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[Mar. 7th, 2008|04:18 pm] |
I was going to post what I thought about the Spanish elections this weekend on lj, but there is simply no hope anymore. Livelj has been dead for a week, and as it would be slightly silly to talk about who will/should win an election when I get home the week after said election happens, I’ll post it here on the mirror journal and backpost it on lj when I can.
Spain’s status of a world power seems to have declined just a tiny bit over the last four centuries, so I’ll give a bit of background information.
The two main parties in Spain at the moment are the Partido Popular (PP), led by Mariano Rajoy, and the incumbent Partido Socialista (PSOE) led by the PM,
Zapatero.
Partido Popular have lived up to their name in the last decade since democracy returned to Spain after Franco’s death. Rajoy expected to win the last election, but there was a sudden swing to the PSOE straight after the Madrid train bombings, mostly due to anger that the government lied about it being the work of ETA so that voters wouldn’t blame it for joining Bush in the Iraq war.
They saw the result as an unfair anomaly, but the PSOE have governed strongly since then. They’ve passed some very reformist bills, the most astonishing of all being the one to legalize gay marriage. Proper gay marriage, not just the “separate-but-equal” civil union stuff. And also adoption for same-sex couples.
The economy was going strong but has started to dip lately, and unemployment is high. PP is capitalizing on this, even though the reason is likely the same as it is for all economies heading for a decline: the credit crunch. But even that doesn’t seem enough for PP to win the elections.
So a couple of weeks ago, Rajoy got a little nasty in a speech. He’s as about as charismatic as…a very uncharismatic thing…or perhaps shall we say Dmitri Medvedev? Nevertheless, he still had his audience applauding him rapturously as if he were the Second Coming. The reason? He finally broke an unwritten rule for the Partido Popular and called immigration as a problem. The audience cheered. They went quiet when he spoke that as a gallego, he understands the reasons behind immigration (apparently his audience is more right-wing than him), but then went back up on their feet applauding wildly when he declared if PP got in power, he would deport all immigrants who committed a crime/had committed a crime before immigration, and who can’t find a job.
The high rise in unemployment in countries does tend to increase hostility to immigrants. It’s either the immigrants are taking all our jobs, or the immigrants are jobless and taking all our money. This new direction PP is taking does make me worried that they might carry it. PSOE are still 4 points ahead at the moment, but I can’t forget how Sarko…no, still can’t finish that sentence.
The thing that worries me the most is a tv interview Rajoy gave at the same time. They talked about “gay adoption” and Rajoy proclaimed “I would change it.” When prompted about rights, he confirmed (verbatim): “I would take the rights away from them.”
That’s caused quite an uproar, and PP had to issue a statement “clarifying” his words. Apparently he just “doesn’t like” same-sex couples adopting children, but that Partido Popular will do nothing and just wait for any decision to be made by the Constitutional Court. I don’t think either the original words or the “clarification” make the man look good. At the very least, he seems a populist who will lie about what he said, which means I don’t think anyone can trust the clarification.
The victory of PSOE after all those years of suppression really marked the turning point in Spain’s history, and such a strong break with the dictatorship and its repression of minorities (Rajoy now attacks the linguistic fascism of Catalan) and murder of those who were socialists and liberals. It would really be superficial to call Rajoy a Fascist. Franco would read over death sentences as he drank his coffee in the morning, usually confirming death, occasionally being merciful and just condemning the "guilty" to lifetime in his terrible prisons, or if he was feeling in an example-making mood, would order a gruesome public execution. Rajoy would not be like Franco, but to take human rights away from people should be a crime, and it would be such a shame to see a step back in the direction of the past. |
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[Feb. 10th, 2008|09:41 pm] |
Originally posted to LJ
I hope I'm not getting into bad procrastinating habits again. I intended to post this around New Year...I suppose a couple of days after Chinese New Year will have to do. I'm going to be more self-disciplined this year, at least with work, and I think 2008/Year of the Rat is going to be a very good year, the best for a long time.
I've also got some really amazing news which I'll post soon.
I keep meaning to update this journal regularly with semi-philosophical/political comments but unfortunately I also keep forgetting in time. I was going to make commentaries about Suharto's death, Chavez's referendum, the new Lib Dem leader, the Ley de Memoria, but that all seems to have passed by. I also have that KGB story to finish writing but I spent the weekend sitting at the piano composing a valse instead. Must reconsider priorities.
Not to mention that I recently received a lovely Dominique doll from ![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) foudebassan, and it'll have to wait till next time I'm home for pics. I don't have any more ideas like Skull Mountain, though perhaps if she made more, I could do "Clearstream the Musical."
My cynicism fails to get overly excited about the US election. From a political spectrum point of view, it's interesting that the Republicans seem to be heading for John McCain. I'd have thought Rudy was best if they were going for the centrist option, and McCain, despite how sorry I feel for him because of Vietnam and the nasty tricks Bush's campaign team played on him a while back, does not sound like the type of President America wants after George.
As for the Democrats, the campaigning seems unattractively ugly as well. I found it disgusting to read about how Oprah was severely criticized by Clinton supporters for "betraying the sisterhood" for her decision to vote for Obama "because he's black." Apparently voting for a woman just because she's a woman is much better than voting for someone just because he's black? I miss John Edwards already. Not because he's pretty (again, voting for someone just because they're pretty probably isn't the best strategy), but despite all that past inner angst about gay rights and God, I liked how he actually seemed principled by refusing to take money from the lobbyists, and as a result can't afford to keep campaigning.
It does seem that American politics, despite the alleged left-right divide in rhetoric, are always depressingly the same, and perhaps the lobbyists are to blame. Politicians come and go, but they always stay. This was one of the reasons why I believed I was cynically apathetic for the 2004 election. I told myself I didn't care if Bush won, because Kerry wasn't that much better. Yet when I saw the results, I felt devastated. Perhaps we're all just reduced now to fighting for the little things, but when you look at someone like Bush, it still has to matter.
My cynicism must really be failing lately. I had a go at that spectrum test, and it has got to be a mistake!
( A couple of Christmas/New Year pics )
( New Years Stonehaven Fireballs pics ) |
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[Jan. 4th, 2008|09:39 pm] |
Originally posted to LJ
Teaser pic
Today, I received a wonderful little package in the post from foudebassan. It was a handmade toy Nicolas Sarkozy doll, complete with a set of pins to stab him with. I promised I had a good home for him planned: my old Skull Mountain toy set. When little girls wanted a Dream Castle, I wanted Skull Mountain. (and now I want the Dream Castle, damn it!).
Anyway, I couldn't resist showing Nico around it and made a little film of his adventures there. I also have the story in picture format because I couldn't use flash on the video clip and thus it is very dark and difficult to see in parts, and also for those who can't see the youtube clip...
...or for any kind soul who decides that, no, they don't want to see and hear me embarrass myself by trying to manoeuvre Sarko and the monsters with one hand with the camera in the other hand and at the same time attempting to do a commentary over the background music from Van Helsing...
( Night on Skull Mountain )
Now I'm off to make the Ides of March look like Gaius Julius just got a paper-cut. |
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[Dec. 9th, 2007|08:01 pm] |
Original Post with comments
Music share: Violin Concerto Movement II, Philip Glass
I've been meaning to update lately, but rl has been rather chaotic and turbulent, and online-life not much better. In relation to the latter at least, there are some long things that I want to write about but should probably put under f-lock and so they will have to wait a while.
At the moment, though, to real life and what has kept me busy for the past week: a trip with a friend to London and Oxford. Though the visit was worth it, I can't really recommend an 11 hour train trip through England. Am still suffering from lack of sleep from that, and the time spent in London...and, although sleep is trying to drag me away, am also taking advantage of briefly having proper LJ/internet access and staying up late.
I'm not terribly wordy at the moment, so will try to disguise that by bombarding you with 37 images, mostly of me, pretty architecture, and Harry Potter scenes. Sadly nothing of Tutankhamun, because photos weren't allowed. The London pictures will have to wait until another time, because I think they deserve more commentary on them, so this will predominantly be of romantic, gothic Oxford spires, which need no textual embellishments.
( see what I look like arriving home after an 11 hour train journey and three days with one night's worth of sleep )
( my room )
( souvenirs from London/Tutankhamun Exhibition )
( Oxford Colleges photos (including locations of Harry Potter/Golden Compass)... )
Now for sleep... |
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| raindrops on roses |
[Oct. 7th, 2007|07:47 pm] |
Original Post with comments
Top 10 "Favourite things" (aesthetics) Meme:
Carved wooden music boxes, silk ribbons, rough parchment and feathered quills and 18th century handwriting; ornate silver, the scent of lemon, the taste of vanilla, old bound books, and burning candles; the purity of a single musical note and the anguish of a violin, and roses of the darkest red. |
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[Oct. 4th, 2007|07:42 pm] |
Original Post with comments
Our postman is going on strike today. Technically, he should have stopped working at exactly noon, but he rang the doorbell to warn against expecting any mail being delivered before next Wednesday and explain why this will be happening. The reason, if you haven't followed the problem's development, isn't too difficult to predict: Royal Mail's management issues. More specifically, the privatisation.
( ...A service, not a business... )
In other news, my VCR is possessed. By Lucifer, yes. Out of nowhere in the middle of the night, red light started gleaming on the display, and it indicated it held a video, whereas a quick poke inside revealed a dark empty vacuum of falsehood. Then it started imitating a cross between a car engine revving up but failing (and repeating the process every two seconds) and a timebomb, and refused to do anything else until I shrieked (it was a very convincing devil-possessed bomb) and pulled the plug out of the wall. I think it is dead now. |
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