Spain: the Change of a Country
Thirty-five Years of Transformation, Modernity and Progress
A bit of history
Every country has a black sheep to rule it at some point in history. Spain’s most recent one is Francisco Franco, a short, ultra-catholic army officer who believed in extreme Catholicism and no freedom of speech as the main ways of ruling a country.
When he died in 1975 he left a country uncertain of its future. Even King Juan Carlos, his successor, wasn’t sure whether he was going to be offered the Crown or whether he would be taken to jail. Democracy was not an option for Franco’s followers, but it was the only thing King Juan Carlos hoped for. And he got it.
Political advancesPolitical activity was reinstated and even the Spanish Communist Party was authorized. General elections were called and Spain voted in free elections for the first time in forty years. Franco’s legacy was still in the air but Spain had decided not to be frightened by his ghost. He was dead and buried forever.
Social progress
When Franco took charge of the country after the civil war that lasted from 1936 to 1939, Spain had started to develop a social progress that was rather unthinkable at that time. Divorce was allowed and civil marriage was the norm but the conservative leaders and the Catholic Church were horrified. The Spanish government was drifting apart from the True Church, something that in the 1930s was not an option.
The Monarchy had been suspended and a Republic instated, the government stopped supporting the national religion and because of this Franco devised his coup starting the civil war that lasted nearly four years and that brought libertarians from all over the globe to fight against him. But he won.
In 1975 the monarchy was reinstated and democracy was promoted and supported by the King who took a representative role as expected from any European monarchy. The constitution advocated the separation between Church and State although the Catholic hierarchy did not accept it and tried to return to the status quo they had with Franco. In 1982 a divorce Act was passed by Parliament and in 2005 same-sex marriage was legalized, despite attacks from the conservative party, the church and neo conservative groups connected to the Catholic Church. However, none of the gloomy forecasts by the church became true. Society is still standing and Spain is now a country on the path to modernity. Tolerance is what Spaniards expect from other Spaniards and their government.
CultureWhen Franco died many exiled writers and artists could come back to Spain without fearing jail or at least their work could be known and promoted. Franco had followed the same tactics of the Inquisition banning many writers from being published or talked about. If you were found in possession of a forbidden book you could face jail or interrogation by Franco’s police which meant torture.
Singers could finally sing what they wanted and a movie industry started to flourish showing the horrors of forty years under Franco. Spain started to feel free.
At present
Nowadays society in Spain feels freer, culture is blooming, literature is at its best, the movie industry goes from strength to strength and Franco is a ghost from a gloomy past. Finally Spain has the place it deserves in Europe.
