Héroes españoles

El hispanista británico Henry Kamen golpea conciencias al afirmar que "España no es un país, y no tiene ni un sólo héroe", lo que irrita a muchos políticos españoles.

Y es que Kamen, 74 años, desciende de los colonizadores ingleses y nativos de Birmania, hoy Myanmar, cree que los españoles han olvidado su historia, y ya ni siquiera se creen ni actúan como una verdadera nación.

Catedrático en Inglaterra y en EE.UU., y profesor del CSIC español durante una década, Kamen es uno de los mayores conocedores vivos del Imperio español, sobre el que ha escrito doce libros en los que lamenta el poco recuerdo que se conserva de él aquí.

Al decir que España no es un país ni tiene un solo héroe expresa su decepción con los españoles, que en los dos últimos siglos han deconstruido un pasado lleno de figuras heroicas más reales que el imaginario Cid.

En su último libro, "Poder y Gloria. Los héroes de la España Imperial" (Espasa), Kamen denuncia que son las ideologías partidistas y los intereses localistas quienes abatieron la autoestima de los españoles.

Que carecen de una visión común de una historia porque se han impuesto escuelas autodestructivas, regionalmente opuestas, recreadas para destruir el pasado y los héroes del país.

Y claro que España tiene héroes, dice: el Gran Capitán, Hernán Cortés, Francisco Pizarro, Carlos V, Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Duque de Alba; Don Juan de Austria, Alessandro Farnesio, Ambrogio Spinola, el Cardenal Infante Fernando de Austria, o el duque de Berwick.

Algunos son extranjeros que sirvieron a un gran imperio, mucho más justo que el que presenta la falsa Leyenda Negra. Pero España sigue autodestruyendo su historia, cultura y tradición.

Finalmente, los únicos españoles genuinos serán algunos hispanistas sabios, como Kamen.

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Otro británico muy español, el ingeniero y escritor James Skinner, me hace llegar sus recuerdos infantiles en Reino Unido.

Sorprende que en aquella Gran Bretaña que conservaba aún el orgullo del Imperio, y que con su heroicidad había vencido a Hitler, se pareciera tanto a la negra España del franquismo.

El cronista podría contar algo muy parecido a los que narra James sobre la comida, las bicicletas, los periódicos, la leche --aquí las lecheras iban con sus cántaros por las casas--, los besos en el cine censurado.

Vale la pena leer el texto que acaba de enviarme como posible addenda a la llamada Ley de memoria histórica:

"Bring back any memories?

Someone asked the other day, 'What was your favourite 'fast food' when you were growing up?' We didn't have fast food when I was growing up,' I informed him. 'All the food was slow.

' 'C'mon, seriously... Where did you eat?' 'It was a place called 'home,'' I explained. ! 'Mum cooked every day and when Dad got home from work, we sat down together at the dining room table, and if I didn't like what she put on my plate, I was allowed to sit there until I did like it.'

By this time, the lad was laughing so hard I was afraid he was going to suffer serious internal damage, so I didn't tell him the part about how I had to have permission to leave the table.

But here are some other things I would have told him about my childhood if I'd figured his system could have handled it: Some parents NEVER owned their own house, wore jeans, set foot on a golf course, travelled out of the country or had a credit card.

My parents never drove me to school. I had a bicycle that weighed probably 50 pounds, and only had one speed, (slow).

We didn't have a television in our house until I was 10. It was, of course, black and white, and the station went off the air at 10 pm, after playing the national anthem and epilogue; it came back on the air at about 6 a.m. and there was usually a locally produced news and farm show on, featuring local people...

I never had a telephone in my room. The only phone was on a party line. Before you could dial, you had to listen and make sure some people you didn't know weren't already using the line.

Pizzas were not delivered to our home... But milk was.

All newspapers were delivered by boys and all boys delivered newspapers. My brother delivered a newspaper, seven days a week. He had to get up at 6AM every morning.

Film stars kissed with their mouths shut. At least, they did in the films. There were no movie ratings because all movies were responsibly produced for everyone to enjoy viewing, without profanity or violence or almost anything offensive.

If you grew up in a generation before there was fast food, you may want to share some of these memories with your children or grandchildren. Just don't blame me if they bust a gut laughing.

Growing up isn't what it used to be, is it?"

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Y el gran SALAS. Imaginemos que estos tipos son los héroes olvidados en la crónica sobre Kamen: