Ghostbusters - Hope & Social #Discovery

Gracies a les meravelles de internet i alguns amics que saben molt, hem descobert un nou grup, de Leeds in Yorkshire. A la seva pagina, una bona barreja de musica, videos i bon rotllo, i tal com ells mateixos es descriuen són:

"In the tradition of the travelling bands, we guess we’re a bit like a Yorkshire E-Street Band...meets Arcade Fire...meets The Faces…meets Dexys Midnight Runners…meets Prefab Sprout…at a party...in an argument about who gets to have sex with David Bowie...."

... that's how Hope & Social describe themselves, a group from Leeds of all places, whom I've only just stumbled across thanks to a good (over)dose of internet and some friends in the know.
The party starts here:

Relats a recer d'una guitarra - Tibau i Espinós #Tortosa

Autor Jesus Tibau contant alguns relats breus, acompanyats per la guitarra del music David Espinos, una petita alegria ebrenca - demà al URV.

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Author Jesus Tibau will be reading some of his short tales set to the music of guitarist and composer David Espinos. Wonderful. If you're anywhere near Tortosa tomorrow, don't miss it!

Mixed bag of some more of my fave #Eurovision winners

M'encantaria parlar de Eurovision tota la setmana, reflexionant, opinant, pero no tinc temps. O sigui, anem a repassar algunes guanyadors que recordo haver vist i que m'han agradat ...
..... I'd love to have the time to talk about Eurovision, but I don't. So here's my fave winners from my living memory (having already blogged 1974/75):
1. Brotherhood of Man - Save all your kisses for me (1976) UK Win!!
2. Izhar Cohen and Alphabeta - A ba ni bi (1978)- Israel
3. Gali Atari and Milk & Honey - Hallelujah (1979)- Israel
4. Bucks Fizz - Making your mind up (1981) - UK Win!!
The lost years - cool teenagers did not watch Eurovision back then! followed by a TV-free decade ....until ....
5. Dana International - Diva (1998) Israel (what is it with Israel?!)
6. Lordi - Hard Rock Hallelujah (2006) Finland
7. Loreen - Euphoria (2012) Sweden
7. Loreen - Euphoria (2012) Sweden

Ding a dong - Teach In #Eurovision_75

So, after the joy of seeing Abba in our first Eurovision, we watched eagerly the following year and saw this little beauty win:

Waterloo - Abba #Eurovision1974

Hi ha gent que té molta memoria - jo no. No sóc d'aquells que recorden que feien quan tenien 5 anys ... o 10 o 15 ja que hi estem. Ben just recordo lo que he dinat, però això son figues d'un altre paner.

Un dels primers records que si que tinc, però, i molt clar, es mirar l'Eurovision 1974 a casa dels meus tios, i vore Abba per primer cop. En una paraula, WOW!

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I'm not one of those memory-types who can remember what they used to do when they were 5, 10, or even 15. I'm lucky, in fact, if  can remember what I had for dinner yesterday. But, and it's a Big But, I can clearly remember at the tender age of  7 watching Eurovision 1974 and seeing Abba. In one word - WOW!!

Space Oddity - Commander Chris Hadfield #BestThingAllYear

Words would just destroy this - sit back, and enjoy yourselves ...

Calgary 88 - Antonia Font #cool

So, that's decided. There is definitely not enough Antonia Font on this blog.

Wrapped up in books - Belle & Sebastian #SantJordi

So today is Saint Jordi's Day once more. That means Books and Roses galore in Catalonia! By far the most beautiful traditional celebration I have seen during my short time in this world -  if you don't know what I'm talking about click here for last year's info!

Anyway, this celebration is also taking off in other parts of the world and this weekend as part of this, and the ongoing cause to show to the world that Catalans are normal peace-loving folk, not a nasty greedy bunch of nationalists, the Catalans have hit London.

Here they are building their famous "human towers", and here's a video about the book fair in Borough Market.

And here's a hip song :)

Three steps to heaven - Eddie Cochran #Up_or_down

Sóc professor d'anglès i avui un dels exercicis que ens ha tocat fer a classe consistia en omplir espais amb preposicions (in, out etc). Una frase deia "Every day he has to go _____ those stairs." (cada dia ell ha de _____ les escales). Jo tenia clar que la resposta evident seria "up", o sigui "pujar" - però tots els alumnes adolescents han posat "down" (baixar). També és correcte, però trobo que es podria escriure un llibre sobre la seva elecció ....

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I'm a teacher of English as a Foreign Language in (soon-to-be-independent) Catalonia. One of today's exercises consisted in completing the gaps in various sentences.  One said "Every day he has to go ____ those stairs". For me the answer was clearly "up", but all my (teenage) students answered with "down". Obviously this is also correct but it leaves food for thought, doesn't it ?

Walls come tumbling down - Style Council #Thatcher

Bé, desprès de 24 anys intentant oblidar la Maggie Thatcher, resulta estrany escriure sobre ella, però amb molta gent demanant-me la meva opinió, pos, alguna cosa diré ...

Per ser el més equilibrat que puc, començaré per dir que val, Anglaterra als anys 70 estava en un cul-de-sac, i que si que calia modernitzar el país i algunes coses del seu funcionament. Fins i tot, vist amb el temps, està clar que alguns canvis m'han agradat - una certa liberalització de la vida laboral, on és cert que és fàcil perdre la feina, però també és cert que és (relativament) fàcil trobar-ne, i si tens ganes i iniciativa és possible que la vida et vagi bé. Treure la burocràcia i ineficàcia dels sistemes públics també ha anat bé - per exemple qualsevol gestió pública és fàcil al UK, igual que ho és posar en marxa una empresa ...

... però tot això ha tingut uns costos socials massa alts. Es podria haver fet les coses d'una altra manera. Podríem escriure un llibre, però em limitaré a explicar alguns dels temes pel qual la gent la odia com mai han odiat a cap polític.

Internacionalment, en el seu afan de combatre el comunisme allà on ella pensava que podria estar, no va voler escoltar a l'opinió pública que demanava tallar contactes amb Sud Africa per força el final del apartheid, i la llibertat de Nelson Mandela. També és conegut els seus amistats amb dictadors no-communistes!
A Europa, va plantar cara a Brussel·les i potser és un dels motius per la qual una Unió real no va acabar de funcionar - per bé o per mal!
Ens va portar a la guerra. Sempre diran que va ser Argentina qui ho va començar, i és cert, però potser hi havia més solucions diplomàtiques.  Potser també és cert la "llegenda" de que els americans ja ens havien avisat sobre les preparatius de l'invasió, i vam esperar sense dir res ... però al final, va ser una guerra i ho va guanyar, una guerra dels Blanc o Negre, no com les d'ara que no saps mai si has guanyat. Aquest va ser el motiu principal de la seva popularitat.

Però és per les seves politiques dins del país, per les quals la gent s'ha polaritzat. Va atacar com mai abans a les empreses publiques i industries grans. Primer, l'industria de l'acer, a la zona de South Yorkshire. Tancant gairebé tot i privatitzant les poques empreses rentables. Després vindria la mateixa actuació amb les mines de carbó. De cop va intentar tancar mines amb més de 20.000 treballadors, i després van sortir els plans secrets explicant que en pocs anys, es tancarien totes - 150.000 llocs de treball. No dic que deu ser bonic treballar en una mina, però aquesta industria estava concentrada en zones concretes on igual totes les famílies tenien algú que hi treballava - South Yorkshire va tornar a ser l'epicentre. No pots fumar tothom al carrer en 2 dies sense cap alternativa. Una (necessari? bé, ara importen carbó a uns preus molt més alts!) modernització de les industries, s'ha d'anar acompanyat de negociacions, temps, planificació i alternatives. Però, està clar que l'objectiu principal era acabar amb els sindicats (cel·lules de marxistes revolucionaris segon ella; panxa-contentes que només buscaven pujar els sous, segons altres ...) i el seu suport. Potser per això no hi havia treva amb la gent. 

Els miners, veient que no només perillaven els seus llocs de treball, sinó tota la vida de totaa la  comunitat en aquestes zones, van començar una vaga. Una vaga que va durar un any, amb famílies sense cobrar res. Famílies on igual hi treballaven pares, iaios, fills, ... on les mares sovint anaven en autocars fins a Londres per demanar caritat pel carrer.
Les batalles entre piquets i policia van ser brutals. La policia venia del sud, per assegurar que no tenien cap simpatia envers els miners, i els havien instruït que era necessari acabar amb la revolució marxista dels miners! Cantaven càntics no políticament correctes sobre les dones i mares dels miners, i anaven preparats per una guerra.

Thatcher va guanyar. Les mines es van tancar. Però la seva promesa de que "el mercat regula tot", i que tothom tornaria a treballar, pos, era una mentida. Hi ha gent que no ha treballat mai més, ni els seus fills. Ciutats amb tot tancat, i gent vivint de subsidis públics. El pitjor és que molta gent que abans tenia una ètica de voler treballar ara s'han acostumbrat a viure en els 4 duros que dona el govern, i els seus fills han vist que això és "normal", i ara hi ha tota una generació de gent que vol viure de l'estat. Ara Cameron es queixa i vol retallar les ajuts, sense adonar-se que son ells mateixos que han matat a l'espirit de la gent.

Aquesta manera de "modernitzar" el país, desprès va passar a totes les industries publiques, i alguns que eren mig-rentables, es van privatitzar, baix la promesa que funcionarien millor. Mentida. Ara tenim 40000 empreses privades de trens, de llum, de gas, ... i tot va igual de malament, però amb uns preus impagables.
Si que va anar tot molt bé pels accionistes i banquers, i gent que mou diners, però la riquesa d'uns quants a Londres mai ha arribat a la gent de "baix". S’ha augmentat notablement la diferencia entre “els de dalt” i “els de baix”. Thatcher i els seus van vendre la moto de que amb ells seria fàcil, però, pujar des de baix fins a dalt – la meritocràcia. M’agrada el concepte, però només pot funcionar si hi ha uns mínims estructures de suport per a la gent. I sembla que anem al reves. Quan jo vaig anar a l’universitat, no n’hi havia matricula i vaig  rebre una beca per ajudar a pagar les despeses. Ara les matricules van a 10.000€ l’any. 

En la seva obsessió per a reformar tot, es va oblidar de la gent, i quan li feiem memòria tampoc prestava atenció. Després dels aldarulls a Liverpool als anys 80, i veient que tota l’industria es tancava allí també, el seu govern va proposar no fer res – pensant que invertir diners seria com llançar-los i que era millor deixar la ciutat “caure”.

Era un polític amb  idees clars i conviccions, tal com alguns reclamem avui en dia quan veiem els polítics que ens han tocat viure. Però, oco, si tens les conviccions massa clares, tampoc és bo! Crec que els polítics han de ser flexibles, adaptables i capaços de rectificar segons la realitat. I la Thatcher no era així.

També va genera pocs amistats deixant morir 10 membres del grup terrorista l’IRA que estaven de vaga de fam al presó. O amb la famosa llei “clause 28” que va prohibir que entitats publiques puguessen “donar suport” a temes referents a l’homosexualitat – per exemple, no es podia esmentar en llibres escolars, ni fer actes dels col·lectius de gais en edificis públics. Al final del seu mandat ve marcat pel nou impost local que va introduir. En comptes de pagar sobre el valor de la casa o pis de cada u, va decidir que cada persona empadronada pagaria la mateixa quantitat. Aquest impost injust, i injustificat, va crear una ona de protesta molt gran i els seus propis companys de partit – veient perillar els seus resultats electorals – la van clavar un ganivet a l’esquena.

En aquest moment, ho vaig celebrar amb cava catalana. Ara que s’ha mort no he obert cap botella, però puc comprendre perfectament a la gent que ho ha fet.

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24 years after leaving Maggie’s UK, and just when I thought I could sleep without nightmares, and suddenly everybody in Tortosa wants to know who she was and why the English are so obsessed with her. So here goes, my totally subjective opinion on why half the country hate her .... (hopefully shorter than the above Catalan version!)

To start on a balanced note, I’ll say, OK, maybe the UK in the 70s was stuck in a rut and needed a big shake-up. OK, maybe freeing up the work market and taking steps to speed up public services could give a good result. It’s true that in the 21st century UK, bureaucracy is at a low, and it’s (relatively) easy to get a job compared to other countries – also relatively easy to lose one.

However, all this “modernization” of the UK society has come at too high a cost. A social experiment which didn’t take into account the people themselves. Anyway, a few reasons why people don’t like her:...

Her refusal to listen to the public protests asking the UK govt to cut ties with South Africa, so as to try and force the end of apartheid and the freeing of Mandela.

The war – the war with Argentina increased her popularity no end, especially as it was a clear win, unlike modern wars. However, there’ll always be those lefty pacifists spreading conspiracy theories – that there were other solutions, that the govt had been warned about Argentina’s preparations but did nothing ...

Her constant bickering with the Europeans also gained her a lot of support back home but did nothing for the future of the European Union. For better or for worse. But if you don’t want in, get out. Nothing worse than somebody (UK) being at a party but refusing to let the music play!

However, what I really want to mention here is her out and out attack on industries and public services. Destroying, literally, hundreds of thousands of jobs in shipbuilding, steel, coal, nationalised industries. With nothing to offer these people in exchange. However much some kind of shake-up may have been necessary, you cannot renovate an industrial way of life with no negotiations, plans or alternatives for the people affected. Entire cities were decimated through this, becoming the ghost towns of the north of England, where two whole generations have now lived off govt “handouts”. When Cameron moans about the costs of social security payments and the people “happy” to live off them, he must remember who put them there. If you leave someone on the dole for 20 years, and their kids grow up seeing this as “normal”, it’s obvious that the work ethic of the people will disappear. People who were originally embarrassed to be claiming the dole, their kids now see it as their only alternative. The “free market” was supposed to sort this out, but it didn’t, of course. The market only works for everybody if there is some kind of control, and support and encouragement for the unlucky ones. 

To cap it all, it’s clear that most of the industrial conflicts were provoked by Thatcher for political reasons. The 150,000 miners who eventually lost their jobs (and now watch as we import expensive coal from abroad), were pushed into a strike as they knew if they went under, their communities would do. And did. Thatcher believed, in her erotic dreams, that the unions were after some kind of marxist revolution when really all they wanted was more money, better conditions and less work. She set up the conditions to destroy them and their will to fight. The miners called a strike and lasted a year, but lost everything. The police tactics were horrendous in a civilised society, thus losing our faith in another public institution.

Thatcher closed down most public industry and privatized the rest. We now have dozens of hopeless private companies running essential services and making a fortune through exuberant pricing.

Bankers and stockbrokers and the like, did well. The City of London did well – until recently. But this “success” did not trickle down to those at the bottom. Never before has the UK society been so divided. It’s alright Thatcher’s fans claiming she opened up society for everyone to be able to move up, a meritocracy, but it just isn’t true. The market system needs to offer suport, help and encouragement too (not just dole money to sit at home). When I went to university, there were no fees and I got a grant for my expenses. Now fees currently run at 9,000 pounds per year! Try moving off the bottom rung if you can!

She was one of the last, and few, politicians to have clear convictions. However, having seen the results, I think I prefer them to have fewer convictions and to be flexible, adaptable, willing to listen to the people and their reality, rather than to follow a no-U-turn-possible crusade.

Other Big Moments in the 80s, were when 10 IRA prisoners died on hunger strike – terrorists, of course, but still – could there have been another way out? 
The infamous law, Clause 28, which tried to do away with homosexuality by hiding it! From what I recall, it forbade public bodies to offer support, or publicise anything to do with homosexuality – i..e couldn’t be mentioned in school books, gay groups couldn’t use public buildings for meetings etc. 
And, finally, the Poll Tax. Changing local taxation from a property based one (higher the value of your house, the more you pay) to a set fee for every person on local council register. An unfair and unjustified change which led to huge public protests. Seeing that there seats in parliament were in danger at the next elections, her “colleagues” stabbed her in the back and moved on. A pathetic end to her career.

I have to admit the night she resigned, I toasted with Catalan “cava”- so many people I know have been hurt by Thatcher’s policies. But not now. I’ve moved on, but I can perfectly understand those back in the UK celebrating or buying crazy Witch songs.

Here's one of those 80s songs which tried to change things ...

I don't want to talk about it - Crazy Horse, Rod Stewart, EBTG, Amy Belle

Diverses versions de la cançó, així cada u pot triar la seva favorita.
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A few versions of the song to please everyone.
The original (1971):

Rod Stewart's version from 1975 - my fave!
 
 E

Everything but the girl (1988) - wow!
And what about this one - Rod with Amy Belle!

On The Run - Into The East #New_Zealand

Un dels avantatjes d'això de portar el compte de CatalanVoices aquesta setmana, és que puc conversar i intercanviar idees amb gent d'arreu del món. I com que sovint parlo de música, pos, vaig coneixent nous grups :) I com que sóc un fan dels Hobbits, sempre m'atreu Nova Zelanda i avui parlant amb ells, m'han recomanat aquest grup. Into The East.

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One of the best things (for me) about tweeting from CatalanVoices is that I get to "chat" with folk from all over the world. And, what do we talk about? Well, when I can, music! So making the most of it, and my natural attraction for all-things-Hobbit, I've asked the New Zealand tweeter for a list of cool NZ bands. This is the first one I've checked out :)

Into The East.

Happy Hour #Tweeting_about_Catalonia

Al desembre del 2011, a Suecia va començar un nou i interessant projecte - obrir un compte a Twitter "en nom del pais", però deixar-ho en mans d'un ciutada diferent cada setmana en comptes de baix el control de les Autoritats Oficials. Ha donat una visió molt interessant del païs i la seva gent, i ha tingut molta repercussió (com aquest article). Des de llavors que s'han anat obrint comptes pareguts en altres paisos, i ara toca Catalunya! Fa 15 dies només que funciona però té bona pinta. Aquí es va publicar una noticia sobre el funcionament i objectius, però basicament l'idea és piular en anglès per arribar a les xarxes socials internacionals donant un idea de com és la vida a Catalunya, segons el punt de vista de cada persona que gestiona el compte. Aquí està el webpage del projecte amb informació sobre qui ha participat.

I, com que "qui no té feina, el gat pentina", pos, resulta que aquesta setmana hi participo jo!! Aixi que, ja sabeu, si coneixeu gent no-catalans que volen saber més de natros o tenen ganes d'ajudar a difondre el tema, pos, endavant!.

@CatalanVoices

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In December 2011, Sweden set up an "official" national Twitter account where every week a different citizen would be allowed to tweet about their own life and thoughts, thus allowing for an open, democratic and un-official vision of Sweden to be shared around the world. People raved about the idea and it's been a great success (as this article shows). Since then, many countries have started their own similar projects, and now so have Catalonia! It only started 2 weeks back but it looks like a great idea. The webpage, here,  gives some idea of the objectives and how it works, but basically it's just to build up a piece-by-piece jigsaw of Catalan life, aims, concerns, through the subjective eyes of the people who live, or have lived, here and get this message outside of our frontiers to the rest of the world (hence the choice of language, English).

And this week it's my turn!! They've put my blurb on the webpage too and I'm already tweeting :)

So, if you're interested in seeing the Bigger Picture about Catalonia, or have international friends who may be, you know what to do. @CatalanVoices

And since I'm happy about this:

Stepping out with my baby - Fred Astaire #Easter

Ja que he posat la cançó principal de la pel·lícula Easter Parade (desfile de pasqua) 2 anys seguits, aquest any canviarem - mateixa pel·lí, però una altra peça. És una pena que fa potser 30 anys des de que vaig veure aquesta pel·licula per ultim cop, però quan era molt jove i a Anglaterra passava dies i dies plujosos pegat a la tele, m'encantava tot el que feia Fred Astaire:)

Happy Easter!

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So, Easter time, and this year, we'll change song. Same film, different song;  another one from the Easter Parade film - sang and danced by the one and only Fred Astaire. As a kid, many a rain-drenched TV hour was spent watching his moves :)

Happy Easter!

Hole in my shoe - Neil #The_Young_Ones

Fa poc m'he adonat d'un xoc cultural anglès-català arrel de la programa de comedia dels anys 80, Els Jovens (The Young Ones). Resulta que el personatge "hippy", el Neil, no parava de cuinar i menjar llenties a totes hores. Per a mi, vivint a Anglaterra en aquests moments, era "normal" - l'estereotip d'un hippy, algu que menjaria llenties bullides sense res més.Un bon acudit, que es repetia a cada episodi! Jo no havia menjat ni vist mai llenties en aquests moments - potser tenia 15 anys - i de fet el primer cop que els vaig menjar va ser en un pis igual que el dels Jovens, quan un amic universitari "alternatiu" ens els va fer. Llenties bullides en agua, i ja està. Era com menjar formigo calent.

Es veu que aquest serie excel·lent despres es va emetre aqui a Catalunya i em consta, i ara ho puc comprendre, que a molta gent no li veia la gracia en l'acudit corrent de les "llenties". Clar, aqui és un menjar normal de la gent "normal", que tothom aqui menja llegums cada setmana, i no son avorrits ni dolentissimes perque es veu que a Catalunya les cuinen ben cuinats, seguint uns receptes molt bones. Potser s'hauria d'haver emes una explicació de aquella diferencia cultural per entendre millor la serie.

De fet, és una bona mostra de que sentir les traduccions o tenir un nivell d'anglès alt no és tot, si no arribem a comprendre realment la cultura de l'altre pais.

Bé, per a demostrar que finalment he entes que els no-hippys també menjem llenties, i ben bones, pos, hem comprat 5 kilos, de la Mecca de les llenties - Le Puy :)

Vinga, Neil ....

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Many years later I've only just found out about an interesting social-cultural difference between England and Catalunya which came to light thanks to the 1980s TV comedy The Young Ones. Remember Neil the hippy and his diet of "hippy food" - lentils! A running joke in the series as Everyone knows that only hippies eat (or ate, back then) lentils. In fact I think I had never eaten lentils before seeing this programme, with my first time being at university in a stereotyped hippy/environmentalist supper of boiled lentils. Disgusting they were.

Well, it turns out that pulses, including lentils, are a very common staple food over here in Catalonia - like Mars Bars in the UK! From my experience people eat pulses a couple a times a week - and not just boiled. No, in elaborate delicious dishes with all kinds of scrumptious ingredients. There is no hippy connection whatsoever! So, apparently the "lentil joke" fell flat week in week out with locals here who didn't see the humour at all in boiling lentils for dinner!

Just goes to prove, there's more than a good language level needed to fully understand the ins and outs of another country.

Anyway, I now eat lentils on a regular basis. And I ain't no hippy! Just happened to buy 5 kilos of the stuff this week ....From Le Puy in France, apparently the "top place" for lentils.

Suit Charlotte Pike /Abbey Road - Transatlantic #Magic

Tal com diuen, sempre pots aprendre alguna cosa nova. Fa uns mesos no coneixia aquest grup, ni aquesta "amazing" versió que han fet del Abbey Road medley dels Beatles barrejat amb la seva propia composició, la Suit Charlotte Pike ... són 4 videos, 30 minuts en total - que ja no seran 30 minuts perque poca gent es pot quedar escoltant aixo només una vegada !!

Transatlantic, amb el Suit Charlotte Pike / Abbey Road Medley.

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As they say, there's always the chance you'll learn something new - I'd never heard of this group a few months ago, and so had never had the pleasure of running this amazing track through my musical taste buds. So, with an incredible cover version of the Beatles' Abbey Road medley, alongside their own track Suit Charlotte Pike, here's Transatlantic. Four videos all together with 30 minutes of pure magic.

Oblivious - Aztec Camera #Catalonia_Scotland

Parlant de Catalunya, gràcies a Liz Castro, s'ha publicat un llibre excel·lent amb una diversitat d'articles molt interessants sobre el tema de la má de "experts" en la materia - i tot això en anglès, amb l'objectiu d'arribara llà on hem d'arribar. De fet amb els diners que han recol·lectat (amb el sistema Verkami) han enviat copies del llibre a biblioteques, periodistes, i politics internacionals a més a més de les copies que s'han enviat als contactes dels col·laboradors!

En fi, per intentar ajudar a entendre, he copiat una pagina de l'article de Xavier Solana comparant Catalunya i Escocia. 

La cançó d'avui - pos, alguna cosa d'Escocia.

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Recently there has been a great book published, What's up with Catalonia. Thanks to the editor Liz Castro, 33 fascinating articles on different aspects of the "Catalan question" by a selection of experts, has been published in English - and copies have been sent around the world, to libraries, journalists, politicians, and contacts of the people who have donated money to make this project happen! Here's just a short extract, from an article by Xavier Solano, but hopefully by comparing the Catalans with the Scottish case it will help people understand a little better What is up with Catalonia!

"...Scotland and Catalonia have many things in common. Both are small nations that currently form part of European Union member states. Both lost their sovereignty at the beginning of the 18th century, Scotland in 1707 and Catalonia in 1714. Three hundred years later, a significant portion of both the Catalan and Scottish people believe that it no longer makes sense to remain within their respective states. The current situation no longer offers them sufficient benefits. Indeed, many believe that Scotland and Catalonia miss out on opportunities every day because they are not independent, and they do not have complete freedom to make decisions about their own affairs.
It turns out that there are more and more people who believe that it is time to become a grown-up nation, a people responsible for its own actions with all the associated consequences, just like the other approximately 200 countries in the world. There are many who believe that the Catalonia and Scotland of the future should have only two capitals, Brussels and their own, and that those decisions that are not made in Brussels should be taken in Barcelona or Edinburgh because, at the end of the day, independence is nothing more than having the freedom to make your own decisions and manage your own resources.
However, there are also important differences between Scotland and Catalonia. For instance, Scotland is considered a “nation” by the Government of the United Kingdom and the Scots are deemed to have the right to decide the future of Scotland. Its parliament is respected and trusted by the British Parliament of Westminster, which never legislates on matters that have been devolved to the Scottish Parliament. The budgets of the Scottish Parliament and Government are calculated through a transparent formula, the public
revenue and expenditure reports are published regularly and the Scottish Parliament has full powers over the main policy areas such as education, health, or justice, to name just a few. Scotland also has official national teams competing internationally.
Catalonia has none of these. The Spanish government and parliament, unlike the British authorities with Scotland, have repeatedly refused to give such treatment and recognition to Catalonia.

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... Another thing that perhaps few people know is that Catalonia is a very old nation. For example, our current President, Mr. Artur Mas, is the 129th president of the Generalitat of Catalonia. To put this into context, allow me to compare this with the United States, whose current president, Barack Obama, is the 44th leader of that great nation. There are not many countries in the world that can claim that their first president was named in 1359. Obviously, the times have changed but the Catalans’ sense of self-determination and sovereignty remain strong.
This desire for self-government is something we share with all of the nation-states in the world and also with those nations that, like Scotland, are pursuing independence. Scotland and the United Kingdom make a good analogy for explaining Catalonia and Spain to the world. If we look closely, we see that the United Kingdom and Spain have a fair number of things in common, for example, both were formed as unified states at the beginning of the 18th century and both are comprised of multiple nations.
Britain, for example, is formed of English, Scottish, Welsh, and Irish. It’s interesting to see that the English—who were and still are the largest and most important nation in the United Kingdom—never renounced their own nationality in order to become British. In Spain, the story is quite different. The Castilians, who were the largest of the nations that constituted the Spanish State, after conquering the other Iberian nations and abolishing their laws, languages, and constitutions, established a process of castilianization of the new unified Spain. In the end, they divvied up their own nation, Castile, and converted it into Spanish regions. They eventually stopped thinking of Castile as a nation and considered only Spain instead. The English, on the other hand, have always kept their own identity, which has facilitated maintaining a relatively healthy relationship with their neighbors. In contrast, Spain has been trying to implement an aggressive program of “Spanishization” or castilianization of the Catalans, Basques, Galicians, and all other non-Castilians.
For that reason, the proposal of making Scotland an independent state from the United Kingdom has not raised such visceral hackles among the English, who understand it to be a Scottish affair. The English realize that an independent Scotland might fragment the United Kingdom but that its own nation, England, would remain intact. In Spain, the reaction is quite different. Since the Castilians are now only Spanish, they believe that an independent Catalonia would break up their nation. Therefore, the Spanish Government and Parliament have actively moved against any sort of recognition of the national identity of Catalonia even though it is well known that Catalonia was a nation well before Spain was created and, obviously, long before Castile was divided up.
The Spanish case is paradoxical. On the one hand it is a democratic country that belongs to the European Union of the 21st century. On the other, it is a state that, in contrast with the United Kingdom and Scotland, or Canada and Québec, has yet to recognize the status of “nationhood” for Catalonia, even though such status was passed by 90 per cent of the Members of the Catalan Parliament and ratified in a referendum by the Catalan people in 2006.
In fact, we can even go further. In contrast with Canada, and in the United Kingdom in particular—where each and every one of the Prime Ministers from Margaret Thatcher to David Cameron, including Tony Blair, have always recognized the right of the Scots to decide if they want Scotland to become an independent state—the Spanish government refuses to recognize this right to the Catalans, the Basques, or anyone else who asks for it. Actually, the Spanish government has already announced that if the Catalan President goes ahead with the referendum in 2014, he will have to face the courts."

To read more, check out the book at these online links or buy it :)

And to finish, a song from Scotland:

Read all about it - Emeli Sande #Catalonia

Un altre resumen personal de la situació actual a Catalunya, pels que parlen anglès ... i la cançó, pos, si apreteu les semblances podriem dir que parla d’algù que havia tingut por a parlar fins ara però per fi vol explicar-ho tot  al món....

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Regular visitors to the blog will be wondering why Brian hasn’t been rabbitting on about the Catalan independence movement for some time. Well, firstly, time is short, and secondly, I would not wish to bore you with a mono-themed blog – but, anyway, it’s time for a quick update.

As you should know (by clicking here), 1.5 million people marched for Independence on 11^th September which led the Catalan PM to call elections. His (winning) party, and the second-placed party in the elections, have a clear objective of holding a referendum on this issue. Together with a couple of smaller parties, maybe 75% of MPs believe a referendum should be held, and the government is committed to holding it in 2014.

Meanwhile, in Madrid, they insist this would be illegal and anti-constitutional, and that they’d probably not allow it and Catalonia would lose all its current autonomous powers, as well as other nasty things which may or may not happen – prison, military threats etc.

Catalonia insists that it will try to get Madrid to agree to the referendum, but if they don’t, then legal support from international legislation will be the way to move forward.

And as many experts have said, the top and bottom of it is; how can a people be denied the right to have a democratic peaceful say on their own future, especially after such wide and deep support has been shown?

What will happen? Who knows! It seems like the plans for the referendum are still on track, though maybe not at the front of the government’s mind at present as it is struggling to deal with recession, no cash to pay for its obligations (public servants and services being cut right, left and centre), plus numerous cases of corruption. Maybe these cases will all be proven, but it seems like Madrid has had a hand in many of them coming out to public knowledge just now .... so, interesting situation!

The song, at a (drastic) push, you could find a weak link today as she sings of someone losing their fear to speak out ....

Sweet dancer - The Waterboys #Yeats

Another one of those posts where the song speaks for itself. Sweet Dancer, a poem by W.B.Yeats, set to music by the Waterboys for their 2011 "An Appointment with Mr Yeats" LP.


 The girl goes dancing there
On the leaf-sown, new-mown, smooth
Grass of the garden;
Escaped from bitter youth,
Escaped from out of her crowd,
And her black cloud.
Ah, dancer, ah, sweet dancer!

If men come from the house
To lead her away, please do not say
That she is crazy;
Lead them gently astray;
Let her finish the dance,
Finish the dance.
Ah, dancer, ah, sweet dancer!

(adaptation of poem)

Maple Leaf Rag - Scott Joplin #ACenturyAgo

Continuant amb el tema d'ahir, ara tenim una peça de la decada que ens faltava - 1900-1909. Com que Scott Joplin va escriure la musica al 1899, i va morir al 1916, sembla ser (amb 5 minuts de google) que aquesta gravació és de la decada en questió. Bona musica !

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Following on from yesterday's post, here's a piece from the 1900-1909 decade (probably).