Spain - Your impressions......

no, I'm not asking for impressions of Spanish people.....

I'm wondering what you lot think of Spain......

Just watched the trailer for Vicky Cristina Barcelona......(I captions a few minutes of it last year - but not the good parts)

and with the recent viewing of Eat, Pray, Love - alright it was Rome but it could have been Madrid (and Javier Bardem was in both films)

and also the captioning of a travel/cookery show about Greece.....(OK, it's not Spain - but it's Europe)

I'm pining for Spain......

my Dad had a thing about Spain

which is why we went there 'religiously' for a couple of decades......

I didn't understand until I lived there myself......

Torin is Spanish......

I'm currently pressing Michael to take a trip in the next 2-3 years.....

(although Bali is on my schedule too)

Madrid - a convivial, colourful, wonderful city steeped in history

the country is gorgeous.....

i have absolutely no idea of what Spain is like.

i do have an old stepmother (who died years ago) who was Spanish, and she was one of the most lovely people that ever was.....

...

mi dead padre was the cornerstone of Spanish tourism for many decades (including during Franco's reign)

he decided to branch out in the 80s and he became important in Asia......

not all of that was honourable not all of that was good.......

he was a visionary......a drunk.....a cad.....but most of all he was my father

tourism is fukked

but my dad rocked......

Impressions of Spain right now...

I don't think they're the same.
But my brother says the Socialist Party is not a "left" party.
My sister says my brother's an idiot for saying that.
United Left has gained votes this time (I guess they come from people who used to vote for the socialists).
There's been a record of blank votes.

I love Spain, beautiful country. I particularly like Barcelona. Also love the Spanish islands, Majorca, Ibiza (bits of it), Minorca.

My fave European country, I like their food too!!

Franco's Friends by Peter Day - review

A compelling account of Franco's British backers


Francis Beckett
guardian.co.uk, Friday 30 September 2011 22.55 BST


A victorious General Franco takes the salute at the end of the Spanish civil war, 1939. Photograph: AP

If we ever have a fascist coup in Britain, it won't be run by poor white men trying to improve their sad lives by threatening people with dark skins, but by upper-class Christian gentlemen who talk as though they come straight out of a John Buchan novel. Peter Day's account of the rise of Franco is full of them. Without them, Spain might have remained a democracy after 1936.


Franco's Friends
by Peter Day

Hugh Pollard, who hired the plane that took Franco from the Canaries to north Africa, was typical: an upper-class Roman Catholic, he knew he had the support of the princes of his church, for the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Hinsley – the leader of Britain's Catholics – said that the Spanish civil war was "in essence a contest between Christ and Antichrist".

Those who know something of British fascism in the 30s will recognise some of Pollard's friends and co-conspirators. Major General JFC "Boney" Fuller makes a cameo appearance in Day's book, meeting Franco and greasing the wheels of business with him. This is the same "Boney" Fuller who attached himself to Oswald Mosley, eventually leaving the British Union of Fascists, not from disagreement with its views, but from disillusion with Mosley's leadership qualities.

We also meet briefly, but inevitably, with Captain Archibald Maule Ramsay MP, in the Carlton Club in June 1939, offering MI6 chiefs what Day calls "a tour d'horizon of the gigantic conspiracy being engineered against Gentiles worldwide". Ramsay, a stalwart of the Right Club, eventually went a little too far, and spent the war years in prison under the wartime Regulation 18B which allowed the government to imprison those who it thought might endanger national security.

The difference between the likes of Ramsay and Fuller on one side, and Pollard and his shady associates from the top echelons of British society on the other, was not one of high principle. If Pollard and his friends never actually signed up with Mosley, it was not because they had any fundamental disagreement with him, but because they were more realistic about Mosley's chances of achieving anything.

Day traces the British establishment's aid to Franco, starting with the chartering of a plane that enabled the general to be in the right place to lead a revolt against the government. Once the civil war was under way, Britain adopted a stance which the Labour peer Lord Strabolgi called "malevolent neutrality". A stream of pro-Franco lobbyists were warmly greeted at the Foreign Office – many of them British businessmen poised to make a killing out of a Franco government. While hundreds of young men, and some young women, went secretly to Spain to fight for the republicans, a much smaller number of much more well-heeled people went to fight for Franco. Franco also had the ingenious idea of charging £8 a head to take foreigners to scenes of nationalist triumph, and hear stories of republican atrocities. One frequent visitor was Arnold Lunn, scion of the family that founded and owned the Lunn Poly travel agency, which in the 1950s pioneered package holidays to the Costa del Sol and Majorca.

But it was not until the second world war that Franco really started coining money out of his British friends. The British could have tried to profit from the fact that Franco's government was full of jealousies and faction-fighting. Instead, Churchill's policy was to keep Spain out of the war by lavish bribes to key people in Franco's government, including Franco's brother-in-law and perhaps Franco himself. A huge slush fund was administered directly by the British embassy under Sir Samuel Hoare, and the regime, which was corrupt as well as brutal, made itself rich and unassailable at the expense of the British taxpayer.

Day's prose sometimes echoes that of the writers from whom his characters seem to be drawn. The book opens with a resounding sub-Buchan sentence: "The sharp tang of orange cut through the whisky fumes in the cramped, stifling cabin of the Dragon Rapide." Day continues in this vein for quite a few pages – Pollard's daughter, "with her foxy good looks and fearless riding to hounds," had "quickly grown to admire the sandy haired, freckled young navigator". Fortunately, within a few pages the author buckles down to the serious business of telling an important story. He has put information that is already in the public domain together with the fruits of his own research to produce a short, compelling book which demonstrates clearly that, like many other brutal dictators all over the world, Franco partly owed his long, dark reign to powerful friends in Britain.

© 2011 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.

Evita: the Franco collection
A collection of more than 800 Spanish traditional costumes donated to Evita Perón in 1947 are currently on show at the Museo Español Enrique Larreta

A. REBOSSIO - Buenos Aires - 17/08/2011

Visitors to Buenos Aires should take advantage of a rare opportunity to see a collection of more than 800 Spanish traditional costumes donated to Evita Perón in 1947, currently on show at the Museo Español Enrique Larreta.


Eva Perón with Franco and the dicatator's wife, Carmen Polo, in June 1947

In 1947, while the rest of Europe was benefiting from the Marshall Plan, Spain was poor, hungry, and isolated due to a United Nations boycott against the dictatorship of Francisco Franco. But the country still had one friend, Argentinean President Juan Perón, who as well as shipping thousands of tons of wheat and establishing diplomatic relations with Madrid, sent his wife, Evita, to Spain that summer as his unofficial ambassador.

Perón was honored with lavish public receptions, making herself even more popular by distributing 100-peseta notes to the crowds that thronged the streets to see her. She was decorated with the Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic, banquets were held in her honor, she attended bullfights and toured historic sites. Impervious to the June heat in Madrid, the fashion-conscious Eva wore a heavy fur coat during public appearances.

First lady

The highlight of the trip was a huge gathering in Madrid's Plaza de España, where the first lady was presented with elaborately tailored traditional costumes from each of the country's 50 provinces. Shawls, jewelry, shoes, elaborately sewn petticoats, and hand-embroidered handkerchiefs bearing Perón's initials and sentimental messages such as "We love you Evita" complemented each costume.

As with everything related to Evita Perón, the costumes have a special significance in Argentina, which made it impossible for many years for them to be displayed at all.

After Evita died in 1952, Perón gave most of his wife's enormous dress collection away, but kept the Spanish gift. When Perón was overthrown in a military coup in 1955, the presidential residence was briefly opened to the public, along with the dress display. But fearful of the mystique surrounding Perón and Evita, it was decided to sell the collection off, and it was kept in a warehouse in Buenos Aires for more than a decade. Then, in 1967, the military decided to donate the collection to the Larreta. In 1973, Perón was back in power, and the then-director of the Larreta offered to host the collection, only to be told that the time was not yet right: the Peronist movement was wrought by inter-factional violence. Three years later, with the country teetering on the brink of chaos, the military took over, staying in power until 1985. That year saw the Larreta finally put the collection on show. But because the museum lacks space, it has only been able to stage periodic displays: in 2002, during the financial crisis, and not again until now.

As Patricia Nobilia, the exhibition's curator, points out, the periodic exhibitions are not just a chance to see one of the most complete and best collections of regional Spanish costumes in the world. "The exhibition has different meanings for people," she explains. "We get the descendents of Spaniards coming here, remembering the land of their ancestors. Others come to remember Evita. Many see the collection as a way of remembering our country's history."

www.elpais.com

Welcome Mr. Marshall!

Wiki:



Welcome Mr. Marshall! (Spanish: ¡Bienvenido, Mr. Marshall!) is a 1953 Spanish comedy film directed by Luis García Berlanga and considered one of the masterpieces of Spanish cinema. It tells the story of a small Spanish town, Villar del Río, which hears of the visit of American diplomats and begins preparations to impress the American visitors in the hopes of benefitting under the Marshall Plan.

A central theme of the film is the stereotypes held by both the Spanish and the Americans regarding the culture of the other. Hoping to demonstrate the side of Spanish culture with which the visiting American officials will be most accustomed, the citizens of Villar del Río (Soria) don unfamiliar Andalusian costumes, hire a renowned flamenco performer, and redecorate their town in Andalusian style. Later in the film, each of the central characters has a dream in which different aspects of stereotypical American culture and history are featured. One consists of a Western-like bar brawl, another the arrival of a conquistador on New World shores.

___________________

It's very funny that a town in Soria (in Castile) is redecorated like an Andalusian town, or that they try to learn things the Andalusians do just to receive the Americans

They even had a song for the Americans:




When Michelle Obama came to Marbella for holidays some people showed too much enthusiam for it and someone wrote a big cartel that read "Welcome Mrs Obama"... and people was embarrased, they compared it to the movie. I think they finally took the cartel away. Anyway I remember hearing the tv news about what kind of ice cream she and her daughters had...

Should we believe them?

Basque group Eta says armed campaign is over



Eta statement: "Eta has decided on the definitive cessation of its armed activity"

The Basque separatist group Eta says it has called a "definitive cessation" to its campaign of bombings and shootings.

In a statement provided to the BBC, Eta called on the Spanish and French governments to respond with "a process of direct dialogue".

The declaration, if followed through, would bring an end to Eta's campaign of violence, which has lasted more than 40 years and killed more than 800 people.

Spain's PM said the move was "a victory for democracy, law and reason".

Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero gave a victory speech, says the BBC's Sarah Rainsford in Madrid.

After more than 40 years of bomb attacks and assassinations, Mr Zapatero said Spain was now experiencing "legitimate satisfaction" at the victory over terror.

He said that terror should never have happened and must never be return.

The new Spanish government to emerge after November's general election is to take charge of the process, said former interior minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba - who is running on behalf of the Socialist Party in the poll.

Mr Zapatero is not running for re-election.

Analysts say Eta has been badly weakened by a security crackdown in recent years.

The declaration follows a conference this week in the Basque Country, attended by international statesmen including former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, and protagonists in the Northern Ireland peace process.

They called on Eta to lay down its arms.

Our correspondent, Sarah Rainsford, says the event was so carefully choreographed that this move from Eta was widely anticipated.
Ceasefire broken

In its statement, Eta said "a new political age is opening" in the Basque Country.

"We face a historic opportunity to obtain a just and democratic solution to the age-old political conflict," it said.

"Eta has decided on the definitive cessation of its armed activity. Eta makes a call to the governments of Spain and France to open a process of direct dialogue which has as its aim the resolution of the consequences of the conflict and thus the conclusion of the armed conflict. With this historic declaration, Eta demonstrates its clear, firm and definitive purpose."

The announcement - provided to the BBC as well as to the Basque outlet Gara - is the latest step in what Eta claims is a transition to peaceful methods.

In September 2010, it announced, again to the BBC, a decision not to carry out further attacks.

In January this year, it declared a permanent and "internationally verifiable" ceasefire.

Spain's Socialist government has continued to insist that it will not negotiate on demands for Basque self-determination until Eta disbands.
Car park at Madrid's Barajas airport destroyed by Eta bomb in 2006 Eta's last ceasefire was broken by its 2006 Madrid airport bomb

The government is cautious about engaging in another peace process, after the last one failed.

It opened contacts with Eta when the group called a "permanent" ceasefire in 2006, only to break it by bombing an airport car park in Madrid, killing two people.

The group has also abandoned previous ceasefires.

Inigo Gurruchaga, of El Correo, the most prominent newspaper in the Basque Country, says Eta simply used previous truces to reorganise and rearm.

But this time appears to be different, he says.

Not only has there not been a killing for more than two years, but businessmen have stopped receiving demands for a "revolutionary tax", and there have not been street protests by Eta supporters for several months.

The group is also widely considered to have been seriously weakened, by a concerted Spanish and French crackdown.

Dozens of Eta militants, including successive leaders, have been arrested and jailed, and analysts say the group realises its days are numbered.

www.bbc.co.uk

asdf wrote:The Basque separatist group Eta

This is something I've been noticing.

I was reading El País and it linked me to this ^ bbc article. El País calls them terrorist group. Almost everybody here calls them like that (except Aznar who once called them The Basque National Liberation Movement )...

Spain election: People's party sweeps to crushing victory over Socialists

Mariano Rajoy gains absolute majority with 16 percentage point win over José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero's Socialists

Giles Tremlett in Madrid
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 20 November 2011 23.40 GMT

The conservative People's party (PP) of Mariano Rajoy has swept to a landslide victory in Spain's general election, inheriting sky-high unemployment and one of the shakiest economies in Europe.

Rajoy's PP gained an absolute parliamentary majority with a crushing 16 percentage point win over the Socialists of outgoing prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.

The Socialists lost a third of their seats as voters dumped a government that presided over a dramatic economic slump which has left 23% of Spaniards out of work.

With the PP winning 186 of the 350 seats in parliament, 56-year-old Rajoy was given a free hand to carry out sweeping reforms and impose further austerity in an attempt to turn the country around.

"It is no secret to anyone that we are going to rule in the most delicate circumstances Spain has faced in 30 years," he said. He pleaded for time. "There will be no miracles," he said. "We haven't promised any."

With yields on Spanish sovereign debt reaching new highs at the end of last week, markets are unlikely to give him much breathing space. He will come under immediate pressure to reveal exactly how he intends to kickstart growth, which is currently at zero, and cut spending.

The burst housing bubble has left banks dangerously exposed to loans to real estate developers and construction companies.

Unlike neighbouring Italy or Greece, which handed the reins of government to unelected technocrats in recent weeks, Spaniards have been able to choose the government they want to deal with one of the worst economic crises in living memory.

They can expect an immediate dose of added austerity, with experts saying Rajoy must find at least €18bn (£15.4bn) through cuts or tax rises next year. "This could calm the markets, but until the new government does what it says it's going to do, nothing will change," said Angel Laborda, chief economist at the Spanish savings banks' thinktank, Funcas.

Rajoy said his government was determined to be an important player in the European Union, where there is growing concern that the eurozone countries could split into two or more parts.

"Today more than ever our destiny is played out in and with Europe," he said. "We will stop being part of the problem and start becoming part of the solution."

With Spain's sovereign debt yields last week approaching the levels at which Portugal and Greece needed bailouts, Socialist candidate Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba had little chance of extending the seven-and-a-half year period of leftwing government under Zapatero.

The Socialist prime minister had brought elections forward by six months and said he would not stand again.

Zapatero stays on as caretaker prime minister for another month, however, as parliament must meet and the king has to consult political parties before a new government is formed. Parliament does not sit until 13 December.

It was not clear how the caretaker government would co-ordinate its response to the sovereign debt crisis with Rajoy's plans, though it has promised to work with the PP.

Government spokesman José Blanco has rejected calls by senior PP officials for the handover to be speeded up. "The timings and calendar are determined by law and cannot be changed," he said.

Spaniards hope the change of government will calm markets that had increased pressure on the country's debt despite Zapatero's own austerity programme, which saw civil service pay cut and pensions frozen.

Deficit spending by regional governments, which provide basic services such as education and health, has also been squeezed, sending public service trades unions out in protest.

Zapatero has also extended the retirement age and changed the constitution to allow for a long-term deficit limit to be set on the budget. Rajoy has said one of his first measures will be to set that limit.

Rajoy's promises of major reforms, more austerity and strict deficit control are in tune with market demands and with those of Germany's Angela Merkel, the European Central Bank and the European commission.

PP shadow finance minister Cristóbal Montoro has said the new government will act hard and fast, introducing reforms immediately. Rajoy must now name his future finance minister. He has said in the past that he is happy to choose someone from outside the party, so may end up naming a market-friendly technocrat.

Further spending cuts on top of those already imposed by Zapatero risk tipping the country into recession. They may also be energetically opposed by the peaceful "indignado" movement that took over city squares earlier this year.

"From a market standpoint, an absolute majority for the PP is just what the doctor ordered," Nicholas Spiro, of Sovereign Strategy told Reuters in London. "The risk, however, is that more retrenchment pushes the economy back into recession."

For the first time in decades, Spaniards voted without the threat of violence from Basque separatist group Eta, which declared an end to 40 years of terrorism last month. Basque voters turned out in force and sent seven avowedly separatist deputies from the new Amaiur party to parliament.

Rubalcaba said he had asked Socialist officials to call a special party congress to discuss the future.

The Socialists' 110 crop of seats in parliament was their worst result since democracy was restored to Spain at elections in 1977.

Among a series of smaller parties to benefit from the socialist collapse was the communist-led United Left party, which increased its number of deputies from two to eleven.

This is what I am listening to right now. Cantaor Enrique Morente and rock band Lagartija Nick, both from Granada, doing this version of Leonard Cohen's First we take Manhattan