Acoustic Conflict and the Spanish Far Right During the Transition to Democracy

• Autores: Tom Whittaker
• Localización: The Routledge Hispanic studies companion to twentieth and twenty-first century Spain: ideas, practices, imaginings / coord. por Eduardo Ledesma, Luisa Elena Delgado, 2025, ISBN 978-1-032-96468-3, págs. 195-206
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • In the years immediately prior to and after Francisco Franco’s death in 1975, Spanish urban centers emerged as sites of political tension and social disorder, wherein conflict was frequently played out through sound. While mass demonstrations finally became legalized in 1976, these were also accompanied by a series of counter-protests and disturbances staged by the far right. Indeed, the auditoria of Spanish cinemas, theaters, bull rings and other public spaces increasingly became noisy sites of political contestation for those who sought to undermine democratic change.This chapter explores the acoustic strategies that were deployed by the far right during these years. As well as examining the way in which noise was used as a means of the political re-appropriation of urban space, it will also explore the role of sound – in particular, shouting, singing and chanting – in the production of acoustic conflict. In doing so, the chapter will draw on newspaper reports, historical sources, sound archive recordings, documentary footage and “earwitness” reports, as well as engaging with sound studies theorists such as Brandon LaBelle and Steven Connor. The chapter argues that these sonic disturbances are a crucial yet overlooked aspect in historical and cultural studies of the Transition to democracy. It concludes by pointing to the re-emergence of these acoustic strategies by the far right in contemporary Spain, as recently heard through Vox’s reappropriation of the “Cara al sol” and the neo-nazi disturbances that took place during the screening of Alejandro Amenábar’s film Mientras dure la guerra (2019) in Valencia.