Spanish fascist Vox party, towards military dictatorship

This 2015 Associated Press video from Spain says about itself:

Fascists gather to commemorate hardline civil war leader

1. Pan right of demonstrators in square giving fascist salute; UPSOUND Spanish National Anthem
2. Men and women giving fascist salute
3. Demonstrators from town of Santander
4. Woman singing fascist song
5. Demonstrators waving Spanish pre-Constitutional flags
6. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) demonstrator, no name given, Vox …: “I think it is a moment for people, especially young people, to come out and defend some principles and interests to find a solution to what is happening in Spain at this time.”
7. Man giving fascist salute
8. Old woman giving fascist salute
9. Tilt down on woman holding photo of dictator General Francisco Franco
10. Leaders of far right organisations saluting
11. Leader of far right party Fuerza Nueva (New Force) Blas Pinar speaking on podium
12. Wide of demonstrators listening
13. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Miguel Menedez Pinar, Pinar’s grandson: “A prohibition of an event like this crashes with the freedom of speech that this system, which I don’t believe in, claims to protect. I will come here year after year and I will go to the Valley of the Fallen because they are a church and a basilica and because you cannot stop a Mass for the souls of the dead of not just Franco or Jose Antonio but all the dead from both sides who fell during the Civil War and Crusade.”
14. Old couple listening to speeches
15. Italian fascist flag
16. Pan right of demonstration

STORYLINE:

Hundreds of demonstrators nostalgic for Spain’s bygone right-wing past gathered on Sunday to commemorate a hard-line civil war leader among tensions after clashes between politically opposed gangs left one person dead, dozens injured and several detained. The rally, held in Madrid’s Plaza de Oriente square next to the former royal palace in the capital’s old quarter, was in remembrance of the killing of Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera in 1936 by leftist forces during the Spanish Civil War.

Tensions were running high after left-wing demonstrators had gathered on Friday in many Spanish cities to protest the death of a teenager stabbed to death by a right-wing activist on November 11. While protests in Madrid and Zaragoza took place peacefully, one in the northern port city of Barcelona led to clashes …

Primo de Rivera founded the Falange, the political movement linked with dictator General Francisco Franco’s regime, which held onto power from 1939 to 1975, following victory in the civil war.

Blas Pinar … hailed the memory of Primo de Rivera and Franco and called the civil war a glorious crusade against communism and atheism. His grandson, Miguel Menendez Pinar, also attended the demonstration. … Among right wing banners and flags an Italian flag from the Benito Mussolini era could be seen waving in the crowd. Chants praising Franco and Mussolini were heard several times as many of those at the rally gave the stiff-arm fascist salute.

Some demonstrators had walked to the Valley of the Fallen, a massive monument housing the tombs of Franco and Primo de Rivera 54 kilometres (34 miles) northwest of Madrid.

By Alejandro López in Spain:

Spain’s fascist Vox party enlists former generals, calls for banning Marxist parties

25 March 2019

This week, the deputy secretary of international relations of the Spanish far-right party Vox, Iván Espinosa de los Monteros, declared that the “ultraleft and [Catalan and Basque] nationalism are the enemies of Spain” and that “between us all we have to finish them off.” He said that Vox would propose outlawing parties that “don’t believe in the unity of Spain and those who don’t renounce Marxism.”

Vox has signed up five former generals to run in the April 28 general elections. Two have publicly defended the legacy of fascist dictator Francisco Franco.

Vox’s policies are openly anti-democratic and reactionary. They include suspending all regional governments, reversing limited measures that sought to address Franco’s crimes, closing mosques, bolstering the Catholic Church, lowering income and corporate tax, and deporting migrants.

Former Navy General Agustin Rosety Fernandez de Castro will head the Vox list in the southern province of Cadiz. Rosety, who served the Spanish army for 40 years under Popular Party (PP) and Socialist Party (PSOE) administrations as Chief of Special Operations, head of the Ministry of Defence’s top body—the General Directorate of Defence Policy—has revealed his true colours.

So too has former General of Division Alberto Asarta who will stand in Castellon. He is the author of the current Spanish Air Force military doctrine and has taken part in Spanish imperialist wars and interventions, leading the Multinational Brigade Plus Ultra II

Plus Ultra was the slogan of 16th century Spanish King Charles V, indicating that the military power of the Spanish empire was not limited to Europe.

in Iraq and UNIFIL in Lebanon.

Both Rosety and Asarta signed last year’s pro-fascist manifesto “Declaration of Respect to General Francisco Franco Bahamonde, Soldier of Spain”, along with 670 other top current and retired officers. Published in the pro-Francoite Asociación de Militares Españoles (AME-Association of Spanish Soldiers), it proclaimed Franco, who slaughtered hundreds of thousands of workers during the Spanish Civil War and founded a 40-year fascist dictatorship, to be the saviour of Spain.

Rosety and Asarta will be joined by former Air Force General Manuel Mestre Barea, who fought in Afghanistan, Kuwait, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Iraq and will stand in Alicante. Former General Fulgencio Coll, who will be the candidate for mayor for Palma de Mallorca, was chief of staff of the Spanish Army between 2008 and 2012. General Antonio Budiño Carballo, who oversaw operations in Croatia, Albania and Iraq, will stand in Pontevedra.

The decision of top Spanish officers to hail fascist crimes, join Vox, and run for parliament is a warning to workers in Spain and beyond. As the French army threatens to shoot “yellow vest” protesters, the financial aristocracy everywhere is moving towards fascistic military-police regimes.

This lays bare the claim that the Spanish army was “democratised” after the fall of the Francoite regime. Rather, in line with events across Europe, the transition to bourgeois democracy under the slogan of “forgive and forget” covered up the crimes of the fascists, allowed them to continue their careers unhindered and incubate their successors. The state is deliberately building up the Vox party. It was created by former hard-line PP politicians, appealing directly to the military, the judiciary and the police.

These forces exploited the Catalan nationalists’ calling of an independence referendum to shift the political atmosphere far to the right and legitimize the building of an openly pro-fascist party.

Polls show that Vox does not draw support from the working class. Most if its voters are former PP supporters and middle-class layers earning over €2,000 a month. Only 13 percent of Spanish citizens earn this amount.

Last December, after massive media promotion, the party came from virtually nowhere to win 12 seats in the 108-seat Andalusian parliament and almost 11 percent of the vote. It then became the kingmaker, deciding to back a right-wing Citizens-PP coalition government in the region.

Vox could again be in a position to broker a right-wing government after the national elections in April. According to the latest polls, the party could win 10.3 percent of the vote, or 20 to 23 seats in the 350-seat parliament. Combined with the PP and Citizens the right wing could end up with at least 176 seats—a slim majority over the PSOE and Unidos Podemos.

Espinosa de los Monteros’ threat to ban Marxist parties is also a warning. …

A comment on this article says:

The sheer irony of Vox simultaneously celebrating Franco and promoting Islamophobia is that it was Franco who brought the Moorish soldiers into Asturia that the Umayyad conquerors could not conquer 12 centuries prior. I brought this hard fact once to an Islamophobe singing praises for a Francoist demo in Spain and his hysterical response was hilarious.

Lesbian kiss in front of Vox campaigners in Valladolid goes viral: here.