Spain is renaming its streets

[jirit]

Though Francisco Franco’s totalitarian Spanish regime was toppled nearly 40 years ago, its legacy is still present in the country. Walk through the cities of Spain, and you’re likely to find streets named after regime members like general José Millán Astray, attorney Adolfo Muñoz Alonso, minister José Enrique Varela, and many more (link in Spanish).

But not for long.

In February, the government—applying a 2007 law that promised to get rid of the marks of autocratic heritage in public spaces—announced it would retire these street names. Now, cities around the country are renaming them after women, answering the complaint that about 90% of streets in Spain’s cities are named after men—and those honoring women usually reference saints (link in Spanish).

More here:

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016...l&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

 

[Icacos]

Seems a good idea and long over due, but naming 80% of a town's street after women to correct an imbalance ...?

 

[jirit]

Obviously maps of the camino will need to get updated especially those sections that pass through cities and towns...

 

[SYates]

Obviously maps of the camino will need to get updated especially those sections that pass through cities and towns...

ROFL - That will make some guide writers very, very unhappy! Seriously, good idea but did anybody think of the cost involved also for others (guide writers, map creators etc.)? Buen Camino, SY

 

[Saint Mike II]

ROFL - That will make some guide writers very, very unhappy! Seriously, good idea but did anybody think of the cost involved also for others (guide writers, map creators etc.)? Buen Camino, SY

SY - with digital publishing is not a "real" cost - more an issue of time (I suggest). We can do our bit to help out Brierley and Co by posting name changes on this forum or on their update website. Cheers

 

[dougfitz]

SY - with digital publishing is not a "real" cost - more an issue of time (I suggest). We can do our bit to help out Brierley and Co by posting name changes on this forum or on their update website. Cheers

When did time stop costing money?

 

[peregrina2000]

I was interested to learn how many streets might actually still be unchanged (most big cities changed theirs years ago), and found a very interesting article (in Spanish, but with a map). The map shows all the towns that still have streets named after Franco. I remember seeing one on the Levante near Toledo somewhere.

http://www.elconfidencial.com/espan...quistas-espana-ley-memoria-historica_1126620/.

I don't think it's going to cause a huge problem for guidebook writers or others, since most of these streets are in town with fewer than 2000. IN most cases, I assume they will just change them back to their pre-Franco names.

Last year walking the Ruta del Ebro/Castellano-ARagones, I stayed in San Leonardo de Yague. The "de Yague" part was supposed to be removed, as he was one of Franco's generals. But I saw new road signs with the name still there. I was interested to see that the stamp on my credential merely said "San Leonardo", so some parts of the government have complied with the law.

 

[oursonpolaire]

There is the Avenida Generalisimo Franco still around in San Vicente de la Barquera, just down the street from the Plaza Juan Antonio (Primo de Rivera). Primo de Rivera is commemorated in Vozmediano (just southwest of Tarazona) on the same corner as calle General Mola-- generally, local authorities are fairly diligent in name-changing but in some parts of the country, they seemed to lack enthusiasm. A Spanish friend told me that most streets named Constitucion were originally named after Franco.

 

[VNwalking]

When did time stop costing money?

On the Camino, in the middle of the meseta--when time collapses into itself and there's only this step--and the human construction of the rat race, and money, and all of that is utterly irrelevant.

(You can relax, Doug. I'm (only partly) joking...really. The conventional world is real enough on one level, and we have to live in it. But what's behind the curtain is far deeper and the Camino reveals it...but I digress, sorry mods!)

 

[GreatDane]

For the second time in my life, but two different homes, the city is changing the house number. We have a year to tell all our accounts and friends about the change, we are not to do a change of address (per the USPS) and junk mail will still find us (darn).

 

[AlanSykes]

I was interested to learn how many streets might actually still be unchanged (most big cities changed theirs years ago), and found a very interesting article (in Spanish, but with a map). The map shows all the towns that still have streets named after Franco. I remember seeing one on the Levante near Toledo somewhere.

Thanks for the map, fascinating. How surprising that there are no franquiste streets at all in Catalonia ...

As I teenager I made my first visit to Spain with my parents in 1976 and what is now Barcelona's Avinguda Diagonal was then the Avenida del Generalísimo Francisco Franco. I'll bet that was one of the first names to be changed.

Tábara, on the camino Sanabrés, is going to have to change proportionalately more names than most, as it has streets named after Franco, Primo de Rivera, Sotelo, Capitán Cortés etc. On the plus side, it can probably leave unchanged its Calle Abrazamozas "donde había "chicas de vida alegre" que abrazaban a agricultores".

 

[Mike Trebert]

Though Francisco Franco’s totalitarian Spanish regime was toppled nearly 40 years ago, its legacy is still present in the country. Walk through the cities of Spain, and you’re likely to find streets named after regime members like general José Millán Astray, attorney Adolfo Muñoz Alonso, minister José Enrique Varela, and many more (link in Spanish).

But not for long.

In February, the government—applying a 2007 law that promised to get rid of the marks of autocratic heritage in public spaces—announced it would retire these street names. Now, cities around the country are renaming them after women, answering the complaint that about 90% of streets in Spain’s cities are named after men—and those honoring women usually reference saints (link in Spanish).

More here:

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016...l&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

It's absolutely necessary to mark a change to a new era even after so many years have passed. That there has been reluctance for so long for whatever reason to mark this change, then all the more reason to do so. Such markers are so much more important in these increasingly dark days when every gesture and symbol of an increasing sense of acceptance of each other's humanity is sadly necessary. I don't believe for an instant that the "spiritual" world of the Camino is separate from this mortal and material world. Such a dichotomy is artificial and irresponsible, in my opinion. This is one solitary precious world and we must be awake in it and our hearts must be alive in it.

Buen Camino, - Mike

 

[LTfit]

Last year walking the Ruta del Ebro/Castellano-ARagones, I stayed in San Leonardo de Yague. The "de Yague" part was supposed to be removed, as he was one of Franco's generals. But I saw new road signs with the name still there. I was interested to see that the stamp on my credential merely said "San Leonardo", so some parts of the government have complied with the law.

I don't believe that San Leonardo is going to be changing its name anywhere in the near future. The Yaguë family still lives in this town of 2000 and the PP rules. As you know Laurie the local theatre still bears his name and in the Plaza in front of the town hall there is a memorial in his name. Wasn't he known as the Butcher of Badajoz?

 

[peregrina2000]

I was interested to see what, if any, progress had been made in San Leonardo -- when I was there last year there were articles in the paper describing how the city was going to reach an "agreement" to conform with the Ley de la Memoria. I found the dispute very interesting and described it when I was walking -- https://www.caminodesantiago.me/com...ino-castellano-aragonés-2016.42195/#post-4326

Well, I couldn't find any updates on San Leonardo, but it turns out that there is still resistance going on. Three PP mayors were "honored" by the Francisco Franco federation for resisting the demand that they change the name of their town. http://www.elperiodico.com/es/noticias/politica/tres-cargos-premiados-honrar-franco-5686591

More than that, the same federation will provide legal assistance to anyone who wants to resist the law, which, it should be noted, was passed a decade ago! http://www.elperiodico.com/es/notic...des-desobedecer-ley-memoria-historica-5705204.

@alansykes there is a picture on those articles that you will like.

 

[annakappa]

Well, it could all be resolved in the best, non political way, by copying what happens here in Costa Rica: NO ( or practically no) street names!!!
Here it all works on ancient and often obsolete landmarks, or, in our case, the directions are given from a local popular supermarket!(from PALI, 200 metres south, 300 metres west, corner Adobe house painted terracotta with blue railings) !Of course, you have to know where this supermarket is! you also have to know your Cardinal positions!!
Welcome to Costa Rica!

 

[Lynda t]

I walked without a guide book. Just follow the yellow lines. Or blue for Fatima.