Why are PP members so effin' rude?

The other day, our esteemed former Presidente del Gobierno – and honorary president of the PP, José María Aznar, visited the university of Oviedo in order to sell some of his FAES stuff. The students of said academy responded to the man's visit by waving banners and calling him a war criminal. Señor Aznar's response was that employed by all gentlemen of the world: he gave them the finger ('the bird', as our American friends would have it).

Aznar salutes the students of Oviedo

Aznar salutes the students of Oviedo

Now, if you've ever read this blog before, you may have determined that there's very little love lost between your humble host and that twat, Aznar. In case you need convincing, here's my analysis of the man: He's a slimy, post-fascist scumbag who did nothing for Spain other than bring about our current economic situation; a small, disgustingly self-important, right-wing tosser with a shit-eating grin and a ridiculous moustache.

But this isn't just about Aznar. It does seem that Spain's right wing are just generally rude. Look at the 'king', with his "Why don't you shut up?" diplomatic manoeuvre. Then there's Esperanza Aguirre and Ignacio Gonzalez, a right pair of hijoputas. What's wrong with these people? It all lends support to my theory that the most impolite people you'll generally encounter in life are right-wingers. We on the left generally opt for more intelligent criticism.

February 20, 2010 | Filed Under PP, Politics, Spain | 11 Comments 

Adam Curtis: It Felt Like A Kiss

I'll be writing a post soon about the last ten years and the effect they've had on me. One of the very many things I have to be grateful for during this decade is discovering the films of Adam Curtis.

Curtis's documentaries focus on the political and social history of the 20th century, criticising much of the psychological methods of power employed during those years. In The Power of Nightmares, Curtis illustrated how governments learned that the best way they could explain their worth to us in a post-cold war world was by building a new culture of fear directed at enemies which could never be defeated. The Trap investigates the various definitions of freedom and how these contrary views impacted on societies.

YouTube Preview Image

It Felt Like A Kiss is instantly recognisable as a Curtis film (the Helvetica typeface, the often shocking archive footage, the powerful soundtrack). But it is significantly different to those I mentioned above. Detailing "how power really works in the world", IFLAK eschews any narration beyond occasional visual prompts. The film is instead a tapestry of powerful images played over a soundtrack of some fantastic music from the 50s through to the 90s. Like some kind of amazing, extra-long pop video.

And in It Felt Like A Kiss, it's the music that I most adore. Ranging from Roy Orbison to the Velvet Underground to the Phil Spector-produced title song, Curtis selects a phenomenal playlist of well known and more obscure pieces. The soundtrack reminded me of how much I loved some long-neglected albums, and finally got me to listen to a ton of 'Wall of Sound' records, many of which are of unimpeachable quality and beauty, however mad their producer is.

YouTube Preview Image

The film cannot currently be obtained legally, so you'll have to download it. I'm hoping that Curtis will release his documentaries on DVD some time soon (a box set of those would be fantastic). If you'd rather not download a film illegally, you can listen to much of the soundtrack on this Spotify playlist.

December 19, 2009 | Filed Under Film, Language, Politics | 3 Comments 

Is Israel exempt from international law?

This week has seen a startling series of events redefine the way the UK acts on international law, and the way British governments understand the power of the courts. Under the principal of Universal Jurisdiction, an arrest warrant was issued by Westminster magistrates court for former Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni, accused of war crimes during the most recent invasion of Gaza. As soon as this information reached the Israel, its government reacted furiously (which was to be expected). Israel's ambassador to the UK, Ron Prosor, said in a statement:

"The current situation is absurd and unacceptable in equal measure. Israelis cannot continually be held hostage by fringe groups of anti-Israel extremists, preventing politicians, businessmen and officers from visiting the UK."

While Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu described the situation as an "absurdity".

What happened next was that the British government leaped into action, apologising to Israel and promising to better control the way international law is applied to Israeli officials in Britain. Gordon Brown and David Miliband both rushed to condemn the warrant, assuring Israel that it'll never happen again.

So why is it that a senior Israeli politician can't be arrested in the UK for alleged war crimes? The answer, as usual, is that British government ministers have acted entirely out of personal self interest. The precedent that would be set by arresting Livni would make it far more likely that British officials could be arrested for their own war crimes. And that just wouldn't do.

The way international law is applied currently suggests that the only people who can ever face it are either (a) a few of the operators in the Yugoslavian war of the 90s and (b) Africans. Israeli and British and other 'western' government officers are effectively exempt not because of any weakness in the law, but because every single time an arrest warrant is issued, or an arrest is attempted, the move will be swiftly quashed by politicians. Who aren't supposed to have that much sway when it comes to the courts.

One of Livni's statements was particularly telling:

"I have no problem with the world wanting to judge Israel. A problem arises the moment [Israeli Defence Forces] soldiers are compared to terrorists."

By 'terrorists', she's obviously referring to Hamas (the political organisation of which, the UK does not designate to be a terrorist group). Well I don't have such a problem with that comparison, Ms. Livni. But it seems that as ever, uniformed soldiers are seen by Britain as being naturally better than rag-tag freedom fighters. Unless they're our rag-tag freedom fighters, of course.

December 17, 2009 | Filed Under Politics | 2 Comments 

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.

December 16, 2009 | Filed Under Catalonia, Internet computer, Language, Politics | 6 Comments 

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):

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.

December 13, 2009 | Filed Under Catalonia, PP, Politics, Spain | 8 Comments 

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.

December 12, 2009 | Filed Under Catalonia, Politics, Spain | 1 Comment 

So who's the Nazi and who's the fascist? This gets confusing

South of Watford has a post today about an incident that I was planning to write about. Apparently, the British fascist party, the BNP, attended a meeting in Madrid on the 21st. Also present at the meeting were the Spanish fascist party, Democracia Nacional and the Italian fascist group Forza Nuova.

The meeting was nearly interrupted by another Spanish far-right group, the Movimiento Patriótico Socialista, 28 of whom were apparently arrested. The BNP issued a statement, claiming the MPS represents a 'neo-Nazi' agenda and are 'aligned to the English Defence League', a group of militant fascists which the BNP claims to disown entirely.

Now, on first sight, this might be a simple dispute between different factions of the far-right, doing a sort of 'People's Front of Judea' style bit of in-fighting. And that would be very amusing.

I'm not so sure that it's so simple. There are several problems here: first of all, it's very difficult indeed to find any information about the MPS. That's unusual because as any fule know, the very first thing any political group does these days is set up an atrociously badly designed and unusable website full of conflicting political statements. The MPS doesn't have one and they've been around since at least March.

Democracia Nacional claim that the attackers weren't the MPS but rather came from the Movimiento Social Republicano, a relatively well known neo-Nazi group (at least it is if you've ever spent any time browsing through fascist websites). MSR are in turn linked to the Italian fascist group Fimma Tricolore, which was in alliance with the Forza Nuova as recently as 2005.

The EDL themselves have been noisy this year, holding small-scale aggressive 'protests' in a few British cities, normally in the name of opposing 'Radical Islam'. The BNP has said several times that it doesn't support the bully-boy tactics of the EDL but at the same time various EDL organisers are known members of the BNP.

To me, this 'split' in European fascism could be one of two things: it's either a genuine split caused by a sense of dissatisfaction among the more openly violent factions of the far-right, who have decided to 'go it alone' and fight in the streets. Or it's a cosmetic split, designed to allow the 'mainstream' fascist parties to orchestrate street violence and then condemn it, satisfying their two main goals: appearing to be mainstream and beating up Muslims. And they all get press to boot.

November 25, 2009 | Filed Under Politics, Spain, UK | Leave a Comment 

Statistics of corruption in Spain

Franco's Little Helper* over at Kalebeul has an amusingly perverse analysis of how the two major political parties in Spain account for most of the local corruption investigations here. The great thing about proposing a new statistical analysis is that feeling of deciding the size of the goal. And where it will be placed.

*I'm sure Trevor won't mind me calling him that, given that he's an avowed supporter of the ultra-nationalist UPyD.

November 20, 2009 | Filed Under Politics, Spain | 2 Comments 

Jon Stewart takes on Fox News

OK, this is a repost of a comment I left on CiF. But I've been blogging so little recently, I reckon it's acceptable. Referring to Jon Stewart's The Daily Show and their take on the insanity that is Fox News:

Jon Stewart has done lots of pieces that show – better than many journalists seem capable of doing – just how FNC intentionally blurs 'news' with 'opinion'.

A couple of recent examples that come to mind are his approx. 10 minute bit from about 2 weeks ago, about the 'war between the White House and Fox News' (http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/253737/thu-october-29-2009-wanda-sykes) and his hilarious send up of Glen Beck's lunatic conspiracy theory/mass crazy therapy session (http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/254889/thu-november-5-2009-susan-rice).

You don't need to be told that these are comedy because they're aired on Comedy Central. But their message is, at base, a serious one: Fox News Channel is a morally corrupt, institutionally mendacious TV station. We all know that, but sometimes it's nice to hear someone sane remind us of it… and give us a laugh at the same time.

November 15, 2009 | Filed Under America, Politics, tv | Leave a Comment 

Nick Griffin's mates in Swansea

If you haven't seen last night's Question Time, you probably should. You can find it all on YouTube (UK residents, look on BBC iPlayer). Nick Griffin (whose ancestors were apparently travellers, not that that matters), was shown to be not the cunning demagogue that some feared, but rather the slippery, dissembling, sweaty fascist you and I already knew he was. I don't think the BNP deserves a platform on primetime TV but I imagine the BBC got good viewing figures.

Over at Vice, there's a bit of video about the Welsh Defence League marching in Swansea. I can't embed the video, but you can see it here. The WDL/EDL are the street thugs of the BNP. Performing Nazi salutes, shouting racial threats and promising violence, these people are the real face of the BNP's politics.

As a side note, it's nice to see Andrew Fitton, SWP and Unite Against Fascism organiser in Swansea, on the video. I haven't really thought much about Andrew or any of the other SWP activists since I left Swansea more than seven years ago… but seeing him on that video reminds me of both the joy of discussing and marching for something I believed in, and the bitter-sweet frustration that comes from being involved in a small political group. Seeing Swansea UAF on video reminds me that I need to get back to that kind of direct action right now.

So thanks, Vice, for that.

October 23, 2009 | Filed Under Politics, UK | 3 Comments 

Spanish corruption news round-up

I've been off work for a few days due to a wicked cold, which has left me thinking that probably the last thing I need to do is spend more time in front of my computer. But all the same, there are a couple of stories developing in Spain which deserve something of a recap.

Firstly, Gürtel. This case of corruption in the Valencian PP has moved on quite a lot since the courts ruled that it was unlawful to 'archive' the case. The PP itself has moved from dogged support for anyone and everyone connected with the party to a few pre-emptive and yet also belated amputations. Top of the list is Ricardo Costa, general secretary of the Valencian PP. President of the Comunitat Valenciana Fracisco Camps seems to have had his hand forced by PP head office and has announced that Costa will be out in a few days, all the while noting that he trusts and backs him implicitly. This is the first major head to roll in the PP but it likely won't be the last. Esperanza Aguirre, president of the Comunidad de Madrid has also forced the exclusion of three regional PP names, Alberto López Viejo, Alfonso Bosch Tejedor and Benjamín Martín Vasco – all linked with the Gürtel case.

Aguirre, suave political operator that she is, seems to be using this corruption case to make another push for control of the party. It remains to be seen how successful she is in this enterprise… but the idea of her leading the national party is slowly becoming a terrifyingly real possibility.

I wouldn't want to incur the wrath of Trevor by failing to mention the Palau de la Música Catalana case, here in Barcelona. This story, though nowhere near as politically damaging as the Gürtel case, is still serious enough to warrant a proper full-length blog post some time in the future. Essentially, the PMC case is a classic story of misuse of public funds (aka 'stealing a shit load of cash'). Boss of the Orfeó Catalan, Felix Millet, has more-or-less admitted that more than €3m of Palau funds went missing under his stewardship. He seems to have spent the money on himself (and his business partner Jordi Montull). It seems that among other things, the pair used some of the money to buy a building which they then sold on at a €1.5m profit.

The larger crime in the PMC case is that the bill for refurbishing the Palau a few years back was a massive €22m, even though it actually cost less than half that. So Millet seems to be willing to admit the 'smaller' crime in the hope that everyone will just forget about the other €13m that he nicked. Sadly, this could just happen: this case should have been in the courts years ago but for some reason only seems to have made it there now.

The political sides of this story are twofold: firstly, Millet is a big player in Barcelona's political-cultural axis. The position of head of the Orfeó/Palau is extremely prestigious and Millet also served on the board of FC Barcelona and was a recipient of the Generalitat's St Jordi cross. All that, and he seems to have donated about €500,000 to the Fundació Trías Fargas, a politico-cultural organisation which is effectively a part of the CDC, which itself is a constituent party in CiU.

The second controversy (and arguably by far the more important one) is that the courts in Barcelona received notice of presumed corruption, lots of €500 notes and various irregularities in the Palau, five years ago. It seems that they've done very little to prosecute the case since then, until now. Why? I suppose that would be the corruption.

October 11, 2009 | Filed Under Catalonia, PP, Politics, Spain | 3 Comments 

What happened to Valencia?

This post could have been a kind of thebadPoll but in the end, I decided an open question suits the subject matter better.

Gemma and I watched the Granada TV (UK) 1983 documentary about the Spanish civil war this weekend. Among many other conversation points, it raised an issue I've never quite understood since the first time I read about the war: how did Valencia move from being one of the last bastions of the Republic to becoming the key PP stronghold it is today? I've heard claims that Valencia was 'settled' by Francoists in an attempt to break left-wing loyalty there, though I've never seen any evidence for this.

So what happened? Was there a concerted effort to change Valencia's demographics, and therefore politics, or did this shift occur 'naturally' because of changes in industry and other conditions there? Or maybe it was a mixture. Or maybe Valencia was never as socialist as I've been told. All opinions are welcome, but what I'd like best is some evidence supporting your position.

September 27, 2009 | Filed Under PP, Politics, Spain | 14 Comments 

Joan Laporta: candidate for independence?

The president of FC Barcelona, Joan Laporta, has been 'invited' to head up the electoral list of a Catalan separatist party. Reagrupament, a group that split from Esquerra Republicana (essentially on the grounds that the ERC leadership were allegedly losing their direction by participating in a coalition with the Madrid-controlled PSC), asked the Barça chief to be their first candidate in next year's Generalitat election.

Laporta will end his Barça presidency in June, and until then he appears unlikely to announce any plan for his future career. That career, according to many commentators, will consist of a long-planned Catalanista political thrust, a rumour backed up by Laporta's presence at the alternative celebrations for the Diada, last September 11th.

If it does happen, it will hardly be a surprise. Laporta has overseen the completion of the Catalanisation process at FC Barcelona, a process which begins with the club's own constitution. If he does accept the Reagrupament job, he'll likely prove to be a smooth and cunning opponent in the election. Is it just me, or is there a lot more independentist stuff bubbling on the stove at the moment?

Wordpress is dicking me about with images at the moment… but anyway, here's a nice pic of Laporta looking extremely comfortable with PSOE stooge, Montilla

laporta-montilla-1

September 20, 2009 | Filed Under Catalonia, Politics | 12 Comments 

British patriotism alive and kicking on Facebook

While at work the other day, I stumbled upon a Facebook application called simply "I am British". Emblazoned with a Union Jack, the app's homepage shows that it has over 90,000 'fans'. So I had to install it and see what all the fuss is about.

The "I am British" app was produced by i2we, a San Francisco based app developer that has come up with dozens of similarly named apps like "I am soccer / futbol", "I am lesbian" and "I am childbirth professional". What these apps seem to allow you to do is (a) define yourself by your nation, sport or profession; (b) earn points by saying you're doing stuff connected with your chosen app (like "I am toast and marmite" or "I am binge drinking"; and (c) socialise with like-minded people. So far, so stultifyingly dull.

But what really interested me about this app is what users of "I am British" say about the app and themselves. The app reviews are enlightening. They range from slightly confused but determined calls to preserve Britishness:

Must keep up our heritage remember the little things fish n chips on a friday,bacon butties fof breakfast.Support the local harvest festival.Donate to your local church.Most of all dont tarmac or blockpave over you gardens,people who do this are killing our green pastures our HERITAGE.

…to barely literate threats:

Born n bred british
i die 4 this fuckin country
so if u dont like it here fuck off i aint dying 4 u

…and there are even some opposing views:

You should be proud of what you achieve, not what you are. Saying you're proud of your heritage is as stupid as being proud of your eye colour.

When one young guy says that he was "Givin shit to pakis :) " – he receives a high five. Someone else comments that he's "Sick to death of the vile infection of freeloading scum washing up on our shores for a free handout!!!!:(" – which leads to a "Hear hear" and a further clarification from the original poster that:

At Present I find myself unemployed,All I
need to help fix this problem is a Gun and
an ammunition supplier that can keep up
with the demand for bullet's. :)

I like how a vague threat of terrible violence is rendered fluffy by the inclusion of a smiley.

The problem with "I am British" is that racist opinions aren't in the minority. Most reviews and many wall posts seem to espouse pure BNP ideology, though not couched in that party's flowery language.

see if u look above there no black in the flag so is our country overrun with blacks

i work for livin an pay ma taxis unlike these fukin imagrantes thats what makes u british.this country is gettin raped

I no that many people class them selves British even the ones who was born in this country but i kida disagree because if you was born in England then you are English. Government wants us to call our self's British even when we are totally the opposite. If the foreigners get to choose if they are Asian or any other race but we cant call our selves English. Personally i think it is terrible the why the foreigners get everything and we get nothing when we are the true citizens. I think there is going to be a big riot if the government dont do nothing because we are getting sick of all of it. Soon the white race will be gone if we dont do nothing. We aint racist we are realists. Bring back England

ME COME TO ENGLAND POOR AND BROKE. GO DOWN DOLE SEE SOCIAL BLOKE, FILL IN FORM STAND AROUND KIND MY GIVE ME PLENTY POUND,ALL IS NICLEY SETTLED DOWN NICE BIG HOUSE IN ROTHERHAM TOWN ,ME THINK ENGLAND DAMN FINE PLACE MUCH TO NICE FOR WHITE MAN RACE AND IF YOU DONT LIKE COLOURED MAN THERS PLENTY ROOM IN PAKISTAN! [This post comes from a chap who appears to be a British soldier]

I know I shouldn't be surprised by this sort of thing. But with Modbury suddenly flying multiple England flags and Union Jacks, I'm concerned that Britain is seeing an increase in a type of patriotism that seems to be predominantly based on race hate. Maybe I should "leave the country" (that won't be difficult)? Or maybe I'm just over reacting and nothing has really changed.

September 10, 2009 | Filed Under Politics, UK | 6 Comments 

Barcelona sex mayhem – stories from Sunday night

Now I don't know how late Giles Tremlett filed this story about Barcelona. But the Guardian has it timestamped at 1938 Madrid time, which is certainly late enough to have come after a very hearty lunch indeed. One clue suggesting that this is the case comes in the form of the article's shortness. Tremlett isn't the most wordy of reporters but all the same…

Another oddity is Tremlett's insistence that "Although Las Ramblas has always attracted prostitutes, they used to occupy a small area near the port", which is, as a local travelling tinker muttered to me, "a complete load of bollocks". I'm not sure when this golden age of non bollock grabbing Rambline strolling is supposed to have occurred but it was certainly not very recently. Barcelona has always been packed to the rafters with ladies and gentlemen of the night (and plenty of lady gentlemen too). Indeed, it'd be hard to walk down a single street in the city without passing some brothel or other (even if you don't realise it).

What this whole story really represents is the latest development in a late-summer-nothing-to-publish episode, where El País shocked our sensibilities (and had us checking again and again) with some pictures of a long-haired tourist making the beast with one back with a prostitute round the back of an overpriced market. Noted local newspaper, 20 Minutos (oh, yes I did!) interviewed various pillars of the community the other day, asking them whether they thought that Les Rambles has a major problem with prostitution. General opinion: it's a hell of a lot better now than it used to be.

My feelings: Mexican sombreros and €7 a beer are far more offensive and nearly as exploitative.

September 7, 2009 | Filed Under Catalonia, Politics, Spain | 10 Comments 

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