Germany and Spain - a comparison.

For years now the German government dictated, like the imperialist power they always were, the economic and government policies to be adopted in the peripheral countries of Europe, specifically those who are suffering most from the economic crisis. They do not do it in any way to improve the situation of these countries, as for them people like those who live in Spain are corrupt, lazy and naturally inferior to their sacrificed people.

Being honest, we must dismiss the myths that have been plaguing the minds of ordinary Germans for quite some time. First, the Mediterranean isn't the backwater of Europe, nor is it a region ripe for the economic "guidance" of Daddy Germany. The vanguard of Europe never lied in Berlin nor in Frankfurt, but in the Southern edges of Europe. We must elaborate on the history of either Germany and Spain, a comparison seldom done due to the lack of real connection both countries had between the ages... or so it seems.

Contrary to popular belief, Spain, and not any other country, suffered more than any other in the history of the 20th Century. This catastrophic history was horrible for all of Europe, which included the rise and fall of tyrannical and nightmarish dictatorships, genocides and all possible cruelties imaginable to man kind (most committed by Germany). But it was Spain that suffered the brunt of it, at least in Europe. Following the Spanish Civil War, which obviously had a very sad ending to it, here Spaniards had to suffer 40 years of Fascist ultraconservative dictatorship led by General Francisco Franco - a dictatorship that never really ended, as much as "transformed" or "transitioned" to a democratic version of itself. In the 1940's one would find a country ravaged by fear, war, and a hunger that was even more catastrophic than the Spanish Civil War itself. After the fall of the bloody dictatorship, the transition to democracy was put in place by the elites who benefited from the previous regime, including the Spanish Crown and the Catholic Church, who in turn would set the tone for the establishment of a Spanish identity devoid of political, intellectual and real discussion of the subjects that affected them most. 

The Transition to Democracy (ToD) was soon idolized by a generation who believed it to be a solution of a Century of conflict. But it was far from it, for soon enough democracy was curtailed by the fear of its own people, of the notion that without the ToD in Spain there would be a second civil war of even worse catastrophic results, and that therefore one has no right to question its very foundations, even if they are questionable in themselves. In this context Spain entered the European Union - a weakened country of immense potential, yet not only lagging behind but also inheriting the vices of its previous regime: nepotism, corruption, abuse of police and military force, and an overall self-imposed limitation of its own intellectual capabilities to solve its own problems.

But regardless, Spain somehow entered into the 21st Century in the vanguard of Europe on social issues like Gay Marriage, Gender Equality, and many other subjects that will never go away. The vanguard has become so vibrant that finally, and unexpectedly by the political elites of this country, on the 15th of May 2011 a popular and peaceful revolt exploded, and soon enough political discussion filled the streets, including the rise of political and social platforms that are gaining strength by the day in the face of the increased imposition from the German State that commands the enslaved European Union.

What is the comparison between Spain and Germany? Simple: The German people never really solved their own problems, not by their own effort. In fact, never in the history of Germany were they able to be responsible with their own power. Those, like Bismarck, who tried to establish a reasonable use of State resources were expelled from their political life and soon enough irresponsible mad dogs took over their governments, starting with Kaiser Wilhelm II, moving through Hitler and ending with Chancellor Angela Merkel.

World War II didn't end with the Germans deposing Hitler, unlike the Italians did to Mussolini, the Greeks did to their military junta, and the Portuguese did to Salazar. The Germans were loyal till the very end. It took quite the unhealthy dose of Soviet brutality and their Western Allies to finish off the mad dogs they put in power. And indeed, the Nazis, for example, never hid the fact that their "totalitarian regime" was democratically put there by an irresponsible, infantile and corrupt people, who preferred to blame others (the Jews) for all the problems they themselves created.

Once foreign powers were forced to put the Nazis out of power, against the will of the Germans, the Germans had no economic power to recover. So the United States soon enough put into place the Marshal Plan, which was in essence a flow of money into West Germany, while the East responded by a parallel Soviet economic intervention from their part. Germans were given the gift of rebuilding their country, again by foreigners and not by their own effort - and in fact, Turkish, Italian and Spanish immigrants actually built it for them. As for their political systems? They imitated the superpowers that supported them, in the West and the East respectively.

It will take Soviet indifference and Polish civil revolts to allow the Berlin Wall to collapse - again, not by the effort of the German people. Again, they were given a gift by the world's superpowers to become one country again. And yet what did they do with it? They supported a government that ravaged the East economically, and established a discriminatory and ageist system of selections to the workforce, excluding basically all those who are from the East and above 35. But the German economy became the strongest in Europe, and soon enough they started to dictate what goes in the European Union.

And therefore, it is fascinating that suddenly this irresponsible people, with such irresponsible corrupt and self-interested governments, would claim the right to dictate to the Spanish people, the greatest European victim of the 20th Century after the Jewish people, what to do based on Spanish irresponsibility. And the worse of it is that all this hard-line establish by the current German government of Angela Merkel is a cynical ploy to cheapen the workforce of Southern Europe so that German factories could enslave us here at the expense of the German working class' rights and employability. But then, what can we expect of a country that chooses the harbingers of their own misery?