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AS spain It’s been half a century since the general died francisco franco This week, a growing number of young people are now witnessing this brutality Spanish Dictator in a positive sense.
Far from being vilified as the man who plunged the Iberian nation into a bloody civil war between 1936-1939 and carried out years of repression thereafter, young people are trumpeting Franco’s achievements.
‘Life was better under Franco’ has become a trope on social media that has provoked heated debate Within Spain.
It comes in the form of young Spaniards faces a housing crisisMany live with their parents until the age of thirty, and in the last decade there has been a fierce debate over immigration, with citizens born outside Spain now representing about 20 percent of the population.
The socialist government has supported immigration to help boost growth in the country with a low birth rate, but right-wing parties such as the People’s Party Vocal Ask for more control.
A recently published survey by the government Center for Sociological Studies (CIS) found that one fifth, or 21.5 percent, of Spaniards thought the Franco dictatorship was “good” or “very good”. The same survey found that 19 percent of people aged 18-24 shared this view. The CIS survey also found that 65.5 percent said it was “bad or very bad”.
A more recent poll for the right-wing El Mundo newspaper found that the Socialists were no longer the most popular party among young people aged 18-29.
Hugo Escarpa, 21, a criminology student at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, said the left was not supporting issues related to young people.
“Right-wing parties like the (conservative opposition) People’s Party (PP) and Vox are addressing the issues that matter to young people – the housing crisis, how to find jobs and illegal immigration,” he said. “The Left is not doing that. That’s why the youth are supporting them.”
Mr Escarpa said he found it ironic that many people condemned Franco, but supporters of the Basque separatist organization ETA – which was responsible for the deaths of more than 800 people during the fifty-year armed campaign that ended in 2011 – serving as MPs in the Spanish Parliament.
He was referring to the Basque separatist party EH Bildu, which has refused to label ETA a terrorist organization. The party supports the current Spanish coalition government.
He said, “I believe in democracy. But I don’t understand why they are still attacking Franco, who died more than 50 years ago, yet there are members of parliament who supported ETA, which did much more harm to Spain than Franco’s repression.”
Andrea Lopart, 25, who works in finance in Castelldefels, near Barcelona, said young people are increasingly attracted to right-wing parties that deliver clear messages about issues that concern young people, such as housing, the job market and illegal immigration.
Loparte said that there were “good things and bad things” during the dictatorship.
He said that before the civil war, the country was in a “difficult” situation, but Franco would have helped revive the economy.
At the same time, during Franco’s regime, freedom of expression suffered.
He said, “Spain came out of a complicated situation and (Franco) helped it move forward in the world. It was not as free a country as we have today.”
Lopart said the most important issues for people his age were affordable housing, immigration and the chance to find a secure job.
“We want an independent life. I’m still living with my parents. Also immigration is a big issue because we want the right to be able to walk safely on the streets, especially if you’re a woman.”
He said that getting a permanent job instead of a short-term contract is a big issue for the youth.
Polls also show a rise in support for the far-right Vox party.
Analysts say Vox is attracting young voters because its populist message on issues like immigration strikes a chord with young people.
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Vox is reluctant to idealize Franco but in the past he has trivialized Franco’s record of repression. It knows how to use social media like TikTok and Instagram to its advantage.
Vox opened an account on TikTok in 2022, while Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez only opened his account in September this year.
A poll last month by 40dB for El País newspaper found that 17.4 percent of Spaniards supported Vox, compared with 12.4 percent in the last poll in 2023.
The same survey found that 29 percent of Vox voters were in the 18-24 age group while only 9.9 percent of voters were over the age of 65.
The youngest group of Vox voters are 38 percent male while 20 percent are female.
Steven Forti, an associate professor of history at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, who works on the EU ARENAS project to track extremist narratives, said older people also shared positive opinions about Franco.
“We’re talking about generations that never lived through a dictatorship. When Franco died (in 1975), his parents were only five or six years old,” he said.
“Far-right parties have a strong presence on social media that is heavily consumed by young people and has had a big impact. Vox does not support Franco but it trivialises the dictatorship.”
Professor Forti said Vox leader Santiago Abascal had suggested in the Spanish parliament in 2020 that the socialist government was “the worst government of the last 80 years”.
He said, “The far right attracts young people because it presents itself as rebellious. Many young people have only experienced socialist government.”
Professor Forti said education about Franco was slow and poor in Spain compared to Germany or Italy.
Nick Lloyd, the British author of Travels Through the Spanish Civil War, which is published on the anniversary of Franco’s death, said: “Young people, especially men, have no idea of what the regime represents, apart from the provocative videos they see on TikTok.
“Direct memory links with those involved in the war have been lost, and history education has often been inadequate.”