"One World, One Dream" - against totalitarianism

There's something in me that switches off when pro-Tibet protesters hang a banner off San Francisco's Golden Gate bridge, declaring "One World, One Dream: Free Tibet". One world, one dream, eh? I mean what does that even mean? That the whole world wants Tibet to be free? That the 'one world' is united in that 'one dream'?

Photo from sfthqphotos, at Flickr

Tibet and its treatment at the hands of Chinese authoritarianism is an important issue. But 'One World, One Dream'? If the protesters had wanted to make a decent point, they'd have opposed the Oympic Games all together. 'One World, One Dream: Bread' would have moved me a lot more.

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April 11, 2008 | Filed Under Language, Politics, Rants | 2 Comments 

Mediapro: Allen film only in English and Catalan

One of the bigwigs at Mediapro, who have produced Woody Allen's crap-sounding Barcelona love letter, 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona' (still hate that title), has said that in Catalonia, the film will only be screened in English or dubbed into Catalan (IE, no Spanish dubbed version).

Jaume Roures, speaking [link in Catalan] on the RAC1 radio station, said that he also hoped that the film might open this year's Cannes festival.

The story has been picked up on the wires, and is generally being used for a spot of Catalan-bashing (any excuse, right?). Several papers have also fished up the 'political pressure' story from a few months back, which seems to me to be without substance.

This doesn't appear to be a decision even remotely connected with the Generalitat. In fact, it seems that Mediapro (or perhaps Roures) itself is behind the decision, and I suppose they're perfectly justified in taking it, however foolish a business idea it might be. I kind of suspect that he was either speaking out of turn or angling for nationalist-love, and that the film will also be dubbed into Spanish.

A more daring move would be to screen the film with only Spanish or Catalan subtitles, and no dubbing. The reservoirs of Catalonia will fill before that happens.

Oh yeah, for those of you hoping for lots of Scarlett and Penélope girl-on-girl action (as has been reported in less salubrious joints than thebadrash), apparently the rumours have been 'greatly exagerrated'. Tough luck. Still, you're on the Internet so I'm sure you can find something else.

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April 9, 2008 | Filed Under Catalonia, Language, Spain | 5 Comments 

Nazi Pop Twins documentary

Prussian Blue - the Nazi Pop TwinsYesterday, after watching Pirates of the Caribbean 3 (0/1) and Turistas (1/1) we flicked over to More 4 to watch a documentary which was first broadcast in July this year. It concerned Lamb and Lynx Gaede, the teenaged twins who comprise Prussian Blue, a Nazi pop band. I'd heard of Prussian Blue before, probably through the Popbitch message-board, but had never really given them much thought. The documentary offered some insight into these Nazi pop twins and the way they were manipulated and pushed around by their scary mother, April. The twins, aged around 14 or 15 in the film, were clearly? trying to distance themselves somewhat from the White Pride / National Vanguard movements.

The film was naturally full of unpleasant views , mostly espoused by the awful April and her equally unpleasant father. At onepoint, during a small argument about signing CDs for members of the White Pride movement, April could be heard saying to one of her daughters that she should help out for a bit and that "Then you can be as much of a cunt as you like for the rest of the evening". I hope that Lynx and Lamb find the strength to make the break with the atrocious philosophy forced on them by their mother. She's one of those annoying people, incidentally, who doesn't understand language or logic: the thought that she could define racism and that what she promoted wasn't racism because she didn't call it that. Sorry, it doesn't work that way.

Anyway, the documentary is well worth watching. It should be noted that such families are extremely rare in the USA… failure to remember this would be thoroughly anti-American.The reason they don't make many documentaries about all the other, normal families is that they probably wouldn't be as interesting as a film about some Nazi Pop Twins.

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November 19, 2007 | Filed Under Language, Politics | 9 Comments 

On the Catalan language

One of the big points for debate here is language. Here - as in many other places around the world - language often seems inextricably linked to culture, politics and identity. The issue of Catalan versus Castilian Spanish is probably the most abused and  over-discussed issue in Catalonia. I'm not really interested in prolonging this pretty irritating debate but I would like to try to clarify a couple of the key sticking-points.

First, Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) - the Catalan Republican Left - and their language policy. ERC are the fourth biggest party in Catalonia (and third partner in the regional government, la Generalitat) and their policy is pretty much totally dictated by nationalism. Culture and language, of course, play a major role in their strategy. And from time to time, they propose policies or laws which  are frankly unbelievable. Take, for example, the proposal that it should be illegal for teachers to speak in any language but Catalan while they're on school premises. That's a ridiculous policy which regularly earns the well deserved moniker 'fascist'. It is clear that their policy is directed against speakers of Castilian Spanish and thus anyone who is 'non-Catalan'.

As far as I see, ERC consists of several different movements. I have some sympathy for the 'republican/left' element of the party because I'm a left-winger and would rather live in a republic than a kingdom. Unfortunately, the dominant front in ERC is extremely nationalist and sometimes verges on the racist. I get the impression that they probably wouldn't much like me as a member, because I use the odd Spanish word when speaking Catalan. I'm not from here, remember.

The crazier of ERC's policies are reminiscent of laws passed by Francisco Franco's fascist dictatorship in Spain. Under the Generalissimo, the country was reinvented as the home of Catholicism, empire and homogeneity. Of course, this was  revisionism gone mad. Spain has always been an amalgamation of different kingdoms, peoples and cultures. Passing laws to cancel that out has never worked.

This is another sticking point. If you read other English-language blogs from Catalonia, you might get the impression that the story of Catalan being banned under Franco was made up by Catalan nationalists. This is completely untrue. Certain bloggers seem to have a perverse interest in undermining the history of Catalan, Catalonia and the repression during the Franco years. Make no mistake: under Franco, hundreds of laws and judgments were passed which effectively outlawed the use of the Catalan language. At best, the blogs which promulgate this myth are disingenuous. I reckon that they're aiming for an audience-pleasing tone of contrariety, which is, after all, the natural tone for successful blogs. Doesn't make it true, though.

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July 15, 2007 | Filed Under Catalonia, Language, Politics | 48 Comments 

A visit to England, a trip to the CAP

We had a great weekend in England. We stayed near Hereford in a delightful retreat with spectacular views towards the Malvern hills. It was really nice to spend some quality time with the Welsh side of my family and the wedding itself was awesome.

During the weekend (indeed, during the night of the wedding), my brother and I had something of a play fight. Those of you with brothers will know what that means. However, we've both gotten older and bigger than we used to be. To cut a long story short, I ended up with a broken rib.

For those who've never enjoyed the experience of breaking a rib, let me tell you that it really, really hurts. It hurts straight away. It hurts more the next day. And three days later, it hurts a lot more. So today, partly to confirm my self-diagnosis and partly to get some pain relief, I went to see a doctor. Despite my private health insurance, I had to go to the local CAP (public medical centre) where I realised that although I've lived here for five years, there was yet another stratum of bureaucracy I hadn't yet encountered.

I'm not the sort of fellow who goes to the doctor much. My ideal would be to never have to visit one: on the whole, I see it as a bit of a waste of time. So naturally, I hadn't registered for a doctor or signed up for my Cat Salut public health entitlement card. This, as you can imagine, led to all sorts of palpitations on the part of the guy at reception who ended up warning me that I would have to be charged €87 for seeing the doctor [not as bad as this guy's story]. I managed to get away with it by promising that I'd sign up for the card as soon as possible… I now have to go back to the CAP soon or receive a bill. Great.

The doctor who treated me was a star. Clearly very Catalan, he didn't insist on ignoring my Spanish, as I have heard other people have experienced. Side note: I've never suffered any of these Catalanista horror stories which plague the English language blogs from around here. I reckon that they're much rarer than people like to admit and that doctors, nurses and other medical staff are on the whole dedicated to providing treatment to the citizenry, even if they don't have a class C Catalan qualification.

The doc told me that there was basically nothing to be done for a broken rib, and that x-rays and scans were a waste of time. Using 'prehistoric methods' (his words), he felt for the break and assessed that it was there. Then he gave me some prescriptions for an opiate painkiller which seems to be doing the trick.

Moral of the story: don't trust your little brother to not attack you when your back's turned*… but do trust the doctors of Catalonia. They're alright.

*I know my bro wasn't trying to hurt me… we were just being a bit boisterous. I just like making him feel guilty!

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June 19, 2007 | Filed Under Catalonia, Home, Language, UK | Leave a Comment 

Expats against immigration!

The BBC's got a story on how some expats living in Spain are getting involved in Spanish municipal elections. All EU citizens are eligible to vote - or stand - in council elections. I mentioned last week that I'll be voting for the Green/United Left (aka the communists) as they've done a lot to improve both the look and the feel of Cerdanyola.

Much further south (the traditional home of the British expat), people haven't got so much to be grateful for. Successive administrations from the PP, the PSOE and other parties have been criticised for large-scale corruption, especially in their dealings with land and building permissions.

So some Spaniards and ex-pats have united in a party called 'Progreso y Orden' (Progress and Order). The party's platform is to do away with those problems that ruin life in la Vega Baja of Alicante. Problems like corrupt politicians, excessive land speculation, 'delinquency', drug use and… immigration! Unusual as it may seem, non-Spaniards are involved with a Spanish party which is opposed to immigration. As you might have guessed, I smelled a rat. A big fat racist rat.

So I had a look at Progress and Order's homepage (web geek's observation: probably the worst designed website in existence: I had to use Firefox's 'Page info' dialogue to navigate the site!) (Updated: here's the link to their homepage!). When I eventually managed to find the Spanish language 'About us' page, I found out a lot about the founder of Order and Progress. He's called Fernando Gadea. He's an ex Guardia Civil (not that there's anything wrong with that), an 'intelligence expert', an expert in 'electronic security systems', a former Spanish legionnaire and a former municipal official. He spends quite a lot of time talking about himself (even more than I do in my 'About' section), and seems to be your typical ex-military, ex-Guardia, private detective sort of nice chap.

Unfortunately, he forgot to mention one thing on his new party's site which might be of interest to residents of San Fulgenio, as well as the BBC journalists who missed this little tidbit. When he was a 'concejal' (town councillor), he was there as a listed member of España 2000. Those of you who haven't heard of España 2000 can check out its Wikipedia entry which is both accurate and amusing. Other Nazis in Spain consider them to be something of a joke. A splinter-group of theirs is apparently based in Catalonia, and puts up stickers in Cerdanyola which call for the repatriation of 'non-Spaniards' (which we can assume doesn't include wealthy Brits or Germans: the photos all seem to be of Muslims).

So there you go… not exactly surprising that a party called Order and Progress is a bit dodgy. The BBC should probably have done some better research for their story, as it would have been interesting to read a 'Brits and Germans in far-right Spain pact' headline, but never mind. It's also worth noting that not all Brits in Spain are voting for the local equivalent of the BNP. While many expats see fit to spew invective about the 'Asians' back home, there are plenty of us who didn't leave home because we were sick of seeing brown faces everywhere.

–

As has been reported on other blogs, British involvement in Spanish politics doesn't stop at San Fulgencio. Bernie Ecclestone, short-arsed owner of the Formula One franchise, has just announced that there'll be a new Grand Prix in Valencia ciutat. But only if the electorate remember to vote PP in the regional elections, as the local party boss is a chum. What a revolting little episode. I'm boycotting it. But good luck, Lewis, anyway!

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May 12, 2007 | Filed Under Language, PP, Politics, Spain | 9 Comments 

The new 'anti-nacionalismo'

Spanish-language blog, El Siglo de las Luces, has a well written and interesting post about moves by the Spanish right to expand its influence by forming and supporting supposed NGOs and pressure groups around the country. These groups traditionally start out as single-issue before becoming more and more embroiled in the two topics which seem to excite the political extremes in this country: left versus right; and the question of nationalism (this term usually only referring to Catalan and Basque nationalism/separatism.

The classic example of this is the AVT (Association of Victims of Terrorism). Ostensibly formed as a support/pressure group for victims of ETA and their families, the AVT long ago became a sort of rent-a-mob for high profile, low impact demonstrations in Madrid where protesters gnash their teeth and do the whole Two Minutes Hate thing.

I've written about the AVT before (I stand by everything I wrote six months ago) and currently words fail me to describe how bitterly I dislike their nasty mixture of pressure politics, rhetoric and sheer anti-reason. There is simply no point in attempting an ordinary criticism of the AVT because they are so astoundingly out of it. Sometimes, I think it's part of a clever plot to utterly confound critics: where do I start? they've opened a battle against logic on so many fronts that I get headaches just trying to list them.

Instead, I recommend reading that blog post at El Siglo de las Luces. And consider that even though it may not be working that well, the PP's strategy is pretty clever. By politicising members of the Spanish working class (nominally against one thing they don't like, e.g. subsidies for Catalan language, ETA, etc), the PP have forged a plan which, should it eventually start working, could well extend their platform of support and - more importantly - their political influence throughout Spain.

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November 30, 2006 | Filed Under Catalonia, Language, PP, Politics, Spain | 1 Comment 

The language of 'terror' revisited

The big difference between the IDF and Hezbollah, we’re told, is that one is a terrorist group and the other a fully incorporated armed force which has rules of engagement and which most importantly does not kill civilians intentionally.

This is of vital importance: Hezbollah murder civilians randomly as their main operational technique. The IDF kills ten times as many innocent civilians in its strikes against Hezbollah but because these are not an aim of the strikes, they don’t really count.

The paucity of this argument should be plain for all to see. It can be attacked on two fronts:

(i) The aim of Hezbollah is not to kill Israelis, per se, but to pursue a radical, nationalist agenda. The death of Israeli civilians is not therefore the sole aim of Hezbollah rather than something which must happen in order to win. In this way, Hezbollah’s crimes can be justified using the same justification which the IDF uses.

(ii) In the vast majority of conflicts between Israel and its neighbours (or groups such as Hezbollah), huge numbers of innocent civilians are killed or displaced. Because this is nothing new, it must surely feature in IDF strategic planning. It can therefore be said that the death of innocent civilians is considered as a justifiable means to achieve the end which the IDF seeks. Therefore, while not the primary aim of Israeli military attacks, civilian deaths are not regretted by the IDF being, as they are, the way by which Israel will prevail.

It is therefore not the aim of either to murder civilians, but because both forces know that these deaths will occur, they are intentional. In other words, there is no fundamental difference between Hezbollah and the IDF. Both forces recognise that in order to achieve their goals, they must murder innocent civilians.

It is important that we stay on top of the language being used by our media and governments – and that we take care to question such widely accepted facts as the difference between two murderous forces.

Click here to read 'War on terror', linguistics and logic.

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August 4, 2006 | Filed Under 'Terror', Language, Politics | Leave a Comment 

Those horrid Catalans

Whenever the topic of Catalan devolution is argued about, at least one person will draw attention to the 'fact' that Catalans are rude and horrible people. The argument, though it has absolutely no bearing on the topic of devolution, is fallacious, and is employed as a tactic to make the debate about the conduct of Catalans rather than the fact of their desire for further devolution from Spain.

The classic form of this argument is: "Why should I have to speak in Catalan when I know they speak Spanish?". This is generally asked by foreign visitors to Barcelona who have allegedly undergone awful treatment at the hands of vicious Catalan waiters, shop-keepers and officials all intent on making their lives a misery.

My first response to the question is that it's just good manners to make an effort to connect with people when you come to their country. If I have dinner at a house where they say grace before eating, I don't just sit on the sofa with the TV on waiting for them to finish. I'll go along with it, bow my head and say Amen with the rest of them. Similarly, in Catalonia, I'll make an effort to say just a few words in Catalan: of course people here speak Spanish, but a lot of them speak English too and would we really expect them to deal with us only in the language most convenient to ourselves? This smacks of a huge double-standard. Is it really the Catalans who are obstructing communication? Or is it the people who refuse to make any effort whatsoever to use the local language?

My second argument is much simpler: this never happens anyway. Catalans do not refuse to speak in Spanish to people. This is a lie which is bandied about by people who've had some sort of bad experience here. How can I make this claim, I hear you ask? Simple: I've lived here for four years. In this time, I've visited numerous (hundreds) of bars, restaurants, night clubs, shops, bakeries, offices of the state and businesses. From Cadaques to the Ebre, from Vic and Lleida to Sort and Tarragona, I've travelled all around this country and not once have I experienced this alleged rudeness. I've probably had contact with thousands of Catalans and not a single one has ever treated me in this way.

Indeed, my experiences suggest that the true situation is the opposite of what the original question suggests: I have found that if I'm talking with a Catalan and trying to get by in Catalan, they will invariably switch to Spanish or English to make things easier for me. This can be very frustrating when you're trying to learn Catalan, but it's done out of courtesy and kindness rather than any malicious intent.

Why is it then that my experiences with Catalans and language seem so totally contradictory to those of the complainers? I can only assume that the extent of this rudeness and bad behaviour is grossly exagerrated by people who have a fixed anti-Catalan agenda.

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May 11, 2006 | Filed Under Catalonia, Language, Politics, Spain | Leave a Comment 

My new favourite mentalists!

This blog called something like factualmente no correcto is a sort of joke about how far you can take right-wing mentalism. If you can't understand Spanish, it doesn't really matter because pretty much everything on there is rubbish (save the factualmente no correcte bit). Their second to last post was a pathetic attack on your trusty correspondent's recent scuffle with the thugs over that dickhead Jorge Valín. The author entitled it "Stupidity has neither languages nor continents", and then proceeds to prove his point. I must say, if everyone on the Spanish right is quite as foolishly mendacious and hypocritical as the ones I've had the misfortune to read, they truly are in a bad state. I noticed that none of them commented on my post entitled "Save the PP from themselves" where I urged my commie comrades to help the PP drag itself out of a self-dug pit.

Perhaps they spotted that I was on to something?

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April 20, 2006 | Filed Under Language, Politics, Spain | Leave a Comment 

I disagree with you, therefore you're a fascist (and a troll)

It's the accusation that signals desperation and abandonment of reason. "Like Hitler", "Like the Nazis" or simply "Fascist" must be the most overused (and misused)insult around during political discussions. In Spanish politics, the term is used daily on both sides of the left-right divide, and rarely with any true sense.

While it can be amusing when used in exasperation - see the semi-eponymous hero of The Big Lebowski calling the chief of police in Malibu "a fucking fascist" - misusing the term exposes either an ignorance of or an indifference to what the term really means. In that sense, 'fascism' runs the risk of becoming the same as 'terrorism', a word which I never use because I'm just not convinced that it can ever be accurately explained without it involving all governments.

As I have pointed out before, using a word for convenience rather than accuracy (and especially a word as well known as 'fascist') is indicative of gross stupidity. And to misuse the term 'troll' on a website, well… I've never seen the like.

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March 1, 2006 | Filed Under 'Terror', Catalonia, Language, Politics | 2 Comments 

English language websites take sides

Throughout the general debate over L'Estatut and Spanish devolution, there have been numerous wild allegations on both sides of the argument. To be fair, the wilder claims have come from the Spanish right wing ('school children forced to report teachers who speak Spanish', 'Spanish Balkanisation' and so on), but the Catalan left are guilty of over-using the term 'fascist' - a huge mistake as it means that the term loses its meaning. In what is an expected reflection of the philosophical divide, the English language media, both inside and outside Catalonia and Spain, have been reporting the story in varying ways.

Broadly speaking, the international media did not become involved in the debate over the Catalan statute until Lt Gen Aguado made his speech in January threatening military action should Catalonia secede from Spain. While the speech itself was roundly condemned in the international community, the PP failed to explicitly distance themselves from the sentiment of the General's remarks. The New York Times and the Financial Times (the latter normally an ally of the PP) rounded on the conservatives (or fascists, depending who you ask) with some pretty stern criticism.

It was at around this point that the Spain Herald stepped in to speak up for military coups. In an astounding editorial, the website claimed that "Lieutenant General Mena made a statement befitting a high commander these days". It's one thing to fail to condemn Aguado, but to applaud him? Frequent readers of this blog and many, many others based in Catalonia and Spain will be aware of the extreme right wing bent of the writers at Spain Herald. I had already stopped reading the site because I thought I might suffer an apoplexy. But sadly, Spain Herald does a good job of masquerading as a reliable news source - so much so that it has been quoted numerous times by other news organisations.

The Spain Herald and Rajoy had managed, one way or another, to scare people and put the blame for Aguado's comments on the Socialist government. In many ways, they have been successful. The Socialist party backed down from its support for L'Estatut and instead forged a watered-down deal with the Catalan opposition CiU party. Aguado's speech, therefore, was probably a success for those opposed to Catalan devolution.

Why am I digging this up again? Today, Barcelona Reporter (a website which faithfully attempts to provide a balance of news afecting the city and region) includes a link to a news source called TCS (Technology, Commerce and Society) in which a Spanish writer 'sums up' the debate in Sapin Herald-esque language. There's little mention of the fact that catalan citizens voted overwhelmingly for a platform dedicated to reforming the region's statute of autonomy. In its place is a rehashed version of Aguado's and Rajoy's hysterical claims about the so-called 'Balkanisation' of Spain. Now, the TCS is clearly not a socialist-friendly news source (other articles headlining today include a celebratory piece on the chances of Berlusconi in Italy's forthcoming elections, and a criticism of social policy in the EU), but this is yet another example of the Spanish right wing promulgating their ideas through ostensibly serious news outlets. The risks for Spain are huge. If the right succeed in their campaign against Catalans, it will only give them more confidence to further attack the other principles we hold dear: democracy, social justice and truth.

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February 17, 2006 | Filed Under Catalonia, Language, Politics | 3 Comments 

PP supporters seek a new civil war in Spain

Supporters of the right wing Partido Popular openly called for a new civil war during a pro-Constitutional rally in Madrid yesterday. The demonstration, attended by thousands of conservatives (and a number of neo Nazis) had been called to 'show support for the Spanish Constitution' ahead of next week's Constitution day public holiday. In reality, according to the Socialist government, the protesters were involved in anti-Catalonia movements, and this public meeting was organised as part of a strategy opposed to possible reforms of the Catalan statute of autonomy.

Using classic far-right wing language, PP leader Mariano Rajoy evoked memories of fascist dictator Francisco Franco with his claims "There is only one nation: the Spanish Nation. We are not a Nation made up of other nations, we are a Nation of free and equal people". The disputed changes to the Catalan statute would allow Catalonia to control taxation and even establish a high court which would become the supreme court for all cases conducted in the region. Right wingers and neo-fascists are angered by what they see as an attack on the homogeneity of the 'nation of Spain'.

In truth, however, most inhabitants of Catalonia are in favour of significant changes to the region's governmental power. The current regional government were elected on this platform and include a large number of Catalan Republican Left (ERC) members. It is therefore curious that the PP claim they are 'defending democracy' while simultaneously attempting to defy the democratic will of the Catalan people.

Ever since the former PP government launched a militarist ceremony in Madrid with armed forces chiefs and a giant Spanish flag at its centre, I have been convinced that the PP are not merely a modern conservative party as they like to claim, but that they are the genuine heirs of General Franco's political philosophy and attitude. Now, more than ever, I fear for the future of this country because I am convinced that the PP will win the next election. The number of Francoists is clearly approaching 50% of Spanish voters. I really cannot stress this too much: fascism is not a minority thing here. It really is a powerful and popular idea, and is perhaps reaching new levels of acceptance and organisation.

I fear for Spain because (other than ailing king Juan Carlos) I don't feel that there is any framework in place to prevent a possible coup or military rebellion. The EU ought to be able to help, but in reality it has never been tested in this sort of situation. The US would probably support a right wing rebellion. The rest of the world would likely ignore it, as they did in the 1930s. In short, the PP are willfully pushing Spain towards some sort of ideological confrontation, just as their grandfathers in the Falange did. They're playing a dangerous game, and unfortunately, they don't care.

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December 4, 2005 | Filed Under Catalonia, Language, Politics | Leave a Comment 

Languages and place names

It's been a long running discussion between Gemma and I that some languages change the names of towns more than others do. Admittedly, our frame of reference is fairly limited (i.e. we only really discussed English and Spanish) - but this doesn't mean that it's not an interesting topic.

The way I see it, in English we usually seem to use the local name of a place. That is to say, we don't change Madrid to anything else. In Spanish, London has its name changed to Londres (similar to the French form). We do change Sevilla to Seville though. We don't change Beijing (the standard international name for the Chinese capital). In Spanish, it's still called Pekí­n. Indian city names which have recently changed are similarly not recognised (though this is perhaps understanding: Spain has few historic links with that part of the world).

Also, the Spanish change people's names. When I was at school i was taught that speaking in a foreign language, one should never change the form of one's name to match the language being spoken. You were named William, not Guillaume, and that's how you should refer to yourself. Clearly, the Spanish don't care for this little rule. Everyone's name is converted to the hispanic form: Queen Elizabeth is called Isabel but in England, we call the King of Spain Juan Carlos.

I'm not saying that either side is right (well, I could hardly do that, given that I've not made any argument)… I just find it interesting that these differences exist. And that's it.

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November 25, 2005 | Filed Under Language | Leave a Comment 

We are not a nation

I just read a well written blog article criticising a variety of responses to hurricane Katrina's destruction. While I agree with the geographical points made - they are usually forgotten by people over here - the article has switched me on to something that as been cropping up an awful lot over the last couple of years. OK: I'm slow on the uptake.

When I talk about the USA, I talk as an Englishman living in Barcelona. I'm not a 'European' because I don't know what that means. No one that I've ever met in my travels describes themselves as 'European', but it is a term almost universally employed by Americans I've met.

I feel that this points to something of a misconception. While it is correct to style citizens of the USA as 'Americans' because they live in one country, a nation with one central government, there is no sense in trying to refer to all citizens in the European Union as 'Europeans'. People in Cordoba have as much in common with people in Copenhagen as people in New Orleans have with the citizens of Cape Town. It's a meaningless term, used to bunch together a group of wildly differing cultures and races to make a lazily constructed argument work.

The natural response to this may be "Oh come on, there is a lot of shared ideology and culture in Europe - you know that, Tom!" - and this is true. But no more than there is between us and Americans. So if we refer to 'Europeans', there is no real way the term works except as a description of people from a huge area with varying cultures and races, not united in any real sense.

Perhaps this (like most things) is the fault of the European Union? I get the idea that a lot of people over here have been keen to explain to Americans they meet, how close the European Union has brought us together. It's true that I can work in Cordoba or Copenhagen without applying for a special work permit. It's true that a factory can close in Peterborough and move to Prague without much being done to stop it. But it doesn't mean that I understand a word of Danish, Czech, Dutch or most of the other languages spoken here.

And this is the point: when Americans use the term 'Europeans', they put a sort of onus on EU citizens to act like Americans do. That is to say, we're all members of one Union, so we should work together instead of fighting all the time. I don't think that many Americans realise just how little we have in common with eachother, and how important our individual national traits and traditions really are to us.

We are not one nation, but dozens of nations, with impossibly inter-connected histories for sure, but with very powerful and often clashing interests. Americans like to bemoan the fact that Europeans can't stop fighting amongst themselves for more than 50 years or so. Christ, we don't like that either. But it happens sometimes because we are not one nation - and when you have dozens of nations in a small area, conflicts will occur.

As Alan Partridge noted, "Shit happens".

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September 24, 2005 | Filed Under Language, Politics | Leave a Comment 

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