Monografico_4_EN_Doxa_31_The_notion_of_homeland

1. Introduction

In the Spanish political language, the term Patria (homeland) is a tainted word from the point of view of its connotations. Like national symbols, patriotism is commonly associated with the conservative vision of Spain. Progressive or regional nationalist parties generally avoid referring to Spain; instead they use expressions such as “the Spanish State”, “this country” or “our nation”.

This reluctance is not new; in the 1930s, regional nationalist parties set the term Iberia in vogue to avoid using the word Spain (García Santos, 1980: 514). This asymmetry is also present in the political discourse of “la Transición”, that is, the Spanish transition to democracy after Franco´s death; symbols such as the national anthem or the word Patria (homeland) were at that point in time exclusively used by the right-wing parties (De Santiago, 1992: 197). The constitutional flag is also contested by the progressive forces: on the one hand, because it too strongly evokes Franco´s dictatorship, since the colors and layout are the same, the only difference being the coat of arms; on the other hand, because Catalan, Basque and Galician nationalists feel more attached to their regional flags (Aguilera de Prat and Vernet Llobet, 1993: 150). Still today, almost a century after the end of the Segunda República (a democratic period between 1931 and 1936 when the Spanish Civil war began), a part of the progressive and nationalist spectrum vindicates the republican legacy and the republican flag, and rejects the official one, partly as a criticism of the “la Transición”.

For this ideological sector, the voices homeland or Spain are associated with the desire for a linguistic and cultural uniformity, and with the authoritarian aftertaste of Franco´s regime or of the Spanish Empire. This connection made by a part of the left of the Spanish nation with anti-democratic values explains why Spanish nationalism is seen as reactionary, in contrast to regional nationalisms, which are considered progressive movements that legitimately claim the recognition of their nation within the state. The left-wing party Unidos Podemos defends, for example, the plurinationality of the Spanish state while simultaneously criticizing the nationalist discourse of conservative parties such as Partido Popular or Vox.

The reasons for the association of the national symbols with the conservative side of the political spectrum are, therefore, twofold: on the one hand, the conscious abandonment by the left of symbols which are seen as reactionary; on the other, the appropriation by conservatives of voices such as homeland or of elements such as the flag, used, for example, in demonstrations against abortion or homosexual marriage.

The position of Unidos Podemos regarding the notions of Spanish homeland and nation has been ambiguous from the beginning. They have criticized the conservatives´ elaboration of a nationalist discourse or their attempt to cover up corruption scandals “wrapping themselves up in the flag”, but at the same time Unidos Podemos has also tried to redefine the patriotic discourse from a progressive perspective. In this sense, the strategy has consisted –in line with the postulates of cognitive linguistics– not so much in refuting the mental frame, but rather, as in trying to establish a new one (Lakoff, 2008a and 2008b).

Although the defense of the term homeland and of national symbols has traditionally been linked to the conservative forces, many progressive voices have asked for decades to redefine this setting and provide it with a social content, linked to the defense of the welfare state. During the “la Transición”, the socialist member of the Spanish Parliament Solé Tura –father of the 1978 Constitution– asked to get rid of the euphemism “Spanish State” and use Spain instead: