Spain Archives - Public Seminar

History

When Empires Implode

Does the collapse of the Inca empire teach a lesson about the contemporary United States?

September 10, 2020 • by Stefania de Kenessey

The Inca empire has long fascinated me: young, brash and stunningly successful, this mighty South American kingdom vanished virtually overnight. Recent developments make me wonder whether the United States empire faces a similar implosion. Some of the parallels — admittedly far from perfect — are nonetheless remarkable. The Inca empire rose up ...

Feature

Debt: A Lever of Dispossession

Case Studies in Resistance

May 22, 2019 • by Iolanda Fresnillo

“Debt is a cleverly managed reconquest of Africa” Thomas Sankara “In modern times, debt has become a key means of capital accumulation. Ubiquitous, it has taken on a new function, as the most general category through which exploitation is organized” Silvia Federici The 2008 crisis burst and debt rang our doorbell. Spain, together with ...

Feature

Finding Franco’s Victims

Felipa Peinado, 89, is still searching for her murdered family

March 18, 2019 • by Anna Oakes

On a cold October morning last year, I stood in Casillas, a village in the forested hills outside of Madrid, and watched a truck methodically excavate a dirt footpath extending out from the road. A dozen people stood beside me, all of us gathered due to the efforts of one ...

Feature

Transversal Democracy in Spain

An interview with Clara Ramas San Miguel

February 22, 2019 • by Gerardo Muñoz

This year marks the five-year anniversary of the emergence of the Spanish progressive political party Podemos, which was successful in translating the social demands of the 15-M movement against austerity into a coherent progressive political platform. Since then, Podemos has gained seats in the European Parliament and has erected alliances with progressive mayors in major ...

Feature

Hispanidad and Spain’s Black Legend

Prejudiced myths impact Spain much like they do in the U.S.

December 12, 2018 • by Anna Oakes

“Hispanidad is the most important landmark of humanity, in my opinion only comparable with Rome. It is probably the most brilliant era, not of Spain, but of Man, together with the Roman Empire.” -Pablo Casado It may be a small, dark comfort to know that the United States is not alone in ...

Feature

A Letter from the Valley of the Fallen

Spain wrestles with its Franquista past

September 25, 2018 • by Anna Oakes

In June, the center-left administration of Pedro Sánchez, Spain’s newly appointed prime minister, announced the government’s intention to exhume Francisco Franco’s body and move it to an as-yet-undecided location. Since the announcement, a renewed national debate has broken out in Spain over Franco’s legacy. The Franco family have made clear their intentions ...

Feature

The Destruction of Empathy, Part Two

On the political situation in Spain

August 23, 2018 • by Amador Fernández-Savater

Below is Part Two of an article originally published on the Spanish blog El Diario. It was translated to English for Public Seminar by Liz Mason-Deese. The Mandate of Masculinity According to Rita Segato, the first expression of the pedagogy of cruelty is sexist violence. Predatory capitalism establishes a battlefield on the ...

Feature

The Destruction of Empathy, Part One

On the political situation in Spain

August 22, 2018 • by Amador Fernández-Savater

This article, originally published in Spanish at the blog El Diario, is part one of two. It was translated to English for Public Seminar by Liz Mason-Deese. Is it possible to read the current socio-historical political moment in Spain not only as a dispute between different groups for power, but as a ...

Feature

The Challenge of the Catalan Independence Movement in Spain

An interview with Enric Juliana

April 5, 2018 • by Gerardo Muñoz

In recent years, Catalan politics has experienced the rise of a pro-independence political alliance across the ideological spectrum. Several factors have contributed to this development: a general social discomfort with the economic crisis of 2008, numerous corruption cases of top governmental officials at both national and regional levels, the failure of ...

The Challenge of the Catalan Independence Movement in Spain

Democracy

The Current Situation in Catalonia

Part two on Catalonia’s constitutional crisis

March 4, 2018 • by Lucia Pradel

This piece is part of a two-part series. Part One is meant to contextualize Pradel’s essay. The Election on December 21st, 2017 The Catalonian independence movement won what appears like a clear victory on December 21. All the same, Ciudadanos (Citizens Party), a liberal pro-unity party that calls themselves “post-nationalist” won the majority ...

Democracy

Contextualizing Catalonia

Part One on Catalonia’s constitutional crisis

March 1, 2018 • by Skyler Maassen, Lucia Pradel and Leng Wah Sing

In the early- to mid-twentieth century, repeated regime changes instigated the devolution of power from a centralized government to localized authorities. The desire for a stabilized, democratic form of government prevailed in the late 1970s with the fall of General Franco. Spain is comprised of seventeen autonomous regions. The Spanish Constitution of 1978, states ...

Feature

Podemos or the Rise of Progressive Patriotism in Spain

An Interview with Íñigo Errejón

December 19, 2017 • by Gerardo Muñoz

Muñoz: Íñigo let me begin by thanking you for taking this time to speak with me about the current state of Podemos for a North American audience. Podemos is a relatively young political organization that emerged in 2014. In a matter of months, it became the second most powerful political force ...