To Iberia And Beyond

Amazing Guacamole

Recently I've have had various adventures and seen various things that do not form an overarching theme so forgive me for the staccato nature of this post.

This morning Melanie and I made our own guacamole for guacamole and cheese subs. It was amazing. I found an ingredient list on the Food Network website. Looking at the list together started the conversation of measuring in American kitchens. I read my friend Allison's blog where she writes about her time studying abroad in France, so I was in the know that the French don't really do the whole teaspoon/tablespoon/cup thing but more of a "coffee spoon" thing. Melanie had heard that Americans do kitchen measuring "differently" and she said "isn't a teaspoon about the size of a mug?" I immediately imagined the Hey Arnold episode where they go for a world's record by baking the world's biggest calzone but it ends in a massive explosion when Sid confused tsp for ten square pounds so I had to wait to stop laughing to show her how big a teaspoon is. (I tried finding the clip on youtube but it doesn't exist).

While on the Food Network website I explained the whole concept of having a cooking network and using their recipes, which doesn't seem to be a thing here. I went into a little bit explaining how some of these chefs are actually pretty famous, I talked a little about Emril but in retrospect I should have explained the Rachael Ray phenomenon. I then explained how Alton Brown is the man. She thinks I'm a little fixated on him but that's only because she hasn't met my cousin Nat. I decided not to mention other similar single issue focused channels, like the History channel to keep the source of pretty much all my WWII knowledge a mystery.

Once again, the guacamole was amazing and I am currently the happiest of campers.

The other day I went to a friend's thesis defense thing for his doctorate in American Studies. A British member of his professor panel said that America has no culture and that British English is the "preferred" English. I expressed my outrage to Melanie who said that a big difference between my English and the Brit's English is that when he talks his words are distinguishable, ouch. Another member of the professor panel referred to Obama (in English) as "a Superhero and a Supersavior," so the panel had some mixed feelings about the US.

While wearing my Georgetown running shorts and my First Amendment t-shirt, I taught Melanie to throw an American football and a bit about how the game is played. It was an American afternoon. For someone who had only seen a football in movies she was able to throw a decent spiral by the end.

I was at a party and an Irishman and I were chatting with a girl who had a distinct accent in English. I asked if she was from Ireland, he asked if she was from the US, ends up she was from Bolivia. Go figure.

I've started to notice something very odd about Erasmus (the European study abroad program) parties. First off, at any given moment Spanish, English, French, German, Italian and Portuguese is being spoken, depending on the size of the party, but I've been in places where among 20 of us 11 countries were represented and about 9 languages. But secondly, if you were to be struck deaf for a moment you could easily think that you were at a party in the US (well, besides the drinks*). Erasmus parties are very integrated and so there isn't a definitive "look" of the people, some might even call it a "melting pot" or a "salad bowl," some might even call this mix "delicious." Whatever it is, it's very American. Spain is more or less a homogeneous nation and you notice it walking down the street. A fun thing about this experience is I'm getting much better at figuring out accents and nationalities. My American-dar is pretty good now.

I also watched the Barcelona vs Manchester United soccer championship the other day in a packed bar. About three people there were Manchester United fans. And as I am in Spain I did not hear one person say "If you aren't a Manch, you a wank." In the end I went against Pepi's advice and rooted for Barca, betraying my fellow Anglophones. I thought it was cool that the referees got to shake hands with King Juan Carlos of Spain, Prince William of England, Zapatero and Berlusconi^ (it was in Rome). I did also notice that Berlusconi fell asleep while sitting between the King of Spain and a Prince of England. I looked a bit but I can't find an article mentioning that or a youtube clip. But I swear, the dude fell asleep watching the most important soccer match of the year.

And last but not least, I almost was able to use the line "Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition". Maria was asking a guest a lot, a lot of questions and we joked about her being a little nosy. I was able to squeeze in a "what's this, the Spanish Inquisition" line, but it just wasn't the same. One day I'll pull that line off, laugh uncontrollably, and then have to explain why its funny to a very bewildered group of people.

I can only dare to dream.

*In Spain calimocho, sangria, red wine (never white for some reason), liqueurs, rum and coke and 40s are at every party. No kegs and no jungle juice. In fact most Europeans I know haven't heard of jungle juice before although they are intrigued by the concept.

^Thanks to Allison for catching the spelling error and my bad joke I made because of it.

Done with Exams: Reflections in a Shade of Blue

I just finished a semester of study in Salamanca, Spain. Honestly, it wasn’t much. It wasn’t a matter of easy or hard, it wasn’t really either, but more of a simple or complex thing. It was simple. I studied for a semester in a foreign country and language, I learned more about other cultures and I taught others about my cultures. I refined my opinions on policy matters, I learned a little more about Spanish history, Islam, air pollution, forest protection, sustainable agriculture and sociology. It may not sound like much because…well, it wasn’t much. My environmental classes taught me minutia on the topics which I already knew the foundation. My sustainable agriculture class was a little more detailed version of a section of The Omnivore’s Dilemma; my forest class was just a slightly more detailed look at how forests work than what I already knew from living an earth-conscious life; etc. My knowledge wasn’t broadened this semester; it was deepened…a little. A didn’t learn a new idea that shook my world view or was far different from what I already had. It was just incremental learning, the kind of learning that is very hard to feel like you’ve done.

I don’t feel like I learned much academically this semester. That isn’t to say I aced all my exams, but passing exams doesn’t mean you’ve learned. I got questions wrong like “which of the following species is attracted to the color blue?” “A stick of a diameter of 20 mm will burn completely in how much time?” Little was asked of me this semester, so I did little. I have worked harder on my two blogs this semester than I have in school. Something is wrong.

The group of students who studied abroad in Salamanca last year told us before we left that we were going to learn far more outside of the classroom than inside it. I didn’t realize how right they were. 

Culturally I guess I have learned things. I have learned that I dig film noir, old French movies, learning French; I’ve learned a few recipes, learned about actual communists, anarchists, and neo-Nazis, I’ve seen most of Western Spain and a good chunk of Belgium. I saw the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, I’ve learned about Spanish and European outlooks on things, I’ve learned about nationalist movements and I dispelled a few stereotypes and regretfully, I gained some new ones.

The biggest thing I did was satisfy my curiosity about Spain. A classmate of mine asked me if I plan on coming back to Spain. I said yes but to a larger city. Honestly, I don’t know. I don’t think I will miss Spain. Café con leche, tortilla and other things are pretty good, but Spain doesn’t call to me and right now, I’m pretty much ready to leave and ready to start actually working and actually learning again.

More or less now officially starts my summer vacation which I will spend traveling around Europe and learning more linguistic and cultural things. In theory, I will be living the good life, calm and worry free with all the French I can learn and fromage I can eat. But I’m not really excited for it. Maybe it’s because I haven’t had my spirit ground down by the working world, but I think that the summer I have planed ahead of me is little more than egotistical self-indulgence. And in a way, I think that is how I feel about my time in Spain.

Maybe I came here for the wrong reasons. I came here to see Spain, to see Europe. There was nothing I wanted to study here that I couldn’t in the US, this was little more than some academic tourism. I am not much more of a person now that I was before. I’ve seen more of the world and talked to people of a different stripe than I would have at home, so what? I came here to have my world view changed, and it wasn’t changed much. 

I talked to my brother Seth about this and he said that, “growth is disorienting, you develop a center of gravity then BAM, what you know of the world changes, broadens, complexifies and you lose your center of gravity since the mass of the universe has changed and you must regain it.”

Maybe he’s right and I am so disoriented with my experience that I can’t take a good look at myself and my experience and evaluate it. I guess I’ll take a breath, a step back and stop trying to judge my time here and just be. And when I decide I have enough distance to look back on this experience with a clear mind, I will have this blog to help me out.

Oh Wait, I Never Finished My Spring Break Stories

Yeah...sorry about that. I know you guys have been on the edge of your seats since April 28th when I left you with that amazing cliffhanger of "We said our goodbyes as they headed out to find lunch and I headed out Jessie’s house for my bag and to get ready for Passover."  Now I will recommence with the story telling but no pictures as I can't put my pictures from my camera onto my computer:

I went to Passover services at an orthodox synagogue (whose name I forget now but I'm pretty sure it was by the Ruben Dario stop on the Green Line/the 5 line). While waiting in line with other foreign students who were doing their study/interning abroad experience I chatted a little with some Frenchmen and a fellow American about our respective searches for a synagogue in Spain. After a light pat down I was allowed in. I grabbed a sidur, and said goodbye to the girls I had met as they went up to their seats in the balcony and went to my seat on the main floor (it was orthodox after all).

The next hour and a half or so of my life was one of the more confusing ones I have had. I've always had issues following along during services as I don't go enough to remember the order of things and what pages we need to be on, but usually I can muster through as the rabbi or cantor occasionally announces what page we are on. That is not how things go down in either the orthodox tradition or in that particular synagogue. I'm not really sure as that is only the second orthodox service I've been to, AND it was the first Passover service I can recall ever going to. At no point were pages called out, although at the speed they we going in I don't think it would have done me much good. Everything was in Hebrew except for the Rabbi's spiel which was in Spanish. I was a little let down that I didn't get to hear Ladino, oh well. The oddest part of the evening, well besides the fact that I had blue hair in an orthodox Jewish synagogue in Spain, was that I bumped into a guy I met on my Birthright trip from last year, who I haven't seen since.

After services I went to a family's house for a Passover Seder which, as some of you with excellent memories may remember that I alluded to in an earlier post. I was introduced to the family by a friend of a friend of a friend of my dad which really makes me love Jewish geography. The majority of the family was fluent in French, Spanish, Hebrew and English and they had a variety of haggadahs in the four languages. Conversation generally sticked to English, sometimes Spanish and occasionally French, so I was able to participate. Since they were a sephardic family I was very curious to see the differences between their traditions and the ashkenasi tradition. Ends up there wasn't much of one, although there was the passing of the Seder plate over everyone's heads while reciting blessings, which was very neat and a little disconcerting since the plate looked heavy. Luckily no accidents were had.

About 16 hours later, I was in Barcelona.

Recap and General Update

This morning I had my first exam in Spain. It was for my class on Politics and Violence of Spain in the 30s and it consisted of three questions. The professor originally told us it would be based on two, but when test time started today she asked us how many questions she told us we would have and then put it up for a vote to see if we would like a third after reading off the first two questions. The third question was unanimously requested. An odd thing about the exam is that she never wrote down the questions, she just read them off. Of course that meant I had to ask her to come tell me what the questions were as I missed some of what she said and the first question was not grammatically structured to be a question. As a whole she asked some very fair and relatively interesting questions. Nicely done Spanish university educational system.

Next on my list is to actually turn in my Islam papers. I wrote them about a week ago but I haven't printed them out yet, I should get on that. Today I also turned in my group essay for my Social Ecology class (which I'm somewhat proud of even if it's pretty much the story of stuff, but a little more academic) so I'm practically 3/6 --> 1/2 of the way done with my finals.

My next exam is Wednesday, it is on sustainable agriculture. The class was relatively easy (it's pretty much the chapter from the Omnivore's Dilemma about the small scale integrated farm). I have also already studied a bit for it and it's mainly multiple choice. My next exam is Air Pollution which is on Saturday morning. Oy. Tonight I will start studying for that and it won't be fun even though that exam is also mainly multiple choice. And to wrap it all up I have my Forest class exam next Thursday which is all multiple choice and will be a snap.

Then I hang around Salamanca till the 8th waiting for my grades and the chance to speak with professors if there is an issue. Then from the 9th to the 16th, Melanie and I will be exploring Andalusia. We will be mainly couch surfing (hopefully) so our schedule is very flexible. I would love to go to Cordoba and see what I had studied about all this semester in my Islam class.

Then it's back to the home base of Salamanca from the 16th-25th. Day trips may be had. But in the afternoon of the 25th of June, 1 month and 1 week from today, we will be boarding a bus to Strasbourg France....Yes, that's right. A BUS to France...a 25 hour bus ride to the French/German boarder. Melanie assures me that the 25 hour bus ride will be easy and that watching the beautiful French country side will be a great way to pass the time* and that her village an hour or so away from Strasbourg actually exists and she's not just leading me into the Black Forest where I will be eaten by a witch.

Oh and yes, one of these days I'll finish writing about my Spring Break. I haven't even gone into detail about my crazy/weird 24 hours in France.

And Pepi has been practicing her piano a lot. She is getting better, which is good. But she has also been playing "lullaby and goodnight" a lot, veeery slowly as she is getting the notes down. So I am nearly constantly being lulled to sleep while I try to study. Some might suggest studying on my bed as a lullaby is slowly being played in the background is not a good idea....they would be correct.

My time is starting to free up some more, so get ready for some more postings. Although I did promise Energy Matters I'd post some stuff there soon. At any rate, the more free time I have means the more writing I will be able to do so get pumped!

*I'm accused of being an American-loving nationalist here, but I would never say a fun way to pass a 25 hour bus ride in the States would be watching the scenery go by. My nation is beautiful, amber waves of grain and such, but 25 hours of looking out a window does not sound like oodles of fun in any country.

Spanish Political Parties Race!

Ok, well maybe race is a slightly misleading word. But after walking by the office of the leftist party UGT (the General Union of Workers) and having passed the office of the anarchist political party CNT (National Confederation of Labor) and that of PSOE (Spanish Socialist Worker's Party) as well as having studied all three in their involvement in the Second Spanish Republic and the Civil War, I decided it might be a good idea to send them emails (plus the conservative group PP-"People's Party" who are relatively new on the scene) and ask to chat with someone from their office about their history, their ideology and the future of Spain.

I sent nearly identical emails first to UGT then to CNT then PSOE and then PP (I changed the email in PSOE to reflect the fact that they're in control of the government now and I mentioned that I go to Georgetown in the PP email since their former head, Aznar, now sort of works there/is somehow involved with us). But the difference in email time was no more than 10 minutes.

We will be able to learn a few interesting things from this experiment. First off, I have yet to get an automatically generated response saying something like, "thank you for your concern and email, we will have a representative look at it and get back to you in a timely fashion but please read our website for more information" from any of the groups. The next thing that'll be interesting to see is who writes back first and who doesn't write back at all. After that it'll be curious to see who actually accepts a request from a "student journalist" who is looking to increase his own understanding of Spain as well as spread this understanding via a certain travel/culture blog.

Finally it will be very interesting to actually sit down with these people and hear what they have to say. I'll keep you guys posted on any developments.

Who am I representing to Whom?

I have learned many things about various individuals this semester. The issue is I don't know how to categorize this knowledge and make statements of greater value. How do I know if what I'm experiencing is Western Culture, European Culture, Western European Culture, Southern European Culture, Iberian Culture, Mediterranean Culture, Catholic Culture, Spanish Culture, Western Spanish Culture, Center Spanish Culture, Liberal Spanish Culture, Conservative Spanish Culture, Castilla y Leon Culture, Salamanca Culture or am I just witnessing the actions of individuals?

How can I as a "bridge between cultures" be an adequate means of intercultural understanding if I don't even know which cultures I'm helping understand each other?

Salamanca is different than Barcelona which is different than Paris which is different than Frankfurt which is different than Kiev, but they do have some things in common. How can I honestly explain "Spanish" culture without mistakenly explaining European culture or Human nature?

A great thing about studying abroad in Europe is that I know many Europeans, not just Spaniards (in fact I know very few Salamantinos). So I've met Belgians, Germans, French, Spaniards, Italians, Portuguese, Englishmen, Bulgarians, Russians, Irishmen, Scotsmen, etc. But I've only met half a handful of each (besides Spanish) so statistically I can't make any claims of "truth" or "trends".

What I "know" about Spanish culture and European culture I have been taught or I have read. Some of what I've seen has supported these "facts" and some has contradicted it.

I can't make an authoritative statement on any sort of culture based on what I have seen since my life is not a scientific study of culture. I can say that bullfighting is illegal in Barcelona which suggests that most of them do not like it, meanwhile bullfighting news is on tv in Salamanca which suggests that they are interested in it. But I can't make any concrete statement about culture.

I can't even do it about my own culture. I have been told that I am acting as a "cultural ambassador of the United States" and that my actions, words and behaviors reflect upon the rest of Americans.

But I am hardly a representative of my own University or my as-yet-defined home town, or can I even think to claim that I represent the United States? How can I be reasonably treated as a representative of a nation when I still haven't seen Texas, much of the south and a good chunk of the west? Heck I still haven't set foot in every state in New England*. I have spent a lot of time in the Mid-Atlantic region but I can't say I am a typical Philadelphian, New Yorker, or even a DCist.

I don't feel like I can call a particular city home^ and I haven't seen most of the region I think I'm from** but somehow I am here and being treated as a representative of a nation the size of a continent, most of which I have not seen.

I don't know who I am and here I have no idea who I'm talking to. But somehow we learn about each other and develop vague ideas about various cultures. I can't say I know a whole lot about Spanish culture since I've seriously spoken with two adult Spaniards with jobs. I have spoken briefly with one Spaniard that voted for the rightist political party PP. I have not seriously spoken with the part of Spain that has careers and gets things done so I can I say I know Spain?

I don't know anything about cultures. But I guess I have some general ideas about them and I suppose that serves me well enough. Maybe it's like political systems and the rest of life. All I need is a decent enough idea to work from, and the details aren't that crucial.

But the details ARE important when studying and when trying not to piss off someone. People are touchy about identity. There are a band of people from Pais Vasco who'd be less than pleased with me if I called them Spanish and referred to Castellano as Spanish. Just as Josh said to Cher from Clueless when she didn't understand whats the big deal about confusing Central American countries, "You get mad if anyone thinks you live below Sunset."

So I'm going to keep hammering out the details here in Spain and Europe and when I get home I am going to try to do a little more exploring to learn more of the details about my homeland. So get ready The South and West, I'm heading over!^^

*One day I will visit Rhode Island
^Sorry Montclair, Merion and Bethesda, I tell people I'm from DC now
**I still haven't been to the Eastern Shore of Maryland
^^When I have free time...

Will the South Rise Again?

I am shocked that today I had a conversation with Birgit, a German friend, and Pepi in which I had to explain why the United States will never have a revolution or another civil war.

I am still trying to make sense of it but basically, Birgit said that you can never know what’s going to happen in the political world. I argued that we have a democracy that works well enough and when people are pissed at the government, they elect someone else. I said that while we have some issues with representation and some people have a little more influence than others, the system works well enough that people are generally happy enough. Even in the Bush years when the nation was more divided than it has been in a long time, the idea of a populist revolution was insane. It is far easier and more peaceful to protest, write letters, and more importantly campaign for change when election season starts.

They countered with saying “well what if the president decides not to step down?”….

What? I’m sorry, I’ve read and enjoyed America 2014: An Orwellian Tale which is a modern 1984 and takes place during Bush’s  3^rd or 4^th term when all other parties besides the GOP are outlawed, but it is a work of fiction. No president has ever tried to maintain control after loosing an election and I cannot imagine one trying to do it. I’m guessing that the worst case scenario would be them forcibly removed from the White House.

They contested that a president could get the support of the military and thus stay in power. That can’t happen when the military is an apolitical organization with loyalties to the rightly elected President.

They suggested that a working class uprising could happen to throw off the “ruling” class. I know there is a big income gap in the US and some working conditions aren’t that great, but Americans are not going to “try to throw off the yolk of capitalism” just because they are getting $7 an hour. They’ll move and look for a better job. Those who have the resources will try to get more training to get a better job. 

Pepi said that when people are hungry they become more radical and might revolt. And yes, we have hunger in the US, but as Amartya Sen says in “Democracy as Freedom,” no democracy has ever had a famine nor will they ever due to their representative nature.

They called me a nationalist because they said I was saying how the American system is perfect. I wasn’t saying that though, our system is not perfect and we are still working to create a more perfect union. Our system is designed so that we don’t need great people as our politicians but we need decent people. It is set up so that we really just need a decent person with some common sense to make sure things don’t get messed up too much. When things do get messed up a great deal, then we need a great person to fix them.

But our system is pretty moderate with its checks, balances and responsibility to the people. And that is all you need to avoid a political disaster. Perfection is a nice goal, but like most things in life, things still work decently well if they aren’t ok.

This conversation really bugged me since its Americans who are stereotyped as seeing the world in black and white with some moral absolutes. Here I’ve been told that cheating on a test, on a paper or on a significant other isn’t that bad. I have been told that while colonialism was bad, it wasn’t that bad of Spain to do it since it was the 15^th century and we didn’t know better as a civilization.  There are some things in this world with absolutes with no in-betweens, but that does not apply to analyzing the health of a democracy.

The world has more or less embraced capitalism and democracy since they work to create wealth, hope and peace. Or maybe I'm being completely idealistic about that, but I have a very hard time imagining a world where the United States tears itself apart and that conversation just doesn't sit right with me.

The Final(s) Stretch

I have 3 hours of class left until my semester ends tomorrow night. Then I have study week and exams on the 18th, 20th, 23rd and 28th.

After some mental math I realized by the end of my time in Spain (academically) I will have:
Written more or less 70 pages (double-spaced)
Taken 4 exams (1 multiple choice, 2 half multiple choice half short answer, and one long answer)
Given one group presentation

I have 6 classes totally 16 hours of class a week and that is all I have had to do this semester. I have only once stayed up past midnight working and that was to meet an artificial deadline (I stayed up till 5am and wrote 11 pages doing it).

I need to get back to writing some papers and preping for my group presentation so I will save my reflection on my time here academically for later, but I will say this:

I have probably written more for this blog and Energy Matters this semester than I have written for classes here.

Collective Memory of The Spainish Civil War: Silence and Scars

Civil wars are a special kind of horrible war. Brother against brother and neighbor against neighbor makes the issue of memory, of victors and victims a personally and politically sensitive topic. The Spanish Civil War ended 70 years ago, and Franco's fascist dictatorship ended over 30 years ago but the scars of the epoch are still fresh.

After the dictatorship, Spanish politicians made an agreement to not politicize the Civil War or Francoism, and so Spain entered a period of collective silence. This silence is shocking when you visit Oviedo, Barcelona or Madrid. Where famous massacres of Republican forces or points of strong Republican resistance occurred, there is not one notable memorial to the fallen. A little outside of Madrid there is the Valle de los Caídos, (The Valley of the Fallen) that honors the the fallen of Spain and is the site of Franco's tomb. Inscribed in the monument is the phrase, "¡Caídos por Dios y por España!" (Fallen for God and Spain!). While intended to be a monument for all, the fact that it bears the motto of the Nationalists and that it was constructed by Republican prisoners of war, show that this is not a monument for all Spaniards.

This period of silence has not healed any wounds, it just covered them. Nationalist vs. Republican sentiments are buried just beneath the surface and are obvious when you walk through always and see graffiti saying "Nazis fuera" (Nazis get out), "Mata Nazis" (Kill Nazis), "Fascistas fuera" (Fascists get out).

The older generations in Spain have decided to ignore the conversation of how to remember their past. To me as an outsider, this shows that they haven't condemned Fascism and Franco's actions and by not condemning they have condoned these actions. They seem to have accepted that Fascism can be a useful tool to create peace and order and by doing so they have made themselves more likely to use it again in times of crisis. The younger Spanish generation seem to feel that the possibility of a new Fascist Spain or at least a Fascist leaning Spain is a very real threat and so they demonstrate their discontentment with protests and graffiti throughout the nation. The younger generation needs to open Spain up to the dialogue of collective memory so they can all heal and move past the fascist vs. republic mentality.

Germany has confronted their past, they have admitted their faults and have spent more than a generation apologizing for their fascist history. They have had the conversation and have moved beyond the point where they would devolve to a Fascist state again. They are the example Spain needs to follow.

It is hard to confront a past civil war and honor both sides, come to a reconciliation and progress to a more just future. We in the United States have had to face this problem as well. We have statues marking important battles and honoring the fallen on both sides who fought valiantly and passionately for a cause they thought was just. The most powerful memorial to the American Civil War I have seen is in Antietam. While I forget the exact wording of what was inscribed on the statue of Robert E. Lee, it expressed the idea that he was a man who fought for what he believed in and for that he should be honored. We have not perfectly moved on from the scars of our past. We in the North still generally have the narrow mentality that it was just a war against slavery and there are those in the South who still say "the South will Rise again!"  and wear a Confederate flag with unabashed pride. We still aren't completely there, but we have made great progress in our 143 years since the war.

Maybe I am expecting too much of the Spanish in thinking that they should have started to confront their history, honor the Republicans who fought for the freedom of Spain while continuing to honor the Nationalist who fought for the unity and safety of Spain. It is possible to do both, to come together as a nation and heal. I hope the Spaniards can start this process soon.

It is a complicated issue though, and I admit I am coming at it from a very non-Spanish perspective. As an American I have very anti-fascist mentality, but I also think that is an argument we have had, declared Democracy the victor and then moved on to focus our attention on Communism. Spain did not have the experience at all. They tried a Republic, enough Spaniards decided it was too weak to maintain the entirety of the Spanish state and imposed Fascism. Fascism served a purpose for Spain and helped them develop as a nation. Fascism kept Spain out of Soviet influence during the Cold War and in America's good books (after they let us build some military bases). So Fascism was the reason Spain did not experienced the same poverty that some of the former communist states in Eastern Europe did. But it did so at the expense of human rights. Thus, Spaniards cannot make blanket statements about Fascism as Americans can.

While it is right for Spain to accept that Fascism did serve a purpose in their history, they as a nation need to open a serious dialogue about their past. I hope they decide that Fascism had a purpose in their history, respect the good it served and acknowledge the horror it imposed, and then decide that in the future Spain can improve and better itself while respecting liberty and ultimately reject Fascism as a possibility.

I do not believe that Spain is anywhere near a Fascist or even right-leaning state, but enough Spaniards seem concerned about it that the country should reassure itself of its embrace of a representative government and set everyone's minds at ease.

I am so American Part 1: Terrorism and Power

As my time in Spain is slowly drawing to a close, I’ve started having more conversations on comparative politics and cultures. In these conversations, I have come to the conclusion that I am very American in some highly unexpected ways. In class, a group presented about nuclear power, its benefits and drawbacks. They did not mention terrorism once. In the discussion, I raised the point and my professor said she had never heard someone make that argument. A Dutch friend then told me that I had made a “very American argument,” she then told me that American’s are obsessed with terrorism and that Europeans aren’t as afraid of terrorism as Americans are. I would say we are more conscious of the threats of terrorism than obsessed and I was shocked to be told that Americans are afraid of terrorism. Yes, we are concerned about it but we do not capitulate to international terrorism unlike some Spanish speaking European nations I could name. Also, we have less reason to be afraid of terrorism in our daily lives as we don’t have domestic terrorist groups, nor have we suffered the most recent terrorist attacks in the Western world, nor are we as geographically close to places that harbor terrorists.

Maybe we have different opinions because our terrorist threats have different motivations. ETA’s goal is to separate from Spain, not to destroy the Spanish state or all Spaniards. The March 11^th attacks by Al-Qaeda against Madrid were to deter Spain from continuing to help the US in its efforts in Iraq. Spain had an election, PSOE replaced PP and they pulled out. Some people, including myself, may view that as caving in to terrorists demands which is a bad thing as it demonstrates that terrorism gets results. Then again, Spain hasn’t been attacked by international terrorists since so maybe Spain did the right thing. At any rate their lesson is sort of a live-and-let-live thing.

Al-Qaeda’s motivations for its attacks are a bit different. I’m not 100% for their motivations for 9/11 but there seems to be a general hatred of America as the sole super power and our “imperialism.” The big difference is we can’t change who we are in a day. We can’t do the equivalent of what Spain did and just change a policy and then have terrorists be happy with us. 

Then again, we wouldn’t do that. We are pretty firm in our commitment not to change our policies just because a few people threaten to bomb us. I’ve been told that that is partially explained by our history and the fact that we haven’t had nearly as many wars as Europe has. Also, American soil has only been attacked twice since the War of 1812 and we are still a pretty young country. Basically, it seems Europe views us as rambunctious teens that start fights whenever we feel insulted. Or as Guy Forsyth says “a spoiled, drunk, 16-year old waving a gun in their face.”

A European friend told me that there was the small thought throughout Europe that we had it coming since we were throwing our weight around too much and someone was going to take us down a peg. The sentiment is expressed in the German metal group Rammstein’s song “America,” the chorus of which is in English and is “we’re all living in America, America, its wundabar. We’re living in America, coca-cola, sometimes war.”  The rest of the song is in German but I’m told it’s them singing about American cultural and economic “imperialism” throughout the world.

I was pretty insulted at the idea that there could be any sort of justification for 9/11, especially the justification that it is bad to have the US as the sole super power. That then led to a conversation pretty much straight out of my International Relations class (taught by Celeste Wallender) about various systems of international power. My friend said that she thought that a system with many powers that were roughly equal was better than a super power system. World War I and II teach us that that is not the case. Athens and Sparta and the US and the USSR teach us the bipolar systems are safer but terrifying since if anything does start we are all in a big mess. Recent history teaches us that having a sole super power is very good for peace much like a cop with a gun will enforce order. The only people who have to be afraid of war in this situation are enemies of the super power, but if the super power tries to be a force of democracy, peace and justice in the world, the majority of nations will be safe under their protection.

Yes, I realize it doesn’t exactly work that way, but close enough for this blog.

Whenever I’ve discussed this with European friends, the general response is along the lines of “well of course you’re going to be taught that the super power system is the best, you’re Americans.” There seems to be some resentment, about them being considered secondary powers and how we view ourselves as the always right and just protector of the world.

Oh, also I’ve had mixed reactions to the comparison of America and Rome. I’ve spoken with three people about this (not a statistically significant sample, but still anecdotal evidence) and two of them refused to accept that there is a connection between America and the ancient Roman Empire in the super power that focuses more on war than on domestic problems and then falls apart. They also said it was bad to study history through modern eyes since we’ll try to draw connections which are sloppy academics. 

I guess we are in a way Team America, World Police, and while we could do a better, more just job in that role, someone has to fill that role and I’m glad it’s us.

p.s. I realized I wrote this listening to country music (yes I actually do have country music), but it’s the Kenny Chesney “Summer Time” type of country rather than “I’m Proud to be an American” country….although I am proud to be an American but I like to think I don’t have blinders on.