Dawn far over the sea. Walking next to the beach. His thoughts were lost in a myriad of things. The night was precious. His memories will keep it for ever. Friends, music, sensations and her. Dancing crazily with someone he won’t probably see again, but who has marked him well deep in his soul. His house approaching, while his feet are dragging his body unwillingly. Each step is one step away from that heaven he just was gone from. “I won’t forget”. Blessing and curse. Chasing what’s gone it’s futile.
Most of the world knows. Tomorrow Spain will play against Netherlands in its first World Championship final. They will win. What you don’t know is that the day before, that is today, there will be a huge demonstration in Barcelona in protest of the use of the Constitutional Court’s decision against some important articles of the new Catalan Statute (l’Estatut) (a kind of Catalan Constitution). It is ironic that this manifestation of the problems of vertebration of a nation-state that has struggled from its beginning to integrate a dominating Castilian culture with its peripherical partners coincides with the biggest success in Spanish sport history. Furthermore, the core of the skilful Spanish football team is mostly composed by Catalans or people from Barcelona FC, one of the most important symbols of Catalan national aspirations. Irony of fate.
I heard about the indiscriminate killing of activists on a boat bringing aid to Gaza by the Israeli army when I was in Paris a couple of days ago. I obviously felt concerned by the people on the boat, but the first thing I thought was “what a mistake!”. Israel’s relationships in the region would not probably be a case study for a guidebook on good neighbourly relations. In fact, the only country with which Israel had until now relatively good relations was Turkey, the relationship with Egypt and Jordan being more ambiguous, and with the rest (i.e. Lebanon and Syria) being “unfriendly”. Turkey and Israel signed in 1996 a military cooperation agreement and later a 20-year deal for water transfers from Turkey to Israel. Now the relation is on the verge of breaking.
Mi problema,
es que siempre espero el tren
pero cuando pasa,
ya no lo quiero coger,
y ni me lleva,
ni me deja de traer.
Y la espera,
raya,
la máxima idiotez,
las ventajas tienden a desaparecer,
y nunca gano,
pero no dejo de perder.
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On Sunday, my brother William organized a walk for both of us through the English countryside. We started in Waterloo station, from which we took a train to Farnham. From there we went all the way to Guildford following the North Downs Way, a fantastic walking trail that crosses that area of Surrey. We stopped at noon for a vegetarian lunch (including hummus ) in front of an astonishing view. On our way, I took some good pictures, including the one above (click on it for a bigger version). The yellow flowers in the grass remind me of a dream-like walk in a park I did not long time ago…
After all personal changes I’ve went through in the last months (to which I refer on a Log post here), I feel the need to change the content of this blog. There will be three main themes: Network World, Creative Life and Emotional Revolution. They seem self-explanatory to me, but they are probably not. I hope to make it gradually clear with my future posts.
Harriet and Alan met in a winter night. Alan still remembers today their first kiss. The sweetness of her lips, the twinkling in her eyes. It was like he was dragged to her by an unannounced passion. He still cannot explain how he dared to kiss her beauty. Harriet’s love for Alan bursted from the moment she put her eyes and lips on his.
After a year in their relationship, Alan proposed Harriet to build a boat to sail to faraway places where their love could be eternal. She was delighted with the idea of spending all her life traveling with him, where nobody could bother them, where she could have him for ever. For a year, they put all their efforts and money to make the most beautiful white sailing boat love can build. They call it Handa. On a spring morning, Handa left port for a trip that would only end when Harriet and Alan would be both gone for ever.
Today, it is International Women’s Day. A day of celebration of what we have achieved in women’s rights, but also a day to put the spotlight on the injustices that women still suffer all around the world: unequal salary and work conditions in the developed world, limited rights in some Muslim countries, exploitation in many developing countries…
The victims of these injustices are not only women, but all. A world that is unjust for some, it is actually unjust for most of us except the minority that takes advantages of the injustice. Thus, all of us should be activists in removing from our planet the stigma of being a woman.
Naturally, most newspapers’ front pages are dominated by Monday’s Haiti’s earthquake. Watching Euronews this morning, I was especially struck by the headlines of three outlets: The Independent (UK), Libération (France) and La Stampa (Italy). The three of them used explicitly Christian terms. ‘Hell in Haiti’ on The Independent, ‘Terre maudite’ says the Libération and ‘Haiti, il giorno dell’Apocalisse’ on the front page of La Stampa: hell, apocalypse and damnation.
Why did it strike me? Because they give the idea that what happened in Haiti is mostly the fault of God, of forces beyond our control. And this, I reckon, is not entirely true. keep reading »
First light in Barcelona, second light in Paris, future lights through open windows. Lecturer, social entrepreneur, FOI campaigner. Traveller, reader, gregarious. Love nature, the sea, running & swimming. Vegetarian, eggs, no milk.
Lecturer on EU negotiation process and social entrepreneur with a flirt with technology. Developer & facilitator of EU negotiation simulations, activist for open government & our right to access public sector information, and co-founder of Factoría Ciudadana (Citizens Factory). more...
This is my personal page. I am on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and, obviously, email: alejandro at aribo.eu
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) in front of an astonishing view. On our way, I took some good pictures, including the one above (click on it for a bigger version). The yellow flowers in the grass remind me of a dream-like walk in a park I did not long time ago…
