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Thursday, September 20, 2012


Catalonia Financial Resistance: Second Spanish Civil War

Twenty years ago I wrote in one of Tom Clancy’s Op Center books called “Balance of Power” how the government of Spain , headquartered in Madrid , would eventually fall apart because of the indomitable resistance of the formidable Catalonians and their incessant cry for independence. Today, as the Spanish Central Government is in trouble once again for the umpteenth time , the bureaucrats of Madrid are demanding that Barcelona, the epicenter of the Catalonian Independence Movement, pay up. But Catalonia refuses to pay close to forty per cent of the GDP for the inexcusable bail out of the financially  precarious state called, “Spain”. If one wonders where the Spanish money disappeared , one only has to look at all the flight capital that escaped to Latin America and the United States, especially Florida [ City National Bank Of Florida and TotalBank].
However my personal and professional interest in Spain and the Spanish Civil War started many decades ago when I lived and worked in a wholesale store in Toulouse, France, located on the border of Spain, right next to Barcelona where I would vacation on weekends. In that beautiful Medieval town where scores of Spanish refugees,  particularly  Catalonians fleeing from Franco’s brutal repression: 1939-1975. Without having to go into the particulars of the Spanish Civil War, precipitated by Franco’s North African Spanish Troops, hundreds of thousands of Spaniards  died on all sides—Catholic Priests, nuns, Republicans, Abraham Lincoln Brigade , Soviets, and many more parties. It was in that war where the Nazis developed their Blitzkreig and Stuka Diving techniques, to be used later in World War II, decimating innocent civilians in Guernica , Madrid, and Barcelona. 
Under Franco , who by the way was never condemned for war crimes and continued to reign well into the 20th century, the Catalonians were placed, in effect, under Martial Law. In Barcelona as well as other regions of Catalonia, Franco eliminated the ‘statute of autonomy’ , banned the Catalonian institutions of language, culture and free press. In short, against their own wishes, Catalonians were forced after passed failures of historical hegemony to be incorporated into an entity called “Spain”.  Thousands of Catalonians were killed and tortured , among them the former president of the Generalitat Lluis Company’s i Jover. 
Why do I call “Spain” an illegitimate state? Because historically as I had pointed out in my novel “Balance Of Power”, Spain was historically amalgamated by former miscreants, taking areas of land adjacent land to France  like the Basque region where like Catalonia [Barcelona] , Spanish is not their primary language or culture. So in effect, if the Basque region which has fought previously for it’s independence and Barcelona secede from Madrid, there is de facto ‘no spain’. The regions south of Madrid are nothing more than extensions of North Africa, desert wasteland, conquered by the Moors, which were and are  are extremely impoverished. So between the hypertrophied  vital economy of Barcelona as well as the hardworking, ingenious  Basques, Madrid cannot legitimately exist without their respective monetary donations. And in my opinion, I think that neither Barcelona nor the Basque s should pay the debts of wastrel Madrid. 
 I write this blog at this particular time in history because I feel it’s propitious for the Spanish government to come to terms with it’s perfidious history of having been complicit in silencing the truth about the Spanish War and how the consequences of that war still scar the citizens of Spain and those who were involved with it, like me and my family. Also in a recent trip to Spain , I saw how spoiled and  lazy the Spanish citizenry especially in Madrid,  encouraged by a government to engaged in  corrupt, wasteful activities  where there was literally fifty per cent unemployment in the youth because the state did and would not create sufficient jobs. A government that defaults on both it’s fiduciary and psychological responsibilities has committed it’s own vivisection through lies, betrayals, distortions , cronyism, and worst of all an inability to integrate the pains of the past into the present culture.  It’s a pity that I finally found a movie illustrating  Spain’s recent history tucked away in the Museum of Modern Art.  The only place to see the famous film on Franco’s atrocities in a city where  no one wants to talk about the past.
 So on this day, when Catalonians in Barcelona and elsewhere refuse to pay for Madrid’s ineptness , I say to them what our brave New Hampshire ‘terrorist', General John Stark,  proclaimed in act of a similar defiance to the oppressive demands of the English King ,  “Live Free or Die: Death is not the worst of evils! !”  

4 comments:

  1. While I am certainly sympathetic in regards to your brief historic and financial views about Spain and lands they have co-opted to pay for the Madrid government's and elites' debts I was most taken by your comment that,'regions south of Madrid are nothing more than extensions of North Africa, desert wasteland.....'
    I highly recommend that you read an old classic from The University of Oklahoma Press titled,
    'Topsoil and Civilization' that makes the argument that that wasn't always the case and it is not because of any historic drought but because of the same collapse of topsoil through erosion and crop exports possibly under Roman rule,that also turned Iraq or Tigris Euphrates and Lebanon and Palestine and Greece and Rome and so much of north Africa into barren lands lacking their former topsoil.For instance the Persian Gulf before and during the beginning of agriculture in the region of Iraq or Babylon or whatever once extended about 130 miles further inland than it does today -all filled in by erosion.And the cedars of Lebanon could still grow if the Phoenicians cutting them for boats and trade including to supply 'wise' King Solomon's demand for wood in Palestine,etc., combined with their replacement by unstable agriculture and goats that with the coup de grace for the large groves of the cedars in Lebanon.However it is not water that is the limiting factor today in restoring them to their past glory - it is the soil or lack thereof !
    Also if you get a chance read what I wrote in the early 1980's and published in 'Berkeley Daily Californian' in 1987 titled 'The Pope's Misconceptions about conception and science history' about the church's teaching Aristotle's four elements that they got for the Arabs or Moors and translated to Latin in the 1200's and the fact that we now know the pope has a pound and half of phosphates going through his body every year or earth orbit like sand through an hour glass which can be multiplied by 7 billion to get an idea about phosphates through the collective dody of humanity today,(not counting soil erosion,etc.).And Morocco or the Spanish Sahara holds over 50% of the world's phosphates that we use to replace our depleted soils with and Florida and Idaho are being strip mined for U.S. !
    The pope of today is as confused about the atoms moving through himself and his parishioners as the pope of Galileo's time was about the movement of the earth around the sun but we will probably run out of phosphates before we run out of earth orbits.
    WE'RE ALL IN DEEP DOO DOO AND THESE UNENDING NEW DARK AGE RELIGIOUS WARS AREN'T HELPING.

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    1. Thank you for the suggested readings, will look them up.

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  2. Very interesting, Mr. Pieczenick. I have just discovered who you are and I am very interested in your views and informed opinions on a variety of issues. This perception of the current state of Spain with its historical observations inspire me to look further. Thank you. alan wright

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  3. Hello Mr Pieczenik
    Thank God for the internet. It is the one thing they never anticipated.
    It is very clear that it has been as great a force for change and information as ever was the inventon of the printing press.
    It is the only thing between us and a fascist world government with serfdom for the masses.
    Frightening that the planet sits on the edge and still so many are unaware. The race is on. We have been systematically lied to, taken into illegal wars not least Racak and Yugoslavia so often forgotten and brainwashed by dishonest and controlled mass media which is now past frightening in its propaganda and distortions.
    I have listened to your broadcasts and you are so credible, so direct its a breath of fresh air. You are also so dangerous I suggest you stay far away from Small planes - or airliners - Larry P McDonald.
    I was thrilled to find your blog - this one on Spain follows the one on Japan - both eye openers and I won't miss another.
    Keep it up - you will build yourself a big following and the best of luck
    Keep safe

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