Mobile phones have gone from being a simple means of communication to a tool with multiple applications that have become an essential part of our professional and personal lives. As such, the advance and confluence of technology allows us to consider new perspectives through which we can understand the processes of change that are occurring in our interconnected society - other forms of interaction or focuses of interest in an environment in which it seems that everything has yet to be discovered. Mobile technologies have introduced a different dimension into social life amid a complex web of human relations in everything from politics and business to the closest and most intimate human … [Read more...] about The mobile society: A more mobilised society?
Archives for December 2011
Art not Bombs
It is remarkable how a small nation can fill such giant shoes in the world of contemporary sculpture as the Basque Country does through artists like Chillida, Oteiza and a dozen others. On first arriving in Spain one is struck by their oversized creations in public places, giving airs of freshness and modernity to a country no longer dark. It is later that we realise these are the same grand masters from that minuscule province whose work we find in Berlin, Paris and many other places of infinitely larger import. And these two men are contemporaries, though I have no idea if they were friends or foes but most certainly having had to be rivals, at times coming very close to magically … [Read more...] about Art not Bombs
La Liga: Real Madrid still in thrall to Barça’s brilliance
Starting slowly but building to a crescendo, countless statistics have been bounded about for the past week. This was the eighth time since his arrival, that José Mourinho’s Real Madrid side would face reigning Spanish champions FC Barcelona. The hosts had a 100-percent record at the Santiago Bernabéu this season and were on the verge of a record-breaking run of victories. This clash would supposedly signal a shift in power to the Spanish capital. A Clásico that would be el fin de ciclo for Barcelona. But at the final whistle, only one statistic stood out. Madrid have not beaten Barcelona in la liga since 2008. The game could not have started better for Madrid who were ahead in just 23 … [Read more...] about La Liga: Real Madrid still in thrall to Barça’s brilliance
Iberians of the Year 2011: Spain’s Indignados
From Tunis to Cairo and from Madrid to Manhattan, outrage has been the overwhelming theme of 2011. Outrage at ineffectual, unrepresentative political systems, outrage at coddled elites, outrage at the financial system and the perceived culprits for the economic turmoil that has spread around the world. The year of outrage began on the streets of Tunisia in January, spread throughout North Africa and the Middle East as Arab Spring revolutions unfolded across the region, and, by late spring, the wave of indignation hit Europe. In Madrid in May, the seed of a different style of revolution was planted as thousands of activists - mostly young, many unemployed - set up camp in the city … [Read more...] about Iberians of the Year 2011: Spain’s Indignados
How do you choose the Iberians of 2011?
Choosing a “person of the year” is rarely easy and when Iberosphere co-editor Andrew Eatwell and I set about deciding on the Iberians of 2011, the difficulties were all too clear. So many events unfold over the course of 12 months: political, economic, cultural, sporting and otherwise. Is a football player more worthy of attention than a politician? Is a writer more important than a banker? Obviously, that depends on what each achieved and how much importance you attach to football, politics, literature and banking. For us, each can be of huge significance to a nation’s state of mind, if not its everyday life. But there is a more general issue. What is it that we are gauging? From the start … [Read more...] about How do you choose the Iberians of 2011?
The Basque radical left
ETA probably hasn’t been as prominent this year as it might have hoped. The political mainstream and many Spaniards received the armed Basque seperatist group's January announcement of a “permanent and general” ceasefire with suspicion and a shrug. What people wanted to hear from the Basque terrorist organisation was a clear decision to end its four-decade campaign of violence. Eventually that also came, in October, to a mostly warm welcome. But ETA itself has been a weak, clumsy figure in recent months and much of the credit for its shift away from violence must go to its traditional political support, the izquierda abertzale. These Basque radical nationalists understood that terror was a … [Read more...] about The Basque radical left
Pedro Passos Coelho
How do you impose the toughest austerity measures a country has experienced in more than three decades and increase your popularity ratings at the same time? Ask Pedro Passos Coelho, Portugal's spendthrift but widely admired prime minister. Elected in June in a historic victory for his centre-right Social Democratic Party, the seemingly impermeable Passos Coelho has embarked on a long list of economic, fiscal and labour market reforms going beyond anything demanded by the EU and the IMF as part of debt-laden Portugal's bail-out package. Though his strategy to bring Portugal's debt and public account deficit into line has stirred controversy - and a general strike - the reason for Coelho's … [Read more...] about Pedro Passos Coelho
Cristiano Ronaldo
Barcelona and Real Madrid’s rivalry has been particularly fierce in recent months, due in great part to the tense relationship between the soccer teams’ coaches, Pep Guardiola and José Mourinho. But an equally fascinating contest has been played out between the two teams’ biggest stars: Leo Messi for Barça and Cristiano Ronaldo for Madrid. Barcelona’s dominance in Spain and Europe in recent years has seen Messi eclipse the Portuguese somewhat, but there is a feeling that Real Madrid, and Ronaldo, could finally be turning the tables. It was Ronaldo’s head that scored the last-gasp goal against Barcelona in the Copa del Rey final in April and under Mourinho he seems to have found a coach who … [Read more...] about Cristiano Ronaldo
María Dolores de Cospedal
Spain may have voted in a new prime minister in 2011, but it’s fair to say that Mariano Rajoy has not been a towering figure on the country’s political landscape. Instead, he let his Socialist rivals’ desperate struggle with the economic crisis do his talking for him. The Popular Party (PP) leader revealed little of his own plans for the Spanish economy, but others in the party were more forthright. Among them was party number two María Dolores de Cospedal. This year saw her step further into the limelight as she overthrew a longstanding Socialist government in Castilla-La Mancha to become the region’s new premier. On taking power there, she swiftly announced heavy, controversial cuts to … [Read more...] about María Dolores de Cospedal
Javier Marías
Fame doesn’t sit easily with Spain’s most highly regarded contemporary novelist. Though Javier Marías, 60, lives in central Madrid, he has an aversion to computers and mobile phones, placing him in the old-fashioned world of many of his books. And his acidic newspaper columns show him to be deeply unhappy with the world outside his door. But 2011 has been a good year for this prolific author. He published, to great acclaim, Los enamoramientos, a novel exploring love, but also, as the author himself put it, “the inconvenience of the dead coming back to life”. Meanwhile, Penguin has announced that several of his titles will be included on its prestigious Modern Classics roster. “The legacy of … [Read more...] about Javier Marías