[sharethis] Last May, as the campaign for Spain’s local elections got underway, it looked like business as usual. Neither of the two main political parties was managing to inspire voters with hope or ideas as the country’s jobless line grew and the economic crisis deepened. But on May 15, the Sunday before the elections, a group of well-organised, mainly young, activists gathered in Madrid and marched to the central square of Puerta del Sol. They set up a makeshift campsite, declared the Spanish political system unrepresentative and obsolete, and within days their support had snowballed across the country and the eyes of the world were on them. Six months on, los indignados, or the … [Read more...] about Spain’s ‘indignados’
Archives for December 2011
El Clásico offers Mourinho a glimpse of glory
While Spain’s La Liga contest has long been seen as a two-horse race, the Champions League is also starting to show signs of falling into the grasp of the Real Madrid-Barcelona duopoly. That impression is, admittedly, based heavily on this week’s elimination of two English giants from the European competition, Manchesters United and City. But with the two Spanish sides strolling into the knock-out stages, their status as the best in Europe has been further burnished. So when they meet on Saturday in Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu to contest the Clásico, the eyes of the world will be on them. Barcelona have eight players nominated for UEFA’s 2011 team of the year; Real Madrid have six. … [Read more...] about El Clásico offers Mourinho a glimpse of glory
Morocco sets path for reform but questions of impact linger
Echoing the actions of governments across the region, Morocco’s King Mohammed VI responded to a growing wave of public protests in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya earlier this year with a two-tiered pledge of political reform and increased financial aid to the local population. Although the country had largely escaped the kind of large-scale demonstrations that filled city centres in Cairo and Tunis, Morocco’s February 20 movement of reform-minded groups and members of the Justice and Development Party (PJD) garnered support as the country’s version of the Arab Spring. After nearly tripling food and fuel subsidies and increasing government worker salaries, the king introduced a new constitution … [Read more...] about Morocco sets path for reform but questions of impact linger
The Outsiders!
Music doesn’t generally create history, but accompanies it for better or for worse. Same tides, same flow: rising with human comeuppance, or descending alongside a collective human crash. And the human race itself is like water: slowly flowing to the lowest point, changing its composition to rise to the top, only to fall down again. So that music is like water, we can’t live without it but it also celebrates our funerals. Horace Silver and Paul Gonsalves were two Portuguese Cape Verdeans, who made an enormous contribution to American Jazz by creating beautiful rhythmic flow, just ask Duke Ellington. I’m not a Fadista so I don’t know if there were any outside influences on the … [Read more...] about The Outsiders!
Late-blooming Benzema the apple of Real Madrid’s eye
Florentino Pérez rarely betrays emotion. A wry smile is the most common reaction from the presidential palco, maybe a broad grin upon winning a title. But on a chilly night in Lyon in February, the Real Madrid president stunned everyone when he leapt up, arms raised, to celebrate the goal just scored by Karim Benzema. It was a moment that would be a turning point for Benzema and a very public display of affection for the young man Pérez personally secured by flying to the same French city in 2009, to convince him to sign. Born to parents of Algerian descent and one of nine siblings in the working class Bron neighbourhood in Lyon, his background and shaven head gave rise to comparisons … [Read more...] about Late-blooming Benzema the apple of Real Madrid’s eye
Spain wrestles with Franco’s resting place
When friends or family come to Spain to visit and ask me to name the sites they should see in and around Madrid, they’re always surprised when I put a monument to fascism near the top of the list. But there’s no denying it, El Valle de los Caídos, or the Valley of the Fallen, the resting place of dictator Francisco Franco, is an awe-inspiring place. You can see it from miles away, a 150-meter-high stone cross – one of the world’s largest – rising up out of a rocky hillside north of the capital. Beneath the cross a huge esplanade gives a view over a strangely peaceful, wooded valley. Go on a clear day and the blue sky is a breathtaking backdrop to the scene. Go there in rain or sleet and … [Read more...] about Spain wrestles with Franco’s resting place
Spain turns right, but where’s the far right?
Viewed in a certain light - and especially through a myopic leftist lens - the centre-right Popular Party's landslide victory on the anniversary of Franco's death could be seen as an ironic twist of fate, a disquieting rise of the phoenix: The party was, after all, founded by a former minister in Franco’s government and many of its elderly voters were supporters of the regime. Now the PP, led by Mariano Rajoy (who, ironically enough, was born less than 100 kilometres from Franco's birthplace in Galicia in north-western Spain), will have sweeping powers to pass laws and institute reforms. In the run-up to election day, no one wanted to make too obvious the link between the dates - … [Read more...] about Spain turns right, but where’s the far right?