NICHOLAS R. HUFF 1. 28. 2014 SPAIN: A CULTURAL EXPLORATION ISABEL RIVERO-VILA SPAIN’S ECONOMY IS A CATASTROPHE, CATALONIA IS MORE SERIOUS THAN EVER ABOUT SEPARATING AND LEAVING, AND EDUCATION IS AT ITS WORST IN YEARS. THE STATE IN WHICH ONE FINDS THE MODERN STATE OF SPAIN IS FAR FROM IDEAL. TO COVER ALL ITEMS OF IMPORTANCE IS BEYOND THE SCOPE OF THIS ASSIGNMENT, BUT THIS ESSAY WILL MAKE ITS AIM TO ADDRESS ALL THE MAJOR TOPICS OF MODERN SPANISH CURRENT EVENTS INCLUDING ECONOMY, EDUCATION, AND HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NATIONAL POLITICS. THOUGH THE POLITICAL CLIMATE IS TENSE AND SO IS JUST ABOUT EVERY OTHER TOPIC OF IMPORTANCE, ONE MAY NOT KNOW IT SIMPLY BY VISITING ON VACATION. OUR TIME IN SPAIN, ON TOUR WITH THE CARTHAGE COLLEGE CHOIR WAS CHARACTERIZED BY GENERAL FRIVOLITY AND YOUTHFUL SHENANIGANS. IN THIS CLIMATE IT IS EASY TO FORGET WHAT THE PEOPLE AROUND US; SPANIARDS, GALICIANS, AND CATALONIANS WHO ARE NOT ON VACATION LIKE US, BUT HOME MUST HAVE BEEN FEELING IN AS THEY WALKED THROUGH THE CITY IN CONTRAST TO OUR LOUD TOMFOOLERY. MADRID WAS AN OASIS FROM POLITICS OUR FIRST FEW DAYS IN SPAIN. AS SEAT OF THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT OF SPAIN (REFERRED TO IN SOME OTHER REGIONS AS “THE STATE OF SPAIN”) THE PARLIAMENT AND PRESIDENT ARE DAILY EMBROILED WITH JOBLESS REPORTS, CONCERNS AND DEMANDS FROM THE VARIOUS AUTONOMIES AND MUST MANAGE ALL THIS WITHOUT THE SEAL OF TOTAL AUTHORITY SINCE SOME OF THE AUTONOMIES SEE THEMSELVES AS BEING TO THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT WHAT THE GOVERNMENT IS TO, SAY, THE EUROPEAN UNION, THEIR WOES MAKE WORLD NEWS OFTEN. ALL THIS ON TOP OF THE DEMANDS ALREADY INHERENT TO RUNNING A COUNTRY MADE IT UNENDINGLY CURIOUS TO ME THAT THE GUIDES GLOSSED OVER THE GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS AND WHAT WAS GOING ON THERE (BOTH WHEN WE FIRST TOURED MADRID AND ON OUR RETURN) IN FAVOR OF POINTING TO THE PRADO AND MONUMENTS TO CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. BUT IF ONE STOPS AND TRIES TO THINK LIKE A TOUR GUIDE FOR A MOMENT IT IS LITTLE SURPRISE THEY WANTED TO LINGER ON THE MORE PLEASANT TOPICS. TOURISM IS A MAJOR SECTION OF SPAIN’S ECONOMY, ESPECIALLY AFTER THE 2008 CRASH WHICH SAW MANY INDUSTRIES TANK, ESPECIALLY CONSTRUCTION AND LABOR CLASS INDUSTRIES WHICH HAD MORE WORKERS THAN DID CLIENTS WITH ACCOUNTS “ABOVE WATER” AND PAYABLE TO FINANCE THEIR CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS, KNOWN TO MANY AS THE HOUSING OR BUILDING “BUBBLE.” AS A RESULT, MANY OF THESE SKILLED WORKERS COULD NOT FIND OTHER WORK SINCE THEIR SKILLS WERE FINITELY LINKED TO LABOR WORK AND ENDEMIC UNEMPLOYMENT TOOK HOLD. AT THE TIME OF OUR TOUR, UNEMPLOYMENT REMAINED RIDICULOUSLY HIGH AT ABOUT 25% FOR THE NATION AND 50% FROM AGES 18 TO 30. THIS FIGURE MAY OR MAY NOT INDICATE THE DEPTH OF THE PROBLEM EITHER SINCE, LIKE IN THE US, THESE REPORTS CANNOT POSSIBLY ACCOUNT FOR THOSE WHO HAVE SIMPLY GIVEN UP TRYING TO FIND A JOB AT ALL. THIS IS ALL THANKS TO A SERIES OF CATASTROPHIC FISSURES IN THE INSTITUTIONS OF SPAIN ALL FAILING AT ONCE. BESIDES THE PREVIOUSLY MENTIONED ISSUES OF THE BUILDING “BUBBLE” AND THE WORK FORCE OF SPAIN HAVING LEAPT FOR SECURE WAGES IN LABOR JOBS THAT DID NOT REQUIRE AS MUCH EDUCATION, THE FINAL NAILS IN THE COFFIN OF SPAIN’S ECONOMIC HOPES CAME WHEN THE BANKS EXTENDED LINES OF CREDIT TO THESE WORKING CLASS INDIVIDUALS WHO HAD ONLY THEIR WAGES WITH WHICH TO PAY THE BANK BACK AND OFTEN NO SAVINGS OR OTHER ASSETS. THIS HIGHLY UNSTABLE BALANCE OF WORKERS WITH FEW UNIONIZED RIGHTS OR CONTROL OVER THEIR EMPLOYMENT AND WAGES, BANKS GIVING AWAY LOANS LIKE CANDY, AND LITTLE OR ZERO OVERSIGHT FROM THE GOVERNMENT AFTER TWO NEW LAWS (ON LAND VALUATION AND ON LABOR RIGHTS) FROM THE LIBERAL GOVERNMENT RESULTED IN AN ECONOMY STACKED LIKE A HOUSE OF CARDS AND READY TO COLLAPSE TO EVEN THE MOST GENTLE BREEZE. IT WAS, HOWEVER, NOT HIT BY A DAINTY SUMMER DRAFT, BUT RATHER BY THE GLOBAL TSUNAMI OF A COLLAPSE OF THE UNITED STATES’ ECONOMY. THE RECOVERY HAS COME SLOWLY. INDEED IT MAY NOT BE PROPERLY FAIR TO YET CALL IT SUCH A LOFTY TITLE AS “RECOVERY” WITH UNEMPLOYMENT AND THE NATIONAL DEBT STILL SO HIGH DESPITE SEVERE AUSTERITY MEASURES IMPOSED BY THE NEW CONSERVATIVE GOVERNMENT UNDER MARIANO RAJOY. SPAIN ALSO HAS A REAL PROBLEM WITH CORRUPTION. WHILE IT IS NOT EXACTLY RAMPANT, IT IS PRESENT AT ALL LEVELS. MOST FAMOUSLY AND EMBARRASSINGLY, ARE THE CHARGES LEVELED AT PRINCESS CRISTINA, CHARGED WITH TAX EVASION AND DENIED AN APPEAL. TOGETHER, THESE PROBLEMS RENDER BOTH THE ECONOMY VERY RAGGEDY INDEED AND LEAVE THE STATE OF THE PEOPLE’S REGARD FOR GOVERNMENT AND THE NATION QUITE APATHETIC AND ANGRY. IN SOME PARTS, THE PRESSURE IS ENOUGH TO OPEN OLD WOUNDS, BEGGING FOR AMPUTATION. SOME OF THE COUNTRY’S AUTONOMIES DESIRE SO MUCH FREEDOM THAT THEY DETERMINE TO BECOME THEIR OWN INDEPENDENT NATIONS ALTOGETHER. THE MOST SERIOUS AND FIERCEST OF THESE IS CATALONIA, AN AUTONOMY MAKING UP THE NORTHEAST CORNER OF SPAIN WITH ACCESS TO THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA AND BORDERING FRANCE. HERE, THEY DO NOT SPEAK SPANISH; THEY SPEAK CATALAN. IF A SPANIARD ENTERS CATALONIA AND TRIES TO SPEAK CASTILIAN (AS SPANISH IS SOMETIMES KNOWN) THEY WILL ONLY RESPOND IN CATALAN, A SIGN OF THEIR DEFIANCE TO ALL THINGS “SPANISH” AND TO MADRID. OUR DIRECTOR WAS COACHED NOT TO REFER TO THE NATION AS “SPAIN” IN CATALONIA BUT RATHER “THE STATE OF SPAIN” TO AVOID BEING INADVERTENTLY OFFENSIVE. THE CATALANS TO NOT IDENTIFY AS SPANISH, AND SEE THE STATE, WITH ITS CAPITAL IN MADRID AND ITS OWN LANGUAGE AS SOMETHING OF AN OVERLORD ALBEIT WITH VARYING OPINIONS ON WHETHER IT IS AN “EVIL” OVERLORD (TO BORROW THE POP TERM) OR A NECESSARY EVIL. BUT IN NEARLY ALL MINDS SPAIN AS A NATION IS SOMETHING THAT IS “OTHER” AND CERTAINLY NOT CATALONIAN. COMPOUNDING ALL THIS, IS THE CIRCUMSTANCE OF CATALONIA’S RELATIVE WEALTH COMPARED TO THE REST OF SPAIN. THEY SEE THEMSELVES AS BEING BOGGED DOWN BY THE REST OF THE COUNTRY, FINANCING THEIR POOR DECISIONS AND FAILURE. AS A RESULT, THE GOVERNMENT IN CATALONIA HAS FORMALLY REQUESTED A VOTE ON WHETHER OR NOT THEY SHOULD EMANCIPATE THEMSELVES. BUT THEY HAVE NOT HAD IT. THE COURTS OF THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT IN MADRID BANNED THE VOTE AS UNCONSTITUTIONAL AND THE EXECUTIVE, MR. RAJOY IS ON RECORD SAYING THAT AS LONG AS HE IS PRESIDENT NO AUTONOMY WILL LEAVE SPAIN. THIS, HOWEVER, ONLY ADDS FUEL TO A RAGING FIRE AND IN DEFIANCE, THE CATALONIANS HELD A SYMBOLIC VOTE ANYWAY. THE VOTE SWAYED HEAVILY IN FAVOR OF INDEPENDENCE WITH AN 80% FAVORABLE VOTE. BUT IT COUNTED FOR NOTHING SINCE IT WAS NOT LEGALLY BINDING. IT WAS ALSO SUSPECT IN MADRID DUE TO SOMEWHAT LOW VOTER TURNOUT. THIS WAS NOT REPORTED BY THE GOVERNMENT IN CATALONIA, BUT IS THOUGHT TO BE BETWEEN 37% (EL PAIS) AND 41% (BBC). CERTAINLY, THESE NUMBERS DO NOT REPRESENT EVEN MOST OF THE COUNTRY, BUT COMPARED TO US VOTER TURNOUT IN THE LAST PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IN 2012 WITH A TURNOUT OF 57.5% (BIPARTIZENPOLICY.ORG) IT MAY STILL BE INDICATIVE SINCE SO MANY PEOPLE CAME OUT FOR A VOTE WHICH MEANT LITERALLY NOTHING IN TERMS OF LEGAL CHANGE. THERE IS LITTLE SIGN THAT THIS SITUATION WILL SETTLE DOWN ON ITS OWN, THE GOVERNMENTS IN MADRID AND BARCELONA WILL NEED TO REACH AN AGREEMENT OF SOME TYPE OR THERE WILL ONLY BE MORE HOSTILITY IN THE FUTURE. FOR ALL ITS PROBLEMS, SPAIN IS A VIBRANT COUNTRY OF BEAUTIFUL SIGHTS AND BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE. I FIND IT QUITE A SHAME THAT I COULD NOT SPEAK IN MORE DETAIL ABOUT THESE SITUATIONS AND INDEED, MORE ABOUT THE POSITIVE EXPERIENCES OF MY TRIP TO THE IBERIAN PENINSULA. BUT EVEN SO I QUITE ENJOYED MY TIME THERE AND, AS A FOLLOWER OF WORLD POLITICS, ENJOYED LEARNING ABOUT THE SOCIO-POLITICAL CHALLENGES CONFRONTING SPAIN. I WILL WATCH THEIR RECOVERY CLOSELY! SOURCES CITED: · THE BRITISH BROADCASTING COMPANY: HTTP://WWW.BBC.COM/NEWS/BLOGS-EU-29994633 · EL PAÍS: HTTP://POLITICA.ELPAIS.COM/POLITICA/2014/11/09/ACTUALIDAD/1415542400_466311.HTML · BIPARTISANPOLICY.ORG: HTTP://BIPARTISANPOLICY.ORG/LIBRARY/2012-VOTER-TURNOUT/ · CLASS LECTURE NOTES · LOCAL GUIDE PRESENTATIONS
0 Comments
|