Franco launched a right-wing military rebellion on July 18, 1936, to put an end to its political and social reforms after Spain’s first fully fledged modern democracy and Second Republic were established in 1931 despite fierce opposition from hardline conservatives.
His uprising was sparked by a makeshift pro-Republican coalition of left-wing trade unionists, political parties, some armed forces, and pro-democracy activists, which led to a three-year, bloody Civil War.
His regime was established on April 2, 1939, with the republic finally giving in.
In the Franco-controlled regions of Spain, a brutal repression of suspected civilian rivals and their families had already begun. Any potential opposition would be silenced and intimidated by it.
Between 130,000 and 200,000 of the victims are thought to have been executed for a sum total.
Exhumations have taken place slowly and without much logistical, financial, and legal stress in the fifty years since Franco’s death. Around the nation, there are reportedly 6,000 unmarked mass graves, some of which are located in locations as far away as cemeteries, parks, forests, and rural hillsides.
However, as Spain recalls the victims of the Holocaust and examines exhumation efforts, it is grappling with the recent emergence of a far-right party, Vox, and nostalgia for the ideals of the dictatorship among young people who did not endure it.
According to a recent CIS poll, 20% of people between the ages of 18 and 24 thought the dictatorship was “good” or “very good.”
Secondary schoolteachers believe that teenagers are gaining more Franco support from social media.
They talk like they are actually opposed to the dictatorship and the need for military service, according to Jose Garcia Vico, a teacher in Andalusia’s secondary school.
Even if we had explained the differences between dictatorship and democracy, the majority of the teachers I know were very concerned because they were so enamored of TikTok content and were genuinely hostile toward the world. ”
They receive a lot of content from the hard-right parties that target adolescents on social media, and it significantly influences how they interact with one another. ”
Garcia Vico points to a sharp rise in anti-transgender and Islamophobic comments despite the fact that “not everyone in the class” is drawn to the extreme right.
The boys are viewed as superior to the rest, according to the article. However, some of the parents are also affected by the issue. Some parents told me a few years ago that it was acceptable that their child had yelled “Viva Franco!” at me before they stopped. [‘Long Live Franco! Because that was the right to free speech. ”
Sebastian Reyes Turner, a 27-year-old teacher in Madrid, has also seen the impact of hard-right social media influencers, citing his observations hundreds of kilometers north.
People only consider Franco’s rule as one of the many subjects to mindlessly memorize in order to pass a history exam that doesn’t really matter in schools.
Source: Aljazeera
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