Being a politician can be tough..

One of the Catalan candidates to elections, Mr X, went to a neighborhood in the outskirts of a big Catalan city.
So this man, who is expecting at least his family to vote for him, didn't have a sweet day. He represents the type of party who is in favor of restricting immigration 100% and is not a big fan of social security and such "help" from government. I think the American model would be more what he has in mind (no job, no health insurance, right?) Anyway. In these neighborhood mostly gipsies aproached him. Complaining that since there's a lot of Moroccans and Romanians and Pakistanis, they're not getting as much money from the government as they used too.
Interesting.
I think the gipsies are one of the ethnics groups who have more trouble integrating into any society. Oh, and aside from listening to the gipsies complain that they're not the poorest anymore, a kid actually demanded Mr X that next time, he should bring along Ronaldinho to their neighborhood. You know, so that Mr X's visit is not so boring. Poor Mr X

About details

My husband took daughter 1 (4 years old) for a walk. They went near the cemetery. She asked: "what's this?"
Him: er... it's... a warehouse.
(silence)
She: It's big, who owns it?
Him:... the Town hall. Everybody owns it a little.
No more questions were asked.
...........................
Me: you told her it's a warehouse???
Him: I didn't lie! I just omitted a little detail!

Yeah... they store dead people. A little detail.

Elections in Catalonia

There’s parliamentary elections in Catalonia next week. I had no idea that there was a group called Alternativa Española but I just saw their “ad” on TV. And well, it’s one of those that want to make you want to be afraid of almost everything. The world is a chaos and worse! Muslims are taking over Europe!.
There’s a law against racist/xenofobic parties, they are plain illegal but this one seems to have sneaked in. The former government had no problem in making Batasuna illegal because they did not condemn violence. Does anybody care about groups like this? If you’d like to see their ad, this is their web, scroll down and click where it says “visionar video electoral”. It’s in Spanish, but you’ll understand the message... Spain is breaking (Catalans are to blame but they omit this part in their Catalan campaign, otherwise they’d get next to 0 votes), too many immigrants, too many muslims... Their web page is called 12deoctubre, in a tribute to the “discovery” of America. And their poster (scroll down a bit more) portrays a blonde kid with the Spanish flag on his cheeks, and one of Columbus’ ships in the back. I wonder what good did Spaniards do to America?

Surprise!

I was hoping my little daughter would start speaking in sentences one of these days, but I was not prepared for her first sentence. It was:

"LONG LIVE BARBIE!"

Can you believe it? I hate the damned doll!

My movies: Ninotchka...

I love the dialogues in this old comedy. Greta Garbo is the leading actress in this movie by Ernst Lubitsch. She plays a very serious Russian Soviet sent to Paris to bring back three comrades who have succumbed to the Western World's delights.
Here are some quotes and dialogues, some between her and an American (Leon) who she seems to despise but secretly fins attractive:

Ninotchka: We don't have men like you in my country.
Leon: Thank you.
Ninotchka: That is why I believe in the future of my country

Ninotchka: Why do you want to carry my bags?
Porter: That is my business.
Ninotchka: That's no business. That's social injustice.
Porter: That depends on the tip.

Ninotchka: What have you done for mankind?
Leon: Not so much for mankind... for womankind, my record isn't quite so bleak.

Leon: I'll picket your whole country! I'll boycott you! No more vodka! No more caviar! No more Tchaikovsky! No more borscht!

Comissar Razinin: This anonymous report was sent to me. They're dragging the good name of our country through every cafe and nightclub. Here: How can the Bolshevik cause gain respect among the Muslims if your three representatives Bujlianoff, Iranoff and Kopalski get so drunk that they throw a carpet out of their hotel window and complain to the management that it didn't fly?

Russian Visa Official: Everything is in order. Enjoy your trip to Russia, Madam.
English Lady Getting Visa: Thank you. Oh, by the way, I've heard so many rumors about laundry conditions in Russia. Is it advisable to take one's own towels?
Russian Visa Official: Certainly not, Madam! That is only Capitalistic propaganda. We change the towel once a week.

Ninotchka: The last mass trials were a great success. There are going to be fewer but better Russians.

PMS and Metamorphosis

When I have PMS, I feel I might be the leading actress in the movie "Species". You see, I feel compelled to eat, I crave chocolate and sweets. Thank God it's only a few days. But I wonder if, one day, I'll end up wrapped in a coccoon waiting for a big metamorphosis, just like the girl in Species.
I have to say, though, I don't look like her (sigh) I'm not an alien, either.

Stupid traditions (part II)?

In some parts of Spain, there's a celebration called Moors and Christians that commemorates the battles between muslims and christians when Spain was under Islamic domain. It's just a festivity, and a very beautifully recreated one, but some have felt intimidated because some muslims felt it is offensive, and an imam in Malaga asked for this festival to be abolished. The funny thing is that the imam who asked for that is Felix Herrero, a christian convert. I have mixed feelings about this, but this festivity is not meant to denigrate muslims, even though the term "moor" is not.... nice. I must say that the organizers of this festivity actually censored some parts of this holiday, without anybody asking them to do so, because they realised it could really be offensive. That's the case of "the Mahoma" in which, in some cases, a toy doll representing the prophet was burned.
Another curious thing is that actually many muslims (born muslims, not converts) have spoken in favor of this festival, and say that if we keep "deleting" things in order not to offend muslims, Islam will still be associated with little tolerance.
Another curious fact: more people want to join the muslim army than the christian one. "To fight under the moorish flag is a source of pride", says Fernando, one of the "fighters" and also organiser. To him, and many others, this festival is exalting arab culture, and all the good they brought to Spain.
Here's two pictures. The one on top is a muslim army. The second one is christian. Who do you think looks more fierce? What do you think, should festivities like these disappear?

No comment

It's on slate, by Ann Telnaes

More magic realism...

This time it's from Mexican director Guillermo del Toro. I just saw his new fim, El laberinto del fauno (Pan's Labyrinth) and loved it. I was close to tears at the end of the movie. How can the post-civil war in Spain be mixed with such fantasy? Just leave it up to this fantastic Mexican storyteller...

Stupid traditions (part I)

Bullfighting



In most of Spain, it's still the damned national FIESTA, and it must be on TV (the state controlled channels, not the private ones) once in a while. So part of my tax money goes to this stupid fiesta in which a bull is being tortured and killed while a crowd of people watch and cheer the torero. There used to be bullfighting in my hometown and it was mostly attended by tourists. It's closed now. I'm so glad. Some will say it's art, and I'm sure there's many artistic ways to kill, but to me, it still means enjoying while you see an animal being tortured to death. Sick. You cannot perpetuate anything in the name of tradition. Traditions are not sacred. Some just have to disappear. Do you know of another silly tradition that should belong to the past?

One hundred years of solitude

“Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice. At that time Macondo was a vil of twenty adobe houses, built on the bank of a river of clear water that ran along a bed of polished stones, which were white and enormous, like prehistoric eggs. The world was so recent that many things lacked names, and in order to indicate them it was necessary to point….”

From Cien años de Soledad (one hundred years of solitude) one of my favorite books...

I'm not anonymous anymore!

According to my four year old daughter, I'm the third from the left. If you happen to see me on the street, please say hi. She's the first one on the right. Her hair is so much nicer, I know.

Converses de nit

Ella: Saps que hi ha bolets que es dicen rovelló?
Jo: Qui t’ho ha dit?
Ella: L’Esther. I uns que es diuen cames de rata.
Jo: Si? (cara de sorpresa)
Ella: Sí, perquè s’hi assemblen. I saps com es diuen els bolets dolents?
Jo: No, com es diuen?
Ella: Doncs…. Es diuen…. (no se’n recorda) es diuen… bolets que no són bons. No! Es diuen bolets “pordus”.
Jo: Pordus?
Ella: Sí. P O R D U S, i n’hi ha uns que es diuen trompeta. I uns altres que es diuen trompeta borda.

Moors and Christians

When I was little, we used to play a game called "Moors and christians". We really knew nothing about history, but it was fun. There's two teams with an equal number of kids and someone in the middle (leader) with a piece of cloth (there's some distance between both teams.
Each player of each team has a number from 1 to the number of players in the team. The leader places him/herself in the central line, between the two groups and shouts a number from one to the maximum is the number of total players in a team).The person of each team who has that number runs and try to catch the handkerchief, and run back to his/her team. If he succeeds, the one who failed is "converted" and his/her number is supposed to be for another player of his team. It was really fun. I tried to draw the game:



But it looks more like Martians against Plutonians...

Sabates noves

La baba, que sempre et mima, et va regalar aquestes sabatetes de la Blancaneus, i no te les vas treure de sobre en tot el dia. I la teva germana també les volia, i anava assenyalant amb el dit "anita, anita" (sirenita, sirenita). Es confon, per ella, totes les princeses són una.
Una altra cosa que m'agrada molt és estirar-me al llit amb tu a la nit fins que t'adorms (encara que de vegades em faig pregar). I sempre tenim les converses més interessants.
A-On dormen els tigres?
M-A la selva
A-Però no tenen sac?

New hijab?

The Pope and Islam

Tariq Ramadan wrote a very interesting articleabout Ratzinger's words. Many claim that Europe's Christian roots are being forgotten. I'd say Europe's progress was achieved not thanks to the Church, but in spite of the church. Here's the article:


The Pope and Islam : The True Debate
Thursday 21 September 2006, by Tariq Ramadan Printable version
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


A few sentences spoken by Pope Benedict XVI were sufficient to touch off a fire-storm of impassioned reaction. Throughout the Muslim world, religious leaders, presidents, politicians and intellectuals joined their voices to protesting masses angered by a perceived “insult” to their faith. Most did not read the Pope’s speech; others had relied on a sketchy summary according to which the Pope had linked Islam and violence. But all railed against what they saw as an “intolerable offence.”

Whatever the judgements of these scholars and intellectuals, one would have hoped that they adopt a more reasoned approach in their critical remarks, for two reasons. First, the unquestionable sincere love and reverence Muslims have for Prophet Muhammad notwithstanding, we are well aware how certain groups or governments manipulate crises of this kind as a safety valve for both their restive populations and their own political agenda. When the people are deprived of their basic rights and of their freedom of expression, it costs nothing to allow them to vent their anger over Danish cartoons or the words of the Pontiff. Secondly, what we are witnessing is, in fact, mass protest characterized primarily by uncontrollable outpouring of emotion which in the process ends up providing a living proof that Muslims cannot engage in reasonable debate and that verbal aggression and violence are more the rule than the exception. Muslim intellectuals bear the primary responsibility of not lending credibility to this counter-productive game.

Some, arguing that the Pope had offended Muslims, demanded a personal apology. Benedict XVI offered his regrets, but the polemic has not abated. There is ample reason to be startled by an obscure 14th Century quote attributed to the Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos critical of the “malevolent works” of the Prophet of Islam. Indeed, the Pope’s choice of examples in his attempt to take up the relationship between violence and Islam does raise questions, if not eyebrows. Equally surprising was his reference to the Zahiri erudite Ibn Hazm (a respected figure but whose school of thought is marginal) to raise the issue of Islam and rationality. Perhaps the whole exercize was rather elliptical, lacking in clarity, superficial and even a bit clumsy, but was it an insult for which formal apology should be demanded? Is it either wise or just for Muslims to take offense at the content of the quote-simply because the Pope chose it-while ignoring daily questions they faced for the past five years on the meaning of “jihad” and the use of force? Pope Benedict XVI is a man of his times, and the questions he asks of Muslims are those of the day: questions that can and must be answered clearly, with solid arguments. To start with, we must not accept that “jihad” be translated as “holy war.” Our priority should be to explain the principles of legitimate resistance and of Islamic ethics in conflict situations, not to encourage people to protest violently against the accusation that they believe in a violent religion.

Perhaps the most troubling aspect of the crisis is that the real debate launched by Benedict XVI seems to have eluded most commentators, and particularly Muslim commentators. In his academic address, he develops a dual thesis, accompanied by two messages. He reminds those rationalist secularists who would like to rid the Enlightenment of its references to Christianity that these references are an integral component of European identity; it will be impossible for them to engage in inter-faith dialogue if they cannot accept the Christian underpinnings of their own identity (whether they are believers or not). Then, in taking up the question of faith and reason, and in emphasizing the privileged relationship between the Greek rationalist tradition and the Christian religion, the Pope attempts to set out a European identity that would be Christian by faith and Greek by philosophical reason. Islam, which has apparently has no such relationship with reason, would thus be foreign to the European identity that has been built atop this heritage. Few years ago, the then-Cardinal Ratzinger set forth his opposition to the integration of Turkey into Europe on similar basis. Muslim Turkey never was and never will be able to claim an authentically European culture. It is another thing; it is the Other.

These are the messages that cry out for an answer, far more than talk of jihad. Pope Benedict XVI is a brilliant theologian who is attempting to set down the principles and the framework of a debate on the past, present and future identity of Europe. This profoundly European Pope is inviting the peoples of the continent to become aware of the central inescapable Christian character of their identity which they risk to loose. The message may be a legitimate one in these times of identity crisis, but it is deeply troubling and potentially dangerous in its double reductionism in the historical approach, and in the definition of European identity.

This is what Muslims must, above all, respond to; they must challenge a reading of the history of European thought from which the role of Muslim rationalism is erased, in which the Arabo-Muslim contribution would be reduced to mere translation of the great works of Greece and Rome. The selective memory that so easily “forgets” the decisive contributions of “rationalist” Muslim thinkers like al-Farabi (10th c.), Avicenna (11th c.), Averroes (12th c.), al-Ghazali (12th c.), Ash-Shatibi (13th c.) and Ibn Khaldun (14th c.) is reconstructing a Europe that is not only a deception, but practices self-deception about its own past. If they are to reappropriate their heritage, Muslims must demonstrate, in a manner that is both reasonable and free of emotional reactions, that they share the core values upon which Europe and the West are founded.

Neither Europe nor the West can survive, if we continue to attempt to define ourselves by excluding, and by distancing ourselves from, the Other-from Islam, from the Muslims-whom we fear. Perhaps what Europe needs most today is not a dialogue with other civilizations, but a true dialogue with itself, with those facets of itself that it has for too long refused to recognize, that even today prevent it from fully benefiting from the richness of its constituent religious and philosophical traditions. Europe must learn to reconcile itself with the diversity of its past in order to master the imperative pluralism of its future. The Pope’s reductionism has done nothing to help this process of reappropriation along : a critical approach should not expect him to apologize but it must simply and reasonably prove to him that historically, scientifically, and ultimately, spiritually, he is mistaken. It would also give today’s Muslims a way of reconciling themselves with the immense creativity of the European Muslim thinkers of the past, who ten centuries ago were confidently accepting their European identity (not obsessed by the on-going sterile debates on “integration” ) and who deeply contributed to, nourished and enriched with their critical reflection both Europe and the West as a whole.

Ads

One thing I find hard to get used to is this type of ads, that you can find in some newspapers in my country. Can humans be advertised as pieces of meat? Some of the things these ads say are: "renovation every ten days", "very young", "recently initiated", "different nationalities"... What's "renovation" supposed to mean? A woman is used for 10 days and after that period of time she needs to be replaced with a new model? A younger version? Should our media accept money from any type of business?? I don't think so.

Prejudice?

My little 1 year old will be attending a very nice nursery school. The educators are really nice, facilities are great. The problem? Most of the kids there are gipsies. And in my country, gipsies are not to be trusted. Thieves, murderers, rapists, anything but good people. I've had a hard time trying to convince my mother and my father in law that one and two year old kids are not delinquents. Many people I know look shocked when I tell them. They seem to think I'm either stupid or naive. Or both. Time will tell.

Vocabulari bàsic a 20 mesos

Atúa: tortuga (àlies cucuga)
Atús: autobus
Apapam: elefant
Atata: patata
Atita...
At: gat
Atís
A Cuc (vull veure allò de l'ia-o)