Round Table

From past to present resistance, connections and examples in contemporary Spain

With : Colectivo de Inmigrantes Españoles en Montreal

The round table will be around the contemporary resistance in Spain and its connection to antifascist resistances that fought Franco.

Los Fantasmas is an illustrated narration dealing with the laws of silence and the ways in which silenced histories emerge and survive, in spite of the powers in place. Los Fantasmas is the story of mass graves in Spain. Experts have calculated that more than 200,000 bodies had been buried in mass graves during the Spanish war (1936-1939) and the years of Franco’s fascist dictatorship (1939-1975). These are the bodies and civilians victim of a genocide supported by a fascist strategy of terror. Until now, Spain has refused to establish a process of acknowledgement and restoration of these crimes. The courage of the population against Franco and the memory of this genocide inspire now the fight of hundreds of thousands of people in Spain who are fighting the government criminal policies and advocating for the recovering of this silenced history.

A queer spanish artist, Coco Riot believes that art is not a tool for social change but social change itself.

Coco grew up with pens in their hands and dreams of revolutions, friendships and walls to draw onto. Coco loves drawing visual narration and creating intricate story nets with drawings. Coco’s art has been shown in contemporary art museums in Spain, reknown galleries in Toronto, Montreal, Seoul and New York, political events in Berlin, Amsterdam and Buenos Aires, and friends’ living rooms all around.
Coco is the author of many zines and Llueven Queers, the first Spanish graphic novel on queer life.

Los Fantasmas es una narración ilustrada que reflexiona sobre las leyes del silencio y cómo las historias silenciadas emergen y sobreviven, a pesar de los poderes que imponen una borradura de hechos y personas. Los Fantasmas es la historia de estas fosas comunes y esta historia silenciada en España. En 2010, expertos historiadores calcularon que más de 200.000 personas seguían enterradas en fosas comunes y cunetas y que España ocupa el segundo lugar mundial en el número de fosas. Estos cuerpos pertenecen a aquell*s que lucharon contra el fascismo o a l*s que se encontraron en su camino, civiles víctimas de un genocidio enfocado en crear terror. Este régimen fascista comienza en la Guerra Civil (1936–39), continúa en la dictadura franquista (1939–75) y renace ahora en las políticas actuales. La lucha y la resistencia antifascista inspira ahora los movimientos sociales que luchan contra las políticas fascistas del gobierno y por la recuperación de esta memoria histórica.