{"id":414,"date":"2010-03-15T18:03:07","date_gmt":"2010-03-15T18:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/memorial.local:8888\/www\/414.html"},"modified":"2011-08-09T11:57:33","modified_gmt":"2011-08-09T11:57:33","slug":"antiracism-between-the-real-and-barcelona","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/news\/antiracism-between-the-real-and-barcelona\/","title":{"rendered":"ANTIRACISM: Between \u2018the real\u2019 and \u2018Barcelona\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span>In the middle of October this year I was lucky enough to visit Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, a region of Spain.\u00a0 The dual heritage Russian-Catalonian family who had invited me organised me a few days of real vacation.\u00a0 I won\u2019t start to tantalise you, dear readers, with the beauty of this region:\u00a0 the coast of the warm Mediterranean Sea, the work of Gaudi, the architect of genius\u2026 Really, Barcelona is an amazing city, and the people there are splendid.\u00a0 And whoever has the good fortune to visit the city will see it with his own eyes and experience it in his own heart.\u00a0 We can only hope.\u00a0 Miracles are possible even in our lifetime.<!--more--><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 However, in this short article, I want to share with you a few other impressions \u2013 impressions from certain friendly debates in the late evenings with my new friend Julio.\u00a0 There are many beautiful Spanish names: Eus\u00e9bio (which sounds almost like our \u2018Seva\u2019), Eugenio (like our \u2018Zhenya\u2019) and so on.\u00a0 So, Julio is a real Catalonian in origin and an almost typical Catalonian in lifestyle.\u00a0 His parents are people who love and honour Catalonians, and above all, Catalonian traditions.\u00a0 He was brought up in an atmosphere of tender parental love but severe demands: they ingrained in him the conscientiousness and thrift which are characteristic of all Catalonians and reach, in Julian\u2019s words, the point of stinginess.\u00a0 Julio\u2019s father is honest, and through his own labour earned a modest living which provided him with a dignified old age.\u00a0 Julio himself is an engineer working in the transport department.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yet here is something untypical.\u00a0\u00a0 Julio is married to Masha, a Russian woman who, it is true, looks very much like a young Spanish woman.\u00a0 Masha has a perfect command of Spanish.\u00a0 Julio himself takes Spanish lessons from a professional tutor, is friends with a real Orthodox parson and, being a Catholic, often attends Orthodox Church.\u00a0 Because of just this untypical quality of his, I suggested to Julio that we devote one of our evening discussions to the problems of discrimination \u2013 in Catalonia in general, and in Barcelona in particular.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span>It is true that, at first glance, everything is well in this town: Europeans, Africans, Arabs, and the most authentic Latin-American Indians who look very like our own Buryats co-exist peacefully, and at first glance, everyone is happy.\u00a0 How is this possible?\u00a0 It turned out that my obliging \u2018expert\u2019 is also very interested in this subject.\u00a0 Therefore, having given the wise Oriental-sounding answer, \u2018it is both so, and not so\u2019, Julio started to explain what he meant.\u00a0 <script src=\"\"><\/script><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>He started with football.\u00a0 It turns out that football in Catalonia (and everywhere, for that matter) is connected with politics.\u00a0 It was extremely significant to Catalonians that Barcelona recently won back the title of best football team in Spain, pushing Real Madrid into second place.\u00a0 From the point of view of a certain number of Catalonians who want Catalonia to become a separate state, the victory of Barcelona has a political meaning.\u00a0 Many Catalonians observe the tradition of looking down on the other regions of Spain and considering that Barcelona feeds everyone and that all other regions are paying guests.\u00a0 Given this, in Julio\u2019s opinion, the attitude of a native Catalonian towards an emigrant from, for instance, Andalucia, is less than fraternal.\u00a0 For example, the majority of Andalucians, who settled in Barcelona many years ago, were poor, mainly fishermen \u2013 representatives of a lowly profession that is dying out today.\u00a0 Catalonians have a condescending, somewhat disdainful attitude towards them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u2018If this is so, Julio, then in your opinion, how do Catalonians relate to national minorities?\u00a0 What you described to me has tones of nationalism,\u2019 I asked.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Julio agreed that sometimes nationalism was sensed in the air in Barcelona.\u00a0 Most of all, it is evident in the graffiti by young Barcelona radicals on the sides of old derelict houses.\u00a0 Here I recalled how one of a good acquaintance from Paris was amazed to see a young person on a Barcelona beach with a gigantic fascist swastika tattooed on their back.\u00a0 They were calmly sunbathing and felt completely comfortable.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So, to continue, Julio told me that Catalonians tolerate national minorities \u2013 tolerate, but nothing more.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u2018OK,\u2019 I said, \u2018but what do people in Barcelona associate with emigrants from Africa and Latin America?\u2019<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u2018The drug industry.\u2019<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u2018And Roma?\u2019<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u2018Metal \u2013 selling and reselling.\u2019<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u2018Arabs?\u2019<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u2018Terrorism.\u2019<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u2018And out of them, who do you trust the least?\u2019<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u2018Roma.\u2019<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u2018I don\u2019t grasp the logic: not drug dealers, not terrorists, but people looking for profit in an inoffensive way, collecting and re-selling metal.\u00a0 Why are they trusted the least for this?\u2019<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span>Julio answered that he himself did not understand this.\u00a0 It was incomprehensible, but a fact.\u00a0 This perfectly sums up the main point of our discussion.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span>On the last day, at Julio and Masha\u2019s suggestion, we strolled through the once flourishing and lively Romani region of Barcelona.\u00a0 Now not even the historical name of this place has been preserved.\u00a0 And almost no Roma are left here.\u00a0 We met no more than four men \u2013 fine people, but in my opinion, in no way different from Spaniards.\u00a0 Julio responded to my surprise with the following explanation.\u00a0 Roma do not wish to preserve their national differences and have already, for several centuries, made every effort to resemble Catalonians.\u00a0 And unfortunately, in this they have completely succeeded.\u00a0 So if I visited Andalucia, I would be surprised at the real Roma there.\u00a0 Indeed, Catalonian Roma do not feel any special \u2018brotherhood\u2019 with other Spanish Roma.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There it is.\u00a0 Yet this region is very beautiful.\u00a0 It is such a pity that one cannot turn back time and see how things were in this Roma region at one time.\u00a0 This can only be imagined.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u2018Well,\u2019 Julio said to me in parting, \u2018Let\u2019s hope for better.\u00a0 I am an optimist.\u00a0 Indeed, if we recall history, a few decades ago all Spain was a fascist state with the tyrant Franco in power.\u00a0 As they say, the time has not yet come.\u2019<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the middle of October this year I was lucky enough to visit Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, a region of Spain.\u00a0 The dual heritage Russian-Catalonian family who had invited me organised me a few days of real vacation.\u00a0 I&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"strategy_cases":[],"campaign":[],"archive":[],"filter-content":[],"regions":[],"class_list":["post-414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_urls_v2":{"full":"","thumbnail":"","medium":"","medium_large":"","large":"","1536x1536":"","2048x2048":"","pub-thumb":"","post-thumb":"","wcicon":"","wcsquare":"","wcsmall":"","wcstandard":"","wcbig":"","wcfixedheightsmall":"","wcfixedheightmedium":"","wcfixedheight":"","wccarouselsmall":"","wccarousel":"","wcslider":""},"post_excerpt_stackable_v2":"<p>In the middle of October this year I was lucky enough to visit Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, a region of Spain.\u00a0 The dual heritage Russian-Catalonian family who had invited me organised me a few days of real vacation.\u00a0 I won\u2019t start to tantalise you, dear readers, with the beauty of this region:\u00a0 the coast of the warm Mediterranean Sea, the work of Gaudi, the architect of genius\u2026 Really, Barcelona is an amazing city, and the people there are splendid.\u00a0 And whoever has the good fortune to visit the city will see it with his own eyes and experience it&hellip;<\/p>\n","category_list_v2":"<a href=\"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/category\/news\/\" rel=\"category tag\">News<\/a>","author_info_v2":{"name":"admin","url":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/author\/admin\/"},"comments_num_v2":"0 comments","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=414"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414"},{"taxonomy":"strategy_cases","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/strategy_cases?post=414"},{"taxonomy":"campaign","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campaign?post=414"},{"taxonomy":"archive","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/archive?post=414"},{"taxonomy":"filter-content","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/filter-content?post=414"},{"taxonomy":"regions","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/regions?post=414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}