VIVA THE LANGUAGE OF CERVANTES
As the Nationalist-dominated regional governments in Galicia, the Basque country, Catalonia and the Balearic Islands continued the efforts to suppress the use of Spanish in their schools, public administration and even signs in shop windows, a group of intellectuals, writers and artists counter-attacked last week with the Manifesto for a Common Language. There were 18 of them to start with - led by the intellectual Left's favourite philosopher, Fernando Savater - but the list started growing quickly after the El Mundo newspaper joined the cause, to be followed shortly afterwards by one of the most-watched TV channels, Telecinco. Their demands are simple: Spanish should be the common official language throughout the country; all citizens should have the right to be educated in the Spanish language, no matter where they live in Spain; in the bilingual regions, all citizens have to right to be informed by officialdom in either of the two official languages and not just the regional one. Street signs and signs on public buildings, administrative communications, information leaflets, etc. should be written in both languages and never just in the local one, and the country's official representatives in the central government and regional governments should express themselves in Spanish at all times when speaking in their official capacity. Representatives in regional parliaments can speak either language, as the mood or moment dictates. Both Deputy Prime Minister María Teresa Fernandez de la Vega and Education Minister Mercedes Cabrera insisted last week there was "no problem, the Spanish language is not in danger." Sra de la Vega said the "plurality of the national and regional languages is a heritage we must recognise and defend", but the manifesto's signatories said that was exactly where the problem lay - that the nationalists in the regions are determined to impose the local language on all residents there, regardless of whether they want to speak it or not. Ironically, while the linguistic argument rages at home, the Instituto Cervantes, which was created in 1991 to promote and teach Spanish language and culture abroad, reported last week that the demand for Spanish lessons in its 70 centres worldwide had increased by between 50 and 70% last year. The Institute plans to open several new centres next year - in Sydney, Australia, New Delhi, India, and Senegal, and to extend its network in Brazil and Europe. So there's hope for the language even if the nationalists succeed in silencing Spanish in Spain. Those of us who love speaking "castellano" will just move to wherever there's an Instituto Cervantes.
WHEN A GOYA IS NOT A GOYA
Experts at the Prado Museum in Madrid have said they believe that one of its most famous paintings, the Colossus, was not painted by Goya, but by one of his pupils. They began to investigate the authorship of the painting after they found two initials - AJ - at the bottom of the canvas. They said those initials link the work to Asensio Juli, a friend and collaborator of Goya. The painting depicts a giant walking through a landscape as people flee in panic. The Colossus was traditionally thought to be one of paintings by the artist about Spain's war of independence against the French in the early 1800s. The painting has not been included in an exhibition of Goya's works which are currently on show in the Prado.
GOVERMENT TO CHALLENGE BASQUE VOTE
Basque Country regional president Juan José Ibarretxe upset the government in Madrid once again last week, when he managed to get the regional parliament to approve his plan for a referendum on the rights of the Basques to decide their own future. Ibarretxe's Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) won the vote narrowly, by 34 votes to 33, with the help of the Communist Party of the Basque Lands, considered by the security forces to be another front for the terrorist group ETA. Basques would also be asked if they would like a negotiated end to the violence of ETA. Ibarretxe said his region has a democratic right to hold a referendum, with surveys suggesting that some 40% of people in the Basque region are in favour of greater autonomy, although they also show that the majority do not want outright independence from Spain. Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero said the consultation will not take place. The so-called Ibarretxe Plan first surfaced shortly after the Socialists were voted into power in March 2004. Sr Zapatero told Ibarretxe then that his plan was unconstitutional, and last week he said the same thing. He said the plan was divisive because it promoted a nationalist vision of the Basque region that does not exist. The latest initiative is also unlikely to prosper, because the government intends to challenge it in the Constitutional Court. According to the Constitution, only the national government can call a referendum. The main opposition, the Partido Popular, pointed out that the PM had done more than anyone else to help Ibarretxe get his plan approved. PP parliamentary spokeswoman Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said the Communist Party of the Basque Land would not have been sitting in the regional parliament - where she said it had no right to be - if the government in Madrid had taken legal steps to stop it from taking the place of the Batasuna Party, which was banned in 2003 for being the political wing of ETA and for refusing the condemn ETA violence.
STRICTLY FOR ALHAMBRA LOVERS
If walls could talk, they'd speak in Arabic in the Alhambra. To help non-Arabic speaking visitors to understand all those mysterious squiggles on its beautiful walls, a team of researchers from the School of Arabic Studies has been photographing and translating all the poetry, love songs and praise written by three poets at the height of the Moorish occupation of Al-Andalus, when they began to build what many believe should have been classified as the eighth wonder of the world. The resulting tome, which has also been published in DVD form, covers just one of the palaces and is the first in a series that will be produced during the next few years.
30 STOLEN UK CARAVANS FOUND
A team of UK detectives have discovered 30 caravans in Benidorm which are believed to have been stolen in a crime spree in Lancashire. The team searched the several caravan sites in the area last week, together with the Spanish police and insurance investigators. Within three days they identified 30 caravans out of 120 they inspected. The caravans are being returned to the UK while the police inquiry continues. A Lancashire Police spokesman said: "The occupiers of the caravans which we have recovered in Spain are often innocent parties in all this and it is unfortunate for them that they have bought what has turned out to be a stolen caravan." He advised prospective caravan buyers to conduct checks before purchasing and to avoid cash transactions.
ALMODOVAR TAKES ON GUARDIAN
Filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar attacked the Guardian newspaper last week after it published an article claiming he has dominated Spanish film to the extent of drowning the national film industry and monopolising its international interest. Almodóvar replied in a letter that the British film market gave no opportunity to its public to discover films in foreign languages. He said: "It is deeply unjust and really stupid to blame me for the lack of Spanish films in British cinemas."
ARTIST TO CREATE SPERM SCULPTURE
Luis Martín, an artist from Murcia, plans to create "a huge 15-metre-wide sphere of cultural brotherhood", which will be filled with 100 litres of donated semen. He started collecting the sperm last Sunday on the La Cañada beach in Almería. He told reporters he has had no problems with the authorities so far, and is looking for sponsors so that donations can be collected all over the world. He said donors have to be over 18 and that once collected, the sperm will be kept in a fridge. He said he hoped that the sphere will eventually be displayed in the Reina Sofia or Thyssen Museums in Madrid. The museums have not made any comment as yet.
54,000 EUROS FOR TESTICLE
The Catalan Health Service has agreed to pay compensation of €54, 890 to a 22-year-old man in Barcelona who lost a testicle after doctors failed to spot that he was suffering from a twisted testicle. He had sought medical help in November 2006, and was told he had an infection. Two days later he returned to the Viladecans Hospital emergency department where the correct diagnosis was made, but by that time it was impossible to undo the damage caused by a lack of blood flow and one testicle had to be removed. The Patients' Defender concluded he had received inadequate treatment and awarded the compensation.
SPAIN TO GRANT APES RIGHTS
Parliament's environmental committee approved resolutions last week that urge Spain to comply with the Great Apes Project, founded by philosophers Peter Singer and Paola Cavalieri in 1993, to give "non-human hominids" the rights to life, freedom and not to be tortured that have hitherto been limited to humans. It is the first time any national legislature has called for such rights for non-humans. The new resolutions, which have a cross-party support, are expected to become law and the government is committed to outlawing harmful experiments on apes within a year. The director of the Great Apes Project in Spain, Pedro Pozas, said: "We have no knowledge of great apes being used in experiments in Spain, but there is currently no law preventing that from happening." Keeping apes for circuses, television commercials or filming will also be forbidden and breaking the new laws will become an offence under the country's penal code. Keeping an estimated 315 apes in zoos will not be illegal, but supporters of the bill said conditions will need to improve drastically in 70% of establishments to comply with the new law.
MORE ON ELECTRICITY PRICE RISE
Industry Minister Miguel Sebastian gave more details last Friday about the increased prices for electricity which takes effect on July 1st. He said the increase would average out at 5.6% and that as of July, the bills will be sent out every month, instead of every two months. All consumers will be charged a basic 12.5 kilowatts per month, and those who use more than 1,000 kilowatts every two months will be penalised. In addition to a new so-called social tariff for users who have a contracted a power level of less than three kilowatts, there will be a new "tarifa ahorro" (savings tariff) to replace the old cheaper night rate which was being used by 1.1 million homes. It offers savings of up to 47% on power used between 10pm and 10am, but it needs a special meter capable of recording the hours of power use.