Thoughts
I had a very productive dialogue with the Matt's Barcelona Blog Board - they gave me some great critical feedback, and suggested that I write more about differences between Spain and the US, as well other topics that weren't necessarily places I've been.
One difference is that the President of Spain isn't nuts. In fact, Zapatero is great. His first action in office was to pull troops out of Iraq. He's a socialist, and believes that there's a democratic solution to pretty much any problem. For example, he offered to open talks with the separatist Basque terrorist group, ETA. In return, they've declared a partial truce and promised to not attack political targets. Apparently, there are other ways to deal with terrorists besides bombing them and everyone nearby into oblivion.
Another difference is presence of national pride within the individual states of Spain. Barcelona is in Catalunya, which many Catalunyans consider to be a separate country (of sorts). A good example of this is the use of Catalan - a language that sort of sounds like Spanish and French combined. People use it in homes, especially, and they insist that every child learn Catalan in school (even though it is spoken in no other place on the planet).
There is a huge Catalunyan autonomy movement going on here - thankfully it's completely peaceful, unlike the separatist movement in the Basque country. Zapatero has offered that, if 90% of the parliament votes for it, he would let the state keep more of its own taxes, etc.
Spain has some interesting contradictions. 1) Despite the liberal, progressive thoughts of most people I talk to, there is still a lot of racism. North African immigrants have been coming here illegaly in waves that is causing a lot of resentment. Ironically, I imagine the North Africans resented it when Europeans invaded their countries during the colonial era. The same is true for South Americans - I've spoken with a lot of people about Mexicans in America, and pretty much everyone says something like, "Those people are lazy."
2) I sat and gossiped the other day with Robi, her sister, and her niece. We started talking about the Church, and I was surprised to hear about their brand of religion. Instead of devout Catholics, the three of them think the Church is too political and that spirituality should be individual - something I didn't expect from three Spanish women with an average age of 50. However, both Robi and her sister have candles burning constantly in front of little figurines of the Virgin Mary. I guess the rituals of the Catholic life stick with people a long time after they stop going to church.
One difference is that the President of Spain isn't nuts. In fact, Zapatero is great. His first action in office was to pull troops out of Iraq. He's a socialist, and believes that there's a democratic solution to pretty much any problem. For example, he offered to open talks with the separatist Basque terrorist group, ETA. In return, they've declared a partial truce and promised to not attack political targets. Apparently, there are other ways to deal with terrorists besides bombing them and everyone nearby into oblivion.
Another difference is presence of national pride within the individual states of Spain. Barcelona is in Catalunya, which many Catalunyans consider to be a separate country (of sorts). A good example of this is the use of Catalan - a language that sort of sounds like Spanish and French combined. People use it in homes, especially, and they insist that every child learn Catalan in school (even though it is spoken in no other place on the planet).
There is a huge Catalunyan autonomy movement going on here - thankfully it's completely peaceful, unlike the separatist movement in the Basque country. Zapatero has offered that, if 90% of the parliament votes for it, he would let the state keep more of its own taxes, etc.
Spain has some interesting contradictions. 1) Despite the liberal, progressive thoughts of most people I talk to, there is still a lot of racism. North African immigrants have been coming here illegaly in waves that is causing a lot of resentment. Ironically, I imagine the North Africans resented it when Europeans invaded their countries during the colonial era. The same is true for South Americans - I've spoken with a lot of people about Mexicans in America, and pretty much everyone says something like, "Those people are lazy."
2) I sat and gossiped the other day with Robi, her sister, and her niece. We started talking about the Church, and I was surprised to hear about their brand of religion. Instead of devout Catholics, the three of them think the Church is too political and that spirituality should be individual - something I didn't expect from three Spanish women with an average age of 50. However, both Robi and her sister have candles burning constantly in front of little figurines of the Virgin Mary. I guess the rituals of the Catholic life stick with people a long time after they stop going to church.
posted by Spoonaloompa | 3:51 AM
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