Fútbol y Nacionalcatolicismo

Tantas décadas de franquismo son difíciles de borrar, pero el éxito español de la Eurocopa me está descubriendo aspectos del pasado que yo creía desaparecidos y sin embargo siguen vivos y coleando.

El nacionalcatolicismo:
"nacionalcatolicismo s. m. Doctrina y práctica de la Iglesia católica española durante el franquismo, caracterizada por su estrecha relación con el Estado y por su control de la educación, la cultura y otras parcelas de la vida social."
(Diccionario Manual de la Lengua Española Vox.© 2007 Larousse Editorial, S.L)


La Cadena Ser y la televisión Cuatro, ambas del grupo Prisa (en principio lo más progre de Españña, a parte del diario Público), celebraron la victoria de la Rojja con alabanzas a Dios y a todo el santoral.

Cuando llegó la tanda de los penaltis, en la SER los periodistas rezaron juntos en antena el Padrenuestro. Luego, por cada jugador español que tiraba el penalti, pedían la intercesión de la virgen de su ciudad o región. Finalizaron la retransmisión cantando el himno español en plan peña del Bar Manolo el del Bombo.

En la Cuatro, al marcar Fàbregas el gol de la clasificación, el locutor gritaba "¡Dios existe! ¡España es mejor!"

Imaginaros si los medios más progres de Españña reaccionan así, qué no harán en las otras emisoras.
-.-.-.

Cuando yo era pequeñito, en mi escuela, la Salle Bonanova, se paseaba por los patios un curita flacucho y muy viejo. El socerdote en cuestión hacía las delicias de los niños más gamberros porque si le saludabas con un "Viva Franco" o "Heil Hitler", el hombre alzaba el brazo y te repetía el saludo. En Alemania, este señor estaría en prisión. Por eso voy con Alemania.

Algunos colegas y periodistas españoles dicen que Alemania va ganando partidos gracias a la suerte. Así lo publica hoy el diario El País. Carai, ¡60 años de suerte! No sé: quizá la suerte te la buscas, y no precisamente rezando. Yo siempre he creído que el lamento de la suerte lo repiten los perdedores porque precisamente, las personas con suerte que he conocido eran las más válidas.

C.

Big Ideas

Das 2008 Radiohead Tour wird 12 Länder besuchen, aber nicht China. Warum? Gibt es nicht Fans von Thom Yorke in China? Doch, aber Radiohead ist ein Lupenreiner Unterstützer der Unabhängigkeit von Tibet, deshalb sind diese Kerle nicht wilkommen in China.

Es gibt viele klüge Köpfe in Peking, Shanghai oder Guangzhou die lieber als die KP Propaganda, die Musik von Radiohead hören möchten. Um dieses Jahr wird 100% unmöglich ein China Konzert von Radiohead, aber im Fall sie möchten in China spielen, würde Ich ihnen empfehlen ein dritter Weg zu finden. Es würde möglich sein ein Konzert mit der KP zu vereinbaren, aber nur wenn die britische Band mit Diplomatie handelt. Was würde das bedeuten? 1. Sie sollen nichts über Tibet oder Der Dalai Lama im Konzert aussprechen. Ausser das, fast alles würde möglich sein. 2. Radiohead soll verstehen dass sehr positiv für die Entwicklungs China wäre wenn ihre Geniälitat mit den chinesische Gesellschaft treffen könnte.
(Nothing to lose? Or another stupid idea?)

C.





"Don't get any big ideas
They're not gonna happen
You paint yourself white
And fill up with noise
But there'll be something missing
Now that you've found it, it's gone
Now that you feel it, you don't
You've gone off the rails
So don't get any big ideas
They're not gonna happen
You'll go to hell for what your dirty mind is thinking"

¿Por qué voy con Alemania?

Los que ayer me vieron saben que celebré la victoria de la selección española. Derrotar a los italianos con los penalties es una gozada, por mucho que admire su defensa, que es digna de Premio Nobel. Son unos rácanos, los italianos.

¿Por qué apoyo entonces a Alemania en esta Eurocopa?

Porque es el motor de Europa.

Porque es un país que representa unos valores que querría para el mundo entero (democracia, responsabilidad histórica, autocrítica y progreso común).

Y porque en España, lo que más mola es el nacionalismo y la religión. Y las dos cosas a mí me dan mucha, pero que mucha grima:



C.

Dime de qué presumes y te diré de lo que careces

La portada de hoy del MARCA dice lo siguiente:

"LA NUEVA ESPAÑA"

"Deslumbramos al mundo en ciencia [¡ha! ¡ha! ¡ha! ¡ha!], en economía [¡ha! ¡ha! ¡ha! ¡ha! ¡ha!], en gastronomía [bueno], en las artes [pintura, cine y punto], en el tenis, en el ciclismo, en baloncesto, en motociclismo, en fórmula 1..." Y no sé qué más. ¡Qué orgullo, pardiez!

¡Pero carai, cuánto deporte! “Hablamos para la gente guapa y simpática de este país deportivo”, que decía un periodista radiofónico de mi época.

En fin, que a partir de hoy juega la Eurocopa la Furia Roja, o como la llamen, y tendremos un par de semanas de altas dosis de nacionalismo español. ¡A disfrutarlo! ¡Suerte que acaba rápido!


Mi pronóstico. Final: Alemania-Italia (pese al 3-0 con Holanda) y Alemania campeona.

C.

Tarde de domingo en la Dongbangqiao jie de Pekin

Ésta es mi primera incursión en el mundo del video. Aprovechando mi nuevo móvil - equipado con Wi Fi, cámara, y otras tantas aplicaciones que no lograré aprender a utilizar nunca - quise captar el ambiente relajado una tarde de junio en un viejo hutong al norte de la Ciudad Prohibida. Son una mierda, lo sé.
¡Prohibido dormirse!
A.

Amistats estranyes a Shanghai

Fa poc, en una visita a Shanghai, vaig fer aquesta troballa: una revista de relats breus amb aquesta portada. Identifiqueu els personatges? Un és el rei Joan Carles, l'altre, un català del Barça. L'escena és surrealista, i més si és a la Xina. Aquí, la solució a l'enigma.

C.

Por China con palillos, el primer libro de A.

Andrea ha publicado su primer libro: "Por China con Palillos", Ediciones Destino. Un retrato ameno de China desde el comedor de sus restaurantes.

L'Andrea ha publicat el seu primer llibre: "Por China con Palillos", a Ediciones Destino. Un retrat amè de la Xina des del menjador dels seus restaurants.

A country without a fair law system will never be a leading power for the human kind

De: HRW Press
Enviado: viernes, 30 de mayo de 2008 0:41:44

For Immediate Release
(New York, May 30, 2008) Human Rights Watch
...

The Beijing Judicial Bureau has to date refused to renew the professional licenses of Teng Biao and Jiang Tianyong, two lawyers with distinguished records of defending civil and human rights cases. The deadline for renewal is May 31. The move followed a weeks-long delay by the bureau to complete the annual registration of more than a dozen law firms, many of which employ lawyers who have been involved in what the government deems to be “sensitive cases.” Some lawyers have privately denounced the bureau’s actions as “large-scale blackmail,” designed to deter law firms from getting involved in cases that may be embarrassing to the government.

“Beijing is trying to intimidate the legal profession by suspending these two lawyers and threatening not to renew many licenses,” said Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. “The goals are to deter lawyers from representing human rights cases, and to deter firms from employing lawyers who want those cases.”

In early April, following the government’s announcement that several hundred Tibetans had been taken into custody for their role in the March protests in Lhasa, a group of 18 prominent civil rights lawyers issued an open letter offering to provide legal assistance to the detainees. “As professional lawyers, we hope that the relevant authorities will handle Tibetan detainees strictly in accordance with the constitution, the laws and due process for criminal defendants,” the letter said. “We hope that they will prevent coerced confessions, respect judicial independence and show respect for the law.”

The Ministry of Justice, which has authority over lawyers and bar associations and controls their professional licenses through a system of annual renewal, immediately responded by threatening the letter’s signatories and their respective law firms with disciplinary sanctions and holding up the renewal of their professional licenses. Beijing judicial authorities summoned individual lawyers and heads of law firms, told them the Tibetan protesters were not “ordinary cases but sensitive cases,” and asked law firms to dissociate themselves from the individual signatories or to terminate their employment.

Several law firms where notified in writing by the judicial authorities why their registration was being delayed: “The lawyers from your law firm are involved in representing some sensitive cases, therefore, the annual inspection and registration of your firms will be temporarily postponed,” the notification said. A number of lawyers were also warned by national security personnel against accepting retainers from relatives of Tibetan defendants. The Beijing Bar Association, which like other Chinese bar associations remains controlled by the local judicial authorities, also warned heads of law firms of possible disciplinary sanctions. The head of the Beijing Bar also accused the lawyers of having provided support to the “Dalai Lama clique.”

In a second open letter published on May 24, a week before the registration deadline, the signatories of the original appeal explained the motives behind their offer to defend Tibetans, and rejected the view that equated their offer of legal services with a proof of support for Tibetan separatism ideas (which constitutes a state security crime under Chinese law).

“To provide legal defense to criminal suspects and defendants is the function of a lawyer. It is an important component of the rule of law, and to defend them is not equivalent to agreeing to their position or actions,” the signatories wrote. “

The authors also stressed that deeming cases “politically sensitive” and therefore denying due process conflicts with the rule of law: “…progress [towards the rule of law] lies precisely in these so-called politically sensitive cases. The more openly they are handled, the most visible the progress. As the world has its eyes on China, hastily trying defendants without allowing them their choice of counsel will only damage the image of legalism in China,” they wrote.

(end of the press release)

Earthquake Mourning ends, but not the old style

Most of the internet websites hosted in China received last weekend a letter from its municipal governments ordering everyone to convey the rules approved by the State Council (consejo de ministros) for the three Days Mourning that are being held in China to honour the victims of the Sichuan's Earthquake.

Here you have a rough translation of the government's order. It is a very bad translation but useful anyway thank you to this blog (The Mourning ends tonight)


To every web site in this city:
The Statement Department decides to hold "National Mourn Day" from May 19 to 21 . According the spirit of the instruction of News Office of State Department, the following requirements are announced:

Every web site should propaganda and report State Department's Announcement promptly, dominantly, and repeatedly; should timely and dominantly report mourning activities of Party Central Committee, State Department and local's. In parallel with propaganda and report on the Internet, related web site should utilize mobile SMS, MMS, Mobile newspaper, etc methods to report. State Department Announcement should be put at the dominate location on the home page of every web site during National Mourning Day.

Every web site stops 3 days of all kinds of entertainment activities and services. From 0:00 19thto 24:00 21th, every game web site, game channels of every web site must be all closed; every entertainment channel and entertainment kind of video and audio channel web site must be covered by mourning pages; pages under these channels must not be accessible. All entertainment forum of all web sites must all be closed; all music, entertainment video search function of all search engine must be all closed; all entertainment kind of advertisement must be all closed.

Organize mourning on the web well. Atmosphere of all web site must be appropriate to the national mourning. All major news sites, and major commercial sites should well organize mourning activities joined by netizens, should completely reflect the painful sentiment and patriotic heart of massive netizen.

Effectively do the media management job. All major web site should implement 24 hour on duty, meanwhile must have person-in-charge to lead the team. Every web site should effectively strengthen management of forum, blog etc interactive columns. All comments that are not in align with the main theme of anti-earthquake and disaster relief must be completely deleted. The job implementation situation of every web site should be reported in electronic form to Municipal Government News Office (mailbox: sinonet@shanghai.gov.cn).

Make disciplines strict. For web site who does not do the effective job effectively, should be seriously criticized, and handled. Web sites which do not obey requirements will be all closed, and will be hold responsible afterwards.


(Friendly and open-minded people, don't you agree? If not, then better host your webs [and also your huebs] out of China)

C.

What The United Nations says about the Earthquake

Collapsed buildings are the main killers when earthquake strikes, says UN.

Source: Press Release, UN/ISDR 2008/07. 16 May 2008

“We know how to make buildings more resistant to earthquakes, but this knowledge is still not yet well disseminated among decision-makers who enforce building codes for houses, schools and hospitals” says Salvano Briceño, Director of the UN secretariat of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction.

“Schools, hospitals and other critical infrastructure need to be systematically upgraded and retrofitted in earthquake prone areas if we want to save lives. Vulnerability to earthquakes is still a main cause of death during disasters” says Salvano Briceño.

Both schools and hospitals play important roles in saving the lives of society’s most vulnerable people during disasters, if they are properly designed and built.

”There are still too many poorly designed and constructed buildings in earthquake-prone areas, and too many people dying because of it” says Salvano Briceño
-.-.-.-.


"What we are seeing in every urban earthquake is a result of mostly avoidable errors"

(United Nations Interview with Fouad Bendimerad, Chairman of the Board of the Earthquakes and Megacities Initiative (EMI). Prof. Bendimerad is a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from Stanford University)

According to your expertise, how do you explain the collapse of so many buildings in China?

What happened in China could have happened in any other urban earthquake region. We must address the structural issues related to the safety of the buildings through integrating disaster risk reduction considerations in urban planning...

But the message is lost in the midst of all the noise! For us, this is a fundamental issue that must be addressed if we want to make schools, hospitals, buildings, and the urban environment safe. We cannot provide safe urban environments by raising awareness alone. We must also build the competency of the institutions and of the professionals who plan, build, and manage cities.


Is it possible to resist a 7.9 magnitude earthquake anyway?

...
Nonetheless, earthquake engineering knowledge has advanced significantly in the last two decades. Seismologists can provide reasonable estimates of hazard impacts to enable the design of buildings to a required level hazard resistance; this is the first step because we know that areas which have experienced large earthquakes in the past will experience them in the future.
Seismologists can also provide a projected level of earthquake impacts which could ensure that buildings are not inappropriately designed to withstand certain hazard impacts. These projected impacts are typically considered in building codes and in special zonation studies. With this information, engineers can provide the adequate design to resist projected hazard impacts. For such large earthquakes, the aim is simply to prevent the building from collapse and to protect the safety of the occupants. The damage could be substantial, and the building may need extensive repairs, if not complete reconstruction. So, yes, with proper technology and adequate knowledge we can construct buildings to resist even the largest earthquakes without collapse.