Good Friday in Zaragoza

I am a plan addict while my wife is prepared to follow caprices. Yesterday evening, we were on our way home from a mini-vacation up in the Basque Country (País Basc) and my intention was to get us to Vilanova’s small neighbour town Cubelles in time for their Good Friday procession (processó de Divendres Sant) starting at 22.00. I cannot claim that my wife was particularly excited about the idea, but here Easter is not celebrated in such spectacular ways as in other parts of Spain, so this was one of the few alternatives there were.

Or that was until the radio reminded us about the procession in Zaragoza (Saragossa) and I realized that we were only half an hour away from there. I did not need to persuade my wife – we needed a stop. For our children it meant that they could have a proper dinner instead of a snack along the road and for her it was a chance to get a first glimpse of a city where she had not been yet.

For those who want to see it all, the Good Friday procession of Zaragoza lasts for six hours – all in all there are 24 confréries taking part. Our family, however, lasted less than half an hour. Our boys are still very small and for the two-year-old, the constant and heavy drumming and what he called the witches – the participants with their covered faces and cylindrical hats (capirotes in Spanish) - were quite scary.

We did not have time for sight-seeing, but will come back, possibly already during the summer and Expo Zaragoza 2008. A word of advice for anyone who plans to go within shortly, is to look out for temporary road signs. Our new GPS (a tomtom) had a tough challenge with all the detours – those of the procession on top of those which are there due to the Expo - so we were struggling to find our way through the construction works at the entries and exits of the city.

I am convinced that the procession of Zaragoza was bigger and more exciting than any of the Catalan Good Friday traditions, so I am happy to have been “crazy” enough to change my plans. But I would not promise that it will happen again.

Vic - The Sausage Capital of Catalonia

You know that you are not in Sweden when you leave a bridge from the 11th century, pass by a hostel dating from the same time and then, all of a sudden, stand in front of a Roman temple from the 2nd century. I am aware that Catalonia is so full of historic monuments that it is impossible to do them all justice, but find it unforgivable that (at least our 2003 edition of) Lonely Planet does not even mention Vic.

This town is located on a plain in the Catalan heartlands (in 2004, 60% voted either CiU or ERC) and has a university of growing importance. The town centre is concentrated and most of it is a pedestrian area dotted with architectural treasures. It is smaller than the old towns of Barcelona or Tarragona, but a lot more well maintained and clean. We especially liked the church bell tower in a style typical for inland Catalonia but of an impressive size.

On Saturdays, there is a market on the Plaça Major where, among other things, you can buy the the town’s famous cured sausage, fuet de Vic. The road to Vic from Barcelona is scenic and in excellent conditions. We warmly recommend this town to those who seek an alternative to another daytrip to the coast.

Remarks:
# Check out Vic’s tourist web-page in English for further information.
# Vilanovins interested in quality cured meat can find a branch of the co-operative Plana de Vic down in the Eixample de Mar area.

Save the Eurovision!

Do you know what your Swedish friends did on Saturday? More than 4 million Swedes are estimated to have watched when Charlotte Perrelli and her song “Hero” qualified to represent Sweden in the coming Eurovision Song Contest (ESC). The total population of my native country is only 9,1 million people and I seriously wonder how many dictatorships can beat penetration figures as high as these. Nowadays, Sweden sings in English, but except for that, we are very conservative. Check out “Hero” on YouTube – the music and the choreography show that the entry comes from a country where the ESC is still taken seriously.



That is not the case in Spain and when Chikililicuatre won the Spanish final with “Baila el ChikiChiki”, less than 2 million people watched the program although the population is five times that of Sweden. The title of the show “Salvemos Eurovisión” (“Let’s save the Eurovision) does not seem to have helped much.



And that is a pity. Not that I am a big fan of Eurovision music in itself (I ought to add ‘any longer’, since I am Swedish) but there are values which this event promotes better than any campaign initiated by EU bureaucrats. If only once a year, this competition gives us an opportunity to feel united as Europeans. It is one of the few media experiences which we all share, which is also produced in Europe (as opposed to all US made movies). Except for that, what other means than the ESC do small states have to remind the world of their existence? To me, it is not surprising that most states in Eastern Europe have become eager and highly competitive participants.

Now, international recognition, is that not what Catalonia yearns for as well? Apparently, Scotland is starting to understand the marketing value of taking part as a separate nation. Why do not people here do the same? Catalan TV3 is not yet a member of the European Broadcasting Union, but regions can be and once they are, at least theoretically, they have the right to participate in the ESC under their own flag.

For the semifinals and final in Belgrade May 20-24, 2008, it is too late, but why not have a Catalan entry in 2009? Not only the Catalan nation but also Spain would benefit - the latter would gain a neighbour who would most likely vote for them (in the ESC, old animosities are fast forgotten, look no further than last year’s voting within former Yugoslavia). If this happens, I am confident that audience figures from Catalonia alone will top those we currently see for the whole of the Spanish state. “Salvem l’Eurovisió!”


Remarks: An entry with a similar content can be found on “Wirdheim i Katalonien”, my new blog in Swedish.

Among Palm Leaves and Tractors in Vic

On Palm Sunday (diumenge de rams), Catalan children receive symbolic palm leaves from their godparents – elaborate and decorated palmes for the girls and simpler straight palmons for the boys – which they bring to church to have them blessed. The event serves to commemorate how Jesus, according to the tradition, was greeted when he rode into Jerusalem before his passion.

Since we are not particularly religious, but also since we have all our relatives abroad, my wife and I decided to let our small boys experience some parts of the tradition by taking them to the fair of Vic (Fira de Rams), whose origins can be found in the sales of handicraft palm leaves but subsequently has expanded to be a general agriculture related trade show.

The building of human towers (castellers) and a competition in motor saw sculpturing offered nice secular alternatives to morning mass, and since the town was already full of people when we arrived, I have a feeling that were not the only ones to skip church. Our sons could have shown more interest in the horses and donkeys on sale, and less in the tractors and agricultural machines, but except for that we had a very nice Sunday.

Highly Proportional Catalan Nationalism

The electoral system gives the nationalist parties an exaggerated parliament representation - that has been repeated time and again since Izquierda Unida (IU) lost more than half of their seats – and through South of Watford I have found a chart which can be used to show the absurd effects.


There are two figures for each party, of which the first one shows the actual number of seats in the new parliament, while the second one reveals how many seats the same party would have if the whole of Spain would have been treated as one constituency. With 1,2% of the total vote in Spain, but concentrated to three Basque provinces, PNV gets 6 seats. At the same time, IU receives only 2 seats although they were voted by 3,8% of the electorate. Clearly, this must prove that nationalist parties are always better off than a small party which appeals to voters throughout the state.

In fact it does not. What we see is an effect of an electoral system which systematically gives a higher weight to small provinces although that is where we have the least proportional allocation of parliament seats.

Catalonia, the other nationalist stronghold, serves as a contrast. The chart reveals that CiU would have 11 parliament seats whatever method is being used. The reason for that is that most of the CiU seats come from populous Barcelona, where each individual vote has a weight below the Spanish average and seat allocation is highly proportional.

Take note that not only PNV but also PSOE and PP would lose parliaments seats with a more proportional allocation. Keep this in mind next time you hear that the Spanish election system give an unfair advantage to the nationalists. It is such a nice story that it will be repeated although it is not true.


Remarks: Since the chart used in the article was made, due to late incoming votes from abroad, 1 Barcelona seat has been re-allocated from CiU to PP, i.e. CiU will have 10 seats in the new parliament and PP 154.

Save Acebes!

The TV3 satire show Polonia is the only program which I follow regularly. Tonight they offered a 90 minute long live “election special”. The format allowed the comedians to be up to date with the latest developments and, although I must admit that I prefer the more distilled recorded version, there were some highlights.

Mariano Rajoy, who apparently still enjoys the confidence of the core of PP, has announced that there will be changes in the party’s leadership. Eduardo Zaplana will not continue as parliament spokesman and it seems that general secretary Angel Acebes will have to leave as well. And that is why Toni Soler and his team have started the campaign “Save Acebes” (www.saveacebes.org/), on behalf of all 'humorists'. Because without him, programs like Polonia simply will not be the same.

That did not prevent PP members Rajoy, Acebes and Dolors Nadal from joining forces to show their support for Catalan Indepence. The logic was simple: if it had not been for Catalonia, PP would have won the Spanish parliament elections. So let them be independent, if that is what it takes!

Suitable for a winner, Zapatero came jumping in only at the very end, supported by his euphoric cheerleader Carme Chacón. When she stopped screaming “Nos a votado, la niña de Rajoy”, the prime minister could finally start singing his optimistic song “Apoyaré (YMCA) – todo lo que me pidan”. “El Zapaterisme en estat pur”, as Soler himself summed it up.

Costa Brava in Vilanova

About a week ago, Vilanova’s centre of contemporary art La Sala (C/ Joaquim Mir 12) opened up photo exhibition with the subtitle “Memories from the Costa Brava”. Here, people who are bored with our own flat coast, la Costa Daurada (the Golden Coast) can find ideas for their vacation planning.

I cannot say that my wife and I managed to pinpoint any differences in style between the two photographers Francesc Català-Roca and Xavier Miserachs Ribalta, but we truly appreciated their works - all in black and white and taken during the years 1950-1965.

Among them there is a photo of a menu in English, probably still an exotic phenomenon when it was taken. On the Costa Brava of our days, I doubt that artistic photographers would consider anything in English an inspiring motif.

My personal favourite is a photo of a man who casually holds four small sardines behind his back. In a special section, there are a few pictures of famous people where our eyes immediately fell on Salvador Dali having a swim in the sea.

The exhibition will hang until May 11 and La Sala’s slightly odd opening hours are Tuesday-Saturdays 18.00-21.00 plus Saturday-Sunday (and holidays) 11.00-14.00. I assume that all funds were used to remodel the place so, unfortunately, they do not up-date their web-page.

The Miracle of Girona

Since Sunday, Girona is the only province in Spain where PP does not hold any parliament seat. Before the elections, ERC in this province warned that they risked to lose 1 seat to PP, since it was more or less impossible for PSC or CiU to win it. So what we have seen happening must be a small miracle. ERC lost 1 seat, but to PSC, not to PP. In the end, PSC did not need to win as many votes as ERC had calculated, due to the fact that all other parties lost votes. With the results at hand this is obvious, but the complexity of the Spanish election system made it difficult to predict the outcome. To sum up, the 6 Girona seats were allocated as follows; PSC: 3 (+ 1), CiU: 2 and ERC: 1 (-1).

In Lleida, PP was more successful and won over the seat which had been held by ERC. The 4 Lleida seats were allocated as follows; PSC: 2, CiU: 1 and PP: 1 (+1). A detail for CiU to take note of is that although they managed to keep their seat, they lost many of their voters from 2004.

Tarragona used to be considered a stronghold for ERC, so it must have hurt that the party lost the 1 seat which it used to have here. The 6 Tarragona seats were allocated as follows; PSC: 4 (+1), CiU: 1 and PP: 1.

The result in Barcelona offered surprises until the very end of the counting. Throughout the election evening it seemed as if ICV-EUA would be able to keep their 2 seats, but then they lost 1 of them. Late in the night came another change, when 1 seat went from PP to CiU. Thanks to that, CiU has more seats in the new parliament than in the old one. For PP it means that they did not manage to increase their number of seats from this province. The 31 Barcelona seats were allocated as follows; PSC: 16 (+2), CiU: 7 (+1), PP: 5, ERC: 2 (-2) and ICV-EUA: 1 (-1).

For the whole of Catalonia that gives us the following sums: PSC: 25 (+4), CiU: 11 (+1), PP: 7 (+1), ERC: 3 (-5) and ICV-EUA: 1 (-1).

It deserves to be mentioned that the new party Ciutadans/Ciudadanos did not get the 1 seat which they aspired to win in Barcelona, nor did they manage ot win seats outside Catalonia. Personally, I am convinced that this is the beginning of the end for that movement.

Of a greater magnitude are the difficulties the elections have revealed for the left-wing Catalan nationalists, most notably ERC (- 5) but, unfortunately, also for Joan Herrera’s ICV-EUA (- 1). As a consequence, yesterday among the opening items on Spanish and Catalan TV news, we could here that Joan Puigcercós of ERC has resigned from his functions in the parliament of Catalonia, to be able to concentrate on the party’s program for the future.

To blame the ERC's losses on the bi-polarisation of Spanish politics or on the useful vote (el vot útil) for PSC is to take a short cut in the analysis work. Possibly, we saw some abstention among Catalan left-wing nationalists - voter turnout on Sunday was not the high 76,0%, as registered in 2004. However, 71,2% is by no means a low enough share for the elections to be declared illegitimate in Catalonia. Altough some people here do not want to acknowledge the Spanish Parliament, a vast majority does. In a democracy, that is what counts.

Reasons to Celebrate

Vilanova i la Geltrú has at least two reasons to celebrate the results of yesterday’s elections:

We have nice beaches, but this is an old industrial town. Therefore, PSC is always strong here. This time they beat their old records – more than half of those eligible to vote decided for their list (50,1% vs. 43,5% in 2004). I cannot claim to have felt it in the atmosphere on the Rambla today, but this town must be quite content with Zapatero’s victory. That, if anything, serves as a proof that Vilanova's voters did not punish the government for last year’s chaos in public transportation.

At least 20,0% (vs. 19,0% in 2004) of the town - i.e. the CiU voters - will have celebrated the fact that vilanovín Carles Campuzano, will keep his seat in the Spanish parliament.

Personally, I am a bit sad to see that many of my neighbours stayed home yesterday, in spite of my calling on them to vote. Voter turnout dropped to 71,0%, from 77,7% in 2004. That says a thing or two about the authority of this blog.

Pregnant Woman Delivering Parliament Seats

PSOE/PSC have been declared the winner of the Spanish elections. In his first public appearance tonight, Zapatero started off by naming all victims of ETA terrorism during his previous four year’s of government. Some will claim that the murder of socialist Carrasco two days ago swung the vote, but I do not believe so.

In my eyes, conservative PP has done a poor job in opposition. They have not focused on the vulnerability of the Spanish economy and labour market, but have spent all energy on family values (anti-gay, anti-abortion) and an unrealistic project of a united Spain, disregarding the strength of many of the regions. Officially, PP considers it a victory to have increased their number of seats in the parliament (from 148 to 154), but since their objective was to form the new government, that statement is not very credible. Party leader Rajoy will most likely be forced to step down within shortly.

When translated into seats of the parliament, it becomes obvious the PSOE owes their success to their Catalan branch PSC and campaign leader Carme Chacón. In the new parliament, four of the five new seats for the socialist government (from 164 to 169) come from here. In spite of her pregnancy, Chacón has been highly active throughout the campaign and managed to win voters from all other parties, in all Catalan provinces (PP in Barcelona being the only exception).

The elections 2008 have seen a strong tendency towards a bi-polarisation of Spanish politics – in most provinces only PSOE and PP are strong enough to win seats. With that in mind, it is understandable that Catalan CiU declares it a victory to have maintained their 10 seats in the parliament. This means that CiU holds the balance - they are the only political party which alone can offer Zapatero a stable majority. Tonight, top candidate Duran i Lleida did not want to talk about it and instead underlined that everybody knows what his party stands for: "They will respect Catalonia" (Respectaràn Catalunya), was CiU's main election slogan.

In her speech, Carme Chacón said: “Many thanks, Catalonia. From all of my heart” (“Moltes gracies, Catalunya, de tot cor”). She knows where the new socialist votes come from. So far, Zapatero has not revealed the same gratefulness to this part of Spain. However, the game has only begun and, personally, I believe that the PSOE/PSC government would benefit from seeking CiU's support.

The coming four years will not be easy, neither for Spain, nor for the new government. But if Catalan politicians play their cards well, these can be relatively good years for Catalonia.