Dimitris Kouimtsidis
THE Spanish Foreign Ministry has expressed concern over the toppling of statues of Spanish historical figures in the US.
Following the death of George Floyd at the hands of the police on May 25, hundreds of statues have been toppled across the US.
Figures include Christopher Columbus, who discovered America under the patronage of the Spanish King and Friar Junipero Serra, a Spanish priest who led religious missions in the US.
On Thursday, the Spanish Royal Academy of History (RAH) issued a statement criticising the attacks and reaffirming its ‘commitment to the knowledge of Spain’s actions in America, beyond the falsification, the distortion and the partisan manipulation.’
According to Foreign Minister, Arancha Gonzalez Laya, Spain has sent numerous letters to the US to address the issue.
El Pais sources also mention that the Spanish ambassador has approached ‘federal, state and local authorities’.
“We have made them aware of the importance we award to this shared history with the United States,” added Gonzalez Laya.
The 51-year-old tried to differentiate between the fight against racism, which Spain ‘shares a lot with’ and the attack on statues of Spanish figures.
The RAH condemned the attacks against the monuments, arguing that they were ‘not just against the memory of famous people,’ but also against Spanish history.
“Only an anachronistic and decontextualized interpretation of historical events could explain the unjustified attacks against these monuments.”
Spanish politicians would do well to stop conflating their cultural history of ideologically driven violence, domination, arrogance, and imperialism with greatness, and focus on the real human issues of Spanish people.
There’s nowt to choose between any of the thieving slavers, be they Dutch,Portuguese, English, American, German Spanish, Belgians. Any white man with a gun or a decent disease felt free (and still do) to rape, pillage and later, glorify their transgressions with blurred history and tin gods. It’s what we do as human beings, the sooner Gaia shakes us off, the better the world will be.
Leif Eriksson was exploring the East Coast of North America 500 years before Columbus bumbled into Caribbean islands thinking it was China. Eriksson had the good sense to go back to Iceland. Of course, all the people arriving from the Bering straits were centuries ahead oh Eriksson. But Columbus’ arrival did, to be suree, lead to more damage, disease and death than any other earlier visitors. Hence the ‘pride’?