Abstract
The foundation of stable democracy in Spain was built on a settled account: the agreement that both sides were equally guilty of violence, a consensus created to avoid contention, a pact of oblivion as the pathway to peace and democracy. Cracks have begun to appear in this foundation. It became possible, even if not completely socially acceptable, to speak openly about the past, to disclose the testimonies of the victims, and to ask for truth and justice. Contentious coexistence that put political participation, contestation, and expression in practice began to emerge. This chapter summarizes the arguments and evidence in the book about how this recent transformation has occurred. It recognizes that political processes are not always linear and inexorable. Thus, it remains to be seen how far contentious coexistence will go in Spain.
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Notes
- 1.
The only exception was the sensationalist journal Interviú. Aguilar and Ferrándiz (2016) have analyzed the reasons for this coverage and for its lack of resonance in other national media outlets.
- 2.
The transmission of identities of victimization in Spain is explored in Aguilar et al. (2011).
- 3.
The case of the Socialist Party is very ambiguous. Despite the uncontestable advances of the so-called Law of Historical Memory of 2007, whenever the Socialist Party has been in charge of the government it has tended to be extremely cautious with respect to memory issues. However, when it is in the opposition, it normally proposes much more daring initiatives, in part because stigmatizing the Partido Popular for its Francoist roots still seems to provide electoral benefits, and in part because the generational replacement that has taken place in the party has helped it to overcome its former reluctance to take on these previously highly controversial issues.
- 4.
The influence of international actors should not be underestimated. The Report on Spain by the Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation, and guarantees of non-recurrence has had an enormous impact on the capacity of the associations to organize collective action. In fact, the above mentioned demonstration explicitly referenced the recommendations contained in the report. (Report on Spain by the Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence. United Nations. A/HRC/27/56/Add.1 22 July 2014).
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Payne, L.A., Aguilar, P. (2016). Conclusion. In: Revealing New Truths about Spain's Violent Past. St Antony's Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56229-6_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56229-6_8
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