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Social or gender inequalities have always existed, but at certain times they manifest themselves more starkly. In this sense, the 20th century was no exception.
Miners on strike. After the Falklands War (1982), the British miners' strike two years later helped Margaret Thatcher gain her reputation as an Iron Lady. The enormous social tension resulted in a conflict that lasted almost twelve months and that changed the United Kingdom forever. They were also times of political tension, with an IRA in full activity despite the dirty war promoted by the British government.
Another war. Social struggles took place in the industrial areas of the country, while another type of war took place in London: the struggle between two luxury hotels, the Ritz and the Savoy, which began at the beginning of the 20th century and continues to this day. Things in life, Thatcher died in 2013 in a suite at the first establishment.
Franco and machismo. The Franco regime not only did not combat the differences in rights between the sexes, but it also consolidated them from a legal point of view. For example, adultery was only punishable for them, the husband could dispose of the home as he wished without even informing his wife and she could not open a bank account without permission. Even in the 70s, certain very popular songs perpetuated stereotypes.
An American story. The famous basketball player Larry Bird did not suffer the rigors of machismo, but he did suffer the consequences of an environment with few economic resources. His story, and that of his family, is that of millions of Americans who experienced during the 20th century the hardships derived from the ups and downs of the industrial sector and the country's warlike vicissitudes. In that context, Bird was lucky.
Oppenheimer's word. Now that Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer has won the Oscars, it is a good time to review these interviews given in his day by the American physicist in which he reflects on the moral implications of the use of the atomic bomb. “I had doubts,” he said. Read in The Grand Continent.
The fight that was not. In the middle of the Civil War, a clever promoter toyed with the idea of organizing a fight between a national boxer (Paulino Uzcudun) and another republican (Isidoro Gaztañaga). The event, which would have involved a one-day truce, would have been a real event but it did not take place. This article published in Jot Down tells about the project and takes a fascinating tour of boxing in the 1930s.
Missing planes. These days have been ten years since the disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 with 239 people on board, an air disaster of which a decade later there is practically no material evidence and of whose causes almost everything is unknown. The lack of data has turned this flight into the biggest mystery of modern aeronautics and has given rise to all kinds of conspiracy theories or not. The full story, here.
If the case of this plane demonstrates anything, it is that, in a technologically developed world like the current one, it is still possible for a device of this size and characteristics to continue at some point without locating the seabed. The planet remains, despite everything, a relatively large place.
However, another piece of news from a few weeks ago points out the opposite, that is, that it is increasingly difficult for vestiges of these characteristics to remain hidden. A former US officer announced at the end of January that he believed he had located the location of the remains of the Lockheed Electra, which aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart was piloting when she disappeared in July 1937. The device would be found about 5,000 meters away. depth at a point in the South Pacific.
If the discovery is confirmed – there have been many alleged discoveries about the aviator that have later been denied – it would serve to put an end to the conspiracy theories that, also in this case, have flourished fueled by mystery. They have speculated that Earhart survived her disappearance, that she was taken prisoner by the Japanese, or that she died as a shipwreck on Nikumaroro Island. In any case, next to ninety years that have passed since this disappearance, the ten years of the Malaysia Airlines flight are nothing.
