Moving History about & Constitutionalism

international | history and heritage | news report Friday January 20, 2006 15:09 by the ipsiphi

After over 60 years since their theft, or 30 years since the death of the thief, or a little over a year since the court order to return them, 500 boxes of Spanish Civil War archives were transferred under armed guard in the last 24 hours from Salamanca via Madrid en route to Barcelona.

An incident which did not occur without a near treasonous attempt to impede the lawful commands of the Spanish state by local authorities in Salamanca, Castille and Leon. The polemic and division in current Spanish society which focuses on the democratic wishes of the Catalans and their proposed "estatut"is part and parcel of what occured in Salamanca.
_____________________________________

500 boxes are now in Madrid.
They are being checked to ensure that no papers which were not stolen in 1940 from the Catalan Generalitat go to Barcelona.

The minister for Culture, Carmen Calvo has condemned the non-constitutional behavour of both Salamanca council and the regional government of Castille and Leon.

They had used local privelage to make access roads impassable so that the archives cold not be loaded over the last year and in the last 48 hours mobilised Salamanca's local police resulting in a stand-off with the national Spanish police.

Previous attempts to impede the return of the Generalitat's archive under Aznar led the creation of a "national civil war archive" in 1996. [from wikipedia : "since 1996 Salamanca has been the designated site of the archive of the Spanish Civil War (Archivo General de la Guerra Civil Española). This archive was assembled by the Francoist regime, selectively obtained from the administrative departments of various institutions and organizations during the Spanish Civil War as a repressive instrument used against all sort of opposition groups and individuals: republicans of all signs, unionists, Communists, liberals, Freemasons, Basque and Catalan nationalists, etc.(1) Though as of this morning, if you go to the wikireference to the Spanish ministry of culture (1) http://www.mcu.es/archivos/jsp/plantillaAncho.jsp?id=64 you get "nothing" ]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salamanca


History is being made not only moved about.

No-one with a passing interest in Spanish or European history can no notice that the most divisive civil war of the last century (perhaps more important a conflict than the balkan collapse) is being played out on the boundaries of constitutionalism where inflamatory rhetoric risks so much.

As the Spanish council of Ministers (cabinet) today announced their "last" attempt to broker settlement on the Catalan proposed estatut :-
c/f
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=72240 and english translation of proposed document :-
http://www.cataloniatoday.info/pdf/estatut.pdf
I remind everyone that since January 6h this year there has been the first arrest of a general and his subsequent sacking for "non-constitutionalism" in threatening military action against Catalans. That arrest was followed by the arrests of a Colonel at NATO HQ and a Captain in Melilla.
C/f
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=73706

The supreme tribunal of Spain which acts as a sort of DPP and Legal proofreader, has concurred that the behaviour in Salamanca by the right wing opposition and those sentimental perhaps for a pro-Francoist legacy was indeed un-constitutional.

There is now a 15 day period of consultation with the other institutions of the government, judiciary, lefislature, executive to decide whether or not to bring criminal actions against those responsible.

For to be quite frank.
It was near treasonous to order local police to impede the agents of the central government. Not for the first time, we see that in Spain it is the right who truly foment treason.

coverage of history in the making.
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=68070
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4629064.stm