, so the
Islamic history degree provides a lot of insight into modern Spain.

~~~
pmarin
I born and live in Granada.

~~~
vixen99
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emirate_of_Granada](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emirate_of_Granada)

~~~
harperlee
Pretty sure he knows about that already. This is integral part of our history,
they were there for about a thousand years, and particularly Granada was the
last place to be freed and its main touristic landmark, the Alhambra, is an
islamic palace.

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yosefzeev
Sounds like some body-snatching took place along with the ultimate in cultural
appropriation.

