The processes of democratization of the Iberian societies: the cases Os Anos do Século (1979) and Rocío (1980)

Abstract

The processes of democratization of the Iberian societies initially opened a stage of liberation from the memory of the dictatorial past to later adopt strategies of “reconciliation”, accompanied by the silencing of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and the Portuguese Colonial War (1961-1974). In this text I question the politics of memory developed in the first decade of the transition to democracy, in Portugal and Spain, from the cases Os Anos do Século (1979) and Rocío (1980), as means of reproducing memories that defied the political, ecclesiastical and military powers, launched legal proceedings, mobilized the media and called public opinion to a debate on the right to freedom of expression.