2.22. Anniversaries and commemorations in memory-making

This paper asks how state-led commemoration can foster democratic learning rather than ritual nostalgia. The Comisionado “España en Libertad: 50 años” is a state-appointed initiative marking the fiftieth anniversary of Spain’s democratic transition. It coordinates educational, cultural, and civic programs in 2025–2026 to turn commemoration into democratic practice. We articulate this experience as a model of critical commemoration—one that honours civic courage while acknowledging silences and debts. Building on program materials and curatorial work, we show how public history translates into policy and pedagogy: opening archives, curating urban memory routes, and embedding participatory learning in exhibitions and debates. We propose memory as democratic infrastructure that leaves a useful trace—datasets, teaching packs, and open documentation—so that commemoration builds capacity rather than a one-off festival. Case studies include Images for a Country in Freedom (Filmoteca), the Freedom of Expression roundtables, Inquietud. Libertad y democracia (La Casa Encendida), the designation of Places of Democratic Memory, and the participatory re-signification of Cuelgamuros. From this evidence, the paper discusses the Comisionado’s contributions but also the challenges of memory-building in a still-polarized society. References to other experiences—most notably Portugal’s—serve as comparative cases, as the Iberian–Mediterranean lens (Portugal–Greece–Spain) is a constant in our reasoning, helping to “de-provincialize” the Spanish narrative.

The main objective of the paper is to show how an authoritarian state can use the commemoration of a historical event to achieve its political goals. The paper presents the October Revolution as a "memory project" based on an analysis of official documents, archival materials, and commemorative practices recorded in photographs, and films. The author analyses the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution as a case study of the totalitarian historical policy generating social resistance, fosters conflicts of memory and the grassroots development of views that contradict official narratives. The analysis will cover three factors shaping Soviet memory politics in the late 1960s: The 50th anniversary of the Revolution in 1967 was intended to define a new narrative, which would combine the founding myth of the revolution, but also the celebration of victory in the Second World War. Secondly, The Soviet Union needed confirmation that Moscow remained the global center of the communist movement. The third factor was the renewal of symbols integrating the Eastern bloc of countries dependent on the Soviet Union. This dimension of the anniversary celebrations is an important topic of the paper analyzing, how the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution was celebrated in Poland. It will discuss the official position of the Polish authorities, the main activities undertaken in the areas of propaganda, education and culture, as well as the official anniversary celebrations. We will also discuss manifestations of critical reactions, debates, and conflicts between official narratives and those spontaneously generated by non-state actors.

2026 marks the 66th commemorative anniversary of 21 March 1960 Sharpeville shooting which in many accounts was turning point in the political of South Africa. On this day Pan-Africanist Congress, rallied protestors for self-arrest in defiance of pass laws at the Sharpeville police station. The police opened fire at the protestors killing 91 people contrary to often-unquestioned count 69 dead. Research question - What are the dominant political questions emanating from these commemorations? - Why have certain narratives become dominant and which ones have been silenced or excluded? - What forms of narratives and traditions have the commemorations taken and how have they changed over time, including the period after 1994? - What impact have the post-1994 socio-political changes had on the commemorations of the Sharpeville Massacre? - What is the role of commemoration practices and how do they influence the contemporary construction of territorial and political identity narrative? Methodology - The empirical investigation of the study entailed oral sources – oral sources refer to stories recorded about the PAC’s Positive Action Campaign as it played out in Sharpeville, the massacre that followed, its memorialisation and commemoration practices aimed at transforming individuals from passive spectators into socially and morally accountable agents. - Documentary analyses in the form of archives that originated directly from the period under investigation and were used to set the scene and provide background to the study. Keywords Commemoration, Counter commemoration, Counter-Memories, Political and Ideological Contestations, Memory Appropriation, Political Hegemony. Key findings The commemoration of Sharpeville Day has become a melting pot that gives rise to questions about the directions of the continuing liberation process in South Africa. The African National Congress, used its historical hegemony by appropriating and reinterpreting the Sharpeville memory by framing itself as the sole liberator of South Africans for their own political ends.

Commemorative rituals in the form of national holidays have been studied for their role in establishing a public memory that mediates between the people and the state. Commager (1965) and Zerubavel (1995) explain the need for secular, national remembrances to pull together diverse people who lack a shared past so that they come to recognize their common and distinctive national identity. Bodnar (1993) observes a complex interplay between the public memory promoted by national officials organizing commemorative activities that encourage loyalty and deference to the state as contrasted to the vernacular memory of citizens, localities, and ethnic groups who make meaning of the past in light of group and personal interests. He suggests the relative power of the nation state and ethnic or local interests waxes and wanes over time. This study extends the insights of this body of scholarship to the newest U.S. federal holiday, Juneteenth, which marks the end of slavery in the U.S. Long commemorated in U.S. African American communities, it became a national holiday in 2021. Unlike previously established U.S. holidays whose commemoration began as a national ritual, such as Presidents’ Day or Veterans Day, in this case, the commemorative celebrations of a vernacular group have been adopted by the nation. Because the national commemoration is new, stories are still evolving in national media to supply the event with meaning as a public memory. Examining media content produced to commemorate Juneteenth in 2020 and in the first few years of the holiday’s existence reveals how national authority figures are mediating between the existing vernacular memory and a public memory of Juneteenth as a story with significance and meaning for all U.S. Americans. Results demonstrate that inclusion can take many forms, each with its own potentials and pitfalls for reconciling the inequities of the past.