"I suppose you and I think the rich are going to sit quiet and--what's the phrase--accept the verdict of the people? Like hell they are." (Photo: Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
Reporter in Spain
"In the twentieth century, it was monarchy that was crashing. Today, it’s the rule of capital."
Eighty years ago this April, Spain fell under a thirty-year dictatorship after Right beat Left in a brutal civil war. That history feels acutely alive to me today, and not just because, for the first time in my life, I'm in Spain.
General Franco's rebels, backed by Mussolini and Hitler and the religious extremists of the day, defeated the Republic and its cobbled-together army of anarchists, communists and internationalists over three years (1936-39). My grandfather, Claud Cockburn, was there with the fighting in Spain's central plains and in the city of Barcelona as it was hanging on, watching bombs hit the northern mountains that I've been looking at for days.
Today, Spain is holding steady. Prime minister Pedro Sanchez and his socialist party expanded power in regional and national elections and became the biggest social democrat block in the EU. The nationalist populists did less well than they bragged they'd do in most of Europe, but the Left's parties generally did the same, and progressives are relying on the Spanish and Portuguese to hold the bigots at bay in Brussels while, from Brazil to Bethlehem and Bombay to DC's Beltway, the stink of fascism is in the air.
It was windy yesterday, and between rain showers, we talked about being buffeted by old tensions: nationalism vs internationalism, authoritarianism vs democracy, elitism vs cooperation, patriarchy and racism vs intersectionality and the common good.
"The story of resilience resonates," said Loren Harris, Chief Program and Strategy Officer with the Kenneth Rainin Foundation in Oakland, which supports organizations working in the arts, education, and health. History is part of what draws internationalists like Harris back to this region. Another is its experiment in solidarity.
"In the twentieth century, it was monarchy that was crashing. Today, it's the rule of capital," said the Democracy Collaborative's Marjorie Kelly,* who, with Harris, was part of a delegation to study the area's co-operatives.
Claud described the co-ops and free clinics that helped Barcelonans survive under siege. For the past four years, Barcelona en Comu has been continuing that tradition, expanding public assets and public decision-making under the city's first female mayor, activist Ada Colau. Here in Basque country, which was occupied and punished by Franco, a liberation theologian preached job creation through cooperation and birthed the Mondragon Federation, now the biggest network of worker-owned cooperatives in the world. Recently, the OECD reported that this co-op rich community has one of the narrowest wealth gaps on the continent, which is to say, the rich extract less relative to the poor--or put another way, the place is more fair.
In Barcelona, Claud read from the wall posters: "We want prosperity for the whole people and we know this is possible within our democratic republic; that is why we defend the Republic, just as we defend the rightful liberties of Catalonia, the Basque country, Galicia and Morocco."
As ever, Spain's Left has fissures. This Sunday, a Catalan separatist edged out Ada Colau in the race for Mayor. Left voters are a majority, but their parties are divided here, and globally, as they've been before.
There's no war in these mountains--no Guernica being bombed tonight. Still, I recall Claud describing how stakes pile high slowly as the barometer moves to storm.
As one onlooker told Claud almost 80 years ago, "I suppose you and I think the rich are going to sit quiet and--what's the phrase--accept the verdict of the people? Like hell they are."
Which way is the barometer moving? Next stop for me is Barcelona.
*Marjorie Kelly's forthcoming book with Ted Howard, The Making of a Democratic Economy: Building Prosperity for the Many, Not Just the Few will be out inJuly from Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
Urgent. It's never been this bad.
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission from the outset was simple. To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It’s never been this bad out there. And it’s never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed and doing some of its best and most important work, the threats we face are intensifying. Right now, with just four days to go in our Spring Campaign, we are not even halfway to our goal. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Can you make a gift right now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? There is no backup plan or rainy day fund. There is only you. —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Eighty years ago this April, Spain fell under a thirty-year dictatorship after Right beat Left in a brutal civil war. That history feels acutely alive to me today, and not just because, for the first time in my life, I'm in Spain.
General Franco's rebels, backed by Mussolini and Hitler and the religious extremists of the day, defeated the Republic and its cobbled-together army of anarchists, communists and internationalists over three years (1936-39). My grandfather, Claud Cockburn, was there with the fighting in Spain's central plains and in the city of Barcelona as it was hanging on, watching bombs hit the northern mountains that I've been looking at for days.
Today, Spain is holding steady. Prime minister Pedro Sanchez and his socialist party expanded power in regional and national elections and became the biggest social democrat block in the EU. The nationalist populists did less well than they bragged they'd do in most of Europe, but the Left's parties generally did the same, and progressives are relying on the Spanish and Portuguese to hold the bigots at bay in Brussels while, from Brazil to Bethlehem and Bombay to DC's Beltway, the stink of fascism is in the air.
It was windy yesterday, and between rain showers, we talked about being buffeted by old tensions: nationalism vs internationalism, authoritarianism vs democracy, elitism vs cooperation, patriarchy and racism vs intersectionality and the common good.
"The story of resilience resonates," said Loren Harris, Chief Program and Strategy Officer with the Kenneth Rainin Foundation in Oakland, which supports organizations working in the arts, education, and health. History is part of what draws internationalists like Harris back to this region. Another is its experiment in solidarity.
"In the twentieth century, it was monarchy that was crashing. Today, it's the rule of capital," said the Democracy Collaborative's Marjorie Kelly,* who, with Harris, was part of a delegation to study the area's co-operatives.
Claud described the co-ops and free clinics that helped Barcelonans survive under siege. For the past four years, Barcelona en Comu has been continuing that tradition, expanding public assets and public decision-making under the city's first female mayor, activist Ada Colau. Here in Basque country, which was occupied and punished by Franco, a liberation theologian preached job creation through cooperation and birthed the Mondragon Federation, now the biggest network of worker-owned cooperatives in the world. Recently, the OECD reported that this co-op rich community has one of the narrowest wealth gaps on the continent, which is to say, the rich extract less relative to the poor--or put another way, the place is more fair.
In Barcelona, Claud read from the wall posters: "We want prosperity for the whole people and we know this is possible within our democratic republic; that is why we defend the Republic, just as we defend the rightful liberties of Catalonia, the Basque country, Galicia and Morocco."
As ever, Spain's Left has fissures. This Sunday, a Catalan separatist edged out Ada Colau in the race for Mayor. Left voters are a majority, but their parties are divided here, and globally, as they've been before.
There's no war in these mountains--no Guernica being bombed tonight. Still, I recall Claud describing how stakes pile high slowly as the barometer moves to storm.
As one onlooker told Claud almost 80 years ago, "I suppose you and I think the rich are going to sit quiet and--what's the phrase--accept the verdict of the people? Like hell they are."
Which way is the barometer moving? Next stop for me is Barcelona.
*Marjorie Kelly's forthcoming book with Ted Howard, The Making of a Democratic Economy: Building Prosperity for the Many, Not Just the Few will be out inJuly from Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
Eighty years ago this April, Spain fell under a thirty-year dictatorship after Right beat Left in a brutal civil war. That history feels acutely alive to me today, and not just because, for the first time in my life, I'm in Spain.
General Franco's rebels, backed by Mussolini and Hitler and the religious extremists of the day, defeated the Republic and its cobbled-together army of anarchists, communists and internationalists over three years (1936-39). My grandfather, Claud Cockburn, was there with the fighting in Spain's central plains and in the city of Barcelona as it was hanging on, watching bombs hit the northern mountains that I've been looking at for days.
Today, Spain is holding steady. Prime minister Pedro Sanchez and his socialist party expanded power in regional and national elections and became the biggest social democrat block in the EU. The nationalist populists did less well than they bragged they'd do in most of Europe, but the Left's parties generally did the same, and progressives are relying on the Spanish and Portuguese to hold the bigots at bay in Brussels while, from Brazil to Bethlehem and Bombay to DC's Beltway, the stink of fascism is in the air.
It was windy yesterday, and between rain showers, we talked about being buffeted by old tensions: nationalism vs internationalism, authoritarianism vs democracy, elitism vs cooperation, patriarchy and racism vs intersectionality and the common good.
"The story of resilience resonates," said Loren Harris, Chief Program and Strategy Officer with the Kenneth Rainin Foundation in Oakland, which supports organizations working in the arts, education, and health. History is part of what draws internationalists like Harris back to this region. Another is its experiment in solidarity.
"In the twentieth century, it was monarchy that was crashing. Today, it's the rule of capital," said the Democracy Collaborative's Marjorie Kelly,* who, with Harris, was part of a delegation to study the area's co-operatives.
Claud described the co-ops and free clinics that helped Barcelonans survive under siege. For the past four years, Barcelona en Comu has been continuing that tradition, expanding public assets and public decision-making under the city's first female mayor, activist Ada Colau. Here in Basque country, which was occupied and punished by Franco, a liberation theologian preached job creation through cooperation and birthed the Mondragon Federation, now the biggest network of worker-owned cooperatives in the world. Recently, the OECD reported that this co-op rich community has one of the narrowest wealth gaps on the continent, which is to say, the rich extract less relative to the poor--or put another way, the place is more fair.
In Barcelona, Claud read from the wall posters: "We want prosperity for the whole people and we know this is possible within our democratic republic; that is why we defend the Republic, just as we defend the rightful liberties of Catalonia, the Basque country, Galicia and Morocco."
As ever, Spain's Left has fissures. This Sunday, a Catalan separatist edged out Ada Colau in the race for Mayor. Left voters are a majority, but their parties are divided here, and globally, as they've been before.
There's no war in these mountains--no Guernica being bombed tonight. Still, I recall Claud describing how stakes pile high slowly as the barometer moves to storm.
As one onlooker told Claud almost 80 years ago, "I suppose you and I think the rich are going to sit quiet and--what's the phrase--accept the verdict of the people? Like hell they are."
Which way is the barometer moving? Next stop for me is Barcelona.
*Marjorie Kelly's forthcoming book with Ted Howard, The Making of a Democratic Economy: Building Prosperity for the Many, Not Just the Few will be out inJuly from Berrett-Koehler Publishers.