Polyglossia 2017

The memory of the dictatorship is still
alive for many, particularly those who experienced
it personally. Indeed, it is unsurprising
that there should exist Spaniards who remain
in support of Francoism given the length of the
regime and the illegality of political opposition
throughout its duration, coupled with its airtight
propaganda machine. Yet since the Transición
began there has been an outpouring of reactions
against public monuments Franco’s
honour. In 2007 the government prohibited official
public references to Franco; thus, buildings
and streets named after El Caudillo reverted to
their original names, and memorials were removed,
the last of which being an equestrian
statue in Santander in 2008. Last year the city of
Malaga also revoked his honours and distinctions.
These conflicting associations are symbolically
summed up in the fact that while the
national anthem, the Marcha Real, is no longer
sang with the lyrics introduced under Franco,
no new lyrics have been introduced due to a
lack of consensus. The decision to remove the
plaque, conversely, 'tenía que ser tomada por unanimidad,’
according to historian María José Turrión,
a commission member. Thus, for the
commission, the answer is that Franco does not
fit in, either artistically, architecturally, categorically,
or as a worthy emblem of Spanish history.
And yet, adjacent to the Pabellón
Real, the Pabellón de San Martín boasts an array
of conquistadores, such as Cristóbal Colón and
Hernán Cortés. A few kilometres further west in
Salamanca there lies the Plaza de Colón, with a
monument of the conquistador as its centrepiece.
With colonisation still largely viewed as a
major scientific and geographical discovery in
Spanish history, it seems that it is not only recent
history with which the country has yet to
come to terms.
Churchill, Shakespeare
and the Jocs Florals
Saint George from England to Catalonia
Adrià Salvador Palau
Afra Pujol i Campeny
On May 28th 1943, Winston Churchill flew
from Gibraltar to Algiers on his personal airplane,
‘Ascalon’, named after the sword of Saint
George. That year marked a turning point in
WWII: the Allies advanced on both the Eastern
Front and in Italy. Two years later, Germany surrendered
and a decade later, Churchill received
his Nobel Prize in Literature for ‘mastery of historical
and biographical description as well as
for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human
values’.
One wonders how Churchill would react
to recent arguments about the celebration of
Saint George in England. When debating
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