Spain's royals are no different to other royals - those who are of some significance, that is - when it comes to being obliged to do the press photo shoot. And there's no better time to shoot them, so to speak, than when they're enjoying their annual hols by the seaside. This is all pretty normal, but what wasn't last week was the apparent sponsoring by a fashion store. Which one was it, do you suppose? Zara, Armani, Marks and Sparks? Primark perhaps. Probably not.
You might determine that fashion is not one of my strong suits (sic), but even I couldn't fail to notice that there was something of the catalogue about their highnesses and the two nippers as they strolled around the Marivent gardens (minus any citizens getting in the way). Summer casuals with style: it would be something like that I would imagine, were I to pay any attention to the frivolity of fashion sloganising.
The King, being the solitary male in the family group, was rather more bold in the choice of shirt colour than the hoopy, stripy, light estival blues and whites of the royal females, yet even he had succumbed to the subdued subtleties of the fashion parade. So much so that the shirt and trouser combination appeared to have been borrowed from Iglesias (Pablo, that is, and not either of Julio or Enrique). Was this a sign, did one suppose? His Majesty has, after all, had to endure a less than totally relaxing vacation, what with attempting the seemingly impossible, that of finding anyone to run the country. But Iglesias? Hard to believe, given that Podemos turned down the chance of some decent nosebag at yesterday evening's shindig at the Almudaina.
The King will have been able to reacquaint himself with the one Podemista who deigns to show up on these occasions and then only because she's obliged to as the speaker (president) of the Balearic parliament. Xe-Lo, for it is she, does of course have her own fashion line. It's a sort of Mama Cass circa 1967 minus the chemicals. It most certainly won't be a brand that Tizzy will be recommending for the next royal photo opp.
I'm still interested to know, and I've been waiting a year, if Xe-Lo actually took along a doggy bag to the previous Almudaina thrash and filled it with some canapes and the odd bottle of cava and then thumbed a lift to the nearest soup kitchen. She had, it should be recalled, let the King know that money for the reception could have been more wisely spent on the deprived citizens of the city, i.e. those at the soup kitchen(s). In the absence of any official communique from Podemos, I would have to assume that she contented herself with tucking into things on sticks and forgot.
Other royals have also been in circulation. The former king put in what is now a rare appearance in Mallorca because of his sister's eightieth do, and the following evening the various generations headed off to the Land of the Beautiful People for dinner. What is it with reporting on these occasions? The royals were at a "well-known restaurant". Why not just say that it's Flanigan, especially as the name is clearly to be seen in the bloody photo. There again, the hoi-polloi would be unfamiliar with restaurants down Portals way. The place is a bit like Jersey. They put barriers across the road to keep the riff-raff out and demand to see evidence of wealth from a bank statement. Not that there is a great deal of wealth actually kept in banks down Portals way one would imagine.
Then there were the Urdangarin minors, taken off to the regatta by the Queen Mum. Nowhere to be seen were the parents. The Queen Mum was beaming as she always does beam. God bless her, given what she has to put up with. We were informed that the nippers - Sofia and Leonor - would not be at the regatta as they "do not practise sailing". They may well not do, though being seen with the cousins might constitute some awkwardness, what with the business with the parents.
Of all the royals on show, it is possible that Podemos would have taken greatest exception to the King's other sister, Elena, the one who isn't waiting to hear what fate the judges have for her. Elena went to the bullfight. So did her two children. Isn't there something about under-16s not being allowed into bullfights? According to Wikipedia, the daughter, Victoria, isn't 16 until 9 September. If so, then Podemos (and others) might want their say on the matter. Sounds like a case of shooting one's royal self in the foot. Which of course is precisely what Elena's son did, when he was under 14 and not meant to have been using a firearm because of his age. But then, as they say, age is just a number.
Showing posts with label Bullfighting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bullfighting. Show all posts
Monday, August 08, 2016
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
The Interest In Death
San Isidro, Sant Isidre, Saint Isidore. There are two Isidores. One was Isidore of Seville, the Archbishop of that city from the seventh century, considered to be "the last scholar of the ancient world". The other was Isidore the Farmer, aka Isidore the Labourer and so in Spanish, San Isidro Labrador. He was born in Madrid, probably in 1070. There is some uncertainty as to when he died. Almost certainly it was in 1130, though the only known official documentation of his death suggests that it was in 1172, which represents a fair difference. Isidore the Farmer was someone of great piety who performed miracles and who didn't, unlike many a saint, meet a gruesome end; nor did Isidore of Seville either. When his end came, and despite the 42 year variance in the year of his death, it was on 15 May. Feast days often celebrate death, and Isidore the Farmer is no different.
Among other patronages, Isidore is the patron saint of farmers (naturally enough) and also of Madrid, again naturally enough. He has lent his name to the city's Feria de San Isidro, which started last Friday. The fair will go on for a whole month. It is one that has been called the greatest in the world, but it depends what is being considered when granting the fair this accolade, for the fair is, more than anything, a celebration of bullfighting: on every day from 8 May to 7 June, there is a bullfight in Madrid.
The significance of the fair is enormous. It symbolises everything about what might be dubbed an "old" Spain and a "new" Spain and about political clashes and rivalries between the Castile of Madrid and the Catalonia of Barcelona, which have their roots in centuries past. When Catalonia banned the bullfight, the ban was denounced by bullfight supporters as a political act, one against "Spain". To an extent, the ban was precisely that, though the impulse behind it had been popular legislative petition.
While the fair symbolises changes in attitudes of Spaniards - bullfighting as a whole is now less popular than it once was - it can also be said to be symbolic of attitudes of foreign observers. There has never, as far as I am aware, been a survey of tourist and foreign resident opinion, but were there to be, the finding would almost certainly indicate opposition to the bullfight. Yet, there was a time when such foreign attitudes were different, and Ernest Hemingway voiced them better than anyone.
Hemingway's support of bullfighting - one of only three sports in his estimation (along with motor racing and mountaineering) - has to be viewed in the context of the time when he was writing and also of his contrariness: here, after all, was someone who lent his support to anti-fascism and to Catalonia as well. But then bullfighting was not used as a symbol of political difference in those days, albeit that Hemingway's point of reference for bullfighting was what he observed in Castile.
In a "New York Times" article of September 1932, which was a review of Hemingway's "Death In The Afternoon", a book devoted to bullfighting, the author was quoted thus: "The only place where you could see life and death, i.e. violent death now that the wars were over, was in the bullring and I wanted very much to go to Spain where I could study it. I was trying to learn to write, commencing with the simplest things, and of the simplest things of all and the most fundamental is violent death".
Of course, Hemingway was to be proven wrong when it came to wars, but what he observed was what he felt was a human and societal condition in Spain. "If a country is to love bullfights," the article continued "the people must have an interest in death" and they did so, he argued, in Castile. Strip away the trappings of the spectacular, the notions of honour and of sport, and what was left was death - that of the bull, of the horse, of the matador.
Hemingway was seduced by a certain romanticism and by his desire to discover an alien culture. But this was the 1930s. The romanticism has long ceased to be, Spain is no longer alien. Yet, does something linger? Is Hemingway's thesis regarding an "interest in death" still current? Is it this from which bullfighting derives its support?
Hemingway's Spain was the "old" Spain, one whose societal attitudes certain politicians, notably Felipe González and José Luis Zapatero, have understood and have sought to alter. The attitudes of "new" Spain are reflected in a variety of ways that, for example, reject the conservatism of the church or the death in the afternoon. Yet, the "old" Spain is clung to. It is a comfort of tradition, the greatest fair in the world, the interest in death.
Among other patronages, Isidore is the patron saint of farmers (naturally enough) and also of Madrid, again naturally enough. He has lent his name to the city's Feria de San Isidro, which started last Friday. The fair will go on for a whole month. It is one that has been called the greatest in the world, but it depends what is being considered when granting the fair this accolade, for the fair is, more than anything, a celebration of bullfighting: on every day from 8 May to 7 June, there is a bullfight in Madrid.
The significance of the fair is enormous. It symbolises everything about what might be dubbed an "old" Spain and a "new" Spain and about political clashes and rivalries between the Castile of Madrid and the Catalonia of Barcelona, which have their roots in centuries past. When Catalonia banned the bullfight, the ban was denounced by bullfight supporters as a political act, one against "Spain". To an extent, the ban was precisely that, though the impulse behind it had been popular legislative petition.
While the fair symbolises changes in attitudes of Spaniards - bullfighting as a whole is now less popular than it once was - it can also be said to be symbolic of attitudes of foreign observers. There has never, as far as I am aware, been a survey of tourist and foreign resident opinion, but were there to be, the finding would almost certainly indicate opposition to the bullfight. Yet, there was a time when such foreign attitudes were different, and Ernest Hemingway voiced them better than anyone.
Hemingway's support of bullfighting - one of only three sports in his estimation (along with motor racing and mountaineering) - has to be viewed in the context of the time when he was writing and also of his contrariness: here, after all, was someone who lent his support to anti-fascism and to Catalonia as well. But then bullfighting was not used as a symbol of political difference in those days, albeit that Hemingway's point of reference for bullfighting was what he observed in Castile.
In a "New York Times" article of September 1932, which was a review of Hemingway's "Death In The Afternoon", a book devoted to bullfighting, the author was quoted thus: "The only place where you could see life and death, i.e. violent death now that the wars were over, was in the bullring and I wanted very much to go to Spain where I could study it. I was trying to learn to write, commencing with the simplest things, and of the simplest things of all and the most fundamental is violent death".
Of course, Hemingway was to be proven wrong when it came to wars, but what he observed was what he felt was a human and societal condition in Spain. "If a country is to love bullfights," the article continued "the people must have an interest in death" and they did so, he argued, in Castile. Strip away the trappings of the spectacular, the notions of honour and of sport, and what was left was death - that of the bull, of the horse, of the matador.
Hemingway was seduced by a certain romanticism and by his desire to discover an alien culture. But this was the 1930s. The romanticism has long ceased to be, Spain is no longer alien. Yet, does something linger? Is Hemingway's thesis regarding an "interest in death" still current? Is it this from which bullfighting derives its support?
Hemingway's Spain was the "old" Spain, one whose societal attitudes certain politicians, notably Felipe González and José Luis Zapatero, have understood and have sought to alter. The attitudes of "new" Spain are reflected in a variety of ways that, for example, reject the conservatism of the church or the death in the afternoon. Yet, the "old" Spain is clung to. It is a comfort of tradition, the greatest fair in the world, the interest in death.
Sunday, July 27, 2014
Bloodless Mallorca: Campaigning against bullfighting
What do Palma, Alcúdia, Muro and Inca have in common? They are the only municipalities in Mallorca where bullfights are staged. Felanitx can, theoretically, be added to this list, but as its bullring - La Macarena - has been closed for some five years because it is considered a safety risk, it isn't in practice; there is no bullfight in Felanitx as a result.
But were La Macarena in a safe condition, the chances are that the council there would allow the staging of bullfights once more. Felanitx is not a town in Mallorca which has declared itself to be anti-bullfighting. There are few towns which have made such a declaration but the number has grown swiftly just recently; doubled in fact. Over the past month, councils in Artà, Sencelles and now Santa María del Camí, have all passed motions against bullfighting. There had only been three - Costitx, which has had a policy since 2006, Esporles and Puigpunyent, since 2009 - now there are the six, and the number may well increase.
A town which will not be added to the list is Pollensa. A motion declaring the town anti-bullfighting was defeated. The largest group, the Partido Popular, got the support of the councillor Puerto Pollensa party (the UMP) councillor, while the PP's partner in coalition, El Pi, abstained. This was enough for the motion to fail, one that had been supported by the Alternativa, PSOE, Més and the Esquerra Republicana. It was a case, therefore, of left versus right, and the right won the day.
The motions that have been brought at different council meetings are the consequence of a campaign called Mallorca Sense Sang (Mallorca without blood or bloodless Mallorca). It was started three months ago by the animal-rights groups AnimaNaturalis and CAS International (CAS stands for Comité Anti Stierenvechten, and is Dutch, based in Utrecht). The campaign has thus far got 15,000 signatures from those who want bullfighting banned in Mallorca.
The likelihood of there being such a ban is remote. For the moment. Though bullfighting isn't a subject which neatly divides along right and left political lines, it more or less does. The PP nationally is firmly in favour of bullfighting, and one of its supporters is the prime minister Mariano Rajoy. So much in favour is it that it supports the drive to have bullfighting given protected status on account of its cultural heritage. It also, because it interferes with the national broadcaster RTE, succeeded in getting bullfighting back on television screens; it had been dropped a few years ago when PSOE was in power.
A ban in Mallorca isn't completely out of the question. If the campaign were to become a campaign of signature collection for a petition for popular legislation, and if enough signatures were collected, the regional government would be obliged to consider passing law to ban the bullfight. This is what happened in Catalonia. There were sufficient signatures and the government there, arguably because it suited its political purposes to attack a symbol of Spanish nationalism, accepted that parliament should consider a ban, and parliament duly obliged.
Mallorca and the Balearics are likely to see a different political make-up after next spring's elections. At present, the regional government wouldn't pass a ban, even were there enough signatures to compel it to consider doing so. The situation may well be very different next year.
In the meantime, the town councils which have declared their opposition to bullfighting have done so in a symbolic fashion rather than a practical one. It would be almost unimaginable that any of Palma, Alcúdia, Muro or Inca (or indeed Felanitx) would follow suit, but again political changes in these towns might lead them to. Muro is a town that would be the most stubborn supporter of the bullfight. It has declared itself a town for the bullfight. The bullring, which was bought by the town hall three years ago, is used for training purposes as well as for the annual bullfight at the Sant Joan fiestas. It would take something major for Muro to reverse its policy, but that something major may just be in the making.
But were La Macarena in a safe condition, the chances are that the council there would allow the staging of bullfights once more. Felanitx is not a town in Mallorca which has declared itself to be anti-bullfighting. There are few towns which have made such a declaration but the number has grown swiftly just recently; doubled in fact. Over the past month, councils in Artà, Sencelles and now Santa María del Camí, have all passed motions against bullfighting. There had only been three - Costitx, which has had a policy since 2006, Esporles and Puigpunyent, since 2009 - now there are the six, and the number may well increase.
A town which will not be added to the list is Pollensa. A motion declaring the town anti-bullfighting was defeated. The largest group, the Partido Popular, got the support of the councillor Puerto Pollensa party (the UMP) councillor, while the PP's partner in coalition, El Pi, abstained. This was enough for the motion to fail, one that had been supported by the Alternativa, PSOE, Més and the Esquerra Republicana. It was a case, therefore, of left versus right, and the right won the day.
The motions that have been brought at different council meetings are the consequence of a campaign called Mallorca Sense Sang (Mallorca without blood or bloodless Mallorca). It was started three months ago by the animal-rights groups AnimaNaturalis and CAS International (CAS stands for Comité Anti Stierenvechten, and is Dutch, based in Utrecht). The campaign has thus far got 15,000 signatures from those who want bullfighting banned in Mallorca.
The likelihood of there being such a ban is remote. For the moment. Though bullfighting isn't a subject which neatly divides along right and left political lines, it more or less does. The PP nationally is firmly in favour of bullfighting, and one of its supporters is the prime minister Mariano Rajoy. So much in favour is it that it supports the drive to have bullfighting given protected status on account of its cultural heritage. It also, because it interferes with the national broadcaster RTE, succeeded in getting bullfighting back on television screens; it had been dropped a few years ago when PSOE was in power.
A ban in Mallorca isn't completely out of the question. If the campaign were to become a campaign of signature collection for a petition for popular legislation, and if enough signatures were collected, the regional government would be obliged to consider passing law to ban the bullfight. This is what happened in Catalonia. There were sufficient signatures and the government there, arguably because it suited its political purposes to attack a symbol of Spanish nationalism, accepted that parliament should consider a ban, and parliament duly obliged.
Mallorca and the Balearics are likely to see a different political make-up after next spring's elections. At present, the regional government wouldn't pass a ban, even were there enough signatures to compel it to consider doing so. The situation may well be very different next year.
In the meantime, the town councils which have declared their opposition to bullfighting have done so in a symbolic fashion rather than a practical one. It would be almost unimaginable that any of Palma, Alcúdia, Muro or Inca (or indeed Felanitx) would follow suit, but again political changes in these towns might lead them to. Muro is a town that would be the most stubborn supporter of the bullfight. It has declared itself a town for the bullfight. The bullring, which was bought by the town hall three years ago, is used for training purposes as well as for the annual bullfight at the Sant Joan fiestas. It would take something major for Muro to reverse its policy, but that something major may just be in the making.
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Bullfighting Apologies And Apologists
One of the grandest fairs of a Spanish spring is that of San Isidro in Madrid. It is a fair which attracts visitors from across Spain and from overseas. As part of the promotion for this year's fair, the travel agency Nautalia Viajes had offered a package which included hotel accommodation and entrance to one of the main events of this grand fair: the bullfight in the Las Ventas bullring. The agency had offered this package; it now no longer does. Nautalia in fact withdrew this promotion almost two weeks ago. The withdrawal followed an avalanche of criticism from opponents of the bullfight.
Nautalia's explanation for dropping the promotion was posted onto its Facebook page. Its wording was such that it left no one in any doubt that it, Nautalia, recognised that a mistake had been made. "After listening to your petitions (and the informal 'vuestras' was used for 'your') and as a business which values opinions of its community, we have decided to cease selling the package." The explanation went on: "We are conscious of the argument with regard to bullfighting, so for this reason we apologise to people who may have been offended by the sale of this package ... At no time has Nautalia defended the mistreatment of animals."
This was a strong statement of regret. It may have been for PR purposes, but it was PR that was necessary in the face of the onslaught of criticism and of the power of social media. The agency doubtless calculated that it stood to lose more custom by continuing to offer the package than by withdrawing it. Its Twitter account revealed that some supporters of the bullfight said that they would stop being clients.
Spain.info is the website for the national tourism agency Turespaña. Under a heading, "Bullfights: the magic of Spain's 'national fiesta' ", the website talks about the "excitement" of this fiesta and says that "to discover Spain is to discover bullfighting culture". It refers to the San Isidro event as indeed it does to others. It makes one crucial mistake, though. It includes reference to the bullfight in Barcelona. There no longer is a bullfight in Barcelona. Catalonia has banned bullfighting.
The effusive description that Spain.info offers is probably to be expected. Even if there are those at Turespaña who are wary of being involved with the argument in the way that Nautalia has been, the agency could hardly not mention bullfighting or be critical of it. One could argue, however, that it goes over the top in seeking to convey the "excitement".
But Turespaña is of course a government agency, and the national government of the Partido Popular has made clear its commitment to and support of bullfighting. And there are others from the PP who are clear in this support. The party's president in Madrid, Esperanza Aguirre, is one of them.
On Sunday at Seville's April fair (where there is a bullfight), Sra. Aguirre issued her own strong statement as part of the oration for the bullfight, one that was very different to that which Nautalia had felt compelled to make. She spoke of how bullfighting was part of her family's tradition and had been since her great-grandfather's days. She placed her love of bulls alongside her Christianity and her love of country. She accused critics of bullfighting of being anti-Spanish and said that their arguments were of a much lower intellectual level than had been inherent to criticisms expressed a century ago. In other words, one has to conclude that opponents, in addition to being anti-Spanish, are little more than an unintelligent rabble.
Invoking being anti-Spanish and so also its opposite, being pro-Spanish, can be seen within the context of the Catalonian argument. The bullfighting ban, where many within the PP are concerned, was purely political. But this ignores the fact that the ban was the result of popular legislation through petition. Not all the thousands upon thousands who signed the petition could surely have been motivated solely by Catalonian nationalist sentiments and a desire to attack a potent symbol of Spanishness, i.e. the bullfight.
Spanish nationalism is quite clearly threatened by Catalonia's quest for independence, and this is a threat felt by those on both the right and the left politically (PSOE isn't in favour). But there is a crucial difference when it comes to the nationalist narrative. Elements within the PP are in tune with Sra. Aguirre's back-to-the-future model of nationalism. The Spanish people may still be Christian but they aren't necessarily staunch Catholics, as has been demonstrated, for example, by opposition to abortion reform. And nor are they necessarily defenders of the bullfight. None of this opposition makes them anti-Spanish.
If Sra. Aguirre and the PP were a travel agency, they might feel obliged to issue a retraction.
Nautalia's explanation for dropping the promotion was posted onto its Facebook page. Its wording was such that it left no one in any doubt that it, Nautalia, recognised that a mistake had been made. "After listening to your petitions (and the informal 'vuestras' was used for 'your') and as a business which values opinions of its community, we have decided to cease selling the package." The explanation went on: "We are conscious of the argument with regard to bullfighting, so for this reason we apologise to people who may have been offended by the sale of this package ... At no time has Nautalia defended the mistreatment of animals."
This was a strong statement of regret. It may have been for PR purposes, but it was PR that was necessary in the face of the onslaught of criticism and of the power of social media. The agency doubtless calculated that it stood to lose more custom by continuing to offer the package than by withdrawing it. Its Twitter account revealed that some supporters of the bullfight said that they would stop being clients.
Spain.info is the website for the national tourism agency Turespaña. Under a heading, "Bullfights: the magic of Spain's 'national fiesta' ", the website talks about the "excitement" of this fiesta and says that "to discover Spain is to discover bullfighting culture". It refers to the San Isidro event as indeed it does to others. It makes one crucial mistake, though. It includes reference to the bullfight in Barcelona. There no longer is a bullfight in Barcelona. Catalonia has banned bullfighting.
The effusive description that Spain.info offers is probably to be expected. Even if there are those at Turespaña who are wary of being involved with the argument in the way that Nautalia has been, the agency could hardly not mention bullfighting or be critical of it. One could argue, however, that it goes over the top in seeking to convey the "excitement".
But Turespaña is of course a government agency, and the national government of the Partido Popular has made clear its commitment to and support of bullfighting. And there are others from the PP who are clear in this support. The party's president in Madrid, Esperanza Aguirre, is one of them.
On Sunday at Seville's April fair (where there is a bullfight), Sra. Aguirre issued her own strong statement as part of the oration for the bullfight, one that was very different to that which Nautalia had felt compelled to make. She spoke of how bullfighting was part of her family's tradition and had been since her great-grandfather's days. She placed her love of bulls alongside her Christianity and her love of country. She accused critics of bullfighting of being anti-Spanish and said that their arguments were of a much lower intellectual level than had been inherent to criticisms expressed a century ago. In other words, one has to conclude that opponents, in addition to being anti-Spanish, are little more than an unintelligent rabble.
Invoking being anti-Spanish and so also its opposite, being pro-Spanish, can be seen within the context of the Catalonian argument. The bullfighting ban, where many within the PP are concerned, was purely political. But this ignores the fact that the ban was the result of popular legislation through petition. Not all the thousands upon thousands who signed the petition could surely have been motivated solely by Catalonian nationalist sentiments and a desire to attack a potent symbol of Spanishness, i.e. the bullfight.
Spanish nationalism is quite clearly threatened by Catalonia's quest for independence, and this is a threat felt by those on both the right and the left politically (PSOE isn't in favour). But there is a crucial difference when it comes to the nationalist narrative. Elements within the PP are in tune with Sra. Aguirre's back-to-the-future model of nationalism. The Spanish people may still be Christian but they aren't necessarily staunch Catholics, as has been demonstrated, for example, by opposition to abortion reform. And nor are they necessarily defenders of the bullfight. None of this opposition makes them anti-Spanish.
If Sra. Aguirre and the PP were a travel agency, they might feel obliged to issue a retraction.
Saturday, February 15, 2014
Defenders Of Culture
It went very much under the radar, but last week the Spanish Government managed to slip in a small adjustment to the application of IVA. Having previously decided to reduce the maximum 21% rate for the sale of works of art to the 10% rate, commonly known as the tourist rate because it is the one which applies to certain tourist-related businesses, it said that it would be looking to possibly also reduce the 21% rate for other "cultural" activities. And last week it did just that. Final approval for these adjustments will wait until March, but there seems little doubt that the two activities so far identified as warranting the reduction will indeed benefit from it. And what is the second activity, the one that was quietly introduced last week? It is bullfighting.
When IVA was increased in September 2012, a number of activities which had until then enjoyed the reduced rate (8% before the increase to 10%) suddenly found themselves bracketed at the maximum rate. These included attractions, clubs, golf courses and many other activities which would probably not be defined as "cultural". The government, in reducing the rate for works of art, appeared to want to portray itself as defenders of culture, conveniently ignoring the fact that it, together with the banks, is the main collector of works of art in Spain. Nevertheless, and any possible vested interests aside, giving the art world some encouragement was not unwelcome. The same, however, cannot be said for the encouragement of the bullfighting industry.
Apart from its history, bullfighting qualifies as being of cultural importance (where the government is concerned) because last October Congress approved an initiative to have the bullfight declared as an example of "intangible cultural heritage of humanity" by UNESCO (this is the same award that was made to the Mallorcan Sibil·la chant). This initiative had been placed before Congress through a piece of "popular" legislation, which is the process whereby, if a required number of signatures are gathered for a petition, governments are obliged to consider legislative change or introduction. It is a process which can only be used for certain things, such as cultural activities, and the presentation of this petition to the national parliament (which required 600,000 signatures) was the same as the process in Catalonia which resulted in bullfighting being banned there (the required number of signatures was lower). Among those whose signatures appeared on the petition was Mariano Rajoy.
It shouldn't really need explaining that there was a huge chunk of politics behind the petition presented to parliament, just as it shouldn't really need explaining that the Spanish Government, i.e. the Partido Popular, has portrayed itself as the defender of the bullfight. As with art, so with the bullfight. Defenders of culture.
The announcement about the IVA reduction was overlooked because there was far more important parliamentary work last week. PSOE had attempted to overturn the introduction of the reformed abortion law. In a secret ballot in Congress, PSOE failed to do so. The new law will stand.
Reaction to confirmation of the reformed law in the Balearics led to some 80 gynecologists signing a letter calling for the law to be withdrawn; the 80 represent a majority of approximately 70%. Opposition to the reformed law has been widespread; even the Balearics health minister (Partido Popular) isn't fully in favour of it. And this opposition has centred on the lack of medical sense contained in the law. It has been condemned for having been politically motivated and politically motivated alone; a means of the Partido Popular nationally aligning itself with conservatives in the Catholic Church. It has also been condemned for being out of step with public opinion, and a Gadeso survey in the Balearics last week revealed that 71% of people were in favour of what had been a more permissive law before the government went ahead and made it that much more restrictive.
There is something rather perverse about a government which seems determined to return to the past and to ignore general public sentiment. Both bullfighting and abortion are symptomatic of that past. Franco liked nothing more than watching a bull get its ears cut off. He was of course also dead against abortion.
When IVA was increased in September 2012, a number of activities which had until then enjoyed the reduced rate (8% before the increase to 10%) suddenly found themselves bracketed at the maximum rate. These included attractions, clubs, golf courses and many other activities which would probably not be defined as "cultural". The government, in reducing the rate for works of art, appeared to want to portray itself as defenders of culture, conveniently ignoring the fact that it, together with the banks, is the main collector of works of art in Spain. Nevertheless, and any possible vested interests aside, giving the art world some encouragement was not unwelcome. The same, however, cannot be said for the encouragement of the bullfighting industry.
Apart from its history, bullfighting qualifies as being of cultural importance (where the government is concerned) because last October Congress approved an initiative to have the bullfight declared as an example of "intangible cultural heritage of humanity" by UNESCO (this is the same award that was made to the Mallorcan Sibil·la chant). This initiative had been placed before Congress through a piece of "popular" legislation, which is the process whereby, if a required number of signatures are gathered for a petition, governments are obliged to consider legislative change or introduction. It is a process which can only be used for certain things, such as cultural activities, and the presentation of this petition to the national parliament (which required 600,000 signatures) was the same as the process in Catalonia which resulted in bullfighting being banned there (the required number of signatures was lower). Among those whose signatures appeared on the petition was Mariano Rajoy.
It shouldn't really need explaining that there was a huge chunk of politics behind the petition presented to parliament, just as it shouldn't really need explaining that the Spanish Government, i.e. the Partido Popular, has portrayed itself as the defender of the bullfight. As with art, so with the bullfight. Defenders of culture.
The announcement about the IVA reduction was overlooked because there was far more important parliamentary work last week. PSOE had attempted to overturn the introduction of the reformed abortion law. In a secret ballot in Congress, PSOE failed to do so. The new law will stand.
Reaction to confirmation of the reformed law in the Balearics led to some 80 gynecologists signing a letter calling for the law to be withdrawn; the 80 represent a majority of approximately 70%. Opposition to the reformed law has been widespread; even the Balearics health minister (Partido Popular) isn't fully in favour of it. And this opposition has centred on the lack of medical sense contained in the law. It has been condemned for having been politically motivated and politically motivated alone; a means of the Partido Popular nationally aligning itself with conservatives in the Catholic Church. It has also been condemned for being out of step with public opinion, and a Gadeso survey in the Balearics last week revealed that 71% of people were in favour of what had been a more permissive law before the government went ahead and made it that much more restrictive.
There is something rather perverse about a government which seems determined to return to the past and to ignore general public sentiment. Both bullfighting and abortion are symptomatic of that past. Franco liked nothing more than watching a bull get its ears cut off. He was of course also dead against abortion.
Monday, October 14, 2013
The Bull That Has Had Its Day
While the bull affair down Andratx way has been one of the legality or otherwise of using the image, there is a far broader debate as to the use of the image of the Osborne bull and indeed the image of the bull (any old bull) full stop. The Osborne bull has over the years acquired a status as the unofficial national emblem of Spain; it has been a case of brandy branding the country.
Once upon a time, this branding was seen as an advantage. Back in the day, had the man on the Clapham omnibus been asked to name one image that represented Spain more than any other, the answer would have been the bull, or more accurately the bullfight. Those were the days, remember, when the man on the Clapham omnibus's kids would have listened to Uncle Mac play Tommy Steele's "Little White Bull". The matador, the red cape, the snorting bull; these were the images of Spain embedded firmly in the minds of foreigners who required a familiar but still novel brand mark in order to make an association with that foreign place to which they would be "going foreign" for the first time.
The bull was a powerful brand image. It still is and it still may be the first image that comes to mind to many a potential visitor. But it comes to mind for very different reasons than it did in less-aware eras in the past. Despite this, the national government is due to grant the bullfight a form of protected status as an intangible of national culture. As far as the Osborne bull is concerned, various towns in Murcia, where there is no giant bull like the one to be found in Mallorca, would like there to be one.
The Osborne bull isn't of course the same as the bullfight. It does have cultural symbolism that doesn't have to mean that it is associated with the bullfight, and it doesn't have anything to do with matadors or white hankies being waved. All the same, it could be perceived as being associated, hence questions being asked about the image of the bull in its different guises as a means of promoting Spain in a contemporary international tourist market.
The baffling decision, now reversed, by Andratx town hall to use the Osborne bull and the wishes of towns in Murcia to get a statue of the bull can be seen as no more than a benign invoking of what is a well-loved symbol, but can one read more into this embracing of an image which is of the past? As with the government's wish to protect the bullfight, there is a sense of regression as opposed to progression. Is this indicative of a general attitude in Spain?
It is possible that it is. The national government appears intent on turning the clock back, an example of this being the emphasis on religion in the new education bill. Yet this, as with support for the bullfight, is a turning the clock back to days that should now be buried in Spain's present. Neither symbolise a Spain that is moving forward. Both are political manoeuvres but they are perhaps also representative of how a society, reeling from the uncertainties and humiliations that have come with economic crisis, seeks refuge in past certainties. For tourism, however, as this remains the future, the image of the bull, be it Osborne or in the bullring, is out of step with this future. Continuity with the past is fine but not when it presents an image that conflicts with a vastly more aware and socially conscious public overseas.
* Photo: Osborne Bull from Wikipedia.
Saturday, June 22, 2013
Sign Here: Petitions
In 2010, 180,000 signatures were gathered in Catalonia for a petition against bullfighting. This wasn't any old petition. It was a collecting of signatures that was an attempt to trigger an "iniciativa legislativa popular". Depending on the size of the population in any given legislative unit - so it can be national, regional, provincial or lower - if a minimum number of signatures are collected, the petition is then presented to the relevant authority and it has to take this petition as the basis for potential reform or action. Getting sufficient numbers to sign a petition doesn't mean that the authority has to act, but if it decides to consider the demand of the petition, this has to be debated in whatever is the legislative body (a parliament, for example). In Catalonia, the petition was debated in its parliament, with the result that the petition's demand was agreed to. Bullfighting was banned.
A further example of the popular legislative initiative was a nationwide petition to try and force the Spanish Government to reconsider its smoking ban (some half a million signatories were required, if memory serves). Even if the number had been collected, the government wasn't obliged to initiate reform; as I say, it is still the relevant body's decision as to whether it takes the petition forward. In Catalonia, it had suited the government there to accept the bullfighting-ban demand.
The right to petition is, as with other expressions of protest, enshrined in the Spanish Constitution. It might strike some strange that one should have to invoke the Constitution, but then you have to consider what came before the Constitution. And that's why this legal entitlement is taken seriously and also why petitions, of all sorts, are so widely raised.
At a very different level to the Catalonian petition, there was one in Pollensa some time ago. It raised the required number of signatures (not that many) to force the town hall to get its finger out and do what it had said it would do in opening up access to a particular walk in the town. The petition didn't change anything at local legislative level, just simply gave the town hall the nudge to shake it out of its inertia.
And now, there are other petitions doing the rounds; one in Alcúdia, one in Pollensa. The Alcúdia petition has been raised by taxi-drivers. They are hacked off with the tourist train that has returned this summer. And it would appear that it is not only the taxi-drivers who are upset. There are also the likes of the operators who hire out those tourist trike things. They reckon they're losing out to the tourist train, as well.
It hasn't happened yet, but there might be a counter-petition, one in favour of the train. And who was it suggested might like to organise it? I doubt that my assistance will be needed, as I doubt that the town hall will, even with a whole load of signatures, feel obliged to do anything with the taxi-drivers petition. Why, the town hall has asked, did no one raise any objections when the process for re-introducing the train was initiated?
Then there is the petition in Pollensa, and this one is hoping to shake the town hall out of further inertia, this time to do with the state of the beach in Formentor. Winter storms caused damage to the beach and reduced it to a right old state. Some of the beach, by the hotel, is back in sandy good order. It's the part which isn't by the hotel that remains a mess.
Something should be done. Formentor beach was a key image that was used in old poster advertising for Mallorca in the fifties and sixties. It is, to use an overworked word, "iconic". It is also a beach in an extremely attractive part of the island. Moreover, it is a beach that has just got its Blue Flag status back, and much though I am critical of the Blue Flag system, if you get the damn flag back, then you should make sure you don't then lose it again.
The trouble is that I'm not sure the petition is going to the right people. The town hall itself had its own problems with getting the Costas Authority to sort out other storm damage in Pollensa, so is Formentor not similarly an issue for the Costas? Maybe there should be a petition against too many levels of government and confusion as to which body has responsibility for what. It wouldn't work, though. The petition would go to the wrong authority.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
A further example of the popular legislative initiative was a nationwide petition to try and force the Spanish Government to reconsider its smoking ban (some half a million signatories were required, if memory serves). Even if the number had been collected, the government wasn't obliged to initiate reform; as I say, it is still the relevant body's decision as to whether it takes the petition forward. In Catalonia, it had suited the government there to accept the bullfighting-ban demand.
The right to petition is, as with other expressions of protest, enshrined in the Spanish Constitution. It might strike some strange that one should have to invoke the Constitution, but then you have to consider what came before the Constitution. And that's why this legal entitlement is taken seriously and also why petitions, of all sorts, are so widely raised.
At a very different level to the Catalonian petition, there was one in Pollensa some time ago. It raised the required number of signatures (not that many) to force the town hall to get its finger out and do what it had said it would do in opening up access to a particular walk in the town. The petition didn't change anything at local legislative level, just simply gave the town hall the nudge to shake it out of its inertia.
And now, there are other petitions doing the rounds; one in Alcúdia, one in Pollensa. The Alcúdia petition has been raised by taxi-drivers. They are hacked off with the tourist train that has returned this summer. And it would appear that it is not only the taxi-drivers who are upset. There are also the likes of the operators who hire out those tourist trike things. They reckon they're losing out to the tourist train, as well.
It hasn't happened yet, but there might be a counter-petition, one in favour of the train. And who was it suggested might like to organise it? I doubt that my assistance will be needed, as I doubt that the town hall will, even with a whole load of signatures, feel obliged to do anything with the taxi-drivers petition. Why, the town hall has asked, did no one raise any objections when the process for re-introducing the train was initiated?
Then there is the petition in Pollensa, and this one is hoping to shake the town hall out of further inertia, this time to do with the state of the beach in Formentor. Winter storms caused damage to the beach and reduced it to a right old state. Some of the beach, by the hotel, is back in sandy good order. It's the part which isn't by the hotel that remains a mess.
Something should be done. Formentor beach was a key image that was used in old poster advertising for Mallorca in the fifties and sixties. It is, to use an overworked word, "iconic". It is also a beach in an extremely attractive part of the island. Moreover, it is a beach that has just got its Blue Flag status back, and much though I am critical of the Blue Flag system, if you get the damn flag back, then you should make sure you don't then lose it again.
The trouble is that I'm not sure the petition is going to the right people. The town hall itself had its own problems with getting the Costas Authority to sort out other storm damage in Pollensa, so is Formentor not similarly an issue for the Costas? Maybe there should be a petition against too many levels of government and confusion as to which body has responsibility for what. It wouldn't work, though. The petition would go to the wrong authority.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Thursday, February 02, 2012
Counting On Tradition: The correbou
How old must a tradition be in order for it to qualify as a tradition?
The question is itself a type of tautology. To brand a "thing" (an event, a belief, a meal or whatever) as a tradition and then query its longevity doesn't quite stack up. It is a tradition because someone has decided that it is.
To assign a numerical value, i.e. a number of years, as the basis of arbitration as to the existence or not of a tradition is an absurdity. Tradition cannot be quantified as though it had to go through a residency qualification period so that it could play a sport for its adopted country. Tradition is tradition through transmission over an undefined period and through its persistence and endurance into the current day.
Tradition doesn't have to be ancient. Quite the contrary. It can be a relative newcomer, but the modern tradition is normally an invention, one dreamt up and then given the marketing tag of tradition because it serves a purpose to do so.
The "correbou" is an ancient tradition, in that its origins, which are disputed, can probably be said to date back well before Anno Domini. If so, then its origins weren't Spanish or Catalonian.
Because the correbou differs, it is difficult to create an accurate timeline as to when and where fire came into the equation, which is the case in parts of Catalonia where fire or fireworks are attached to the bull's horns, but as a general matter of record, the correbou started in Catalonia in the fifteenth century. It was to be four more centuries, however, before fiestas involving bulls really became popular.
The tradition of the correbou is, therefore, and in more modern terms, at least a hundred years old. Which is probably long enough to qualify it as a tradition. But it isn't quite this simple, as the length of time that individual villages and towns have practised the fiery correbou varies, and this raises questions as to whether, in some towns, it is just a modern tradition of convenience.
It is the establishment as to how long a fiery correbou has been performed that is now causing a bit of a stink in Catalonia.
The Catalonians were accused of hypocrisy in banning the bullfight but permitting the continuance of the correbou. However the argument over bullfighting was styled, it was hard to disagree with the distinction drawn between bullfighting and the correbou and thus used as a justification for the correbou and for refuting allegations of hypocrisy; the former was symbolic of Francoist Spain, the latter was and is a Catalan tradition.
Nevertheless, perhaps stung by the hypocrisy charge, the Catalonian government and specifically the ruling CiU party which backed the bullfighting ban, is to insist, under a draft bill, that the correbou can only be practised if a town or village can prove that it has been conducted for 50 years.
This, therefore, is where the absurdity comes in. 51 years old and it is a tradition. 49 years old and it isn't. Presumably, a town might have to miss a year, wait for the 50th anniversary and then reintroduce its correbou.
The qualification period is a blatant piece of political PR, one designed to suggest that the Catalonian government isn't being hypocritical but is being sympathetic to tradition. In so doing, it has imposed a tariff of 50 years on the definition of tradition. It is utterly ridiculous.
The Catalonians aren't, though, the only ones to have sought to have quantified tradition.
Animal-protection law, as it has been applied in Mallorca, has placed its own tariff on tradition, and that is one hundred years. It's this stipulation that has led Santa Margalida town hall to propose a change that would bring it down to fifty years, the same as the Catalonian correbou tariff. The reason for the town hall making this proposal is to allow the "traditional" duck throwing during Can Picafort's summer fiesta to be legalised. This isn't a hundred years old, and to come into line with the hundred years rule would mean a wait of some twenty years during which they would have to put up with rubber ducks and not real ones.
The resort to making up a number is a far from untypical Spanish (Catalonian/Mallorcan) system of applying a bureaucratic measure. In this instance, tradition is bureaucratised, and its permission has to await the stamp of approval and production of the relevant documentation in triplicate.
Something is either banned or it isn't banned. Something is either tradition or it isn't tradition, and it doesn't become tradition just by counting up the years.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
The question is itself a type of tautology. To brand a "thing" (an event, a belief, a meal or whatever) as a tradition and then query its longevity doesn't quite stack up. It is a tradition because someone has decided that it is.
To assign a numerical value, i.e. a number of years, as the basis of arbitration as to the existence or not of a tradition is an absurdity. Tradition cannot be quantified as though it had to go through a residency qualification period so that it could play a sport for its adopted country. Tradition is tradition through transmission over an undefined period and through its persistence and endurance into the current day.
Tradition doesn't have to be ancient. Quite the contrary. It can be a relative newcomer, but the modern tradition is normally an invention, one dreamt up and then given the marketing tag of tradition because it serves a purpose to do so.
The "correbou" is an ancient tradition, in that its origins, which are disputed, can probably be said to date back well before Anno Domini. If so, then its origins weren't Spanish or Catalonian.
Because the correbou differs, it is difficult to create an accurate timeline as to when and where fire came into the equation, which is the case in parts of Catalonia where fire or fireworks are attached to the bull's horns, but as a general matter of record, the correbou started in Catalonia in the fifteenth century. It was to be four more centuries, however, before fiestas involving bulls really became popular.
The tradition of the correbou is, therefore, and in more modern terms, at least a hundred years old. Which is probably long enough to qualify it as a tradition. But it isn't quite this simple, as the length of time that individual villages and towns have practised the fiery correbou varies, and this raises questions as to whether, in some towns, it is just a modern tradition of convenience.
It is the establishment as to how long a fiery correbou has been performed that is now causing a bit of a stink in Catalonia.
The Catalonians were accused of hypocrisy in banning the bullfight but permitting the continuance of the correbou. However the argument over bullfighting was styled, it was hard to disagree with the distinction drawn between bullfighting and the correbou and thus used as a justification for the correbou and for refuting allegations of hypocrisy; the former was symbolic of Francoist Spain, the latter was and is a Catalan tradition.
Nevertheless, perhaps stung by the hypocrisy charge, the Catalonian government and specifically the ruling CiU party which backed the bullfighting ban, is to insist, under a draft bill, that the correbou can only be practised if a town or village can prove that it has been conducted for 50 years.
This, therefore, is where the absurdity comes in. 51 years old and it is a tradition. 49 years old and it isn't. Presumably, a town might have to miss a year, wait for the 50th anniversary and then reintroduce its correbou.
The qualification period is a blatant piece of political PR, one designed to suggest that the Catalonian government isn't being hypocritical but is being sympathetic to tradition. In so doing, it has imposed a tariff of 50 years on the definition of tradition. It is utterly ridiculous.
The Catalonians aren't, though, the only ones to have sought to have quantified tradition.
Animal-protection law, as it has been applied in Mallorca, has placed its own tariff on tradition, and that is one hundred years. It's this stipulation that has led Santa Margalida town hall to propose a change that would bring it down to fifty years, the same as the Catalonian correbou tariff. The reason for the town hall making this proposal is to allow the "traditional" duck throwing during Can Picafort's summer fiesta to be legalised. This isn't a hundred years old, and to come into line with the hundred years rule would mean a wait of some twenty years during which they would have to put up with rubber ducks and not real ones.
The resort to making up a number is a far from untypical Spanish (Catalonian/Mallorcan) system of applying a bureaucratic measure. In this instance, tradition is bureaucratised, and its permission has to await the stamp of approval and production of the relevant documentation in triplicate.
Something is either banned or it isn't banned. Something is either tradition or it isn't tradition, and it doesn't become tradition just by counting up the years.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
The BAFMAs: Awards for Mallorcan achievement
Yes, it's that time of the year. Time for the BAFMAs, the Blog Awards For Mallorcan Achievement. In no particular order, the following are variously well-known and less well-known or were well-publicised and less well-publicised ...
Politician Of The Year (Shared): Miquel Ensenyat and Carme Garcia
Ensenyat, the PSM Mallorcan socialist mayor of Esporles, stood as candidate for the PSM at the national elections. There was little remarkable about this, except that Ensenyat is an openly gay politician in a land where the Church can issue warnings of the danger of voting for politicians who support gay marriage.
Garcia, the "turncoat" of Alcúdia, was also a PSM politician. "Was" being the operative word. She sided with the Partido Popular after the regional elections, despite the wide gulf in political ideology, leading to her being expelled from the party and to her suffering recriminations led by the previous coalition of PSOE and the Convergència. Though her ex-party and the opposition had a legitimate point and though Garcia secured for herself a role as second-in-command to the new lady mayor, her decision could also be seen as a blow for the chumminess of the previous male-dominated coalition which did not have the moral authority to expect her to support it in denying the PP, which had gained eight out of nine seats required for a majority, the right to govern Alcúdia.
Celebrity Of The Year: Tom Hanks
They sought him here, they sought him there. Through their long lenses, they sought Tom everywhere. There he was, at long distance, speaking into an iPhone, or rather there was the back of Tom's head speaking into an iPhone. There he also was just hanging around and doing very little, assuming you could make out it was Tom behind the security and beneath his headgear.
Business Of The Year: Lidl
Disproving the notion that Mallorca is not open to foreign companies, Lidl, exploiting a relaxation in commercial developments, expanded across Mallorca, bringing jobs as well as competition to the supermarket sector.
Event Of The Year: The Inca bullfight
If campaigners sought more encouragement in banning bullfighting in Mallorca, they got it during the Inca bullfight. The promoter caused outrage by taking to the ring to kill the bull after the bull had effectively excluded itself from the fight when it broke a horn. Rules don't apparently permit non-combatants to enter the ring. The gruesome video of the killing of the bull went viral and the video also highlighted and criticised the fact that minors had been allowed into the arena.
Beach Of The Year: Playa de Muro
The extension of Puerto Alcúdia's beach (which was voted Mallorca's best beach on "Trip Advisor"), the beach in Playa de Muro was the target of efforts by the town hall to improve it even further. These included instituting a fine for urinating on the beach, which drew a response from some who wanted to know where else they were supposed to go to the toilet, and a similar fine for a similar act in the sea. It wasn't entirely clear how Muro town hall proposed policing the latter, but with concerns about rising sea levels, the consequence of climate change, a ban on using the sea was probably a wise precaution.
Website Of The Year: Mallorca Daily Photo Blog
Just going to show that wit, informativeness, striking photography and personal dedication count for far more than huge budgets chucked at websites in promoting Mallorca. It deserves an award very much more prestigious than a BAFMA.
Musician Of The Year: Arnau Reynés
While more celebrated musicians took to stages in Mallorca this year, Reynés, the professor of music from the Universitat de les Illes Balears, who has performed in some of Europe's finest cathedrals, brought a tradition of music in Mallorca that is often overlooked to the small church in Playa de Muro and gave a summer recital, as did other leading Mallorcan organists.
Historian Of The Year: Gabriel Verd Martorell
Thirty-five years is a long time for any one historian to have sought to have proved a point, but Verd was still at it, striving, once and for all, to establish that Christopher Columbus was born in Felanitx. In a "solemn" declaration in the town, he claimed that Columbus was the illegitimate nephew of King Ferdinand and that to have had the title of governor general bestowed on him, which he did, he had to have had royal blood. You can't blame a historian for persistence.
So, these are the BAFMAs. No science behind them, no text voting, purely my own choice. But if you have your own nominations or suggestions, please feel free ... .
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Politician Of The Year (Shared): Miquel Ensenyat and Carme Garcia
Ensenyat, the PSM Mallorcan socialist mayor of Esporles, stood as candidate for the PSM at the national elections. There was little remarkable about this, except that Ensenyat is an openly gay politician in a land where the Church can issue warnings of the danger of voting for politicians who support gay marriage.
Garcia, the "turncoat" of Alcúdia, was also a PSM politician. "Was" being the operative word. She sided with the Partido Popular after the regional elections, despite the wide gulf in political ideology, leading to her being expelled from the party and to her suffering recriminations led by the previous coalition of PSOE and the Convergència. Though her ex-party and the opposition had a legitimate point and though Garcia secured for herself a role as second-in-command to the new lady mayor, her decision could also be seen as a blow for the chumminess of the previous male-dominated coalition which did not have the moral authority to expect her to support it in denying the PP, which had gained eight out of nine seats required for a majority, the right to govern Alcúdia.
Celebrity Of The Year: Tom Hanks
They sought him here, they sought him there. Through their long lenses, they sought Tom everywhere. There he was, at long distance, speaking into an iPhone, or rather there was the back of Tom's head speaking into an iPhone. There he also was just hanging around and doing very little, assuming you could make out it was Tom behind the security and beneath his headgear.
Business Of The Year: Lidl
Disproving the notion that Mallorca is not open to foreign companies, Lidl, exploiting a relaxation in commercial developments, expanded across Mallorca, bringing jobs as well as competition to the supermarket sector.
Event Of The Year: The Inca bullfight
If campaigners sought more encouragement in banning bullfighting in Mallorca, they got it during the Inca bullfight. The promoter caused outrage by taking to the ring to kill the bull after the bull had effectively excluded itself from the fight when it broke a horn. Rules don't apparently permit non-combatants to enter the ring. The gruesome video of the killing of the bull went viral and the video also highlighted and criticised the fact that minors had been allowed into the arena.
Beach Of The Year: Playa de Muro
The extension of Puerto Alcúdia's beach (which was voted Mallorca's best beach on "Trip Advisor"), the beach in Playa de Muro was the target of efforts by the town hall to improve it even further. These included instituting a fine for urinating on the beach, which drew a response from some who wanted to know where else they were supposed to go to the toilet, and a similar fine for a similar act in the sea. It wasn't entirely clear how Muro town hall proposed policing the latter, but with concerns about rising sea levels, the consequence of climate change, a ban on using the sea was probably a wise precaution.
Website Of The Year: Mallorca Daily Photo Blog
Just going to show that wit, informativeness, striking photography and personal dedication count for far more than huge budgets chucked at websites in promoting Mallorca. It deserves an award very much more prestigious than a BAFMA.
Musician Of The Year: Arnau Reynés
While more celebrated musicians took to stages in Mallorca this year, Reynés, the professor of music from the Universitat de les Illes Balears, who has performed in some of Europe's finest cathedrals, brought a tradition of music in Mallorca that is often overlooked to the small church in Playa de Muro and gave a summer recital, as did other leading Mallorcan organists.
Historian Of The Year: Gabriel Verd Martorell
Thirty-five years is a long time for any one historian to have sought to have proved a point, but Verd was still at it, striving, once and for all, to establish that Christopher Columbus was born in Felanitx. In a "solemn" declaration in the town, he claimed that Columbus was the illegitimate nephew of King Ferdinand and that to have had the title of governor general bestowed on him, which he did, he had to have had royal blood. You can't blame a historian for persistence.
So, these are the BAFMAs. No science behind them, no text voting, purely my own choice. But if you have your own nominations or suggestions, please feel free ... .
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Friday, August 05, 2011
Coughing Blood: The bullfight
AnimaNaturalis is not popular. Animal rightists, it offends traditional animal abusers, other animal-rights groups and a fair chunk of what you might think would comprise its natural support, the youth. Its modus operandi of strident agitprop and public protest, be it against the correbou, the circus or the bullfight has failed to garner significant popular support.
Last year AnimaNaturalis staged a protest in advance of the bull-run correbou in the village of Fornalutx. It was most revealing that to the fore among those hurling insults in its direction were the young.
A curious and ill-formed philosophy, if one can use such a word, exists among Mallorcan youth, especially that in more rural areas. Catalanist, Luddite in a hankering for a return to the values of the land and in rejecting mass tourism, politically right-on in being eco-conscious, it is also largely politically incorrect in respect of animal welfare.
Whereas this youth philosophy coincides, to differing degrees, with the values of certain political parties and campaigning groups like the eco-warriors of GOB, it diverges on the matter of animals and animal tradition. It is cultural fundamentalism.
AnimaNaturalis is not popular because it poses difficult questions. In attacking traditions to do with animals, it also attacks an insularity of Mallorcan society by confronting it with issues that this society is ill-equipped to deal with; ill-equipped because a not untypical Mallorcan response to individual or collective attack is to adopt a haughty and petulant righteousness. Mallorcans are argumentative, but they are not great at argument or with dealing with confrontation.
The unpopularity of AnimaNaturalis extends to other animal rights groups who prefer, they say, greater diplomacy. A reason for these other groups distancing themselves from AnimaNaturalis in Fornalutx was that they believed their approach would have brought about greater concessions from the village mayor in amending the correbou. Instead, the mayor, though he did make some changes, was pushed into a corner in siding with those who lobbed the insults at AnimaNaturalis. Or so it was claimed.
There is another way of looking at this. AnimaNaturalis is not passive. As much as fierce defence, passivity is what symbolises attitudes towards animal rights and most obviously the bullfight. It was once explained to me that there would be greater public displays of protest against the bullfight were it not for the fact that people do not wish to be seen or cannot afford to be seen to be protesting. This is cultural fundamentalism of a different order; it is one with echoes of a style of Mallorcan feudalism, the passing of which was only relatively recent and which thus remains within society's consciousness as well as within some of its current-day mores.
Though opinion polling has shown that the popularity of the bullfight has declined in Spain as a whole, the lobby for its continuance is strong, as is the social dynamic which appears to neuter protest. In an uppity and liberal part of Spain such as Catalonia, the dynamic operates in reverse, so much so that legislation was driven by popular petition to ban the bullfight. Yet a Catalanist sympathy among some of Mallorca's youth does not extend to what has been nuanced as the real reason for Catalonia's bullfight ban - anti-Spanishness.
In Mallorca the numbers that have gathered to protest at the annual bullfights in Alcúdia, Muro and Inca have been small to the point of irrelevance. In Inca AnimaNaturalis couldn't have anticipated what might actually prove to be a turning-point in both its fortunes and the whole bullfight debate in Mallorca.
One of the bulls was on the rampage. No matador was to be seen. The bull was unscathed, it was being taunted from the safety of the wooden barrier and the terraces. Until, that is, the promoter of the event took it upon himself to act as matador, thus, so it is claimed, breaking a regulation that only those listed, i.e. the matadors, can participate.
There is a video on You Tube which has gone not exactly viral but which shows what happened. I have been to the bullfight and I have witnessed similar scenes, but I had a sharp intake of breath when I saw the bull cough blood and stumble having been struck with the sword by the promoter-matador. I am neither for nor against the bullfight, for the reason that it is not my argument, but this was sickening, and the power of the video might be to persuade those whose passivity has been the norm and those of a culturally fundamental bent to recognise that perhaps AnimaNaturalis has a point.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Last year AnimaNaturalis staged a protest in advance of the bull-run correbou in the village of Fornalutx. It was most revealing that to the fore among those hurling insults in its direction were the young.
A curious and ill-formed philosophy, if one can use such a word, exists among Mallorcan youth, especially that in more rural areas. Catalanist, Luddite in a hankering for a return to the values of the land and in rejecting mass tourism, politically right-on in being eco-conscious, it is also largely politically incorrect in respect of animal welfare.
Whereas this youth philosophy coincides, to differing degrees, with the values of certain political parties and campaigning groups like the eco-warriors of GOB, it diverges on the matter of animals and animal tradition. It is cultural fundamentalism.
AnimaNaturalis is not popular because it poses difficult questions. In attacking traditions to do with animals, it also attacks an insularity of Mallorcan society by confronting it with issues that this society is ill-equipped to deal with; ill-equipped because a not untypical Mallorcan response to individual or collective attack is to adopt a haughty and petulant righteousness. Mallorcans are argumentative, but they are not great at argument or with dealing with confrontation.
The unpopularity of AnimaNaturalis extends to other animal rights groups who prefer, they say, greater diplomacy. A reason for these other groups distancing themselves from AnimaNaturalis in Fornalutx was that they believed their approach would have brought about greater concessions from the village mayor in amending the correbou. Instead, the mayor, though he did make some changes, was pushed into a corner in siding with those who lobbed the insults at AnimaNaturalis. Or so it was claimed.
There is another way of looking at this. AnimaNaturalis is not passive. As much as fierce defence, passivity is what symbolises attitudes towards animal rights and most obviously the bullfight. It was once explained to me that there would be greater public displays of protest against the bullfight were it not for the fact that people do not wish to be seen or cannot afford to be seen to be protesting. This is cultural fundamentalism of a different order; it is one with echoes of a style of Mallorcan feudalism, the passing of which was only relatively recent and which thus remains within society's consciousness as well as within some of its current-day mores.
Though opinion polling has shown that the popularity of the bullfight has declined in Spain as a whole, the lobby for its continuance is strong, as is the social dynamic which appears to neuter protest. In an uppity and liberal part of Spain such as Catalonia, the dynamic operates in reverse, so much so that legislation was driven by popular petition to ban the bullfight. Yet a Catalanist sympathy among some of Mallorca's youth does not extend to what has been nuanced as the real reason for Catalonia's bullfight ban - anti-Spanishness.
In Mallorca the numbers that have gathered to protest at the annual bullfights in Alcúdia, Muro and Inca have been small to the point of irrelevance. In Inca AnimaNaturalis couldn't have anticipated what might actually prove to be a turning-point in both its fortunes and the whole bullfight debate in Mallorca.
One of the bulls was on the rampage. No matador was to be seen. The bull was unscathed, it was being taunted from the safety of the wooden barrier and the terraces. Until, that is, the promoter of the event took it upon himself to act as matador, thus, so it is claimed, breaking a regulation that only those listed, i.e. the matadors, can participate.
There is a video on You Tube which has gone not exactly viral but which shows what happened. I have been to the bullfight and I have witnessed similar scenes, but I had a sharp intake of breath when I saw the bull cough blood and stumble having been struck with the sword by the promoter-matador. I am neither for nor against the bullfight, for the reason that it is not my argument, but this was sickening, and the power of the video might be to persuade those whose passivity has been the norm and those of a culturally fundamental bent to recognise that perhaps AnimaNaturalis has a point.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Thursday, October 07, 2010
More Old Bull: Culture and the bullfight
Bullfighting has a mystique. It is one that captivates even politicians. "The bullfighter is an artist like a painter, a poet, a composer or a sculptor." "The bullfight has artistic expression, ritual, historical and cultural value, popular tradition, a feeling and an emotion."
These are the words of the Partido Popular's leader in the Spanish senate. The words sound disingenuous when set against the treatment of the bull - described as a "mythical animal, a symbol of strength, courage and fertility" - but they serve to explain why, beyond the spectacle, there is an intangible quality inherent to the bullfight. It is one of, if you like, Spanishness.
A motion in the senate, brought by the Partido Popular, sought to establish that the bullfight was of "Bien de Interés Cultural" - of such cultural interest that it requires legal protection as part of the historical heritage of Spain.
The motion was defeated, mainly on a technicality. The opponents, the PSOE socialists and other parties, argued that the state cannot rule as to whether a "fiesta" such as the bullfight can be subject to a BIC protection, as this is something which only the autonomous regions can do. By the same token, the regions can decide not to protect this "fiesta". In Catalonia, they decided not only not to protect it but to ban it, as also did the Canary Islands many years ago.
The language of the senate debate, though, spoke of the depth of tradition, but it is a tradition subject to an ever-increasing growth of opposition within Spain. It is one of popular, organic growth, fertilised by pressure groups. In Andalusia, there is an attempt at initiating a ban along the lines of how the Catalonian one came about. Driven by a so-called popular legislative initiative and inspired by the animal-rights movement, a ban in Andalusia, were it to be introduced, would be seismic in the way that the Catalonian one is not.
Despite the flowery language and its implication of a cultural certitude, bullfighting's popularity has waned, or at least opinion polls would suggest that it has, while the level of support varies according to age and to regions of Spain. The Catalonian ban, political dimension or not, was not so difficult to decide in favour of; bullfighting simply isn't that popular there. Andalusia is quite a different matter.
But if one accepts that polls reflect the Spanish population as a whole, then bullfighting has become very much a minority interest. (A poll some years ago found those who had no interest in it to be over two-thirds of the sample.) For the Partido Popular to attempt to protect bullfighting as being in the interests of culture is contrary, given that interest has dwindled as much as it would appear to have. However, the party is not wrong; it is of cultural interest, but whether it is in society's interest is a very different question. To now grant it some sort of legal protection would be a step too far and one that would be out of touch with much popular sentiment.
It is no coincidence that it should be the PP that has sought the adoption of this measure. As a conservative party, a good chunk of its constituency is representative of an old Spain, one that has been confronted by the socially liberal policies of the current Zapatero administration. Bullfighting is not in the category of issues, such as abortion, that have brought Zapatero into conflict with the Catholic right, but it is in a broader category that has embraced environmentalism and now also animal rights and which challenges the old order.
Bullfighting is a political issue, whether one likes it or not, and the PP has attempted a pre-emptive strike against any national ban, the sense of which might be questionable in any event. Fox-hunting legislation in Britain has been invoked as an example of how a "civilised society" can, through the force of law, turn its back on tradition. But apart from the fact that the legislation backfired, fox-hunting was an Aunt Sally and a superficial inconsequence in cultural terms, certainly by comparison with bullfighting, despite the declining popularity.
Rather than nationally, the matter is probably best dealt with at regional level. Perhaps other regions will follow Catalonia's lead, creating sufficient impulse to embolden a future government - a socialist one - to go for a national ban that currently would be fraught with difficulty. Or perhaps the hope is that, through a process of society's opposition, the point arrives at which bullfighting fades away through a lack of interest - cultural or otherwise.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
These are the words of the Partido Popular's leader in the Spanish senate. The words sound disingenuous when set against the treatment of the bull - described as a "mythical animal, a symbol of strength, courage and fertility" - but they serve to explain why, beyond the spectacle, there is an intangible quality inherent to the bullfight. It is one of, if you like, Spanishness.
A motion in the senate, brought by the Partido Popular, sought to establish that the bullfight was of "Bien de Interés Cultural" - of such cultural interest that it requires legal protection as part of the historical heritage of Spain.
The motion was defeated, mainly on a technicality. The opponents, the PSOE socialists and other parties, argued that the state cannot rule as to whether a "fiesta" such as the bullfight can be subject to a BIC protection, as this is something which only the autonomous regions can do. By the same token, the regions can decide not to protect this "fiesta". In Catalonia, they decided not only not to protect it but to ban it, as also did the Canary Islands many years ago.
The language of the senate debate, though, spoke of the depth of tradition, but it is a tradition subject to an ever-increasing growth of opposition within Spain. It is one of popular, organic growth, fertilised by pressure groups. In Andalusia, there is an attempt at initiating a ban along the lines of how the Catalonian one came about. Driven by a so-called popular legislative initiative and inspired by the animal-rights movement, a ban in Andalusia, were it to be introduced, would be seismic in the way that the Catalonian one is not.
Despite the flowery language and its implication of a cultural certitude, bullfighting's popularity has waned, or at least opinion polls would suggest that it has, while the level of support varies according to age and to regions of Spain. The Catalonian ban, political dimension or not, was not so difficult to decide in favour of; bullfighting simply isn't that popular there. Andalusia is quite a different matter.
But if one accepts that polls reflect the Spanish population as a whole, then bullfighting has become very much a minority interest. (A poll some years ago found those who had no interest in it to be over two-thirds of the sample.) For the Partido Popular to attempt to protect bullfighting as being in the interests of culture is contrary, given that interest has dwindled as much as it would appear to have. However, the party is not wrong; it is of cultural interest, but whether it is in society's interest is a very different question. To now grant it some sort of legal protection would be a step too far and one that would be out of touch with much popular sentiment.
It is no coincidence that it should be the PP that has sought the adoption of this measure. As a conservative party, a good chunk of its constituency is representative of an old Spain, one that has been confronted by the socially liberal policies of the current Zapatero administration. Bullfighting is not in the category of issues, such as abortion, that have brought Zapatero into conflict with the Catholic right, but it is in a broader category that has embraced environmentalism and now also animal rights and which challenges the old order.
Bullfighting is a political issue, whether one likes it or not, and the PP has attempted a pre-emptive strike against any national ban, the sense of which might be questionable in any event. Fox-hunting legislation in Britain has been invoked as an example of how a "civilised society" can, through the force of law, turn its back on tradition. But apart from the fact that the legislation backfired, fox-hunting was an Aunt Sally and a superficial inconsequence in cultural terms, certainly by comparison with bullfighting, despite the declining popularity.
Rather than nationally, the matter is probably best dealt with at regional level. Perhaps other regions will follow Catalonia's lead, creating sufficient impulse to embolden a future government - a socialist one - to go for a national ban that currently would be fraught with difficulty. Or perhaps the hope is that, through a process of society's opposition, the point arrives at which bullfighting fades away through a lack of interest - cultural or otherwise.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Thursday, September 02, 2010
The Horn Of A Dilemma: Correbou and animal traditions
The animal right-ists have been getting into a right old tizz again. There was a barney in Fornalutx on Sunday when the Anima Naturalis group protested against the annual "correbou" in this village near Soller. Locals, in favour of the event, reckoned that the group, all twenty or so of them, acted "provocatively". There was a scrap, the boys in green got involved, a car window was smashed, and insults were hurled.
Anima Naturalis flew solo on Sunday. Other animal-rights groups had condemned the protest, as they believed they were edging towards an agreement with the village mayor to introduce changes to the correbou. That process may have been harmed by the protest. Amenable the mayor may be to changes, but this didn't stop town (village?) hall representatives siding with the pro-correbou-ists.
The correbou involves a bull being hauled, cajoled, run - describe it as you will - through the streets on the end of ropes. In Fornalutx they don't apply fire to the horns, as is the case with similar events in Catalonia, but the animal is taunted before being dragged off to the slaughterhouse, cut up and nosebagged by carnivorous locals. The correbou is primitive, with none of the spectacular and ceremony of the "corrida". There is no pretence of dignity, honour even, being afforded to the bull, as is the case with the bullfight. The animal is, essentially, the object of derision, and there is simply no comparison with other animal events, such as the innately potty duck tossing in Can Picafort.
A letter-writer to yesterday's "Bulletin" took the editor to task for defending both the bullfight and the correbou and for calling for a "compromise" that would satisfy those in favour and those against these events. This compromise was not enunciated; it's an empty call when you don't explain what this might entail. I was more taken aback by the editor's admission that he had never attended a bullfight. One can hold opinions as to bullfights without witnessing them first hand, but without experiencing them one fails to get a complete understanding. Such journalistic incuriosity is staggering.
Nevertheless, some sort of a compromise might yet occur in Fornalutx. The mayor has apparently been talking about shortening the "run" itself, holding it on a working day when fewer would attend and not having the bull crowned with a laurel wreath. None of this will sound like a better deal to the bull if it is still subjected to the taunts and ends up between two chunks of bread. Besides which, it is the kill or the angering of the bull that most spectators of a bullfight or correbou expect, a point the letter-writer makes.
What is clear, though, is that there is a growing movement against alleged animal cruelty during fiestas, be it the bullfight (as in Alcúdia and Muro for example), the correbou, the duck throwing of Can Picafort or the cock on a soapy tree in Pollensa. What is also clear is that emotions are being heightened and, in certain instances, the law being flouted. The traditions are so ingrained, though, that it is difficult to see how they can be undone. There are calls for there to be no animals involved in any fiesta events, but even where the law intervenes, it is obeyed reluctantly (as by Santa Margalida town hall in the case of the ducks). And what happens when and if the law does step in? We now have Tony Blair, who had made a fox-hunting ban an electoral pledge, admitting he got that wrong. And British traditions are nothing like as strong as Mallorcan or Spanish ones. But a question about the law, which is a bit of an ass and a load of bull. How can the ducks of Can Picafort be subject to law on animal protection and the bulls of Fornalutx not? It's hypocritical, and as I have suggested before, the ducks are a far easier target.
Here are photos of the aggro in Fornalutx. The chap who is daubed in black was meant to portray the bull. Some locals reckoned it was racist, thus completely (and probably deliberately) missing the point. What you mostly see in these photos are shots of the Guardia contending with the locals who support the correbou. What seems evident is that this support comes from all age groups, but especially younger ones; something which you might not have expected.
http://comunidad.diariodemallorca.es/galeria-multimedia/Mallorca/Batalla-campal-Fornalutx/17508/1.html
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Anima Naturalis flew solo on Sunday. Other animal-rights groups had condemned the protest, as they believed they were edging towards an agreement with the village mayor to introduce changes to the correbou. That process may have been harmed by the protest. Amenable the mayor may be to changes, but this didn't stop town (village?) hall representatives siding with the pro-correbou-ists.
The correbou involves a bull being hauled, cajoled, run - describe it as you will - through the streets on the end of ropes. In Fornalutx they don't apply fire to the horns, as is the case with similar events in Catalonia, but the animal is taunted before being dragged off to the slaughterhouse, cut up and nosebagged by carnivorous locals. The correbou is primitive, with none of the spectacular and ceremony of the "corrida". There is no pretence of dignity, honour even, being afforded to the bull, as is the case with the bullfight. The animal is, essentially, the object of derision, and there is simply no comparison with other animal events, such as the innately potty duck tossing in Can Picafort.
A letter-writer to yesterday's "Bulletin" took the editor to task for defending both the bullfight and the correbou and for calling for a "compromise" that would satisfy those in favour and those against these events. This compromise was not enunciated; it's an empty call when you don't explain what this might entail. I was more taken aback by the editor's admission that he had never attended a bullfight. One can hold opinions as to bullfights without witnessing them first hand, but without experiencing them one fails to get a complete understanding. Such journalistic incuriosity is staggering.
Nevertheless, some sort of a compromise might yet occur in Fornalutx. The mayor has apparently been talking about shortening the "run" itself, holding it on a working day when fewer would attend and not having the bull crowned with a laurel wreath. None of this will sound like a better deal to the bull if it is still subjected to the taunts and ends up between two chunks of bread. Besides which, it is the kill or the angering of the bull that most spectators of a bullfight or correbou expect, a point the letter-writer makes.
What is clear, though, is that there is a growing movement against alleged animal cruelty during fiestas, be it the bullfight (as in Alcúdia and Muro for example), the correbou, the duck throwing of Can Picafort or the cock on a soapy tree in Pollensa. What is also clear is that emotions are being heightened and, in certain instances, the law being flouted. The traditions are so ingrained, though, that it is difficult to see how they can be undone. There are calls for there to be no animals involved in any fiesta events, but even where the law intervenes, it is obeyed reluctantly (as by Santa Margalida town hall in the case of the ducks). And what happens when and if the law does step in? We now have Tony Blair, who had made a fox-hunting ban an electoral pledge, admitting he got that wrong. And British traditions are nothing like as strong as Mallorcan or Spanish ones. But a question about the law, which is a bit of an ass and a load of bull. How can the ducks of Can Picafort be subject to law on animal protection and the bulls of Fornalutx not? It's hypocritical, and as I have suggested before, the ducks are a far easier target.
Here are photos of the aggro in Fornalutx. The chap who is daubed in black was meant to portray the bull. Some locals reckoned it was racist, thus completely (and probably deliberately) missing the point. What you mostly see in these photos are shots of the Guardia contending with the locals who support the correbou. What seems evident is that this support comes from all age groups, but especially younger ones; something which you might not have expected.
http://comunidad.diariodemallorca.es/galeria-multimedia/Mallorca/Batalla-campal-Fornalutx/17508/1.html
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Friday, July 30, 2010
A Bit More Bull: The bullfighting ban
"A sad day." One of the reactions to the news of the Catalonian ban on bullfighting. The local press in Mallorca sought opinions and found them, "The Diario" even asking Joaquín Sabina, a well-known Spanish singer and someone from the left, who believes that the ban is a "tremendous mistake", one made by ignorant politicians. A one-time matador believes that other regions will not follow the Catalonian lead in instituting a ban. The Catalonians have never wanted bulls, he believes; they just want to demonstrate that they are somehow "special".
The anti-bullfight brigade takes quite a different view, as you might expect. Rather than a sad day, it was one to celebrate. The bullfight, as with other social, cultural and political issues in Spain, has the power to divide opinion, and to divide it markedly.
To read what Sabina had to say was surprising. Here is someone who was in exile for some years. He was an opponent of the Franco regime, which was fully supportive of the traditional "Spanishness" of the bullfight. Yet he considers that the ban does away with centuries of cultural heritage. Or perhaps it is not surprising. The bullfight is not a political issue per se, even if politicians have decided its fate in Catalonia; right and left are equally as likely to support it or reject it, and the vote in Catalonia was one of conscience - a free vote in other words.
To brand the politicians who backed the ban as "ignorant" is a peculiar charge. Whereas some observers from outside Spain might be considered thus when it comes to all the arguments for and against, it seems implausible to believe that Spanish (Catalonian) politicians would not know them. Much as though there is a political dimension (Catalan-Spanish relations) to the decision, it is also implausible to suggest that the ban is purely a political snub to Spain.
The cultural aspect is fundamental to the debate as to the future of the bullfight; Sabina is not wrong in this regard. Spanish culture is spectacularly at variance with others in its disregard for what might be considered the norm. As there is only a nodding acquaintance with health and safety when it comes to certain traditions, so there is often a thumbing of the nose to animal welfare. But local culture can appear to practise double standards. Compared with the harmless duck tossing of Can Picafort (banned), the bullfight is, in the view of many, cruel and obscene. The ducks are a soft target though and do not have a cultural symbolism or power.
Yet to what extent should this culture be neutered? Do we wish to see Spain go further in becoming somehow homogenized within a set of standards which, while not determined by a European authority, smack of pandering to sensibilities in other European countries? The ban was of course inspired not by outside opinion or law but by Spanish (Catalonian) citizens, and many of the changes that Spain has undergone over the past decade and especially just recently are in line with a liberal morality in most of Europe - gay marriage, easier divorce and abortion; all of them arrived at by shifting mores in the country. The Spanish have become "good" Europeans in this respect, and should be applauded for having done so. The Catalonians, who crave independence within the European Union, have, through the ban, made a political statement in proclaiming their greater "European-ness", even if they demonstrate hypocrisy by allowing other bull "traditions" to persist. For the rest of Spain, the question it has to address is how it can reconcile increased social liberalism with seemingly archaic manifestations of culture, of which the bullfight is the most obvious.
I have no wish to see the culture neutered. Nor do many Spaniards. And nor do many from other countries. But this is precisely what has been happening, and, for the most part, we have been happy to stand and clap. The bullfight remains a vestige of an old Spain. The argument as to its continuance is one about the heart and soul of the country. The bullfight is repugnant. But ban it and what would Spain lose?
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
The anti-bullfight brigade takes quite a different view, as you might expect. Rather than a sad day, it was one to celebrate. The bullfight, as with other social, cultural and political issues in Spain, has the power to divide opinion, and to divide it markedly.
To read what Sabina had to say was surprising. Here is someone who was in exile for some years. He was an opponent of the Franco regime, which was fully supportive of the traditional "Spanishness" of the bullfight. Yet he considers that the ban does away with centuries of cultural heritage. Or perhaps it is not surprising. The bullfight is not a political issue per se, even if politicians have decided its fate in Catalonia; right and left are equally as likely to support it or reject it, and the vote in Catalonia was one of conscience - a free vote in other words.
To brand the politicians who backed the ban as "ignorant" is a peculiar charge. Whereas some observers from outside Spain might be considered thus when it comes to all the arguments for and against, it seems implausible to believe that Spanish (Catalonian) politicians would not know them. Much as though there is a political dimension (Catalan-Spanish relations) to the decision, it is also implausible to suggest that the ban is purely a political snub to Spain.
The cultural aspect is fundamental to the debate as to the future of the bullfight; Sabina is not wrong in this regard. Spanish culture is spectacularly at variance with others in its disregard for what might be considered the norm. As there is only a nodding acquaintance with health and safety when it comes to certain traditions, so there is often a thumbing of the nose to animal welfare. But local culture can appear to practise double standards. Compared with the harmless duck tossing of Can Picafort (banned), the bullfight is, in the view of many, cruel and obscene. The ducks are a soft target though and do not have a cultural symbolism or power.
Yet to what extent should this culture be neutered? Do we wish to see Spain go further in becoming somehow homogenized within a set of standards which, while not determined by a European authority, smack of pandering to sensibilities in other European countries? The ban was of course inspired not by outside opinion or law but by Spanish (Catalonian) citizens, and many of the changes that Spain has undergone over the past decade and especially just recently are in line with a liberal morality in most of Europe - gay marriage, easier divorce and abortion; all of them arrived at by shifting mores in the country. The Spanish have become "good" Europeans in this respect, and should be applauded for having done so. The Catalonians, who crave independence within the European Union, have, through the ban, made a political statement in proclaiming their greater "European-ness", even if they demonstrate hypocrisy by allowing other bull "traditions" to persist. For the rest of Spain, the question it has to address is how it can reconcile increased social liberalism with seemingly archaic manifestations of culture, of which the bullfight is the most obvious.
I have no wish to see the culture neutered. Nor do many Spaniards. And nor do many from other countries. But this is precisely what has been happening, and, for the most part, we have been happy to stand and clap. The bullfight remains a vestige of an old Spain. The argument as to its continuance is one about the heart and soul of the country. The bullfight is repugnant. But ban it and what would Spain lose?
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
A Load More Bull: Catalonia votes to ban bullfighting
The Catalonian parliament voted yesterday to ban bullfighting. There were 68 votes in favour of a ban, 55 against with nine abstentions. The ban will take effect as from 2012. It is not the first time that a region of Spain has imposed a ban, but one in a region as important - for various reasons - as Catalonia is significant.
Though politicians are seeking to deny it, there is more than just a hint of the anti-Spain about the ban. Bullfighting, with all its ceremony and overtones of nobility, is representative of an old Spanish order that persists - one at variance with Catalonian nationalism. One can nuance the ban as a slap in the face for Castile and history, as a political statement as much as one founded on animal rights. It might also have ramifications in other regions of Spain.
"The Diario" has polled members of the Balearic parliament as to their views of a potential ban. Ten were in favour of a ban, ten were against with four abstaining. It is just possible that the islands would follow Catalonia were a motion to be brought before parliament.
The annual bullfight as part of the Sant Jaume fiestas was staged in Alcúdia last Sunday. As with the bullfight in Muro in June, there was a demonstration against it. The numbers were not great, and those participating were generally youthful. This might be taken as a protest of idealistic young people, but there are many local Mallorcans who do not like the bullfight. They would not protest though. To do so would be to make themselves known. It isn't necessarily a good career move to be seen to be allying oneself with the anti-bullfight brigade.
Rather like the fox-hunting debate in Britain introduced all manner of pros and cons, so the bullfight-ban debate has its. One of them is economic. In Catalonia, it is being said that a ban will result in a cost to each family of 250 euros. How on earth such a figure is arrived at, heaven only knows, but there is an economic downside to the prohibition of bullfighting. Also like fox-hunting, the debate is essentially emotional - you either like the bullfight or you don't. The president of Catalonia, José Montilla, radical in his calls for Catalonian self-government, voted against the ban as he doesn't approve of a legal imposition that would deny the bullfight to those who enjoy it, though how his position stacks up against other legislation "imposed" in Catalonia, I'm not quite sure.
However, in Catalonia the impulse for a ban came not from parliament or political parties; it came from the views of Catalonian people. There is a system known as the "iniciativa legislativa popular" which under the constitution allows for mass petitions to be presented as the basis for potential reform of laws. It was such a petition that brought the Catalonian parliament to debate and now outlaw bullfighting. In this respect, therefore, the ban might be said to reflect the will of the people and not be an imposition. In Catalonia, the popular will has worked, and while Catalonia is not like the rest of Spain, alarm bells are ringing that similar petitions might force votes in other regions.
The 180,000 signatories to the petition represent a massive expression of popular will, and President Montilla has said that it is correct to respect this will. The popular will was activist-driven, though it does appear to reflect majority opinion. But to believe that it did not have at least an element of nationalist politics about it would be wrong. Montilla, not exactly temperate in his views after the constitutional tribunal dismissed Catalonian self-government aspirations, has been quick to downplay the vote as an indication of the state of Catalan-Spanish relations. Others will see it as a deliberate waving of a red rag in front of a Spanish bull.
At a more general level, the vote, together with the growing opposition to bullfighting throughout Spain, indicates - once again - the degree to which the country has changed. The apathy and conservatism of a predominantly rural population pre-tourism boom and pre-restoration has given way to an urban awareness, activism and liberalism. The vote may have been about Catalonia versus Spain, but it was also about new versus old Spain.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Though politicians are seeking to deny it, there is more than just a hint of the anti-Spain about the ban. Bullfighting, with all its ceremony and overtones of nobility, is representative of an old Spanish order that persists - one at variance with Catalonian nationalism. One can nuance the ban as a slap in the face for Castile and history, as a political statement as much as one founded on animal rights. It might also have ramifications in other regions of Spain.
"The Diario" has polled members of the Balearic parliament as to their views of a potential ban. Ten were in favour of a ban, ten were against with four abstaining. It is just possible that the islands would follow Catalonia were a motion to be brought before parliament.
The annual bullfight as part of the Sant Jaume fiestas was staged in Alcúdia last Sunday. As with the bullfight in Muro in June, there was a demonstration against it. The numbers were not great, and those participating were generally youthful. This might be taken as a protest of idealistic young people, but there are many local Mallorcans who do not like the bullfight. They would not protest though. To do so would be to make themselves known. It isn't necessarily a good career move to be seen to be allying oneself with the anti-bullfight brigade.
Rather like the fox-hunting debate in Britain introduced all manner of pros and cons, so the bullfight-ban debate has its. One of them is economic. In Catalonia, it is being said that a ban will result in a cost to each family of 250 euros. How on earth such a figure is arrived at, heaven only knows, but there is an economic downside to the prohibition of bullfighting. Also like fox-hunting, the debate is essentially emotional - you either like the bullfight or you don't. The president of Catalonia, José Montilla, radical in his calls for Catalonian self-government, voted against the ban as he doesn't approve of a legal imposition that would deny the bullfight to those who enjoy it, though how his position stacks up against other legislation "imposed" in Catalonia, I'm not quite sure.
However, in Catalonia the impulse for a ban came not from parliament or political parties; it came from the views of Catalonian people. There is a system known as the "iniciativa legislativa popular" which under the constitution allows for mass petitions to be presented as the basis for potential reform of laws. It was such a petition that brought the Catalonian parliament to debate and now outlaw bullfighting. In this respect, therefore, the ban might be said to reflect the will of the people and not be an imposition. In Catalonia, the popular will has worked, and while Catalonia is not like the rest of Spain, alarm bells are ringing that similar petitions might force votes in other regions.
The 180,000 signatories to the petition represent a massive expression of popular will, and President Montilla has said that it is correct to respect this will. The popular will was activist-driven, though it does appear to reflect majority opinion. But to believe that it did not have at least an element of nationalist politics about it would be wrong. Montilla, not exactly temperate in his views after the constitutional tribunal dismissed Catalonian self-government aspirations, has been quick to downplay the vote as an indication of the state of Catalan-Spanish relations. Others will see it as a deliberate waving of a red rag in front of a Spanish bull.
At a more general level, the vote, together with the growing opposition to bullfighting throughout Spain, indicates - once again - the degree to which the country has changed. The apathy and conservatism of a predominantly rural population pre-tourism boom and pre-restoration has given way to an urban awareness, activism and liberalism. The vote may have been about Catalonia versus Spain, but it was also about new versus old Spain.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Andy, Are You Goofing On Elvis?
"Uh-huh-huh, I'm all shook up." No, I'm not. Me, definitely not. But many are. Take Mulligans in Puerto Pollensa. Three nights a week, Elvis live. One hell of an achievement after 31 years of being un-live. It must be all those heartbreak hotels with less than full occupancy. Call for Elvis, Robbie, Rod, Freddie, Abba, The Beatles. There are whole armies of Elvises. Or maybe armies is not the right collective noun; perhaps a Saturday-at-the-Lord's-test of Elvises or an in-ghetto of Elvises. Who knows. However the Elvises are collectivised, they have taken over. The pharmacies and Burger Kings are the graced lands of their plentifulness. So many bars, so many lonesome tonight. So many bars hoping Elvises will make them less lonesome tonight.
The bars are seeking solace in tribute acts to keep the tills rolling. All this retro, but amongst it nothing that even resembles summertime. 'Twas ever thus. The tribute act is the contemporary local manifestation of the Winter Gardens and pier shows. Tribute acts work well only insofar as they are recognisable and have a large body of work to draw upon which is also recognisable. You don't get too many Edison Lighthouse tributes for the simple reason that they only had one hit and are utterly unmemorable. The Elvis tribute is a kind of group bonding session. Anyone and everyone can do an Elvis because, like the Elvises themselves, they can impersonate someone impersonating Elvis. The Elvises may be little more than parodic stars in their eyes effectively goofing on Elvis, but chalk an Elvis appearance on the terrace board and in comes an audience of wannabes or really reckontheycouldbes. Familiarity breeds conceit; "I can do that - uh-huh-huh, I'm all shook up". The power of the tribute act stems from the security of mob karaoke.
But amongst the tributes there is no sense of summer. They fit with recognition but are misfits of the spirit of summer. There is only one act, that is not to be found, which would make for an appropriate summer tribute. Where are The Beach Boys? A whole body of work that even after the transformation of "Pet Sounds" continued to embody beach and sun, as typified by later stuff such as "Do It Again" and even the elegiac "Surf's Up". Perhaps those close harmonies are beyond the balladeering mechanicalness of Westlifes.
Am I goofing on Elvis? Nope. I'm surfing safari. Wouldn't it be nice? But if not a summer feel, then how about those of today's title? Tribute act. Imitation of life.
BULLFIGHT
There is a bullfight this afternoon starting at 18:00 in Alcúdia, a special one apparently, featuring one Juan Duque. No, I've never heard of him either. Depending where one sits, it costs up to 50 euros. I can't go, but I would like to as I mentioned some while ago in a piece about the bullfight. I've known about this event for some while. I thought long and hard about listing it on the WHAT'S ON BLOG but decided against doing so. Why? Perhaps I didn't wish to offend any sensibilities. If this was the case, it was a bad case of censorship. It was a mistake. People should have the option to go or not to go, whatever they may think of bullfighting. In future I shall be less sensitive.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - "Love Don't Live Here Anymore", Rose Royce (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imKKClp8FTk). Today's title - something lunar.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
The bars are seeking solace in tribute acts to keep the tills rolling. All this retro, but amongst it nothing that even resembles summertime. 'Twas ever thus. The tribute act is the contemporary local manifestation of the Winter Gardens and pier shows. Tribute acts work well only insofar as they are recognisable and have a large body of work to draw upon which is also recognisable. You don't get too many Edison Lighthouse tributes for the simple reason that they only had one hit and are utterly unmemorable. The Elvis tribute is a kind of group bonding session. Anyone and everyone can do an Elvis because, like the Elvises themselves, they can impersonate someone impersonating Elvis. The Elvises may be little more than parodic stars in their eyes effectively goofing on Elvis, but chalk an Elvis appearance on the terrace board and in comes an audience of wannabes or really reckontheycouldbes. Familiarity breeds conceit; "I can do that - uh-huh-huh, I'm all shook up". The power of the tribute act stems from the security of mob karaoke.
But amongst the tributes there is no sense of summer. They fit with recognition but are misfits of the spirit of summer. There is only one act, that is not to be found, which would make for an appropriate summer tribute. Where are The Beach Boys? A whole body of work that even after the transformation of "Pet Sounds" continued to embody beach and sun, as typified by later stuff such as "Do It Again" and even the elegiac "Surf's Up". Perhaps those close harmonies are beyond the balladeering mechanicalness of Westlifes.
Am I goofing on Elvis? Nope. I'm surfing safari. Wouldn't it be nice? But if not a summer feel, then how about those of today's title? Tribute act. Imitation of life.
BULLFIGHT
There is a bullfight this afternoon starting at 18:00 in Alcúdia, a special one apparently, featuring one Juan Duque. No, I've never heard of him either. Depending where one sits, it costs up to 50 euros. I can't go, but I would like to as I mentioned some while ago in a piece about the bullfight. I've known about this event for some while. I thought long and hard about listing it on the WHAT'S ON BLOG but decided against doing so. Why? Perhaps I didn't wish to offend any sensibilities. If this was the case, it was a bad case of censorship. It was a mistake. People should have the option to go or not to go, whatever they may think of bullfighting. In future I shall be less sensitive.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - "Love Don't Live Here Anymore", Rose Royce (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imKKClp8FTk). Today's title - something lunar.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Monday, July 28, 2008
Only Black Bulls Fight
There has been a little spat via the letters pages of "The Bulletin" regarding bullfighting. It's a subject prone to spats and indeed rather more heat. The editor of the paper defends the publishing of a piece by arguing that it is a cultural facet of life whether people "like it or not". He also says that he has never been to a bullfight.
I have been to a bullfight. I was taken when I was 14. It was in Palma. Nowadays I doubt that I would be allowed to go; bullfighting is for the over-18s or so I understand. When I went it was just the "men" who attended; the females of our holiday party stayed by the pool, not because they weren't allowed to go but because it was decided that this was a man's event. It was a spectacle, no question; it was also grotesque and I wanted the matador to get it in the neck (or elsewhere). I would, should go again. Not because I want to see a bull humiliated and killed or a matador to be gored, but because it is worth observing the event, the crowd, the formality of the ritual and ceremony through more mature eyes; because it is, as the editor rightly points out, a part of the local culture whether we like it or not.
I am neither in favour of nor against bullfighting. Were it to be banned tomorrow though, I would not be in favour. In terms of animal cruelty it is hard to defend, but I defend many things from the self-righteousness of the "ban". Fox-hunting was similarly open to attack, but its outlawing was - in my view - symptomatic of a societal and political culture of banning anything that does not meet with majority approval. Such though, one might say, is the will of democracy. Other cruel animal "sports", dog-fighting for instance, have no defence and are rightly outlawed. The bullfight retains a defence in terms of tradition, but this is slowly being undermined by shifts in opinion. The bullfight may still attract large audiences, but it has been removed from national television in Spain and it has - as was the case with fox-hunting - become more of a political issue. The Zapatero administration is not wildly enthusiastic, but it may well have observed the reaction of Labour's rural England in deciding it is not worth a political fight. There are bullfighting strongholds round the country that the PSOE does not wish to antagonise. There is a further political dimension; as so often it has to do with Franco. The Generalissimo was very much in favour of the bullfight, given its symbolic "Spanishness". There are those who seek to justify a ban by reference to Franco's support. By the same logic Real Madrid should be banned.
The bullfight is not really analogous with fox-hunting though. Sport is a bad word to use, but it is a spectator "sport"; fox-hunting was never that. Bullfighting is also not identifiable with some form of class or demographic, even if its matador roots go back to the nobility. Its very act, while repulsing many, requires human bravery and skill. It is also emblematic. The image of the matador is one of the strongest to be associated with Spain.
You can go to the bullfight here if you wish. The fiesta weeks of Sant Joan in Muro and Sant Jaume in Alcúdia include bullfights. There is still popular support despite the regular protests that appear to be gathering momentum. In Puerto Alcúdia there is a restaurant that is a shrine to the bullfight. Its walls are adorned with bulls' heads and other paraphernalia of the bullring. The owner, Antonio, used to be a bullfighter, a matador. Quite a well-known one, it would seem. He once pressed my fingers into the gore holes in his back. He is proud of his bullfighting past, as the photos and all the rest demonstrate. Though discretion stops me from naming the restaurant, many of you may well know it or may have eaten there, as I have. Antonio has told me that he would like to open a bullfighting school. Was there the interest or demand, I asked. Oh yes, said he. And he would like his small son to follow in the tradition.
When you talk to someone as close to bullfighting as he has been, you come to realise that not only is there the tradition there is also the sense of honour. To be or to have been a matador is an honourable distinction in a country where honour runs deep in the national psyche. You might well argue that there is little honour in slaying an animal, but that is where cultures collide, while the bull itself - hard to rationalise I know - is also granted honour especially if it has fought hard.
To defend the bullfight by reference to culture or tradition can be too simplistic, but that culture does exist, albeit that it is being eroded. It is the culture of the old and increasingly the culture of the new Spain that are clashing over bullfighting. It is a debate into which foreigners should intrude with caution, as it is one for the Spanish to decide for themselves.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Robin Williamson, one-time half of The Incredible String Band. Today's title - this is a line from something by which English singer popular in the late '50s and early '60s?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
I have been to a bullfight. I was taken when I was 14. It was in Palma. Nowadays I doubt that I would be allowed to go; bullfighting is for the over-18s or so I understand. When I went it was just the "men" who attended; the females of our holiday party stayed by the pool, not because they weren't allowed to go but because it was decided that this was a man's event. It was a spectacle, no question; it was also grotesque and I wanted the matador to get it in the neck (or elsewhere). I would, should go again. Not because I want to see a bull humiliated and killed or a matador to be gored, but because it is worth observing the event, the crowd, the formality of the ritual and ceremony through more mature eyes; because it is, as the editor rightly points out, a part of the local culture whether we like it or not.
I am neither in favour of nor against bullfighting. Were it to be banned tomorrow though, I would not be in favour. In terms of animal cruelty it is hard to defend, but I defend many things from the self-righteousness of the "ban". Fox-hunting was similarly open to attack, but its outlawing was - in my view - symptomatic of a societal and political culture of banning anything that does not meet with majority approval. Such though, one might say, is the will of democracy. Other cruel animal "sports", dog-fighting for instance, have no defence and are rightly outlawed. The bullfight retains a defence in terms of tradition, but this is slowly being undermined by shifts in opinion. The bullfight may still attract large audiences, but it has been removed from national television in Spain and it has - as was the case with fox-hunting - become more of a political issue. The Zapatero administration is not wildly enthusiastic, but it may well have observed the reaction of Labour's rural England in deciding it is not worth a political fight. There are bullfighting strongholds round the country that the PSOE does not wish to antagonise. There is a further political dimension; as so often it has to do with Franco. The Generalissimo was very much in favour of the bullfight, given its symbolic "Spanishness". There are those who seek to justify a ban by reference to Franco's support. By the same logic Real Madrid should be banned.
The bullfight is not really analogous with fox-hunting though. Sport is a bad word to use, but it is a spectator "sport"; fox-hunting was never that. Bullfighting is also not identifiable with some form of class or demographic, even if its matador roots go back to the nobility. Its very act, while repulsing many, requires human bravery and skill. It is also emblematic. The image of the matador is one of the strongest to be associated with Spain.
You can go to the bullfight here if you wish. The fiesta weeks of Sant Joan in Muro and Sant Jaume in Alcúdia include bullfights. There is still popular support despite the regular protests that appear to be gathering momentum. In Puerto Alcúdia there is a restaurant that is a shrine to the bullfight. Its walls are adorned with bulls' heads and other paraphernalia of the bullring. The owner, Antonio, used to be a bullfighter, a matador. Quite a well-known one, it would seem. He once pressed my fingers into the gore holes in his back. He is proud of his bullfighting past, as the photos and all the rest demonstrate. Though discretion stops me from naming the restaurant, many of you may well know it or may have eaten there, as I have. Antonio has told me that he would like to open a bullfighting school. Was there the interest or demand, I asked. Oh yes, said he. And he would like his small son to follow in the tradition.
When you talk to someone as close to bullfighting as he has been, you come to realise that not only is there the tradition there is also the sense of honour. To be or to have been a matador is an honourable distinction in a country where honour runs deep in the national psyche. You might well argue that there is little honour in slaying an animal, but that is where cultures collide, while the bull itself - hard to rationalise I know - is also granted honour especially if it has fought hard.
To defend the bullfight by reference to culture or tradition can be too simplistic, but that culture does exist, albeit that it is being eroded. It is the culture of the old and increasingly the culture of the new Spain that are clashing over bullfighting. It is a debate into which foreigners should intrude with caution, as it is one for the Spanish to decide for themselves.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Robin Williamson, one-time half of The Incredible String Band. Today's title - this is a line from something by which English singer popular in the late '50s and early '60s?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Saturday, September 15, 2007
“It’s Late September And I Really Should Be ...”
Vuelta al cole. Back to school. Same phrase, same adverts, but here there is a marked difference when it comes to the start of the new school year. Firstly, it is much later than in Britain, but more interestingly it invites pages and pages of copy and photos in the local press - happy, smiling faces, some less than happy smiling faces, queues of traffic. Don’t think for one moment that the school run is confined to Britain. One of the issues the papers concern themselves with is how well, or not, the traffic police are doing in managing the panzer divisions of SUVs descending on the local primary or secondary.
Reporting on the return to school has also emphasised the fact that the start has gone ahead with classes opening “with normality”, as though opening without normality would be what one might expect. But why all this interest? The start of the school year, like fiestas and Christmas, are the same every year. Same time, same sets of photos. But that’s probably the answer. The sheer normality of the “event”, the sheer déjà vu of pictures of kids at school gates or of fiesta demons or dancers is the underlying continuity of community that the Mallorcans revere and celebrate so well: continuity of community and family. Vuelta al cole can teach others a lot of lessons.
And on fiestas, an update on the bizarre happenings in Can Picafort during the Mare de Deu d’Agost fiesta when live birds were released by people in masks (18 August: This Here’s The Rubber Duck) amidst the rubber surrogates that turned the sea into a vast child’s bath-time. Or rather, there is no update except to say that the police have been unable to identify the perpetrators. “Who was that masked man?”
Cruelty to animals is an issue taken increasingly more seriously here, though I am unclear exactly as to the alleged cruelty to the live birds in Can Picafort. What of all those doves that get boxed up and then released at major sporting events? Or perhaps that has been banned as well. There is a more substantial argument about cruelty in the case of bullfighting; indeed it is irrefutable, I should have thought. I know the arguments about culture, and one is wary as a foreigner of being critical, but I’ll just say that the decision by the national Spanish television service to remove bullfighting from its “sports” reporting is perhaps a step in a more humane direction.
And weather. The mid-September storm duly arrived, a couple of days later than normal. Yesterday evening was almost suffocatingly sweaty and not just because of the sweat of anxiety surrounding England’s mauling at the hands of South Africa. During the night, the skies were ablaze with lightning, but the storm, mercifully, dumped most of its load out at sea. It was a monster.
QUIZ
Last time - Frankie Valli. Now Frankie Valli was the lead singer with The Four Seasons, and a Guest Quiz Inquisitor, namely Geoff, wants to know what was unusual about The Four Seasons’ hit, “Silver Star”. Good question this. And today’s title? Complete the line from this famous song. What was it? And who sang it?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Reporting on the return to school has also emphasised the fact that the start has gone ahead with classes opening “with normality”, as though opening without normality would be what one might expect. But why all this interest? The start of the school year, like fiestas and Christmas, are the same every year. Same time, same sets of photos. But that’s probably the answer. The sheer normality of the “event”, the sheer déjà vu of pictures of kids at school gates or of fiesta demons or dancers is the underlying continuity of community that the Mallorcans revere and celebrate so well: continuity of community and family. Vuelta al cole can teach others a lot of lessons.
And on fiestas, an update on the bizarre happenings in Can Picafort during the Mare de Deu d’Agost fiesta when live birds were released by people in masks (18 August: This Here’s The Rubber Duck) amidst the rubber surrogates that turned the sea into a vast child’s bath-time. Or rather, there is no update except to say that the police have been unable to identify the perpetrators. “Who was that masked man?”
Cruelty to animals is an issue taken increasingly more seriously here, though I am unclear exactly as to the alleged cruelty to the live birds in Can Picafort. What of all those doves that get boxed up and then released at major sporting events? Or perhaps that has been banned as well. There is a more substantial argument about cruelty in the case of bullfighting; indeed it is irrefutable, I should have thought. I know the arguments about culture, and one is wary as a foreigner of being critical, but I’ll just say that the decision by the national Spanish television service to remove bullfighting from its “sports” reporting is perhaps a step in a more humane direction.
And weather. The mid-September storm duly arrived, a couple of days later than normal. Yesterday evening was almost suffocatingly sweaty and not just because of the sweat of anxiety surrounding England’s mauling at the hands of South Africa. During the night, the skies were ablaze with lightning, but the storm, mercifully, dumped most of its load out at sea. It was a monster.
QUIZ
Last time - Frankie Valli. Now Frankie Valli was the lead singer with The Four Seasons, and a Guest Quiz Inquisitor, namely Geoff, wants to know what was unusual about The Four Seasons’ hit, “Silver Star”. Good question this. And today’s title? Complete the line from this famous song. What was it? And who sang it?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Ancients Of Muro (Mu-Mu)
So, out of the goodness of my heart, I have listed a few events for the Muro gig on the What’s On Blog. Initially, I paid scant regard to what I had got from the town hall’s site. Yes, there was a bullfight but, on closer examination, the star turn seems to be one El Cordobés. El Cordobés!? Is this the Cordobés or Un Cordobés? He would be 71 from what I can glean of him. Bit old for having a barney with an angry bull. Or is it some impostor? Or is the Cordobés moniker a form of dynastic title, handed down through generations? Or is it some form of Cordobés tribute bullfighter? The Bootleg Cordobés, or some such.
I have been to but one bullfight. When I was 14 on holiday in Mallorca. Can’t say I much cared for it. But the bullfight, despite the obvious objections, remains an important facet of Spanish life, so much so that you get bullfight reports on TV sports shows. Pretty odd sport in my view, but hey that’s culture for you.
But this all gives me the chance to haul out today’s title. I’ve been wanting an excuse. Old bullfighter. Cows (well sort of). Play on the name Muro. They were justified and ancient. And they were damn great. Who were they? Oh, that’s today quiz, if you haven’t worked it out.
Yesterday’s answers. An evening waiting for a train at Staines station for those of you who got “Sound Of The Suburbs”. And for all who knew John Leyton sang “Johnny Remember Me”, what famous war film was he in?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
I have been to but one bullfight. When I was 14 on holiday in Mallorca. Can’t say I much cared for it. But the bullfight, despite the obvious objections, remains an important facet of Spanish life, so much so that you get bullfight reports on TV sports shows. Pretty odd sport in my view, but hey that’s culture for you.
But this all gives me the chance to haul out today’s title. I’ve been wanting an excuse. Old bullfighter. Cows (well sort of). Play on the name Muro. They were justified and ancient. And they were damn great. Who were they? Oh, that’s today quiz, if you haven’t worked it out.
Yesterday’s answers. An evening waiting for a train at Staines station for those of you who got “Sound Of The Suburbs”. And for all who knew John Leyton sang “Johnny Remember Me”, what famous war film was he in?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
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