A Pregnant, Pacifist Defense Minister for Spain by Marian Horvat

Cultural Clash in Pictures

A Pregnant, Pacifist Defense Minister for Spain
Marian T. Horvat, Ph.D.

Point de Vue, April 23, 2008

Who is this sullen-faced, pregnant woman who passes by Spanish troops standing in strict military attention? A casual observer? A war protester? A curious pedestrian?

No, she is Carmen Chacón, recently-appointed Defense Minister of the Spanish government. After reviewing the troops at a ceremony in which she officially took over her post, she commanded them to say “Viva España! Viva el Rey!”[Long live Spain, long live the King,] and gave a brief speech explaining her appointment as a “sign of progress.” (1) No soldier dared say a word of protest, but there must have been some who were wondering what kind of strange progress this is.

The 37-year old Chacon has been a pacifist all her life. Suddenly, she is the head of Spain’s armed forces. Making the appointment even more ludicrous, the new Minister of Defense has absolutely no military background or experience. Commenting on the absurdity of the appointment, an editorialist in El Mundo noted that with the promotion of Chacón, the socialist Prime Minister Jose Zapatero had succeeded in entering the Guinness Book of Records for the most ridiculous initiative. (2)

Others, including this writer, views the appointment more somberly, as a deliberate act to sabotage what little spirit might be left in the Spain’s military, humiliated by its withdrawal from Iraq and the great influx of women into its ranks the last seven years, giving it the highest number of women soldiers (13.5%) of any army in Europe. When Zapatero gave Chacon this post he in effect elevated her to the rank of general, another affront to the honor of the armed forces.

There has been some cautious criticism in Spain from rightist circles regarding the appointment, but surprisingly little. It just doesn’t do in today’s socialist Spain to belittle women’s rights and gender equality, which have become almost the new religion of the once-Catholic country. Some anonymous military sources were quoted as saying that the choice of Chacon was a “provocation as she wants to turn the armed forces into a non-governmental organization with guns.” A conservative military association consisting mostly of retired soldiers called Chacón's appointment a sign of "contempt." (3) But sadly missing was the outrage and indignation one might have expected from the once-glorious Iberian country famous for its constant militant spirit during most of its history. Today’s socialist Spain is being feminized, pacified and socialized.

Zapatero, center, surrounded by his ministers - Point de Vue, April 23, 2008

One need only take a look at the new cabinet of Zapatero, elected in March (2008) to his second term, to realize the ostentatious feminization of his government. For the first time in history the cabinet has more women than men. In his last term the socialist Prime Minister appointed equal numbers of men and women; this time he went one better and proudly boasted he has a majority of women – nine women to the eight men. His Deputy Prime Minister is feminist María Teresa Fernández de la Vega, who actively campaigned for the law allowing abortion and relentlessly promotes women's rights and pacifism.

The other appointment raising notice is the head of Zapatero’s newly created Ministry for Equality. The job went to 31-year-old Bibiana Aído, making her the youngest minister in the history of democratic Spain. She also comes to the high government post with a preposterous résumé, as the past propaganda director of flamenco dancing.

A new Sodom and Gomorrah

Promoting women is just one part of the much larger agenda of Zapatero’s socialist government. In his first term, Zapatero legalized gay marriage, liberalized divorce laws, and required political parties to practice gender parity. He and his anti-Church cabinet are bent on a social “reform” that strips the Catholic Faith of its once strong influence on Spanish society. For example, today a pro-homosexual “civics class” is mandatory in all schools – Catholic and public. It indoctrinates children with the sexual ideology and social agenda of the left. (3)

These and other changes have prompted Madrid’s Archbishop Cardinal Antonio Rouco Varela to state, “Madrid has turned into Sodom and Gomorrah.” (4)

Make no mistake about it. Spain, for centuries considered the most Catholic and militant country of Europe, is already a pacifist nation and is quickly becoming communist. It is a revolution accomplished not by a bloody civil war, but communist legislation and an action moving the tendencies of the Spaniards to the very opposite of its authentic identity of the past.

1. “Les Zapateras à la Zarzuela,” Point de Vue, April 23, 2008
2. Ibid.
3. “Spanish right wing media harshly attack the women in the Zapatero cabinet,” Typically Spanish online, April 15, 2008
4. “Legal Status of Catholic Church in Spain Threatened over Opposition to Citizenship Course,” Life Site News online, Bulletin #167, August 30, 2007

Share

Follow us

Posted May 21, 2008

Related Topics of Interest

  An Earthquake Shaking the Spanish monarchy

  The King Debases the Order of the Golden Fleece

  Styles Reflect the Moral Profile of Peoples and Epochs

  The Spanish Shame

  The Role of Authority in the Family