There is currently in Spain an intense debate about the collective memory as it relates to the country’s history throughout the 20th century. The civil war and Franco’s dictatorship inflicted wounds in Spanish society that four decades of democratic rule have failed to cure. The decisions taken during the transition to democracy imposed a pact of silence, by which necessary public policies aimed at repairing the damage caused by Franco’s regime were rendered impossible. That is why civil society today continues to demand truth, justice and reparation for the thousands of people shot, disappeared, tortured or exiled. Spain is the world’s second country with the highest number of unopened mass graves, and time is running out for those who lived those events in person.
As a result, initiatives related to historical memory proliferate in today’s Spain: peoples’ initiated exhumation of mass graves, amendments to related legislation, dissemination of testimonies through different means (books, television, cinema...), related artistic and cultural creation (literature , poetry, music, etc.). There is an obvious need for Spanish society to open a space for collective reflection and debate about memory management policies implemented in the country in the recent decades.
PROPOSAL
Since I am visiting North Carolina until December 10, I am glad to make myself available to people and CSOs interested in this topic to participate in dissemination and awareness activities about historical memory in Spain. I would be glad to present our experience and documents in universities with Spanish history and society studies, or schools of Spanish as a foreign language that want to organize complementary activities for their advanced students, and others.
ABOUT ME
My name is Yerba Segura Suárez. I am 40 years old, the same age as 1978’s Spanish Constitution. I am a social worker and mediator, as well as a graduate in anthropology.
I am a great granddaughter of the Spanish Civil War, through the fate of José Casorra, my maternal great-grandfather. He was arrested, tortured and shot on April 21, 1938, in San Pedro de Tiraña (Asturias), along with 12 other people, without having committed any crime.
I belong to the fourth generation of a family repressed by Franco’s regime, who refused to forget their own history. Originally from a mining territory, where class consciousness and worker solidarity were strongly rooted, my grandmother's generation challenged the silence imposed by the dictatorship to create social spaces in which to elaborate their mourning through collective ceremonies. Since 1977, they promoted a public tribute in Tiraña cemetery, which every year brings us together to remember our losses and reflect on the consequences of war in Spanish society.
In 2014, we created the Association of Relatives and Friends of the Tiraña Mass Grave, of which I am a secretary. In 2018, we commemorated the 80th anniversary of the execution, carrying out several projects:
• With the collaboration of Cambalache (
https://www.localcambalache.org/ ), we have published Enesida García Suárez’s testimony, written at the end of the 70s, where she explains the impact of Franco's repression on her family, and how she survived the loss of her two parents at an early age, 12 years old. His notebook has given rise to the book "My childhood in the Franco regime [Tiraña, Asturies, 1938]". It includes the author’s manuscript and transcribed testimony, an allegorical sheet designed by Amelia Celaya, a complementary text entitled "When remembering is resisting" written by me, and photographs donated by the family. Second edition, September 2018. 90 pages. Copyleft license, and downloadable in PDF here:
https://www.localcambalache.org/?page_i ... ibro=13562 .
• With the support of many people and civil society organizations, we have managed to get 6 people from the generation of the daughters and sons of the executed (Alfonso, Elías, Tino, Carmen, Sela and Pilar) to receive the Pozu Fortuna Award for their life-long effort defending collective memory and human rights in Asturias. (+ info:
https://www.lne.es/cuencas/2018/10/21/f ... 67295.html )
• We have collaborated with La Caracola Social Initiatives in the socio-educational project "Tiraña en la memoria. 80 years building life and dancing sorrow". During 6 months, 30 boys and girls between 6 and 20 years of age were investigating historical memory through different activities. As a result they have built a stage show summarizing the history of the mass grave through dance and theater. DVD "Tiraña en la memoria". Duration: 90 minutes, approximately. More information about the project, on its blog (here:
http://espaciocaracola.es/?page_id=832 ) and its Facebook page (here:
https://www.facebook.com/danzandoenlamemoria/ ).
North Carolina, 20th november 2018