Spain’s unfinished transition from dictatorship to democracy

[Medanoman]

So why is everything so bad, I think this really gets close to answering those questions.

http://www.testosteronepit.com/home/2012/10/12/spains-unfinished-transition-from-dictatorship-to-democracy.html


Contributed by Spaniardfbm, who has a law degree and works as public servant in Seville, Spain. This is a shorter and edited version of the original article first published on Liberal Villainous.

Spain’s economic problems lie neither in the financial sector nor in the budget deficit. They are only symptoms of deeply rooted institutional problems that determine a great variety of issues, from how the budget is composed to who receives a loan from the politically controlled banks (cajas). Neither banks nor public workers have ruined the country, but politicians, a separate class born out of the “Transition” from the Franco dictatorship to democracy.

Until Franco’s death in 1975, Spain was governed by a fascist bureaucracy, called “Corporate State.” It was formed by the ruling party, the only Workers Union, the only Employers Union, the Catholic Church, and local entities. During the “Transition” to democracy, a series of measures designed as exceptional were adopted to promote regime change. Politicians, out-goers and incomers, agreed on surrounding themselves with class privileges (some old, some new) to ensure the former a comfortable retirement and the latter a slew of protections and privileges.

These privileges were extended to regional pressure groups—Basque, Navarrese, Catalans, Galicians and Andalusians. They were intended as temporary and geographically limited, but over time, they have become permanent and widespread in all 17 autonomous regions and thousands of local authorities.

Since the arrival of democracy, the Corporate State has covered itself with a democratic umbrella. The single party and the single workers union have been split in two. And a powerless (except in the lower courts) democratic bureaucracy has been created, giving the country two de facto bureaucracies for the same purposes. And that has been multiplied by 18, if we count the central government and 17 regions with its governments, parliaments, ombudsmen, etc. And by thousands if we take into account the local entities. So the current status is that of a double Public Administration:

- The Corporate Administration. Legacy of the Franco regime, it is formed by political parties, especially the hegemonic People’s Party (PP), the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE), and the Nationalists, plus trade unions, employers unions, local power, and NGOs (previously only the Catholic Church, but now diverse).

- The Democratic Administration. Formed by the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial powers, it is commanded by politicians and served by funcionarios, such as police, judges, prosecutors, tax authorities, etc. The Democratic Administration is tied to the rule of law. It exercises power over citizens and is supposed to protect them from politicians. Its presence is mandatory when citizens´ rights are in peril.

But in practice, the Corporate Administration occupies positions at all levels within the Democratic Administration, even those that imply the exercise of power over citizens, such as judges, and despite the Law and un-executed court orders that should have ousted them. For example, a 2008 report by the Andalusian Court of Auditors “detected” that 33% of the central-services staff belonged to the “parallel administration,” as the courts have labeled it. An unprecedented request (August 2012) from the Andalusian Regional Ministry of Finance, asking other ministries about the personnel they employ directly or indirectly who are neither funcionarios nor lower-level workers, reveals how the Corporate Administration lives and spreads chaos.

However, the real numbers are likely unknown due to a lack of transparency in public and private entities, and due to the decentralized style of management and the occultation techniques that the Corporate Administration has used to survive and thrive under its democratic umbrella.

Franco’s tax and budget system having largely disappeared after the “Fuentes-Quintana” reforms of 1977, the Corporate Administration is funded through “special laws,” “special rules,” and “exceptional mechanisms.” The act to “repair union assets damaged during the war and dictatorship,” for example, paid for “repairs” to the CCOO—a Union that didn´t exist in Franco´s era. And the payments far outstripped those given to the CNT, a real anti-regime union at the time.

While special rules on pensions, unemployment, etc., established within general laws for the wellbeing of the political class, are a source of funds and power for the Corporate Administration, the main source lies (in my experience) outside the law—here, anything is possible if you are a politician.

This can take many forms through biased interpretations of rules or “exceptional mechanisms” designed for severe conditions that in practice have become common instruments. They’re exempt from control unless a scandal explodes into the open. These include Government Agreements (even secret ones are “enforced”), Social Partnership Agreements, Exceptional Grants, Nominative Grants, (false) Regulated Subsidies, (false) Conventions, (false) Concerts, (false) Open Calls for Proposals, etc. They are hiding under different names within framework agreements between politicians, trade unions, and employer unions for sharing the pie of public funds.

The Andalusian Supreme Court of Justice has repeatedly failed against the Government and its “open defiance of the rule of law.” This assertion has been ratified by the Spain’s Supreme Court of Justice (STS 29-November-2009 E.G.M.A.S.A.) and reiterated by the lower courts, the last one on September 11, 2012, with no political or penal consequences.

This may surprise outsiders, but not locals. Public opinion is rarely moved by “technicalities,” and judges and prosecutors at penal courts—except for the judge Mercedes Alaya who got involved in this by chance—shiver at the prospect of starting a process against a whole government or worse, against most Members of Parliament, when there is no physical robbery attached to it to sell the case to the media.

Finally, the European Union and its funds have not helped. The European Commission does not want to fund permanent staff in Member States´ Public Administrations but in “independent entities such as Audit Companies, Trade Unions, or NGOs”. And that “principle of partnership” has come in handy to our political class to grant themselves the money directly or through a horde of facade-entities, with the support and blessing of Brussels.

When our former Prime Minister J.L.R. Zapatero said that Spain had not finished its Transition from dictatorship to democracy, I do not think this was the problem he had in mind. But this is the one we have, and the one that politicians can, but do not want to, fix: establish a real separation of powers with an independent Administration of Justice, and get rid of the Corporate Administration inherited from the Dictatorship, ruled by a despotic oligarchy, and covered with the veil of an imperfect democracy.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy (PP) has a singular problem: 84% of all voters have “little” or “no” confidence in him. The fate of Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, leader of the opposition PSOE, is even worse: 90% of all voters distrust him! Those are the two top political figures of the two major political parties, and the utterly frustrated and disillusioned Spaniards are defenestrating them both. Read.... Punishment Of The Spanish Political Class By The People.

[timmylish]

Well based on this article are we to take it that Spain,s ill are of the making of every politician her. Well, that being the case should Spain revert back to a dictatorship, not in the essence of the old principals but in the format of Russia. An election held and various politicians appointed but a federal dictator nevertheless. God help us in that eventuality!

[Javi]

It is just another article for telling us something that many Spanish already know. The good news here it is that our illness has a cure. On the other hand, this cure will take a long time and will be painful if finally someone dares to take the bull for its horns.
By the moment the horizon is still dark...

[KirstyJay]

Here's another article that more or less addresses the same points that TheBloke showed me. Although I don't agree with it all, it makes interesting reading.

Source : http://elpais.com/elpais/2012/09/12/inenglish/1347449744_053124.html


In this article I propose a theory of Spain's political class to make a case for the urgent, imperious need to change our voting system and adopt a majority system. A good theory of Spain's political class should at least explain the following issues:

1. How is it possible that five years after the crisis began, no political party has a coherent diagnosis of what is going on in Spain?

2. How is it possible that no political party has a credible long-term plan or strategy to pull Spain out of the crisis? How is it possible that Spain's political class seems genetically incapable of planning?

3. How is it possible that Spain's political class is incapable of setting an example? How is it possible that nobody - except the king and for personal motives at that - has ever apologized for anything?

4. How is it possible the most obvious strategy for a better future - improving education, encouraging innovation, development and entrepreneurship, and supporting research - is not just being ignored, but downright massacred with spending cuts by the majority parties?

In the following lines I posit that over the last few decades, Spain's political class has developed its own particular interest above the general interest of the nation, which it sustains through a system of rent-seeking. In this sense it is an extractive elite, to use the term popularized by Acemoglu and Robinson. Spanish politicians are the main culprits of the real estate bubble, of the savings banks collapse, of the renewable energy bubble and of the unnecessary infrastructure bubble. These processes have put Spain in the position of requiring European bailouts, a move which our political class has resisted to the bitter end because it forces them to implement reforms that erode their own particular sphere of interest. A legal reform that enforced a majority voting system would make elected officials accountable to their voters instead of to their party leaders; it would mark a very positive turn for Spanish democracy and it would make the structural reforms easier.

THE HISTORY

The politicians who participated in the transition process from Franco's regime to democracy came from very diverse backgrounds: some had worked for Franco, others had been in exile and yet others were part of the illegal opposition within national borders. They had neither a collective spirit nor a particular group interest. These individuals made two major decisions that shaped the political class that followed them. The first was to adopt a proportional representation voting system with closed, blocked lists. The goal was to consolidate the party system by strengthening the internal power of their leaders, which sounded reasonable in a fledgling democracy. The second decision was to strongly decentralize the state with many devolved powers for regional governments. The evident dangers of excessive decentralization were to be conjured by the cohesive role of the great national parties and their strong leaderships. It seemed like a sensible plan.

But four imponderables resulted in the young Spanish democracy acquiring a professional political class that quickly grew dysfunctional and monstrous. The first was the proportional system with its closed lists. For a long time now, members of party youth groups get themselves on the voting lists on the sole merit of loyalty to their leaders. This system has turned parties into closed rooms full of people where nobody dares open the windows despite the stifling atmosphere. The air does not flow, ideas do not flow, and almost nobody in the room has personal direct knowledge of civil society or the real economy. Politics has become a way of life that alternates official positions with arbitrarily awarded jobs at corporations, foundations and public agencies, as well as sinecures at private regulated companies that depend on the government to prosper.

Secondly, the decentralization of the state, which began in the early 1980s, went much further than was imaginable when the Constitution was approved. As Enric Juliana notes in his recent book Modesta España (or, Modest Spain), the controlled top-down decentralization was quicky overtaken by a bottom-up movement led by local elites to the cry of "We want no less!" As a result, there emerged 17 regional governments, 17 regional parliaments and literally thousands of new regional companies and agencies whose ultimate goal in many cases was simply to extend paychecks and bonuses. In the absence of established procedures for selecting staff, politicians simply appointed friends and relatives, which led to a politicized patronage system. The new political class had created a rent-seeking system - that is to say, a system that does not create new wealth but appropriates existing wealth - whose sewers were a channel for party financing.

Thirdly, political parties' internal power was decentralized even faster than the public administration. The notion that the Spain of the Regions could be managed by the two majority parties (the conservative Popular Party and the Socialists) fell apart when the regional "barons" accumulated power and, like the Earl of Warwick, became kingmakers within their own parties. This accelerated the decentralization and loss of control over the regional savings banks. Regional governments quickly passed laws to take over the cajas de ahorros, then filled the boards with politicians, unionists, friends and cronies. Under their leadership, the savings banks financed or created yet more businesses, agencies and affiliated foundations with no clear goal other than to provide yet more jobs for people with the right connections.

Additionally, Spain's political class has colonized areas that are not the preserve of politics, such as the Constitutional Court, the General Council of the Judiciary (the legal watchdog), the Bank of Spain and the CNMV (the market watchdog). Their politicized nature has strangled their independence and deeply delegitimized them, severely deteriorating our political system. But there's more. While it invaded new terrain, the Spanish political class abandoned its natural environment: parliament. Congress is not just the place where laws are made; it is also the institution that must demand accountability. This essential role completely disappeared in Spain many years ago. The downfall of Bankia, played out grotesquely in last July's parliamentary appearances, is just the latest in a long series of cases that Congress has decided to treat as though they were natural disasters, like an earthquake, which has victims but no culprits.

[KirstyJay]

...and here's part 2 :


THE BUBBLES

These processes created a political system in which institutions are excessively politicized and where nobody feels responsible for their actions because nobody is held accountable. Nobody within the system questions the rent-seeking that conforms the particular interest of Spain's political class. This is the background for the real estate bubble and the failure of most savings banks, as well as other "natural disasters" and "acts of God" that our politicians are so good at creating. And they do so not so much out of ignorance or incompetence but because all these acts generate rent.

The Spanish real estate bubble was, in relative terms, the largest of the three that are at the origin of today's global crisis, the US bubble and the Irish bubble being the other two. There is no doubt that, like the others, it fed on low interest rates and macroeconomic imbalances on a global scale. But unlike the US, in Spain decisions regarding what gets built where are taken at the political level. In Spain, the political class inflated the real estate bubble through direct action, not omission or oversight. City planning is born out of complex, opaque negotiations which, besides creating new buildings, also give rise to party financing and many personal fortunes, both among the owners of rezoned land and those doing the rezoning. As if this power were not enough, by transferring control of the savings banks to regional governments the politicians also had power of decision over who received money to build. This represented a quantum leap in the Spanish political class' capacity for rent-seeking. Five years on, the situation could not be more bleak. The Spanish economy will not grow for many years to come. The savings banks have disappeared, mostly due to bankruptcy.

The other two bubbles I will mention are a result of the peculiar symbiosis between our political class and Spanish capitalists who live off government favors. At a recent meeting, a well-known foreign investor called it "an incestuous relationship" while a Spanish investor talked about "a collusion against consumers and taxpayers." Be that as it may, let us first discuss the renewable energy bubble. Spain represents two percent of world GDP yet it is paying 15 percent of the global total of renewable energy subsidies. This absurd situation, which was sold to the public as a move that would put Spain on the forefront of the fight against climate change, creates lots of fraud and corruption, and naturally captured rent, too. In order to finance these subsidies, Spanish households and businesses pay the highest electricity rates in all of Europe, which seriously undermines the competitiveness of our economy. Despite these exaggerated prices, the Spanish power system debt is several million euros a year, with an accumulated debt of over 24 billion euros that nobody knows how to pay.

The last bubble I will discuss concerns the countless unnecessary infrastructure projects built in the last two decades at an astronomical cost, benefiting the builders and hurting the taxpayers. One of the most scandalous cases is the spoke highways into and out of Madrid. Meant to improve traffic flows into the capital, the radiales were built with no thought given to important principles of prudence and good management. First, rash forecasts were made regarding the potential traffic on these roads (currently it is 30 percent of expectations and not because of the crisis; there was no traffic in boom times, either.) The government allowed the builders and the concessionaires to be essentially the same people. This is madness, because when builders disguised themselves as license holders through companies with very little capital and huge debt, builders basically got money from the concessionaires to build the highways, and when there was no traffic, they threatened to let the latter go broke. The main creditors were - surprise! - the savings banks. So nobody knows how to pay the more than three billion euros in debt, which will ultimately fall on the taxpayers' shoulders.

THE THEORY

The principle is very simple. Spain's political class has not only turned itself into a special interest group, like air traffic controllers for example; it has taken a step further and formed an extractive elite in the sense given to this term by Acemoglu and Robinson in their recent and already famous book Why Nations Fail. An extractive elite is defined by:

"Having a rent-seeking system which allows, without creating new wealth, for the extraction of rent from a majority of the population for one's own benefit."

"Having enough power to prevent an inclusive institutional system - in other words, a system that distributes political and economic power broadly, that respects the rule of law and free market rules."

Abominating the 'creative destruction' that characterizes the most dynamic forms of capitalism. In Schumpeter's words, "creative destruction is the process of industrial mutation that incessantly revolutionizes the economic structure from within, incessantly destroying the old one, incessantly creating a new one." Innovation tends to create new centers of power, and that's why it is detested.

What does this simple theory have to say about the four questions set forth at the beginning of this article? Let us see:

1. Spain's political class, as an extractive elite, cannot effect a reasonable diagnosis of the crisis. It was their rent-seeking mechanisms that provoked it, but obviously they cannot say that. The Spanish political class needs to defend, as it is indeed doing to a man, that the crisis is an act of God, something that comes from the outside, unpredictable by nature, and in the face of which we can only show resignation.

2. Spain's political class, as an extractive elite, cannot have any exit strategy other than waiting for the storm to pass. Any credible long-term plan must include the dismantling of the rent-seeking mechanisms that the political class benefits from. And this is not an option.

3. Nobody apologizes for defending their particular interests. Air traffic controllers didn't, and neither will our politicians.

4. Just as the theory of extractive elites states, Spanish political parties share a great contempt for education, innovation and entrepreneurship, and a deep-seated hostility towards science and research. The loud arguments over the civics education course Educación para la Ciudadanía are in stark contrast with the thick silence regarding the truly relevant problems of our education system. Meanwhile, innovation and entrepreneurship languish in the midst of regulatory deterrents and punitive fiscal measures. And spending on scientific research is viewed as a luxury that politicians cut back savagely on, given half a chance.

THE FORECAST

The crisis has underscored the conflict between the particular interest of Spain's political class and Spain's general interest. The necessary reforms to keep the country in the euro are in direct conflict with the rent-seeking mechanisms that sustain this particular interest. On one hand, budget stability requires a structural reduction of spending in public administration that is upwards of five percent of GDP. This cannot be achieved with further superficial cuts; now we need deep reforms that will reduce the main source of rent for the political class. On the other hand, in order to grow, the Spanish economy needs to become more competitive. The necessary reforms to make that happen will also make it more difficult to create new bubbles.

The infinite reluctance with which our political class is tackling the reform process illustrates how, collectively at least, it is pondering the consequences that these reforms will have on their particular interest. The government is deliberately getting reform confused with cost-cutting and tax hikes, offering the second rather than the first in the hopes that the storm will let up and that, in the end, nothing really essential will have to be changed. But since this is not going to happen, at some point the Spanish political class will have to consider the conundrum of either seriously embracing reform or abandoning the single currency. And this, I believe, is going to happen sooner rather than later.

The theory of extractive elites predicts that the particular interest will tend to prevail over the general interest. I see a likely scenario in which both majority parties will quickly develop a "pro peseta" sentiment. The confusion created between cuts and reforms has the perverse consequences of preventing the population from seeing the long-term advantage of the reforms, although it does feel the short-term pain of cuts that are invariably presented as a foreign imposition. This creates the necessary conditions to present a departure from the single currency as a defense of national sovereignty in the face of outside aggression and unacceptable cuts to the welfare state.

Leaving the euro, either on its own initiative or because northern countries have gotten tired of living with southern ones, would be disastrous for Spain. It would mean, as Jesús Fernández-Villaverde, Luis Garicano and Tano Santos accurately wrote in EL PAÍS last June, a return to the 1950s economically speaking, but also a return to the patronage system and a political and social corruption that would take us back to much earlier dates and amply surpass today's situation, which is already very bad.

There is a very significant danger of all this happening in the short term. Can something be done to avoid it? Not much, except to keep publishing articles like this one. Spain's political class has no short-term alternatives. In the long run it does, as I will now explain.

[KirstyJay]

...and here's part 3 :




ELECTORAL REFORM

Spain's political class, as we have seen, is the result of several factors, chiefly the proportional representation system with closed, blocked lists that are drafted by party leaders. This system grants the latter enormous power and has produced a dysfunctional political class. There is no perfect electoral system, but because of everything that's been discussed here, Spain should change its voting system to obtain a more functional political class. First-past-the-post systems produce elected officials who answer to their voters, instead of just to their leaders. As a result, party leaderships have less power and the representation afforded by the polls is less influenced by the media. These are the advantages. There are also drawbacks. A proportional system ends up awarding seats to minority parties that might not get any with a majority system. This would hurt state-wide minority parties, but benefit regional minority parties. In any case, the most relevant feature of a majority system is that the voters have power of decision over the parties and over the candidates who are elected, and this right now is a peremptory need in Spain that compensates the drawbacks of the system. It would not heal all wounds, but it would very likely create a different political class more attuned to Spain's needs. In Italy, there is an imminent legal initiative to change the current proportional system to a corrected majority system. It seems that the technocratic government of Mario Monti has reached similar conclusions to my own here: without changing a dysfunctional political class, one cannot embrace an ambitious program of reform. As I once heard former Socialist Economy Minister Carlos Solchaga say, a "technocrat" is a politician who also happens to be knowledgeable about a topic. How long until we have electoral reform in Spain? Will we have to wait for the "technocrats"?

[Medanoman]

Well based on this article are we to take it that Spain,s ill are of the making of every politician her. Well, that being the case should Spain revert back to a dictatorship, not in the essence of the old principals but in the format of Russia. An election held and various politicians appointed but a federal dictator nevertheless. God help us in that eventuality!

Yes quite true, although my wifes Grandfather a cabo for franco thought he was the best thing since sliced bread. Of course before he died he was receiving more than 250,000 pesetas a month war pension. 70 years after the conflict.

In hard times anything can happen just look at the Germans in the thirties. Indeed the constitutional crisis with the Catalans is another train crash waiting to happen. If the Catalans get their way that will be the end of Spain as we know it.

But i will stick my neck out and say that all those airports that were built in the middle of nowhere, the 3 lane motorways where only 1 car every 15 minutes goes by, are all a result of the political system. Those are only the most obvious, but for everyone you see and hear of, there are another 10 festering below. The scandal of Jesus Gil, and a complete merry band of licensed fraudsters in Marbella, Even here in Tenerife many locals see the tranvia as a curse that wiped out many bus routes, was too expensive and Tenerife could not afford it. Now the same mentality is pushing us towards a comic strip high speed train link. The trains to which are all ready and waiting in storage in Cadiz according to my local barman in La laguna lol. This is the same problem that affects the AVE high speed train system in mainland Spain is that there are just not enough passengers to make the trains viable. But to a politician, the thought of giving out all those juicy contracts often without offering them to tender properly is too much for them to bear.

The banksters were responsible for a lot, but here in Spain the people have been let down mostly by their politicians

[TF1]

Seems that the Franco mindset is still alive and kicking in the present government, who plan to retract public funding to schools and colleges which teach in any language which is not Castellano (ie, they are forcing students in Catalunia, Galicia and Basque Country to study in a language which might not be their own). This is a dark reminder of the times when people were jailed and persecuted for speaking anything but Castellano. This act will also go against the Spanish Constitution, but that doesn't seem to matter to the PP who have the majority of the courts in their pockets.

[ribuck]

Something I've always wondered: why is General Franco still honored by so many things named after him: museums, roads, plazas etc?

Usually when a country has a regime change, the first thing they do is to rename everything associated with the previous regime.

[Medanoman]

Something I've always wondered: why is General Franco still honored by so many things named after him: museums, roads, plazas etc?

Usually when a country has a regime change, the first thing they do is to rename everything associated with the previous regime.

Things were never this bad under Franco....

but to answer your question half of Spain supported him, And many still share his views. Every time there is a proposal to remove a monument or rename a street it re aggravates old memories. Must be a Spanish thing.

[Javi]

Seems that the Franco mindset is still alive and kicking in the present government, who plan to retract public funding to schools and colleges which teach in any language which is not Castellano (ie, they are forcing students in Catalunia, Galicia and Basque Country to study in a language which might not be their own). This is a dark reminder of the times when people were jailed and persecuted for speaking anything but Castellano. This act will also go against the Spanish Constitution, but that doesn't seem to matter to the PP who have the majority of the courts in their pockets.

Strong words here.

Try to find a job in Cataluña not being able to speak Catalan. Try to enrole your children in a state school there...he/she will be forced to learn and speak Spanish if they want to follow the lessons. I wonder if this is Constitutional?

My personal opinion is that the goverment must respect our huge culture, traditions and variety of languages. On the other hand, any region shouldn't force nobody to learn its own language. It should be something voluntarily chosen.

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Something I've always wondered: why is General Franco still honored by so many things named after him: museums, roads, plazas etc?

Usually when a country has a regime change, the first thing they do is to rename everything associated with the previous regime.

One of the possible answers to your question could be that a nation can not forget its pass and simply pretending that nothing happended. It can forgiven but not forgotten. Franco, unfortunately, belongs to our history. I think it is good to have bad examples in our life because fosters us to be better than them and avoid to make similar mistakes. Therefore, it's not a question of honoring.

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[QUOTE=Medanoman;243410]Things were never this bad under Franco....you should talk with many older who still remember that time. And not so older like my parents...Regardless the "crisis", the current situation can not be compared with Dictatorial times because now we are simply in heaven and in that times people lived in hell (a handfull of them lived and still living in paradise)

[TF1]

Things were never this bad under Franco....



You must be kidding! Under Franco, women were not allowed to work, drive or open a bank account without a husband´s consent. Political opponents were persecuted, at times executed. In the 50´s and 60´s, deaths from starvation were normal. One of the main motives that judge Garzon was removed from the bench is because he was about to re-open some cases about the regime´s killings, also the funds which they stole which are still in the hands of the far right and their descendants .... these were the ones which paid the court fees for the case against Garzon.
A handful of Spanish still admire Franco, but then again, some older German´s still go on about their dictator .......

[universal]

Interesting stuff!
If anyone would like to read further on the above I would recommend "Ghosts of Spain" by Giles Tremlett,
Below is a review published in the Independent:

British writers on Spain tend to offer meaty histories whose appeal may stretch beyond academia, or racy chronicles of life with charming locals. Each genre has a distinguished pedigree, and the likes of Richard Ford and Gerald Brenan, Raymond Carr and Paul Preston, are as revered in Spain as at home. But these seams are all but exhausted. Spain's own historians now dare to investigate a dark past; while expatriates' tales of quirky farmhands or flamenco badboys soon seem shallow and repetitive.

A foreign writer living in Spain enjoys the privilege of being both inside and out. We struggle to master the language, learn how our hosts differ from ourselves, and come to love them. But however much we feel at home, we cannot slough off our own life history and fully absorb theirs. Giles Tremlett, a British journalist settled in Madrid, father of two young Spaniards, acknowledges and relishes this ambiguous frontier zone where you never quite conform.

In Ghosts of Spain, he examines from the viewpoint of a resident anglosajón the painful truth of Franco's Spain, now surfacing after decades of amnesia. Spaniards are digging up civil-war graves and recounting memories of terror. Their stories form the missing element of Spain's recent past. This is not to reduce the journey from doomed republic through civil war, 40 years of dictatorship and 27 years of democracy to mere oral history. But repression and censorship expunged facts of death, torture and persecution, silenced memories and compounded suffering, long after Franco's death in 1975.

No wonder the perpetrators - never brought to justice - scorn a version of the past that challenges their own. Spanish history, Tremlett writes, is a battleground where facts are rarely central to the argument.

Spaniards in power have rated image over reality ever since impoverished hidalgos starved shirtless beneath their cloak rather than deign to work. Franco cynically strapped a moral straitjacket of Catholic harmony upon a nation whose womenfolk crept to London for abortions and dared not mourn loved ones shot at dawn. Even today, when Spaniards criticise what foreigners write about them, they complain that we "perpetuate stereotypes" or "tarnish the country's image". They rarely say that we are wrong.

Many Spaniards may feel uncomfortable with Tremlett's tales of abuse of power or sexual hypocrisy, but won't deny their truth. For instance, that Spanish men who treasure family above everything lead Europe in their enthusiasm for roadside brothels. You will never read a Spanish account of such encounters, though prostitutes' ads fill pages in the posh papers.

This book reveals how Spain's modern democracy remains poisoned by ancient resentments. Civil war and centuries of regional rivalries gouged fault-lines across Spain, making it hard to find common ground or appreciate the other's view. Waverers are chivvied to join one camp or the other with arguments where you rarely hear the phrase "I see what you mean".

Those seeking to rebury victims flung into ditches inhabit a different mental universe from those wanting to forget the whole bloody business. Can they be reconciled? Tremlett travels the country facing dilemmas at every step. He meets victim and executioner, bureaucrats, gypsy jailbirds and the founder of Benidorm, agonises over customs of child-rearing, over whether Catalans are different and why Basques kill each other. Armed with facts, he leans in close to hear the memories, and rarely puts a foot wrong.

[TF1]

Sounds like an interesting read, Universal. One very valid point regarding the Franco years is that there were, and still are, vast differences of opinion between differing areas. Franco was from Galicia, but he oppressed the Gallegos more than any other race. He and his descendants were and still are despised there, and there is little masking of what happened in those dark decades. In Catalunia, the regime had difficulties controlling the differing culture due to the larger population, so instead randomly victimized opponents to install a general fear within the population, whilst in the Basque Country, there was a strong active resistance even before the birth of ETA. If you talk with most people from any of these regions, (apart from the odd retired guardia civil general), you´ll find that they will talk openly about what happened, and also within these regions you´ll find much more Spanish literature about the regime.
Franco´s strongest "allies" were, in central Spain, Andalucia and the Valencian Community. It is within these areas that the most support or denial can be found.

[bonitatime]

Ghosts of Spain is a very interesting read

Part of the problem which led to airports like Castellon's was there was Euro money floating around so they spent it. The construction industry was and still is to big. Spain doesn't make enough things. They need to make more.
There are two few large companies. This is partly because employment contract law is so horrifying you either cheat or turn over staff.
I read recently if every self-employed person employed someone else there would be no unemployment in Spain but for most paying one lot of social security is difficult enough. The tax system doesn't invite employing people because then most small businesses need to leave the set payment modular system.
There are too many politicians. I saw a comparison with Germany recently and if I remember correctly they have 25% of the politician for twice the population. The pension and protection for national politicians is horrifying. They have to be elected for 3/4 years and then they have a right to a pension for life at a rate considerably better than we will see if we pay in our whole lives.
I think change will come but slowly. As for the person who asked about General Franco after he died the transition government agreed that everything would be forgotten and therefore ignored. You especially should read the Ghosts book as I refers extensively to this

[cainaries]

Thanks for this interesting thread. OH and I both read 'The Ghosts of Spain' a few years ago and it is an excellent introduction to life in Spain.

On a lighter note, I think it was in that book that I read that the Spanish use more bleach than the rest of the world put together. This statistic no longer surprises me.

Our next door neighbour here who is probably about 80 went to Venezuela in an open boat in the 50s to find work. Doubt anyone is doing that during this crisis, though it is bad.

[kathml]

would suggest if you can find them (because they will be well hidden ) you check on emigration figures and you will find them horrendous especially qualified people no country can afford to lose

[universal]

I would agree kathml - over the past few years we have shipped many Canarian families to various non Spanish destinations including going to face Chavez and the general situation in Venezuela.
These are not economic immigrants returning to their country of origin but first and second generation Canarians, form professional backgrounds, whose forefathers made the same trip in earlier periods of desperation.

- - - - - - - - - - merged double post - - - - - - - - - -

This statement is from 17.7.12
"MADRID (AP) — The number of Spaniards leaving the recession-wracked country was up 44 percent in the first six months of 2012 compared with the same period last year, the National Statistics Institute said Tuesday.

Current estimates show 40,625 Spaniards emigrated between January and the end of June, compared with 28,162 last year, the institute said. Another 228,890 foreigners who had been living in Spain left the country during the six-month period."

The figures are based on municipal censuses.

- - - - - - - - - - merged double post - - - - - - - - - -

If Canaries is interested you can buy this report:

"COUNTRY REPORT
Bleach in Spain
Sep 2012

Price:€675

About this Report
Table of Contents
Segmentation
Statistics Included
Methodology
About this Report
ABOUT THIS REPORT
Samples (FAQs about samples):
Sample Bleach Market Research Report
Sample Bleach Data"

Don't know about you but I thought it was a bargain at only €675.00!!!

[cainaries]

I would agree kathml - over the past few years we have shipped many Canarian families to various non Spanish destinations including going to face Chavez and the general situation in Venezuela.
These are not economic immigrants returning to their country of origin but first and second generation Canarians, form professional backgrounds, whose forefathers made the same trip in earlier periods of desperation.

- - - - - - - - - - merged double post - - - - - - - - - -

This statement is from 17.7.12
"MADRID (AP) — The number of Spaniards leaving the recession-wracked country was up 44 percent in the first six months of 2012 compared with the same period last year, the National Statistics Institute said Tuesday.

Current estimates show 40,625 Spaniards emigrated between January and the end of June, compared with 28,162 last year, the institute said. Another 228,890 foreigners who had been living in Spain left the country during the six-month period."

The figures are based on municipal censuses.

- - - - - - - - - - merged double post - - - - - - - - - -

If Canaries is interested you can buy this report:

"COUNTRY REPORT
Bleach in Spain
Sep 2012

Price:€675

About this Report
Table of Contents
Segmentation
Statistics Included
Methodology
About this Report
ABOUT THIS REPORT
Samples (FAQs about samples):
Sample Bleach Market Research Report
Sample Bleach Data"

Don't know about you but I thought it was a bargain at only €675.00!!!

I'll start saving up for it! Wonder how many other countries publish a report on their usage of bleach ... at any price!

[Fivepence]

I'll start saving up for it! Wonder how many other countries publish a report on their usage of bleach ... at any price!

Do they use it to remove ' a blot on the landscape ' ? :D

[cainaries]

Do they use it to remove ' a blot on the landscape ' ? :D

'Las Manchas' on the landscape perhaps?

[KirstyJay]

'Las Manchas' on the landscape perhaps?There's a 'Las Manchas' on the way to Icod from here. I believe we passed one in La Palma when we were driving around too. I love this name, as it liteally translates as 'Stains' and reminds me on Staines in the UK. :)

[cainaries]

There's a 'Las Manchas' on the way to Icod from here. I believe we passed one in La Palma when we were driving around too. I love this name, as it liteally translates as 'Stains' and reminds me on Staines in the UK. :)

You're quite right. There's a 'Las Manchas' here on La Palma. Perhaps it should twin itself with Staines and we can all get lots of free trips back and forth organising it (small joke).

[Balcony]

This is an interesting thread. I remember some of the who-ha about Franco and Spain being the 'place to be' for any free-fighting Leftie! And of course there is Spain's blood-thirsty history (they weren't alone in that!). In modern times it's all too easy easy to see hangovers from Spain's history and the mentality that goes with it. Some must be put down to poor education, making people more easily deceived and manipulated by the whims and fancies of those in power. Young people today are much better educated and yet it's a shame they are not in the forefront and leading the way to meet the challenges.

Spain still manages to produce law after law, badly written and devicive, where - from a distance - it seems the brown envelope reigns - a mentality that streams into the conscious need to avoid tax!

[Javi]

Young people today are much better educated and yet it's a shame they are not in the forefront and leading the way to meet the challenges.

The fact that many young people have a degree or even two plus a master plus....does not mean better education. I know it, it is quite sad. Of course, a handful of them are well educated and are trying to make some changes in other ones' perception of reality. People are not educated in values (i.e. honesty and respect), instead of that, they education system and the entire society in itself have been promoting the individualism and shortcut to the rapid success, thus young are more concerned in competing one against others and consequently they cannot see the bigger picture. In other words, there is not a common feeling of Nation.

- a mentality that streams into the conscious need to avoid tax![/QUOTE]

Totally right. In this country we aware this kind of behavior.

[stuartbroad]

It is just another article for telling us something that many Spanish already know. The good news here it is that our illness has a cure. On the other hand, this cure will take a long time and will be painful if finally someone dares to take the bull for its horns.

[TF1]

Young people today are much better educated and yet it's a shame they are not in the forefront and leading the way to meet the challenges.

The fact that many young people have a degree or even two plus a master plus....does not mean better education. I know it, it is quite sad. Of course, a handful of them are well educated and are trying to make some changes in other ones' perception of reality. People are not educated in values (i.e. honesty and respect), instead of that, they education system and the entire society in itself have been promoting the individualism and shortcut to the rapid success, thus young are more concerned in competing one against others and consequently they cannot see the bigger picture. In other words, there is not a common feeling of Nation.


I think that this is a common trait in Europe, where national pride of under 25 year old's is limited to football. I've noticed that much of the younger generation take more pride in being "Canarian, Galician, Asturian", etc, than being Spanish.

As much as the Spanish youth is well educated and intelligent, they are restricted by a national two party political system, which itself is supported by an absurd electoral system. The PP only got around 35% of the national vote, but still have an absolute majority in Moncloa. Thus, as much as the youth may try to open new political ideas, they won't get anywhere until some major changes take place.

[Javi]

I think that this is a common trait in Europe, where national pride of under 25 year old's is limited to football. I've noticed that much of the younger generation take more pride in being "Canarian, Galician, Asturian", etc, than being Spanish.

As much as the Spanish youth is well educated and intelligent, they are restricted by a national two party political system, which itself is supported by an absurd electoral system. The PP only got around 35% of the national vote, but still have an absolute majority in Moncloa. Thus, as much as the youth may try to open new political ideas, they won't get anywhere until some major changes take place.

:tiphat: Totally agree