Some symbols refuse to stay in the past. Fifty years after Franco’s death—and after a dictatorship that ended with political prisoners still being executed—Spain is once again arguing over monuments, memory and the meaning of symbols inherited from authoritarianism. But this is not only a Spanish story. From Europe to the United States and beyond,…
The thing outsiders (and some insiders) often misunderstand about Spain is that Francoism did not end the way Nazism ended. There was no Nuremberg. No national reckoning. No purge of institutions. Franco died peacefully in bed in 1975, and much of the state simply rolled forward carrying his fingerprints into democracy. Judges remained judges. Powerful…
On Homer’s return, the right’s suicide pact, and the peculiar madness of men who invite their own devourers There is something deeply reassuring about the fact that, in 2026, we have decided—collectively, enthusiastically—that what this moment really needs is more Homer. Film studios are adapting The Odyssey. Theatre directors are reinventing Penelope. Musicals are turning…
Why nostalgia for ’the good old days’ can be dangerous — and what’s really behind the revival circus Spain seems to be caught in a weird collective daydream lately — a growing number of young people claiming: “Under Franco, we lived better.” In my latest piece for the Camino de Ítaca column, I dig into…
Banksy, Justice, and the Violence of Silence The piece begins with a striking image: a Banksy mural that appeared overnight on London’s High Court — a furious depiction of justice turned executioner, of law reduced to raw violence. Within hours, authorities erased it. But their attempt at “cleaning” only deepened the message. The ghost image…
Madrid huele a grasa recalentada. En la parrilla del poder chisporrotea Ayuso, sirviendo su “libertad” en combo con cinismo y ruido mediático. El PP madrileño ha convertido la política en fast food ideológico: rápida, barata, adictiva… y tóxica. En Nueva Tribuna disecciono ese menú donde la demagogia se disfraza de modernidad y la desigualdad se…
Las palabras no son inocentes. Una fosa no es lo mismo que una tumba. Cada giro del lenguaje abre heridas, entierra memorias o las desentierra. En «La fosa de las palabras» desarmo el disfraz de neutralidad y muestro cómo la política se esconde —o se revela— en cada metáfora. 👉 Léelo aquí: La fosa de…
Vivimos tiempos en los que las palabras pesan… pero a menudo se quedan en el aire. Discursos grandilocuentes, frases de manual y declaraciones que parecen diseñadas para acumular likes más que para transformar la realidad. Nos hemos acostumbrado a un ecosistema donde el gesto vale más que el compromiso, y donde lo simbólico termina sustituyendo…
We love to tell ourselves that history bends toward justice. But what happens when those who claim to defend tradition, order, and “the way things are” keep showing up on the wrong side of every struggle for human dignity? From slavery to segregation, from suffragettes to climate justice, from colonial wars to today’s atrocities —…
What if a single word could bury truth, silence history, or even rewrite memory? In my latest piece for SUR in English, I uncover how the Spanish political class is quietly weaponizing words — turning metaphors into tools of power and denial. From “fosas” (mass graves) to “concord” laws, the fight over language isn’t just…