Spanish tragedies

In early October Maricarmen, a woman of 87 years, was evicted from the flat where she had lived for over 70 years. She died soon after. Her death was an event that was to have huge repercussions for Spain. It has been billed as a Rosa Parks moment.

Maricarmen had fought the eviction for months. She was an independent woman who got by with a bit of home help and physical therapy. During months of fighting the eviction her health began to deteriorate. She went from being a woman who took daily walks to someone in a wheelchair. The fight was not really a matter of national news until recently.

Many people perceive the company responsible as her murderers. Funds known in Spain as fondos buitres, literally “vulture funds”, buy up things like bad debts and partially occupied property for investment purposes. By Madrid standards her rent had been low and the company wanted to increase it by over 400 per cent. As a pensioner she could not pay this. She was a feisty lady and fought hard to stay put.

During this period a composer and philanthropist, James Rhodes, offered to buy or rent the flat for her to solve the problem. The company would not agree to this. In the circumstances it is fair to place the blame with them and with the judge who signed the eviction order. After she was evicted, she was put in a hospital having nowhere else to go. She declined fast.

After her death I looked through old footage and newspaper coverage of her fight and saw huge cruelty in the way she had been treated. Her looks were mocked. Her bingo habit also. That is a habit with many older women in Spain. I may be the only one who doesn’t like it. One politician even described her as a shameless whore. How many 87-year-old whores are there?

The reality is that housing prices in Madrid and Barcelona, especially, had rocketed and even renting was not affordable to normal working people. When Maricarmen died Spain erupted and found its conscience. Everyone felt a kind of empathy with her. SoyMaricarmen became a hashtag. What did I personally have in common with her? Probably very little, apart from her father dying when she was 21. And yet, I felt sadness.

Demonstration organised by the Tenants’ Union on 8 October 2026, the day after Maricarmen’s death, marching from the Puerta del Sol encampment to her home in Madrid

In response to the public outcry, Pedro Sánchez, the Prime Minister (known in Spain as the President), attempted to push through a housing Bill. It failed by a narrow margin. And so, a General Election was called for November 29th. Maricarmen’s death also triggered huge marches and a protest encampment in Madrid. These protests are still going on. The right to protest is enshrined in the Constitution. And yet some politicians try to get police to move the messy encampment and everyone there away. One complained about their dangerous weapons and TV showed a knife alongside a loaf and a pot of hummus. This led to many comedians making jokes about the deadly qualities of hummus.

Spain had been progressing nicely with more prosperity, more jobs and good rights for women and gays. Now much of this is under threat with the Right, the People’s Party (PP), showing willingness to pact with Vox, the populist far-Right. PP alone would not have been as great a potential problem. As a generalisation PP often attracts the older voters. Vox seems more mixed in age but predominantly male. It attracts those who are disaffected with liberal leftie views. Spanish use the word zurdo for a leftie. Its basic meaning is left-handed. Vox, as with many ultra parties throughout Europe, also uses racism and Islamophobia as a pull for those who might not vote that way otherwise.

Vox also cashed in with its dislike of the Ley de Memoria. The Ley de Memoria instituted the digging up of Franco’s body, returns of various skeletal remains to the families that wanted to reclaim them, name changes to various roads, removal of celebratory statues and so on. Vox could claim this was all a waste of money and that the money would have been better spent on something else. The reclaiming of bodies was a gruesome task as they might be half stuck to the rocks alongside and in thoroughly mouldy conditions. I heard a tale of someone’s grandfather’s head rolling off at this stage.

There is a famous Fascist bar in Madrid which is run by a Chinese immigrant. A “bar facha” is bordering on breaking the law with its display of things like the flag of Franco and other fascist symbols. There is a scattering of such bars around Spain. There is one close to where I live. I even offered to take one friend who comes up with endless fake news items about the President there for a coffee. This may yet happen.

The Spanish Civil War is a topic best raised as little as possible. It is a source of shame. A can of worms.  There are some centenarians around who will have memories. I once saw a film about a local shipwreck with interviews of some of those, all Franco’s men, who survived. It was fascinating. I know some octogenarians, but their memories only go back to times of hardship in Franco’s regime. Some of that generation and the one that followed were less literate because schools did not mind you bunking off to do agricultural work or to cook at home. Dictators like the idea of an illiterate populace.

Those who admit to loving Franco are mercifully rare, but they do exist. Heard one on a bus many years ago. She started saying things were better in his day. For the next hour almost everyone aboard including the driver told her off. The only quiet woman took her aside as they were both getting off and politely told her a visit to the doctor might be necessary. But that was before the rise of Vox.

I am a keen sea swimmer. When not swimming close to home I sometimes take the bus to El Portus about 15 kms away. On my visits there a racist woman of roughly my age kept engaging me in conversation. She was the type who boasts of having no friends and it was easy to see why. Each time she complained she had to go to El Portus because on other beaches Moroccans were spitting in the sea. I avoided her as much as possible and made sure I scrumped all the figs off a tree she liked, as I felt they were too good for racists.

Eventually, on the last occasion I visited she had enough time at the bus stop with her captive audience (me) to go into full Viva Franco mode. Shouting this publicly in Spain is about as genial as saying Heil Hitler in Germany. Somehow this toxic woman had forgotten everything bad about those times. She was remembering being young and having friends and family and more property. She was conveniently forgetting the shortages, the murders, the communal ditches used as graves. She was positively energised at the thought of the dictator, while I felt totally drained and destroyed for the rest of the day.

One positive effect of the Civil War is that Spain would rather stay away from war in general. They left the Gulf War before other allies and our President was happy to say no to Trump on going into another pointless war. I live in a city with a naval and military presence. It also manufactures submarines. But essentially the troops are intended more for peacekeeping activities.

There is a brilliant new film packing the cinemas, La Bola Negra, which may be a timely reminder to all those who choose to forget or misremember history. La Bola Negra was the title of an unfinished work by Lorca, the great poet who was assassinated by Fascists in 1936. The film interweaves stories from the Civil War and just before and the present. I shan’t give away spoilers. Go and see it if you can. The film opens with graphic atrocities. It is beautiful visually and very well-acted. There are small cameos from Glenn Close and Penelope Cruz. The film directors were motivated by their love of Lorca. Lorca, whose murder was so conveniently forgotten by the toxic woman in El Portus. The film is an absolute work of art which celebrates love and survival and the need for secrecy at times. Perhaps the best acting comes from Guitarricadelafuente who was known mainly as a singer and musician before this. I saw a concert by him last year. He has a huge gay fan base. The guy next to me was wearing a mini skirt, a look he could pull off as he had very good legs. Everyone was dancing so I got up and danced too as it was easier than having an elbow in the eye.

Image from the film ‘La bola negra’.

In the film, the character played by Guitarricadelafuente is coerced into being a soldier on Franco’s side. He is in love with one of the prisoners. It is an Oscar-worthy performance. Outside Spain many people see the Civil War in black and white terms. The reality seems to have been far more mixed. Those who love this film are pointing out that if the PP-Vox coalition gets into power this type of art might not happen again. Art and Fascism are incompatible.

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