What's your opinion on Francisco Franco?

Penetra   Thu May 13, 2010 6:07 pm GMT
Wrong, the Spanish king does not have any power at all. He only acts commanded by the Spanish President who is elected by the Spaniards. Queen Elizabeth has more power than Juan Carlos I, yet she never uses it, like the rest of parlamentarian monarchs. For example, she can:

* to dismiss a Prime Minister;
* to refuse to dissolve Parliament;
* to refuse or delay the Royal Assent to legislation.


As you can see that Spain has Monarchy is not that odd from a European perspective. Probably you are from a south American country where your presidents act like real absolute kings , for example Hugo Chavez.
Jose Antonio   Thu May 13, 2010 6:14 pm GMT
<< Spain was seriously in danger of becoming a communist country before Franco came into action. >>

Actually, Spain was seriously in danger of becoming a democratic, modern country before Franco came into action.

Franco (backed up with state-of-the-art Nazi weaponry) prevented the natural course of events, and as a result, Spain was kept far behind most European nations, where democracy evolved, even taking into account WWII.
Jose Antonio   Thu May 13, 2010 6:25 pm GMT
<< Wrong, the Spanish king does not have any power at all >>

The Spanish Constitution of 1978, Title II: the Crown, Article 56, Subsection 1, affirms the role of the Spanish monarch as the personification and embodiment of the Spanish nation, a symbol of Spain's enduring unity and permanence; and as such, the monarch is the head-of-state and commander-in-chief of the Spanish Armed Forces.
Penetra   Thu May 13, 2010 6:33 pm GMT
On the contrary, Spain was on verge of becoming a backward country like Albania or Soviet Union.

Franco was loyal to the Spanish democracy until the left wing wanted to subvert the democratic mechanisms to drive Spain to a communist dictatorship. Remember that Hitler, as the leftists in Spain did, simply used previously existent laws to become the Fürher. Also he won the elections, like Spanish socialist party and communist party did,but he wasn't a truly democrat politician the same way Spanish leftists were not democratic just because they won the elections. After they won, the used their power to repress and even kill people who attended religous services, priests and in general those people suspicious for being right wing . Franco reacted against those abuses that despite were allowed by laws introduced by elected Government, were antidemocratic in spirit. If left wing was loyal to the democracy, there would be no need for Franco to commit rebellion.

Let me add a cultural digression now: in this sense Spain couldn't be more Roman, because in ancient Roman Republic there was also the figure of the dictator who was allowed by the Roman law to concentrate all political power when exceptional circumstances suggested so. And in Spain left parties' derive towards Communism and totalitarism were exceptional enough, making the democratic laws just a piece of paper with no practical value. I have no doubt that when Franco ceases being a hot topic in Spanish politics and people start being him with neutrality, he will be considered the father of modern Spanish nation, and the best thing that happened to Spain after Muslims' defeat in 1492. If Spain has some stability nowadays it is due to the fact that Franco modernised Spanish economy. South American economies fail because they lack the economical fundations to be true democracies.
sudacones mamones   Thu May 13, 2010 6:42 pm GMT
<<The Spanish Constitution of 1978, Title II: the Crown, Article 56, Subsection 1, affirms the role of the Spanish monarch as the personification and embodiment of the Spanish nation, a symbol of Spain's enduring unity and permanence; and as such, the monarch is the head-of-state and commander-in-chief of the Spanish Armed Forces.

>>

So what? That paragraph does not cite any real powers. I don't need to answer you stupid statements, you ridiculise and contradict yourself. As it says, Spanish king has symbolic role. Now compare that to South American presidents like Hugo Chavez who can decide the price of products in markets, close TV stations that oppose them, etc.
Penetra   Thu May 13, 2010 6:47 pm GMT
<< Let me add a cultural digression now: in this sense Spain couldn't be more Roman, because in ancient Roman Republic there was also the figure of the dictator who was allowed by the Roman law to concentrate all political power when exceptional circumstances suggested so. And in Spain left parties' derive towards Communism and totalitarism were exceptional enough, making the democratic laws just a piece of paper with no practical value. I have no doubt that when Franco ceases being a hot topic in Spanish politics and people start being him with neutrality, he will be considered the father of modern Spanish nation, and the best thing that happened to Spain after Muslims' defeat in 1492. If Spain has some stability nowadays it is due to the fact that Franco modernised Spanish economy. South American economies fail because they lack the economical fundations to be true democracies.

>>

and people start viewing* him ...
Jose Antonio   Thu May 13, 2010 6:56 pm GMT
You are lying.

You lied when you said that the Spanish king does not have any power at all, when in fact the monarch is the head-of-state and commander-in-chief of the Spanish Armed Forces.

You also lie when saying that Spain was on verge of becoming a backward country, when in fact the Government was creating an equal opportunity scenario by providing education to people and places that had not seen it before.

And now that you have been caught red-handed with your lies, you're trying to pathetically veer off the attention by "adding cultural digressions", as if nothing has happened. Fuck you, disgraceful twit.

And these, Ladies and Gentlemen, are the Spanish Scum, high-class because their families inherited money, but low-lives as you have never seen in any other social stratus. A complete waste of time. I'm outta here.
Penetra   Thu May 13, 2010 7:27 pm GMT
You are lying Jose Antonio and you know it. I'm glad that Franco killed many like you, because you deserve it.
Jose Antonio   Thu May 13, 2010 7:44 pm GMT
Let me tell you something about me and you'll understand why I say what I say here on Antimoon. I vote for Spanish Socialist party because like the rest of Spanish leftists I'm lazy and don't have money. I live thanks to public welfare but Spanish welfare system is about to collapse because socialist president, Mr, Zapatero, has wasted all the money in frivolous things like giving funds to homosexual organisations in Congo, funds for indigenous movements in South America, and such. I envy so badly those Spaniards who work and are successful in their lives. Spain is the country of envy par excellence , let me tell you. Here one half of the country just looks and the other half works and produces, but as I said I'm too lazy to move my ass and improve my poor living conditions. I prefer to believe that I'm a loser because of Franco, the right wing and that I don't have rich parents. I'm such a lowlife.
Mallorquí   Thu May 13, 2010 7:53 pm GMT
Bueno Jose Antonio, lo importante es la salud, no tener mucho dinero.
Luis from Spain   Thu May 13, 2010 9:52 pm GMT
My opinion about Francisco Franco is that he may have commited many mistakes , but he did good things for Spain too like building reservoirs, very necessary in a dry country like Spain, and also he created modern Spanish tourism industry. Without that Spain would be much poorer. Franco devised as well nuclear plants as a cheap way to obtain energy in a oil-less country. These nuclear plants are nowadays still producing energy but the Socialist Government does not want to build new ones anymore and prefers to buy expensive oil to their Muslim friends.

Some people have said that Republicans before Franco brought democracy and equal opportunities for everyone. That is false, pure propaganda that you can also hear to Castro in Cuba . They brought equal misery to everyone which is different. They used democracy for their own purposes and when they lost the elections in 1932 and the right parties won, they provoked a coup d'etat . Among people arrested by the authorities there was future socialist prime minister Largo Caballero , who was released when socialists and communists won the elections in 1936, but he was still a crimminal who had to stay in jail for 40 years. Franco was against these kind of people who were democrat while they had the power, but used violence when they lost elections. Also economy was very bad before Franco. Spain was a chaotic country with street riots everydays and foreign investors left the country which was bolshevizing.
Penetra   Thu May 13, 2010 11:07 pm GMT
...mi culo.
Jose Antonio   Thu May 13, 2010 11:47 pm GMT
I have AIDS
lol   Fri May 14, 2010 1:24 am GMT
<<Actually, Spain is the only country in Europe where the monarchy has full power over any other institution, more than the elected President and more than the military.

We all die one day Franco (I got you, pijo engreido comemierdas), and we all take our baggage with us. Baggage in this context is our actions.
You choose to kiss the asses of authoritarian figures, not because they deserve it, but because they are "the authority" and that way you justify yourself also, and you will go out of this world as the ass-kisser you are.
To me that would be a terrifying prospect. You probably know no better, being such a pijo parasite, but try to explain that to the Final Judge.

Add to that your insults to people because of their economic status, as you did with the Filipino who politely asked some advice on learning Spanish, and you'll understand that if there is a Hell, the low-life scum of your kind have accumulated all the probabilities of landing there. >>



Haha, what a joke. If you were religious then you couldn't be progressive BY DEFINITION!

I'm sure you support things like gay rights, and hence YOU ARE A SINNER. God said that is a sin. God is infallible. How will you explain to the Final Judge that 21st century trendy PCism is more correct than God himself? Do you think you, lowly you, know better than infallible God?
sinner   Fri May 14, 2010 1:38 am GMT
Isn't obeying authorities a Germanic trait? This Franco does not look Spanish at all.