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Historical Memory, Neoliberal Spain, and the Latin American Postcolonial Ghost: On the Politics of Recognition, Apology, and Reparation in Contemporary Spanish Historiography Joseba Gabihndo has taught at several universities: Duke University, BrynMawr University , SUNY Stony Brook and University of Florida. Currently he is an Assistant Professor at the Center for Basque Studies, University of Nevada, Reno. He has published several articbs on Hollywood cinema and blockbusters in the context ofghbal culture, Spanish nationalism , postnationalism, masculinity , and queer theory. He hasjustfinishedan essay collection on contemporary Spanish-, American- and French-Basque literature entitledNazioaten hondarrak (The Remnants of the Nation ). He is currently working to finish α cultural and postnational history of Basque literatures from the Renaissance to the twentyfirst century entitbd Before Babel. Historical Memory, European Fundamentalism, and Colonial Ghosts To paraphrase the opening of the Communist Manifesto, a [new] specter is haunting Europe —the specter oÃ- fundamentalism.1 These days the term "fundamentalism" is mostly applied to different forms of resistance to the West, i.e. Muslim fundamentalism. My use of fundamentalism refers to something quite different: legitimations of the West. More specifically, I use "fundamentalism" to refer to the neoliberal turn taken by many European (and American) states which re-imagine themselves in a neonationalist/imperialist fashion. They do so by forgetting their colonial past while turning their internal others into the only racist and fundamentalist subjects . Le Pen's ultra-right politics in France or the welldocumented case of xenophobia surrounding El Ejido in Spain are two clear examples of the kind of ideological processes to which I refer. In this respect I equate fundamentalism with neoliberalism here.2 I will focus on contemporary Spanish historiographical discourse and its central role in articulating this neoliberal, fundamentalist ideology. But before focusing on Spain, I would like to cite several French and German scandals in order to expose the general European scope of this fundamentalist ideology. I have chosen the public form of the "scandal," because a "scanArizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies Volume 7, 2003 248 Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies dal" captures the emerging yet non-hegemonic status of any new ideology—a status that the very nature of the scandal reveals and conceals at the same time. The scandal reflects an abject event or discourse that the majority of the population desires but cannot embrace or rejects but cannot renounce. These scandals are ultimately about the past and its memory. They point to the emergence of a new ideology endowed with a very specific historical imagination: a neoliberal, fundamentalist memory. In November of 2002, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, the ex-president of the French Republic and head of the Convention for the Future of the European Union, gave an interview to Le Monde and made several remarks about the rejection of Turkey's application to the EU. He noted that Turkey does not belong in the European Union; in his own words, "it would represent the end of Europe" (Le Monde, my translation). D'Estaing said that Turkey's "capital is not in Europe, 95% of its population is outside Europe; it is not a European country" (Schweizerische , my translation). He concluded that admitting Turkey, an official candidate since 1999, would open the European gates for other North African states: "you will have a Moroccan request (for EU membership), the King of Morocco said it long time ago" (Schweizerische, my translation). One would have to wonder whether French colonial rule in Africa in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries was European , and rhus, whether the postcolonial effects of France's imperialism are European as well. Ultimately one could interpret d'Estaign's remarks to mean that French postcolonial subjects are no longer European let alone French, even if they live in France or are French citizens. D'Estaign's latest remarks echo those he made in 1990: "Immigration must be totally stopped" (Huntington 201). D'Estaign's declarations attest to more generalized European fears towards the uncanny postcolonial return of the colonial subject which is now transformed into the global harbinger of European demise. His remarks show that Le Pen is not an island phenomena and that we are dealing with a larger ideological problem. Very correctly, the...

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