Historical Denialism and Juridification of the past: Scratches from Political Clashes
Denialism; Anti-denial laws; Memory policies; Denaturalization of violence.
The main objective of the thesis is to analyze the political-ideological dimension of historical denialism and the use of juridicization of the past as a resource to combat this phenomenon. For this purpose, it starts from the recognition that there are concerns regarding the production of History and memory that resonate beyond the field of scientific research and historiographical work. This is the case with the dissemination of hate speech and the legitimization of authoritarian regimes disguised through falsifications of knowledge about the past, which we call historical denialism. This work is the result of theoretical research that compared several cases of historical denialism and state measures aimed at combating them. Initially, it analyzes the “architecture” of denialism, its characterization and its methods, through a comparative study between Bolsonarist denialism and the denialism that emerged after the Second War in Europe. It then investigates cases of punishment for historical denialism in different countries and analyzes the Democratic Memory Law, approved in 2022 in Spain, aiming to reposition the criticism of the juridicization of the past and evaluate possible political gains resulting from the use of normative instruments in combating the denialist phenomenon. It is concluded that, despite their limitations, anti-denial legislation and the formulation of memorial policies aimed at non-forgetting are political alternatives that can contribute to reviving debates about traumatic pasts, increasing the rejection of violence and preventing its naturalization in the public space.