Dali was fascist scum. http://www.counterpunch.org/navarro12062003.html

The Jackboot of Dada

Salvador Dali, Fascist

By VICENTE NAVARRO

The year 2004, the centenary of Dali's birth, has been proclaimed "the year of Dali" in many countries. Led by the Spanish establishment, with the King at the helm, there has been an international mobilization in the artistic community to pay homage to Dali. But this movement has been silent on a rather crucial item of Dali's biography: his active and belligerent support for Spain's fascist regime, one of the most repressive dictatorial regimes in Europe during the twentieth century.

For every political assassination carried out by Mussolini's fascist regime, there were 10,000 such assassinations by the Franco regime. More than 200,000 people were killed or died in concentration camps between 1939 (when Franco defeated the Spanish Republic, with the military assistance of Hitler and Mussolini) and 1945 (the end of World War II, an anti-fascist war, in Europe). And 30,000 people remain desaparecidos in Spain; no one knows where their bodies are. The Aznar government (Bush's strongest ally in continental Europe) has ignored the instructions of the U.N. Human Rights Agency to help families find the bodies of their loved ones. And the Spanish Supreme Court, appointed by the Aznar government, has even refused to change the legal status of those who, assassinated by the Franco regime because of their struggle for liberty and freedom, remain "criminals."

Now the Spanish establishment, with the assistance of the Catalan establishment, wants to mobilize international support for their painter, Dali, portraying him as a "rebel," an "anti-establishment figure" who stood up to the dominant forces of art. They compare Dali with Picasso. A minor literary figure in Catalonia, Baltasar Porcel (chairman of the Dali year commission), has even said that if Picasso, "who was a Stalinist" (Porcel's term), can receive international acclaim, then Dali, who admittedly supported fascism in Spain, should receive his own homage." Drawing this equivalency between Dali and Picasso is profoundly offensive to all those who remember Picasso's active support for the democratic forces of Spain and who regard his "Guernica" (painted at the request of the Spanish republican government) as an international symbol of the fight against fascism and the Franco regime.

Dali supported the fascist coup by Franco; he applauded the brutal repression by that regime, to the point of congratulating the dictator for his actions aimed "at clearing Spain of destructive forces" (Dali's words). He sent telegrams to Franco, praising him for signing death warrants for political prisoners. The brutality of Franco's regime lasted to his last day. The year he died, 1975, he signed the death sentences of four political prisoners. Dali sent Franco a telegram congratulating him. He had to leave his refuge in Port Lligat because the local people wanted to lynch him. He declared himself an admirer of the founder of the fascist party, Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera. He used fascist terminology and discourse, presenting himself as a devout servant of the Spanish Church and its teaching--which at that time was celebrating Queen Isabella for having the foresight to expel the Jews from Spain and which had explicitly referred to Hitler's program to exterminate the Jews as the best solution to the Jewish question. Fully aware of the fate of those who were persecuted by Franco's Gestapo, Dali denounced Bunuel and many others, causing them enormous pain and suffering.

None of these events are recorded in the official Dali biography and few people outside Spain know of them. It is difficult to find a more despicable person than Dali. He never changed his opinions. Only when the dictatorship was ending, collapsing under the weight of its enormous corruption, did he become an ardent defender of the monarchy. And when things did not come out in this way, he died.

Dali also visited the U.S. frequently. He referred to Cardinal Spellman as one of the greatest Americans. And while in the U.S., he named names to the FBI of all the friends he had betrayed. In 1942, he used all his influence to have Buñuel fired from the Museum of Modern Art in New York, where Buñuel worked after having to leave Spain following Franco's victory. Dali denounced Buñuel as a communist and an atheist, and it seems that under pressure from the Archbishop of New York, Buñuel had to leave for Mexico, where he remained for most of his life. In his frequent visits to New York, Dali made a point of praying in St. Patrick's Cathedral for the health of Franco, announcing at many press conferences his unconditional loyalty to Franco's regime.

Quite a record, yet mostly unknown or ignored by his many fans in the art world.

Vicente Navarro is the author of The Political Economy of Social Inequalities: Consequences for Health and Quality of Life and Dangerous to Your Health. He teaches at Johns Hopkins University. He can be reached at navarro@counterpunch.org.

Don't put words in my mouth @blankfist, your comment was implying that civilians armed with guns are just as capable of handling it as a police officer is. I was remarking on that, not your idiotic second amendment.

How bout we put it this way, take a cop, who has gone through training for things like handling their guns under pressure (Be it a quick draw, or close quarters fighting) and someone who bought a gun and hasn't been trained with it, and see which one of them handles better under the situation of a criminal trying to grab it.

You're not an idiot, don't act like one.

Common misconception is that when a flamethower is shot and punctured that it will explode. It doesn't explode, but it can cause a large fireball. Which often looks like an explosion....

Read this Discovery forum post on the Myth of exploding flamethowers.

http://community.discovery.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/9741919888/m/2291905779

The quoted person below can explain what I mean far better than I can.

Not to split hairs - oh heck, yes, let's do that.

The word explosion is what's wrong. Used here it's a pardonable exaggeration, but an inaccurate statement nonetheless.

I'm going to use a US WWII M2 series flamethrower for discussion purposes. In it's original form, it used hydrogen for its compressed gas element. Hydrogen can explode when exposed to air and flame. However, they quickly switched to nitrogen, which is generally inert. If a bullet hit the nitrogen tank, no explosion.

As for the fuel, it's a thickened gas, just like napalm. It doesn't explode in its liquid state, and it doesn't vaporize to any degree worth mentioing here, so no explosion there, either. It burns. Period.

The pressurized nitrogen tank provided the 'push' for the fuel to be projected. If the pressure valve was turned off, and the thickened fuel tank was hit by a bullet, no fire or explosion, for the same reason a gas tank doesn't burn when shot. It needs to be exposed to air before burning, and there is none inside the tank. With an unpressurized tank, you'll get a slow leak (it IS thickened fuel, remember) which may eventually find an ignition source. The result: a fire, not an explosion.

If a fuel tank is hit when the pressure valve is on, still no explosion for the very same reasons. However . . . the thickened fuel is under pressure and will spray all over and is VERY likely to find an ignition source very quickly in combat. You still don't get an explosion, but you do get a big, spectacularly horrible fireball.

For purposes of conveying the horror involved, it may be understandable to misuse the term explosion. But for the purpose here of understanding the mechanics, explosion is not the correct word.
-binthere from discovery forums.

You would think selling one's soul would make for a better song....or a better career.

>> ^BoneRemake:

>> ^rembar:
Huh. The beginning of this song sounds exactly like Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby". Queen was jacking Vanilla's material???!?!
... ducks

eat your own excrement and die.
vanilla gave his popularity with his soul, to atain that is what you make fun of.

>> ^rembar:

Huh. The beginning of this song sounds exactly like Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby". Queen was jacking Vanilla's material???!?!
... ducks


eat your own excrement and die.
vanilla gave his popularity with his soul, to atain that is what you make fun of.

>> ^Bruti79:

Wow, courage under pressure.
I wish I could have half of what she has.
so if somebody posted their final deathbed video, but instead, they were crying and scared and in their frustration with their situation they needlessly blamed other innocent people and were refusing to accept their death, would you comment on such a video and call them a coward?


i'm not trying to be rude or controversial here, just trying to understand people's logic here.

Wow, courage under pressure.

I wish I could have half of what she has.

>> ^thinker247:
I love Annie Lennox, but I always come back to the fact that nobody could out-sing Freddie Mercury. Ever.


Can't argue with you there. Freddie was a one of a kind.

she's damn sexy. so is david bowie (weirdly), but they are 2 of the most androgynous figures in pop culture, even aside from ziggy stardust. watch more 80's mtv.

>> ^Payback:
Androgyny? I'm sure you only refer to Ziggy. I'm sorry, but when factoring in her voice, Annie is one of the sexiest women alive.

thanks sweet lips!
In reply to this comment by alien_concept:
Genius, I've loved this song for so long... *british and *promote

IT could be a skill thing i think if your moderately good at FPS and you have abunch of mates of simular ablity then you will probably enjoy it.

For example i Have never felt tense in L4d , but i have watched people play and they seem to get very tense and feal under pressure its as if they are unaware of how predictable the game is or how obvious it is if its a win or lose situation , l4d never feals like a fight for me its always a blatant win or lose situation.

I used to play Alot of q3 Unreal tournament , and Instagib cs 1.6 Dod And red Orchestra I also love driving sims Rfactor Iracing LFS . It could just be the case that i find the core of LFD to easy and thats why for me the other aspects are emphasized. I realy like games that are incredably difficult but 90 -100% fair in terms of win lose scenario.

This could also be why Manny people i think enjoy it more on the 360 , due to the way the 360pad limits the players ability to move around it would probably make the game play more suspenseful if i ever get a 360 ill give it a try and see if it makes it more enjoyable for me as im pritty terrable at console FPS games , Bar golden eye on the n64.

The whole thing is im convinced that L4D is a casual game. that's not a bad thing I just think its almost ashamed that its a casual game , Id probably enjoy it more if it was a bit more out Like say showing points gained each time you shoot a zombie say points multiplier for getting head shots (and showing this during game play), that way players who have more skill at the fps element could really strive to get head shots and be rewarded for it.

I think the reasoning valve have not made scoring more transparent is that they want to try and make it emersive but i find the immersion in L4D quite comedic its certainly not a scary game , also they could just have the score eliment in some of the Multilayer modes not the traditoinal cmpagns.

Its weard actually if it was presented more a casual game i think i would really enjoy it I love stuff like Peggle , Mario cart , Mashed ,

Tags for this video have been changed from 'vanilla ice, word to your mother' to 'vanilla ice, word to your mother, 90s, rap, under pressure, sample' - edited by maatc

I think I'm gonna shave my head (or at least cut my hair), that'll keep my brain from being under pressure.

Damn. I thought he was going to apologize for ripping off "Under Pressure" from Bowie/Queen.

It never ceases to amaze me the grace under pressure that men and women face everyday in situations like these. If there can be one positive attribute about our species, this would certainly be candidate.