I think we’re mourning the whole feeling of loss.
More than 27,000 lives lost to coronavirus
Spain is marking 10 days of national mourning while also celebrating easing of rigid lockdown restrictions,
Eric Freeman gets off his bike in Madrid’s Plaza Colón, takes out his phone and snaps a picture of the world’s largest Spanish flag, waving at half-mast.
Spain has been engaged in 10 days of national mourning, dedicated to the more than 27,000 lives lost here to the coronavirus.
“I wanted to capture the abnormality of this moment, and to remember that we are, as a nation, in an official state of mourning, despite the current, momentary joy that we experience going to an outdoor café,” Freeman said.
The mourning period — the longest in Spain’s modern history — is largely symbolic. King Philip VI presided over a minute of silence. More than 14,000 flags on government buildings and naval vessels have been lowered to half- mast. Local authorities have draped black ribbons on public monuments, and people have hung flags adorned with black ribbons from their balconies.
But these symbols of shared grief are somewhat discordant at a moment Spain is emerging from Europe’s strictest lockdown and many Spaniards are eager to resume normal life. The symbols have also become politicized. Just two weeks ago, the far- right Vox party led a 6,000- car caravan of protesters through Plaza Colón, waving Spanish flags to chastise the government for its coronavirus response.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez approved the mourning period, which ends Saturday, after coming under heavy criticism from opposition parties and from the families of victims. Most of all, he has been accused of moving too late to ban mass gatherings, allowing the virus to spread uncontrollably. Sánchez counters that Britain, Italy and France had more deaths when they imposed their lockdowns.
Spain appears to have gotten a handle on the virus. After months of watching its daily death toll grow — requiring a skating rink to be converted into a morgue and a convention centre to be remade as Europe’s largest field hospital — the country reported no new deaths on multiple days this past week.
Still, Spain’s death toll of 27,127 people is one of the highest in the world in terms of its population. The official number does not include an additional 19,218 deaths in nursing homes reported by regional authorities. The government’s accounting, too, has been bitterly controversial.
Sánchez and other officials staggered themselves on the steps of the Moncloa Palace, the seat of the Spanish government, to observe the minute of silence last week. “The pain and recognition of all of Spain to those who have died of COVID-19,” Sánchez tweeted. “Your memory will always remain with us.”
No other country has observed a communal mourning for victims of the coronavirus pandemic for such a long period. In the United States, President Donald Trump ordered flags on federal buildings and monuments lowered to half- staff for three days in May. In Spain’s own recent history, the event is unprecedented. The country observed three days of mourning in March 2004 for the nearly 200 victims of synchronized bomb attacks on Madrid commuter trains.
Yet though Sánchez talks about “all of Spain” paying tribute to those who have died, much of the country is not focused on the loss of life. The national mourning period has coincided with a period of exhilaration, as the country casts off the rigid restrictions of the past 21/2 months.
Freeman, a 52- year- old American who has lived in Spain for 14 years, said the relief many feel with the lifting of restrictions jars with the loss Spain has experienced.
“It’s sobering to think how many have died during the crisis. We are all hungry to return to normalcy,” he said. “The crisis feels distant and unreal if one hasn’t been touched by it.”
Seventy per cent of the country is in Phase 2 of a four- stage transition out of confinement. The two biggest cities, Madrid and Barcelona, are further behind, but last week they reopened outdoor cafés, resumed reduced- capacity religious services and began to allow small social gatherings.
Scooters, dog- walkers, cyclists and joggers conspicuously occupy lanes on Madrid’s main thoroughfares, with barricades expanding exercise- friendly spaces that respect social distancing rules.
Restaurants are still forbidden from opening their indoor spaces and are required to limit their outdoor seating. Many in Madrid were fully booked for the first weekend back.
“Finding a restaurant was tough. I had to try a good 10-12 places,” said 22- year- old Andrés López, who met with a group of friends Saturday night at 8: 30 p. m. — early for Spain’s regular dinner hour of 10 p. m. “We were asked to leave when our turn ended at 10, which cut our night short and reminds us that life is still not back to normal although we sometimes seem to forget that.”
While waiters wore masks and served tables separated by six feet, many unmasked customers greeted friends with hugs and kisses.
“The only thing that changed was that we didn’t have a physical menu or oil and vinegar for our salads on the table, which is nothing more than a minor inconvenience,” López said.
Spain was divided politically before the virus hit. After two rounds of elections last year failed to indicate a winner, Sánchez’s Socialist Party cobbled together a fragile minority coalition in January with the far-left Podemos, supported by regional, nationalistic parties. They have faced fierce opposition from the conservative Popular Party and far-right Vox.
The government’s handling of the pandemic has offered more fodder for critique. The opposition parties say they want to recognize those who have died — but with an emphasis on the notion that the government is at fault.
In this polarized environment, it’s tough to find symbols of mourning that the entire population embraces.
“There’s a sensation that the flag has been appropriated by the right. It has become provocative,” said Isabel Lama, who was walking her dog near Plaza Colón. “But this is grief, not politics. It is entirely different.”
Four women picnicking this week in the shade of the Plaza Colón flag said that while they were eager to get together, the flag hanging over them appropriately represented the sadness hanging over the country.
“I don’t know anyone personally who died in Spain, but there is a huge sense of loss throughout the country,” said Lucía Lobo, 23, highlighting how her master’s degree experience was ruined by the pandemic. “I think we’re mourning the whole feeling of loss.”
Extending the state of alarm just serves
the government’s
interests.