Letter to The Economist from Tony Strubell

(Carta enviada pel bon amic del Col·lectiu Emma, Tony Strubell, a la revista The Economist a propòsit del seu article "The new civil war").

Dear Sir,

I would like to congratulate The Economist for the excellent article "The new civil war" of February 18th 2010, regarding the charges being brought against a Spanish judge for trying to open an investigation into Franco's crimes. As a British-born university teacher working in Spain, I have for years thought that looking under the carpet of what for years has been seen as "miracle-democracy" Spain would cause a major shock to many unfocused onlookers. Let it be known that in 2006, the decision about whether to annul -albeit symbolically- the death penalties against 200,000 Republican victims was put into the hands of two State officials, the first of whom was the grandson of one of Franco's most bloodthirsty military attorneys; and the second, the son of the penultimate Falangist Movement minister of the Franco era. In a country that has for thirty years showed itself to be quite unable to face up to its past and do justice to those who defended a legally constituted Republic against fascism, it can come as no suprise that these two gentlemen should have turned down annulment. What is more surprising, however, is that the world's press should for years have seen nothing wrong in the on-going condemnation of democrats and the on-going impunity enjoyed in Spain by one of Europe's great criminals of the XXth century, Franco, in contrast with the universal condemnation there has been of Hitler, Mussolini and Pétain.

Yours faithfully,

Tony Strubell