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 painfullike 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PP itself, in the plenary session of the Catalan Parliament on Tuesday, March 10.democratic memory lawThe law, finally repealed in this session *after several back-and-forths of low-level political maneuvering*, was not a law against anyone, but a reparations law that offered, after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, that it wasn't necessary because a state law already exists on the same matter, an absurd way of trying to evade the issue), fails to conceal the reality: the victims of Francoism are being attacked again out of pure vengeance. The PP may not be willing to say it this way, but the Vox deputies are making it perfectly clear with their interventions and actions in the Parliament. The erratic interventions of spokesperson Sergio Rodríguez, or the fits of rage from president 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 guiding the dismantling of the Memory Law is nothing other than a poorly disguised, if not entirely 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 They were supposed to represent a young, modern, and well-prepared right wing, one that shouldn't fall into such outdated policies as attacks on the language itself or the destruction of the land, nor into the current proposals of the far right: hatred of immigrants, racism,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 have fallen into each and every one of these black holes. It's reasonable to wonder if they're doing this solely to maintain Vox's support in parliamentary votes, or if there's more to it: if they actually subscribe to the far-right positions of their partners. Personally, I know the 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 can't be done, but to be an even worse president than him. The assessment of her term, now that we're approaching the third year of the legislature, besides being poor in terms of governing action, is 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 posed for photos with Vox parliamentarians after the plenary session to celebrate the feat, will have to live with that shame for the rest of her life.