Blas Infante

He was born on 5 July 1885 in Casares. He was the son of Luis Infante Andrades and Ginesa Pérez Romo.{{Sfn|Lanzagorta|1979|p=295}} According to the writer José Luis Ortiz de Lanzagorta, his father was a farmer.{{Sfn|Lanzagorta|1979|p=24}}  Although the grandfather's name in the civil registry is Ignacio Pérez y Salas, he was familiarly known as Ignacio Pérez de Vargas.{{Sfn|Lanzagorta|1979|p=36}} In 1896 he began studying at the Escuelas Pías de Archidona.{{Sfn|Lanzagorta|1979|p=38-39}} He then studied at the Provincial Secondary Education Institute and the College of the Piarists.{{Sfn|Lanzagorta|1979|p=40}} In 1898 he was forced to abandon his plans to attend university and work as a clerk at the municipal courpreparatory ather. Eventually in 1904 he began the preparatory course for Law at the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Granada, and in 1905 he began at the Faculty of Law at the university. He mostly studied independently, only occasionally showing up in classes, but still graduated in 1906,{{Sfn|Lanzagorta|1979|p=64}} and in 1909 he passed the exam to become a notary. He settled in Cantillana but frequently visited Seville.{{Sfn|Lanzagorta|1979|p=80}}

Blas Infante met the agricultural engineers Antonio Albendín Orejón and Juan Sánchez Mejía in Cantillana. Albendín, who lived in Ronda, was one of the introducers to Spain of the physiocratic ideas of the American Henry George, including a single land tax. He directed the magazine El impuesto único (The Single Tax), published between 1911 and 1923,  which advocated for Georgist ideas.{{cite journal|author=Juan Antonio Lacomba|date=2014|issn=0213-7585|number=99|pages=214–218|periodical=Revista de estudios regionales|title=Martín Rodríguez, M. El georgismo en España. Liberalismo social en el primer tercio del siglo XX (Thomson Reutes. Aranazadi, 2014, Pamplona)}}

In 1913 Catalan nationalist Francesc Cambó came to Seville to give a speech. While visiting, he offered financial assistance to Blas Infante to start an Andalusian newspaper, but because there were strings attached, Infante refused. On several other occasions he refused offers to work with Catalan nationalists.{{Sfn|Lanzagorta|1979|p=80}}

In 1915 he published one of his main works - Ideal Andaluz - which described Andalusian identity as a hybrid of Spanish and Morisco identity. In it he used Andalusia of an example of cultural fusion that was expected to occur more in the future.{{Cite book |last=Morales |first=Ed |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XD28DwAAQBAJ |title=Latinx: The New Force in American Politics and Culture |date=2019-10-29 |publisher=Verso Books |isbn=978-1-78478-322-8 |language=en}}{{sfn|Resina|2013|p=118}} He framed the reconquista as a catastrophe that ended a bright period of cultural splendor.{{Cite book |last1=Díaz-Andreu |first1=Margarita |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=obwbBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT74 |title=Nationalism and Archaeology in Europe |last2=Champion |first2=Timothy |date=2014-10-24 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-60513-3 |language=en}}

Infante described himself as a socialist, and had staunchly left-wing beliefs, combined with regionalism and nationalism. His views are also considered an example of agrarian socialism, given Infante's emphasis on the need to free the Andalusian countryside from landowners.

While some scholars such as González de Molina and Sevilla Guzmán described Infante as a separatist, publicly Infante limited his proposals to the creation of extensively autonomous Andalusia within federal or confederal Spain. On 16 June 1917, he gave a speech at the Andalusian Center in Seville where he advocated for a federal republic style of government.{{Sfn|Lanzagorta|1979|p=158-160}}

Infante greatly contributed to the development of Andalusian identity, describing Andalusia as a nation with distinct history and unique identity, and outlined land reform, education reform, identity and patriotism as objectives essential for the regeneration of Andalusia. Infante argued that socioeconomic problems of Andalusia were a direct result of colonial policies implemented by Madrid after the Catholic Reconquest in 1492, resulting in regional degradation and isolation of Andalusia. He also idealized the Al-Andalus era of Andalusia, describing it as the "golden age" of Andalusian history and an important marker of regional identity.{{cite book |title=Andalucía flamenca: Music, Regionalism and Identity in Southern Spain |year=2013 |first=Matthew |last=Machin-Autenrieth |publisher=Cardiff University Press |pages=120–121}}

However, Infante also defined Andalusians as ethnic Christians and traces Andalusian roots to the pro-Islamic, Christian population.{{cite book |title=My Enemy or My Brother? Spanish Representations of Muslim and Jewish Culture during the Colonial Campaigns in Morocco, 1909-1927 |year=2016 |first=Elisabeth Bolorinos |last=Allard |publisher=University of Oxford |pages=130–131}} As a left-wing activist, socialist and a republican, Blas Infante was executed by Spanish Nationalists in August 1936, in the beginning of the Spanish Civil War. His ideas contrasted sharply with the fascist Francoists who sought to repress the traces Andalusia's Islamic past.

Francoists claimed that he used the radio in his house to communicate with Communists, but in reality it was just a regular receiving radio.{{Cite book |last=Fernández-Montesinos |first=Alberto Egea |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T5svBpWcUuwC&pg=PA20 |title=La Casa de Blas Infante: el legado |date=2010 |publisher=Centro de Estudios Andaluces |isbn=978-84-937855-6-7 |language=es}}

He frequently emphasized that Andalusia had far more Arab influence than the rest of Spain.{{Cite book |last=Evans |first=Polly |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HnPJwFhDRloC&pg=PA208 |title=It's Not About the Tapas: A Spanish Adventure on Two Wheels |date=2007-12-18 |publisher=Random House Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-307-42310-8 |language=en}} He wrote about Arab influence on the famous Spanish Flamenco dance.{{Cite book |last=Piotrowska |first=Anna G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PHQiAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA80 |title=Gypsy Music in European Culture: From the Late Eighteenth to the Early Twentieth Centuries |date=2013-12-03 |publisher=Northeastern University Press |isbn=978-1-55553-838-5 |language=en}} The Moriscos who fled to the mountains of Andalusia and were protected by Spanish Roma as fellow outcasts, who then picked up elements of Morisco music and dance, which then became adopted by the Spanish.

Blas Infante was shot by Francoists on the morning of 11 August 1936 at kilometer 4 of the highway from Seville to Carmona. His body was probably buried in the Pico Reja mass grave.{{Cite web |date=2019-08-20 |title=La verdad histórica del "fallecimiento por fusilamiento" de Blas Infante |url=https://www.elmundo.es/cronica/2019/08/20/5d56f1f5fdddff609b8b45fe.html |access-date=2023-09-12 |website=ELMUNDO |language=es}}

From a spiritual standpoint, Blas Infante was a mere eclectic, with deep humanitarianist and masonic pantheist convictions.{{Sfn|González Alcantud|2019–2021|p=139}}

Some milieus (including Spanish right-wing elements and Morisco-descendent communities in Morocco) persistently attribute Blas Infante an alleged conversion to Islam in 1924 in Aghmat.{{Cite journal|issn=0213-3482|publisher=|journal=Sharq-Al-Andalus|year=2019–2021|title=Moriscos y descendientes de moriscos. Narración, memoria y justicia transicional|url=https://rua.ua.es/dspace/bitstream/10045/135968/1/Sharq-Al-Andalus_23.pdf|first=José Antonio|last=González Alcantud|page=139}} The conversion claim has suggested to be a case of fascists trying to discredit him and the idea of Andalusian nationalism,{{Cite web |date=2020-09-07 |title=Blas Infante: un laicista masón al que quieren hacer musulmán |url=https://www.lavozdelsur.es/levantaos/blas-infante-un-laicista-mason-al-que-quieren-hacer-musulman_199123_102.html |access-date=2023-09-07 |website=lavozdelsur.es |language=es-ES}} and right-wingers often bring up the allegation of his conversion to discredit him.{{sfn|Resina|2013|p=118}} His family told the press that he was an admirer of Saint Teresa and Saint John of the Cross and donated to the Dominican convent in Seville.{{Cite web |last=Sevilla |first=Diario de |date=2011-07-30 |title="Blas Infante estaría hoy con la razón y con la justicia" |url=https://www.huelvainformacion.es/entrevistas/Blas-Infante-hoy-razon-justicia_0_501249871.html |access-date=2023-09-15 |website=Huelva Información |language=es-ES}} Spanish historian Enrique Iniesta counted mentions of 36 saints and 175 theologians (orthodox and heterodox) in his unpublished writings.{{Sfn|Iniesta Coullaut-Valera|2007|p=226}}

Infante was fascinated by Islam and sympathetic to Muslims of North Africa{{Cite book |last=Stallaert |first=Christiane |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VL3t5uEW6nsC&pg=PA98 |title=Etnogénesis y etnicidad en España: una aproximación histórico-antropológica al casticismo |date=1998 |publisher=Anthropos Editorial |isbn=978-84-922335-7-1 |language=es}} and glorified the Muslim history of Andalusia.{{Cite book |last=Tuma |first=Ali Al |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4SFWDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT372 |title=Guns, Culture and Moors: Racial Perceptions, Cultural Impact and the Moroccan Participation in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) |date=2018-04-17 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-351-58123-3 |language=en}} He viewed the influence of Islam in Andalusia as contrary with the Europeanization of Spain,{{Cite book |last=Venegas |first=Jose Luis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kZxjDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT202 |title=The Sublime South: Andalusia, Orientalism, and the Making of Modern Spain |date=2018-07-15 |publisher=Northwestern University Press |isbn=978-0-8101-3731-8 |language=en}} and referred to the exiled Moriscos as brothers.{{Cite web |last=Toler |first=Michael |date=2012-03-05 |title=The Andalusian-Maghrebi Cultural Bridge |url=https://legation.org/the-andalusian-maghrebi-cultural-bridge/ |access-date=2023-09-06 |website=Tangier American Legation Museum |language=en-US}} His wedding ring had inscription in Arabic.{{sfn|Iniesta Coullaut-Valera|2007|p=321}}

While Infante's ideas do not have broad support in modern Andalusia and his work is relatively obscure, he remained revered by Andalusian nationalists as a martyr{{Cite book |last=Chuse |first=Loren |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4dRTAQAAQBAJ&dq=Blas+Infante+franco&pg=PT251 |title=Cantaoras: Music, Gender and Identity in Flamenco Song |date=2013-10-11 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-38211-7 |language=en}} who view him as the "father of the Andalusian nation" which the Andalusian regional parliament officially proclaimed him in 2010.{{sfn|Resina|2013|p=118}} However, Andalusian nationalism is not nearly as popular as Catalan nationalism.{{Cite book |last=Valis |first=Noël |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t_OiA3iz_dYC&pg=PA263 |title=The Culture of Cursilería: Bad Taste, Kitsch, and Class in Modern Spain |date=2003-01-16 |publisher=Duke University Press |isbn=978-0-8223-8428-1 |language=en}}

The Blas Infante Foundation regularly holds events celebrating his memory and promoting his works.{{Cite web |date=2015-08-10 |title=Reclaman que el 'Ideal Andaluz' de Blas Infante no caiga en el olvido |url=https://www.elmundo.es/andalucia/2015/08/10/55c8de11e2704e7e028b459d.html |access-date=2023-09-12 |website=ELMUNDO |language=es}}

The 2003 film Una pasión singular by Antonio Gonzalo features the life of Blas Infante.

The 2025 podcast [https://open.spotify.com/episode/38yEm2zQKZg89hAssdvd3u?si=nUPpV1VHRzGnvFlPLHpv0w Lost Bones: the Vanished Remains of Blas Infante]

by In Search of Lost Crime focuses on the death of Blas Infante and the search for his remains in the Pico Reja mass grave in Sevilla.

• {{cite wikisource |title=Ideal Andaluz |wslanguage=es |year=1915}}
• La Obra de Costa (1916)
• La Sociedad de Naciones (with J. Andrés Vázquez, 1917)
• {{cite wikisource |title=Manifiesto Andalucista de Córdoba de 1919 |wslanguage=es |year=1919}}
• Motamid, último rey de Sevilla (1920)
• Cuentos de Animales (1921)
• Los Mandamientos de Dios a favor de los animales (1921)
• La Dictadura pedagógica (1921)
• Reelección Fundamental – Primer Volumen – La Religión y la Moral (1921)
• Orígenes de lo flamenco y secreto del cante jondo (1929–31)
• La verdad sobre el complot de Tablada y el Estado libre de Andalucía (1931)
• Cartas Andalucistas de Septiembre de 1935 (1935)
• Manifiesto a todos los andaluces (1936)

• Fundamentos de Andalucía – 1ª serie de Cartas Andalucistas (unpublished, 1929)
• El Libro Nuevo (unpublished)
• Almanzor (unpublished)

{{reflist}}

• {{Cite book |last=Carmona Portillo |first=Antonio |title=Historia de Andalucía |date=1999 |publisher=Ed. Sarriá |isbn=978-84-95129-21-5 |series=Andalucía 2000 |location=Málaga}}
• {{Cite book |last=Iniesta Coullaut-Valera |first=Enrique |title=Blas Infante: toda su verdad; 1931 - 1936 |date=2007 |publisher=Almuzara |isbn=978-84-96710-24-5 |series=Colección Andalucía |location=Córdoba}}
• {{Cite book |last=Lacomba |first=Juan Antonio |title=Blas Infante. La forja de un ideal andaluz |publisher=Fundación Blas Infante |year=1983 |isbn=84-398-0100-9 |language=es}}
• {{Cite book |last=Lacomba |first=Juan Antonio |title=Blas Infante y el despliegue del andalucismo |publisher=Sarriá |year=2000 |isbn=84-95129-21-3 |pages= |language=es}}
• {{Cite book |last=Ruiz Romero |first=Manuel |title=Blas Infante Pérez (1885-1936) |publisher=Centro de Estudios Andaluces |year=2010 |isbn=9788493785574 |language=es}}
• {{Cite book |last=Lanzagorta |first=José Luis Ortiz de |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YGoJAQAAIAAJ |title=Blas Infante: vida y muerte de un hombre andaluz |date=1979 |publisher=Edición Fernández-Narbona |isbn=978-84-300-0856-8 |language=es}}
• {{Cite book |last=Resina |first=Joan Ramon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rBV7_sSrXKkC|title=Iberian Modalities: A Relational Approach to the Study of Culture in the Iberian Peninsula |date=2013-01-01 |publisher=Liverpool University Press |isbn=978-1-84631-833-7 |language=en}}

{{wikisource author}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Infante, Blas}}

Category:1885 births

Category:1936 deaths

Category:Andalusian nationalists

Category:20th-century Spanish politicians

Category:Spanish male writers

Category:Georgist politicians

Category:People from the Province of Málaga

Category:People executed by Francoist Spain

Category:Executed Spanish people

Category:National anthem writers