The cult of memory: when history does more harm than good
GuardianJUL 2017
Spain has long been haunted by the shadow of a brutal dictatorship, and it is time for the country to start slowly peeling back the facade erected by the Franco regime and their enablers. This is only the beginning of true reconciliation, which must also involve finally giving justice to Franco's victims. The upsurge in nostalgic support for Francoism could be stopped if its ugly truth could be revealed.
Spain cannot move forward if it remains fixated on the past. The horrors of the Spanish Civil War, perpetuated by fighters on the left and on the right, and the excesses of the regime that won the war cannot be litigated endlessly. The "pact of forgetting" broke the cycle of political violence and made democracy possible. Cults of memory has fueled as much violence as it has peace around the world.