“Sleep rosebush, The horse begins to cry. His hooves are injured, his mane is frozen, and in his eyes are silver daggers. His eyes lower to the river.Oh, how they lower to the river. Blood flows much stronger than water.” “Blood Wedding”(Bodas de Sangre) by Frederico Garcia Lorca (1932)
This week has been one of coincidences and conflict for Kitty, darling reader. Let me tell you of the meanderings of my mind.
I took myself off into Durham City, in a heightened state of thought and reflection. I decided to buy myself a novel and take it to my favourite coffee shop, Vennels. Over a cup of espresso, I flicked through my impulsive purchase “Guernica” by Dave Boling. Little did I know that at that same moment in time the Basque separatists, ETA, were to kill two Civil Guard officers in the resort town of Palmanove on the island of Majorca. The car bomb attacks coincided with ETA’s 50th anniversary of it’s founding. The terrorist’s attack was condemned by the Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. In March 2006, Zapatero entered into peace talks with ETA, but with the bomb attack on Madrid airport in early 2007, ETA withdrew it’s ceasefire.
So, why the link to Guernica?
In the Spanish civil war, under the advances of the Nationalists under Generalissimo Franco, Guernica stood in the way of advancement against the Republicans. The Basque town of Guernica suffered an aerial attack by planes of the German Luftwaffe “Condor Legion”(April 26, 1937)...in support of Franco. The widespread death and devastation of this terror attack is a legacy which lives on today. 1,654 were reported killed by the Basque government. The Basque country has a language which is unlike any other European language, a culture that belongs to neither Spain nor France. But it’s independence was removed from it, and never given back.
In 1959 ETA Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (Basque Homeland and Freedom) was formed as a paramilitary group, with it’s goal under Marxist-Leninist theories to gain independence for the Basque Country.
ETA has been responsible of numerous murders, assassinations and bombings. And this week, they claimed the lives of two Civil Guard Officers in Majorca, causing wide spread terror and chaos. Internal securities were already heightened due to La Reina Sophia, Queen of Spain visiting the Island. This was still not enough to prevent the tragedy.
Guernica (Pictured above) is the painting by Pablo Picasso (1937) this painting was the symbolic answer Picasso had to the bombing of Guernica. It is an anti-war protest and an eternal reminder of the tragedies of war. I now believe it reflects both sides, as through tragedy, terror has grown and this is significant to this very day. Indeed a timely reminder of both sides of conflict. The symbolic status of the Spanish bull, the horse falling in agony, the dead soldier with stigma on his palms, the sword with flowers, the dove of peace in fear, the mother holding up her lifeless child...This has come to represent both sides, in my opinion, to the present from the past. The legacy of Guernica.
This week has been one of coincidences and conflict for Kitty, darling reader. Let me tell you of the meanderings of my mind.
I took myself off into Durham City, in a heightened state of thought and reflection. I decided to buy myself a novel and take it to my favourite coffee shop, Vennels. Over a cup of espresso, I flicked through my impulsive purchase “Guernica” by Dave Boling. Little did I know that at that same moment in time the Basque separatists, ETA, were to kill two Civil Guard officers in the resort town of Palmanove on the island of Majorca. The car bomb attacks coincided with ETA’s 50th anniversary of it’s founding. The terrorist’s attack was condemned by the Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. In March 2006, Zapatero entered into peace talks with ETA, but with the bomb attack on Madrid airport in early 2007, ETA withdrew it’s ceasefire.
So, why the link to Guernica?
In the Spanish civil war, under the advances of the Nationalists under Generalissimo Franco, Guernica stood in the way of advancement against the Republicans. The Basque town of Guernica suffered an aerial attack by planes of the German Luftwaffe “Condor Legion”(April 26, 1937)...in support of Franco. The widespread death and devastation of this terror attack is a legacy which lives on today. 1,654 were reported killed by the Basque government. The Basque country has a language which is unlike any other European language, a culture that belongs to neither Spain nor France. But it’s independence was removed from it, and never given back.
In 1959 ETA Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (Basque Homeland and Freedom) was formed as a paramilitary group, with it’s goal under Marxist-Leninist theories to gain independence for the Basque Country.
ETA has been responsible of numerous murders, assassinations and bombings. And this week, they claimed the lives of two Civil Guard Officers in Majorca, causing wide spread terror and chaos. Internal securities were already heightened due to La Reina Sophia, Queen of Spain visiting the Island. This was still not enough to prevent the tragedy.
Guernica (Pictured above) is the painting by Pablo Picasso (1937) this painting was the symbolic answer Picasso had to the bombing of Guernica. It is an anti-war protest and an eternal reminder of the tragedies of war. I now believe it reflects both sides, as through tragedy, terror has grown and this is significant to this very day. Indeed a timely reminder of both sides of conflict. The symbolic status of the Spanish bull, the horse falling in agony, the dead soldier with stigma on his palms, the sword with flowers, the dove of peace in fear, the mother holding up her lifeless child...This has come to represent both sides, in my opinion, to the present from the past. The legacy of Guernica.
Further Reading
Guernica Dave Boling 2008
Winter in Madrid C J Sansom 2006
The Battle for Spain Antony Beevor 2006
Blood Wedding Lorca
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