A rare moment in politics...

It's election season here in Spain, and immigration has become one of the focal points of this year's political debate. Last night, I attended a panel discussion between politicians from each of the major political parties here in Catalunya concerning immigration. I submitted a question concerning the lack of a principal mosque for Muslims in Catalunya, tension surrounding the establishment of prayer rooms, and what each party intended to do about the situation. Most of the answers were pretty much the same old story, which I won't bore you with.

Montserrat Nebrada of the Popular Party (the main conservative party), however, remarked that Spain is a fundamentally Christian society from a "civilizational perspective." Christians, she argued, have constructed the Europe of today by initiatiting the separation of church and state, and by establishing the fundamental values of liberty and solidarity as the bases for modern democracy.

In a rare political moment, a debate then ensued about Spain and Europe's philosophical roots. Lidia Santos of the socialist party referenced Spinoza (a Jewish philosopher) and his influence on political thought in Spain. Nebrada then countered with Leibnitz (a German philosopher who defended Christian orthodoxy in the face of Spinoza's critiques). They were prepared to go on, but the moderator interrupted to bring them back to more 'concrete' matters. Oh well, it was interesting while it lasted...

All roads may lead to Rome, but once you're there, then what?

Seth Shames in our phat penthouse suite in Hotel Tirreno

Somehow Seth and I always manage to lose our way into finding amazing things. It is a pleasure getting lost with Seth - in fact, I don't think there's anyone with whom I'd rather be lost.

Spaniards and Peeling

Show this to a Spaniard, and he or she will likely react with a mixture of curiosity and condescension. What, after all, is the use of a dull metal spear with holes in it? Despite the fact that Spaniards insist on the necessity of peeling just about everything, including tomatoes and apples, peelers just haven't taken off here. I guess this speaks somewhat to Spaniards' tremendous dexterity. Give me a knife and a cucumber, on the other hand, and all that will remain is a fine sliver. It's a good thing I didn't follow in my father's footsteps of becoming a moel!

My New Look

Don't ask me how I ended up in my housemate Gemma's pijamas, but alas, there I am!

Ron Abrams

It's not everyday that one gets to meet people like Ron Abrams. When I met him, he was sporting a cap with an Israeli flag and a jacket with a Maple Leaf stiched onto it. I thought it would be impossible to capture Ron's persona in words until he gave me his card, which seemed to do so far better than my poor literary skills ever could. There are just so many things about it if you have time to take a close look...

Ron aspires to be "the world's greatest faith healer and the first Jewish faith healer." He has successfully intervened in treating people who suffer from "strokes and crippled knees," but, to his dismay, he hasn't managed to cure cancer... He still needs some time for that one. He did, however, manage to rid the rabbi of headaches. As Ron would say, "Where traditional medicine fails, I can help." So if you're ever in need, you know who to call!!!

Plataforma de Musulmans i Musulmanes per la Igualtat

Yesterday was another one of those days when my inability to speak Catalan was somewhat problematic. I attended a press conference in which a platform entitled Muslim Men and Women for Equality was launched. Its objectives are to renounce terrorism, foster harmonious 'convivencia,' combat Islamophobia, and promote gender equality. It is a diverse group comprised of Spanish converts, Moroccans, Pakistanis, and Senegalese. Its formation was provoked primarily by the recent detention of a group of suspected terrorists just down the street from me in Raval on suspicion of planning to bomb the Barcelona metro.

As is usual, the press conference was held in Catalan, despite the fact that most media venues are in Spanish. It creates a funny dynamic because many immigrants do not speak Catalan. So the panelists from Morocco and Pakistan would speak in Spanish, but questions from the media would be in Catalan. Although the Moroccan fellow, Abdelkader Sulami, understood Catalan perfectly well, the Pakistani woman, Huma Janshed, clearly did not, so she was essentially excluded from the question/answer part of the conference (she did, however, respond to the one and only question posed in Spanish by a Moroccan fellow in the audience). At any rate, it's good for me to go to these meetings because many of the who's whos of Islam in Cataluña attend, and so I can make them feel guilty about not responding to my emails!

Reading the papers the next day, I was unsurprised to see that coverage of the formation of this platform was tucked away in small corners of major newspapers. La Vanguardia, probably the most widely-read paper, presented the objective of the platform as combatting Islamophobia, while no mention was given to the other objectives... The major headline news today was somewhat ironically about the detention of three "Islamists" in Vitoria (Basque Country).

Intro to Blog

I am not, and probably never will be, a frequent blogger, but every once in a while I have an experience that you all might find interesting, so I thought I'd share. For instance, last week I went to carnaval in Sitges and, though I was supposed to be a nice white rabbit, I ended up looking like a character from a horror movie gone terribly terribly wrong -- hence the nickname "chucky rabbit," as I was called that evening...