Tom Powell
WHILE the Royal Family led festivities on Spanish national day with a military parade, left wing politicians around the country were publicly slamming it as a ‘celebration of genocide’.
A growing section of Spanish society is now questioning whether they should indeed be celebrating Christopher Columbus’s arrival in the New World with a national holiday.
Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias predictably caused headlines when he rejected King Felipe’s invite to the Royal reception in Madrid on October 12.
While Barcelona’s socialist mayor Ada Colau tweeted: “I am ashamed of the state for celebrating genocide and, on top of that, with a military parade that cost €800,000!”
Vergüenza de estado aquel q celebra un genocidio, y encima con un desfile militar q cuesta 800mil €! #ResACelebrar #ResistenciaIndigena
— Ada Colau ??? (@AdaColau) October 12, 2015
Hundreds of citizens took to Twitter to vent their disapproval too through the hashtag ‘#nadaquecelebrar’ (nothing to celebrate).
The mayor of Cádiz also criticised the 3,500-strong military parade, complete with aeroplanes emitting red and yellow smoke.
“We never discovered America, we massacred and submitted a continent to our culture in the name of God. Nothing to celebrate,” he tweeted.
Podemos’ leader in Andalucia, Teresa Rodriguez had her say on the social network, stating: “I think a national holiday should mark one’s own liberation and not the slavery of another.”
Yo creo que la fiesta nacional debería recordar la liberación propia y no la esclavitud de otro. Modestamente. pic.twitter.com/brGafT2BVN
— Teresa Rodríguez ?? ? (@TeresaRodr_) October 12, 2015
It is easy to contradict ignorance with information. It is in fact the debate about the indigenous people o fate Americas in the 16th century what precede the declaration of human rights later on. Here a link for your interest: “https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_of_Burgos”
By the way I forgot to mention that the Spanish empire in fact manage to end the indigenous’s slaughter among them. Instead of fighting one another and performing human rituals, they were given a common language and a common enemy that allows them to play the victim today. Yes, Spaniards were bad because they are only humans and behave as such. At least in South America indigenous people are called Latinos, Hispanics and some of them are in power. Compare that to USA or Australia and well…
It’s also easy to contradict lies with historical facts. Obviously you are a Catholic – why did’nt you state this. It’s also obvious that you are seriously infected with denial syndrome.
Everything you have stated is either a downright lie or distortion of the truth.
(1) you have conflated the Aztec and Inca civilisations which were two different cultures in two different continents – can you really be that ignorant?
(2) Yes the Aztecs did indeed sacrifice over 100,000 people every year but this pails into insignificance with the actual slaughter carried out by the Catholic Spanish directly and by infection in just over 30 years – try 15-25 million.
(3) The Inca civilisation was centuries ahead in agriculture, construction and road building and mathematics. The Goth, Pizarro and his scum used to get drunk and hold beheading contests of the Inca intelligentsia.
(4) all the incredible Inca and Aztec cities especially Tenochtitlan, an engineering marvel were destroyed with jealousy by the Catholic savages – just take a look at Mexico city, La Paz, Santiago today – completely disorganized s~#_holes.
(5) the brutally subjugated peoples in both Central and South America were’nt ‘given’ the irrational Spanish language it was beaten into them and their own languages were supressed with anyone caught speaking their language, their tongue was cut out.
(6) to call any of the indigenous people Latinos or Hispanics is a clear mainfestation of someone who is completely divorced from reality. Only 2% of Spanish have any Latin blood at all and that is from female ancestors who were raped by nasty little Roman soldiers. The only bipeds in South America who have any right to call themselves Latinos are the Italian immigrants to Argentina.
(7) your ancestors were vile bestial savages that destroyed two incredible civilisations that could have shared their knowledge with the rest of humanity. Wherever you Spanish have gone you have only ever destroyed and created corrupt systems that have abused the indigenous peoples. If the British,French and Dutch had been the same, then all the wonders of Asia would have been wiped out.
No were not all the same as your ancestors and it would be a good idea for all the decent Spanish to brutally hunt you down as your ancestors did to the indigenous peoiples of Central and South America and in the process Spain would become a vastly better place.
Pablo Iglesias, Ada Colau, Teresa Rodriguez and all those Spanish who feel and think the same are good Europeans and there are many Brits who could learn from them to look at the British Empire the same way.
Your ‘effortless’ attempt to twist, distort and deny the truth is’nt going to work, just as it does’nt work for the Nazi holocaust deniers – time to return to the darkside, where you belong.
Yeah yeah yeah. Spaniards are so quick to defend their ancestor’s slaughter of millions, yet those in Latin America do not view you are their “brothers” or “sisters”- they view you as hypocrites. “we’re only humans” or “they were killing each other already.” Complete crap and not surprising. The same arguments are made when people defend their parents and grandparent’s actions in the civil war, or during the dictatorship, yet attack people from Britain, Russia, US, etc for their government’s actions. How quickly people forget the secret police here, the accusations, and the numerous genocides that took place for centuries on this soil. Before any Spaniard gets on their high horse attacking another country for its imperialism, remember that if you are of Spanish descent, you have centuries more blood on your hands than those you accuse.
As the whole world knows, Britain was the responsible of the biggest massacres in history.
They have killed and looted north american, australian, tasmanian, indian and african peoples during ages.
The bad thing is that they are still doing it.
They are arguably the most hated country in the world, which is not a surprise when you realize that they were responsible of the Irish genocide, the creation of the first concentration camps during the boer wars, and the inventors of modern slave trade.
Now, it is funny to read the posts of this bunch of ignoramuses, who doesn’t know a sh*te about Roma, Hispania, Galia or Latin America and yet they insist in opining.
For these imbeciles, the Aztecas and Incas were from different continents….
They do not even know that América is 1 (ONE) continent with 3 sub continents.
But what can you expect…surely they were “educated” in Gibraltar…LOL
All nations have blood on their hands so we are all guilty. Let’s drop the tedious history lessons, whether actual or re-written, and stick with the present – living in the past is a pointless exercise.
Pablo,
I have Spanish friends who cringe when they hear/read what denialists like you do to try and hide from the truth.
Idiot, North and South America are two continents. Central America is part of the North.
There are many French Canadians who would punch your lights out if they heard you refer to them as English.
Ever heard of Florida, A Spanish colony or California or New Mexico or Texas. Never heard of that priest who has just been made a saint by the Latin Jesuit Pope who was responsible for the death of thousands in Spanish California.
And I’m sure that all those Americans who are of German,Dutch,Norwegian,Swedish,Scottish,Irish,Welsh,Russian and all the other peoples would enjoy giving you a bit of a slap as well.
Are all Spanish Catholic Fascists as stupid as you – does your blackshirt still fit over your enormous stomach?
Genocide :
“the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national,racial, political, or cultural group.”
It´s clear that there wasn´t a genocide in the American colonization by the Spaniards. I can´t say the same respect the America colonized by UK and later by the USA.
The violences and abuses commited for Spaniards, frequently have been employed as a propagandistic weapon, against Spain. So the propagandistic employ of those tragical facts distorted and magnifies the really happened.