From Tucson To Murcia

You don't normally get many people comparing Arizona to Murcia, unless they are studying low rainfall statistics. That has changed now, with the manipulation by the Partido Popular of an assault on a member of Murcia's regional government. Pedro Alberto Cruz, responsible for culture and tourism in the region, was beaten up by three men on Saturday and as a result he was hospitalised with facial injuries.

Although one man has been reportedly arrested today in connection with the assault it is still not known who the perpetrators were, but it has become an issue of national controversy because of the way in which the PP has attempted to use the incident to attack the national government. There is a tense situation at the moment in Murcia because the heavily indebted regional government has attempted to introduce severe cutbacks. This has naturally provoked protests from those affected, and the PP has immediately attempted to link the assault on Cruz to the local opposition.

The way in which they have done this has non-accidental echoes of the debate following last week's shootings in Tucson. The more fanatical elements of the Spanish right have been hugely offended by the suggestions that the Tea Party style of all-out confrontational politics may have created an atmosphere in which people who oppose them are placed in physical risk. The offence is of course that those who dearly want to imitate the Tea Party model naturally tend to use the same methods. So in the best traditions of their political philosophy they accuse others of doing what they themselves specialise in.

In the Murcian context this strategy has two advantages. In the first place they can try to criminalise any opposition to their policies by associating all their opponents with the actions of three individuals. Secondly, the PP could organise a masters course in presenting themselves as victims, so in this case the attack has happened because of the alleged negligence of the national government. We're still waiting for the formal accusation that Zapatero or Rubalcaba personally authorised the assault on Cruz, it can only be a matter of time. 

This is not the only recent case where the right has tried to present an assault on one of their supporters as a political cause celebre. Remember the alleged persecution last year of Telemadrid presenter Hermann Tertsch, who was also hospitalised amidst PP claims that he was the victim of political persecution. It eventually turned out that Tertsch had been involved in a bar brawl in the wee small hours of the morning that had nothing to do with politics, but this didn't stop the attempts of the right to try to pin the charge on their opponents. They never rectify. It was also, memorably, the incident that led to the unintentionally hilarious and bizarre case of a news bulletin being introduced from a hospital bed by a man wearing pyjamas. 

Returning to the case of Cruz there is still no evidence of a political motive for the attack, not least because we don't know who did it. There was one witness, who described the attackers as looking "normal", something which has no doubt forced the police to drop automatic suspicion of foreigners and people whose facial features fit the criminal profile designed by 19th Century criminologists. I've strongly resisted the temptation to suggest that it also rules out PP members as being possible perpetrators. I don't want this post to veer towards bad taste. There is, however, still no other reason to reject that possibility either. Murcia has lived for a good few years off construction and the culture of the 'pelotazo', and that can easily create all sorts of enemies for a politician.

The only thing we still missing is a Sarah Palin style video appearance from Esperanza Aguirre. Doesn't bear thinking about. In the meantime we get lectures on civic behaviour and political tension from those who idolise the heroes of hate radio and television.  People like Losantos, who probably gets paid per minute of crude abuse, or the creatures of the deep that insult so freely on digital channels like Intereconomía try to pretend that they are not the ones seeking a climate of tension. I can't resist the occasional feeling that the left should return the treatment they receive from the right, it only seems fair. I know, it drags you down to their level. But you wonder what other ways there are of educating them.

The Best Laid Plans

It was all going a bit too well, my week here in Cartagena. I was able to work from my hotel during the day and enjoy the concerts of Mar de Músicas in the evenings. I even cancelled my insurance policy train ticket back to Madrid that I had bought just in case I wasn't able to work here for any reason.

Then came Tuesday and the internet in the hotel started to malfunction badly. I managed to get a bit of work done but by early afternoon the connection had died. This was a bit serious as I had found out that I had a deadline to meet for Wednesday evening. The technicians dealing with the problem were natural optimists and occasionally told me it was working again....not so.

Cartagena is not like Madrid, where there are numerous places offering wifi, and I needed a place I could work in all day. So I had the bright idea of investing in one of Orange's Internet Everywhere prepaid modems. It all sounded perfect for me until I tried to install it on the Windoze Dell disaster laptop that I had unwisely brought with me. Three hours later I gave up for the night.

Yesterday, I was wrongly assured that internet was working again by the technician and for a couple of hours the message was that they were working on it. Things were a bit serious by now so I went back to the Orange shop and after 2 hours of tests and constant rebooting and phone calls to not very helpful 'helplines' we got it working. It works very well for what I need it for, almost too well because I was still finishing my stuff at 3:30 a.m. this morning. It was a far more stressful couple of days than I had planned for.

Despite all these problems I've still managed to see most of the concerts this week. Monday was a Brazilian singer called Ceu, who performed in a beautiful setting of the ruined old cathedral that stands next to Cartagena's Roman theatre. Then Tuesday saw another change of venue to the former artillery barracks in the town. A much nicer venue than it sounds, in the same way as Madrid's Conde Duque which is also a former barracks. The performers this time were the Kronos Quartet playing with some Azerbaijani musicians. Not really my thing, and I think I was a bit jaded from the 3 hours of failed modem installation.

Last night I escaped from the last minute work rush for a couple of hours to go and see the Malian Toumani Diabate play with the Murcian Symphonic Orchestra. For me the experiment didn't really work, more musicians doesn't mean better music and the combination of Diabate and the orchestra didn't really fuse. I enjoyed it more when he played on his own. Toumani Diabate also played on Friday with the Afrocubism project, a fusion of musicians which worked very well and so far that concert has been the highlight. Afrocubism will be an album and a tour in the autumn.

Tonight we are looking forward to seeing Youssou N'Dour presenting his reggae album, I believe he's doing a show in Madrid tomorrow as well. On Friday Patti Smith is playing, and on Saturday it will be the turn of the Colombian Toto la Momposina. Hopefully, there will be plenty of time for the beach too at the weekend before I have to head back to Madrid. Almost everything has fallen into place in the end. I had hoped to do a bit more blogging abour Cartagena itself, but the week passes quickly and that now depends on what tomorrow brings.

The Octopus Population Is Already Rising

A family entered the Galician bar in Cartagena where I was having dinner on Monday night. They were still dressed in official “we’ve won the World Cup” regalia. The red shirts of the Spanish team, and one of them with a Spanish flag draped around her shoulders. The barman obviously knew them and after the greetings he asked “¿Quereis pulpo?”. “¡Pulpo! El pulpo ya no se come” replied the girl with the flag. So it seems that Paul the Pulpo has managed to convince at least some of the Spanish to stop eating octopus for a while. Didn’t work in my case though, I’d just finished a plate of what was rebadged as “Pulpo a la Roja”, so there is still some hope left for the traditional Galician bar.

I watched Sunday night’s game in a bar here that was naturally full of very vocal and passionate supporters of Spain. A combination of this, the dreadfully partisan nature of Telecinco’s commentary, the negative tactics of the Dutch and a general lack of football meant that much of the game was taken up with shouts for yellow or red cards and hopeful appeals for fouls and penalties. Although I noticed that when the referee decided to card a couple of Spanish players Telecinco then decided, temporarily, that too many were being handed out. The best moment of the commentary came towards the end with the memorable declaration that “los escoceses” had used up all their substitutes. This got an ironic round of applause for helping to break the tedium.

There was a lack of spectacle on the pitch and I was dreading the prospect of penalties deciding the game. Iniesta to the rescue. I didn’t stay for the ceremony after the game, instead I went to take a look at the Plaza de España in Cartagena, which soon filled with jubilant supporters getting wet in the fountain, letting off fireworks and generally making as much noise as possible. By the time I went back to the hotel a traffic jam had developed just down from the square. I’m sure it wasn’t on the scale of Madrid’s celebration, but a significant percentage of Cartagena’s population was out on the street to mark the event.

Mar de Musicas 2010

I've been coming to the Mar de Músicas festival in Cartagena for so many years now that the town has become completely familiar to me. I get off the train from Madrid, walk out the station and find it almost impossible to believe that it's a year since I was last here. This year sees an interesting start to the festival. Tonight we will see Afro-Cubism, a Cuban-Malian collaboration set up by the same people who were behind the Buena Vista Social Club. This will be the official presentation of the project, which is described in this article from today's Público.

Then tomorrow night Salif Keita is playing. During the day we will head down to La Manga for a traditional mix of beach, sardinas asadas and cold beer. The great thing about this year is that I have my laptop with me. That doesn't just mean I can blog from here, although that's an advantage, the really great thing about it is that my current work is being done by remote connection so I don't need to be thinking about returning to Madrid on Sunday. I have tickets for a few more concerts and will be watching the World Cup final down here in Cartagena, maybe it won't quite have the atmosphere of Madrid for that event but it promises to be fun.

El Limbo De La Dependencia

The Ley de Dependencia is perhaps one of the most significant pieces of legislation introduced by Zapatero's administration. It recognises the situation of many people who are having to spend much of their lives looking after dependent relatives, and offers financial assistance to them. I wrote a post over two years ago on how this law was being systematically obstructed by the regional government in Madrid, and it's sad to report that this situation still exists when most other regions of the country have implemented the law in full. In Madrid thousands of applications for help under this law have been ignored. It matters little to the Aguirre gang that those who pay the heaviest price for their political posturing are amongst the most vulnerable.

It seems that there are two regional governments in particular, those of Madrid and Valencia (both PP controlled), who are determined to ensure that no national government initiative with any risk of being popular gets implemented successfully. It's not just the case with the Ley de Dependencia, the government's education plan to ensure access of all schoolchildren to laptop computers has also been obstructed in both of these regions. Of course neither Madrid nor Valencia likes to claim that they do this just for reasons of sectarian political opposition, they find all sorts of other pretexts for not being able to do what the rest of the country can. But when it comes to non-compliance the same names come up again and again. With Murcia occasionally joining in.

We wait to see now what will happen with the plan by the national government to tighten anti-smoking legislation, but Madrid has already hinted that this law could go the same way as the current one; completely ignored in the Spanish capital because the regional government refuses to enforce it. With the rumours of a new law being introduced Esperanza Aguirre left it to one of her most loyal sidekicks to express opposition. The fact that the smarmy Juan José Güemes is allegedly responsible for Madrid's health service and supervises the spending of huge sums on treating tobacco related diseases doesn't mean that he should not lead the charge. I know what you are thinking, surely the PP that runs these regions can't be related to the other PP that constantly claims it is the only party supporting equality of treatment between all of Spain's autonomous regions? It is, I have to insist, the very same party.

La Mar de Músicas

I spent two weekends in July at the Mar de Músicas festival in Cartagena. I've been in Cartagena for this event most years since 2002 and I have to say that the city has changed dramatically since then. The first time I went there the town looked terribly neglected. Buildings in the centre were crumbling and that part of the city seemed to have become something of a ghetto for immigrants whose labour was no doubt making someone wealthy. Down by the seafront things weren't much better and I left with the impression of a city that was being allowed to decline whilst the new uglier housing was developed in the outskirts. That's not what I think anymore, the area around the port has been transformed in recent years with one part dedicated to a new museum, and alongside it there is a string of bars and restaurants facing a marina.

Other major buildings have been rehabilitated, and the roman theatre has been turned into a proper museum too. The wharf that has been constructed to provide a berth for cruise ships strikes me as being a bit optimistic but maybe I'm wrong and the city does appear on cruise itineraries. Some of the local restaurants have now sort of translated their menus into English for the expected tourists and there is a greater choice of places for eating and drinking than there was a few years ago. There are even some souvenir shops selling goods of the plastic flamenco dancer variety, although one shop I saw was offering thimbles decorated with a picture of Jose Maria Aznar! That's a must have for my currently miserable collection of political kitsch, but the shop wasn't open when I passed.

The transformation is striking and the city is becoming a much more pleasant place to spend time in. In any case the Mar de Músicas festival makes it worthwhile visiting. The stages are set up on the hill overlooking the port and being up there on a July night listening to music is one of the things I like best about summer in Spain. The variety of music they programme is impressive. In two visits this year we have seen Emir Kusturica, Spanish rapper La Mala Rodriguez, Calle 13 from Puerto Rico, Jamaica's Buju Banton, Oumou Sangare from Mali as well as musicians from the Congo, Algeria and Morocco. The concert featuring La Mala Rodriguez and Calle 13 was much better than I expected considering that I'm not a big fan of rap music. Like Aznar with speaking Catalan I prefer to rap "en la intimidad". Oumou Sangare for my money was the best of the bunch and if you like African music then her latest CD is as good an investment as you can make.

The concerts don't start before 11 at night, so during the day we usually get the bus down to Cabo de Palos and spend the day by the beach. The sea was a bit rough last Saturday with red flags waving, the waves also seemed to bring in an unhealthy quantity of small jellyfish. Things got calmer on Sunday. Lunch down there consists of fantastic grilled sardines, calamar a la plancha and chilled beer followed by a well deserved siesta. La Manga may not be the prettiest beach in Spain, but there are much worse places to be on a hot summer's day. Colombia is the featured country for next year's event, explaining why we got given straw hats and free cava at the last concert of this year's edition.

Love Shack

Suddenly, in July, the live music drought in Madrid comes to an end and there are days when there can be two or three concerts worth going to. This is who I saw last night at the Riviera.



I'm off to Cartagena for the weekend for some time by the beach and more music at the Mar de Musicas festival.

We'll Bottle Your Water And Sell It Back To You

Those who campaign for water to be transferred from the River Ebro to Valencia and Murcia have been very vocal recently in the wake of the proposal to do a temporary transfer of drinking water to Barcelona. We hear heartrending tales of how crops will dry up unless the rest of the country shows a bit of solidarity with the Mediterranean areas. Andrés Martínez, the president of a farmers association in Villena, Alicante, has been particularly active in the pro-transfer campaign. It turns out that his interest in the issue has very little to do with anything you can grow. First of all his association is so strapped for water that they have agreed to sell their rights over water from the local aquifers to Danone, so that they can bottle it and sell it as mineral water! Then it emerges that Martinez himself has another plan to grow houses instead of carrots, he wants to build an urbanisation of 1200 homes and (do I really need to mention this?) a golf course. Thirsty work, I’m sure you’ll agree, I suppose those who buy the houses will need to get their water from Danone.

I’m not trying to suggest with this example that there are no water problems in parts of the Mediterranean region, there always have been. It’s just that the interests behind the campaign to transfer water from other parts of Spain have much more to with an unsustainable model of development that will never be satisfied. Those who have dedicated themselves to agriculture in the region have always been very careful with water usage, treating it as a scarce resource. Those who have more interest in concrete, bricks, and golf show no intention of managing water resources, their solution will always be to demand more from other parts of the country.

The Red Flags Of Murcia

Don't get too alarmed, this post is not quite as militant as the title suggests. I spent the weekend in Murcia on what has now become an annual excursion; visiting the Mar de Musicas festival held in Cartagena. Youssou N'Dour was the attraction on Saturday night and the place was packed, to the extent that we had a serious case of overbooking. This wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the evident lack of interest that many of those attending had in the concert - I suspect an inflated guest list is the cause of the crowding and the presence of so many people who go to an event that doesn't interest them. Meanwhile, the only red flags I saw were those flapping on the beaches of La Manga as a strong wind meant that swimming was declared unsafe and the temperature never got near what you would normally expect for Murcia at this time of year. Not that I minded, the beer was cold and the grilled sardines were fantastic.

All of which gives me a suitable pretext for writing on a Murcia related story that previously fell off my list of potential topics to post about. A few months ago I read in the press about a new stretch of motorway that was being opened between Cartagena and Almeria to the south. This would normally be of no interest to me but it was reported that nobody from the government turned up for the wine and canapés that accompanied the inauguration of this motorway, despite it being a national government project. The reason for this absence has to do with what lies behind the new road. It has several exits which lead the driver taking them to nowhere at all! No village or town lies at the end of them. At least not yet, the reason these exits exist is because of plans to open up one of the few stretches of Mediterranean coastline that has not yet been entirely constructed. The projects that the Murcian regional government have prepared for the area are not small scale, we are talking about developments that combined involve hundreds of thousands of new homes.

The new motorway was projected by the previous government led by our bitter and twisted old friend José Maria Aznar, and the regional government of Murcia is also firmly under the control of his party, the Partido Popular. One of the biggest developments planned for the region, Marina de Cope, is intended to have accommodation for 60000 people as well as the now mandatory golf courses. Following the finest traditions of the construction industry, the site chosen was previously a protected natural park which amongst other attractions had one of the few remaining turtle populations. Such details could not be allowed to stand in the way of such a promising development, and the Murcian government acted to remove the protection. This decision has been taken to the Constitutional Tribunal, which you might think would mean the plans have to be put on hold. No way, the Murcian government has informed the tribunal that it doesn’t matter what decision they reach when they finally get around to hearing the case, because construction is going to start anyway. There’s nothing like a bit of respect for the rule of law! Don’t even ask where the water for these developments might come from, you could present a serious argument for saying that the Sahara begins in this region.

The best summary of this situation I found on the web came happily from a site that I already link to, Los Genoveses. It’s a pity there isn't a red flag we could use to stop these people from concreting the few remaining open spaces on the coastline. Avanti popolo!