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Spanish Civil War
As with most leftists I have always romanticized the Spanish Civil War. Had I been around in 1936 I would have been a part of the International Brigade that formed to fight on the Loyalist (Republican) side. But, also like many leftists, I have tended to play down the atrocities the Loyalists also committed. The story of the conflict to me is instructive. It shows the brutality of which men are capable when society's competing sides become polarized. Frankly it scares me. Mechanized warfare is one thing, as is mass-murder. Both are simply blind and a little removed from the horrors enacted. But the kind of one on one brutality that marked Spain's Civil War is not blind. It is focused and directed. And what scares me the most is that it is always just beneath the surface of civic life. As has been proved time and time again, from Rwanda to Bosnia to Bagdad. Politically speaking there may only be one thing I fear more. The international break down of nation-states, which I also think is just under the surface of civic life. I figure Mexico, for example, is fighting for nothing less these days and dealing with warring drug cartels. Clinton is right, by the way. We have created Mexico's problem.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Civil_War
Tere
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Apr/5/2009, 2:53 pm
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