The World In Protest, Revolution or Civil War? Part Nine
This was first published in early 2012.
"Polarization of the Spanish Civil War" Part 4
The Spanish Republic was set against the major backdrop of the Great Depression. Escalating unemployment had an impact on Spain, just as it did in many other countries. After two years of leftist coalition government (1931-1933), new elections were in the offing, and the governing coalition was showing the strains of policy decisions, which had been altered by the stiff opposition encountered by the political right. The farther left on the political spectrum a person was, the more likely that person was to be disappointed in the government's progress in moving Spain into a more equitable society. While those of the more moderate center-left political view saw much progress, the political right, by comparison, was totally mobilized against the government, and wealthy landowners and industrialists hired groups of thugs, ah, I mean, individuals, to break (literally) strikes and protests by violence (to be fair, some protests contained acts of violence, also). Powerful moneyed interests funded a campaign to tar the left with being anti-Catholic (some were, but certainly not all) and even communistic (again, some of the far left were communists, but overall, the left was more in the model of other left-leaning groups in other European countries).* The deluge of money spent by the right convinced many a Spaniard to believe the stories, and the election went to the political right, some of whom promised special interest groups they would repeal the laws initiated by the government from 1931 to 1933. Some right wing extremists admired and openly praised Mussolini's Fascist Italy and the new fascist dictator of Germany, Nazi Adolf Hitler. The Spanish political scene was becoming more and more polarized, and less prone to compromise.
* All "democracy" is not created equally. Those individuals with lots of money to spend on political campaigns often have a bigger say in politics than the average person. The recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that unleashed the so called "superpacs" on Americans is a case in point, as it permits corporations, unions and individuals (guess which ones have more money?) to contribute unlimited amounts of money as independent expenditures for political purposes. That means independent of specific campaigns. For example, political action committee (PAC) "Americans For Apple Pie" (fictitious, as far as I know) can raise unlimited amounts from corporations, unions and individuals to support candidate "John Rambleon," but the candidate cannot legally be involved with that PAC. While it is not a given, as we've seen in the ongoing Republican contest for the 2012 presidential nomination, PACs "tend" to run very negative ads against those opposing their "chosen" candidate. Wait until the Republicans have a nominee and the actual campaign starts! Then the Democratic PACs will be on the offensive too. This upcoming election may well be the nastiest ever. And then there are the races for governor and Congress, too!
WORD HISTORY:
Stead-This word traces back to Indo European "sta/steh," with the notion of "stand," which then produced, "stetis," with the notion of "standing, being in place." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "stadiz," with the general meaning "place, spot, location." This then gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "stede," also with the meaning "place, location, position." Some English dialects apparently later spelled it "sted," before the modern version. It is more common today in the compounds "instead" (literally "in place of") and "homestead," but also used alone, although less commonly, as in "In Mary's stead, Judy went to the meeting." After the Germanic dialects that became English left northern Germany for Britain, forms of the word in some of the other Germanic dialects developed the idea of "town, city," (see below) in addition to just the meaning "place." Very common in various forms in the other Germanic languages: German has "Stadt" (city), "Statt" ("place, spot") and "Stätte" (stead, living place); Low German Saxon has "Stääd" ("place") and "Stad" ("city"), some Low German dialect has "Städ" (stead) and "Staut" (city); Dutch has stad (city), West Frisian "stêd" (city) and "stee" (place); Icelandic "staður" (place); Danish has "stad" (city) and "sted" (place); Norwegian has "sted" (place); and Swedish has "stad" (town).
"Polarization of the Spanish Civil War" Part 4
The Spanish Republic was set against the major backdrop of the Great Depression. Escalating unemployment had an impact on Spain, just as it did in many other countries. After two years of leftist coalition government (1931-1933), new elections were in the offing, and the governing coalition was showing the strains of policy decisions, which had been altered by the stiff opposition encountered by the political right. The farther left on the political spectrum a person was, the more likely that person was to be disappointed in the government's progress in moving Spain into a more equitable society. While those of the more moderate center-left political view saw much progress, the political right, by comparison, was totally mobilized against the government, and wealthy landowners and industrialists hired groups of thugs, ah, I mean, individuals, to break (literally) strikes and protests by violence (to be fair, some protests contained acts of violence, also). Powerful moneyed interests funded a campaign to tar the left with being anti-Catholic (some were, but certainly not all) and even communistic (again, some of the far left were communists, but overall, the left was more in the model of other left-leaning groups in other European countries).* The deluge of money spent by the right convinced many a Spaniard to believe the stories, and the election went to the political right, some of whom promised special interest groups they would repeal the laws initiated by the government from 1931 to 1933. Some right wing extremists admired and openly praised Mussolini's Fascist Italy and the new fascist dictator of Germany, Nazi Adolf Hitler. The Spanish political scene was becoming more and more polarized, and less prone to compromise.
* All "democracy" is not created equally. Those individuals with lots of money to spend on political campaigns often have a bigger say in politics than the average person. The recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that unleashed the so called "superpacs" on Americans is a case in point, as it permits corporations, unions and individuals (guess which ones have more money?) to contribute unlimited amounts of money as independent expenditures for political purposes. That means independent of specific campaigns. For example, political action committee (PAC) "Americans For Apple Pie" (fictitious, as far as I know) can raise unlimited amounts from corporations, unions and individuals to support candidate "John Rambleon," but the candidate cannot legally be involved with that PAC. While it is not a given, as we've seen in the ongoing Republican contest for the 2012 presidential nomination, PACs "tend" to run very negative ads against those opposing their "chosen" candidate. Wait until the Republicans have a nominee and the actual campaign starts! Then the Democratic PACs will be on the offensive too. This upcoming election may well be the nastiest ever. And then there are the races for governor and Congress, too!
WORD HISTORY:
Stead-This word traces back to Indo European "sta/steh," with the notion of "stand," which then produced, "stetis," with the notion of "standing, being in place." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "stadiz," with the general meaning "place, spot, location." This then gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "stede," also with the meaning "place, location, position." Some English dialects apparently later spelled it "sted," before the modern version. It is more common today in the compounds "instead" (literally "in place of") and "homestead," but also used alone, although less commonly, as in "In Mary's stead, Judy went to the meeting." After the Germanic dialects that became English left northern Germany for Britain, forms of the word in some of the other Germanic dialects developed the idea of "town, city," (see below) in addition to just the meaning "place." Very common in various forms in the other Germanic languages: German has "Stadt" (city), "Statt" ("place, spot") and "Stätte" (stead, living place); Low German Saxon has "Stääd" ("place") and "Stad" ("city"), some Low German dialect has "Städ" (stead) and "Staut" (city); Dutch has stad (city), West Frisian "stêd" (city) and "stee" (place); Icelandic "staður" (place); Danish has "stad" (city) and "sted" (place); Norwegian has "sted" (place); and Swedish has "stad" (town).
Labels: English, etymology, Germanic languages, money in politics, Spain, Spanish Civil War, Spanish Republic
posted by Randy at 1:03 AM
2 Comments:
Interesting about 'stead.' I see the connection yr making about Spain in 1930s and U.S. now. Very polarized, with segment willing to spend lots on money to stop change.
My idea too Johnnie. Similar to America. I guess that's one of the points to the articles.
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