The running of the bulls this week in Pamplona, Spain, has produced its usual share of drama, including the goring of two Americans and one Briton on Tuesday.
However, the controversy surrounding one of Spain’s most famous annual events has for once not focused exclusively on the dangers of dodging bulls hurtling down streets, but rather on the Basque flag that has been flying for the first time from Pamplona’s City Hall.
The red, green and white flag also made an appearance on the city’s streets, as revelers used the symbol to show their support for the independence of the Basque Country, which could also include the Spanish region of Navarre, whose capital is Pamplona.
Photo: AP
The controversy comes at a time when Spain is experiencing a number of instances in which flags have been seized on for their powerful messaging. It also coincides with the cultural and political upheaval in the US over the Confederate battle flag, which has long been contentious, but was targeted as a visible symbol of intolerance last month after the massacre of black worshippers at a church in Charleston, South Carolina, and the arrest of a suspect with white supremacist ties.
The Basque flag, known as the Ikurrina, was raised by Joseba Asiron, who took office as mayor after Spain’s municipal elections in May. Asiron represents Euskal Herria Bildu, a radical political coalition pushing for the Basque Country’s independence.
The central government in Madrid contends that the decision to hoist the flag violates Navarre’s own laws, and it has started legal action.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said in an interview with Telecinco, a Spanish television channel, that flying the flag also showed that there were “some people” whose goal was to “take over Navarre and a part of France” — a reference to the fact that the Basque Country extends across the French border.
Spain has a history of separatist movements, and tensions have flared recently on several fronts, especially between Rajoy’s government in Madrid and the regional government of Catalonia, which has been pushing to secede from Spain.
The Catalan movement has had its own flag controversy over what people can fly and when.
The governing body of European soccer, UEFA, is set to decide this month whether to fine the Barcelona club, or even force it to play some matches behind closed doors, after its fans waved pro-independence Catalan flags during their team’s Champions League victory in Berlin last month. UEFA rules prohibit flags that are considered to have “messages of a political, ideological, religious, offensive and provocative nature.”
At the same time, Spain’s national flag is also under scrutiny. It has just been granted additional protection as part of a public safety law that took on effect July 1 and allows the police to impose fines of as much as 30,000 euros (US$33,430) for “offenses or insults” to Spain and its symbols, starting with its flag.
However, as Spain prepares for a general election this year, its national flag has emerged as a potent symbol: Pedro Sanchez, the Socialist challenger to Rajoy, used it as the backdrop for his first campaign speech.
Marian Ahumada Ruiz, a professor of constitutional law at the Autonomous University of Madrid, said the Spanish flag “has historically proved a problem because of the way it was appropriated and politicized” during the Spanish Civil War and the subsequent dictatorship of Francisco Franco. Since then, Spain’s flag has mostly been promoted by conservative politicians, she said.
In turn, she said, Basques and Catalans turned their flags not only into symbols of their own identities, but also into acts of defiance against the Franco government.
Sanchez suggested that he had embraced Spain’s flag to extend its national symbolism to the Socialists, as well. He added that it “represents a lot of the good things” that the Socialists have contributed to Spain.
Jose Maria de Areilza, a professor of law at the Esade business school, said Spain’s relative youth as a democracy has meant it has had little time “to make symbols coexist, particularly at a time of economic and institutional crisis.”
At the same time, “a crisis like the one we’ve been through certainly makes people think again about their identity and where they live, and flags form part of that rethink,” he said.
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