Catalonia | Barcelona & Catalonia blog

28Jul/1018

UPDATED: Banning the bullfights has nothing to do with l'Estatut

UPDATE: The Catalan parliament has voted in support of removing the exception permitted to bullfighting from its animal cruelty law. Bullfighting has been outlawed here!

Catalonia's parliament will likely vote today to finally ban bullfighting within Catalonia. This is a decision that has been approached in a very stop-start manner, and which has been under debate for quite some time. I think I've made my feelings quite clear about the barbarity that is La Corrida, and I welcome the ban, and hope that it's eventually extended throughout Spain.

Various parties seem to be trying to make this a question of revenge for Spain's constitutional court rejecting passages of Catalonia's statute of autonomy recently. It has nothing to do with that whatsoever. This is about banning a vile celebration of animal torture. Just as the Canary Islands did in 1991, Catalonia will freely make the right decision today.

Incidentally, right-wing PP leader, Mariano Rajoy's un-rousing speech yesterday, where he said "Just as you can't force someone to go to a bullfight, so you can't prohibit them from doing so!" - is one of the stupidest things I've ever heard. And I moved here when Aznar was still in power. That statement in particular, could be applied to any activity you like. Try it with "a walk in the park", "a bank robbery", "have a carajillo in the morning and then drive your police motorbike", "spout shite". These are some of my favourites, but I'm sure you'll find your own. Bon dia.

Filed under: Catalonia, PP, Politics, Spain 18 Comments

27Jul/101

Eight years and counting

It is now more than eight years since I moved to Barcelona province. When I arrived, I was just 21 years old, and next week I'll celebrate my 30th birthday. A proper adult and everything. Indeed, Catalonia is where I have made a life for myself; it is the country that I now call home.

In the meantime, I've learned to love many things about the country in which I've made my life. There are some things which just have to do with growing up, like food: I wasn't the biggest fan of mushrooms or olives before I moved here. Now I love rovellons, and have respect for the noble arbequina (among many others). I'll say things like "This coffee tastes burnt," and do things like pour olive oil on my bread or chill red wine.

In short, I'm now a dago, or catalufo, if you prefer. It's a great feeling.

Filed under: Catalonia, Language, Spain 1 Comment

10Jul/1012

Utter nonsense/Why I'm not walking down Passeig de Gràcia

Utter nonsense: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/10/AR2010071001224.html

A good example of how shoddy journalism sucks. Yawnville style.

Why I'm not walking down Passeig de Gràcia: I won't march when the PSOE/PSC/José Montilla lead the demonstration. They are the problem. Not the solution.

Filed under: Catalonia, Politics 12 Comments

4Jul/1038

thebadPoll: Catalonia's 'Estatut' in Madrid's court

It's a long time since I ran a poll on this blog. Hell, it's a long time since I did anything on this blog.

This week, the question is simpler than it sounds: do you think Spain's constitutional court was right in cutting various passages from Catalonia's new statute of autonomy, approved by referendum some years ago?

VOTE EARLY, VOTE OFTEN, as usual.

Filed under: Catalonia, Politics 38 Comments

12Jun/105

Lleida and its racist ban on the burqa

A couple of weeks ago, the Catalan town of Lleida became the first municipality in Spain to introduce a ban on the full Islamic veil, or burqa and niqab. The veils are now prohibited in municipal buildings.

Lleida's Socialist party mayor, Àngel Ros, claims that the ban is a strike in favour of equality. The ban was backed by the Catholic Catalan conservatives, CiU. And now they and the PSC are planning introduce a similar ban in Tarragona. The truth is that Lleida's city hall has been involved in a protracted battle with a Muslim community it does not want. Indeed, the PSC is just applying policies called for by none other than arch racist, Josep Anglada, leader of the utterly mental Plataforma Per Catalunya fascist party.

Times of financial hardship always breed racist reactions. I'm not in the least bit surprised that the PSC, a party of hopeless twats to a man (or woman), would stoop this low to try and shore up their position in Catalonia. If the party was serious about gender equality, it would ban the huge brothels that line the carreteras here, packed with thousands of young African and eastern European women. It won't, because for the PSC, 'equality' is just a useful excuse for pandering to nasty provincial racism.

Filed under: Catalonia, Politics 5 Comments

11Jun/1046

Some Questions for a Catalan Independentist

In just over a week, many Catalan towns will hold 'consultaions' about Catalan independence. These consultations (consultes) take the form of a mock referendum. They're not legally binding in any way, and voting in them is so open that even I can join in! The thing about these consultations is that they do make it feel (however superficially) like Catalonia is starting to seriously consider its status as part of Spain. The organisers and political groups involved are certainly keen to make it look like that, at any rate.

On this blog, I've been careful to avoid a categorical endorsement of Catalan independence for many reasons. So I decided to ask some open questions to anyone interested in answering them. And you don't have to be in favour of Catalan independence to take part: if you think you've got a point to make, make it. I plan to do something similar directed at opponents of independence over the next few days. Feel free to answer whichever of the questions you like.

Some questions:

Why should Catalonia be independent?
What exactly do you think will be gained if Catalonia becomes independent?
What model do you see an independent Catalonia adopting? Some sort of republic? How would it be organised?
Do you think that the current crisis is a good time to decide something like this? Why?
What damage do you think this would do to Spain? Do you worry about that?
Is an independent Catalonia an economically viable state?
What should the process be in the result of a vote in favour of independence?
What should be the status of Spanish citizens in Catalonia? Would dual citizenship be allowed?
What about immigrants? Would they become citizens? What would the immigration policy be?
Would you expect all the political parties in Catalonia to break ties with their Spanish equivalents?
What would happen if the EU had trouble accepting Catalonia as a member?
What would happen to Catalan government agencies aimed at trade and business? Would they be absorbed by embassies?
Who would be the head of state? Would you deny Juan Carlos's claim to sovereignty?
Would the Catalan constitution guarantee the right to receive state services in Castilian Spanish?
How would you deal with people potentially wanting to leave for Spain proper?
What flag would you have? Senyera or Estelada?
What would happen to utilities like the phone/data system?
What sort of rights would be included in the constitution anyway?
How would you deal with other parts of the 'Catalan Countries'? Would you seek their absorption?
How important would the status of FC Barcelona be? Do you think the Spanish league would still have them?
Would you bother with armed forces? If so, how?
What would happen if there was a Spanish boycott of independent Catalonia?
What would happen if there was a Spanish military response?
Can a constituent part of an EU and NATO member even declare independence?
Would you demand that companies trading in Catalonia establish separate entities in Catalonia? How?

And that's enough for now. I know that I've asked a lot of questions. But these are just some of the questions that will be asked should Catalonia approach a genuine referendum.

So, what do you say?

Filed under: Catalonia, Politics, Spain 46 Comments

27Apr/101

The PP's racism in Badalona is no surprise

So the PP has been forced to apologise for its revoltingly racist campaign material which included suggestive messages like "We don't want Romanians". The PPC's leadership has exclaimed that it doesn't support this kind of filth, stating "crime doesn't have a nationality".

Well, yeah, but it can't have come as a surprise that the PP in Badalona would try to run this as their main campaign point. They're after the seething racist vote which is a vote you've really got to go out and fight for. Anyway, they were getting in trouble for this kind of thing a year ago.

Same old PP.

[Note: other parties are capable of this kind of crap. But the PP seem to be linked to it a lot more than anyone else]

Filed under: Catalonia, PP, Politics, Spain 1 Comment

14Mar/103

Review: Barcelona – City Of Crime by Larry Kovaks

Barcelona - City Of Crime

Barcelona has something of a reputation when it comes to crime. Which is what you'd expect from any Mediterranean city packed to the rafters with tourists, sailors, hookers and grifters. It's not exactly a dangerous place (Barcelona has a very low homicide rate) but plenty of bags get stolen and plenty of people get gypped. And that's exactly why this city needs someone like Larry Kovaks whose latest (and first) book, City Of Crime, tells the story of one man's fight against the ne'er-do-wells and miscreants ('gypmeisters') of the Ciutat Vella.

Consisting of a series of stories set in Barcelona's old quarter, City Of Crime introduces the reader to the scams, tricks and mischief that take place right under any visitor's nose. From illicit Chinese brothels (one has recently opened here in Cerdanyola, so the flyposted adverts say) to villainous dwarves, Kovaks lays bare the criminal heart of the city as well as its sordid underbelly, all in the gravelly voice of an American b-movie detective.

Kovaks, both the author and the star of the book (though I suspect that editor Andrew Minh deserves some praise for his work on the text), is an impressive beast of a man. His girth is only outsized by his quick wit (for the most part) and possibly his disgust with the bad boys and girls of Barcelona's underworld. Fuelled by Ducado cigarettes, Voll Damm beer and Mascaró brandy, Kovaks fearlessly confronts the Tracksuit Mafia through the cold, piss-streaked streets of the Raval, like an 18-stone angel.

Much of the material in City Of Crime has been published on the web, both at Kovaks's own website and in the pages of The New Entertainer. However, that shouldn't deter readers from buying the printed edition which is attractively bound and features a brand new installment, The Danger Of The Perfect Brunette. My only criticism of the book would be that some of the earlier stories are somewhat short: this is a character who really comes into his own in the longer episodes.

A joy for residents of the Catalan capital and a forewarning for visitors, City Of Crime left me hungry for more. We can only hope that Kovaks, wherever he may be, gives us more of the goods in future editions.

Barcelona - City Of Crime by Larry Kovaks - 1/1
Buy the book online from Lulu here.

Filed under: Books, Catalonia, Review 3 Comments

18Feb/100

Primavera Sound 2010 Festival Line Up

It's that time of year again! As Barcelona's winter continues to fling a surprising array of nastiness at us, we're already getting the occasional day that lets us dream of spring. And spring in Barcelona means one thing: the Primavera Sound festival. This year's festival takes place from the 27th to the 29th of May, at the Parc del Fòrum.

This is the line up so far. It's pretty much final, though a few more acts will likely be named. The big names so far appear to be The Charlatans, The Fall, Gary Numan, Orbital, Pet Shop Boys, Pixies, Wilco and Wire.

A Sunny Day In Glasgow
Apse
Atlas Sound
Beach House
Beak>
Ben Frost
Best Coast
Bigott
Bis
Biscuit
Black Lips
Black Math Horseman
Boy 8-Bit
Broken Social Scene
Built To Spill
Camaron, La Leyenda Del Tiempo
Circulatory System
CocoRosie
Cohete
Cold Cave
Condo Fucks
Crocodiles
Delorean
Diplo
Dr. Dog
Dum Dum Girls
Emilio José
Endless Boogie
Fake Blood
Florence + The Machine
Fuck Buttons
Ganglians
Gary Numan
Grizzly Bear
Half Foot Outside
HEALTH
Here We Go Magic
Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions
Japandroids
Jeffrey Lewis & The Junkyard
Joker featuring Nomad
Junip
Lee "Scratch" Perry
Les Savy Fav
Lidia Damunt
Liquid Liquid
Low performing "The Great Destroyer"
Major Lazer
Marc Almond
Matt & Kim
Mission Of Burma
Moderat
Monotonix
Mujeres
Nana Grizol
No Age
Nueva Vulcano
ODDSAC
Orbital
Owen Pallett (Final Fantasy)
Panda Bear
Pavement
Pet Shop Boys
Pixies
Polvo
Real Estate
Roddy Frame
Scout Niblett
Seefeel
Shellac
Sian Alice Group
Sic Alps
Sleigh Bells
Spoon
Standstill
Sunny Day Real Estate
Superchunk
Surfer Blood
The Almighty Defenders
The Antlers
The Big Pink
The Bloody Beetroots Death Crew 77
The Books
The Bundles
The Charlatans performing "Some Friendly"
The Clean
The Drums
The Fall
The Field
The King Khan & BBQ Show
The New Pornographers
The Psychic Paramount
The Slits
The Smith Westerns
The Wave Pictures
The XX
Thee Oh Sees
Titus Andronicus
Tortoise
Ui
Wilco
Wild Beasts
Wild Honey
Wire
Yeasayer

Filed under: Catalonia, Music No Comments

14Feb/104

New 'drunk girl' theft scam being tested in Barcelona for MWC!

Yesterday was Gemma's birthday, which we celebrated with tapas, cake, cava and beer at Glaçiar in Plaça Reial. We left at about 2am, and headed through the passage way back onto the Rambla dels Caputxins, emerging onto that stretch with a taxi rank between Ferran and Escudellers, also known as pickpocket central. Here is the basic info you need to know about the 'drunk girl trafficked' scam:

People involved: At least 3 people take part. Firstly, a young blonde woman who appears to be drunk - she's eating a kebab and with her podgy body and blonde hair could have been English... from her accent we think she was more likely from he former Soviet Union; secondly, one Latin-American man with a mobile phone, and a Spanish-looking man with a pony tail.

What happens: blonde girl approaches from the centre of the Ramblas. Apparently drunk, she collapses and nearly drops her kebab in front of bemused locals/marks who tut and then try to help her out of the road. Meanwhile, two men apparently unknown to each other join the melée, eventually making it appear that they're both tying to take the girl away. Ideally, civic attitudes and 'having heard of people trafficking' kick in, making the marks attempt to ascertain whether the 'victim' really knows her new friends. Of course she does, but not it's not how it looks!

At this point, the girl dropped her kebab. Looking back, this could either have been a genuinely convincing piece of acting, or it was a signal to move on to phase 3.

While Gemma's aunt continued trying to establish if the girl was OK, one of the guys managed to move behind me. As he made a grab for my wallet, he nudged me - certainly accidentally - and alerted me to their intentions. I barked "We're going!" in Catalan to Gemma's aunt, and dragged her into the waiting cab. We got away safely and without anything missing.

In all, this little piece of street theatre took about one minute to unfold. It must have been carefully planned and although I think I've heard of something similar, I can't find any references to the scam at the excellent Kovaks PI website. This, like all the most pernicious scams, is based on manipulating a person's built-in civism (rather than, say, their greed or lust, when in my opinion the mark gets all he deserves). As soon as the girl fell over, we were probably at risk of losing our bags/wallets. The fact that my man with the ponytail messed up his move on my wallet suggests that either this particular iteration of the scam is new, or the guy was new to it. It might well be that they thought they'd practice the scam on Saturday night because from today until next weekend, BCN will be rammed with sales executives packing expensive mobile phones and American-style wallets full of cash.

The thing to do, of course, when a girl falls over in the street, is call for the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police force). Likewise, if two men seem to be fighting over a drunk girl who doesn't know either of them, the thing to do is call for the Mossos. Shouting "Mossos! Policia!" might make you look like a berk but there are lots of cops around there and they'll turn up in no time.

Some useful info for visitors to Barcelona:

Catalan police phone number: 088
General emergency number: 112
Police officers on Les Rambles will always be in uniform and will always have an ID card (and normally a gun!)
Kovaks P.I. - the #1 resource for Barcelona street scam stories. Worth a read even if you're not coming to Barcelona

Filed under: Catalonia 4 Comments

30Jan/100

My Mongetes a la Catalana recipe

Catalan food, as observed by my friend Sebina, can be a little heavy sometimes. This mainly comes down to a love of recipes involving beans, especially in conjunction with lots of pork products. A classic combination is Botifarra amb Mongetes, sausage and beans... but that's a tad dull if you ask me. Instead, I prefer 'Beans a la Catalana', made with either mongetes (big white beans) or fabes (young green broad beans). This is my made up recipe for Mongetes a la Catalana, another great rustic dish for wintry days and evenings. The measures are based on serving four or five people.

What you will need:

About 700g of good Mongetes blanques. Go for 'ganxet' type as these seem to be better. When I say 700g, I mean when they're still in their water, in the jar. Strain them but do not wash them.
3 strips of good panceta/cansalada/pork belly, cut into large postage stamp-sized pieces. Not too large, mind
Sausage. Go for about 400g of botifarra sausage (chopped up as well). I used some mini chipolatas with black truffle but I don't know how easy these are to come by
2 cloves garlic, minced (or whatever you call it)
Handful of chopped parsley
Dash of white wine
Salt
Good olive oil
About 15 mins

What you need to do:

Heat a nice amount olive oil to medium-high temperature (around level 5 on my cooker) in a large, heavy frying pan. Add the panceta, making sure to add plenty of salt (it'll be a bit tasteless otherwise). After a minute or two, add the sausages. Fry the meat for 5-10 minutes, until it browns. Ensure the oil doesn't get too hot and that the meat doesn't burn. It might well spit a bit at this point (the fatty panceta does like to 'pop' from time to time). When browned, remove the meat with a slatted device, and place in a bowl.

Let the oil cool down a little bit before continuing. Get the heat down to medium/medium-low.

Now throw the garlic and parsley into the pan. If you got the oil temperature right, it'll fry but not burn immediately (that happened to me the first time I tried this). Fry for about a minute. Now add the strained beans and stir together for another minute. Here, I like to add a dash of white wine, just to provide a bit of liquid to the dish. Don't add more than a glass. When the wine has reduced down, add the meat again. Cook it all together for about four or five minutes (keeping the heat really low), and that's it.

Serve a fairly small portion in a bowl with pa amb tomaquet and a glass of decent red wine. This dish is filling, warming and really yummy. Hope you enjoy it!

Filed under: Catalonia, Food No Comments

29Jan/1037

thebadPoll: what's correct: Catalonia or Catalunya… or Cataluña?

This new poll is borne from a post I read today at Jeremy Holland's From Barcelona blog. But it's also, I must admit, something I've probably grumbled about before.

Among the people writing about Catalonia in English, there seems to be little consensus as to what we call the place. I always use the English form 'Catalonia', Jeremy uses the Catalan 'Catalunya', Graeme at South of Watford uses the Spanish 'Cataluña'... doubtless someone out there (Trevor?) uses the archaic 'Cathalunya'.

My reasons for using the English form are fairly simple: firstly, consistency. In my guise as a sort-of-managing-editor, I spend plenty of time making sure that everyone writing for our website writes as consistently as possible. That is, we have a house style which should always be applied. So we write in American English, generally try to avoid jargon - sometimes a difficult task when writing about technology, and use the same naming conventions when referring to organisations, places or people. The idea of consistency in such writing is that a reader should never have to trouble themselves as to why we're suddenly using a different word to describe something. I use 'Catalonia', 'Spain' and 'Seville' because I'm attempting to maintain some sense of consistency in the way I write (though a quick search shows that I have used 'Sevilla' a few times!). I feel that the majority of news organisations and works of reference would agree with me when I say that as a rule, toponyms ought to be written in the same language as the rest of the article.

The second reason I prefer the English form of the name is that when I'm writing in English, I'll use an English word wherever possible. This has nothing to do with any kind of linguistic conservatism: though my 'trade' involves the constant use of English, I'm the first to proclaim that one of its great strengths is the lack of an Academy that protects it from foreign influence. I do, however, broadly agree with George Orwell's Six Rules for clear political writing. As far as I'm concerned, 'Catalonia' is a perfectly decent English word that has been in use for hundreds of years and, like 'Spain' does the job admirably well. So why opt for the Catalan version? To me, it sounds like an affectation, particularly when this exception - this break in consistency - is applied only to 'Catalunya', and not to 'Spain'.

Jeremy makes a couple of points when explaining why he prefers the Catalan form. He's right to say that using 'Catalunya' hardly makes a piece of writing harder to understand. Pretty much anyone reading either of our blogs would be perfectly comfortable with the Catalan toponym. He also talks about the fluidity of English and its willingness to absorb words from other languages and cultures - something I mentioned above. But he does rather cloud the issue I thought we were talking about: whether there's a correct way to name the place in English. He also introduces something of a red herring: street names and people's names. To me, calling Joan, 'John' is incorrect... and calling the Plaça de Catalunya 'Catalonia Square' just aren't the same thing as calling Catalunya, Catalonia.

But I may be wrong. Jeremy has promised that he'll change and start using the English form if that's what most Catalans say they prefer. I'm not going to change the naming conventions I use, no matter what you say. But I am interested in hearing what you think. So the question is: when writing in English, what's the correct way to refer to the place? Catalonia, Catalunya, Cataluña, or something else entirely? As always, vote early & often to the right >>>

Filed under: Catalonia, Language, Polls 37 Comments

16Dec/096

Are the Brits the most racist Catalans?

"Most of the genuine Catalan people I know ( real ones – not the ones who are called Jordi Gárcia Sánchez et al)"

You won't hear many Catalans spouting this kind of crap (though I know 'charnego' still gets chucked about sometimes by the knuckle-draggers and mouth-breathers). So why would a dodgy English blogger from a two-donkey village outside Barcelona* try to get away with it?

Note also the smooth practice of closing comments on a post when you've been proven wrong continues as if it'll never go out of fashion.

__
*No relation.

Filed under: Catalonia, Internet computer, Language, Politics 6 Comments

13Dec/098

Less than 30% turnout in today's Catalan independence 'consultations'

TV3 is reporting that of the 700,000 people eligible to vote in today's referendum/consultations, 200,000 voted. If that number is correct, the turnout stands at just under 30%.

What does this mean for Catalonia? There are several points to take into consideration (which affect any interpretation of events in various ways):

The consultations were non-official and therefore certainly not taken as seriously as an official referendum would be. This means that the approx. 30% who did take part probably come from more politicised parts of Catalan society. I suspect that pro-independence elements will have voted more strongly (based on the fact that only the pro-independence movements seemed to be drumming up any support for the ballots). The other 70% of the population would likely include far more anti-independence voters than today's result will indicate.
The consultations were carried out in largely rural towns and villages, which traditionally demonstrate a much stronger level of support for Catalan independence. Barcelona and its suburbs, along with Tarragona and environs have large numbers of voters, including many with a more Spain-centric (and sometimes right-wing nationalist) point of view than will likely be seen in today's results.
The consultations seemed to go without mention at all on TVE 1 this morning. For an official referendum, we can imagine that their coverage would have been different.
The consultations allowed votes from anyone over 16 and registered in the municipality concerned. An official referendum would likely follow Spanish/European electoral law and limit the electorate to Spanish citizens aged over 18. I'll add that I'd like it if 16-18 year olds, and non-Spanish citizens were allowed to vote in elections. But they're not.
The consultations have happened at a time when general support for Spanish PM Zapatero is very low (as was possibly intended). A PM from the Partido Popular would likely increase the pro-independence vote. A more popular Zapatero (or alternative) might well reduce it.

It remains to be seen what effect these consultations in the form of a referendum will have on Catalonia's political future. My bet is that whatever the result, ERC, CUP and the CdC will claim it as a vote in favour for an official referendum within the next two or three years.

Barcelona, if it ever manages to hold a similar consultation, will always be the decider.

Filed under: Catalonia, PP, Politics, Spain 8 Comments

12Dec/091

13D: Some of Catalonia votes for independence tomorrow

This weekend, 700,000 people in Catalonia are eligible to vote in the region's first ever referendum on independence from Spain.

Or at least, that's how the BBC has it. Tomorrow will be interesting because the turnout will give everyone an idea of how far CUP, ERC and even CiU can run with independence as a vote winner. But Barcelona and the more 'Spanish' suburbs (like Cerdanyola) aren't taking part. As I've pointed out elsewhere: we all know that if it were up to Vic, Catalonia would have declared independence years ago.

I'll be watching tomorrow's results with some interest. But I'd rather they had a proper vote, and we could all be done with it.

Filed under: Catalonia, Politics, Spain 1 Comment

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