Haiti....The Bishops Put It Into Perspective

With the race already underway to make the most idiotic comments about the the awful earthquake in Haiti, the Spanish Church could not be left behind. The bishop of San Sebastian, José Ignacio Munilla, has hit the headlines today for remarking that bad though the earthquake is, it's not as serious as the spiritual situation of the Spanish people! Obviously it's not easy for a bishop to explain anyway why God has suddenly decided so many Haitians must die. He now claims that he was misinterpreted as he was talking from a theological point of view, so that's alright then.

The recently appointed Munilla has already had his share of controversy, as the decision to give him the job is widely regarded as having been a move by the Spanish church to impose central control over their Basque followers. Munilla is from the more ultra wing of an already hardly moderate institution, and many Catholics in the Basque Country have opposed his appointment. He is on the other hand very popular amongst right wing Catholics in Madrid who see him as someone who will crack down on any signs of Basque nationalism amongst the clergy. Given the attention he has already captured he might need to spend a period in silent contemplation.

Vic Sets An Ugly Precedent

The decision by the town of Vic not to permit immigrants without residence papers to enrol on the municipal padrón (list of residents) has provoked a strong protest. The national government insists that the policy is illegal, as all residents have the obligation to be on the padrón regardless of their legal status. It's not just about being on a list, the ability to register also affects access to basic public services. Vic is the political base of an openly xenophobic political movement called Plataforma per Catalunya, but sadly it is not this party which is responsible for the new policy. The town is run by a coalition between Convergencia i Unio, Esquerra Republicana and the Catalan wing of the PSOE (PSC).

The leader of Plataforma per Catalunya, Josep Anglada, is unsurprisingly delighted with the decision which plays directly into the hands of the anti-immigrant party and simply feeds the myth that immigrants do better out of public services than the local population. Now the racists can present themselves as having been vindicated. Meanwhile both Esquerra and the PSC are putting pressure on their local councillors to backtrack on the decision. Vic is probably not alone, as reports start to surface of other municipalities that have more quietly tightened their own requirements.

Another Great Year For Judicial Madness

If we need proof that things don't really change just because the calendar shows a new year, we have as evidence the Spanish Supreme Court. Today this institution was busy dealing with one of the multitude of cases brought by right wing fringe groups whose main objective seems to be to bring an already frail judicial system to a complete halt. The case in question involved the ongoing attempt to prosecute the current Basque president, Patxi Lopez, and his predecessor Juan Jose Ibarretxe for having talked to ETA's political wing during the failed peace process in the region a couple of years ago.

Some sanity prevailed, and the Supreme Court decided that talking to Batasuna as part of an attempt to bring an end to terrorism doesn't constitute a crime. However they did it in a way which suggested that it was right to bring the case against the politicians involved and therefore justifiable that the Supreme Court should rule on such matters. This court has developed a habit of setting precedents which suit its convenience in cases with a political impact. They have what we could call the bankers doctrine which set free the president of Banco Santander when the state prosecutors refused to present a case and there were no individuals directly affected. When the same circumstances have applied to politicians they have reversed this doctrine and allowed cases presented purely for political motives to proceed even though prosecutors argue there is no case to answer.

When a similar attempt was made to prosecute Zapatero for the same "offence" concerning the Basque peace process the court delivered a very sensible ruling that said that the separation of powers doesn't permit judges to assume powers that rightly belong to democratically elected institutions, and that the attempt to negotiate an end to ETA's terrorism belonged to the political sphere. It seems that the same court has now decided that the decision belongs to them instead.

In a similar vein we have the equally crazy case against Baltasar Garzón for having the temerity to open an investigation into the victims of Franco's regime. This act of judicial revenge against Garzón is not only still open but from today it has a new player invited on board - none other than the fascist Falange have been allowed to join the other equally ultra right wing groups that presented the original case against the judge. Garzon's lawyer has been quick off the mark in asking how likely it would be for a German court to permit a neo-nazi group to bring a case against a judge who dared to investigate Nazi crimes. Spain is different on this issue and the judges say the past must stay buried. Perhaps the most alarming aspect of this case is that it allows all of these organisations to have access to the data on victims that formed part of Garzon's investigation. So fascist organisations can be handed the personal details on those relatives of Franco's victims who have presented claims. Doesn't sound like justice to me.

El Patio Se Queda

Last week the police closed off several streets in the centre of Madrid for a special operation. No, it was nothing to do with terrorism or even anything that remotely affected the safety or lives of the vast majority of Madrileños. The big police operation was solely to remove the squatters from a building in the Calle de Acuerdo that had been left empty for years. El Patio de Maravillas was not just a squat for people to live, it housed workshops in languages or bicycle maintenance, offered legal advice services and staged numerous cultural events over the last couple of years. In other words, it made good use of a building that had been left empty for years by its owner and which now may well be empty again until Madrid's ever generous administration permits its demolition for speculative construction purposes. The owner, you will be amazed to hear, is of course a long standing member of the PP who, even more amazingly, is involved already in what could be described as some legally questionable activities related to construction projects.

The occupants of the Patio and their supporters accepted the expulsion, they had little choice given such a massive display of force. However, it didn't take long for them to find a new home with another decaying, unused, building in the nearby Calle del Pez. The Patio continues and represents a movement in favour of a model that finds social uses for buildings where the owner desires nothing more than a demolition order and a subsequent "pelotazo". Madrid is not short of such buildings, there is one in my street that has been empty since I arrived and probably for years before. Anyway, that's enough about Madrid, what about the situation in Valencia?

The barrio of Cabanyal is one of the most traditional in Valencia, and for that reason alone it must have the heart ripped out of it. The Valencian administration wants to make a huge hole in the Cabanyal so that they can extend a broad avenue all the way to the sea. Their argument is that Valencians need "access" to the beach and in their view of the world no sane Valencian would go down to the sea without a broad new road where they can drive their broad new car. Also, incidentally of course, some nice new 5-6 storey blocks of flats can be built by the usual suspects to replace all of those ugly old low buildings. The residents of the barrio didn't agree with the plan and the national Culture Ministry agreed with them by blocking it. The response from the Valencian regional government didn't take long, Mr Camps put on his best suit and an emergency session was convened to change the local legislation protecting buildings of cultural interest so that they can be demolished more easily. Truly an administration that thinks of nothing except the well-being of those who so generously support it.

Same Country, Different Worlds

It looks like La Gomera was a smart move, I understand things have been a bit chilly here on the peninsula. Arriving back last night I had the novel experience of landing at a Barajas airport covered with snow and there is still some in the centre of the city, although today's rain will probably take care of it. I don't want to gloat but on our first day in the Canary Islands I spent some of the time we had in Los Cristianos waiting for the ferry watching Sky News report on the snow falling in the UK. I was sitting in the shade surrounded by happy tourists dressed in their summer beach wear.

La Gomera was great, we did some fantastic walking routes and the island is a very relaxing place to be. Getting back was not so relaxing, we were supposed to arrive back in Madrid on Sunday night but it wasn't to be. The ferry company Fred Olsen has taken over the service to the smaller ports of La Gomera and it seems that when the sea gets a bit choppy they axe that service in favour of their other, bigger, boat that runs on a different timetable. That's what happened to us, despite what seemed to be a very calm Atlantic, and the late arrival of the other ferry guaranteed that we stood no chance of catching our flight home. Spanair told us not to bother even coming to the airport and we changed our ticket - at a price - for the next day.

So we got another unexpected day in Los Cristianos where the beaches were busy and the weather was perfect. Arriving yesterday afternoon in the airport the first thing we saw was that our new flight had been cancelled! It seemed like we were never going to get home but Madrid weather came to our rescue. The previous flight, which should have left an hour before we arrived at the airport, was seriously delayed along with all other flights to Madrid. We got onto that plane and finally made it home in the early hours of this morning. Now all I need to do is get the temperature of my flat above 15 degrees and life in the chilly centre of Spain might start to become bearable.

Benidorm's Grapes Of Wrath

It was New Year's Eve in Benidorm, and the queue for the free grapes and (plastic) glass of cava got ever longer. The señora behind me was so determined to get to the front that she pushed me consistently for a good 10 minutes until I finally gave way and let her push the people in front of me instead. They complained. As we got nearer to midnight and they started the countdown things got tenser. It started as a low murmur, but eventually the queue began to disintegrate amidst shouts of "¡Las uvas, las uvas!". Then it was everyone for themselves, dog eat dog, survival of the fittest. "Why didn't we just buy half a kilo of grapes ourselves?" I asked, but it was no use, the battle of the freebie had to be fought.

It wasn't very warm at all for New Year on the Mediterranean, although I have reason to believe that we did better than much of the rest of Spain. Strong winds meant that the seafront was almost deserted and the sea was rough but at least we still had clear skies.

Once New Year's Day was out of the way the weather got better and we spent a very pleasant day in Calpe. The town itself is not very nice to look at but we did the ascent of the Peñon Ifach. Naturally, with it being a "peñon", I had to put up with one or two remarks about Gibraltar. "But if you've already got one here, why do you need them all?" was my defence. From the top you can truly appreciate the landscape of an area that has long lived under the protection of Nuestra Señora la Santísima Virgen de la Destrucción de la Naturaleza.

The climb to the top looks much more daunting from below than it is in reality, a tunnel has been built so that you can walk up a zigzag path rather than climb up the sheer rock face. It was a healthy piece of exercise before a lunch that has now gone into the record books as the Great Calpe Gamba Massacre of 2010.

Of course not every piece of land has been built on, let me introduce you to the innovative Valencian concept of the microreserva, which I suspect to be a euphemism for a site awaiting the recovery of the construction industry.

The sun sets on one trip but then tomorrow we are off to La Gomera for the puente de Reyes. It's perhaps my favourite of the Canary islands that I have visited so far. After all these trips I'm looking forward to some time in Madrid, which improves enormously in January once the prolonged Christmas/New Year/Reyes festivities are out the way.

283 People Enjoy Another New Year

Complain, if you want, about the crackdown on dangerous driving in Spain. The figures tell their own story, last year saw the lowest number of deaths from traffic accidents since 1964, and you have to bear in mind that there are now 15 vehicles for every one that existed 45 years ago. It's a combination of factors that have seen road deaths more than halved in the last 6 years alone, from campaigns against drunk driving to the points system for licences and the increased use of speed traps. When I arrived in Spain in the second half of the 1990's it was still common for people to get completely drunk in a village bar and then drive a long way home. Now it has become quite normal for the person doing the driving driving to steer clear of alcohol on a night out. Most people no longer drive so fast, it may be for fear of fines or losing points but the system is working to the extent that this year there were almost 300 fewer deaths than last; even after the sharp decline of recent years. There's not much to celebrate about 2009, but at least more people survived it than might have been the case a few years ago.

Three Routes In Aigüestortes

Way back in September, as a test to see whether I might survive our trip to Nepal, we spent a weekend walking in the national park of Aigüestortes. It's a long trip by road from Madrid to this park in the Catalan Pyrenees, and I think if we decide to do it again we will take the train to Lleida and make our way up from that city. The weather forecast for the weekend we went was gloomy, almost bad enough for us to think twice about making the journey. In the end things weren't that terrible and we missed the worst of the weather.

Our base for the weekend was the small village of Esterri D'Aneu, which lies a few kilometres away from the main entrance to the national park. On the first day we did a route from the park entrance near Espot to the Portarró D'Espot. This is where many of the routes in the park begin from. You cannot take private vehicles beyond the entry barrier, but the gentle walk up to the popular Estany Sant Maurici is worth doing anyway. Because it had been raining recently the woods on either side of the path were full of wild mushrooms, more than I have seen anywhere else.

From Sant Maurici the path to Portarró takes you past the small refuge of Ernest Mallafre and then starts to climb more sharply taking you above the lake. The paths in Aigüestortes, at least the ones that we took, are in excellent condition and there are signposts to guide walkers in the right direction.

As we got higher up we found out just how bad the weather had been the day before, we were walking on fresh snow. Officially we were still (just) in summer when we did this walk but the conditions suggested otherwise.

At the top we attempted to find a way up the peak beside the path but gave up as the snow hid the path and the views down the other side from the ridge were already spectacular enough.

In theory it's possible to do a circular route that continues over the other side of the Portarró but somehow we missed the path that takes you back to Sant Maurici and gave up after half an hour, returning the same way we had come. This is a medium level route, around 16 kilometres and with an ascent of about 800 metres.

On day two we did another route from the same start point at the park entrance up to the Puerto de Ratera. This means repeating the stretch to Sant Maurici but from there you can follow a path that goes up to a nearby waterfall and then continue beyond this up to the Estany de Ratera. From this point onwards the path rises through some typical rocky Pyrenean scenery to the ridge. The views of the route behind us were beautiful, ahead of us was a wall of cloud and it was cold at the top.

To take the route back you need to retrace your steps from the ridge of La Ratera and take a signposted path which leads down to the refuge of Amitges. This is a proper mountain refuge providing food and accommodation for those who need it. For us it was a handy place to stop to avoid the rain that had started to fall. From this point we improvised a route back to Sant Maurici by taking a path that runs from the dam just opposite the refuge. It's just about possible to follow a path of sorts, but occasionally this way involves going over some rough terrain and the easier alternative is to follow the main path down from the refuge. This route is a bit longer and more difficult than the ascent to Portarró but not significantly so.

On our last day we went to the northern tip of Aigüestortes along the road that leads to Vielha. We did a short route here as we had the long journey back to Madrid ahead of us, but the walk up to the Estany de Gerber is definitely worth it. Nobody else was walking this route on a quiet Monday morning and the surroundings were fantastic.

I passed the fitness test, so I could go to Nepal. This is the map of the routes we did.

View Walking Routes in Aigüestortes in a larger map

Watch Out For The Chorizos!

Today let me present you with a post that combines a useful lesson on the double meaning of the word chorizo together with an example of why politicians employ advisers. Mariano Rajoy went down to help out at a comedor social yesterday and decided that he would be the one handing out chorizos to the needy. "Ten cuidado, no te saquen con el chorizo" was the friendly warning he got - so he quickly changed places. It's a bit late, he's spent most of the year being proudly photographed with some of the dodgiest characters on the Spanish political scene.

South of Watford is spending the next few days down by the Mediterranean so let me take this opportunity to wish all those who pass by this space a happy new year. In the words of Dr John, I'll be back in a flash with some more of the trash.

Christmas In Prison For Spanish Greenpeace Activist

The director of Greenpeace in Spain, Juan López de Uralde, will be spending both Christmas and New Year in prison in Denmark. He is being held with three other activists until January 7th. His "crime" was to infiltrate the royal reception at the Copenhagen climate change summit and unfurl a banner of protest. About the only progress we can say that has been made as a result of the Copenhagen fiasco has been the advances in the criminalisation of protest. Hundreds of demonstrators were arrested but then released without charge as the Danish police adopted an aggressive approach to anyone who wanted to point out that nothing was going on inside the summit hall.

How To Be A Model Employer

It's bad news for anyone who was planning to fly to Latin America from Madrid this Christmas with Air Comet. The airline has effectively collapsed following the decision by an English judge yesterday to stop them from using many of their planes or from selling more tickets. Air Comet was the successor to the disastrous Air Madrid, and the end has come in a similar fashion just before one of the peak periods when many immigrants in Spain head home for the holidays. The owner of the airline, Gerardo Díaz Ferrán, also happens to be the head of the Spanish employers organisation, and Air Comet is not the only problem he has.

Díaz Ferrán has of course been a prominent supporter recently of ultra liberal solutions for Spain's economic crisis, including the freedom to fire people at little or no cost. Unable to do this with his own employees at Air Comet he adopted the pragmatic solution of not paying them for the last few months. He also has significant problems with loans from the banks, one such loan being the cause of the planes being grounded yesterday. Last week Caja Madrid began the process that may lead to Díaz Ferrán being expelled from the board of the savings bank over the non-payment of another loan he had received from them. At least we get confirmation from this that the banks are still lending to somebody, even if it is only members of their own governing body. Having recently forced a vote of confidence in the employers association over his leadership it looks like Gerardo will still be around for a while telling us what is best for the economy. Meanwhile his employees are joining the ranks of the unemployed.

Spanish Television Changes Channels

When Spain's government announced a few months ago that it was relaxing the rules on concentration of ownership for television channels it didn't take long for speculation to start on who was behind the move. The country has gained two new private channels in the last few years, Cuatro and La Sexta, but with the onset of the economic crisis it seems that there wasn't enough money from advertising to sustain so many channels and mergers have come to be seen as the solution. So last week we got the announcement that Cuatro and Telecinco were to become part of the same company in a complicated deal between Grupo Prisa and Silvio Berlusconi's Mediaset. This deal effectively brings to an end Prisa's involvement in open access television and also dilutes their ownership of the pay channel Digital+. The company has been looking for ways to deal with its debts and this agreement makes up for them not being able to find a buyer for Digital+. The irony comes from them dealing with Silvio Berlusconi, following the publication by El País a few months ago of photographs from Berlusconi's Sardinian villa which meant that the Prisa paper wasn't exactly top of Silvio's favourite publications.

This is not likely to be the end of the changes, there are also strong rumours that a deal will be reached to merge La Sexta with Antena 3. La Sexta is the newest of Spain's channels, and marked the entry into the television market of Mediapro who seem to have replaced Prisa in the government's affections. Mediapro's influence was crucial in paving the way for the introduction of pay channels on the digital TDT platform, they already had their Gol channel dedicated to football ready to go as soon as the legislation was in place. Incidentally, I'm toying with the idea of an equivalent to the "I Sky" feature in Britain's Private Eye that recorded attempts to hide publicity for Sky TV in pseudo news items in the Murdoch press. Both Público (owned by Mediapro) and El País have been doing much the same in a bid to promote their offerings, particularly for pay to view football.

The merging of the private channels isn't the only change we will see, the state run RTVE is to stop taking advertising on its two channels, another part of the attempt to maximise revenues for the private channels. The loss of revenue for RTVE will largely be made up with a levy on the private channels and with contributions from the telecommunications companies. RTVE is also said to be moving away from attempts to compete for ratings with a remit that is more oriented towards domestic TV productions and films.

My Escape From Dell Hell

This is the third post I have written on my shiny new MacBook Pro, and so far I'm very happy that I've made the change from Windows. For four long years I have struggled against my Dell laptop until finally my patience gave way. It wasn't a cheap machine by any means, I bought what I thought was a top of the range model back in 2005. Sadly it never delivered on the promise, and I have experienced constant frustration with a computer that seems to be incapable of handling more than a single application at a time, despite having both free memory and processor capacity. I did everything I could to try and strip out applications I didn't need yet the machine would still spend mystifying amounts of time doing....what? Things reached the point where I told Dell to take me off all of their mailing lists and I vowed to myself that I would never again buy one of their laptops whilst reasonable alternatives existed.

Last year I bought a little Asus just so that I coud have the experience of a machine that starts up and connects to the Internet in less than 20 minutes. Now with the Mac I managed to download all of my web based mail accounts in an amazingly short time whilst still being able to do other things! It's a new experience for me and will probably change my lifestyle, I won't have time to go off for a cup of tea whilst my laptop attempts to open a folder. Once I've overcome the challenge of getting the Mac to run Windows as well my Dell can start to enjoy the comfortable retirement as a backup machine that I think it was designed for.

Who Will Put An End To This Treason?

It's not enough that the Catalans organise votes on independence without asking permission, now they are even considering the prohibition of bullfighting! It's possible that the acceptance yesterday by the Catalan parliament of a popular initiative to put an end to the bloodsport has caused even more heart problems in the higher barrios of Madrid than last week's independence 'consultations'. "La fiesta nacional" is under threat, and the right-wing consensus seems to be that they are only doing it to provoke Spain, El Mundo claimed on its front page this morning that the purpose of the vote was to distance Cataluña from the rest of the country.

Yesterday's vote was actually quite close, and was just a preliminary to the main vote which will take place in a few months time. The bull fighting industry is preparing itself for battle, despite all the rhetoric about the Catalans the reality is that the sport faces growing opposition in many parts of the country, and home grown opposition to it has grown significantly in the last few years. It moves a lot of money, and attracts a lot of spending from municipalities for their annual fiestas, but for many younger Spaniards it is a relic from another age and what probably worries the industry most is the risk of contagion if Cataluña sets the example. Nobody should imagine bullfighting is about to disappear, but we could be witnessing the first clear signals of decline.

Aminatou Haidar Goes Home

At last, after 32 days on hunger strike in Lanzarote airport, Aminatou Haidar was able to return home to El Aaiun last night. The Moroccan government relented under pressure from the governments of Spain, France and possibly also the US. Haidar was already in a weakened state and was admitted to hospital yesterday before the decision was finally announced that she could return. It's a significant victory for her, although it comes at a cost for her health.

There's little doubt that without the hunger strike Haidar would have been condemned to become yet another forgotten exile, the Spanish government only started to take her case seriously when it became clear that she was determined to maintain the campaign and the support she received became ever stronger. What Morocco obviously hoped would be a relatively clean way of getting rid of a problematical activist over the issue of Western Sahara has backfired in a spectacular way. The issue of the former Spanish colony has attracted more attention in the last month than it has in years, uncomfortably for those governments with any interest in the issue who have quietly accepted that it is going to remain part of Moroccan territory.

The Spanish government has tried to claim that the decision to admit Aminatou to Spain even though she had no passport was taken by the police without political interference. However, yesterday foreign minister Moratinos confirmed that he was informed about Haidar's expulsion by his Moroccan counterpart, and although he claims that he expressed his rejection of his decision it seems hard to believe that his ministry just left the handling of the affair in the hands of the immigration police in Lanzarote airport. If the government was opposed to the Moroccan decision they kept very quiet about it until the hunger strike and the reaction it provoked forced the PSOE to come off the fence too.

Some of the political opposition to the government has been very opportunist, the Partido Popular has only shown interest once it became clear they could use it to embarrass the government. Meanwhile Rosa Diez of UPyD showed a surprising commitment to the concept of self-determination, not something that she is ever likely to support within Spanish frontiers. Despite this, the origin of the affair lies with a complacent foreign policy that would have tamely accepted Haidar's expulsion without a whimper of protest had it not been for the campaign in support of her.

On The First Day Of Christmas....A Bank Gave Us A Thermometer

Dear Caja Madrid,

I just thought I'd write a short note to thank you for the thoughtful gift of an "In-out thermometer" which you have given to my partner for standing by you during these hard times. I must admit I've never come across a thermometer before that comes together with an instruction manual. I see that it works with as many as three sensors, not that we'll be needing any more than the one that came in the box. I imagine many of your customers who bought those overpriced chalets outside of Madrid at the height of the boom will find it very useful to test how far away they can put the sensor and see just how cold it can be in the desert at night. For us, living in a tiny apartment in the centre of Madrid, it was difficult to decide where to put it but in the end the kitchen won. Now I sit here at my laptop and I can see whether it's warm enough in the kitchen to risk going there. To be honest, I was amazed this morning to find that the temperature in that room was as high as 17 degrees when I had imagined all week that it had to be at -10! As you can see, it's certainly going to be useful, much more so than one of those thousands of houses which you have had to take off the constructors. I know it's not been an easy year for you what with Espe trying to take control and all the infighting, so it was good of you to remember about us. I'm sure that next year, with that nice Mr Rato in charge, things can only get better for you.

The Dark Side Of Spain's Trade Unions

Many of you may have been under the impression that Spanish trade unions were largely harmless organisations, but thanks to South of Watford's commitment to bring you the best of public service broadcasting the truth can now be told. There was a demonstration organised in Madrid by the unions last weekend and Telemadrid marked the occasion by comparing the event to the mass demonstrations organised in support of Franco's dictatorship. They didn't bother showing any footage of the demonstration, the expensive helicopter that they purchased for such coverage is to be used only for anti-government protests. Perhaps this is not too surprising given that the programme was actually made before the demonstration took place.

Another story involving Telemaguirre his week has concerned the former journalist Hermann Tertsch, who now presents the propagandistic remains of the channel's news coverage. He got involved in a bar fight in the early hours of the morning which resulted in him needing hospital treatment. Following this incident there was a concerted and pathetic attempt by sections of the PP, Aguirre included, to present Tertsch as the victim of a politically motivated assault provoked by a satirical item on the programme presented by the comedian Gran Wyoming. The police investigation has subsequently revealed that Tertsch got hurt following an argument with someone described as an "empresario de la noche". Maybe he needs to join a union. Unsurprisingly, Telemadrid and Hermann have managed to avoid explaining the truth in a news bulletin which sets a new surreal standard.

One Flight Leads To Another

I'm hoping that the flight which brought me back to Madrid last night from Frankfurt marks the end of a spell working away from home that turned out to be longer than I expected. I haven't seen that much of Madrid in the last 14 months and with almost weekly commuting to Germany I just hope Iberia appreciate my efforts to keep them going.

However, I'm not going to be leaving the airport alone for very long. Tonight we are leaving for a week in Cape Verde. When I suggested this as a destination I was thinking of it as compensation for my efforts in the Himalayas a few weeks ago. The image I had in my mind was one of beach hammocks, chilled beer, fresh fish and a couple of good books. Now, thanks to that mysterious process known as "not being in control" it seems that the walking boots are coming too. Ate logo.

Manifiesto: En Defensa De Los Derechos Fundamentales En Internet

The Spanish government announced some proposed legislation yesterday that could lead to Internet users having their access restricted in the name of "anti-piracy". The proposal is being tagged on to the still largely content free Ley de Economia Sostenible. This is a law which is supposed to set out a way forward for the Spanish economy in the next few years, yet it's hard to see how giving the music companies what they want is going to do that. I already pay well over the odds for blank digital media I buy in Spain so that organisations collecting royalties can become ever fatter and regardless of whether the media is used legally or not.

In response to yesterday's announcement a manifesto has been drawn up in opposition to the proposed measure and I am happy to publish it and encourage all those who agree with its content to do the same. An English translation of the manifesto is available here.

Ante la inclusión en el Anteproyecto de Ley de Economía sostenible de modificaciones legislativas que afectan al libre ejercicio de las libertades de expresión, información y el derecho de acceso a la cultura a través de Internet, los periodistas, bloggers, usuarios, profesionales y creadores de internet manifestamos nuestra firme oposición al proyecto, y declaramos que…

1.- Los derechos de autor no pueden situarse por encima de los derechos fundamentales de los ciudadanos, como el derecho a la privacidad, a la seguridad, a la presunción de inocencia, a la tutela judicial efectiva y a la libertad de expresión.

2.- La suspensión de derechos fundamentales es y debe seguir siendo competencia exclusiva del poder judicial. Ni un cierre sin sentencia. Este anteproyecto, en contra de lo establecido en el artículo 20.5 de la Constitución, pone en manos de un órgano no judicial -un organismo dependiente del ministerio de Cultura-, la potestad de impedir a los ciudadanos españoles el acceso a cualquier página web.

3.- La nueva legislación creará inseguridad jurídica en todo el sector tecnológico español, perjudicando uno de los pocos campos de desarrollo y futuro de nuestra economía, entorpeciendo la creación de empresas, introduciendo trabas a la libre competencia y ralentizando su proyección internacional.

4.- La nueva legislación propuesta amenaza a los nuevos creadores y entorpece la creación cultural. Con Internet y los sucesivos avances tecnológicos se ha democratizado extraordinariamente la creación y emisión de contenidos de todo tipo, que ya no provienen prevalentemente de las industrias culturales tradicionales, sino de multitud de fuentes diferentes.

5.- Los autores, como todos los trabajadores, tienen derecho a vivir de su trabajo con nuevas ideas creativas, modelos de negocio y actividades asociadas a sus creaciones. Intentar sostener con cambios legislativos a una industria obsoleta que no sabe adaptarse a este nuevo entorno no es ni justo ni realista. Si su modelo de negocio se basaba en el control de las copias de las obras y en Internet no es posible sin vulnerar derechos fundamentales, deberían buscar otro modelo.

6.- Consideramos que las industrias culturales necesitan para sobrevivir alternativas modernas, eficaces, creíbles y asequibles y que se adecuen a los nuevos usos sociales, en lugar de limitaciones tan desproporcionadas como ineficaces para el fin que dicen perseguir.

7.- Internet debe funcionar de forma libre y sin interferencias políticas auspiciadas por sectores que pretenden perpetuar obsoletos modelos de negocio e imposibilitar que el saber humano siga siendo libre.

8.- Exigimos que el Gobierno garantice por ley la neutralidad de la Red en España, ante cualquier presión que pueda producirse, como marco para el desarrollo de una economía sostenible y realista de cara al futuro.

9.- Proponemos una verdadera reforma del derecho de propiedad intelectual orientada a su fin: devolver a la sociedad el conocimiento, promover el dominio público y limitar los abusos de las entidades gestoras.

10.- En democracia las leyes y sus modificaciones deben aprobarse tras el oportuno debate público y habiendo consultado previamente a todas las partes implicadas. No es de recibo que se realicen cambios legislativos que afectan a derechos fundamentales en una ley no orgánica y que versa sobre otra materia.

The Never Ending Story Of The Catalan Estatut

There's no escape from the Estatut, Cataluña's now not very new at all autonomy statute. The deliberations by Spain's Constitutional Court concerning the Estatut have dragged on for years, assuming of course that there is any deliberating taking place at all! It now seems amazing that I ever imagined the verdict might be delivered before the last general election. The case for the Estatut being unconstitutional was originally presented by the Partido Popular, one of many attempts by that party to obtain results from the tribunal that they could not get via elections or parliamentary votes. The statute was approved by both the Catalan and national parliaments, as well as by a referendum in Cataluña.

The reason for the delay in the verdict, if we are to believe the reports in the press, is because the court is completely divided over what to do about the Estatut. It is claimed that there is a majority against allowing the Estatut through with only minor modifications, but that does not seem to mean that this majority can reach agreement on what should be done. Frustration over this delay is increasing and last week 12 Catalan newspapers published a joint editorial protesting about the situation. This in turn provoked protests from the right about illegitimate pressure being placed on the Constitutional Court, even though the newspaper editorial is nothing more than a legitimate expression of opinion. The PP know all about applying pressure on the judges, they have made multiple attempts to exclude those judges whose opinions might not coincide with their own on the issue. Their proposed replacements for those whose term has expired are loyal conservative hardliners.

The main issues on which the court has been unable to reach a verdict seem to be those which suggest that Cataluña has an identity as a nation, a concept which is of course anathema to Spanish nationalists, but it is arguable whether it is anti-constitutional. There were attempts to avoid this kind of challenge, for example the preamble to the Estatut simply records the fact that the Catalan parliament voted on the issue of the national status of the region. In many ways the parts of the statute that attract the most attention are not the most important in terms of powers for the regional government, but they are the ones that have the most symbolic value on both sides of the argument.

Anyone who wants to pretend that the process of deciding the Estatut's constitutional status is not deeply political is welcome to believe anything they like, but the court is essentially a creature of the two main national political parties; the PP and the PSOE. The current division within its ranks is a faithful reflection of the fault line over regional autonomy in national politics, that line runs through the PSOE rather than in between the two parties. It is the reported defection of a PSOE nominee to the conservative side on key issues that is said to have blocked the court's verdict. The longer they take to make their minds up the less credible the result is going to be and it is not just Catalan nationalists who are questioning whether this is really a good way of doing things. Sometimes you have to wonder whether it's a good idea to have a written constitution at all, never mind a court supposedly there to enforce it. Perhaps the solution might be to impose a sanction of "administrative silence", meaning that if they fail to pronounce on a law within a certain period it automatically becomes constitutional. Then maybe we can all leave Groundhog Day.

Back in Cataluña the newspaper editorial has raised the political temperature. It is unlikely that the entire population is as concerned about the issue of the Estatut as that editorial would have us believe. Perhaps readers who live there can tell me if I'm wrong about this, but I suspect it is an issue of far greater importance to the political and media elite than to the population in general, most of whom probably don't include choosing their favourite article from the Estatut amongst their party games. This is not to say that a decision to declare large parts of the statute unconstitutional won't be seen as an affront by many people in Cataluña, a bit of perceived interference from Madrid is never going to go down well even if Barça do keep beating Real Madrid. If an unfavourable verdict emerges before the planned votes on independence that will take place in many municipalities later this month then things could get very interesting. Although the way things are going that seems like a wildly optimistic time frame.

Meanwhile, the PP is keeping a low profile on the issue. Mariano Rajoy knows that his party is unlikely to win more votes in the region but what he really wants to do is to demobilise the anti-PP vote which means that the gap between PSOE and PP in Cataluña more or less accounts for the difference between the two parties at national level. The PSC, local wing of the PSOE, has reason to be worried about the whole affair and there are already noises being made stressing their autonomy from the national party. It may not help that they seem unable to make their mind up about the independence "consultations", and elections are due to be held in Cataluña next year. Anyway, let's finish with some Estatut humour. It's a mixture of Catalan and Castellano, but anyone familiar with A Night At The Opera should understand it regardless of their language abilities.