Madrid Is Beautiful

Published by

Clarissa

March 2, 2013

And how amazing is this:

But, of course, you can also feel the crisis. This store suggests that the customers battle the crisis with a good selection of meats:

And here is one of the really ugly facets of the crisis. Fascist slogans are becoming more common:

It isn’t surprising that a military general (a representative of Spain’s most retrograde and dangerous class) said the other day, “Vaterland is more important than democracy and the Constitution is just a law.” Then he proceeded to threaten a military overtake of power. Because those function so well for Spain. Just ask the people who still remember the fascist dictatorship of General Francisco Franco who used to say the same kind of crap.

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21 responses to “Madrid Is Beautiful”

cliff arroyo

March 2, 2013

I don’t support the parties themselves but the current rise of anti-establishment parties using nationalistic slogans is completely predictable to anyone with an IQ greater than an ant (which means most European elites and Euro-politicians never saw it coming and have no idea where this will very predictably go).

It’s impossible to maintain a lot of current EU policies and democracy because they set the political class against the citizens they’re supposed to represent which opens the door for hardcore nationalists to step into the role of actually representing the citizenry instead of EU policies or international financial interests.

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1. bloggerclarissa
  
  March 2, 2013
  
  In Spain, the politicians are only interested in stealing, stealing, and some more stealing, so of course there is no energy left to analyze what is happening in the country.
  
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Pen

March 2, 2013

What does the sign say?

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1. Pen
  
  March 2, 2013
  
  Is it something about secession?
  
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  1. cliff arroyo
    
    March 2, 2013
    
    not a whole translation but it’s against regions having autonomy ending with “let’s finish with privileges and blackmail about seccession” At the bottom is a sticker(?) added in German(!) blaming people’s economic problems on the market economy
    
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    1. bloggerclarissa
      
      March 2, 2013
      
      Thank you! I didn’t manage to decipher the German sticker.
      
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n8chz

March 2, 2013

You consider FAU to be a fascist organization? How very Tea Party of you.

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1. bloggerclarissa
  
  March 2, 2013
  
  No, the FAU sticker is placed on top of the fascist poster. You can see the arrows on the bottom sticking from under it. This is the symbol of the Spanish fascism. It was always passionately opposed to regional nationalisms.
  
  I think people should know by now that I don’t throw around the word fascist lightly and only use it to refer to people who identify as fascists.
  
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  1. n8chz
    
    March 3, 2013
    
    Ah, I see now.
    
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cliff arroyo

March 3, 2013

For no particular reason, full translations

“Regional autonomy divides and ruins us (financially)
Let’s gid rid of it and finish with privileges and blackmail about secession”

the second (literal)

“Back bent, empty pockets,
thank the market economy”

(free)

“Back bent, cupboards bare,
you can thank lassez faire”

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1. bloggerclarissa
  
  March 3, 2013
  
  ““Back bent, cupboards bare,
  you can thank lassez faire””
  
  – This is the best. 🙂 Sometimes, a translation is better than the original. 🙂
  
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  1. Tim
    
    March 3, 2013
    
    But why are there german stickers hanging around in spain?
    
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    1. bloggerclarissa
      
      March 3, 2013
      
      Spain has always been in thrall to Germany. There are even historians desperate to prove that Spaniards are Germanic people. 🙂
      
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  2. TimTim
    
    March 4, 2013
    
    What. Really. -.-
    
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  3. Lindsay
    
    March 4, 2013
    
    I did not know that about Spain and Germany!
    
    And now I *really* want to know about those historians … that is just too weird!
    
    (Do a lot of Spanish people speak German as a second/third/whatever language?)
    
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    1. bloggerclarissa
      
      March 4, 2013
      
      After the Civil War there were many German schools run by former Nazis. With Franco’s death this became less relevant. There was a big wave of temporary migration for work purposes to Germany.
      
      Spain, however, still doesn’t have many people who speak foreign languages. Even English is barely spoken by anybody.
      
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  4. thevenerablecorvex
    
    March 4, 2013
    
    “Spain has always been in thrall to Germany. There are even historians desperate to prove that Spaniards are Germanic people. :-)”
    
    Is this a lingering echo of Emperor Charles V, or does it predate even him?
    
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    1. bloggerclarissa
      
      March 4, 2013
      
      This is a result of the need to deny the Semitic heritage, so I think that XVI century is about right.
      
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2. Lindsay
  
  March 4, 2013
  
  Thank you; I couldn’t quite figure out what was dividing and ruining them!
  
  I’m still a little mystified by “let’s … finish with privileges and blackmail about secession.” What privileges? Who want to secede? Why? Who is being blackmailed and how?
  
  And your couplet is lovely. You have a gift for translation!
  
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  1. bloggerclarissa
    
    March 4, 2013
    
    Catalonia is trying to secede and other regional autonomies like to threaten they will go that way, too.
    
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  2. cliff arroyo
    
    March 5, 2013
    
    One privilege is the attempted suppression of Spanish in Catalonia (the only part of Europe where the national language is essentially not allowed as the primary medium of instruction). If Catalonia does achieve independence it woul, ironically, have to treat Spanish speakers better than it does now.
    
    Also, while Spain in its current form is in some ways one of the oldest countries in Europe it’s _always_ had trouble staying together. People in Spain have always been far more interested in their little corner of Spain than the country as a whole. Still, most regions really don’t want full independence though they occasionally talk a good game. AFAIK the Basque independence movement is essentially moribund. It’s not even totally clear if a majority in Catalonia want indpendence (since public discourse is dominated by unpleasant nationalists who do not excel at recognizing that other opinions might exist). I have no idea what a secret ballot would actually produce.
    
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