The credit spree previous to the crash affected people’s behavior and changed some healthy habits from our lifestyle. We were a country where people had a strong culture of going out to socialize in bars –we still are but in a much lesser extent-, happy to go on holiday to our own coast and not minding too much if their cars weren’t precisely the latest model. Due to economic growth, rise in employment and easy access to credit everybody, like in many parts in the developed world, got brand new cars, expensive houses and holidays abroad at the expense of the small luxuries the average Spaniard enjoyed daily.

The now! Current State of Affairs

Spain is a country with many shortcomings but with excellent assets. From my personal point of view pessimism, lack of self-belief and a too high level of unemployment is the biggest threat for the future of our nation. We have the talent, the people and the infrastructure. Our science has improved enormously in the last year. Unfortunately the country is not capable to make this research profitable. Some of our translational companies (we had none in the 80s!) are amongst the biggest in the world (Santander, BBVA, Ferrovial, Telefónica, Endesa and many more) Our road and train networks, ports and airports are world-class. We have one of the largest, if not the largest, high speed railway in the world. Our university has educated a good number of very capable professionals that our labour market is not able to absorb. Instead other nations are benefiting from this situation hiring many of these Spaniards who cannot develop their professional career in their homeland. I believe that if we could progress before it is not impossible to repeat it again. On 20^th November 2011 a new conservative government has been elected. It has received massive support. Regarding the colour of the current government I would like to recall to the words that Deng Xiaoping pronounced on one occasion: “doesn’t matter if a cat is black or white, so long as it catches mice”. Using bad words: I honestly don’t give a fuck about the colour of the government as long as this is able to harness all the good things the country have and it is capable of turning the tide.  We cannot be that bad. If we have the talent to win world championships in all sort of sports we must have it to save our own neck.

Perhaps, the best way to find out is watching a selection of videos from Youtube with English subtitles that I have specially made for the readers of Espain Is Different.

- Celebrities of the World (By the guys of the programme Muchachada Nui)

All the celebrities represented speak with a very particular village accent from the region of La Mancha.

Bono (U2)

Margaret Thatcher

Bjork

- Que Vida Mas Triste

Some guys from the Basque Country started to make amateur homour videos and uploading them on the Internet. Today they are famous. It is basically about loosers.

- Crackovia

Now, let’s go to the matter. If you read my introduction in “About”  I don’t give much information about myself. I will tell you that I live in the United Kingdom’s capital. As many capitals in many countries, London is a stressful and rough place in many ways. So, as you can imagine, people in here are not looking after you. I know generalizing is not good, but it is true that GENERALLY speaking one does not feel the warm of the people. London is a multicultural, multi-ethnic city where most of the people have time only to care about themselves (Remember I am only generalizing). Well, till here it is all normal.

But I live in a country called UK, in England more specifically. In London, it is normal that, till you don’t reach a certain stage (uni, professional jobs, etc.) you don’t meet English people. I have reached it now. I regard myself as a keen social observer. It is inevitable to draw comparisons about what you knew -where you come from- and what you are getting to know (England and its people). I must acknowledge that what I am going to write about as an outsider is based on a shallow and very superficial knowledge of the locals.

Conclusions: stereotypical? I don’t know but this is how I feel about the matter

I want to make clear that I don’t consider English people bad people, but they are definitely different to Spanish people (this blog is about Spain, isn’t it?). A way to understand the Spanish mindset and culture is putting it against others’ culture. We must never forget that these conclusions are constraint to the knowledge of a limited reality and geographical area which has not necessarily be representative of the whole. There we go!:

- English socializing ways against Spanish ones in the workplace: we, Spaniards are definitely more spontaneous than English people. In my workplace I noticed that within and, especially in the surrounding areas, when you walk and meet your colleagues (unless you work with them closely) in your way, they tend to look to avoid any eye contact or greeting. This is the case of my manager. She is a sweet girl but saying hello and looking at you when she meets you in her way is not one her strong points. Of course, she is not alone on this. This is why I regard this behaviour as an English people’s trait. Thanks God, there are exceptions … one of the guys in Print and Dispatch is always greeting me for my name (by the way, I someone told me people in England was like this till the 70s). This does not mean, we Spaniards, hug and kiss one another every time we meet one another, but at least we say hello or make a minimum gesture. We are definitely more informal in out social relationships. One feels the charm more easily. It is not uncommon to receive a pat from someone you don’t know really well. Let’s face it: we are more easy-going.

- English people are in their business, they are not intrusive. We are! I would like to repeat as many times as needed that generalizing is not good but this post is about perceptions.  Probably it is a consequence of the safety distance I wrote about but everyone being in their business and not putting their nose on others’ is a virtue from this blogger point of view. Spaniards tend to make comments about what you wear, what you should and what you shouldn’t do. This is remarkable family wise. Families in Spain are very supportive protective toward their offspring (this is something good and bad at the same time, but this is another debate) but also very, very intrusive. Because of that, parents and brothers use to claim special powers to influence ones life. I don’t know English people that well but I have the feeling this is not the case. I think the philosophy here is that you are in charge of your life so you need to learn to look after yourself.

- English socializing is too programmed, ours is more natural and spontaneous. I am opened to criticism. I don’t want to seem chauvinistic but after living in London for some years this is my perception. The best way to illustrate is thoughts is, of course, with examples.

Speaking to a fellow countrywoman the other day we came to the conclusion that any social gathering made by English people must be previously scheduled and arranged with sufficient time. Social gatherings here are quite “institutionalised”. She told me that, if the group she worked with (we work in an office) decided to having lunch,  this would be proposed by e-mail (in my group we do the same). In Spain this proposal would be done loud -Vamos a tal sitio. Os venis? ( We go to X place, wanna come?): no more hassle, easy!).

- Go and ask for a beer in UK and don’t mention a “please” and “thanks” or any of its variants and the waiter will kill you with his eyes. It sounds bloody rude! In Spain would be, ponme una caña! (put me a half-pint) and end of the story (I must clarify that this does not apply to all the people but to the the many). The waiter does not feel offended. In this regard, according to that reputed author called myself , the score is clear, England 1- Spain 0. Manners are never too much.

I guess the article could go on for hours. There is enough material to write an essay but my time is limited so the article is finished now! From now on I hope that I will be more regular writing on this blog but I don’t want to make promises that I may eventually break. I cannot help, I am a busy man.

The first region in this series is Galicia. Galicia has  given many important figures to the country. Probably, the most famous is Francisco Franco, the dictator who ruled the country for almost 40 years. It is not something to be proud of, but this is a fact. Galician people are famous for many reasons. A very large percentage of the Spanish emigration came from Galicia.

Galicians earned a reputation of being hard-workers who moved where necessary to seek fortune. Many of them succeeded in their enterprise and are wealthy business men. In Argentina, for instance, we Spaniards are called “Gallegos”. This was due to the large number of Galicians who emigrated to the South-American country in the 20th century. If I had to find example of similar kind of emigrants I can think of Polish today and Irish and Portuguese in the past. Where I am from, Castile, I heard from the elder that in the past Galicians came from their poor area to Castile to collect the harvest and that they were outstanding hard-workers. Let’s note that the richest man in Spain is Amancio Ortega, who owns Inditex and subsequently brands like Zara.

Galicians are also famous for speaking in a very honeyed way and answering questions with more questions. This is a very distinctive trait of Galician people. Franco was described as a very ambiguous person. The current leader of the opposition, the conservative Mariano Rajoy, is famous for his ambiguity -you don’t know if he is going or coming-.

Lately, Galicians are gaining a reputation for something not as nice, drug consumers and traffickers. The Galician Mafia uses to make business with the Colombian drug traffickers what has finally infested the Galician society. Sadly enough, they are renowned for this reason.

Finally they have one of the best culinary in a country where food is religion, especially their seafood.

Warming up the conversation with some beers and tapas

I found some interesting quotations which I would like to highlight:

“Spain is the place where, in my experience, the art of savoir vivre has attained the highest peak of refinement. Or, as the Spaniards themselves never tire of saying: “En España, se vive muy bien” – In Spain, one lives very well. Truly, it is remarkable how often I hear people say this. It is a cliché embedded in the national consciousness. Typically, once they have delivered themselves of what I have discovered to be their chief article of secular faith, the Spaniards will explain that they have travelled in other countries and that, enchanting as these might be, they lack Spain’s sheer quality of life. They will tell you this even if they have never set foot outside Spain.”

I entirely agree with it. We Spaniards blame and flagellate ourselves and regard our country as one far away from the level development of the most advanced countries. It is somehow a complex of inferiority. It is a contradiction that within Spain being nationalist -which is perfectly normal in countries like Britain or U.S.- is a reason to be ashamed for many in our society. However, when it comes to our lifestyle, everybody, if not most of the people, has the same perception: despite all our problems and regardless any negative circumstance something is crystal clear… there is no country on Earth where people live as well as in Spain. Right or wrong this is a self-perception.

A good example of this is my own mother. Sometimes when having a meal cooked by my mum this issue comes into conversation. She uses to tell that there is not better country to live than Spain and that is why swarms of foreigners -thinking of them in this context not as foreigners coming from poorer countries but the other way round- come to our country to stay. She mentions how often these foreigners confirm this perception saying that in Spain one lives very well. My dad and me ironically counter-argue saying that it she seems the only person who has a country and that there are many people happily living in their countries. But she is stubborn and sheer sticks to that belief.

It is true that these statements are arguable but I believe they reflect an element of truth. Most of the 45 M people living in the country thinking the same way cannot be very wrong.

Few years ago we were selling rifles to developing countries. Today most of the Spanish weaponry exports are directed to Europe. And the business is profitable. However, the military research is not seen with distrust by the rest of the Spanish scientific community. Spanish scientists see the industry as evil. This feeling aggravated in 1999 with the so-called “rebellion of the white coats”. It was found that 54% of the Spanish R&D money was devoted to military research. Some argue this should not be a problem since military technology can be applied for civil purposes as it has been shown throughout history. Some argue that this hostility is a product, among others, of the association between Fraquism and military R&D.

There is definitely a contradiction between the pacifist Spanish society -before the recession few applied for the Army- and her highly advanced and profitable miliary industry.

To learn more read this ARTICLE

Scholars, teachers and students are comfortable in a stagnant system where discussion and criticism are absent. I have found this sad truth when studying my current MA International Relations in Britain and after speaking to friends of mine studying BAs. I have had the chance to confront the two systems and compare each other. Under this perspective I want to make some points.

The dynamic of the lessons

In Britain you the lessons are divided in lectures and seminars. In the lecture the teacher makes an outline of the given topic. Afterward the teacher runs a debate on the topic which the students have previously read about. By discussing the topic and reading about the topic the students actively engage with the contents.

In the Spanish university instead, the teacher lectures the students using almost the whole time, not giving them the chance to discuss the matter properly. Moreover there are not previous readings on the topic. The method is rather simplistic: the teacher speaks out for 50 minutes and the students take notes. It is not always like this, true, but most of the time. As you can guess this dynamic is all but motivating.

Research culture

In the UK since the very beginning of your chosen course you do research. You look up information, write essays and reference your sources. By doing this you learn how to make proper research and with the years you eventually can become a proper researcher. In Spain, the student work is reduced to notemaking in the lectures and memorizing these same lectures. Sad, is it not? All the most a student can do is to make briefings of books (and many times, what a coincidence, the teacher´s book). Even if you research on something, with copying something of what is written in a very few books is enough. According to my experience research culture is almost nonexistent at BA levels. The Bolonia process represents a challenge to this establishment and this culture. I hope it is for good.

I will continue this issue in a second part writing about the book lists students are given to read in their modules and the lack of competition in the teaching career at university levels.

One of the most common blames is the one that says that one of the reasons of the  underdevelopment in Latinamerica is that the Spaniards stole the gold of those lands and that’s why they are impoverished. This appreciation is quite childish to be honest. It is well known that the Spanish conquerors  brought to motherland vast ammounts of gold in their galleons. They conquered and exploited the American land and its peoples at a very high cost in lives and condemmed many to semi-slavery at best. Imperialism is bad by definition. However, some empires have been more damaging than others. Some empires leave an useful legacy that can be used for good. Others leave just nothing. The Spanish left behind a number of universities, public buildings, cathedrals, churches, etc. Moreover, the Spanish, even if unintendedly, gave one of the most precious tools for economic development, a common language for millions of people in a number of countries, concentrated all of them in a very specific geographical area. Well used, this common language can help Latin-Americans to achieve growth, prosperity and further integration among these countries. Have a look to the European Union and you will find that not all Europeans can understand one another. Latin-Americans can.

Latin-America is free from Spain for 200 years already. I think is time for them to move on and not to be eternally outraged and blaming some guys who came to conquer their land from the other side of the Atlantic long time ago for the Latin-America backwardness and the bad things that happened to them, and that eventually happen in the future. This is not fair.

The Iberian Peninsule was invaded by Greeks, Roman and Arabs and we are not blaming Greeks, Italian, Arabs, Algerians and others for the bad things that their ancestors did to our people. Of course, the ruthless conquest of America by Spanish is regretable but whatever happened must be seen in historical terms, taking as a framework the circumstances of the time when these developments occurred. When the Kingdom of Spain commenced the conquest of the New World it had just left behind 800 years of constant warfare against Muslims. In this time too, around 1500, Spain was surging as the rising hegemon in Europe with numerous wars to fight to hold this hegemony. Added to this, Spanish people genuinaly believed they were the chosen ones by God to spread the true religion over the World. Next to this there was the chance to realise the unnoble wishes of these warriors thirsty of wealth and glory. America gave them the opportunity.

With all due respect, asking for pardon where due, I hope Latin-American people become more understanding and mature in this issue, they overcome it and move on.

]]> http://espainisdifferent.wordpress.com/2010/03/01/next-latin-american-backwardness-our-fault/feed/ 0 espainisdifferent American Gold Spanish Galleons were loaded with gold and silver Spanish Maravedi Slums in Latin-America Spanish trade with the American colonies http://espainisdifferent.wordpress.com/2010/02/23/next-colonial-empire/ http://espainisdifferent.wordpress.com/2010/02/23/next-colonial-empire/#comments Tue, 23 Feb 2010 03:46:18 +0000 espainisdifferent http://espainisdifferent.wordpress.com/?p=238 ]]> Every Spaniard travelling to Latin America has to listen the blames for what our ancestors did. Were we that bad?, more bloodthirsty than Dracula? Were they good souls trying to deliver the word of the true God?. I will try to make an approach to this issue on Historical terms and I will briefly introduce the Black Legend.

Latin America is independent of the Kingdom of Spain since early 19th century. However Latin-American people seems to have an excellent memory, although a biased one. Of course, what my ancestors did was despicable in many regards but this fact would not deter us to get closer to the truth and trying to be fair in our historical judgement. It is obvious the main driver of the Conquest was, as mention above, the good wish of bringing the true God to the indigenous people of the Americas -or Las Indias, which is how Spaniards used to refer to this part of the world- but the desire for profit.

Spaniards are blamed for the killing of millions of native Americans. To what extent is correct such statement? In the sixteenth century Bartolome de las Casas denounced the abuses and massive killings of the conquerors in an attempt to stop the widespread abuses and defended the “Indians”. The publications of Las Casas were seized by the enemies of Spain, specially the English and the Dutch -as History shows no less cruel than the Spanish the least-, to bolster the Black Legend which sought to discrediting Spain. The idea of pogroms of indigenous people by the Spanish is arguable. With the armies and weaponry of the time this idea is, from my point of view, ridiculous. If there was a weapon of mass destruction this were the European diseases which would have arrived soon or later anyway.

Another reason for the decimation of the original indigenous race, but not the indigenous themselves was the “mestizaje” or  racial mix. This reason is not very well publicised but it is very important. People should pay attention to this. It had its bad and good things. If we understand the bad as the disappearance of the original tribes… here we go!

In our current society it can be observed that being Franquist is not something very trendy indeed. Neither for young people nor for older ones. But for me there is something very difficult to counter-argue, despite I do not have clear evidences, and it is that Francisco Franco Bahamonde enjoyed a great popularity in his time. In fact many were those who went to pay their respects when he died. And I do believe that this last good bye to the ruler was genuine and sincere. More than 30 years after this seems something of the past and Franco an accident of History that would never have happened. I agree with the second, but I reaffirm myself in what I said first.

And my belief is such that I think that if there were been held free democratic elections with all the guarantees Franco would have won for an smashing difference over other candidates. I know many people thing this is an aberration but if we want to be honest about the reality of that time we must acknowledge this. Franco was a ruler, Franco was a tyrant, Franco was a criminal but Franco had lot of popular support in his time.