Viva la España

[trochee]

Spain has rejected their conservative, Bush-loving government in the face of terrorist attacks. My respect for the people of Spain has just climbed another notch.

Why can't I live in a country that responds rationally to violence? The right response to violence is exactly what the Spaniards have done: to throw out the belligerent bums who beat their chest and the drums of war with equal vigor. Unlike some countries I might name, which, when confronted with pointless and horrifying tragedy, rally around the flag and threaten passersby with being bombed flat.

Yet another reason I want to move to Barcelona.

¡Viva!

I wish I could figure out how to enter ñ and ¡ on LogJam without cutting and pasting...

Comments

[trochee.livejournal.com]

Tell me about the sacred tree business?

Oh, and of course you can come with me. In my fantasy where I'm moving to Barcelona: party at my villa on the Mediterranean coast.

That's the great thing about fantasy worlds: I can go anywhere.

[isolt.livejournal.com]

Sounds sweet. :)

From this page of some useful Basque words:

Gernikako Arbola (1) The Tree of Gernika, the ancient oak tree which stands in the town of Gernika in front of the Casa de Juntas, the traditional home of Basque liberties. During the Middle Ages, Spanish sovereigns were obliged to travel at regular intervals to Gernika to swear under the Tree to uphold Basque liberties. The Tree itself has long been regarded as the symbol and physical embodiment of these liberties; it appears on the coat of arms of Bizkaia, was the subject of a poem by Wordsworth, and miraculously survived the destruction of Gernika by Hitler's air force in 1937. The original tree finally died a few years ago, but a new Tree was already in place, grown from a shoot of the old one. (2) The Basque national anthem, a celebration of Basque liberties composed by the most famous of all Basque bards, Iparraguirre, in 1853.

Sounds an awful lot like a sacred tree to me. :)

[trochee.livejournal.com]

Wow, neat.

And that's Gernika from which Guernica of Picasso's painting. I didn't know that city was a Basque capitol. Looks like the Nazis hated the Basques even more than the Spanish did/do.