Eleven braids of esparto grass emerge from a shoe insole like trails towards the sky in the Plaza de Nuestra Señora de Vico de Arnedo. One for each person killed in the Arnedo Events on January 5, 1932 due to shots fired by the Civil Guard in the context of the municipal elections of the Second Republic, a footwear strike and a tragic week with the Castilblanco Events.
Eleven braids in a bronze sculpture that serve to remove the Arnedo Events from oblivion and the taboo to which the dictatorship condemned. So much so that it was not until the recent ninetieth anniversary, in 2022, when the collective ‘5 de Janeiro. Memory and dignity’ developed several acts of remembrance and the sculpture was inaugurated to honor “these pioneers who taught a lesson in dignity and the fight to achieve freedoms,” highlights Jesús Abad, ‘Monta’, member of the collective and author of the sculpture.
The Arnedo Events occurred in January 1932 in a young Second Republic, just five days after four civil guards died in a confrontation with field workers in Castilblanco, Badajoz. “In the Muro family’s shoe factory they were trying to condition the workers’ vote for the municipal elections and several workers who demanded the freedom to vote were fired,” says ‘Monta’. At this time, a solidarity movement took place to demand the reintegration of these workers, which led to a general strike.
Negotiations soon began, in which even the Civil Governor and businessmen from other shoe factories participated, and an agreement was reached, so the workers’ demonstration in the then Plaza de la República, today Plaza de Nuestra Señora de Vico, ” “It was a festive celebration of the agreement, but it ended with gunshots,” summarizes ‘Monta’ of the tragedy that occurred that afternoon on Epiphany Eve in which 11 people died (all from the civilian population), including two children, and there were more than 30 injured.
At the trial, many versions were heard, some that pointed to a struggle between the protesters and the Civil Guard and it was debated who shot first, although, this member of the ‘5 de Janeiro’ collective says forcefully. Memory and dignity’, “it was never shown that the civilian population carried weapons.” What has emerged throughout history is that the bursts of gunfire against the protesters were “totally disproportionate.” But there were no sorrows.
The Arnedo Events are sometimes considered the event in contemporary Riojan history with the greatest significance in national politics. It made the front pages of newspapers and was discussed in Parliament. For Arnedo, of course, this event left him black marked forever. But with the Civil War and the dictatorship it became taboo, no one talked about it for too many decades and “justice was never done.” So a group of people decided to found the collective “January 5. Justice and dignity” on the ninetieth anniversary to “reclaim the dignity of these people, rescue their memory.”
“Clarity and knowledge is the best so that these events are not repeated. Without resentment and with rigor,” says ‘Monta’ to announce a motto that he repeats on several occasions to make clear the importance of historical memory, precisely at a time that is in danger: “Forgetting is ignorance.” In order not to forget and dignify “these advanced people who wanted a just society”, ‘Monta’ made the bronze sculpture, a contribution of which he says he feels “proud”: “It is a white sculpture, which does not attack anyone, only honor his memory.” Furthermore, after the ninetieth anniversary they were clear that the memory should not stop there and had to be repeated every year. For this reason, this January 5 at 5:00 p.m. in the same place where the Arnedo Events occurred, they have called a rally to remember all the people who died in defense of freedom.
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