“Catalians have learned a forged version of history for many years”

Ironically, John Elliot begins the story of Spain through Catalonia. Before he started writing, he had traveled along the Iberian Peninsula with a group of friends, driving a truck from the British Army, sleeping in third-hand houses, or under olive trees.

It was the 50th and the poverty seemed everywhere, but what captured the imagination of history was that it won the Prince of Asturias award in 1996 was the dignity of the people in Spain who were held in spite of hunger and fatigue. <x)

Today, Spain appears in many ways to have avoided the 20th century, passing from the 1800s right into the 21st century. From back to modernity, all of this at the speed of light. “Historians like me writing about this place made the same mistake,” he says. We were unable to predict the drastic changes that took place from 1978 to today. We did not analyze the impact of the desire for reconciliation that had resulted from suffering during the civil war. ”

Elliot calls himself a historian because he doesn't like the word "hyppanist." But at 87 years of age, he agreed to speak at the inaugural session of the Hispanism Tribe, which was held at the Senate Institute, which has assembled other foreign school students in Spain's history like Paul Prescott, Ian Gibson and Stanley Payne.

I think Spain's history has suffered external surveillance: a kind of feeling of superiority that can be summed up as we foreigners know your story better than you,” notes Oxford University's well-deserved professor.

Elliot's field of expertise is the period from the 15th to the 18th century, and within it are some aspects that he is not so familiar with. It includes Catalonia and the revolt that King Philip IV suffered there, and Portugal, in 1640. Elliot's first study of Spain, which he wrote in the 1950 ' s, has to do with the matter.

“was one of the most serious episodes of his reign. Today's crisis is partly rooted there. Elliot said:

In 1640 the republic of Catalonia, under the Duke of Olyvares, lasted for a week with initial support from France, which later withdrew. If we change these elements for the unilateral declaration of independence, with Europe not promoting the division, and with the plethora of business taking place in Catalania, very few seem to have changed in four centuries.

I understand the reasons that may have led up here,” says Elliot. Especially after Franco's time. But failure to appreciate the incredible change that has occurred in Spain and Catalonia over the past 40 years is a terrible mistake. ”

Elliott feels there are other elements that explain why things are the way they are today.

“Education, for example. With powers transferred to autonomy, along with 90th, under (long term prime minister) Jordy Pujol, generations of people have been deceived by a false version of history - a nationalistic fraud. They have deliberately hidden parts that would have to provoke debate over progress achieved. ”

But neither has Spanish nationalism helped, says the historian, which recommends recognition of diversity as a factor that makes everyone rich. Elliot believes that Catalonia and Bask, above all, should be known as nations, but he also thinks that in the effort to offer as much economic and political power to these countries as possible along the democratic transition, some regions may have gone too far. But neither the federal state structure is a good option: “in Spain would be very artificial, it wouldn't work. ”

Elliot's last book's gonna be on fire by the end of 2018. In it, it compares the cases of Scotland and Catalonia, and finds different differences between them.

A difference is that, contrary to what is believed, economic and political centralism does not match Spain. It works in Britain, but not here. London is the capital of both fronts, while in Spain, Madrid is a political centre in the sense of decision-making, but Barcelona was the economic capital for centuries. ”

The manuscript is not yet finished, however. I miss half of the last chapter. It's pretty uncertain these days, as the end is being written. ”

“Is he optimistic about what will follow? I'm an optimist by nature. But you have to consider that not everything in the world is rational. ” Periscope