Monthly Archives: October 2007

11-M Verdicts Due Today

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Wednesday - 31 October 2007

By lunchtime today, we should all know the verdicts decided by the court deliberating the case of the Al Qaeda operatives charged with attacking Madrid in 2004. South of Watford has an interesting post about the possible outcomes, and how they might affect the forthcoming general elections.

Another thing he points out is a poll in Público which reveals that 1/3 of PP voters still believe that ETA was involved in the bombings. Astounding. This is almost certainly as much because of the seeds of doubt sown by the PP in the months and years since the bombings, as it is thanks to the wild conspiracy theories spread by El Mundo, El COPE, Libertad Digital, Red Liberal, Telemadrid etc.

Like the Fox News channel, the first three on that list often rail against what they call 'the mainstream media' (they love the abbreviation 'MSM') which refers to other media source but themselves. While El País may have the edge on newspaper readership (Christ it's a dull read, though), El Mundo is one of the most popular websites in Spain, ranking considerably higher than ElPaís.com. This says to me that however skewed and unbelievable their news coverage might be, El Mundo is the mainstream media (just like Fox News is, just as El COPE is).

I first came across these bizarre conspiracy theories while reading Libertad Digital. For those of you who haven't read it, it sums up the false-centrism of the hard right in Spanish politics. A lot of waffle about economics (that's where the 'Libertad' seems to come from), accompanied by vitriolic 'news' 'reports' all targeted against the Socialists, the Basques, the Catalans, history, free speech, democracy and modernity. Give it a whirl, it'd actually be hilarious if it weren't the 20th most popular Spanish website.

Updated: New comments system

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Tuesday - 30 October 2007

I'm experimenting with a new comments system on thebadrash.com. It's called 'Intense Debate' and appears to be designed to allow for a more exciting commenting experience, as well as giving people the option of commenting on various blogs using one user profile (sort of like what OpenID offers). Anyway, those of you who are bloggers (especially if you're not 100% satisfied with the way your platform handles comments) should check it out, or at least keep your eyes peeled for a post on here saying that I've decided to stick with/completely ditch Intense Debate.

Please bear with me while I dick around with my blog a bit more.

UPDATE: Intense Debate looks really promising for the future but it's still a bit too buggy for me. I'm going to keep my eye on developments over there, and hopefully will be able to switch to them in the future.

Vatican: we heart fascists

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Sunday - 28 October 2007

In an utterly unsurprising move, the Vatican has beatified 498 Roman Catholics who died 'as martyrs' in the Spanish Civil War. These men and women died at the hands of leftist (mostly anarchist) fighters during that terrible conflict.  The Catholic Church has been criticised for not recognising victims from the other side in the war: but why would they? After all, the Catholic Church in Spain openly supported Francisco Franco's  mutiny: that's the main reason Catholic officials were attacked. Before you apologists-for-fascism start foaming at the mouth,  I'm not trying to justify the fact that monks, nuns and priests were killed. I will, however, point out that plenty of Catholic officials were agents of the fascists, and that when the Church (or its officials) took sides in the war, it had to expect casualties.

The timing of this beatification is also somewhat mysterious (read: very well planned). It coincides with the introduction of a new law here which will change the way the crimes of the Civil War and dictatorship are officially remembered. Apparently, part of the new law demands that churches remove Franco-era memorials. Don't forget: however many died at the hands of the disparate Republican forces, there's no question that the fascists killed far more innocents, both during and after the Civil War. The Church was also arguably the greatest victor of the Civil War: it was handed total control of education and morality in Spain for decades.

That the Vatican should indulge some of its more right-wing supporters in a move clearly aimed at dividing opinion in Spain, should surprise no one.  This is, after all, the same organisation which is led by a former Hitler-youth member, an organisation which  persists in claiming that European countries are intentionally spreading HIV-aids via wicked condoms in African countries.  It seems a shame that such an antiquated and morally dubious body should  hold sway over so many people around the world. In fact, over the last century it is very likely that Christianity has been responsible for more death and unhappiness than Islam. The sooner we rid ourselves of the lot of them, the better.

Anti-king protest in Cerdanyola

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Friday - 26 October 2007

Actually, this happened a week or so ago. I was alerted to the posters by a work mate,  so I decided to go along as a non-aligned observer. The protest was against the Spanish royal family and in favour of protesters charged after burning photos of the king in Girona and elsewhere. I turned up about 5 minutes early and had to wait for about 20 minutes before the demo got going. There were approximately 50 people there (I counted 40 a couple of minutes before the start, and more turned up after that). They were all under 30 (probably under 20, but I can't tell any more), save for a couple of older gents who were obviously grandees of some local political office. The mixture was typical: young ERC and Communist party supporters (better dressed, on the whole), with a bunch of crusty-type hippies and redskin-type anarchists (who'll turn up for anything).

As I waited for a good photo opportunity, one of the organisers was called over by the lads I was with:

"Oi! Can you give me a picture of the king?"

"What?"

"I want a picture of the king"

"What for?"

"To burn!"

"Oh, you have to bring your own"

"Fuck. We don't have any pictures of the king at home"

"…"

I hoped to take loads of insightful photos but unfortunately, my camera's battery ran out before long! This is the only decent shot I got.

Anti-king protest at Cerdanyola Ajuntament

Updated: Ornette Coleman in Barcelona

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Friday - 26 October 2007

Ornette Coleman

Any fans of jazz in Barcelona should definitely put November 7th in their diaries: Ornette Coleman, he of the 'toy trumpet' and founding father of Free Jazz, is playing at the Palau de la Musica.

I'm no sure what to expect from the concert… I love some of his older albums like Something Else! and The Shape Of Jazz To Come but I don't know whether he plays any of the classics from them any more. Either way, it's sure to be a magical evening with a true grand old man of jazz. At 80, I guess that it won't be quite as blistering as in the late 1950's, but who knows?

Those of you in Barcelona who might not be sure, I recommend you come to check him out: he's a genius.  I wrote something here about Harmolodics, the music theory he created.

Ornette Coleman, November 7th, Palau de la Música, 21hrs. Tickets: € 28-60

Update: See my review of Ornette Coleman's Barcelona concert here!

Declining oil production threatens war & unrest

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Monday - 22 October 2007

An interesting article from The Guardian, this. It seems that oil production did peak in 2006 after all, just as 'loony' George Monbiot predicted two years ago. As I noted previously, this isn't the first time that peak oil has been reported. But either way, it certainly looks like it has happened.

This is one of those things that probably will happen and probably will have a major effect on all our lives. By 2030, I'll be 50 and probably looking forward to several more decades of life. It's difficult to imagine a world where everything isn't made from, or transported with, oil. How will they manufacture plastics? I guess they'll have to replace them, and in the meantime, things will cost more. Is there some kind of secret vehicle propulsion technique which will be unveiled as the gas pumps get shut down? Almost certainly not. Will we be forced to reconsider nuclear power (claims about the abundance of fuel for which, I find distinctly suspicious)?

Along with climate change, peak oil and the ways in which it could affect all our lives is an issue looking large. Unlike climate change, it hasn't been addressed publicly by many people. Naturally, the two issues are inherently linked, but this doesn't mean that we can just sit around waiting for the oil to run out, and the environment will be fine. Both issues need to be tackled now, primarily with a switch to alternative energy forms and a marked improvement in energy efficiency. And as governments seem uninterested in doing much for either, we'll have to trust industry and business to solve these problems for us. Great.

Just before El Pilar in Sant Jaume

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Monday - 15 October 2007

On Thursday evening, the eve of the 'día de Hispanidad' holiday, Gemma and I passed through Plaça Sant Jaume, the location of both the Generalitat and the Ajuntament de Barcelona.

Spanish flag with some crazy motto about the king scrawled on it

A small demonstration was taking place, which involved lots of Spanish flags being waved, and the Spanish national anthem being played. A few Mossos (police) stood around, while passers-by sniggered at the slightly pathetic protest. And yes, there in the middle of the 30-strong throng was a banner from the insane 'Peones Negros' movement, who claim that Zapatero, ETA and the Police all plotted together to carry out the 11-M bombings in order to steal the election and destroy Spain. It's a compelling argument, until facts are brought up. Then again, you can prove anything with facts.

UPDATE: apparently, Los Peones Negros de Barcelona do this little demo on the 11th day of each month. They refer to it as the 'mesiversario' of the 11-M bombings which they claim were not carried out by al Qaeda. PPNNBCN also have a blog which you can read here. Check out the author's (or his team mate's) other blog (which covers more varied topics than just insane 11-M conspiracy theories). He's a bit of a fan of ultra-nationalist, neo-Nazi group 'Democracia Nacional'… and so, it all comes full circle!

The 'so utterly insane, they're almost fiunny' Peones Negros with their little banner

Brezhnev, Bush and Baghdad

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Thursday - 4 October 2007

An oldie but a goodie – this article by Nina Khrushcheva has an interesting perspective on  Bush, paranoia and rhetoric. Even though it was written more than four years ago, it feels relevant today.

Regardless of how true Bush's words about evil dictatorships may be, they are hardly made believable by of their repetitious, mechanical, Brezhnevian nature. Especially when "compelling" reasons to start the war in Iraq–from WMD to terrorism to democracy there–were based on falsified evidence and were devoid of consistency.

George Orwell was right: "All propaganda lies even when it tells the truth." As much as newspeak was a signature of the Kremlin, it is an equally apt description of today's White House. Its resolute war message is similar to Brezhnev's insistence on the superiority of socialism: Both lack public debate and are handled top-down.

Meanwhile, as some are again declaring Mission Accomplished in Iraq (we can but hope!),  Simon Tisdall has an interesting article at Cif with a timely reminder:

"Attempts to partition or divide Iraq by intimidation, force or other means would produce extraordinary suffering and bloodshed," the US government warned.

But many reply that, despite the surgistas' recent successes, extraordinary suffering is what Iraq has already got – and the illusion of central control cannot be sustained much longer.

Religion and reason. Again.

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Tuesday - 2 October 2007

About a week ago, the head of the Catholic  Church in Mozambique claimed that some European countries intentionally manufacture condoms which are infected with HIV. He went on to say that the aim of this secret policy is to wipe out Africans, an evil new form of colonialism. He wouldn't name the countries, so it's currently nigh on impossible to investigate his claims, but I'm pretty sure that he's wrong. In fact, I'm pretty sure that he's lying in a way which he knows might cause people to become infected with HIV, just to support a particular article of Catholic dogma. And this isn't some crazy soapbox fanatic. This is an Archbishop, the spiritual leader of 3 million people… a well respected man.

Meanwhile, on The Guardian's Comment is free,  Theo Hobson condemns atheism via a poorly written critique of Richard Dawkins. He claims, among other things, that:

The definition of an atheist, as opposed to an agnostic, is someone who has the chilling arrogance to say that the world would be a better place if I ceased to say bedtime prayers with my children.

- a fallacious claim, because an atheist is someone who lives without god or religion. To attach a single political ideology to atheists is totally incorrect. I reckon that he forgot the distinction between atheism and secularism… and that's a pretty big distinction. He goes on:

And Dawkins wonders why such people are disliked. May God save us from such people.

Dawkins doesn't wonder why at all. It's theists like Hobson who, when their mystical beliefs fail them slip into fallacy and untruth, do all they can to make atheists unpopular. But it's a fairly self-defeating position: when the choice is between the reasoned, arguable words of Dawkins and Hobson's confused ramblings, rational people aren't offered a tough decision.

"So where's the medical care?"

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Monday - 1 October 2007

A shameless copy-paste from Armando Ianucci's typically amusing Observer column:

Talking of doubt, last week I had a conversation with a genuine neo-con who didn't have any. He was one of George Bush's former speechwriters and I asked him how he responded to the never-answered complaint from most of us that invading Iraq was senseless, because all the terrorists were in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia. His only response was: 'That was then. The question is, what do we do now?' I kept telling him that where we were now was a result of what he did then, but he kept saying: 'No, but what's important is what we do now.' Which is a bit like saying: 'I know I set fire to your house, but can we draw a line under that? What's important now is that I've got a charred hand, so where's the medical care?'

Drawing a line, redefining the issue, re-evaluating the situation in the light of a fresh context; these are all highly sophisticated reverbalisations of: 'I don't know; can we start again?' George W Bush declares progress, even though his definition of progress is to get unbearable violence back to the level it was a year-and-a-half ago. If he goes on redefining phrases to mean around 96 per cent of their opposite, it won't be long before he manages to persuade Americans to think that a 'debacle' is a good thing. Especially if it's an improvement on an outright disaster. Expect soon to have American families celebrate Debacle Day, host Fiasco Barbecues and organise Shambles Carnivals.

Click here to read the original article.