Editorial preview of ‘Objective: democracy’, Espasa Essay award: a commitment to democratic militancy

Previously, on December 20, 2023, he had published an article in this newspaper about the fifty years since the attack on White Carrero. Specifically, about how the Government managed that crisis until Franco decided to name his successor. Carlos Arias Navarro. Listening to and reading the readers, that day I was aware, not without surprise, that there was a lot of interest in remembering that and, at the same time, that there was a great lack of knowledge. And that is how I convinced myself that in the following years I had to persevere in publishing thematic articles on that period in ABC.

In thirteen months it will be fifty years since the death of Francisco Franco. From there, the media and publishers will begin a competition to remember milestone by milestone the half-centenary of the events that occurred in Spain between 1975 and 1977, when for the first time in 40 years Spaniards were able to vote freely: the proclamation of Don Juan Carlos, his fights with the bunker to name Torcuato Fernández-Miranda and Adolfo Suárez, the bravery of Cardinal Tarancón, the opening-up advances of Manuel Fragathe approval of the Law for political reform, the assassination of José María Aralucethe return of Santiago Carrillothe legalization of the PCE, the emergence of Felipe Gonzálezthe Atocha attacks, the first demonstrations, the resignation of Don Juan, the end of the exiles, the rattling of sabers in the Army, and, finally, the first elections. The citizens accompanied a political class that, led by Juan Carlos I, knew how to give in to place Spain at the height of the times and the countries around us. At last we were citizens of a liberal democracy, like the French, like the English, like the Europeans. In our case, under the umbrella of a parliamentary Monarchy that was already unquestionably linked to democracy.

The nineteen months that separate the dictator’s death from the first general elections were a perfect political process that allowed an autocratic regime to be dismantled and power handed over to the people in record time. It is the first phase of the Transition, in which the father of Felipe VI ceded national sovereignty to the Spanish people, who did not fail the appointment and elected their representatives to begin building the new political system. It was a dizzying and exciting process in which citizens went through all kinds of emotions: hope, fear, joy, uncertainty, tears and, above all, excitement. Very excited. That was the contribution of a society that supported and accompanied the political class on that journey towards the future in which Don Juan Carlos established the destination station, Fernández-Miranda designed the train and tracks, and Adolfo Suarez He piloted the locomotive. A virtuous triangle to which third parties gradually joined, with special mention to Santiago Carrillo, Felipe González and Manuel Fraga.

‘Objective: Democracy’ hits bookstores next Tuesday accompanied by a challenge: those of us who were born in democracy must take up the baton of our elders and recognize their legacy. Those of us who, paraphrasing Felipe González, prefer to be children of the Transition than grandchildren of the civil war, have to assume a commitment to democratic militancy. It is no longer enough to take things for granted. It is time to demand and disseminate the Transition because democracy is like riding a bicycle: if you stop pedaling, you will fall to the ground. To the left or to the right, and on the ground there is no freedom. Are you joining?

Franco has died. Spain takes a breath. The world watches. In the distance, the future, a point of light that must be reached dragging the weight of a past that was too often fratricidal. In the middle, here and now, a person and a phrase in the environment. The person is Don Juan Carlos de Borbón, thirty-eight years old. The phrase is from the dictator, whose body lies in the bed of a public hospital in Madrid that he himself founded: “Everything is tied and well tied.” The rest are unknowns. What is tied? The political system that has governed Spain for the last thirty-six years? And in that case, who ties that bond? How to maintain it with the dead dictator? And, above all, for what? Doubts and fears arise. But there is something else: hope. A hope thickened by the paralyzing aroma of fear of the past and something worse: ourselves. Are we Spaniards really condemned to confront each other? Is Goya’s club duel a truth sculpted in the marble of history? Is it true, as Machado wrote, that one of the two Spains has to freeze your heart? The reality is that no: nothing is written. Nothing is decided. After centuries of decline, and eighty years after the Spanish Empire imploded, returning us to our natural dimension and our intellectuality gave it a name – the Disaster of ’98 -, Spain has an opportunity to catch up with its surroundings and at the height of history: freedom, human rights, the West. It is November 20, 1975.