In the mid-1990s, Ramon Viñals i Soler, a businessman and politician from Barcelona, was charged with the task of reviving masonry in the Balearics. Twenty years on from the death of Franco, masonry was still very much in the doldrums on the islands, and this despite the fact that it had briefly thrived in the years leading up to the Civil War. Whether it can be said that Viñals was successful is open to question. In March 2010, Mallorca was turned into the capital of Spanish masonry. The Grand Lodge of Spain made the Hotel Meliá Victoria in Palma its centre for the gathering to elect the new Grand Master; there was also voting in other parts of Spain. Some 300 votes were cast at the hotel, of which 253 were by members from the Balearics, which was a healthy proportion of the total number of masons - 400. However, fifteen years on from the start of the revival campaign, the number didn't really appear to have represented a great success.
At this year's assembly of the Grand Lodge in Madrid, Oscar de Alfonso Ortega was re-elected as Grand Master. He had one opponent: Ramon Viñals i Soler. 592 votes were cast. Alfonso secured 92% of the vote, an overwhelming majority which might have seemed odd.
Alfonso had been a surprise winner in 2010, dislodging (so to speak) the "official" candidate, José Carretero. It was said that his victory owed a great deal to support from British masons, of whom it was reckoned that they comprised roughly 50% of the voters. By the time of this year's vote, however, Alfonso's British support was believed to be in decline, while he had also lost favour among Spanish masons. This was because a Jesuit scholar had been invited to a masonic meeting and had been given an award by Alfonso; the Jesuits had once been to the fore in the persecution of masons. Alfonso had also publicly defended a drug-dealer who had been on a British list of the top ten most most-wanted criminals. Yet, when it came to the election, he came romping home.
So, how might this victory be explained? Viñals was and is, after all, a veteran mason, but his politics and his associations might well have let him down. His political career has been defined by his socialism and his republicanism. He is a supporter of Catalonian independence, but his interests stretch beyond Spain. To the Sudan, for instance. He has been a "goodwill ambassador" in Europe for Omar al-Bashir, the president of the Sudan, for whom there is an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court.
Whatever the reasons for Alfonso's stunning re-election, it would seem that the upper echelons of the Grand Lodge have been tainted with controversy in the recent past, and, perhaps as a sign of a fierce rejection of Viñals, Alfonso's re-election led to a strong statement of loyalty to the King, the Crown and the Constitution being issued. Yet, despite Viñals' republican views, this political affiliation was responsible for what was the only short era when masonry assumed a position of some importance in the Balearics and in Spain.
The origins of the islands' masonry can be found in Menorca, the consequence of British influence on the island. As a movement it first surfaced in the 1830s, came to Mallorca briefly, disappeared, returned, entered a period of crisis in the late nineteenth century when it all but disappeared again, only for it to resurface during the Second Republic of the five years before the Civil War: over 80% of Republican deputies at the Cortes parliament were masons.
On 15 September 1936, so only weeks after the start of the war, freemasonry "and other clandestine activities" were declared illegal by Franco's Nationalist rebels. By 1938 there was a "Special Tribunal for the Repression of Masonry and Communism". With their deeply conservative Catholicism, the Nationalists and the Falange took their lead from the Church, which had been railing against masonry for decades. How many masons were executed or murdered is impossible to say. A list of 80,000 so-called masons was drawn up by Father Tusquets, the mason-witchfinder-general. There were in truth only around 5.000 masons in Spain at the time.
The regime left its legacy, and masonry remained dormant until Viñals sought to revive it. The number of masons in the Balearics may be low, but then there are reckoned to be fewer than 7,000 masons in Spain as a whole; England is said to have a quarter of a million. But maybe its popularity will grow. The Grand Lodge doesn't admit women, but the Symbolic Grand Lodge does; the Sapere Aude ("dare to know") lodge was established in Palma in February. Traditions hold though. Even Viñals, a more liberal mason, is against women joining the Grand Lodge.
Showing posts with label Women. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Women. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Monday, March 10, 2014
From Isabel To Ibex: Spanish women
On 19 October 1469 there was a wedding in Valladolid. It was a wedding that was notable for a number of reasons, not least because it established a union between two kingdoms and announced the arrival of a nation state. When Isabel of Castile married Ferdinand of Aragon, it is doubtful that anyone could have predicted where their union would lead. It was a marriage that was to travel to the Americas, along the rivers of gold and to an imperial destination, and though ostensibly a marriage of equals, Isabel was the dominant partner. She was tougher than Ferdinand. She believed in justice, even if this justice was far from always benign; the Inquisition was established nine years into their reign.
Isabel is arguably the most important woman in Spain's history, but more than three centuries later the second Isabel also became important, albeit for a different reason. Isabel I may have led Spain to its empire, but she was still only a woman, and Isabel II was responsible, merely for being a woman, for the Carlist Wars. Her father, the generally mad absolutist Ferdinand VII, had dispensed with Salic law, meaning that there could be the succession of a female sovereign. The Carlists rejected Ferdinand's "pragmatic sanction" and supported the pretender to the throne, Ferdinand's brother, the Infante Carlos. Carlism, a movement characterised by Catholic traditionalism, was to be a factor in Spain's history for more than a hundred years.
Kings and queens tell only part of a society's story, but the story of Isabel II shows that, despite the achievements of the first Isabel more than three hundred years before, entrenched attitudes hadn't changed. Indeed, because Carlism and its traditional Catholicism remained factors into and during the Franco era, those attitudes prevailed for very much longer than they did in other societies. In Franco's Spain discrimination against women was such that there existed the "permiso marital". A woman couldn't work or even travel away without her husband's permission.
The changed role of women in Spanish society is one of the most profound of all the changes that has come about since the establishment of democracy. If one looks around the political scene, one finds a female vice-president in the national government, a trend started by the previous Zapatero administration. In the Balearics two women will be fighting it out to lead PSOE into the next regional elections. Either might just become the first female president of the islands. In the business world, such as in Mallorca's hotel industry, women occupy top roles in hotel chains and in hotelier organisations. The changed role of women has been dramatic.
To celebrate International Women's Day a conference was held in Palma which was entitled "Work, family and personal life: a triangle in constant evolution". It looked at issues surrounding equality and the reconciling of family and working lives. The conference would have been able to draw on a substantial body of research, such as that from the International Labour Organization (ILO) and from the European Commission, which has detected a wage gap of 16.4% between men and women that applies across Europe but which has been widening in Spain. This 16.4% gap just so happens, according to the UGT union, to exist in the Balearics, though it isn't as wide as a national 23% level, which might sound like a reason to be cheerful but in the union's opinion isn't; it says that it reflects generally lower salary levels because of the nature of the Balearics labour market and the high level of seasonality.
From this research one also discovers that the percentage of female representation at board level in Ibex 35 companies (those that comprise the stock market index) is 16%, while among unlisted companies with between 100 and 500 employees, a third of them do not have any women in their management teams. This suggests that women are getting a raw deal, but if one considers the situation in the UK, it isn't all that different. There, a 15% wage gap is said to exist (the figure is probably open to interpretation), while female representation on the boards of FTSE100 companies has only recently topped 20% for the first time.
To combat this inequality the ILO suggests measures that were on the table for discussion at the Palma conference - improved child care services, codes of practice to tackle gender stereotyping and such like. It all sounds incredibly familiar. In the early 1980s my company was the first to publish a journal in the UK devoted to women in management. The issues were the same then as they are now. That was the UK though. This is Spain. The advances here have been remarkable in that there is now some comparison with the UK. But these things take time, though perhaps not as long as the period between the first Isabel and the final years of the Carlist tradition.
Isabel is arguably the most important woman in Spain's history, but more than three centuries later the second Isabel also became important, albeit for a different reason. Isabel I may have led Spain to its empire, but she was still only a woman, and Isabel II was responsible, merely for being a woman, for the Carlist Wars. Her father, the generally mad absolutist Ferdinand VII, had dispensed with Salic law, meaning that there could be the succession of a female sovereign. The Carlists rejected Ferdinand's "pragmatic sanction" and supported the pretender to the throne, Ferdinand's brother, the Infante Carlos. Carlism, a movement characterised by Catholic traditionalism, was to be a factor in Spain's history for more than a hundred years.
Kings and queens tell only part of a society's story, but the story of Isabel II shows that, despite the achievements of the first Isabel more than three hundred years before, entrenched attitudes hadn't changed. Indeed, because Carlism and its traditional Catholicism remained factors into and during the Franco era, those attitudes prevailed for very much longer than they did in other societies. In Franco's Spain discrimination against women was such that there existed the "permiso marital". A woman couldn't work or even travel away without her husband's permission.
The changed role of women in Spanish society is one of the most profound of all the changes that has come about since the establishment of democracy. If one looks around the political scene, one finds a female vice-president in the national government, a trend started by the previous Zapatero administration. In the Balearics two women will be fighting it out to lead PSOE into the next regional elections. Either might just become the first female president of the islands. In the business world, such as in Mallorca's hotel industry, women occupy top roles in hotel chains and in hotelier organisations. The changed role of women has been dramatic.
To celebrate International Women's Day a conference was held in Palma which was entitled "Work, family and personal life: a triangle in constant evolution". It looked at issues surrounding equality and the reconciling of family and working lives. The conference would have been able to draw on a substantial body of research, such as that from the International Labour Organization (ILO) and from the European Commission, which has detected a wage gap of 16.4% between men and women that applies across Europe but which has been widening in Spain. This 16.4% gap just so happens, according to the UGT union, to exist in the Balearics, though it isn't as wide as a national 23% level, which might sound like a reason to be cheerful but in the union's opinion isn't; it says that it reflects generally lower salary levels because of the nature of the Balearics labour market and the high level of seasonality.
From this research one also discovers that the percentage of female representation at board level in Ibex 35 companies (those that comprise the stock market index) is 16%, while among unlisted companies with between 100 and 500 employees, a third of them do not have any women in their management teams. This suggests that women are getting a raw deal, but if one considers the situation in the UK, it isn't all that different. There, a 15% wage gap is said to exist (the figure is probably open to interpretation), while female representation on the boards of FTSE100 companies has only recently topped 20% for the first time.
To combat this inequality the ILO suggests measures that were on the table for discussion at the Palma conference - improved child care services, codes of practice to tackle gender stereotyping and such like. It all sounds incredibly familiar. In the early 1980s my company was the first to publish a journal in the UK devoted to women in management. The issues were the same then as they are now. That was the UK though. This is Spain. The advances here have been remarkable in that there is now some comparison with the UK. But these things take time, though perhaps not as long as the period between the first Isabel and the final years of the Carlist tradition.
Friday, February 17, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Breast cancer screening affected by health cuts
Cuts to the regional health service in Mallorca are being blamed for delays and difficulties in making appointments for breast cancer screening for women between the ages of 50 and 69. The health authority says that it is working on modifications to the screening programme to improve its efficiency, but meanwhile appointments at Inca hospital are not being made and have to be at either Son Llàtzer or Manacor hospital.
Monday, February 06, 2012
Ruby Whacks (Chacón): PSOE leadership
In the words of the Kaiser Chiefs, "Ruby, Ruby, Ruby. Do ya, do ya, do ya?" It would be nice to think that at PSOE's grand, post-electoral-disaster congress, the PA system would have belted out the number by the Leeds indie-ists as Alfredo Rubalcaba got the nod as the party's new secretary-general. It almost certainly didn't happen. Apart from anything else, it would have been way too modern for old grey beard. More suitable would have been Cilla asking what it was all about, Alfie.
Ruby's win didn't exactly amount to a ringing endorsement. He staggered over the finishing-line with just 22 votes more than his rival, Carme Chacón. PSOE had the opportunity to put a woman in charge and to perhaps make her the first female premier of Spain, and they turned it down.
In the spirit of equality, Ruby has appointed Elena Valenciano as his number two, but this doesn't represent a great leap forward for womankind in Spanish politics. Zapatero had a woman as his "número dos" before Ruby replaced her. Rajoy has a right-hand woman as well.
Yet more equality has been shown in the selection as secretary for equality of one Purificación Causapié. What an astonishing name. Equality that comes with its own in-built system for treating the impurities of discrimination.
And there, lurking at the bottom of the list of runners and riders in shadow government secretarial roles, are the members of the executive, amongst whom is Mallorca's very own Francina Armengol, she who would be the new leader of PSOE in the Balearics. Having thrown her lot in with the victorious Uncle Alfie, Francina looks set to indeed be head socialist in the islands.
The defeat of Chacón will not be great news for the other pretender to the Balearics socialist throne, ex-Palma mayor Aina Calvo. It hasn't been entirely clear if Aina really is a pretender, as she has been distinctly equivocal on the matter. She had been angling for a gig rather grander than a mere executive member with Chacón. So now that she won't be getting one, the chances are that she will make a bid for the Balearics title. But she'd probably lose.
PSOE have, with Rubalcaba, opted for a safe pair of hands, ones that, in his own peculiar style, play a piano when he's speaking. For safe pair of hands, read boring, in much the same way as Rajoy is safe and utterly uninspiring. Not for the first time, and Rajoy is the prime example of this, Spanish politics has refused to dump a loser.
Chacón might have been the better bet, if only because the Rajoy government is starting to demonstrate - and no surprise here - that it wishes to retreat to the past. Rubalcaba is going to need all of Purificación's powers to prevent the hands of the liberalism clock being turned back. The national government's justice minister, and note that it is the justice minister and not the health minister, has said that it will undo some of the abortion legislation of the Zapatero era. In so doing, it will also set back the cause of women in Spanish society.
Which does make you wonder about Rajoy's right-hand woman. The lavishly named María Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría has already emerged as being the trouser-wearer in the Rajoy governmental household. When she first hovered onto the radar, and without my having any real idea about her, good old male intuition kicked in. And it is proving to be right. As Edward Hugh, one of the best writers in English on Spain's economics, has said: "what Soraya says goes".
If Soraya is aiming to be the new iron lady, she's going about it the right way. Iron ladies don't do much for the advancement of women though. Thatcher didn't, in that most women had no wish to be perceived in the same way as the mad bat.
Soraya could be Spain's first prime minister. If it turns out that she were to usurp Rajoy, it would be far better were she to go head to head and handbag to handbag with Chacón and not Uncle Alfie. Sparks would fly. And so they should, as the government is showing just how reactionary it was suspected that it would be.
For now though, it is Rubalcaba steering the listing PSOE back on course. Spain needs a strong opposition, and at least Rubalcaba has experience if not a great deal of charisma. He'll know what is demanded, but if he didn't, rather than "Ruby", they could play him the Kaiser Chiefs' first album "Employment", the best-known song from which was "I Predict A Riot".
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Ruby's win didn't exactly amount to a ringing endorsement. He staggered over the finishing-line with just 22 votes more than his rival, Carme Chacón. PSOE had the opportunity to put a woman in charge and to perhaps make her the first female premier of Spain, and they turned it down.
In the spirit of equality, Ruby has appointed Elena Valenciano as his number two, but this doesn't represent a great leap forward for womankind in Spanish politics. Zapatero had a woman as his "número dos" before Ruby replaced her. Rajoy has a right-hand woman as well.
Yet more equality has been shown in the selection as secretary for equality of one Purificación Causapié. What an astonishing name. Equality that comes with its own in-built system for treating the impurities of discrimination.
And there, lurking at the bottom of the list of runners and riders in shadow government secretarial roles, are the members of the executive, amongst whom is Mallorca's very own Francina Armengol, she who would be the new leader of PSOE in the Balearics. Having thrown her lot in with the victorious Uncle Alfie, Francina looks set to indeed be head socialist in the islands.
The defeat of Chacón will not be great news for the other pretender to the Balearics socialist throne, ex-Palma mayor Aina Calvo. It hasn't been entirely clear if Aina really is a pretender, as she has been distinctly equivocal on the matter. She had been angling for a gig rather grander than a mere executive member with Chacón. So now that she won't be getting one, the chances are that she will make a bid for the Balearics title. But she'd probably lose.
PSOE have, with Rubalcaba, opted for a safe pair of hands, ones that, in his own peculiar style, play a piano when he's speaking. For safe pair of hands, read boring, in much the same way as Rajoy is safe and utterly uninspiring. Not for the first time, and Rajoy is the prime example of this, Spanish politics has refused to dump a loser.
Chacón might have been the better bet, if only because the Rajoy government is starting to demonstrate - and no surprise here - that it wishes to retreat to the past. Rubalcaba is going to need all of Purificación's powers to prevent the hands of the liberalism clock being turned back. The national government's justice minister, and note that it is the justice minister and not the health minister, has said that it will undo some of the abortion legislation of the Zapatero era. In so doing, it will also set back the cause of women in Spanish society.
Which does make you wonder about Rajoy's right-hand woman. The lavishly named María Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría has already emerged as being the trouser-wearer in the Rajoy governmental household. When she first hovered onto the radar, and without my having any real idea about her, good old male intuition kicked in. And it is proving to be right. As Edward Hugh, one of the best writers in English on Spain's economics, has said: "what Soraya says goes".
If Soraya is aiming to be the new iron lady, she's going about it the right way. Iron ladies don't do much for the advancement of women though. Thatcher didn't, in that most women had no wish to be perceived in the same way as the mad bat.
Soraya could be Spain's first prime minister. If it turns out that she were to usurp Rajoy, it would be far better were she to go head to head and handbag to handbag with Chacón and not Uncle Alfie. Sparks would fly. And so they should, as the government is showing just how reactionary it was suspected that it would be.
For now though, it is Rubalcaba steering the listing PSOE back on course. Spain needs a strong opposition, and at least Rubalcaba has experience if not a great deal of charisma. He'll know what is demanded, but if he didn't, rather than "Ruby", they could play him the Kaiser Chiefs' first album "Employment", the best-known song from which was "I Predict A Riot".
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Monday, August 02, 2010
Strange Town: The strange case of Porto Cristo's name
The question as to the correct usage of local place names is rarely a case of being correct or incorrect, simply (simply!?) a case of Catalan versus Castellano. Hence, one has Port de Pollença versus Puerto (de) Pollensa and Port d'Alcúdia versus Puerto (de) Alcúdia. Oh, that the usage should be this straightforward. Consider, if you will, the case of a resort on the east coast of Mallorca. It is commonly called Porto Cristo. Indeed, this is how pretty much everyone knows it. However, the correct name of the resort has been open to debate for years, and still is.
"The Diario" yesterday pointed out that there are five possibilities: Porto Cristo, Portocristo (all one word), Port de Manacor, Cala Manacor or Colònia de Nostra Senyora del Carme. You can also toss in a hyphenated Porto-Cristo, if you are inclined to do so.
Apparently, the original name was the Colònia mouthful one, so we should probably be grateful that there aren't many batting for it to be reinstated. This took its name, one assumes, from the church in Manacor, so was the "colony" of the church. The port or cala of Manacor are obvious, or will be to those who know that Porto Cristo is Manacor's resort, in the same way that Puerto Pollensa is Pollensa's. So why isn't it Port de Manacor (or Puerto de Manacor, if you prefer the Spanish)? For some reason it just fell out of common use, but this doesn't explain how it came to be Porto Cristo.
There are other "portos" in Mallorca, and it is a word that has confused me. It is neither a Spanish nor a Catalan word. I have assumed that it came either from Portuguese or Italian. According to a professor at the university in Palma, Portocristo - one word - is an imitation of other portos on the island and is a "false" adaptation from the language of the Mozarabés, the Christians who lived among the Muslims during their reign in Spain (there are now only some 2000 families said to be Mozarabés).
None of this, however, gives an answer as to how the name came to be adopted, other than one arrived at for religious reasons, and gives rise to the confusion as to what the place really should be called and to competing linguistic, cultural and political opinions as to what it should be. Twelve years ago, the matter received adjudication - in the Balearics Supreme Court, believe it or not. And it reckoned that it should be Porto Cristo, with two words and not Portocristo. Notwithstanding the court's decision, the confusion still exists, as does the debate.
More toplessness
The arguments over women removing their tops on beaches seem pretty daft, but they risk becoming an absurd diversion when there are matters of rather greater importance to be considered. As alluded to yesterday, they can be seen within the context of a far wider clash between conservative, Catholic Spain and today's liberalism. There is another organisation which is strident in its calls for women to cover up. This is a far-right group called "Hazte Oír" (which translates as make yourself heard). It has handed in a petition to the Balearic Government, calling for there to be a ban. The petition does not seem to be that strong; it's nothing on the scale of the petition that led to the bullfighting ban in Catalonia: some 700 families support the proposal, according to the report in "Ultima Hora".
If you go to its website (and it is quite an impressive one), you will find a whole load on the usual suspects of subjects, abortion for example, and there is a headline for something termed "Playas Familiares 2010". In this, exactly the same words as used by the family policy institute can be read. These bodies, one has to conclude, are all part of the same thing - a movement of the Catholic far right. The toplessness argument is petty, but there is something altogether more serious lurking.
QUIZ:
Yesterday - The Style Council. The best thing they ever did. Worthy of a youtube embedding ... And "strange town" - continuing a Weller theme.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
"The Diario" yesterday pointed out that there are five possibilities: Porto Cristo, Portocristo (all one word), Port de Manacor, Cala Manacor or Colònia de Nostra Senyora del Carme. You can also toss in a hyphenated Porto-Cristo, if you are inclined to do so.
Apparently, the original name was the Colònia mouthful one, so we should probably be grateful that there aren't many batting for it to be reinstated. This took its name, one assumes, from the church in Manacor, so was the "colony" of the church. The port or cala of Manacor are obvious, or will be to those who know that Porto Cristo is Manacor's resort, in the same way that Puerto Pollensa is Pollensa's. So why isn't it Port de Manacor (or Puerto de Manacor, if you prefer the Spanish)? For some reason it just fell out of common use, but this doesn't explain how it came to be Porto Cristo.
There are other "portos" in Mallorca, and it is a word that has confused me. It is neither a Spanish nor a Catalan word. I have assumed that it came either from Portuguese or Italian. According to a professor at the university in Palma, Portocristo - one word - is an imitation of other portos on the island and is a "false" adaptation from the language of the Mozarabés, the Christians who lived among the Muslims during their reign in Spain (there are now only some 2000 families said to be Mozarabés).
None of this, however, gives an answer as to how the name came to be adopted, other than one arrived at for religious reasons, and gives rise to the confusion as to what the place really should be called and to competing linguistic, cultural and political opinions as to what it should be. Twelve years ago, the matter received adjudication - in the Balearics Supreme Court, believe it or not. And it reckoned that it should be Porto Cristo, with two words and not Portocristo. Notwithstanding the court's decision, the confusion still exists, as does the debate.
More toplessness
The arguments over women removing their tops on beaches seem pretty daft, but they risk becoming an absurd diversion when there are matters of rather greater importance to be considered. As alluded to yesterday, they can be seen within the context of a far wider clash between conservative, Catholic Spain and today's liberalism. There is another organisation which is strident in its calls for women to cover up. This is a far-right group called "Hazte Oír" (which translates as make yourself heard). It has handed in a petition to the Balearic Government, calling for there to be a ban. The petition does not seem to be that strong; it's nothing on the scale of the petition that led to the bullfighting ban in Catalonia: some 700 families support the proposal, according to the report in "Ultima Hora".
If you go to its website (and it is quite an impressive one), you will find a whole load on the usual suspects of subjects, abortion for example, and there is a headline for something termed "Playas Familiares 2010". In this, exactly the same words as used by the family policy institute can be read. These bodies, one has to conclude, are all part of the same thing - a movement of the Catholic far right. The toplessness argument is petty, but there is something altogether more serious lurking.
QUIZ:
Yesterday - The Style Council. The best thing they ever did. Worthy of a youtube embedding ... And "strange town" - continuing a Weller theme.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Sunday, August 01, 2010
Shout To The Top (less)
There is a body called the "Instituto de Política Familiar" (institute of family policy). Family and policy - sounds like a euphemism for something of the right. And right is not wrong. This body is making a thing about the body. The female body. On the beach and by the pool. The president of the Balearics wing of the institute, Agustín Buades, would most unlikely be one to shout "get your tits out for the lads". (And do excuse me for this lapse of taste.) Quite the contrary. He wants them covered up.
The institute reckons that topless sunbathing by women exceeds norms of decorum and that beaches and pools should be places for family use in conditions of "respect and protection of childhood". The institute wants a ban on toplessness but is most unlikely to get its way. Thank God for that, albeit that God must surely play a role in its thinking. Not that it says it is a religious or indeed a politically-aligned body. Well, it would do.
Go for a trawl through Google and you will unearth a number of references to this institute. Unsurprisingly, the references crop up alongside themes such as homosexuality, abortion and the pill. It seems less than well-disposed to any of them. It may deny religious and political associations, but the words "Catholic" and "right" come swiftly to mind. Comments accompanying the article about the institute's call for a ban in "The Diario" are revealing. They are invariably hostile and some invoke Opus Dei in connection with Buades.
Among the references in Google, you will come across one to an interview with the institute's national president in a publication called "Arbil", the name also of a pressure group for Catholic values, Spanishness and of course the family. The president says, in this interview, that he is in total agreement with the aims of the Arbil forum. On the home page of its website is a black bow under a photo of the dead president of Poland, Lech Kaczynski. Why would that be, do you suppose? Nothing to do with Kaczynski's opposition to homosexuality presumably.
Topless sunbathing is commonplace. In the interests of research, I assessed the level of toplessness on the local beach yesterday afternoon. Commonplace but in the minority. What there was not was total kit-off. The institute may or may not be aware that, according to the Spanish naturist federation at any rate, kit-off is legal on any beach. (Not that I recommend you try putting this into practice.) I mention this, though, because some local councils have sought to outlaw nudism and have had to rescind any ban. Nudity, partial or total, is a question of personal liberty, a concept that doesn't always sit easily with those of an outlook at the farther ends of the political spectrum - right and left.
The worry with this institute is that, as with other movements or politics that make the "family" its focus, the family is hijacked as a camouflage for an agenda that, while it may well be sincere in its promotion of family values (and there's no reason to question this), may well have other aims. It, the institute, is clearly at odds with the liberalism of Spain under Zapatero, and bare breasts expose it - as it were - as being so. If it wants women to cover up, then maybe it should support the wearing of a burka. But it wouldn't. You don't get many burkas in Spanish families.
QUIZ:
Back for a guest appearance. "Shout To The Top". Brilliant. Who was it?
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
The institute reckons that topless sunbathing by women exceeds norms of decorum and that beaches and pools should be places for family use in conditions of "respect and protection of childhood". The institute wants a ban on toplessness but is most unlikely to get its way. Thank God for that, albeit that God must surely play a role in its thinking. Not that it says it is a religious or indeed a politically-aligned body. Well, it would do.
Go for a trawl through Google and you will unearth a number of references to this institute. Unsurprisingly, the references crop up alongside themes such as homosexuality, abortion and the pill. It seems less than well-disposed to any of them. It may deny religious and political associations, but the words "Catholic" and "right" come swiftly to mind. Comments accompanying the article about the institute's call for a ban in "The Diario" are revealing. They are invariably hostile and some invoke Opus Dei in connection with Buades.
Among the references in Google, you will come across one to an interview with the institute's national president in a publication called "Arbil", the name also of a pressure group for Catholic values, Spanishness and of course the family. The president says, in this interview, that he is in total agreement with the aims of the Arbil forum. On the home page of its website is a black bow under a photo of the dead president of Poland, Lech Kaczynski. Why would that be, do you suppose? Nothing to do with Kaczynski's opposition to homosexuality presumably.
Topless sunbathing is commonplace. In the interests of research, I assessed the level of toplessness on the local beach yesterday afternoon. Commonplace but in the minority. What there was not was total kit-off. The institute may or may not be aware that, according to the Spanish naturist federation at any rate, kit-off is legal on any beach. (Not that I recommend you try putting this into practice.) I mention this, though, because some local councils have sought to outlaw nudism and have had to rescind any ban. Nudity, partial or total, is a question of personal liberty, a concept that doesn't always sit easily with those of an outlook at the farther ends of the political spectrum - right and left.
The worry with this institute is that, as with other movements or politics that make the "family" its focus, the family is hijacked as a camouflage for an agenda that, while it may well be sincere in its promotion of family values (and there's no reason to question this), may well have other aims. It, the institute, is clearly at odds with the liberalism of Spain under Zapatero, and bare breasts expose it - as it were - as being so. If it wants women to cover up, then maybe it should support the wearing of a burka. But it wouldn't. You don't get many burkas in Spanish families.
QUIZ:
Back for a guest appearance. "Shout To The Top". Brilliant. Who was it?
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Lie Back And Think Of ... : Ban on sex advertising
So, the Spanish Government is planning to ban the advertising of sex for sale from newspapers. The government is almost certainly right to wish to do so, even if this sounds rather puritanical, a streak I am rarely inclined to display.
There is something of the bizarre about the pages of classifieds for call girls, "massage" and a smattering of rent boys that are to be found in mostly all newspapers locally. The two Spanish dailies in Mallorca have them, as do the nationals, including "El País", which "The Guardian" points out is of a similar left-leaning nature to itself and thus, you would think, in the PC category, and also "ABC", a paper with more than a hint of religious righteousness.
The government, though, is going to cause itself some problems. The newspaper proprietors are unlikely to take a ban lying down, either on their backs or in any other position you may care to imagine. "El País", for example, is a natural ally of the Zapatero government, which can do with all the support it can muster at the moment. There is also a view that banning such advertising would be a curb on free speech, which may be a legitimate argument were it not for the censorious nature of the media when it comes to anything to do with the royal family; overstep the mark and it will land a journalist, or a cartoonist, in the dock before a beak. If the press was wishing to seek a free-speech battleground, this might well be it, and not sleazy ads for well-endowed females.
The sheer volume of these ads can be overwhelming. How much sex can actually be sold? Not enough where the papers are concerned, which already derive significant revenues from the advertising. The papers are also at pains to point out that if the government wants to stop the ads, it should make prostitution illegal. But this argument begins to move into rather murkier territory. Were it the case that the ads were just being placed by some local slapper, then there wouldn't necessarily be much harm in it. However, though a punter calling an ad might indeed end up with the woman of his dreams as opposed to one who might once have appealed to Wayne Rooney, or worse still, looks like Rooney, between that punter and the bed sheets is usually a third-party; pimps of frequently overseas origin - Russian, Nigerian, South American. The anti-ad lobby argues that the ads represent a form of "slavery" for women caught up in the "industry" (and it might add, presumably, some men as well).
The government's move to initiate a ban comes against a background of what seems like a growing willingness on the behalf of the police to move against some so-called "relax" or "alternative" clubs; prostitution may not be illegal, but exploitation and trafficking are. And there is a further dimension to this - the potential link to organised crime.
In one respect, the adverts reflect a rather reassuringly un-PC element in local society, but it is what lies behind the ads that the government (and police) are right to take an interest in. The papers may not like a ban, but they are probably going to have to learn to live without the income that prostitute advertising brings them.
* I acknowledge the source of some of the above from "The Guardian" - http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/16/spain-sex-adverts-newspapers
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
There is something of the bizarre about the pages of classifieds for call girls, "massage" and a smattering of rent boys that are to be found in mostly all newspapers locally. The two Spanish dailies in Mallorca have them, as do the nationals, including "El País", which "The Guardian" points out is of a similar left-leaning nature to itself and thus, you would think, in the PC category, and also "ABC", a paper with more than a hint of religious righteousness.
The government, though, is going to cause itself some problems. The newspaper proprietors are unlikely to take a ban lying down, either on their backs or in any other position you may care to imagine. "El País", for example, is a natural ally of the Zapatero government, which can do with all the support it can muster at the moment. There is also a view that banning such advertising would be a curb on free speech, which may be a legitimate argument were it not for the censorious nature of the media when it comes to anything to do with the royal family; overstep the mark and it will land a journalist, or a cartoonist, in the dock before a beak. If the press was wishing to seek a free-speech battleground, this might well be it, and not sleazy ads for well-endowed females.
The sheer volume of these ads can be overwhelming. How much sex can actually be sold? Not enough where the papers are concerned, which already derive significant revenues from the advertising. The papers are also at pains to point out that if the government wants to stop the ads, it should make prostitution illegal. But this argument begins to move into rather murkier territory. Were it the case that the ads were just being placed by some local slapper, then there wouldn't necessarily be much harm in it. However, though a punter calling an ad might indeed end up with the woman of his dreams as opposed to one who might once have appealed to Wayne Rooney, or worse still, looks like Rooney, between that punter and the bed sheets is usually a third-party; pimps of frequently overseas origin - Russian, Nigerian, South American. The anti-ad lobby argues that the ads represent a form of "slavery" for women caught up in the "industry" (and it might add, presumably, some men as well).
The government's move to initiate a ban comes against a background of what seems like a growing willingness on the behalf of the police to move against some so-called "relax" or "alternative" clubs; prostitution may not be illegal, but exploitation and trafficking are. And there is a further dimension to this - the potential link to organised crime.
In one respect, the adverts reflect a rather reassuringly un-PC element in local society, but it is what lies behind the ads that the government (and police) are right to take an interest in. The papers may not like a ban, but they are probably going to have to learn to live without the income that prostitute advertising brings them.
* I acknowledge the source of some of the above from "The Guardian" - http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/16/spain-sex-adverts-newspapers
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Thus Spake Zarathustra - The downfall of Mother Munar
Maria Antònia Munar, matriarch of the Unió Mallorquina party and of Mallorcan politics, has finally quit her post as speaker of the Balearics parliament. Her role in the so-called "caso maquillaje" (make-up) and the corruption allegations levelled at her have - belatedly - claimed her. She is accused, along with former tourism minister Miquel Nadal, of using an audiovisual company, Video U, to divert a quarter of a million euros of public funds for the purpose of financing the UM's electoral campaigns. Her position had become untenable. The new code of politician ethics that had been introduced was meant to have led to resignations while investigations were ongoing. Munar had chosen to ignore this, until Friday.
While the case has still to be fully brought to court, the knives have already been sharpened. One does have to wonder as to what impact the press might have on any trial. So far there have only been declarations in front of the judge, though Munar has chosen her right to keep silent. Meanwhile, the outstanding "Diario" journalist, Matías Vallés, has - not for the first time - ripped a reputation to shreds. In yesterday's paper, he headlined a piece about Munar thus: "The most hated woman in Mallorca's history". Headlined it thus, and then thus spake Zarathustra. Vallés quotes Munar from a previous time, when she governed in Mallorca alongside the discredited and under-investigation ex-president Jaume Matas of the Partido Popular. At that time she told her party that there was going to be "no-one accused of corruption". With this, Vallés brands her Zarathustra. Nietzsche took the mythical character and made him "the first immoralist". Perhaps Munar considered herself an "Übermensch".
Vallés refers to Munar's lack of principles and to her relationship with Nadal. "Her beloved dolphin" is how he describes the ex-minister and Munar's anointed successor as party leader. He had previously called Nadal "ineffable". In a twist to the saga, Nadal and three directors of Video U have protested their innocence and sought to finger Munar, a delicious story of Munar handing Nadal 300 grand in readies while in the official car of the president of the Council of Mallorca (which Munar once was) all adding to the sleaze.
The characterisation of Munar as a hated woman raises an issue in respect of women in Mallorcan politics, one that has resonance in wider Mallorcan society. Vallés also refers to Munar as Lady Diada, and one has to go back a bit to understand quite what he means; there is form when it comes to Vallés and Munar. The Diada name can just as easily be Lady MacBeth - feminine compassion supplanted by ambition and ruthlessness. Generalisations are always to be treated with care, but Munar's style and demeanour are not unusual among Mallorcan women of a certain standing. It is in the Mallorcan character to exhibit a sense of superiority in any event, and for some women this can become aloofness that borders on the contemptuous. And to this can be added power lust and self-promotion. Vallés repeated yesterday some of what he said about Munar in December 2007. He mentions a magazine, paid for by the Council of Mallorca, which featured 87 photos of Munar on 83 pages. In another magazine, "Brisas", published by the Diario's competitor, the Serra group ("Ultima Hora" and "The Bulletin"), its VIP section was once full of photos of Munar in her finery. One couldn't turn a page without her staring out at you. But she is not unique.
The German neighbours the other day raised what at first seemed a strange point, followed by a question. On Sundays, they had noticed women who wear furs, wandering around with noses firmly raised in the air. What was their standing, they asked. Initially I didn't understand, until I remembered that in Germany status tends to be defined, not by class as it might be in Britain, but by profession, whether the husband's or the woman's. Talk to Germans, and their small talk is often littered with the adjective "beruflich" (professional). It matters to them. There wasn't necessarily any such equivalent in Mallorca, I ventured. Just wealth. Or power. But they had identified a trait, one seemingly compatible with Munar. Aloof and contemptuous, not just of others - the Übermensch mentality perhaps, the triumphing by making enemies (as she has admitted) - but also of the rules. Munar has been brought down by alleged rule-bending and breaking and by a hubris that is symptomatic of a social stratum in Mallorca. Vallés has not necessarily made this point, but he has nevertheless given it potential currency. If you read the native, then I recommend you take a look at his article:
http://www.diariodemallorca.es/mallorca/2010/02/27/matias-valles-mujer-odiada-historia-mallorca/549053.html
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Index for February 2010
Architecture, housing - 26 February 2010
Association of British Companies Menorca - 1 February 2010
Banks - 20 February 2010, 22 February 2010
Bird-watching - 8 February 2010, 9 February 2010
Bleach - 14 February 2010
Car-hire prices - 11 February 2010
Carlos Delgado - 17 February 2010
Carnival - 11 February 2010
Caso maquillaje corruption - 28 February 2010
Catalan and politics of language - 17 February 2010
China Crisis in Pollensa - 19 February 2010
Cold weather and houses in Mallorca - 12 February 2010
Cycling tourists - 3 February 2010, 8 February 2010, 13 February 2010
Foreigners' office online residency system - 15 February 2010
Halifax Bank Puerto Pollensa to close - 20 February 2010
Hotels opening at Easter - 15 February 2010
Inestur corruption case (Operación Voltor) - 4 February 2010, 5 February 2010, 6 February 2010, 7 February 2010, 9 February 2010
Mallorca Tourist Board (Fomento del Turismo) - 1 February 2010, 22 February 2010
Maria Antònia Munar resignation - 28 February 2010
Mobiles in marketing - 14 February 2010
Muro golf course - 20 February 2010
Muro's former mayor disqualified - 5 February 2010
Palm beetle - 17 February 2010
Quality tourism, so-called - 27 February 2010
Real Mallorca - 5 February 2010, 24 February 2010
Religious education - 2 February 2010
Riskal closes - 10 February 2010
Ryanair - 23 February 2010
Satyricon restaurant, Alcúdia - 21 February 2010
Spain's worst companies - 25 February 2010
The Cranberries in Palma - 19 February 2010
Tourism season 2010 - 4 February 2010, 11 February 2010
Unió Mallorquina corruption charges - 6 February 2010, 7 February 2010, 9 February 2010, 28 February 2010
Water supplies - 18 February 2010
Weather in February - 16 February 2010
What's on information (Bulletin) - 22 February 2010
While the case has still to be fully brought to court, the knives have already been sharpened. One does have to wonder as to what impact the press might have on any trial. So far there have only been declarations in front of the judge, though Munar has chosen her right to keep silent. Meanwhile, the outstanding "Diario" journalist, Matías Vallés, has - not for the first time - ripped a reputation to shreds. In yesterday's paper, he headlined a piece about Munar thus: "The most hated woman in Mallorca's history". Headlined it thus, and then thus spake Zarathustra. Vallés quotes Munar from a previous time, when she governed in Mallorca alongside the discredited and under-investigation ex-president Jaume Matas of the Partido Popular. At that time she told her party that there was going to be "no-one accused of corruption". With this, Vallés brands her Zarathustra. Nietzsche took the mythical character and made him "the first immoralist". Perhaps Munar considered herself an "Übermensch".
Vallés refers to Munar's lack of principles and to her relationship with Nadal. "Her beloved dolphin" is how he describes the ex-minister and Munar's anointed successor as party leader. He had previously called Nadal "ineffable". In a twist to the saga, Nadal and three directors of Video U have protested their innocence and sought to finger Munar, a delicious story of Munar handing Nadal 300 grand in readies while in the official car of the president of the Council of Mallorca (which Munar once was) all adding to the sleaze.
The characterisation of Munar as a hated woman raises an issue in respect of women in Mallorcan politics, one that has resonance in wider Mallorcan society. Vallés also refers to Munar as Lady Diada, and one has to go back a bit to understand quite what he means; there is form when it comes to Vallés and Munar. The Diada name can just as easily be Lady MacBeth - feminine compassion supplanted by ambition and ruthlessness. Generalisations are always to be treated with care, but Munar's style and demeanour are not unusual among Mallorcan women of a certain standing. It is in the Mallorcan character to exhibit a sense of superiority in any event, and for some women this can become aloofness that borders on the contemptuous. And to this can be added power lust and self-promotion. Vallés repeated yesterday some of what he said about Munar in December 2007. He mentions a magazine, paid for by the Council of Mallorca, which featured 87 photos of Munar on 83 pages. In another magazine, "Brisas", published by the Diario's competitor, the Serra group ("Ultima Hora" and "The Bulletin"), its VIP section was once full of photos of Munar in her finery. One couldn't turn a page without her staring out at you. But she is not unique.
The German neighbours the other day raised what at first seemed a strange point, followed by a question. On Sundays, they had noticed women who wear furs, wandering around with noses firmly raised in the air. What was their standing, they asked. Initially I didn't understand, until I remembered that in Germany status tends to be defined, not by class as it might be in Britain, but by profession, whether the husband's or the woman's. Talk to Germans, and their small talk is often littered with the adjective "beruflich" (professional). It matters to them. There wasn't necessarily any such equivalent in Mallorca, I ventured. Just wealth. Or power. But they had identified a trait, one seemingly compatible with Munar. Aloof and contemptuous, not just of others - the Übermensch mentality perhaps, the triumphing by making enemies (as she has admitted) - but also of the rules. Munar has been brought down by alleged rule-bending and breaking and by a hubris that is symptomatic of a social stratum in Mallorca. Vallés has not necessarily made this point, but he has nevertheless given it potential currency. If you read the native, then I recommend you take a look at his article:
http://www.diariodemallorca.es/mallorca/2010/02/27/matias-valles-mujer-odiada-historia-mallorca/549053.html
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Index for February 2010
Architecture, housing - 26 February 2010
Association of British Companies Menorca - 1 February 2010
Banks - 20 February 2010, 22 February 2010
Bird-watching - 8 February 2010, 9 February 2010
Bleach - 14 February 2010
Car-hire prices - 11 February 2010
Carlos Delgado - 17 February 2010
Carnival - 11 February 2010
Caso maquillaje corruption - 28 February 2010
Catalan and politics of language - 17 February 2010
China Crisis in Pollensa - 19 February 2010
Cold weather and houses in Mallorca - 12 February 2010
Cycling tourists - 3 February 2010, 8 February 2010, 13 February 2010
Foreigners' office online residency system - 15 February 2010
Halifax Bank Puerto Pollensa to close - 20 February 2010
Hotels opening at Easter - 15 February 2010
Inestur corruption case (Operación Voltor) - 4 February 2010, 5 February 2010, 6 February 2010, 7 February 2010, 9 February 2010
Mallorca Tourist Board (Fomento del Turismo) - 1 February 2010, 22 February 2010
Maria Antònia Munar resignation - 28 February 2010
Mobiles in marketing - 14 February 2010
Muro golf course - 20 February 2010
Muro's former mayor disqualified - 5 February 2010
Palm beetle - 17 February 2010
Quality tourism, so-called - 27 February 2010
Real Mallorca - 5 February 2010, 24 February 2010
Religious education - 2 February 2010
Riskal closes - 10 February 2010
Ryanair - 23 February 2010
Satyricon restaurant, Alcúdia - 21 February 2010
Spain's worst companies - 25 February 2010
The Cranberries in Palma - 19 February 2010
Tourism season 2010 - 4 February 2010, 11 February 2010
Unió Mallorquina corruption charges - 6 February 2010, 7 February 2010, 9 February 2010, 28 February 2010
Water supplies - 18 February 2010
Weather in February - 16 February 2010
What's on information (Bulletin) - 22 February 2010
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