2020_11_20_ICS_dulska_20n

Today, November 20, 2020, is the 45th anniversary of the death of Francisco Franco and the beginning of the transition from dictatorship to democracy in Spain and the question of the historical report continues to be very present in the social and political discussion . "The management of the report becomes very complex, because what some want to remember, others prefer to be forgotten". This is how Anna Dulska, a researcher at the Institute for Culture and Society (ICS) of the University of Navarra, in a chapter of the 'guide of democratic transition: The Spanish experience'.

This publication, promoted by the CEVRO organization and supported by the National Endowment for Democracy, is part of the project 'report of nations' which offers attendance guides for democratic transition and for the training of democratic leaders, parties and civil society organizations. Dulska has written the chapter graduate 'Education andpreservation of report ' sites, where he discusses the topic of the report historical .

As she explained, the places of report -national symbols, statues, street maps, festivities...- shape the public space and evoke the past of a nation. However, the researcher pointed out that in countries that have experienced a civil war, "the management of this report becomes very complex, because what some want to remember, others prefer to forget".

The Spanish case is an example for the expert. After Franco's death, there were hardly any changes in the sites of report and a "pact of silence" was established to avoid conflicts and violent reactions from both sides, defenders and opponents of Franco's regime. This pact was broken in the 1993 elections when the PSOE used - "successfully"- the past in its electoral campaign. From that moment on, "the past became a permanent element in the political diary ", he pointed out.

With the beginning of the new millennium, Dulska has identified a struggle for the report that materialized in Law 52/2007, also known as the 'Historical report Law', which sought to compensate for the years of silence.

For the researcher, the management of the places of report and conscience in Spain has failed due to "lack of strategic thinking", by alternating the management of Francoism as a taboo subject to be politicized. She has affirmed that, today, these two Spains, already confronted before the Civil War of 1936, still exist.

In view of this management of the report, Dulska has made four proposals: to make the Law of Historical report clearer and to establish a sanctioning regime, to demand from the political class a sense of long-term responsibility deadline in the subject of historical policy, to encourage citizen participation in the discussion about the past and to adapt educational programs so that students know their recent history, develop the ability to reflect on sensitive issues and acquire historical self-awareness.