RAYUELA
This month we travel to Spain to know in detail the political phenomenon of “Podemos”.
RAYUELA INTRO The South Corner: About an English sandwich 3 The hidden Corner: About some chairs and tables 4 A first impression: About some chips and Canterbury 5 The English corner: About inequality and other realities 6
REPORTAGE The kingdom of the free corrupt. By Irene Praga Guerro. 7
REVIEWS •
The Theory of Everything 10
•
Wild Tales 11
THE SOUTH CORNER ABOUT ENGLISH SANDWICHES AND OTHER DISEASES . Wake up on a normal day, go to your seminar, go to the library and after some hours you’ll be hungry and yes, you know, you’ll be in Essentials buying that amazing sandwich before you realise. Not for me, thanks. Though I’ve already been in England for seven months, the sandwich’s mania is still a mystery to me. Those two slices of bread with butter, a small piece of lettuce, and some sauces with flavours (still I can’t believe the combination of cheese and onion) are a completely cultural enigma for those like me who come from a Mediterranean, hand-made food culture. Yet I was not expecting to find a five-star restaurant on campus, going to Essentials supermarket in my first uni day was absolutely an adventure which I’ve wanted to share with you, English readers. Though you are used to it, I was astonishing to find all food packaged and even onions already cut and ready to be eaten. However, it was in the endless corridors of prepared sandwiches where I found a new world. I knew of their existence but I did not expect at any time to find such a variety of brands and flavours. Of course, I’ve tried many times a cheese-and-ham sandwich but this was something new and unexpected, I found myself surrounded by packs of fast food sandwiches and wraps, which will be devoured in just some hours. The sandwiches’ anecdote just came to my mind when I was this afternoon in my seminar of ‘Writing in the Media’ and the teacher ask for something that had annoyed us that day to begin our article. It is not that I want to start a war against English sandwiches- -in some point yes I do, but I am too peaceful and respectful with other’s cultures- but I was so hungry that the only thing that came to my mind was food. As an international student, I can’t avoid to make comparisons between everything here and in Spain. And one of the biggest differences is food. Yes, it is true that in my faculty’s cafeteria you can ask for a cheese and ham sandwich, but it is warm and it’s been just cooked. You can also have menus with a starter, second meal and a dessert or just a burger if you prefer. But you will not find Essentials or anything similar.
THE HIDDEN CORNER
What these tables and chairs have seen, only they know it. They will keep their silence for the eternity, witnesses of everything and nothing at the same time. Ignorant of their relevance, they will always be faithful to the students without expecting anything in return. They will never know all the masterpieces they helped to create and all the failures in which they make their contribution. In their passive existence they are nothing, but everything. Only them were there when that student wrote his best words at dawn. Only them. They were there when that student found the exact concept, the exact word, the exact thought. Always in their silence place, hidden, waiting for you, the student.
A FIRST GLANCE: I’m starving. I haven’t eaten much in the last 24 hours except for my grandmother’s home made biscuits and some horrible two-minutes-ready in the microwave baconand-cheese maccaroni. I had overweight in my luggage so that jamón serrano, chorizo and cecina (Spanish survival food kit) were kept in Barajas airport in Madrid. It’s Sunday and my family are having lunch all together 2000 km far away in the Continent. Before my departure my mom was saying something about getting fresh calamari for the next day… But I’m not eating calamari today, precisely. Instead, I’m just trying to figure out what my neighbours are saying. What an English accent! I’m smiling next to them incapable of adding anything to the conversation. In some point, we/they decide to walk to town to have lunch. I’m so excited imagining the roast beef in potatoes sauce I’m going to devour. Finally, I’ll be tasting a true one and not my mother’s try! Suddenly, it starts to rain. “Oh, shit” I think. I try to suggest, with my strong Spanish accent, that we should definitely get the bus, shouldn’t we? -
“Just a couple of drops.”
Surprisingly, we go to town… even without an umbrella! Ok… As it is Sunday morning in the Garden of England I expected to find a deserted and calm town with local people taking a walk with their pets to get the Sunday’s The Guardian … or The Times. Nonetheless, when we get to the city centre it’s full of students buying and buying anything. It’s Sunday morning, please, go to sleep! Meanwhile, my hunger is growing every second so I suggest… “Could we go to have lunch somewhere, please?” - “Sure, feel like having chips now. Look, there’s a stand over there.” “Chips, did he say chips, really? As the main meal of the day? OMG!! He must be kidding, English humour is famous.” I think. Five minutes later we are all having chips under the rain. I just wonder where is my roast beef. Seems like I was wrong…I look at the sky and, though it is not sunny at all, and we are not in Casablanca, I can’t help saying:
- “I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”
THE ENGLISH CORNER
It takes you two hours to go to London, Victoria Station from Canterbury Coach Station. Half of the way is in an ordinary highway yet when the coach is getting to London, the landscape slightly changes. I’ve been sleeping the first hour as I was not going to miss many things. But, when I open my eyes I almost doubt where I am. ‘’الطععععععام الحل’ل, ‘русский питание’, ‘Continental Food’ (I love this concept, Continental Food, whatever it means…), 中国内侧中心 , ‘Best Afro-American haircuts’. (???)Where are the pubs, tea shops and Costa Coffe? Garbagge is piled up in the dirty streets, surfaces are no longer cleaned and passers seem to come from anywhere but England. The portrait of Londostani is here a reality. It seems like I woke up in some point in New-Delhi instead of in the heart of the British Empire. Though, it is not clear anymore who is the conqueror and who the conquered. A woman gets out from her house. She is whole covered with a black dress except of her eyes. She meets more covered women. They do not buy in Tesco’s or Sainsbury’s. A Chinese guy is waiting for her friends in this Saturday night
but they are not going to the pub in the corner. The old Colombian lady does not read ‘The Times’, she reads ‘Diario del Sur’ while eats hand-made chili con carne. As the characters of Londostani, they are living in an alternative England far from the football fields and Tea Societies. I get off in Victoria Station, pretty near Westminster where politicians discuss the future of all these millions of English citizens. Nonetheless, Members were not born in Londostani, precisely. I walk just a few miles in the city centre and I find UCL in a rainy English morning. I sit in the campus ‘Costa Coffee’ and quickly notice that something has changed. I can’t see anymore the Chinese guy nor the Colombian lady. May the faces and features of those students next to me be different but all wear the same kind of clothes. They share opinions of the last seminar of politics while they drink a regular coffee, 25% more expensive that the one you but in UKC. In ten years they’ll be in Westminster discussing Londostani. How will be Londostani in ten years? Will the Chinese guy go to a pub? I really hope to find him in Costa Coffe in UCL or UKC but,
please, with the same price in both unis!
THE KINGDOM OF THE FREE CORRUPT “There is no bread for so many chorizos”. Popular slogan used to refer to corrupt people in Spain.
Michael Howard, the former Leader of Conservative Party during the 2005 General Election, has been arrested for alleged fraud, concealment of assets and money laundering at his home yesterday. Howard, who has benefited from the current government’s tax amnesty and is paying only up to 10% in taxes, is also being investigated after using £6 million of public money for his personal expenses. Howard, the expresident of HSBC, used his credit card purchasing around £500 in alcoholic drinks and Air Europa’s flights at £1000£. He also spent £1.50 on the cheapest Tesco sandwiches and a display parking ticket of £3.39. David Cameron told the BBC this morning that “the arrest of Michael Howard is part of the private sphere and I don’t have anything to say”. He also pointed out that “the Government is doing its best to end up with corruption and to punish those who evade taxes.” The Conservative party has avoided making any reference to the man who could have been the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and who is now more close to jail than to Parliament. Fortunately for the UK, this is a fake news. Michael Howard now sits in the House of Lords instead of in the dock. However, in Spain Rodrigo Rato, Minister of the Economy from 1996 to 2004 – and president of Spanish national bank,
Bankia, until its bankruptcy – is heading to trial after being arrested last month. Mariano Rajoy, Spanish Prime Minister, has avoided making any particular declarations related to what could be the biggest investigation against political corruption in Spain in this year. It may only be surpassed by “The Bárcenas case” which is investigating the main figures in the Popular Party (PP) with their relation with illegal payment of bonuses. Thus, there are some questions that worry me: how is it possible to have such a huge amount of corruption in politics in a developed, first world country like Spain that even the Prime Minister is involved in? What consequences does this problem have on the country, in particular on its economy immersed in an endless crisis with up to 25% of unemployment? And, above all, what can be done in order to fix or amend this situation that is leading the country into one of its worst period’s of recession? ****** Due in part to the discredit of the two main parties and the lack of strong alternatives, Spain’s political atmosphere was vague and polluted until big movements of discontented people, like “15-M”, emerged in 2010. Through the assembly of the 15-M movement, many people who until that moment were disengaged in politics felt they had a voice to change a political situation which was moving further from the interests of the citizens. Nevertheless, the movement did not have an apparent continuation in politics. Yet, the flame of something new was there and it could not be burnt so easily. ******** Podemos is the new face of politics in Spain. With only a year and some months of history, Pablo Iglesias, leader of “Podemos” has revolutionized the outdated and worn monopoly of the two main political parties, PP and PSOE, or as he refers to them, “La casta”. “La casta” can be compared with the English “Establishment” that the young journalist Owen Jones has described in detail in his recent book with the same title. In other words, it makes reference to the old and traditional powers that do not have the same success as
they used to, since population is denouncing the big inequality between the rich, the middle and low classes.
Podemos was founded in January 2014 by a group of university professors. They have united the feelings of discontentment from those affected by the current government’s austerity measures and the hope for a renewal of the 15-M movement. They have followed new political strategies, mantaining a constant presence in the media, which contrasts with the current Prime Minister’s, Mariano Rajoy, rare appearances. Podemos represents a gap in Spanish politics as Iñigo Errejón, one of its founders, has pointed out: “Most part of the people don’t think that they are represented nowadays, nor by the two main parties, nor by the old left.” They often describe themselves as “not from the right, nor from the left”, a statement that has been highly criticized as populist. However, they had big success in the European Elections with 5 representatives a year ago. Now they are ensuring they are ready for the next General Election in November 2011. As its leader Pablo Iglesias says, “we’re going to win.” ***** Yet, Podemos is not a common party in Spain. It is the voice of all those young who have to leave the country looking for opportunities but also, of all their mothers that, as its video campaign for the Regional Elections of next week says, “know what is the weather in Germany every day.” Podemos is also the face of PAH, the association against evictions, which is helping to avoid thousands of families having to leave their homes because they can’t face an excessive mortgage. Podemos are all those millions of people who can rarely end the month without having economic problems. Podemos is the 25% of unemployment rate which not only continues growing, but also reducing the social help. Podemos is the public education and health system which has had its budget reduced in an austerity measure “to end up with the crisis”.
Paradise in politics is a utopian thought. Podemos may not be the perfect party not the solution for the terrible crisis in Spain, and they may not resolve anything at the end. But they have achieved that millions of people believe again in the power of politics to change their country. And that, in a place where the “chorizos” have the power regardless of their undeniable corruption, is something already admirable.
ANOTHER BRITISH COMMERCIAL BIOPIC Though it is clear how strongly British people like to look back on their national past and to pay tribute to their icons in films, ‘The Theory of Everything’ (2014) is not a
good example. Stephen Hawking’s biopic turns already in the first scenes, into a simple and conventional love story. Like in the also English recent biopic ‘The Imitation Games’ (2014) with mathematician Turing’s achievements, Hawking’s are insignificant for the story, which is a slight problem since the film is supposed to be based in the physicist figure. Instead, viewers find a plain and artificial film that talks about how a man could deal with his health problems thanks to his always present wife. The “we will go through this together” of the first scenes is continually repeated helped by a moving music that pretends to create a grandiose atmosphere. The film is predictable and anyone who knows Hawking’s name and has read his biography in Wikipedia would find it in most of its parts absolutely boring and unattractive due to its lack of interesting dialogues. Most of the scenes are a succession of fast and irrelevant facts. However, it is absolutely remarkable Redmayne’s performance and his metamorphosis in the unfortunate Hawking’s body - but not in his mind! The actor plays an excellent role and in the film it is well reflected Hawking’s gradual physical alteration. His connection with Felicity Jones is, though superficial, an attempt to show how important relationships are in Hawking’ success. May ‘The Theory of Everything’ be a good product to fill cinemas, yet what is completely clear is that James March needs more than some basic and essential Wikipedia’s data supported by some easy love scenes to become a good and enjoyable film. He needs to have something to say.
BITTER GREAT IDEA That country is the title of a novel by Martin Caparros on Argentina, a study of the political and social reality of a country that is torn between a future full of opportunities and an endless disease stained by political corruption and the obscurantism of their leaders. A country still grounded in Videla's military past and where the recent death of the fiscal Nisman opens a question that no one wants to solve but that at the same time is latent in the everyday life of its complex and sinister political framework. A country of extremes, perfectly reflected in the "Wild Tales" Damian Szifron. Between everything and nothing, crying and laughter, life and death, the director casts a personal look that goes far beyond a mere anecdote, and delves into the daily drama of the reality of Argentina. Szifron explores violence and revenge, mood and pain, in a constant chiaroscuro that reminds us that life is not always a bed of roses, and sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. Chance, or fate, makes the protagonists of its six stories change the course of their lives in minutes. Apparent insignificant details that disrupt and transform their reality, definitely. A flirtation in a plane, crossing insults or driving a car illegally parked are the triggers of a whirlwind in a powerful narrative and sharp nod about the insignificance of human life.