QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS
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interpretations , against the clock of the challenges that are taking place throughout the world . Without further evaluation , what is relevant in this matter is the silence of the memory law , the only legislative initiative that would really have a capacity to make reparations as regards some colonial realities .
2 . A small number of reparations and recognition initiatives and colonial nostalgia : Spain has been one of the main colonial powers in the world in modern times , the third nation that was most involved in the Atlantic slave trade and a minor colonial power in contemporary times . For this reason , we would expect to find movements related to reparations and memory similar to those found in the US , France or Great Britain in this context . It would also make sense to find a political debate surrounding demands , revision of school curricula , symbols and recognition of accountability . However , the colonial issue , as anticipated by the distinctive features of the historical memory law , is ignored or even not advocated . There is an absence of memory coupled with nostalgic memories and exaltation of the empire that characterise the anomaly of the Spanish case – although they are also mentioned in the Dutch report . However , in Spain there are hundreds of streets and monuments that are not subject to revision , criticism or debate . There is accountability that is denied and even ridiculed . Exploring the roots of this phenomenon ( nationalism , Francoism , etc .) and explaining the absences is one of the challenges of the subsequent project phases , which also seeks to document memory conflicts occurring at a narrative level but that have not yet acquired the potential for public or political debate . The comparison with the Dutch case in this case is also discerning , especially when even in this context an anticolonial political party has been born with a political agenda that bursts onto the electoral scene and brings memory conflicts and historical claims to the fore . In this regard , we believe that the Spanish case is not very similar to the reality of other contexts ( the Netherlands , USA , etc .), but that this peculiarity does not exclude the validity of the Spanish case as a case study in this project .
T R A N S - A T L A N T I C R A C I A L R E D R E S S N E T W O R K : S P A N I S H C A S E
FINAL FINDINGS REPORT