Spain resembles the Civil War period with fascists in the streets and Communists arrested for their views.
By Michael Rowlands
Just over a week after my article on why Spain isn’t the Utopia that James Rhodes propagandises for, Spain has delivered plenty of evidence to prove me right (unfortunately). With fascists in the streets and communists arrested for their beliefs, the ghost of Franco is still spooking around España, possessing and regressing the country back to the 1930s.
So, what the fuck has been going on in Spain?
We begin with the ‘notorious Pablo Hasél finally being captured by officers this week. Dragged from the University that functioned as his battleground foxhole, like some poor student being evicted by a slumlord for spending his student loan on pot noodles and pop tarts.
Hasél, the Spanish rapper & communist, had been battling the State for eight years against charges of glorifying terrorism, as well as slandering the Crown and State institutions. A combination of tweets and a song, titled ‘Muerte a Los Borbones’ (Death to the Borbon’s, The Spanish monarchs), brought forward for evidence. Ye Old Laws of insulting the King with new-age evidence from social media. Soon we’ll have bards & jesters executed for their monarch-mocking podcasts.
The lyrics (here in English) could hardly be seen as being a call to arms for terrorism, especially as the song was released 10 years ago when Hasél could only hope for the kind of exposure he is now getting for the poorly produced song he made as a new artist. But nothing he states in the song is false, similar to his accusation against the State being involved in torturing and killing demonstrators and migrants. He isn’t guilty of spreading terror but the truth.
But where is the cancel-culture cult? Where are the right-wing warriors that are constantly at arms against censorship & the oppression of freedom of speech? Where is the same attention for Hasél that Navalny received when he was arrested?
The masses jumped at the chance to free Navalny from the perpetual, primordial, global enemy that is Russia. A political fighter being arrested for his views against the state; the stories run parallel. Yet only one is supported by the international audience.
This proves that the motivations for solidarity were never for freedom or liberty, but purely anti-Putin. Which could be a noble fight if the man in the corner of the ring they were cheering for wasn’t a staunch nationalist and racist. In people’s fight against injustices, they gave their efforts to another enemy, while an actual victim like Hasél has been left alone, as no one has motivations to criticise Spain like they do Russia.
Following history; the persecution of communists is often partnered with the rise of fascism. While Hasél has been arrested for his views, neo-Nazis are free spreading their hatred.
This past week, Madrid was the set for 300 anti-communist, antisemitic, neo-nazi falangists to spill from the gutter and into the streets. While it is shocking to see, it isn’t entirely surprising as Spain still allows the celebration of their fascist leader Franco, the only 20th-century European dictator that remained in power post-WWII. Mussolini didn’t quite manage the same luck with his political career.
So, what are these self-proclaimed fascists after this time round? Well, they follow the same repetition as Pinky and the Brain; the same thing they do every time, try to take over the world. Just as their motivations and goals have yet to expand, ‘the enemy is always going to be the same …the Jew’ the leader states at the rally. The Jewish community is blamed for everything, including communism which is a ‘Jewish invention to pit the workers against one another’. I may yet to be an expert on communism, but it was invented by a German bohemian intellectual drunk (not my words but that of the Prussians spies tracking Marx), to unite the workers. The fight against fascism must always be the fight against antisemitism.
Sadly, just like those that fight against censorship have been mostly absent for Hasél, but found energy for Navalny, those that fight against antisemitism have directed their efforts to other areas, mainly online abuse.
As also this week, a person on Twitter, that happened to be a Labour supporter, criticised and actors performance, that happened to be Jewish. With only this as evidence for a conviction, she was crucified by the Blue-Tick-Twitter-Twats that were out for blood. Without any evidence of antisemitism, a herd of ´celebrities´ and twitterers attacked this woman from all sides, calling out for her to be ´dragged through the streets´. Apparently, any criticism of a celebrity calls for the death penalty; therefore I await my sentence for my previous piece against Rhodes and for this without trail as is traditional apparently.
These same people calling for death against ´antisemitism´ have lost their voices with actual neo-nazis demonstrations against the Jewish community. I would see the fight against 300 nazis as a somewhat more worthy cause when compared to a woman on Twitter criticising someone’s ability to pretend to be someone they’re not in front of a camera.
The motivations of these people, just like the motivations of those fighting for Navalny but not for Hasél, must be questioned. Is it that they need to feel better about themselves attacking people online? Or that the fight against Labour is indistinguishable from the fight against antisemitism? Or are these people simply following whatever their acting buddies are up to, not really caring about the issues?
All in all, not a great week for anyone apart from the fascists, that had a ‘successful’ rally, TV interviews, and no arrested as of yet. Thankfully, James Rhodes, lover of Spain and new citizen, utilised his platform to promote his favourite local cafeteria rather than discuss issues of artists being arrested or Nazis filling the streets.
