Thursday, July 24, 2008

There's Anarchists in them there jungles

Here's a fascinating piece of living history. Robot, you ever hear of the Durruti Column while in Spain? (Not to be confused with the punk band, Durutti Column.) Between this and Orwell's Homage to Catalonia, it's clear how much some Spanish leftists loathe(d) the Catholic Church. Again, Robot, what is the social-political perception of the church now?

2 Comments:

Blogger Robot said...

Thanks for passing this along. I remember reading about Durruti in a couple of books about the Civil War. Glancing over one of them again (Antony Beever's history) it appears old Durruti was killed by friendly fire while fighting in Madrid. Pity. The question of the Church today vis-a-vis the war is a difficult one. Spain was trying to pass a law of "Historical Memory" which came under intense fire by rightists for, among other things, not properly honoring dead Catholic clergy men and women executed by Republican forces. (Recall the scene in Ken Loach's "Land and Freedom" where a priest is executed by anarchists for alerting the fascists as to their whereabouts.) As for today, things have obviously died down quite a bit. One would overhear the occasional squabble over church-state relations--up until very recently, I believe, there was a mandatory Bible study class of some sort in the public schools-- but the fundamental questions of the Church's role in Spanish society have been, largely, answered: beyond the ceremonious, they are to have none.

11:30 PM  
Blogger John Liberty said...

check out alan blinder 2day

1:30 PM  

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