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The municipal groups of EH Bildu, PSN and Geroa Bai They have chosen 20N to present to the citizens an agreement that they call “historic” on the monument to the Fallen of Pamplona/Iruñea. Who knows why they chose such a date.
The signatories say that they value “the commendable work carried out by the various memorial associations that began to act to break the silence, learn the truth and recover their relatives, without which it would not have been possible to have gotten here,” but they pass overlooking the fact that the memorial associations of Navarra have been crying out for the demolition of the monument for years.
Perhaps they have chosen 20N because it is a perfect metaphor for what they themselves call resignation: it was the day in which the dictator died in bed of natural death, resignifying himself into a seed of fascism that was carefully watered for decades.
They propose demolishing the “architectural elements that imply Francoist symbolism” of the buildingbut they do not seem to want to understand that the building in its entirety is a gigantic Francoist symbol in itself, an implacable and cruel place of humiliation, an integral artifact erected in the very center of the city precisely to subjugate it and humiliate the victims permanently. It is not just about some marble plaques, some inscriptions, some paintings or a full or empty catafalque, but rather that all these elements form an indissoluble part in the whole of a hypertrophied building of fascism, and the withdrawal of any of them does not affect their toxicity at all. They propose applying a light layer of dermatologically tested makeup so that it does not bother the traditionalist coup at all. It is not the only case in the State: there are many monuments from which inscriptions, phrases or plaques have been removed in the belief that in this way they were defranchised, when in reality they continue to be transmitting antennas for fascism, because they were built for that and because their presence lacks the proper contextualization to be read in any other way, simply because it is not possible to do so. It happens here and in all the countries of the world, despite the creation of an elitist caste of academics with an artistic vocation who live precisely by pretending to give meaning to the unsignifiable. In the end, the fascist leg of the monument always peeks out from under the door. Examples to the contrary are accepted.
They propose creating a Center for denouncing fascism and for democratic memory, which will be called Maravillas Lamberto, in memory of the girl from Larraga who was raped and murdered along with her father by Requetés, Falangists and civil guards. But they overlook that her sister Josefina, a tireless activist for the recovery of historical memory, signed the Manifesto for the Demolition of the Fallen in 2018. Surely he was one of those very numerous people who took – and who continue to take – a detour when walking through the expansion of the city so as not to see even from a distance that monument that turned their stomach because it reminded them of the murder of their loved ones and made them facing the mirror of their own condition as third-class citizens, excluded and retaliated against.
They propose applying a light layer of dermatologically tested makeup so that it does not bother the traditionalist coup at all
They propose hiding the dome from the public, inside and out.. Hiding is a verb with dire consequences when it comes to managing the memory of barbarism, repression and genocide. Hiding is a concept that throws us back into silence, oblivion, pantomime, opacity. They propose hiding the dome from the outside by erasing it from the skyline (that’s what they call it in the agreement, as if we were in New York) of the city, but not by demolishing it but only by camouflaging it behind some pretentious architectural device. Inside, they propose maintaining the internal structure of the dome and hiding Stolz’s infamous paintings from the “general public”, offering their contemplation only to restricted visits of an educational, pedagogical and academic nature. Curious and elitist way of dosing visits to the sanctum sanctorum of Requeté-Francoism, as if it were a kind of Sistine Chapel of fascism that must be ingested in secluded and restricted visits. In reality it is nothing more than a very clumsy way of infantilizing the population: if you want to show how the monument is an apology for fascism, why restrict it to a lucky few? If such contemplation is toxic, let’s eliminate it, but let’s not trivialize the issue by designing a regrettable homeopathy of fascism.
The signatory groups say that they want to change the regional legislation and the municipal regulations to make the action in the building irreversible, but they well know that this is impossible. Irreversible is another dangerous and slippery concept, a real minefield. In the same way that they modify the law, anyone else can do the same in the future and revert the monument to its original state, even corrected and increased, which we already know how the local fachosphere spends. This would not require too many modifications, because the essence of the monument will remain unchanged. The only irreversible action would be its complete demolition and its reduction to dust, which is what really terrifies the various fascists and requetés that populate these lands. They already know what we are talking about when we talk about demolition, because they ruthlessly demolished an entire democratic system with sword and fire.
The signatory groups agree that they will promote as soon as possible a project competition – another one – and the holding of a citizen consultation on the matter.
Regarding the architectural competitionthe important thing is not a more or less successful aesthetic gesture, but that the spirit that resides in the architectural team is truly anti-fascist. The competition is complicated, because fighting a building designed by true fascists like Víctor Eusa and José Yárnoz is a very difficult undertaking. There is no room for weakness, and even more so taking into account the bases of the agreement on which the contest is called. However, there is a simple way that they never imagined in their victorious fanaticism: unceremoniously demolish it. Yes, Víctor Eusa, that architect treated between cotton wool in this city, with his hands stained with blood and who was a member of the terrorist Central Carlist War Council of Navarra, would turn in his grave if he saw how the monument he designed in honor of Emilio Mola is knocked down by the heirs of his victims.
Regarding citizen consultationit is completely grotesque. There is a democratic memory law in force, which cannot fail to be fulfilled because it is insufficient. Said law in its article 35 clearly indicates that “Buildings, constructions, shields, insignia, plaques and any other elements or objects attached to public buildings or located on public roads in which carry out commemorative mentions in exaltation, personal or collective, of the military uprising and the Dictatorship (…)”, demanding that public administrations proceed to their withdrawal, except in cases in which “there are artistic or architectural reasons protected by law”, which is usually the legal trick that the State itself has given itself to avoid the dismantling of hundreds of Francoist symbols. But laws, as is common knowledge, are not put to a vote: they are complied with or they are not complied with. If there is some artistic alibi in the Francoist element, it is said. If not, he leaves. But these games of sleight of hand and architectural whitewashing of Francoism are unnecessary. If a public administration does not comply with the law with which it has established itself, it incurs prevarication. Fascism is not subject to consultation, it is destroyed.
Thinking about it, perhaps they chose 20N because it is a perfect metaphor for what they themselves call resignation: it was the day in which the dictator died on the bed of natural death, resignifying himself into a seed of fascism that was carefully watered for decades to that would never disappear.
Demolition.
Clemente Bernad, Txema Aranaz, Jesús Arbizu, José Ignacio Lacasta, Carlos Martínez, Carolina Martínez, Víctor Moreno Bayona, Orreaga Oskotz, Laura Lucía Pérez Ruano, José Ramón Urtasun.
#skyline
