Radio and the Catalan Protest Music.

I'll soon be going to the radio as I've started that again. If I want to be a journalist/reporter the best thing is to get myself a name. So I do the news, this year I'm hoping to write some for critic, of course I'm in the ISO mag and I may soon be involved in a politics program on the radio. Exciting!

The radio has always been a medium for change. Especially as in the 40s and 50s it was possible to broadcast under the radar, this is how the Catalan language was able to survive its prohibition for the first 20 years of Franco's regime. Speaking the language in public could land you in prison, especially in the bigger Catalan cities. However there were multiple clandestine gatherings across the nation and the continued presence of the Catalan government in exile gave strength to those fighting against fascism.
In the late fifties an article came out in a clandestine magazine published by the monks of Montserrat close to Barcelona. The article, by a singer called Serrahima said that "we need present songs [in Catalan]". From this article musicians started to get together and soon the group els setze jutges was born in Lleida. Its goal was to create Catalan music that was relevant to the times. Under the umbrella of this group dozens of musicians appeared. They would use the relative weakening of the regime to normalize Catalan. Or at least, make those too young to hear it in the street aware that it was also spoken outside of their houses or farms, that Catalan had its own existence as a language and its existence would only survive with the toppling of Franco and his cronies. The lyrics of these songs were extremely rich in metaphor. People knew what they actually meant but as they weren't explicit and sometimes non-understandable to the authorities, the singers were granted permission to tour. Sometimes their songs would be prohibited in one town, but allowed in another 30 km down the road. It all depended on the strength of the authorities around.

Father, tell me what they have done to the river,
that has ceased to sing.
It slips like a thorn, dead under an inch of white foam.
[...]
Father, the fields are no longer the fields,
Father, from the skies blood rains,
and the wind sings this crying.
[...]
Father, they're killing the earth,
Father stop crying,
they have declared war on us.

The snipets of this song by Serrat, called Pare, show how there is something wrong with this land, Catalonia & Valencia. We are not allowed to look after it any more and it is dying, the language is dying, as is the culture. With the song L'Estaca, by Lluis Llach, Franco is mentioned directly. The name Siset is a loving Catalan form of Francisco.

Siset can you not see the stake,
to which we are all tied?
If we can't undo ourselves 
we'll never be able to walk.
If we all pull
it'll surely fall
and much more time it cannot hold.
Surely it'll fall, fall, fall,
it must be rotten enough by now.

This song calls for everyone to help pull down the regime, the protest song called for civil liberties and a social welfare unknown of and only imaginable across those borders it was so hard to cross. It helped re-liven Catalan nationalism and it helped to topple the regime, or at least keep peoples' hopes up until the time was adequate.

London shows the hidden side of Europe.

After being in Catalonia during December, I saw more racism than I had ever seen before, and it disgusted me. And Catalonia is a nation relatively open to newcomers, integration has been a part of their ethos for centuries. I'm not sure if this ethos started to fade as I left or if it was just a figment of my imagination. Maybe this ethos never existed. Maybe it existed because I wanted it to exist. The case is, as I've said previously, Catalonia, Spain and, frankly, most of central Europe, if not all, is racist. And I think this is because of our governments.

There are two theories, that I know of, which are used to integrate newcomers: assimilation and multiculturalism. Assimilation is the approach used by France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland... It basically consists of the new population having to become French, Spanish, etc. Multiculturalism is the approach used by Britain and until recently Germany. This approach accepts that many different cultures can live within a state and each one is allowed to maintain its traditions as long as they don't interfere with the wellbeing of other cultures therein.

I've explained Spain's immigration problems before and the Spaniards attitude of 'they should be like us' and in France it became clear that the assimilation route had failed with the riots in Paris' banlieues in 2005, staged mostly by sons-of-migrants.

London however isn't like that. I had this mental image of the city being incredibly Victorian. In the sense that it was dirty, people were closed and I guess it was too big and scary. It wasn't like that at all.
My Granny, before I left the Bury station to Liverpool Street had told me that if I got lost I should seek a black or a brown person, not someone who's white as they'd be foreigners. Far from being racist slur, I feel it is a representation of true, current London. Migrants from Africa and the West and East Indies have been in London so long that the city is theirs. This isn't a bad thing, au contraire, it shows that British society can be so much more accepting and tolerant than the rest of Europe. It is a society where it isn't strange to see people other than white nor will they be considered strangers straight off. Liverpool Street Station was the first glimpse of London I'd had in years, the train journey was dark as I left passed four. There, now six, it was rush hour and I, for the first time ever felt lost. Not lost in the sense of directionless, I'd been in plenty of aeroports; I was lost because I'd never seen so many people rushing from one place to another. And they did it so gracefully. No-one bumped into anyone else, they all knew where they were going and that they had to get there fast. I was overwhelmed and literally stood for thirty seconds without knowing what to do, I guess it's a sort of Kiwi curse.
When I finally managed to get back into character and took the train, I saw something I'd never seen before. I was sitting on central line and around me the faces were of african origin, or latino, or pacifica, or chinese, or philipino. All these people were going back from work, all were thinking of the meal they were going to have with their wife and kids, everyone was actually the same. London is the clearest example of multiculturalism. The person opposite could be speaking in Arabic on the phone and the one next to you reading a book in Hindi; standing, a jewish person and on the far seat someone holding a rosary. They are all Londoners, regardless of views, ethnicity or religion.

London may not be the centre of a vast empire anymore, instead it is in the limelight of globalisation. However one place where things have yet to change is in the theatre. The West End is where it used to be and the Lion King is still being played at the Lyceum. Whilst in there though, I only saw European faces. Maybe I was sitting in the wrong area or wasn't looking hard enough but it seems English higher culture is still restricted to the English.

Iran and its dissidents.

I'm back in Dunedin, jet-lagged but housed. In Iran though, one woman isn't allowed to be at home, or with the people she loves. She has been imprisoned because she decided her career would have as its foundations honesty and the needy. She was a human rights lawyer. In the Arab World, Iran is one of the few places that would let her learn law, let alone defend it. Iran is also one of the few places in the Arab World where defending the law could end you in prison. She got eleven years: five for undermining national security, five for spreading propaganda against the state and one for being a member of Dr. Ebadi's Centre for Human Rights Defenders. That's right, she's been enjailed for belonging to a human rights organization and moreover for defending the rights of the ones the state doesn't want to defend. Her name is Nasrin Satoudeh and as Dr. Enadi says, she's been emprisoned because "the regime is terrified of human rights lawyers who are not afraid to stand up in court for their clients or to give interviews."
She has also been barred of practising law and she won't be able to travel abroad for twenty years. She has in essence been imprisoned in the borders of her own country, but unable to see her children, to work or to hold beliefs.

Iran is a powerful state in the region, economically. It is powerful also because it is where the Iranian people decided to steal the power the American's had over the region. However its lack of freedoms put it in a tough situation. Many now also believe that Iran has nuclear weapons. This gives them more reasons to bomb the country.
All I can say is that if the Americans end up invading, they'll end up killing many more people than the Islamic regime has and its people won't be freed from rule, but merely handed, or snatched to/by someone else.

A war in Iran won't unveil its nuclear prowess, it will only give the Americans and/or Europeans another fighting ground, which will allow the media to stay well away from the scandals happening within. A war in Iran will not free its people, it will only trap them in a stateless run delimited territory, being bombed every day.

Only the people can stand up again to recapture their power. When that happens Iran will be truly free from itself and from others.

Bandits in an old English town.

Jeremiah's cottage is and old house. When you walk in you can smell the smell of the timber, the smell of the books and the smells coming out of the kitchen, that spread through the rooms of the house and the floors to the bedrooms upstairs.
The oldest part of the house is from the 1540s, the newest, discounting the refurbished, is from the late 17th century. It used to be a small conglomeration of farmer's cottages. Across the High street bend there are a couple more, all thatched to an extent, with mould on their roofs. All these farmers worked under the local lord overlooking the Abingtons: Great and Little.
Due to its location it is now very expensive, also due to its age and the continuous need to fix this and that and clean the chimney and get rid of the frost that builds up between the walls makes it even more expensive. It is on the Linton to Cambridge road 7 miles away from the university. It is also on the old wool road to Saffron Walden, one of many market towns that has made East Anglia prosper.
One of the most important keepers of the house was Jeremiah, a highwayman. He was a rich bandit who took advantage of English consumption habits to smuggle in tea. The house is now said to be haunted with his ghost. It may be. Being old, it creaks and cracks and snaps and knocks. Sometimes pictures appear wonky, but even though I may be somewhat scared, I've slept here for years. My Grandad and his wife have lived here for twelve years and they haven't seen anything. What's more and maybe more important than local legends, he hasn't knocked his head on the low beams or doorways. Or maybe he did, and fed up, decided to haunt a slightly newer house down the road or retired probably with a healthy pension from long retired house keepers.

Making bombs and not shaving.

I woke up late yesterday, almost missing my bus to Barcelona. It was the only way possible for me to get to the aeroport so I almost missed the English family!

Then to add to the stress, I remembered that I could be seen as a potential terrorist if I brought all my cleaneries; I was only taking hand luggage - I'm not paying 20 euros extra fuck that! So I was forced to leave my shaving gear and all. I've managed to get hold of some here but what annoys me is that these 'safety controls' don;t make anyone safer. If a terrorist was actually well trained they'd be able to make a bomb with whatever they can buy in the aeroport, which is [uh...] everything they can buy in the real world but at cheaper prices! I mean for goodness sake, there are even aeroport pharmacies! And you can take in a lighter without problems. Ayayay. All these laws are actually only there to make people scared of people with beards and/or browner skin and make people spend lots of money for things you already have. I mean why else would you bother in actually buying duty free? 2 dollars off? Half the size? No thankyou.

What I would have found ironic would have been if my stuble had not been shaved today, due to lack of gear. Getting back through England I may have looked like a dark-haired IRA terrorist ready to set some shit on fire!!!

We are trapped by new norms every day, just to keep capitalism's force going. Now not only do we need to buy unnecesary things but things we already have, we are pretty much forced to!

The History of Lleida is a Reflexion of Catalonia's.

Catalonia has lived a convuluted history. Very recently they have found a settlement under Barcelona from the Neolithic, 5000 years ago. Due to its climate, many have been the peoples who've settled in the region. Iberians, Basques, Greeks, Carthiginians, Romans, Visigoths, Arabs, Catalans, Gascons, French, Spanish and recently everyone else in the globe. All these groups of people left their mark, many times destroying what the previous settlers had left of splendour.
Lleida is a crossroads. The Ilergetes, local Iberians, were the strongest Iberian tribe that may have existed, there dominance came from trade with Greeks along the coast. The Romans used Lleida as a military base, as did the Carthiginians. The Ilergetes used one nation against the other to attain privileges. In the end Rome won and of course taught the Ilergetes a lesson, making many slaves. However it continued as a municipium and its strategic location was used by Ceasar to win the Civil War against Pompey the Great. When Rome started to fall, Lleida and Catalonia fell with it. They were ravaged by the Germanic tribes as these fought for land. As one tribe passed through they would steal the crops and then burn the land, or throw salt on it so it would not serve the next. The reign of the Visigoths is one of the least known periods of Spanish history. Very few of their buildings remain, and all we know is that they destroyed what they received from the Romans. The Arabs settled in Lleida, now Larida. They rebuilt the city and both fortified it and brought in luxuries. The rest of Catalonia was in the hands of the Francs and Lleida was the biggest city on the border with the Catalan Counties. The Catalans fought for it for centuries as they tried to get rid of Islam. When Ramon Berenguer IV finally conquered the city once and for all, he left the important buildings and castles, but destroyed the mosques and repopulated the city with Gascons. In Lleida the Crown of Aragon was formed and Lleida, being in the centre between the two kingdoms, again grew in importance. This is when the cathedral was made, one of the most spectacular of Europe. The city was given the first university of the crown and the queen made the city her official residence and with her came all the nobles. During this period between the 13th and 16th centuries Lleida was the second most important city of the Crown, the most important kingdom of Europe. The university was also a place where many advancements in medicine and phyiscs either took place or were introduced to Europe. Jews, Muslims and Christians all had the right to study and their co-operation gave the city huge importance.
However, when the Catalan dynasty of kings died out in the 15th century, both the city and Catalonia started to lose influence. The Mediterranean lost importance to the Atlantic and Catalans and the rest of the Aragonese Crown were not allowed to travel or conquer the Americas. Soon the Catalan language would also be prohibited and as a result Catalonia as a distinct nation started to fade. In the 18th century the Spanish dynasty collapsed. Catalonia and Aragon backed the Austrian pretender to the throne. The French, backed by Castille defeated after 13 years of war. Again Catalonia was made suffer. All universities were to be taken down, Catalan officially prohibited and Lleida had its fortifications destroyed and the Cathedral and noble quarters ceased or destroyed as well because of its resistance to the French. Lleida in a few years went from a still honourable university city, comparable to Oxford or Cambridge, to a city with no rights and few people. Many had left and the economy was once again destroyed. It is said that only 900 people were left, in a hitherto important and influential city in Europe. The nobility and church practically ceased to exist as a result, and the farms had few people to work on the fields. The Castilians destroyed Catalonia and the rest of Aragon out of envy, now there was nothing. Less than a hundred years later the French would be back and this time destroyed the castle, which was first made by the moors. The city had hardly had any time to rebuild, but again it was punished because the citizens had armed themselves to stop Napoleon.
You see this is the history of Catalonia. Again and again we can see resistance. Catalans celebrate the day they were defeated by the Castilians. Why? Because it shows that they fought until there was no one left.
In the end of the 19th century, maybe 70 or 80 years after the last destruction, Catalan literature was reborn. Before it had mainly come from Lleida, where the good university was. Now it came from Barcelona. Catalan nationalism started to brew. Its curtains would again be taken down by Castille. This time the two Spainsh dictators of the 20th century: Primo de Rivera and Francisco Franco. With Franco the city was destroyed for the last time. Schools that taught liberal values were bombed and squares and markets too; in total 13 tonnes fell upon the city. And Lleida, it could be said, was spared. We were lucky. The Spanish troops were going for Barcelona so Lleida only suffered until its defences broke. Again the city was left with only a few thousand people. It had been a marxist stronghold, so the citizens escaped into the mountains or to France.

Lleida and Catalonia rebuilt though. We are now multicultural places, where history is created but always remembered. Still when you come to Lleida, from 15 kms out you can see the silhouette of the old cathedral, turned military quarters, now museum. Its shadow is its history, through which pass the waters that use to gleam with gold and now slide under the bridges that again unite the two sides of the city. The old with the new. Its history with its future.

Climate change, more apparent in 2010.

I recently watched a video on the blizzards in New York and how quickly the snow mounted. It's amazing that in 24 hours the snow went from none to 7 or 8 feet. I only point this out because there's a comment that says "I guess that rules out global warming". Uhh, no. So many people still think like this? Excuse me but I think the Simpsons can give you a lesson because on one episode about ten years ago Homer says the same thing, Lisa dutyfully replies.
Of course global warming is really just a bad name for climate change. Temperatures get warmer in summer and colder in winter. Dry seasons become wet and wet seasons become dry. The planet has been messed up and some still think this isn't our fault. All I know is that the ozone layer didn't use to exist, and the temperatures and rainfalls and hurricanes and all have been going bonkers more and more. I'm sorry but this is a fact. 2010 has been both the hottest and coldest year on record.

I just thought I'd make a quick post on some of the worst climate disasters that have happened this year. I say climate because even though there have been more big earthquakes and a couple of big volcanoes that have made many suffer, I don't believe this has to do with us. Ancients would though, from many different cultures. They thought that mother nature worked as a single organism, I guess in a Pandora sort of way. The Avatar one, not the Greek one. Maybe plate tectonics also have to do with a (um...) biorythym of mother nature fashion. That climate change has to be fixed with a re-sync of all of the planets systems. Maybe, but this sounds like god-talk to me and nah.

Recently we've had on the one hand floods in Australia which would cover the size of entire European states and blizzards in the US (read at your own discretion, it's from FOX) and Europe. In Paris some were using skis to get to places and like always, in England people could not handle so much snow, maybe an inch or two sometimes, and stayed at home. Germans on the other hand make do. Albeit there were a few plane cancellations at the beginning of December.
A few months ago there were all the wildfires in Russia while a few hundred kilometres south people were being swept away by the torrential floods, in Pakistan.
In Kenia the dry season was too dry for too long in some reagions and totally inexistant in others, making animals confused. "We will adapt" I heard someone say. Yeah, we will but there are a couple too many humans and I don't think wildlife reserves will be the same without the wildlife...
The hurricane season was the second worst on record. And don't forget the spill, that giant oil one! I almost did.

All in all weather has been crazy. Here it's been getting too dry in summer meaning the resevoirs get drained to single digit percentages. If you've ever witnessed a dried up lake you'll agree it's a scary vision. The land all parched and literally only a trickle running through when the waters are normally rapid and dangerous. Water restrictions become the norm and if it doesn't rain in winter, like my region this year, we can't expect much good for the next. Spain is quickly turning into a desert. In terms of money and weather.

Are we any closer to a revolution?

Everyone in the blogosphere writes blogs welcoming the New Year or saying good-bye to the one that has, in some places, just passed. I find it a bit strange. Everyone ends up saying the same thing. The old 'remember when the nobel peace prize was left on a chair?' Or 'Haiti's earthquake still affects millions'. Or 'The BP oil-spill showed how ineffective the Obama administration has been'. Blahblahblah. I'm pretty sure everyone who wasn;t trapped in a coma remembers all this yes. It was a good year for some, bad for many. Recession hit harder then ever.

Well, I want to know if 2010 has brought us any closer to a revolution. I'm not sure. I know that people now have less faith in the system than last year thanks to Wikileaks, the recession and the austerity measures made by many governments. Millions have gone out to demonstrate. In Catalonia more than a million left their houses calling for independence. In Britain so many thousands have occupied buildings and thrown eggs at those who can afford to forget the recession. In New Zealand almost as many succesfully made the government nack down from their mining plans. In the third world riots and demonstrations have been so many we haven't seen any on the news. Funny that. What is also funny is that the system is breaking down by itself. Revolutionary organizations are still at a low. Now is the time to recruit. If it's so easy to dream of a better world and if so many do so every day, how hard can it be to see it come true?
I think a revolution is closer not because of the work done by revolutionaries, but by the atrocious measures the rich have imposed to keep theselves in power, above the peasants, workers and plebs.

Have a good New Year! And fight for your rights!

YFTR.