Dictablanda (1960 - 1975)

I remember the disappointment they had. They all expected, at least those who were here, that once the [Second World] War was over Franco was over. Not only that, but also the great disappointment in my life, and there’s when I was done with all this stuff, was when I saw when I saw Eisenhower hugging Franco. For me, I don’t know, if the Americans see this, it was so hurtful for me, so sad, so disappointing and depressing, that it’s made it difficult for me to get Americans.

For example, ever since the II Vatican council mass and religious ceremonies are carried out in Catalan, despite the Francoist regime not liking it. Before the II Vatican, mass were in Latin and with their backs on the community, the believers, the attendees. That is, he was a man looking at the altar, looking at the holy images, so with their backs on the public speaking Latin. I think that the great contribution of the II Vatican council is that many religious practices are secularized and at the same time suggests a different position for the church elsewhere, untied from the civil and military power. That, of course, has an obvious impact and in our case the repercussion is that these movements, more committed with democracy, of religious orders, chaplains, etc. begin to act with more room for maneuver. Shortly after, a new concordat is signed between the Spanish state and the Vatican church which, in summary, breaks the bond that had almost been of connivance of the church regarding the state. Liturgies are modernized too. We were saying that they begin performing mass in Catalan – also in Spanish, because it used to be in Latin. Non liturgic music is introduced in the religious rites, for example the whole deal of the spiritual songs of American and Anglo-Saxon origin. There’s undoubtedly an opening. The chaplains dress… the clergyman appears, which is a… the cassock disappears, well, there’s a certain opening that will continue.

For example, ever since the II Vatican council mass and religious ceremonies are carried out in Catalan, despite thOne of those stories that was told to me by one of the most important teachers I’ve had, Pilippe Gaulier, who was my teacher in London and Paris, is related to Franco. He’d say that when Franco died he was in France with some friends of his that were clearly leftists. They filled up a car with champagne and went to Barcelona to celebrate. It’s closely related with this moment of euphoria, collective craze that was lived when Franco died, that people went to the streets to celebrate. And he came from France with his friends. And he’d tell the whole class the feeling of pleasure and complete insanity and also fear and danger. Because Franco had died, but the regime was still on. He made the whole trip, from Paris I think, with the car full of champagne to be able to celebrate the death of the dictator. And that tells much of the euphoria that was lived not only here, but outside as well. This was felt as an oppression, a crime against liberty. Specially art, the first one to suffer in dictatorships, specially right-winged ones.

Those were the years of the ‘grises’ [lit. grey ones]. I studied architecture, I’m an architect. I studied architecture and it was a bit hard in universities, there was a year that there were almost no classes. And another year that you always had a grey clad man, who was a national cop, in each classroom. The year we had no clases, classes would start, but then the ‘grises’ came and starting hitting people and we the ‘grises’ as well. Then with my sister, who was a convinced communist. I was more anarchist. There were demonstrations on the streets quite often. You’d go there, the ‘grises’ would came and bam, bam, bam, handing out smacks.

From a legal perspective, women weren’t considered citizens with full rights during Franco’s reign. That meaning, a woman couldn’t have her passport done on her own, couldn’t open a bank account, and she needed her father’s permission to get married depending on the age. My mother explained it to me, the fact that they were not able to open a bank account. Until the end of the seventies, a woman couldn’t go to the bank and open a bank account without her husband’s permission. Neither have a passport. This is the main difference during Franco’s reign and before democracy.

We need to bring it forward. In 1965, it was the 25th anniversary of the execution of the president Companys. The FNC were always devoted to the president Companys, for the sacrifice he made, and for the dignity he showed towards the firing squad. So much so that the pamphlet made in 1945, and in the exile in France in 1950 by the FNC was called “Per Catalunya” [For Catalunya]. Companys’ last words. We didn’t want to forego the 25th anniversary. That thing with milestone anniversaries: 25th, 50th, 75th and so on. We always did manifestos and paintings. There was a biography made in Paris. The representative of the FNC in Paris, printed it offset. We entered it clandestinely through the mountain, and handed it out profusely. The same thing was done in 1968 with Francesc Macià. A biography, logically, made in France, and entered here clandestinely, and handed out profusely. I have both of them here. The cover of Company’s biography is amazing. Pause. These are both publications. As I told you, this was made in Paris and entered here with photographies of them, clandestinely. From 1963, I took charge of the organization’ clandestinity machine: the press, propaganda distribution and so on. I created the clandestine border of frontiers. We started with papers and we ended up crossing everything. In 1965, the magazine was not finished, but we made this cover with gummed paper. We stuck it up everywhere we could. Something curious happened. Franco once came to Barcelona and taxis had his portrait on the back of the car. You’ll find this on the press. I’m not sure I have it. We came out, and with a few remaining posters, around 40 or 50, we daubed the taxis that had Franco’s picture and were parked without the driver. The thing is that, the driver, saw that he had a picture of the back of his car and so he started the vehicle without realizing what we had done. Someone told him at the end. He was terribly busy then, the glue was extraordinary.

Yes, it was shocking because, in a way, people who came from outside represented for us that they were more free. People with a freedom of movement and some abilities that we didn’t have. The thing is that, since they were foreigners, you don’t assimilate. These are the foreigners, us here from the country are different. There was that tag line, “Spain is different”, and in a way we had accepted it. The miniskirt, the bikini, it was all an outrage. But we need to understand that one thing was the foreigners and the other the locals. If a French-woman, an English-woman, a Swedish-woman wears a miniskirt, it’s just a Swedish-woman. But the locals had to be different. Yes, it was by law. I remember going with some friends to the beach to do top less and the ‘Guardia Civil’ would come and make them cover themselves. It wasn’t just tradition. There was also the moral and popular censorship too. Against nudism, there was people. But there were also laws that restricted freedom in the dress they wore.

The Reial square, of course, its own name says it all. A square with gateways, prestige, an embellished construction for the time. Think that in Reial square, in the 60s near the 70s, lived Mario Vargas Llosas, lived Gabriel García Marquez, there was a time when Lluis Llach lived there, known artists of the time… It was a very Barcelona-like square, with prestige, with an inner room. With time, it has degenerated a bit and it’s a troublesome square: constant police patrols, crime issues, drug issues, if you go to have a drink there the police advice you not to leave your stuff around. It has become a shady place in Ramblas. It’s been improved but in order to eradicate the small drug dealer, the petty criminal, they have swept away the gardening, a much more beautiful space. They have, so to say, concreted it. Leaving the fountain in the middle and the rest concrete to have a better view. So it’s a square that, due to the pressure it has suffered from crime, small time drug dealers, has moved from a valuable place, with proper housing and famous characters living in there… …to a place that has lost its status, has lots the value it held. Even though, it’s in a great location, it would be a fantastic place to live if it weren’t for the security issues.

For many years, in Spain there was an information source that was projected in all Spanish cinemas that was called the ‘No-Do’. ‘No-Do’ is a heraldic expression, bound to the seal of the city of Seville, but it also meant, in this context, ‘Noticias y Documentales’. All the cinemas in Spain, before showing the feature would show this news created by the government, which lasted about ten minutes, where they gave the official information. And there’s also the radio news, what was colloquially known as ‘partes’, were also only news, the official radio of the regime. There were no independent radio stations. There were some commercial radios but during news time, they connected to the official radio. This, with television, becomes a bit diversified. Television is also a state television, a television that has only a channel at first and then a second one due to the incorporation of a new technology, the high fidelity. I was going to say Wi-Fi, but no, it’s the Hi-Fi which emitted, I don’t know how to explain it, in a different way. But there’s an only voice, the official voice. There’s a joke that would be nice if the spectators could see, I think it can be found, from a Catalan graphic comedian named Perich, Jaume Perich. He did some emblematic drawings. It says, television (I’m telling it in Spanish because the joke was in Spanish) the best television in Spain is the first channel of ‘Televisión Española’. Of course, there wasn’t another one. So the catch of the joke is playing with this. Of course, if it’s the only one it is the best one, no doubt, it can’t be any other way.