Wednesday 4 June 2014

The fallen crown of Spain

Anybody in the mood for a controversial post? I did not have time to blog about it, but I wanted to. As you probably know already, King Juan Carlos of Spain abdicated. Because of a number of controversies and scandals, all very minor in comparison to the real scandal of monarchy: its existence now. His abdication may be one more nail in the coffin of this anachronistic, backward institution. In Spain anyway, where republicanism is actually shared by an important portion of the population. Spain is not my favorite country, but these days I envy them, or at least what is happening, because there may be a momentum for the monarchy to fall there. And if this happens, this may influence some other kingdoms, say the United one, to question their own crowned heads, to question, maybe even challenge, said crowned heads' legitimacy to the power they own and their relevance in a democracy (answer: they have none whatsoever). You have guessed that I am a staunch republican. And I know that this is far from the end, that the crown of Spain fell on the old king to get on the head of a new one. Nevertheless, reading these sort of news always give me a furious joy.

4 comments:

Cynthia said...

Sur France Culture ce matin, un commentateur a dit "L'Espagne a une monarchie républicaine comme la France a une république régalienne." J'ai trouvé ça assez vrai.

Mantan Calaveras said...

Wonderful. Not a big proponent of republicanism myself, being an anarchist, but it's always nice to see a society take the next step!

Did I share this with you before? Ha ha!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ctjMi5ClQA

Nellie said...

As I am a United States citizen, I'm reminded of the reason this country was settled all those years ago. I believe one of them was to leave royalty behind, though many places have names that are reminiscent of their (settlers) time in England.

Guillaume said...

@Cynthia-Perspective intéressante, mais l'Espagne devrait se doter d'une république, point.
@Mantan-Thanks for the link, it is hilarious.
@Nellie-here in the UK, they often mistake monarchism to patriotism.