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Generation 27

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Generation of '27  was an influential group of Spanish poets that arose in Spanish literary circles in opposition to the Fascists. .. Their first formal meeting took place in Seville in 1927 to mark the 300th anniversary of the death of the baroque poet Luis GongoraL The Spanish have long memories. 

Bleeding into lemon-tree-soil
Reminds me of nothing more than the toil, toil, toil
Of life in Al-Andalus.
Priests chanting their rosary
Like it was El Maleh Rachamim
Or the Mourner’s Kaddish
(which it probably was, if the priest
was a converso, who  changed his religion
to save his life or, maybe, the lives of his children).

The Moriscos (ex-Muslims), as usual, prayed louder,
Than did the Spanish, the Goths never coughed,
But Moriscos touched the head-coverings they did not wear.
What they did on Fridays was only the business
Of the Inquisition.

Many Moriscos fled to Morocco, Lebanon.
To the centres of the Islamic world: Damascus, Baghdad.
Now, in 2023,  nobody wants anything
To do with these ‘torturers, terrorists
Of children and women-folk
‘.

But  nearly 450 years after the surrender on January 2, 1492
Of the Emirate of Granada to the Christian Castillian army
Franco’s Moroccan, Muslim units commit numerous atrocities
In many Spanish cities, including Toledo
Murdering men, raping women and torturing children
Helping defeat the Spanish, Socialist Republic,
Allying themselves with Italian Fascists and German Nazis.

I just like a drink now and again:
wine, brandy, what you will.
I wonder what the people in the future.

will think of all these ironies of history?

◄ Parvenu

Widows & Orphans ►

Comments

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John Marks

Thu 9th Mar 2023 22:11

Thank you dear Keith. And, also, Lorca actively engaged in resistance to Franco's Fascists and his Moroccan allies.

“If you had asked me why I had joined the militia I should have answered: 'To fight against Fascism,' and if you had asked me what I was fighting for, I should have answered: 'Common decency.”
― George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia

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keith jeffries

Thu 9th Mar 2023 20:50

They will see a continuation of humanity as it struggles to make sense of itself. We never learn, we repeat past follies. The comparisons between Hitler and Putin lay bare the repetitious cycle of human self destruction. Followed by those too ignorant to realise they are being duped.
Thank you for this and especially the photo of Lorca who was murdered by Franco's cohorts. His crimes were those of being gay and one of Spain's best poets.
Keith

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