Catalonia Today's blog

Friday, 30 May 2008

Jordi Hereu, Mayor of Barcelona: Another tripartite is not the only option

After a year in minority government, consensus is the key word for the
mayor of Barcelona, who calls for a period of political calm and
reflection.
– What's the best thing about this past year?
That almost all the seeds are planted so that they can grow.
– And the worst?
That it is hard to imagine what it will become.
– You say you want to reach an agreement with ERC. How do you think
that might work?
In terms of governability, it is true that in the next few months I
would like a more stable environment. It could be a good thing for
everyone. We will work over the next few months and I will get
involved personally, though before that happens we have work on policy
to get on with. (Full story in printed edition).

International in name only

When Europe's national football teams line-up to do battle in June for
the 2008 Eurocopa some countries will be conspicuously absent.
England, for example, the originators of the game, failed to qualify
and will to sit the tournament out.
But there are also a number of European countries who were never given
the opportunity to qualify because they are not recognised by the
international football federations, Uefa and Fifa. One such team is
Catalonia. (Full story in printed edition).

Long term resident, by Matthew Tree: If only we knew

It is hard to help noticing that in Spain in general and Catalonia in
particular, the most alarming items of news about violent rightwingers
pass practically unnoticed, allowing the latter to go about their
knifing, shooting and extorting with near perfect impunity - whereas
the raising of a suspected ETA member's little finger, so to speak
(never mind a full-blown maiming or slaughter) will send the media
into paroxysms of gabble for days on end. (Full story in printed
edition).

Heading for the hills, by Martin Kirby: Who gives a fig?

I rely on fig trees, for broad-leaf summer shade and to zap my
tastebuds and tummy twice a year. The experience is divine, the
consequences are unmentionable.
Between my office window and the lines of Garnacha vines where we
labour like mad dogs in our main fruiter stands, with bark like
elephant hide, a perch for birds, cats and children. We have green
figs and striped figs all around the old farmhouse, but this
particular tree with its purple fruit bears an avalanche of offerings
in June and again in September. If we don't take the harvest it falls
and explodes on impact, a feast for flies and a squidgy mess with the
adhesive attributes of dog poo. (Full story in printed edition).

Commentary by Gary Gibson: Dima who?

I must admit that I've always had a soft spot for the Eurovision Song
Contest with all those exotic languages, shiny outfits, brokenhearted
losers and utterly ecstatic winners. Unfortunately, the ecstatic
winners always tend to fade back into the anonymity they've come from,
with the exception of ABBA and Celine Dion. Spain has gone for very
conservative offerings on the whole, although they took a risk with
Peret back in 1974 with his jolly rumba and the flamenco singer
Remedios Amaya in 1983, who didn't get a point. Winning or losing,
however, isn't really what it's about because Eurovision basically
makes being naff into an art form. (Full story in printed edition).

Interview, Albert Serra, filmmaker: Wise men take on France

While Albert Serra might not care, the audiences at the Cannes film
festival seem to love him. The Banyoles-born director's latest film El
Cant dels Ocells (Birdsong) recently met applause and positive reviews
after a screening at the Directors' Fortnight during the southern
French town's mythical film festival. The film tracks the Three Wise
Men as they wander, half lost, through a barren landscape. Le Monde
praised the film's "discreet humour," "mix between the sacred and
profane" and the "shock between the grotesque and the sublime," while
the French daily Libération simply said, "cinema should always be like
this." (Full story in printed edition).

History in a populist key

The Museu d'Història de Catalunya is now officially uptodate, opening
a new permanent exhibit that fills in the gap between 1980 and the
present.
History, one could say, is a tough act to follow – literally. One
never knows what major event of today will fade into obscurity with
the passage of time, while the everyday people that make up the fabric
of a society are often ignored at the expense of those with more
political clout. Now, in the middle of a change in directorship, the
Museu d'Història de Catalunya (MHC) has addressed these challenges.
(Full story in printed edition).

Officials say no to bugs

It seems that drinking omelettes out of a glass at "deconstructionist"
restaurants wasn't enough for adventurous diners in Catalonia. For the
past four years, curious epicures have been bypassing French-approved
high-end restaurants and getting a more affordable thrill by going to
Llorenç Patràs' stand at the Boqueria market, and ordering scorpions,
worms, beatles and other succulent invertebrates. But now, after four
years of bureaucratic lollygagging, this is about to change. Health
officials have determined that selling foods that would hardly raise
an eyebrow – or an antenna – in the rest of the world, should not be
sold here. (Full story in printed edition).

The Last Word, by Joseph Wilson: Heaven and earth

Signs of spiritual slippage seem to have been going unnoticed by the
majority of society, wrapped up as we are in more earthly concerns
like water, oil and whether we here in Spain will be graced by
Cristiano Ronaldo's exemplary displays of humility come next season.
Yet fear not, for the Church never sleeps when it comes to sounding
the alarm over the nation's moral decline. This week we have been
warned by none other than the Cardinal of Madrid and head of the
Conferencia Episcopal Española himself, Antonio María Rouco, that
"Spain and Europe are feeling the temptation to declare the death of
God." Ah, a man of the times. If, at least as far as Europe goes, the
"times" he is referring to were a couple of centuries ago. But
whatever modernity Cardinal Rouco lacks in thought, he more than makes
up for in style. I mean how can you not trust a man of the cloth who
dons shades? Or, for that matter, an army general? The truth is that
the sunglasses so popular among priests and higher ranking military
officials (generally of the Latin world) has never really put me at
ease. But again, I doubt they are really out to win over my heart and
mind. (Full story in printed edition).

Monday, 26 May 2008

Ghettoisation of Catalan Schools

Last year, the father of a child attending the Collaso i Gil secondary
school in Barcelona contacted Catalonia's ombudsman, the Síndic de
Greuges, to make a complaint about the growth in the proportion of
immigrant children at the school, which in 2001 stood at 32% and had
risen to 80% in 2006.
The complaint was only one of 148 received by the ombudsman in 2007
and in most cases the rise in the proportion of schoolchildren of
immigrant origin did not correspond with the proportion of foreigners
living in the local area, which was usually much lower.
This last aspect is the main conclusion drawn from the report on
segregation in schools presented by the Síndic de Greuges to the
Catalan parliament on May 15. (Full story in printed edition).

Long-term resident, by Matthew Tree: On hold

Not only prisons keep their portals locked. The Associació Vallès
Amics de la Neurologia (AVAN), like many other voluntary organisations
dedicated to the care of people with damaged nervous systems, ensures
that the gates of its centre in Sabadell are secured at all times to
prevent its patients from drifting into a world that doesn't have a
clue as to their particular needs and difficulties. When I went there
last week, I was expecting to see mainly middleaged or elderly people,
more likely as they were to be affected by Parkinson's, MS, Attention
Deficit Disorder and similar illnesses. So it was a surprise to find a
very young man in the audience. It turned out he'd been in a car
crash, then six months in coma, and now he was fighting to make the
simplest movements, to mouth the shortest of syllables. (Full story in
printed edition).

Heading for the hills, by Martin Kirby: Moth therapy in a maddening world

England was significantly warmer than Barcelona last week and a BBC
radio station invited me on air so they could gloat.
I kindly but forcibly informed the listeners of this nation's
unbridled relief. The downpour on our farm measured two hundred litres
per cubic metre of rainfall in four days and I'd splashed about like
Gene Kelly.
Bloody typical, I said when I put the phone down. Wafer-thin global
awareness in a supposedly know-all age. Then I realised why I'd been
forced to lob some serious discussion into the lighthearted banter.
The water crisis here has sneaked into the British news, finally. But
between the bitter pill of the news slots, radio stations and
television programmes have to fill cavernous gaps of time, preferably
with something bland, cheery and easily digestible. (Full story in
printed edition)

The language factory

Benedetta Tagliabue has already produced one landmark building in
Barcelona and now the celebrated architect will be responsible for
another. After the success of the Santa Caterina marketplace with its
multi-coloured roof, Tagliabue has been charged by the Barcelona City
Council to oversee the rebuilding of the Can Ricart factory in the
city's 22@ district, which is destined to become the new home of the
Casa de les Llengües, or House of Languages, in 2010. (Full story in
printed edition)

Culinary titans clash

The culture wars have just changed their flavour. Whereas fierce
battles once raged over the divinity of Jesus' mother or whether
multiculturalism had a place in a nation's literary canon, the latest
earthshaking cultural debate revolves around the use of a certain type
of modified cellulose in cooking. (Full story in printed edition)

The Last Word, by Joseph Wilson: Insult to injury

Last week we mentioned the case of the poor sister of Princess
Leticia, this one stuck with the rather un-royal title of Telma, who,
tired of being in the media spotlight due to her status of the future
king of Spain's in-law, had gone to court to seek an injunction
against those prying tabloids reporters who will stop at nothing for a
glimpse of her masticating, snoring and, please sweet God let it be
true, picking her nose. (Full story in printed edition)

Thursday, 24 April 2008

Catalans of the world unite

More than 250 representatives from Catalan ex-pat communities around
the world are in Tarragona this week for the Trobada de Comunitats
Catalanes de l'Exterior.
In all, there are 117 Catalan cultural centres, or casals recognised
by the Generalitat, and the majority attended the fourth edition of
the annual conference. The event began on April 22 with a welcome
dinner in Pineda. (Full story in printed edition).

Op: Why is the Catalan diaspora ignored?, by Germà Capdevila.

Many countries hace had to suffer exile on a large scale throughout
their history. The Irish, Armenians, Gypsies, Basques and Catalans are
a few examples, but the attitudes towards the diaspora have been
radically different.
In many cases there is pride and gratitude towards émigrés that have
done and do so much to represent the homeland in the host countries to
which they have emigrated. This is something that has always made me
wonder what has led Catalan society to ignore its own diaspora in the
space of only a couple of decades. (Full story in printed edition).

Barcelona tackles illegal tourist flats

As a measure to bring Barcelona's many and largely unregulated
"tourist flats" under control, the City Council has introduced new
regulations which are predicted to result in the closure of over 500
flats in the city centre now illegally rented out to tourists. Failure
to comply with new regulations by this summer could result in fines of
up to €30,000 and owners being reported to tax officials. Under the
new ordinance, even legal tourist flats could face fines of up to
€15,000 for failing to comply with complaints from neighbours. (Full
story in printed edition).

Interview: Jordi Margeli. Basics and innovation in English for schools

Jordi Margelí, 51, has been in charge of teacher training in foreign
languages at the Departament d'Educació since 1993 . In this interview
he speaks about the Pla d'Impuls de l'Anglès, a wide-ranging plan to
improve the level of English of pupils at primary and secondary
schools. (Full story in printed edition).

Summer camps and activities in Catalonia

Summer is almost here and while children are anxiously awaiting the
end of the school year, some parents are wondering what to do with the
younger ones in the family when school stops and work continues.
Luckily there is no shortage of options to help pass the time in ways
that are much more constructive than watching telly or loitering in
online chat rooms.
A veritable army of everything from small non-profit foundations to
pricey sports training centres means that nearly all interests – and
budgets –will be covered. (Full story in printed edition).

First steps in the European market

Talk of economic crisis has not discouraged Catalan shoeshop chain
Vialis from wanting to expand abroad. The specialist in high-quality
women's footwear is planning to open up to four shops a year,
including stores in Berlin and Paris in 2008, while on the horizon is
the possibility of a presence in New York. (Full story in printed
edition).

Sun shines on Sant Jordi

It was a perfect spring day for this year's Sant Jordi celebrations on
April 23 and the public turned out all over Catalonia in their
thousands. In Barcelona, traffic on Les Rambles was cut before noon as
over a thousand book and flower stalls set up shop on the Catalan
capital's main thoroughfare.
It was a similar story all over the country, with the predictions on
book and flower sales fulfilling expectations, especially in the
afternoon. As forecast, Carlos Ruiz Zafón was the top-selling Catalan
author, while flower stalls sold around 6 million roses. (Full story
in printed edition).

Interview: Melinda Gebbie "We have lost community"

Melinda Gebbie likes her porn. At least her own lushly illustrated
Victorian fantasy, drawn by her and fused with a story written by her
husband and creative partner, comicbook writer Alan Moore. Lost Girls,
the result of this 16- year collaboration, describes a meeting between
the female lead characters from Alice in Wonderland, the Wizard of Oz
and Peter Pan in an Austrian hotel in 1913. A 61-year-old born in San
Francisco, Gebbie presented the Spanish translation, published by
Norma comics, at the recent Saló de comic. (Full story in printed
edition).

A tribute to resistance

It was creative talent that kept alive the spirit of resistance in
Catalonia under the Franco dictatorship. That is the claim made by
photographer Pilar Aymerich, who is displaying 71 of her portraits of
major Catalan figures from the world of letters, thought, music, art
and theatre at the Museu d'Història de Catalunya (MHC). (Full story in
printed edition).

Mixed grades for literacy

If the success of Sant Jordi's day on April 23 was not proof enough,
most Catalans consider themselves to be readers, a new study has
found. Commissioned by the bookselling industry in Catalonia, the
report – Hàbits de lectura i compra de llibres a Catalunya – concludes
that some 59.4% of Catalans consider themselves regular or occasional
readers, with the majority claiming to read daily or weekly. (Full
story in printed edition).

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