Contents 136

DossierFranco: Why We Must Not Forget

Illustration ©Natàlia Pàmies
Franco: Why We Must Not ForgetThe rise of neofascism

This November marks fifty years since the death of dictator Francisco Franco. The generations that upheld the antifrancoist struggle and built the new democratic regime could scarcely...

Illustration ©Natàlia Pàmies
Franco: Why We Must Not ForgetThe new fascism

Fifty years ago, the death of Franco aroused a twofold feeling: on the one hand, a justified hope for a...

Franco: Why We Must Not ForgetBeyond the lies

Unearthing the truth about Francoism has been a long and costly endeavour, undertaken by historians and...

Illustration ©Natàlia Pàmies
Franco: Why We Must Not ForgetHow TikTok is rewriting history and shaking democracy

It’s been fifty years since Franco’s death, yet paradoxically, Francoism is experiencing a resurgence. It’s...

Franco: Why We Must Not ForgetAuthoritarian nostalgia grips the younger generation

Some young Spaniards are expressing nostalgia for Franco. Similar phenomena can be seen in Germany with...

Illustration ©Natàlia Pàmies
Franco: Why We Must Not ForgetSocial mobilisation and the crisis of the dictatorship

Social polarisation and growing individualism are creating opportunities for reactionary forces that...

Illustration ©Natàlia Pàmies
Franco: Why We Must Not ForgetFrom “I too am an adulteress” to #MeToo

Significant progress has been made since the days when adultery was considered a criminal offence, punishable...

Illustration © Natàlia Pàmies
Franco: Why We Must Not ForgetThe making of the metropolis amid two waves of migration

Today, as it was fifty years ago, it is impossible to understand daily life in the Barcelona metropolitan area without acknowledging – and giving due weight to –...

Illustration ©Natàlia Pàmies
Franco: Why We Must Not ForgetEducation or barbarism. Building democracy to confront hatred

Faced with hate-filled and exclusionary rhetoric that threatens democracy, and with the declining role of the...

Other contents

© Eva Parey
“Economic growth alone does not improve people’s lives”

Antón Costas

The most decisive influence on Professor Antón Costas’s life was probably his teacher at the University of Barcelona, the economist Fabià Estapé – under the same mentorship as...

Avinguda Paral·lel, seen from the entrance to Plaça d’Espanya. © Imatges Barcelona / Vicente Zambrano
The five projects behind the new Paral·lel

A number of new initiatives aimed at halting the decline of Barcelona’s old theatre boulevard are offering fresh hope. The new Paral·lel is beginning to take shape, not just...

A woman serves customers in a grocery shop in Poblenou. © Imatges Barcelona / Vicente Zambrano
'Bodegas' vs brunch cafés: Barcelona’s identity in a global context

As century-old bodegas rooted in the city’s everyday life and working-class culture are gradually disappearing, a globalised, stylised model tailored for fast turnover and...

Anne Carson took part in two events at the Barcelona Poetry Festival, at the CCCB and at the Palau de la Música Catalana. © CCCB, 2025 / Miquel Taverna
Anne Carson. The poetic being

It’s hard to pin down a single verb to describe Anne Carson’s presence in Barcelona. You might say she visited, passed through, recited, read or spoke. And once she’d gone, what...

Infants a la gespa i públic a les graderies del Club Esportiu Martinenc.
A city for playing sport – and enjoying it as a spectator

Regular physical activity not only improves health but also fosters social connection and strengthens communities. In Barcelona, two in every three adults engage in some form of sport –...

© Ajuntament de Barcelona
Print and digital books. Is publishing 89,000 titles a year sustainable?

According to the Ministry of Culture, 89,347 titles were published in Spain in 2024. Of these, 67.1% were in print – around 60,000 books. If you stacked all those printed volumes...

© Jordi Play
“It’s important that video games get recognition on a par with other cultural industries”

Conrad Roset

While making coffee, Conrad Roset (1984, Terrassa) shares some of the ideas he’s mulling over for his next project. It’s Monday morning, and the illustrator welcomes me into his...

Retrospective exhibition of Botero, which closed last July at the Palau Martorell. © Palau Martorell
Barcelona: an art capital with a private-sector edge?

Barcelona now boasts around fifteen private art museums and exhibition spaces. Is this a new phenomenon, or merely a side-effect of the city’s booming tourism...

Mural in tribute to Candel on Carrer de la Muga, in Marina de Port, commissioned by Sàpiens magazine and painted by muralist Roc Blackblock. © Enrique Marco
A nation of immigrants. Candel by Genís Sinca

It’s striking that the first biography of the author of Els altres catalans [The Other Catalans] has taken so long to appear. Genís...

No War sticker, during a demonstration in Barcelona calling for peace for the Ukrainian people. © Imatges Barcelona / Àlex Losada
When asylum becomes a privilege

Since time immemorial, human history has been shaped by the constant movement of people: hundreds of thousands fleeing or relocating due to economic hardship, war, climate change...

Floods in the Ruhr. Floods in Warsaw, by Mario Armengol
Mario Armengol, graphic satire against fascism

The Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (MNAC) is hosting the exhibition Ink Against Hitler until 11 January. The show brings to...

Illustration ©Natàlia Pàmies
Family feuds

While I hang out the washing, Hannah is sitting on the sofa watching telly. Whenever I’m around, she always puts on TV3 – a sort of magnanimous gesture, smiling...

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