douglascuba

Best of 2011 - Music

2011-12-12T19:53:00.010+01:00

As with my list of my favourite books that I posted last week, here are the albums that particularly caught my attention over the past twelve months. I start with some jazz followed by some rock.

Art Pepper – Blues for the Fisherman: Unreleased Art Vol. VI – Live at Ronnie Scott’s, London, 1980 – 4 CDs (2011)

Keith Jarrett – Rio - 2 CDs (2011)

Brad Mehldau - Places (2000); Largo (2002); Day is Done (2005); Highway Rider - 2 CDs (2010)

Julio Resende – Assim Falava Jazzatustra (2009); You Taste Like a Song (2011)

Earlier this year I wrote on my blog about my all-time favourite jazz musician, Art Pepper, the legendary alto sax player, and the release by his wife of a wonderful four CD recording of concerts he played over two nights at Ronnie Scott’s in London in 1980.

http://douglascuba.blogspot.com/2011/07/art-pepper-blues-for-fisherman.html

Art Pepper released a mountain of albums of studio and live concerts during his life but few, if any, are better than the tracks recorded on Blues for the Fisherman. If you don’t know his music this is perhaps not the best place to start because of the length of the recording but it's certainly one to come back to. It’s a pity that the album has such an awful cover.

The other three jazz musicians on my list are all pianists. Keith Jarrett has been making albums since the mid-sixties and is perhaps best known for his improvisational solo concerts in Köln, Bremen, Lausanne, Vienna and other cities. Two years ago he brought out an excellent triple CD album from concerts he played in Paris and London. This year he topped that with Rio, a double CD recording of a concert in Rio de Janeiro in April. While he truncates his songs these days into shorter pieces, the range and dexterity of his playing is arguably more emotional and expressive than ever. Jazz improvisation at its very best.

Although Brad Mehldau, the US jazz pianist, has been playing since the mid-nineties I only discovered his music this year. I’ve listed four of his albums which I particularly like. Largo, his moody, atmospheric 2002 album, is my favourite but not far ahead of the others listed. He plays his own compositions but also adapts songs by other musicians, such as Lennon and McCartney, Radiohead and Paul Simon, to marvellous effect. I managed to see him in a magnificent concert with Joshua Redman during the Madrid Jazz Festival. A musical highlight of my year.

Finally, Júlio Resende, a Portuguese pianist, who I only came across in the last few months. He’s not unlike Brad Mehldau in some ways but perhaps reminds me more of Esbjörn Svensson, the Norwegian Jazz pianist, who I wrote about at the end of last year. Júlio Resende has only made two albums as far as I know. His 2009 release, Assim Falava Jazzatustra, is largely a live concert recorded in Lisbon and includes a superb adaptation of Pink Floyd’s Shine On You Crazy Diamond. This year’s studio recording, You Taste Like a Song, builds on that success and, like Brad Mehldau, he does a version of Radiohead song. Júlio Resende’s innovative piano playing is a pure delight.

Lucinda Williams - Blessed (2011)

Wilco – The Whole Love (2011)

Cowboy Junkies – Sing in My Meadow: The Nomad Series Volume 3 (2011)

The Decemberists – The King is Dead (2011)

Peter Bruntnell – Black Mountain UFO (2011)

Dropkick – Time Cuts the Ties (2011)

Gerry Rafferty – Gerry Rafferty (1971?)

When I looked back at the rock music I’d been listening to over the year, I was surprised to find more good albums than in recent years.

Lucinda Williams has made some of my favourite albums of all time, especially her 1998 CD Car Wheels on a Gravel Road. Since that time I’ve found her music variable, although rarely poor. This year’s Blessed is her best in a long time. She turned up the volume and surrounded herself with a great, hard-rocking, bluesy band. This is probably the album I’ve been listening to most in the car.

Another year and another great album by Wilco. On first listening I found The Whole Love a little flat and uninteresting, making me think that perhaps Jeff Tweedy was trying too many different styles. However, on repeated listenings the album grew on me and I realised that he had succeeded once again. I doubt if there’s a better rock band around today.

The Canadian band Cowboy Junkies have long been a favourite of mine, with their dreamy, country and folk influenced sound. This year, however, like Lucinda Williams, they turned up the volume and brought out an album, Sing in My Meadow, which sounds like something from the 1970s – a jam session of loud, pounding, distorted guitars, with Margo Timmins’ vocals floating over the top. I suspect many of their usual fans won’t like it, but I love it.

The Decemberists are a band from Portland, Oregon and have been making albums for a number of years. I only came across them this year and found The King is Dead full of rousing, melodic, strangely English sounding songs. They’ve been described as sounding like a mix of Fairport Convention and REM and that’s not too far from the truth (Peter Buck plays guitar on one track), although they manage to maintain their own style.

Peter Bruntnell, an English singer-songwriter, has had little commercial success and is hardly known outside of a small group of diehard fans. Allmusic.com, for example, the online music encyclopedia, doesn’t even have his biography and only lists his last two albums without reviews. For someone of such clear musical and lyrical talent this is nothing short of criminal. This year’s release, Black Mountain UFO, may not be his best (that honour goes to Ends of the Earth and Normal for Bridgwater) but it’s still way ahead of most other new releases that I listened to during the year.

Another group who have yet to receive significant commercial success and popular acclaim is the Glasgow band Dropkick. They too fail to feature on allmusic.com despite having released a number of great albums. If you like Teenage Fanclub’s music from the 1990s, you’ll love Time Cuts the Ties. Great melodic, electric guitar-based rock music.

Finally, with the sad death of the Scottish singer-songwriter Gerry Rafferty at the beginning of the year, I went back to listen to his early albums, before he had his huge hit Baker Street in 1978 from the album City to City. I already had Can I Have My Money Back? from my years growing up in Scotland in the 1970s, but by chance I came across a previous eponymously-named album which is apparently a compilation of songs he recorded at the very beginning of the seventies with The Humblebums. This could be the missing Beatles album. Not only does Gerry Rafferty sound like John Lennon but his perfectly crafted songs are just as catchy and well-written as anything produced by The Beatles. Gerry Rafferty was a hugely gifted singer-songwriter.

Best of 2011 - Books

2011-12-08T17:29:00.027+01:00

It’s almost the end of another year so once again a post on my favourite books of the past twelve months. As with my previous best of the year books, these are not books that were necessarily published during the past year (I think only four were), just those I read for the first time and which I think deserve recognition.

Fiction
For no particular reason the novels I’ve read have been overwhelmingly dominated by female writers – Anita Brookner, Iris Murdoch, Siri Hustvedt, Rose Tremain, Emma Donoghue, Margaret Drabble, A.S. Byatt, M.J. Hyland and Maggie O’Farrell – with Alan Hollinghurst the only male author getting on to my list of fiction.

Anita Brookner – Latecomers; A Start in Life; A Family Romance; Incidents in the Rue Laugier
The fact that I read four novels by the English novelist Anita Brookner in one year clearly suggests that the author made a big impression on me. I wouldn’t like to choose between the novels, but they tend to share certain characteristics - detailed portraits of generally middle-, if not upper-, class individuals, often having a mid-life crisis of sorts and who are lonely or rather alienated. Coming to terms with some emotional blow that has taken place in their lives is frequently a key theme. While the characters can sometimes be drawn in almost too much detail, their stories are always captivating and written in a deeply sensitive manner. Anita Brookner’s writing style is exquisite.

Iris Murdoch – The Sandcastle; A Severed Head; The Bell; The Sea, The Sea
When I was younger I remember always meaning to read something by the Irish-born writer and philosopher Iris Murdoch but I never seemed to get round to it. I suspect it was because I expected her novels to be rather heavy-going and full of philosophical reflections given her academic background. However, as I found out this year, I couldn’t have been more wrong. Her varied narratives race along and make for deeply enjoyable reading. Strangely, I found that what is often argued to be her most highly regarded novel, The Sea, The Sea, is for me her weakest, if only because I found it so difficult to relate, in any positive way, to a range of fairly obnoxious main characters and the story itself lacks credibility. The Bell, another award-winning novel, again brings together a motley crew of characters, but this time works better. A theme which seems to underlie many of Iris Murdoch’s novels is what’s going on under the surface of what appears to be the “normal” behaviour of people. This is drawn to great effect in both The Bell and The Sandcastle where secrets of a sexual nature abound. A Severed Head reads at times like a farce, and presumably intentionally so, as Iris Murdoch presents a sequence of hardly believable romantic occurrences to highlight the mendacious nature of upper-class English society at the start of the 1960s when the novel was written.

Siri Hustvedt – The Summer Without Men
Over the past few years the US writer Siri Hustvedt has become a favourite of mine, especially her novels What I Loved and The Sorrows of an American. This year she brought out The Summer Without Men, which I consider to be her best yet. I was so taken by the novel on first reading it that I posted a short piece earlier this year in August:

http://douglascuba.blogspot.com/2011/08/siri-hustvedt-summer-without-men.html

Sir Hustvedt is a truly intellectual writer who’s able to communicate emotion, passion and personal turmoil in an uplifting and perceptive manner.

Alan Hollinghurst – The Line of Beauty
The English writer Alan Hollinghurst has now published five novels and The Line of Beauty, which came out in 2004, was the first I’d read and it won’t be the last. Written through the eyes of a young gay man in the Thatcher years of the 1980s, the novel is both a withering social commentary on those greed-infested, bigoted years and an enthralling narrative.

Non-fiction
Much of my non-fiction reading this year was taken up by travel writers such as Peter Matthiessen, Bill Bryson and, best of all, Colin Thubron, in particular his excellent book In Siberia. However, in a year in which los indignados changed utterly the very nature of politics in Spain, the country where I live, two books stood out.

José Saramago – The Notebook
The Portuguese Nobel Prize winning author, Jose Saramago, never lived to see the young people of Spain rise up and challenge the Spanish state and society, but there’s no doubt that he would have been delighted with what they did and stood for. The Notebook is a compilation of the posts that José Saramago wrote on his blog in the last years of his life (he died in 2010) and is essentially his astute comments and observations on a broad range of political, social and cultural matters. It makes for fascinating reading and, as the quotes I posted in English and Spanish in August, overflows with indignation and anger at what passes for politics and society today.

http://douglascuba.blogspot.com/2011/08/jose-saramago-notebook.html

http://douglascuba.blogspot.com/2011/08/jose-saramago-el-cuaderno.html

José Luis Sampedro, entre otros - Reacciona
Los indignados in Spain are well known to have been deeply influenced by the thinking of Stéphane Hessel and he provides a prologue to Reacciona, a collection of essays written in Spanish by a number of intellectuals headed by José Luis Sampedro. The essays are centred on the political, economic and social crisis that the world faces today and provide many ideas, solutions and truly democratic forms of participation that have already seeped into the thinking and forms of action of los indignados. This is essential reading for those who want to go beyond the superficial interpretations that most of the mainstream media in Spain and elsewhere have given to the revolution in social and political consciousness that many Spanish young people have belatedly experienced over the past year.

Nick Kent – Apathy for the Devil: A 1970s Memoir
Nick Kent was an English journalist with the New Musical Express, a weekly publication that I used to devour in the 1970s when I first became enthralled by rock music, a passion that has remained with me till now. Together with Charles Shaar Murray, Paul Morley, Tony Parsons, Mick Farren and Julie Birchill, I lived on what Nick Kent wrote about music in his singular style and would go off and buy records purely on his recommendations, and almost always without regret. His compelling memoirs took me back to that era, one which now I feel blessed to have lived through as a teenager. Nick Kent conceals nothing and writes with alarming honesty and self-deprecating humour about his rampant addiction to heroin over much of the 1970s, and how it ravaged his own life and that of so many others in the music industry. What remains, however, is the quality of the music that came out of that much maligned decade and about which he writes with such zest – Neil Young arguably at his peak; The Rolling Stones when they still made great music; Rod Stewart before he got lost in the US; the West Coast sound of Jackson Browne and Crosby, Stills and Nash; the glam rock of David Bowie, Mott the Hoople and Roxy Music; and then halfway through the decade punk and new wave with The Sex Pistols, The Clash, Television, Talking Heads, Elvis Costello; and at the decade’s end Bruce Springsteen.

London Review of Books
Finally, I couldn’t let my end of year literary review pass by without mentioning the London Review of Books. For me it remains far and away the best periodical currently being published in the English language. Every two weeks I relish its diverse contents and superbly written articles on almost any possible topic you could think of. A cursory look at the contents page of the current edition shows the sheer breadth of its coverage – fascinating reviews of books on themes including the letters of Samuel Beckett, medicinal cannibalism, Iran’s nuclear programme and the music of Shostakovich. The LRB is a refreshing and necessary journal of our dire times.

Astrid Kirchherr - The Beatles in Black and White

2011-12-01T12:59:00.009+01:00

I recently saw the fascinating Martin Scorcese documentary Living in the Material World about the life of George Harrison. One of the people interviewed in the film is Astrid Kirchherr, the German photographer, who got to know The Beatles in the early 1960s when they were starting off in Hamburg. Watching the documentary on the cinema screen I was greatly struck by her black and white portrait photos of the group. Knowing now that just a few months later the group would receive international fame and their faces would be plastered all over the world, the photos manage to combine a wonderful mixture of poignancy, intensity and innocence. I’ve posted a few above.

Siri Hustvedt - The Summer Without Men

2011-08-14T13:39:00.001+02:00

The Summer Without Men is Siri Hustvedt’s fifth novel and deals with how a middle-aged woman responds when she finds out her husband of thirty years is cheating on her. This may sound like familiar literary territory, but Siri Hustvedt takes the reader through such a broad gamut of emotions – loss, despair, love, anger, persecution, depression, hate – that she manages to make the whole experience deeply positive and life-enhancing. She does this with sensitivity, elegance, a sense of down-to-earthness and an appealing playfulness. She ably avoids the trap of falling into self-indulgence and writes without a trace of elitism or arrogance. Her writing is full of intelligence, sagacity and a willingness to learn about the vagaries of our lives today. It’s heartening to know that writing and literature can still be so uplifting during a time of intellectual condescension and mind-numbing consumerism. Mediocrity and conformism need not reign. I feel I’m not alone.

José Saramago - El cuaderno

2011-08-11T12:50:00.005+02:00

El blog maravilloso de José Saramago está disponible en el portugués y el español aquí:

http://cuaderno.josesaramago.org/

Y hay un libro del blog:

http://www.alfaguara.com/es/libro/el-cuaderno/

Abajo he elegido algunas de las citas que para mi son las más estimulantes, refrescantes y intransigentes de su blog. Son las mismas citas que puse en mi blog en inglés:

http://douglascuba.blogspot.com/2011/08/jose-saramago-notebook.html

2008
15 de septiembre
Físicamente habitamos un espacio, pero, sentimentalmente, somos habitados por una memoria. Memoria de un espacio y de un tiempo, memoria en cuyo interior vivimos, como una isla entre dos mares: a uno le llamamos pasado, a otro le llamamos futuro. Podemos navegar en el mar del pasado próximo gracias a la memoria personal que retuvo el recuerdo de sus rutas, pero para navegar en el mar del pasado remoto tendremos que usar las memorias acumuladas en el tiempo, las memorias de un espacio continuamente en transformación, tan huidizo como el propio tiempo.

Lo que sabemos de los lugares es lo que compartimos con ellos durante un cierto tiempo en el espacio que son. El lugar esta ahí, la persona aparece, luego la persona se va, el lugar continúa, el lugar hace a la persona, la persona transforma el lugar.

18 de septiembre
Me pregunto cómo y porqué Estados Unidos, un país en todo grande, ha tenido, tantas veces, presidentes tan pequeños. George Bush es tal vez el más pequeño de todos. Inteligencia mediocre, ignorancia abisal, expresión verbal confusa y permanentemente atraída por la irresistible tentación del puro disparate, este hombre se presenta ante la humanidad con la pose grotesca de un cowboy que ha heredado el mundo y lo confunde con una manada de ganado.

George Bush expulsó la verdad del mundo para, en su lugar, hacer fructificar la edad de la mentira.

Para Bush la política es, simplemente, una de las palancas del negocio, y quizá la mejor de todas, la mentira como arma, la mentira como avanzadilla de los tanques y de los cañones, la mentira sobre las ruinas, sobre los muertos, sobre las míseras y siempre frustradas esperanzas de la humanidad.

30 de septiembre
Obviamente, no tengo nada personal contra la esperanza, pero prefiero la impaciencia.

2 de octubre
Vivimos en una sociedad que parece haber hecho de la violencia un sistema de relaciones.

8 de octubre
Aprendemos de las lecciones de la vida que de poco nos puede servir una democracia política, por más equilibrada que parezca presentarse en sus estructuras internas y en su funcionamiento institucional, si no está constituida de raíz por una efectiva y concreta democracia económica y por una no menos concreta y efectiva democracia cultural.

Hoy ... la idea de democracia económica dio lugar a un mercado obscenamente triunfante, que al final se dio de bruces con una gravísima crisis en su vertiente financiera, mientras que la idea de democracia cultural fue substituida por una alienante masificación industrial de las culturas. No progresamos, retrocedemos.

Me niego a admitir que solo sea posible gobernar y desear ser gobernado de acuerdo con los modelos supuestamente democráticos en uso, a mi ver, pervertidos e incoherentes, que no siempre con buena fe cierta especie de políticos intentan convertir en universales, con promesas falsas de desarrollo social que apenas consiguen disimular las egoístas e implacables ambiciones que las mueven.

9 de octubre
Dios es el silencio del universo y el hombre el grito que da sentido a ese silencio.

Que Dios es eterno, dicen, y tiene tiempo para todo. Eterno será, lo admitimos para no contrariar al papa, pero su eternidad es sólo la de un eterno no ser.

17 de octubre
Permítaseme, por tanto, que vuelva a decir que Dios, habiendo sido siempre un problema, es ahora el problema.

Por tanto, se quiera o no se quiera, Dios como problema, Dios como piedra en medio del camino, Dios como pretexto para el odio, Dios como agente de desunión. Pero de esta evidencia palmaria no se osa hablar en ninguno de los múltiples análisis de la cuestión, tanto si son de tipo político, económico, sociológico, psicológico o utilitariamente estratégico.

20 de octubre
Crimen contra la humanidad es el que los poderes financieros y económicos de Estados Unidos, con la complicidad efectiva o tácita do su gobierno, fríamente han perpetrado contra millones de personas en todo el mundo, amenazadas de perder el dinero que les queda después de, en muchísimos casos (no dudo de que sean millones), haber perdido su única y cuántas veces escasa fuente de rendimiento, es decir, su trabajo.

Los criminales son conocidos, tienen nombre y apellidos, se trasladan en limusinas cuando van a jugar al golf, y tan seguros están de sí mismos que ni siquiera piensan en esconderse.

24 de octubre
José Luis Sampedro … nos preguntaba el maestro, también a él mismo, cómo se explica que haya aflorado tan rápidamente el dinero para rescatar los bancos y, sin necesidad de calificativos, si ese dinero habría aparecido con la misma rapidez de haberse solicitado para solucionar una emergencia en África, o para combatir el sida

7 de noviembre
La caridad es lo que resta cuando no hay ni bondad ni justicia.

16 de noviembre
Me abrazo a las palabras que he escrito, les deseo larga vida y recomienzo la escritura en el punto en que la había dejado. No hay otra respuesta.

15 de diciembre
Jorge Luis Borges ... a quien continúo considerando el inventor de la literatura virtual, esa literatura suya que parece haberse desprendido de la realidad para revelar mejor sus invisibles misterios.

22 de diciembre
Si el ridículo matara no quedaría de pie ni un solo político o un solo soldado israelí, esos especialistas en crueldad, esos doctorados en desprecio que miran el mundo desde lo alto de la insolencia que es la base de su educación.

31 de diciembre
Ya sabemos qué es una relación especial, se llama complicidad en el crimen.

2009
11 de febrero
El planeta sería mucho más pacífico si todos fuésemos ateos. Claro que, siendo la naturaleza humana lo que es, no nos faltarían otros motivos para todos los desacuerdos posibles e imaginables, pero nos libertaríamos de esa idea infantil y ridícula de creer que nuestro dios es el mejor de los demás dioses que andan por ahí y de que el paraíso que nos espera es un hotel de cinco estrellas. Es más, creo que reinventaríamos la filosofía.

24 de febrero
Que, pese a lo que está pasando en el mundo, sigue sin levantar la cabeza, como si no tuviera razón.

12 de marzo
Lo bello no es solo una categoría de lo estético, podemos encontrarlo también en la acción moral.

28 de abril
Somos la memoria que tenemos, sin memoria no sabríamos quienes somos.

7 de mayo
Culturalmente, es más fácil movilizar a los hombres para la guerra que para la paz.

8 de mayo
Y pienso que los libros son buenos para la salud, y también para el espíritu, y que nos permiten ser poetas o ser cientistas, y entender de estrellas o encontrarlas en el interior de la voluntad de ciertos personajes, ésas que a veces, algunas tardes, se escapan de las páginas y se pasean entre los humanos, tal vez más humanos ellos.

14 de mayo
La única y auténtica libertad del ser humano es la del espíritu, un espíritu no contaminado por creencias irracionales y por supersticiones tal vez poéticas en algún caso, pero que deforman la percepción de la realidad y deberían ofender la razón más elemental.

26 de mayo
Por todas partes, aquí, allí, los sin trabajo se cuenta por millones, todos los días millares de empresas se declaran en quiebra y cierran las puertas, pero no consta que ni un sólo obrero de una fábrica de armas haya sido despedido. Trabajar en una fábrica de armas es un seguro de vida.

27 de mayo
La felicidad es una cosa muy seria.

29 de mayo
Cada día hay una minoría que sabe más y una minoría que sabe menos. La ignorancia se expande de forma aterradora.

El neoliberalismo, en mi opinión, es un nuevo totalitarismo disfrazado de democracia, de la que no se mantienen nada más que las apariencias. El centro comercial es el símbolo de ese nuevo mundo.

9 de junio
No es posible votar a la izquierda si la izquierda ha dejado de existir.

26 de junio
Democracia. … Hay que buscar el modo de reinventarla, de arrancarla del inmovilismo de la rutina y de la descreencia, bien ayudadas, una y otra, por los poderes económico y político a los que le conviene mantener la decorativa fachada del edificio democrático, aunque nos vienen impidiendo verificar si por detrás de esa fachada subsiste todavía algo. En mi opinión, lo que queda, se usa, casi siempre, más para armar eficazmente las mentiras que para defender las verdades. Lo que llamamos democracia comienza a parecerse tristemente al paño solemne que cubre el féretro donde ya está descomponiéndose el cadáver.

2 de julio
Escribir es traducir. Siempre lo será. Incluso cuando estamos utilizando nuestra propia lengua.

6 de julio
Me refiero a mis alegados excesos de indignación. … ¿hay limites para la indignación? Y más: ¿cómo se puede hablar de excesos de indignación en un país en que precisamente, con las consecuencia que están a la vista, es lo que está faltando?

7 de julio
Como escritor, creo que no me he separado jamás de mi conciencia de ciudadano. Considero que donde va uno, debe ir otro. No recuerdo haber escrito una sola palabra que estuviera en contradicción con las convicciones políticas que defiendo, pero eso no significa que haya puesto alguna vez la literatura al servicio directo de la ideología que es la mía. Por supuesto, eso sí, al escribir procuro, en cada palabra, expresar la totalidad del hombre que soy.

El escritor, si es persona de su tiempo, si no se quedó anclado en el pasado, tiene que conocer los problemas de tiempo en que le tocó vivir. ¿Y qué problemas son los de hoy? Que no estamos construyendo un mundo aceptable, bien por el contrario, vivemos en un mundo que va de mal en peor y que humanamente no sirve.

8 de julio
Algunas personas se pasan la vida buscando la infancia que perdieron. Creo que soy una de ellas.

16 de julio
El arte abstracta, ya sea directa, ya sea de opción tendencial, “resguarda” y “liberta”, en principio, la independencia relativa del color, no lo “estrangula” en la apretura constringente de configuraciones más o menos previsibles o de modelos social y consensualmente correctos.

31 de julio
Envejecer es no ser necesario.

11 de agosto
Una insurrección de las conciencia libres es lo que necesitaríamos.

27 de agosto
Dignidad, eso que no se vende ni se deja comprar, y que es para el ser humano el grado supremo.

28 de septiembre
Disentir es uno de los dos derechos que le faltan a la Declaración de Derechos Humanos. El otro es el derecho a la herejía.

José Saramago - The Notebook

2011-08-09T13:53:00.006+02:00

In his late eighties and near the end of his life, José Saramago, the Portuguese Nobel Prize winning writer and political activist, wrote a blog in which he made comments and observations on a broad range of political, economic, social, cultural and philosophical topics. These were interspersed with personal recollections and elegant eulogies for those he most respected. Whether writing on religion, the US presidency, democracy, the financial crisis or neo-liberalism, his words simply drip with indignation and anger. When I read his words I felt he was writing for me. Although his writings predated them by just a few years, he was also clearly writing for the young indignados in Spain and elsewhere who are now wakening up to the barbarity of the world we live in today.

José Saramago’s blog is available in Portuguese and Spanish at:

http://cuaderno.josesaramago.org/

The blog is also now available in English as a book entitled The Notebook, published by Verso, with a fine translation by Amanda Hopkinson and Daniel Hahn.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/184467701X/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=192CCMVXYQ44BJVD03B0&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467128533&pf_rd_i=468294

Below I’ve picked out just some of the stimulating, refreshing and uncompromising words he wrote.

2008
15 September
In physical terms we inhabit space, but in emotional terms we are inhabited, by memory. A memory composed of a space and a time, a memory inside which we live, like an island between two oceans – one for the past, the other the future. We can navigate the ocean of the recent past thanks to a personal memory, which retains the recollection of the routes it has travelled, but to navigate the distant past we have to use memories that time has accumulated, memories of a space that is continually changing, as fleeting as time itself.

What we know of places is how we coincide with them over a certain period of time in the spaces they occupy. The place was there, the person appeared, then the person left, the place continued, the place having made the person, the person having transformed the place.

18 September
I wonder why it is that the United States, a country so great in all things, has so often had such small presidents. George W Bush is perhaps the smallest of them all. This man, with his mediocre intelligence, abysmal ignorance, confused communication skills and constant succumbing to the irresistible temptation of pure nonsense, has presented himself to humanity in the grotesque pose of a cowboy who has inherited the world and mistaken it for a herd of cattle.

George Bush expelled truth from the world, establishing the age of lies that now flourishes in its place.

For Bush, politics is simply one of the levers of business, and perhaps the best one of all - the lie as a weapon, the lie as the advance guard of tanks and cannons, the lie told over the ruins, over the corpses, over humanity’s wretched and perpetually frustrated hopes.

30 September
I have nothing against hope, obviously, but I prefer impatience.

2 October
We live in a society that seems to have made violence a way of social interaction.

8 October
The lessons of life have taught us how little use a political democracy will be, however well-balanced it may appear in its internal structures and institutional functioning, if it not constituted as the basis for an effective and real economic democracy and for a no less real and effective cultural democracy.

Today ... the idea of economic democracy has given way to a market that is obscenely triumphant, even at the moment of an extremely serious crisis on its financial axis, whilst the idea of a cultural democracy has ended up being replaced by an alienating industrialised mass marketing of culture. We are not progressing, we are regressing.

I just refuse to accept that it is only possible to govern and wish to be governed according to the supposedly democratic models currently in use, which to my mind are distorted and incoherent, and which certain politicians (not always in good faith) want to make universal, along with the false promises of social development that barely manage to disguise the egotistical and relentless ambitions of that really motivate them.

9 October
God is the silence of the universe and man is the cry that gives meaning to that silence.

God, they say, is eternal, and he has time for everything. Eternal he may be; we can allow that much so as not to contradict the pope, but his eternity is only that of eternal not-being.

17 October
Allow me therefore to say now that God, who has always been a problem, is now the problem.

Hence, whether you like it or not, we have God as a problem, God as a rock in the middle of the road, God as a pretext for hatred, God as an agent of disunity. But no one dares mention this most prima facie evidence in any of the many analyses of the question, be they political, economic, sociological, psychological or strategically utilitarian in nature.

20 October
A crime against humanity is what the financial and economic powers of the United States, with the actual of tacit complicity of their government, have been perpetrating in cold blood against millions of people all over the world, who are threatened with losing whatever money they have left, after many of them – I don’t doubt there are millions – have already lost their only, often inadequate, source of income: work.

The criminals are known, they have names and surnames, yet they take limousines to the golf course, so sure of themselves that they do not even think of hiding.

24 October
José Luis Sampedro ... asked us and himself, how to explain why the money used to rescue the banks appeared so quickly and was given unconditionally, and whether this money would have appeared with the same speed had it been solicited to help with an emergency in Africa or to fight AIDS.

7 November
Charity is what is left when there is neither kindness nor justice.

16 November
I embrace the words I have written, I wish them long life and resume my writing where I left off. There can be no other response.

15 December
Jorge Luis Borges ... whom I still consider the inventor of virtual literature, that literature of his that seems to have detached itself from reality in order better to reveal its invisible mysteries.

22 December
If ridicule could kill, there wouldn’t be a single Israeli politician left standing, nor a single Israeli soldier, those specialists in cruelty, those graduates in hatred who look down at the world from the height of insolence that is at the root of their education.

31 December
We already know what a special relationship is: it means being partners in crime.

2009
11 February
The planet would be a far more peaceful place if we were all atheists. Of course, human nature being the way it is, there is no lack of motives for every kind of disagreement, but at least we would be free of the infantile and ridiculous notion of believing that our god is the best of any number of others on offer, and the Heaven awaits us in a five-star hotel. More even than this, I believe we would start reinventing philosophy.

24 February
Despite what the world is going through, the left continues not to raise its head. As if it had no right to.

12 March
Beauty doesn’t merely belong to the category of what we call aesthetic, it can equally be found in moral undertakings.

28 April
We are the memory we retain; without memory, we would not know who we are.

7 May
Culturally, it is easier to mobilise men for war than for peace.

8 May
I consider books to be good for our health, and also our spirits, and they help us to become poets or scientists, to understand the stars or else to discover them deep within the aspirations of certain characters, those who sometimes, on certain evenings, escape from the pages and walk among us humans, perhaps the most human of us all.

12 May
A suffering man courts attention; a suffering woman avoids it.

14 May
The unique authentic freedom of a human being resides in the spirit, a spirit uncontaminated by irrational beliefs and superstitions, which, however poetic they may sometimes be, deform our perception of reality and offend the most elementary sense of reason.

26 May
Around the globe, the unemployed can be counted in millions, thousands of businesses declare themselves bankrupt and close their doors on a daily basis, but there is still no sign that even one armaments factory has closed down. To work in an arms factory is a life insurance policy.

27 May
Happiness is an extremely serious matter.

29 May
Each day there is a minority that knows more, and another that knows less. Ignorance is expanding in a truly terrifying manner.

Neo-liberalism is a new form of totalitarianism disguised as democracy, of which it remains almost nothing but a semblance. The shopping mall is the symbol of our times.

9 June
It is no longer possible to vote for the left if the left has ceased to exist.

26 June
Democracy. … We have to find a way to reinvent this concept, to drag it out from the paralysis into which routine and disbelief have sunk it, both amply assisted by the economic and political powers that find it convenient to maintain the decorative façade of the democratic edifice without allowing the rest of us to check whether there is actually anything still behind it. In my opinion, whatever remains is almost always more heavily employed in bolstering lies than in defending the truth. What we call democracy is beginning, sadly, to resemble the funeral cloth covering the urn in which rest the remains of a putrefying corpse.

2 July
To write is always to translate, even when we are using our own language.

6 July
I refer to my alleged excesses of indignation. … Does indignation have limits? And further, how can one talk of excesses of indignation in a country where it is specifically lacking, with consequences for all to see?

7 July
I don’t think that I have ever divided my identity as a writer from my conscience as a citizen. I believe that where one goes, the other should go too. I don’t recall ever having written a single word that contradicted the political convictions I uphold, but that does not mean that I have ever placed literature at the service of my ideology. What it doesn’t mean, however, is that in every word I write I seek to express the totality of the man I am.

If he is a person of his time, if he is not chained to the past, a writer must know the problems of the age in which he happens to live. And what are these problems today? That we do not live in an acceptable world; on the contrary, we live in a world that is going from bad to worse and that does not function humanely.

8 July
Some people spend their lives looking for the childhood they have lost. I think I am one of them.

16 July
Abstract art – either directly or at least with a tendency that way – “protects” and generally “liberates” the relative independence of colour; it does not “strangle” it in a squeezing constraint of compositions that are more or less predictable or of what are generally agreed to be correct social models.

31 July
To grow old is to be imprecise.

11 August
What we need is an insurrection of liberated consciences.

27 August
Dignity, a thing one can neither sell nor permit others to buy, and which is the greatest thing a human being can possess.

28 September
The right to dissent is one of two rights missing from the Declaration of Human Rights. The other is the right to heresy.

Art Pepper - Blues for the Fisherman

2011-07-24T13:33:00.014+02:00

In the pantheon of jazz music the alto saxophonist Art Pepper may not be as well known or as highly respected as Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker or many of the other great jazz musicians, but some like myself believe he should be. Unfortunately, his tempestuous life, involving heavy drug abuse, alcoholism, crime and recurrent prison sentences - and no better and more candidly documented than by Art Pepper himself in his autobiography Straight Life - has often overshadowed the greatness and consistently high quality of his music.

Art Pepper released his first albums at the beginning of the 1950s and over the following thirty years released more than fifty records. His most acclaimed albums include: Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section in 1957; Gettin’ Together, Intensity and Smack Up in the early 1960s; after a long break the live recordings of his concerts in New York’s Village Vanguard in 1977; and two albums, Goin' Home and Tête-à-Tète, that were released posthumously and that he'd made with his favourite pianist George Cables. Art Pepper died from a stroke in 1982, aged 56.

For me Art Pepper’s music is best heard on his live recordings. It’s on these that you hear the sheer emotional intensity of his sax playing – melodic, lyrical, passionate and innovative - with his solos, at times, interspersed with characteristic and alarmingly distorted notes sounding more like burps as he pushes his alto sax to its limits.

Art Pepper’s third wife Laurie has done much to keep Art Pepper’s music alive, including the publication of a number of previously unreleased recordings. The latest was released in June of this year on her Widow’s Taste label and is entitled Blues for the Fisherman, a wonderful four CD set of Art Pepper performing live at Ronnie Scott’s Club in London in 1980. These high quality recordings show Art Pepper at his very best. It's already become my favourite album of the year so far.

The Poetic Sensibility of Quique González

2011-06-16T19:51:00.010+02:00

As I’ve written before here, one of the great things about living in a foreign country is that you discover and learn about new artists, writers, musicians, etc., who you wouldn’t normally come across in your own country. One such person during my time in Spain has been the thirty-seven year-old, Madrid born, singer-songwriter Quique González. Because he writes and sings in Spanish, Quique González is largely unknown outside Spanish speaking countries. A quick search in Google, for example, comes up with next to no references to him in English, suggesting that this may be the first article about Quique González written in English. Indeed, even within his native Spain his talents are arguably insufficiently recognised. However, after fourteen years performing extensively in Spain and Latin America, and eight albums, including Salitre 48, Kamikazes enamorados, La noche americana, the live Ajuste de cuentas, and his most recent Daiquirí Blues, he now has a strong following, though far below the popularity of other Spanish and Latin American rock stars.

Most of Quique González’s acoustic and more rocky electric sound is clearly influenced by a range of North American musicians such as Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Jackson Browne, but Spanish and Latin American influences can also be heard such as Enrique Urquijo, Joaquín Sabina, Antonio Vega and Fito Páez. His lyrics are full of wonderful imagery and acute observations of contemporary life. The poetic and melancholic sensibility of his lyrics touch on love, loss, solitude, memory and regret, and are complemented by his soft and enduring melodies. This makes for deeply sensitive song-writing.

Having toured extensively with various electric bands over the years and having had in 2009 his biggest success with his Nashville recorded album Daiquirí Blues, Quique González recently began an acoustic tour in Spain entitled Desbandados, Gira Acústica.

In the small and intimate Teatro de Bellas Artes in Madrid I had the privilege this week of seeing Quique González play almost two hours of entrancing music before an appreciative audience. His softly spoken and ironic introductions were often difficult to hear, but this seemed merely to add to the intimacy of the concert. He explained at the beginning of the concert that he would be playing many songs from his past, which would hopefully be given a new life in an acoustic arrangement. As a result the beautiful lyrical nature of his songs, often lost in more rocky electric settings, was given more prominence. This was helped immensely by the subtle and immaculate double bass and cello accompaniment of Jacob Reguilón. His inclusion of Jackson Browne’s These Days (with Spanish lyrics) and Downtown Train by Tom Waits were a particular joy. This was music in its most intimate, sensitive and poetic form.

The official website of Quique González is:

http://www.quiquegonzalez.com/web/

The photo at the top of this posting is courtesy of Antxon Castresana and the other was taken by myself.

“de repente brie” – una mirada peculiar del mundo rutinario. The photography of Linda Donofrio

2011-05-04T17:22:00.011+02:00

A peculiar look at the routine world.

This blog http://lindadonofrio.wordpress.com/ shows the wonderful photographic work of Linda Donofrio. Many of her photos are images of the most mundane. The beauty of the smallest details of everyday life which many of us pass by as we walk through a city. An abstraction of form and colour which you find on almost any street corner. Her photos resemble paintings or collages seen through an urban microscope, transmitting simplicity and enduring art. Her photos show how beauty can be found where it is perhaps least expected.

Linda Donofrio is an Argentinean living in Madrid.

http://lindadonofrio.wordpress.com/

Jason Webster - Or the Bull Kills You

2011-03-14T13:21:00.006+01:00

Jason Webster is a writer who was born in California, brought up in England and since 1993 has been living in Spain. He’s written a number of non-fiction books including: Duende - A Journey in Search of Flamenco; Andalus - Unlocking the Secrets of Moorish Spain; and Guerra – Living in the Shadows of the Spanish Civil War. This is a review I wrote of his recently published first novel Or the Bull Kills You. The review was published on Amazon.co.uk in March 2011 under the title “Room for improvement ...”

Jason Webster has written some fine, well-written, quasi-travel books about Spain – Duende, Andalus and Guerra. These are books, which as someone who lives in Spain, I’ve often recommended to English speakers who want to learn more about Spanish society beyond what the Lonely Planet Guide offers. This is Webster’s first novel, although some have suggested that his non-fiction books are sometimes overly embellished by his clearly fertile imagination. Set in Valencia, Or the Bulls Kills You adds to the ever growing number of crime novels coming out of Europe these days. The difference this time is that the author writes in his adopted city of Valencia, in contrast to those who centre their books in their own countries, such as Henning Mankell in Ystad, Jo Nesbø in Oslo, Manuel Montalbán Vázquez in Barcelona and Ian Rankin in Edinburgh. Webster has come up with an intriguing detective Max Cámara and the story is set against bullfighting and the Fallas celebrations in Valencia. As an introduction to what is apparently going to be a series of novels featuring the detective Max Cámara, the plot unfolds in a fairly erratic fashion - at one crucial point a significant event is inexcusably ignored until the very end of the book – and the storyline is frequently broken by unnecessary background detail about Valencia and the organisational structure of the Spanish police. Hopefully, future plots will be more tightly composed and Webster will cut back on his deeply irritating use of Spanish in the text – sometimes translated and sometimes not – which simply detracts from the flow and impact of the narrative. Better editing would improve the book immensely and also get rid of a number of typos.

Revelatory Loretta Lynn

2011-01-31T17:59:00.004+01:00

In 2004, the iconic country and western singer Loretta Lynn, then in her seventies, teamed up with the twenty-nine year old Jack White of the bluesy heavy rock duo The White Stripes. A more unlikely pairing would be difficult to think of. Yet the outcome was a stunning piece of “country rock”. While Loretta Lynn wrote all but one of the songs on the album, Jack White produced and played on all the tracks. In a review for Amazon.co.uk, I described the album as revelatory and gave it nine out of ten.

Loretta Lynn - Van Lear Rose

This album is a revelation. The opening title track starts like a thousand other country songs until heavy guitar, rumbling bass and thumping rock drumming kick in as Loretta's voice soars and you know you're listening to something utterly new. A few years ago Emmylou Harris took country music to new heights with her album Wrecking Ball when she chose to be produced by Daniel Lanois, the Canadian who's arranged a lot of U2's best music. This album is quite different in style but, with the production and musical assistance of one of The White Stripes, achieves the same in pushing back musical frontiers.

Loretta's vocals are so strong - she's 70 years of age! - and the songs are the usual stuff of country music - broken relationships, poverty, desperation, drinking and murder. The more traditional sounding songs with just her voice, guitar, pedal-steel guitar and fiddle are particularly well played and produced. Even two gospel-tinged songs, “Have Mercy” and “High on a Mountain Top”, are given highly innovative productions. “Little Red Shoes” could be described as a kind of country rap - Loretta talking over a dreamy, bluesy riff about her mother buying her a pair of shoes when she was a child. On the track “Women's Prison”, about her being sent to jail for the murder of her cheating lover, simply listen to the music rise and fall and then finish off in a cacophony of distorted guitar. Revelatory.

Gram Parsons is said to have invented "country rock". Who would have thought that Loretta Lynn would be continuing that tradition in such a raucous fashion more than thirty years later. I'm sure that Johnny Cash would have loved this album. This is as country music can be.

Best of 2010 - Music

2010-12-13T13:40:00.007+01:00

For me the past twelve months have not been a great year for new music, at least not much of note seems to have passed my way. Maybe I’m just getting old and have heard too much music, but most rock music in particular sounds uninteresting and highly derivative of past bands. When I read the “best of” lists I find I haven’t heard of most of the singers and bands. When I then go to Myspace or their websites to listen to them, very few catch my attention.

Of the eleven albums listed below only two were released in 2010. Most of the albums I’ve listened to over the past year have been “world” music or jazz.

Salif Keita – La différence (2010)
Khaled – Liberté (2009)

Neil Young – Le Noise (2010)
Josh Ritter – So Runs the World Away (2010)

Esbjörn Svensson Trio – Seven Days of Falling (2003)
Esbjörn Svensson Trio – Tuesday Wonderland (2006)
Tord Gustavsen Trio – Changing Places (2003)
Tord Gustavsen Trio – The Ground (2005)
Tord Gustavsen Trio – Being There (2007)
Andy Sheppard – Movements in Colour (2009)
Joshua Redman – Compass (2009)

My favourite album of the year was undoubtedly Salif Keita’s La différence. I’ve already written about the Malian singer on this blog and only need to repeat that his music is truly transcendental, largely driven by West African rhythms and dance beats, his soaring vocals and an Islamic spirit. However, the influence of North American blues, Afro-Cuban rhythms, soul and reggae can also be heard.

The other artist who falls into the “world” music category is the hugely popular Algerian singer Khaled, the so-called king of raï. I came across his album Liberté released in 2009 and loved it. Some of the songs start slowly and then simply explode with energy and a pulsating rhythm.

With regards to rock music, only two albums had a big impact on me.

The first was Neil Young’s Le Noise, amazingly the 35th studio record of the 65 year old musician’s career. With just Neil Young on guitar and vocals, Daniel Lanois provides a wonderful atmospheric production, full of distorted guitar and sound effects.

The second rock album of the year for me was Josh Ritter’s So Runs the World Away, a diverse collection of literate and melodic songs, including Lantern, arguably my favourite song of the year.

Not finding much rock music to listen to, I spent a lot of the year looking for and discovering some great contemporary jazz music.

My main discovery was the Swedish pianist Esbjörn Svensson and his fellow EST trio musicians Dan Berglund on double bass and Magnus Öström on drums. I can particularly recommend the albums Seven Days of Falling and Tuesday Wonderland. While Svensson mixes electronic sounds and even rock beats at times with his jazz piano, it’s his fluency and innovative playing that appeal to me. Sadly Svensson died in 2008 at the age of 44 in a diving accident.

Another jazz pianist I discovered was the Norwegian Tord Gustavsen. He’s released a trilogy of albums – Changing Places, The Ground and Being There. All these albums feature Gustavsen on solo piano. If he’s to be compared to anyone I suppose it would have to be Keith Jarrett’s solo improvisatory work.

The jazz album that I’ve probably played more than any other this year is Andy Sheppard’s Movements in Colour. I first saw the English saxophonist in the jazz ensemble Loose Tubes many, many years ago but lost track of his work since then. Movements in Colour is a collection of beautiful dreamlike melodies, some with clear Middle Eastern influences.

My final jazz album of the year is Compass by the North American saxophonist Joshua Redman. Although I saw Redman play a great concert in Madrid a few years ago, I haven’t kept up to date with his output. Compass provides a fine collection of modern saxophone-based jazz.

Best of 2010 - Books

2010-12-12T11:39:00.007+01:00

As usual at this time of year I’ve put together a list of the best books I’ve read over the past twelve months. These are not books that were necessarily published over the past year, just those I read and particularly enjoyed. I’ve listed them in alphabetical order by author.

Fiction
Muriel Barbery – The Elegance of the Hedgehog
This delightful and touching book was recommended to me by a friend who I managed to get back in touch with after ten years. I couldn’t thank her more. The book has been a huge success, especially in the author’s native France. The two main characters, a fifty-four year old concierge and a twelve year old girl who live in an upper-class apartment block in Paris, are beautifully drawn and provide witty and incisive observations on what passes for modern society. Their contemplations and observations on life, love, happiness, language, social class and, above all, beauty and art, are wonderful. A highly moving book.

John Berger – To the Wedding
Over the past couple of years I’ve been reading almost everything written by the great intellectual, writer and artist John Berger – his art criticism, political and cultural essays, and novels. Earlier this year I wrote a piece about Berger here on my blog. To the Wedding was published in 2009 and tells an almost unbearable story of love, hope and sadness. There can be few more humane writers than Berger. His ability to get to the core of ordinary peoples’ lives in a prose so poetic and sensitive is simply beautiful.

Stieg Larsson – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Stieg Larsson – The Girl Who Played with Fire
Stieg Larsson – The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest
Like millions of others across the world I found the Stieg Larsson trilogy utterly captivating. All three books are quite long, but the fluidity of the prose whisks you along breathlessly. Lisbeth Salander must be one of the great characters of modern literature. Together with Henning Mankell, Stieg Larsson has put Sweden very much on the world map. Mixing social commentary and detective fiction, this is narrative at its very best.

Orhan Pamuk – The Museum of Innocence
This is the first book I’ve read by the Turkish Nobel Prize-winner Orhan Pamuk. Even though the self-centred, upper-class characters are fairly unattractive, the tale of deeply obsessive and largely unrequited love in 1970s’ Istanbul has a strange and unexpected appeal. There were times when I thought I wasn’t enjoying the book, but because it’s so exquisitively written in the end I found it utterly enticing.

José Luis Sampedro – La sonrisa etrusca
Maruja Torres – Mientras vivimos
These are two novels that I read in Spanish, neither of which are available in English as far as I know.

José Luis Sampedro is unusually a noted radical economist and social commentator, as well as being a superb novelist. The tenderness of his writing in La sonrisa etrusca (The Etruscan Smile), seen from the viewpoint of an old and dying campesino in Milan, is, like Berger’s, deeply humane, showing how love can be so central to our lives at any age.

Maruja Torres is a well known journalist and novelist in Spain and in Mientras vivimos (While We Live), she contemplates, among other themes, the consequences of obsessive admiration for someone and how the past can impact so deeply on the present. This is pursued through the development of a sensitive but ever changing relationship between a successful but ageing novelist and her young assistant.

Non-fiction
Laurie Lee – Cider With Rosie
Laurie Lee – As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning
Laurie Lee – A Moment of War
Laurie Lee – A Rose for Winter
In many respects some of Laurie Lee’s work, especially Cider With Rosie and As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning, has suffered from being on the school curriculum (at least when I was at school in Scotland and England) and therefore read by many children merely to pass exams. Rereading these books almost forty years later, these memoirs of his early life had a completely unexpected vibrancy. Living in Andalusia no doubt heightened my appreciation, but Lee’s elegant and seamless descriptive prose of a past way of life in rural Spain is rich with poetic detail. How much and how little Andalusian life has changed.

Paul Theroux – Ghost Train to the Eastern Star: On the Tracks of ‘The Great Railway Bazaar’
In 1975 Paul Theroux published The Great Railway Bazaar, his account of travelling across Asia by train. I must have read it around that same time and it soon became regarded by many as a classic of travel writing. Some thirty years later Theroux retraced his journey (at least as much as he could given political changes) and wrote his account in Ghost Train to the Eastern Star. The changing world, people and places he sees, now written by a very much changed writer in very much changed personal circumstances, are a delight. Few contemporary writers have such an acute sense of observation.

El pincel abstracto / The Abstract Paintbrush - Susana Pannullo

2010-11-24T12:59:00.002+01:00

This is a beautiful video which shows the artist Susana Pannullo working in her studio in Madrid. The video was made by Álvaro Delgado.

Susana Pannullo - Moroccan Inspiration

2010-11-22T18:44:00.014+01:00

A new series of paintings by Susana Pannullo inspired by her recent visits to Morocco. Anyone interested in buying her paintings can contact her through the following websites or by sending me a message here:

http://susanapannullo.tumblr.com/

http://www.saatchionline.com/profiles/index/id/73428

http://susanapannullo.artelista.com/

José Guerrero - Spanish Abstract Expressionism

2010-10-24T14:11:00.012+02:00

When I was in Granada recently I visited the Centro José Guerrero, home to an important collection of paintings by the granadino abstract expressionist artist. I first came across Jose Guerrero’s art in Madrid and I saw some of his paintings in the Banco de España when I was working there as an English teacher.

José Guerrero was born in Granada in 1914 and went to the Escuela de Artes y Oficios in Granada and later after the Civil War to the Escuela Superior Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid. In 1945 he went to Paris, having received a fellowship from the French government to study at the École des Beaux Arts, and a couple of years later studied unofficially at the Academia de España in Rome. During this period he was greatly influenced by artists such as Picasso, Miró, Matisse and Gris. In 1949 he married the North American Roxane Whittier Pollock who he’d met in Rome. After a brief stay in London to learn English, the couple moved to the US in 1949. It was in New York that José Guerrero truly developed his own abstract style, although influenced by the so-called New York School – artists such as Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline, Mark Rothko and Robert Motherwell – and the then prevalent action painting.

In 1954 José Guerrero had his first individual exhibition in the Betty Parsons Gallery in New York, having already shared an exhibition in the Art Club of Chicago with Joan Miró. His work was becoming internationally recognised in the art world and in 1958 he was given a grant together with other painters, architects and philosophers, such as Wilfredo Lam, Eduardo Chillida and Mies van der Rohe, to see how the city of Chicago could be remodelled. During the following three decades, he divided his time between the US and different parts of Spain.

José Guerrero’s abstract art developed through a number of stages but was always characterised by his intense and large scale use of vibrant colour, planes and lines. He also used everyday objects, for example matches, as the inspiration for his art. Guerrero himself described the structure of his paintings as being based on "vertical thrusts or horizontal tensions and diagonal criss-crossings."

Arguably Guerrero’s best know painting is La brecha de Viznar (1966), which he painted as an elegy to the death of his friend and fellow granadino Federico García Lorca. Other paintings, which draw on his Granada roots, are Albaicín (1962), Generalife (1963) and Sacromonte (1963-64).

Although José Guerrero received many awards during his life (he died in Barcelona in 1991), for example the French government’s Knight of the Arts, and received wide acclaim in the international art world, it could be argued that his work is not as widely recognised and known as it should be. For example, even though he spent much of his life in the US, there is no Wikipedia entry about him in English, and even the Spanish entry is a short paragraph. A quick search on Google comes up with very little in English about his life and work.

Having recently seen José Guerrero’s large scale paintings in Granada, I can testify to the power and intense emotion that they generate. He’s an artist whose work is well worth exploring.

“Cuando pinto me siento como un combatiente de la resistencia buscando libertad para liberar mis intuiciones y emociones sencillamente y con pleno control. Las pinturas abren ventanas y puertas que conducen a un camino en la distancia donde hay luz y aire y agua sin limite y sin fin” (José Guerrero).

“When I paint I feel like a resistance fighter looking for freedom to liberate my intuitions and emotions simply and with complete control. The paintings open windows and doors that lead to a path in the distance where there’s limitless and endless light, air and water” (José Guerrero - my translation).

I’ve posted a few examples of his work above. At the excellent website of the Centro José Guerrero (in English and Spanish) you can find more examples of his art and a wealth of information.

http://www.centroguerrero.org/

Unfortunately, at the time of writing it seems as if the Centre will close soon and all of Guerrero’s work will be moved to Madrid. It’s not yet clear where or if this important collection will be exhibited publicly.

The photography of Adriana Lestido

2010-08-20T12:57:00.012+02:00

Rarely have I been so taken by an exhibition of photographs than that which is currently on show in La Casa de América in Madrid (it continues until the end of August 2010). The wonderful photographs are the work of the Argentinean Adriana Lestido, born in Buenos Aires in 1955. The exhibition is called Amores difíciles and is a retrospective comprising 159 black and white photographs taken between 1986 and 2007. Almost all the photos are of women and have been taken from earlier exhibitions called Hospital infanto-juvenil, Madres adoloscentes, Mujeres presas, Mujeres e hijas, El amor, y Villa Gesell. Most of her photographs are profiles and her style is largely photo-journalistic, with many of the photographs making deep and emotional social comment on the difficulties that women face in their relationships with their sons and daughters in particular social contexts such as prisons, hospitals and, more generally, in the struggle of ordinary daily life. Her photos are direct, sad, heartbreaking, painful, intense, intimate and dramatic, always hinting at some some untold story. Accompanying the photos are a number of texts by writers such as John Berger and Pedro Salinas, who emphasise the themes of love, lack of love, separation, absence, loneliness and fear. The exhibition makes for a perfect combination of artistic statement and social commentary.

More of her photographs, together with interviews and videos, can be seen at her website:

http://www.adrianalestido.com.ar

Marinaleda, il socialismo in un paese solo

2010-07-02T11:31:00.019+02:00

The Italian magazine TERRA, in its Saturday supplement 3D La Terza Dimensione Della Cronaca (26 giugno 2010 – anno 1 n. 21), has published an Italian translation of an abridged version of my article on Marinaleda:

http://douglascuba.blogspot.com/2010/04/marinaleda-another-world-is-possible.html

Marinaleda, Il socialsmo in un paese solo

In Andalusia funziona da 20 anni una “città impossibile”

di Douglas Hamilton

http://www.3dnews.it/sites/default/files/2606_TERRA_1-4.pdf

Si possono mettere le proprie mani sulla propria città? É possibile concepire e realizzare uno spazio urbano a misura dei nostri bisogni, del nostro modo di pensarci come comunità? A Marinaleda, cittadina di 2.700 persone a 100km a est da Siviglia, in Spagna, si può. Qui tragli anni ‘70 e gli anni ‘80, la lotta dei contadini e dei laboratorio ha espropriato le terre ai grandi proprietari. E su quelle terre,oggi, si è fabbricata una utopia.

Marinaleda è un me raviglioso esempio di come proprietà sociale e creazione di opportunità di lavoro vadano di pari passo. Questa città ha sviluppato una forma unica di distribuzione davvero socialista delle abitazioni. In contrasto con la dilagante speculazione e follia finanziaria che hanno caratterizzato e mandato in rovina il mercato immobiliare spagnolo, gran parte dell’edilizia d’alta qualità di Marinaleda è stata costruita dalle stesse persone del luogo che sono diventate di conseguenza proprietariedelle case a costi minimi. Le case sono costruite sul terreno comunale, con materiali forniti dal governo locale e regionale. Gli abitanti pagano 15 euro al mese, oltre a contribuire con un numero convenuto di ore lavorative al mese alla costruzione delle case. Un accordo vieta loro di vendere in futuro le case. Il sistema fa sì che i proprietari delle abitazioni non siano vincolati da ipoteche e che non ci sia nessuna possibilità di speculazione finanziaria. Il lavoro di costruzione in cui la gente si impegna è convertito in compensi che vengono poi sottratti dal costo di costruzione della casa. Il Consiglio promueve una serie di laboratori rivolti all’insegnamento delle tecniche di muratura, di impiantistica elettrica, idraulica, di carpenteria, di agricoltura ecologica e di tutto ciò che può essere usato a beneficio del programma sociale sull’edilizia.

A emblema dell’ideologia socialista di Marinaleda e della convinzione che il potere debba essere messo nelle mani della gente del luogo, il Consiglio comunale ha creato delle Assemblee Generali dove 25 o 30 volte all’anno si incontrano dai 400 ai 600 cittadini che danno voce alle loro preoccupazioni e votano sulle questioni all’ordine del giorno. Le Assemblee Locali, inoltre, si svolgono in quei punti della città dove si manifestano i problemi che poi verranno discussi.

A Marinaleda, poi, ci sono Gruppi d’Azione che si occupano di problemi specifici come la cultura, i festival, la pianificazione urbanistica, lo sport, l’ecologia e la pace. Un ulteriore esempio della particolare forma di democrazia locale del Consiglio è l’uso del “bilancio partecipativo” attraverso il quale ogni anno gli investimenti e le spese proposte dal Consiglio stesso sono presentati negli spazi della comunità per essere discussi. Nelle “Red Sundays” (“Domeniche rosse”, ndt) la gente del posto presta servizio voluntario per migliorare le strade, i giardini, le case, e fa altri lavori utili, migliorando così lo spazio pubblico e costruendo allo stesso tempo anche la coscienza collettiva di chi lo abita.

Un altro esempio delle politiche radical-socialiste della città è il fatto che alcuni anni fa il Consiglio decise di non avere una corpo di polizia locale, proponendosi così di risparmiare quantità significative del denaro delle risorse finanziarie (intorno ai 260.000 euro all’anno) per dirottarlo su fondi sociali e servizi a vantaggio della comunità. Questa è con tutta probabilità una posizione politica unica in Spagna, se non nel resto d’Europa, e una posizione che sembra aver avuto successo.

Nel corso della mia visita a Marinaleda, i fondi sociali e quelli per l’istruzione della città mi hanno impressionato. Ci sono scuole moderne, un comprensorio sanitario attrezzato di modo che la gente non debba spostarsi per usufruire di trattamenti standard, un attivo ayuntamiento (Municipio), un centro sportivo moderno e ben equipaggiato, servizi a domicilio per gli anziani, un centro per i pensionati, un ampio centro culturale, una piscina, un campo sportivo da calcio, e un parco con giardini nel pieno rispetto della natura. Forse la cosa che desta più impressione in città è l’asilo, che è aperto dalle 7 alle 16 e costa appena 12 euro per bambino al mese, prezzo che include colazione e pranzo per i bambini: un supporto enorme per i genitori che lavorano. L’ampiezza dei fondi sociali è di gran lunga al di sopra di quel che ci si aspetterebbe in una città di appena 2.700 abitanti.

Salif Keita – The Transcendental Voice of African Music

2010-06-06T14:06:00.020+02:00

It’s difficult to believe, but after performing for more than forty years and now in his sixties, Salif Keita, the so-called Golden Voice of Africa, seems to be getting better and better. His latest album La différence has already become my favourite of this year, and after seeing him in an outdoor concert a week ago in Cádiz I can attest to the truly transcendental nature of his music when played live.

Salif Keita’s remarkable story is now well-known. Not only was he ostracised by his family and community for being an albino and the bad luck it was said to bring in Mandingo culture, but he was also a direct descendant of of the founder of the Mali Empire, Sundiata Keita, and therefore should never have become a singer under the Malian caste system which states that such a role is inappropriate for someone with royal heritage. Despite such adverse beginnings, he managed to counter the discrimination by moving first to Bamako, the capital of Mali, and then in the 1980s to Paris.

Salif Keita’s music is largely driven by West African rhythms and dance beats, his soaring vocals and an Islamic spirit, but the influence of north American blues, Afro-Cuban rhythms, soul and reggae can also be heard. His most recent albums over the past decade – La différence, M’Bemba and Moffou – are largely acoustic-based using traditional African instruments, while his earlier albums, especially his breakthrough album in 1987, Soro, are more electric.

This is the official video of the title track of his latest album La différence:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZ53rtam4QQ

And this is a documentary in French about the making of the album:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Apf3DXpuiwY

As he sings on La différence he’s black with white skin and black blood, a difference which is beautiful and should be understood in love and peace.

The photos above were taken on 27 May 2010 at the África Vive concert in Cádiz.

John Berger - Ways of Seeing

2010-05-18T13:59:00.006+02:00

Writer, novelist, art critic, journalist, essayist, artist, poet, Marxist – John Berger is all these things and more. Now in his eighties, John Berger has published numerous novels, non-fiction books, screenplays and an endless number of essays, reviews and articles. His concerns are wide-ranging and deal, among others, with the relationship between individuals and society, the interaction of people, places and communities, the experience of the marginalised and oppressed in society, those forced to migrate, and perhaps, above all, the complex but key relationship between culture and politics. Throughout all his work John Berger never denies his cultural and political engagement - a truly committed intellectual of our times.

It’s difficult to know what he’s best known for. His novels like A Painter Of Our Time (1958),G (1972), Here Is Where We Meet (2005), and most recently his wonderful From A To X (2008) have all been acclaimed and received awards. His art criticism, such as his highly influential book Ways of Seeing (1972), which examines from a Marxist perspective how we view images, is still the essential source. His sociological study of migration in Europe A Seventh Man (1975) using the photography of Jean Mohr is still regarded as a classic. His more direct political essays, such as the recent collection Hold Everything Dear: Despatches on Survival and Resistance (2007) always place emphasis on human experience and continuing resistance.

Here are a just a few extracts from John Berger’s writings ranging over the past forty years.

Ways of Seeing (1972):

Publicity turns consumption into a substitute for democracy. The choice of what one eats (or wears or drives) takes the place of significant political choice. Publicity helps to mask and compensate for all that is undemocratic within society. And it also masks what is happening in the rest of the world.

For the first time ever, images of art have become ephemeral, ubiquitous, insubstantial, available, valueless, free. They surround us in the same way as a language surrounds us. They have entered the mainstream of life over which they no longer, in themselves, have power.

A people or a class which is cut off from its own past is far less free to choose and to act as a people or class than one that has been able to situate itself in history. This is why - and this is the only reason why – the entire art of the past has now become a political issue.

Men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at. This determines not only most relations between men and women but also the relation of women to themselves. The surveyor of woman in herself is male: the surveyed female. Thus she turns herself into an object – and most particularly and object of vision: a sight.

Capitalism survives by forcing the majority, whom it exploits, to define their own interests as narrowly as possible. This was once achieved by extensive deprivation. Today in the developed countries it is being achieved by imposing a false standard of what is and what is not desirable.

Hold Everything Dear: Despatches on Survival and Resistance (2007)

Somebody enquires: are you still a Marxist? Never before has the devastation caused by the pursuit of profit, as defined by capitalism, been more extensive than it is today. Almost everybody knows this. How then is it possible not to heed Marx who prophesied and analysed the devastation? The answer might be that people, many people, have lost all their political bearings. Mapless, they do not know where they are heading. – Ten Dispatches About Place (2005)

On this earth there is no happiness without a longing for justice. .... Happiness is not something to be pursued, it is something met, an encounter. Most encounters, however, have a sequel; this is their promise. The encounter with happiness has no sequel. All is there instantly. Happiness is what pierces grief. – Ten Dispatches About Endurance in Face of Walls (2004)

There are seven levels of despair – one for each day of the week – which lead, for some of the more courageous, to the revelation that to offer one’s own life in contesting the forces which have pushed the world to where it is, is the only way of invoking an all, which is larger than that of the despair. – Seven Levels Of Despair (2001)

From A To X (2008)

The word recently has altered since they took you. Tonight I don’t want to write how long ago that was. The word recently now covers all that time. Once it meant a few weeks or the day before yesterday. Recently I had a dream.

The first light of a new day has begun its irrevocable ascent. It begins decidedly; a decision has been taken. Neither by them with their helicopters, nor by us. Maybe one day more things will be clearer about who decides what.

The past is the one thing we are not prisoners of. We can do with the past exactly what we wish. What we can’t do is to change its consequences. Let’s make the past together.

The ephemeral is not the opposite of the eternal. The opposite of the eternal is the forgotten. Some pretend that the forgotten and the eternal are, when it comes down to it, the same thing. And they’re wrong.

There’s such a difference between hope and expectation. At first I believed it was a question of duration, that hope was awaiting something further away. I was wrong. Expectation belongs to the body, whereas hope belongs to the soul. That’s the difference. The two converse and excite or console each other but the dream of each one is different.

To tell the truth? Words tortured until they give themselves up to their polar opposites; Democracy, Freedom, Progress, when returned to their cells, are incoherent. And then there are other words, Imperialism, Capitalism, Slavery, which are refused entry, are turned back at every frontier point, and their confiscated papers given to imposters such as Globalisation, Free Market, Natural Order.
It’s the small things which frighten us. The immense things, which can kill, make us brave.

The last darkness of the night. I haven’t yet slept. I was thinking about the future. Not any future anywhere. Not our future together. About the future here they’re trying to abort. They won’t succeed. The future, that they fear, will come. And in it, what will remain of us, is the confidence we maintained in the dark.

There’s no larger mistake possible than to believe that an absence is a nothingness. The difference between the two is a question of timing. (About which they can do nothing.) Nothingness is before and absence afterwards. At times it’s easy to confuse the two: hence some of our griefs.

Marinaleda - Another and Better World is Possible

2010-04-20T14:39:00.010+02:00

Around 100km east of Seville in Spain lies a small town of 2,700 people called Marinaleda. It’s one of many agriculture-based towns and villages in the province of Seville, surrounded by mile upon mile of flat, agricultural plains. What makes Marinaleda different, indeed from anywhere else in Spain and possibly Europe too, is that for the past thirty years it has been a centre of continuing labour struggle and a place where a living, developing and actual form of existing socialism has emerged. I had the good fortune of visiting the town last week and at a time of deep economic crisis and political cynicism I couldn’t have been more impressed by its unique socialist achievements.

In the 1970s and 1980s, in a struggle for jobs and a more just form of agriculture, workers in Marinaleda were involved in various occupations and expropriations of agricultural land from local landowners and their vast estates that are typical of the region. The occupations were led by a young, charismatic, radical socialist called Juan Manuel Sánchez Gordillo, who led the Sindicato de Obreros del Campo (SOT) (Agricultural Workers’ Union). In 1979 the SOT activists established the Colectivo de Unidad de los Trabajadores - Bloque Andaluz de Izquierdas (CUT) (Collective for the Unity of Workers - Andalusian Left Block) in order to stand in the 1979 local elections. Standing on a radical socialist platform of agricultural reform, CUT representatives were immediately elected, and Sánchez Gordillo became alcalde (mayor). Since that day the party has had a majority on the local council for just over thirty years. In 1986 CUT became part of Izquierda Unida (IU) (United Left), the main political grouping of socialist/communist/green parties in Spain. Marinaleda Council currently has seven IU councillors and four from the reformist Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE) (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party). Juan Manuel Sánchez Gordillo who typically wears a Palestinian keffiyeh (scarf), given to him when he visited Palestine, is a history teacher in the town and, as well as being alcalde, is an IU member of the Andalusian Parliament, national spokesperson of CUT and Secretary for Housing on the Federal Executive Committee of IU.

Marinaleda hit the news when its workers successfully expropriated a 3,000 acre estate from the Duke of Infantado in 1991. El Humoso, as the estate is known, was turned over to local people and now comprises eight agricultural co-operatives where the majority of local people work. The co-operatives concentrate on labour intensive crop production such as artichokes, peppers, beans and also wheat and olive groves. Every worker gets paid the same wage - €47 for a six and a half hour working day. This is in contrast to much of the agriculture in the local area outside Marinaleda which is based on the production of highly capital intensive sunflower and wheat. According to official statistics there are 130 registered unemployed in the town, which, during a time of deep economic crisis and unemployment in Spain, must be the lowest in the country and is effectively a situation of full employment. Marinaleda is a fine example of social ownership and employment creation going hand in hand

As well as radical agricultural reform, Marinaleda has also developed an utterly unique form of truly socialist housing provision. In contrast to the rampant speculation and financial madness that characterises and has ruined the Spanish housing market, much of the high quality housing in Marinaleda has been built by local people themselves who have subsequently become the owners of the houses at minimal cost. The houses are built on municipal land, with materials provided by local and regional government. Local people pay just €15 a month while contributing an agreed number of working hours per month to the construction of the houses. There’s a clear agreement that they can not sell the houses at any time in the future. The system means that house owners do not have mortgages and there is no possibility of financial speculation. The work that people do building the houses is translated into wages and subtracted from the cost of the house construction. The Council runs a series of workshops which specialise in teaching bricklaying, electrical engineering, plumbing, carpentry, ecological agriculture, all of which are used for the benefit of the social housing programme.

As an example of Marinaleda’s socialist ideology and believing that power has to be put into the hands of local people, the local Council has created General Assemblies where around 400 to 600 local people meet 25 to 30 times a year to voice their concerns and vote on issues. Local Assemblies also take place in specific streets or localities within the town when issues arise. In addition, there are Action Groups on specific issues such as culture, festivals, town planning, sport, ecology and peace. A further example of the Council’s form of local democracy is the use of “participatory budgets” whereby each year the Council’s proposed investments and expenditures are taken to local areas for discussion. On “Red Sundays” local people do voluntary work to improve the streets, gardens, houses and other worthwhile work, thereby not only improving the local area but also raising the collective consciousness of local people.

Another example of the town’s radical socialist policies is that some years ago the Council decided not to have a local police force, meaning that it can save significant amounts of financial resources (around €260,000 per year) which can be used for other more beneficial forms of social provision. This must be a unique policy stance in Spain, if not the rest of Europe, and one which appears to have been successful.

On my admittedly brief and impressionistic visit to Marinaleda the social and educational provision in the town seems impressive. There are modern schools, a health centre that is comprehensively resourced so that people don’t have to travel to get standard treatment, an active ayuntamiento (Council building), a modern and well-equipped sports centre, home services for the elderly, a pensioners’ centre, a large cultural centre, a swimming pool, a football stadium, and an immaculately looked after nature park and gardens. Perhaps most impressive is the town’s nursery which opens from 7am to 4pm and costs just €12 per month per child, which includes breakfast and lunch for the children - a huge support for working parents. The breadth of social provision is way above what one would expect in a town with a population of just 2,700.

The town also has its own radio and television service, recognising the need to oppose the mainstream and conservative media. While providing a wide range of music, chat, news and cultural programmes, Radio/TV Marinaleda promotes an alternative ideology based on solidarity, generosity and collective spirit. Radio and television are important aspects of the Council’s policy towards the diffusion of alternative political philosophies based on radical socialist thinking and a range of solidarity activity, especially with regard to support for the struggles in Palestine, Western Sahara and parts of Latin America. As I walked around the town I saw streets named after Che Guevara and Salvador Allende, and others named Solidarity, Fraternity and Hope. Together with many political murals and graffiti, these all play their part in raising political consciousness and providing alternative values to those promoted by capitalism.

On the town’s official coat of arms it states “Marinaleda – Una Utopia Hacia La Paz” (a Utopia towards Peace). Emphasising the republican nature of the town the shield has no crown and is coloured green, red and white. Green representing collective utopia, white representing peace and red representing active and continuing social struggle. The coat of arms also features a dove, a drawing of the town emphasising its collective nature, and the sun and fields its environmental priorities.

One fascinating aspect of the town which struck me strongly was that there is next to no commercial advertising in the streets. The little local shops had no advertising outside or in their windows and even the bars had almost no beer adverts outside. I don’t know if it’s a deliberate policy but I can only assume that it must be given the dominance of advertising which disfigures the rest of Spain. If so, it’s highly refreshing to see a town devoid of oppressive commercialism.

In an era of rampant global neo-liberalism and economic crisis, Marinaleda and the radical political path it has followed is a wonderful example of what can be done when people struggle together to pursue truly radical socialist policies. For someone like myself who still believes in the hope of a society based on socialist equality, justice and development, the people of Marinaleda deserve the highest praise and support for what they have achieved over the past thirty years. We can only hope they continue to develop in the future. At a time when cynicism is so endemic in politics, Marinaleda provides a wonderful and refreshing example of what can still be done. Another and better world is indeed possible.
.

The Lonesome Touch of Martin Hayes

2010-04-06T16:28:00.006+02:00

Martin Hayes is a wonderful Irish fiddler from East Clare. To see him play is like watching a human being completely taken over by the music that flows from his body, soul and mind, through his arms, fingers and bow, and onto the strings of his fiddle. His body sways to the rhythm of the music, while his knees bounce and feet tap. Listening to him play you get taken into what can only be called a trance of pure joy and elation. It’s no coincidence, therefore, that he says: “In pursuing everything I do in music I use this (touching his chest or is it his heart) as my guide. ... The experience of something deep inside – an indefinable essence that you’re always searching for.” Spanish flamenco musicians would call it duende.

Artistic integrity and the forces that impede creative expression are the things that matter to him. “Innovation, change, tradition and continuity (must) all be tempered by integrity, humility and understanding. These issues are the issues of all artistic pursuit and are therefore universal, as is the very core of the music itself.”

In all the different types of music I have ever listened to in my life I can’t think of too many other musicians who bring such humility and understanding to their music. Miles Davis and John Coltrane come to mind from the world of jazz (interestingly musicians who Martin Hayes says he’s influenced by). Like the best jazz music, Martin Hayes brings innovation and improvisation to his music, while maintaining a clear emphasis on the tradition. Irish traditional music: “A music of community and sharing. It is music to listen to, music to remember by and to express through”.

He plays it fast and he plays it slow. “Things are sometimes more clearly understood by direct experience of their opposite. Fast music gives added dimension to slower music and vice-versa, wild passion gives meaning to gentle delicacy. Innovation and tradition have a similar relationship. They are mutually inclusive.” He goes on to say: “We are always seeking an equilibrium between these seemingly opposing perspectives. Our allegiance is to the spirit of the moment. Our primary wish is that the musical experience be one that lifts our spirits and those of the audience."

Having seen Martin Hayes twice in concert in Belfast - once in the small upstairs room of the Hercules Bar in 1998 and then in a larger venue, An Cultúrlann, in 2000, I can fully testify to the fact that my spirits were well and truly lifted. On the second occasion I remember how, after the main part of the concert had been completed, people in the audience started to call out for him to play particular tunes from the very large back catalogue of Irish traditional music. Not only did he know every tune, but he played them with such enthusiasm and soul, as if for the very first time.

Since 1993 Martin Hayes has made five albums: Martin Hayes; Under the Moon; The Lonesome Touch; Live in Seattle; and Welcome Here Again. Each album takes a different approach and style and each is well worth discovering. On the last three albums Martin is accompanied by the wonderfully dexterous guitarist Dennis Cahill. These days the two of them almost always play together in concert.

His official website is: http://www.martinhayes.com/

Here’s a video of Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill playing on New Zealand television in 2008.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9vlmAYw0a8

If Ireland has a national treasure, his name is Martin Hayes.

Marc López - The Importance of Journeymen in World Tennis

2010-03-22T12:36:00.020+01:00

Two years ago I was in San Sebastián / Donostia with Susana and by chance we walked past an ATP Tennis Challenger Tour tournament that was taking place just off La Concha (the Challenger Tour is the level just below the main ATP World Tour). A girl on the gate invited us in to watch for free and so after I’d managed to persuade Susana we watched a doubles match. I was particularly impressed by one of the four players who I thought was the best on the court. I asked a small group of other players who were also watching and they told me the player who impressed me was called Marc López from Barcelona. He went on to win that particular Challenger doubles tournament. Ever since I’ve been following his career, which I’m afraid has been less than illustrious. However, at the weekend his name reappeared when he won the doubles with Rafa Nadal at the prestigious ATP World Masters 1000 Indian Wells tournament in California, beating Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic in the final, currently the No.1 ranked pair in the world.

I was delighted for him and so I’m sure he must have been absolutely ecstatic. The winning prize money of $198,400 shared between the two of them will have been by far the highest López has ever won and probably equivalent to what he normally earns over a few seasons. As a result he has shot up the doubles rankings fifty places and is now ranked 38th in the world. His singles ranking, however, is not quite so impressive at 729!

What I find interesting about the result is that it’s a great reward for a player like López to be able to play at such a high level and it’s clearly a huge and very positive reflection on Rafa Nadal that he chooses to partner him. Interestingly, Nadal and López also beat Nestor and Zimonjic in the final of the Daha tournament last year. Given Rafa Nadal’s intensive singles play, he doesn’t play doubles that often and in the case of Indian Wells it seems he did so for the practice having just come back from injury.

Apparently Rafa Nadal and Marc López have long been good friends and López is one of Nadal’s principal training partners so it’s perhaps no surprise that they play with each other in doubles when they can.

Professional tennis at the very highest level is as much about the lower ranked players such as Marc López who normally play on the ATP Challenger Tour as it is about the top players such as Nadal, Federer and Murray. It’s great, therefore, to see the lower ranked players being rewarded every so often for the hard work they put in week in week out with next to no publicity, relatively low prize money and small crowds.

In a more minor way the experience of Marc López reminds me of my own tennis career many years ago. I was always a better doubles than singles player and I was delighted when more highly ranked players chose to partner me in doubles tournaments. As a junior in the mid-1970s I won the East of Scotland doubles championships with Eric Riley, the then No.1 ranked junior in Scotland, and in 1979 I played with Nausher Madan, an ex-Junior Davis Cup player for India, in a semi-professional tournament in the Boston area.

The first two photos above show Marc and Rafa celebrating their win in Indian Wells and the third, taken by me, shows Marc, partnered by Gabriel Trujillo Soler, serving in a doubles match in San Sebastián / Donostia in August 2008.

The Economics and Politics of Cross-Border Development and Integration: The Case of Ireland - Conclusions

2010-03-09T09:38:00.009+01:00

Last October I posted the introductory chapter to my PhD thesis which I was awarded in 2002 in Economic and Political Geography from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in England. Here I’ve jumped 100,000 words and posted the final chapter which is divided into three parts and presents conclusions on: North-South Development in Ireland; General Lessons for Cross-Border Development; and Theoretical and Conceptual Issues.

The Economics and Politics of Cross-Border Development and Integration: The Case of Ireland

Chapter 9

Conclusions

The thesis has covered a lot of ground, so it is important to draw out the main conclusions. For presentational purposes these can be discussed under three main, but inevitably highly interrelated, headings. The first concerns the principal objective of the thesis as stated in chapter 1: to analyse how, why and to what extent cross-border development has evolved and is evolving in Ireland. These conclusions can be referred to as Ireland specific conclusions - what has been the nature of North-South development in the past and what might we expect to happen in the future. A second set of conclusions regards lessons that can be taken for cross-border co-operation more generally. In other words, what has the study of cross-border development in Ireland, and also the three case studies of the German-Polish border region, the Nordic area and the Basque Country, got to say for cross-border development in general. The third and final set of conclusions are of a theoretical nature, with particular reference made to the conceptual framework of cross-border political economy presented in chapter 2 as the underlying theoretical basis for the thesis. Issues around the relationship between economic and political factors are of particular interest in this regard.

North-South Development in Ireland

Chapters 4 and 5 examined in detail the history of North-South economic and political development in Ireland since the beginning of the 20th century, a period when the country experienced huge and fundamental change. On the economic level, the North spent most of the century as a deeply flawed economy buoyed up by transient foreign capital and excessive levels of public funding, with little internally-driven economic dynamic. On the other hand, the South turned itself around from being a largely agriculture-based economy to one centred on modern high-tech industry. As a result, the two Irish economies developed along quite different and separate paths, with divergence rather than convergence the dominant trend. On the political level, Ireland experienced even more fundamental change, including partition, the achievement of independence for the South, decades of politically-motivated violent conflict in the North and a series of failed political initiatives to resolve the constitutional and political problems of the island. Not surprisingly, within all this political change, cross-border initiatives were to no avail, despite some short-lived thawing of North-South relations in the 1960s.

The common trend during almost all of the 20th century was separate economic development North and South, and the absence of all-Ireland political agreement. It was only in the 1990s that moves to realise closer North-South economic relations began to take effect and, as part of initiatives to resolve the national conflict, the North-South axis on the island, especially the political dimension, became an essential and accepted component of political thinking and agreement. In this sense, the 1990s was a quite unprecedented period when economic and political factors worked together in a mutually-supportive manner, and one that, at the start of 2001, has continued into the new millennium. Of course, the thesis was written during a highly turbulent and ever-changing economic and political period, and one that, arguably, has yet to complete its full cycle. This makes comment on contemporary events difficult, never mind discussion of what the future may hold. These qualifications, therefore, need to be borne in mind in the following paragraphs.

Clearly, by the end of the millennium there were many political and economic obstacles to be overcome if greater North-South development, never mind fuller integration, were to take place within Ireland. However, for the first time in the 20th century, economic and political factors and motivations were working in a mutually-supportive manner. One important consequence of this was that the discussion and debate around economic and political North-South development, which for a large part of the 20th century had been almost non-existent, took place in a far more positive context. No longer was North-South development characterised by ill-considered knee-jerk reaction (although these were not completely absent). By the time of the Belfast Agreement in 1998, the balance of forces had certainly turned significantly towards a clear acceptance of the need for more positive North-South relations, whether they be political or economic. The changing economic conditions, interests and logic surrounding economic cross-border co-operation in the 1990s had now superseded previous political opposition.

The Belfast Agreement brought in huge changes both in attitudes and actual results with regard to North-South economic development, and subsequent negotiations quickly put in place a framework of North-South institutional arrangements. The North-South Strand Two dimension of the Belfast Agreement is now a widely accepted part of the political landscape in Ireland. The North-South Ministerial Council has been established, together with a range of North-South implementation bodies in specific functional areas of public policy, with cross-border co-operation also taking place across other areas of policy using existing arrangements. In the case of InterTradeIreland, the North-South body for trade and business development which was examined in chapters 7 and 8, its remit has broadened rapidly over a short period of time, and with seeming success, suggesting a degree of inherent dynamism in its operations. Other areas of North-South policy co-operation are also developing and it would be surprising if these did not expand considerably in the years to come. Some of this policy co-operation has had specific North-South institutional support, while in other policy areas co-operation has taken place between bodies previously functioning separately North and South. At this early stage it would seem that certain functions are better pushed forward by the use of existing arrangements, while new cross-border institutions will need to be put in place for other areas of policy where real impetus to get things moving and to change historically-embedded mindsets is required. The in-depth analysis of three areas of North-South policy co-operation examined in chapter 7 shows that it is at the level of practical North-South policy making and implementation that the positive interplay between the economic and the political can best be seen.

The historic development of closer North-South relations and the actual implementation of unified cross-border policy making can be argued to be the result of one main factor - the fact that the Irish and British governments recognised (persuaded strongly by the lobbying of business interests North and South) that the economic context, within which both the North and South of Ireland were operating, had changed considerably over the previous twenty years or more. In particular, the main factors were: European integration; rapidly changing and quite different economic performance North and South - continuing stagnation in the North and the Celtic Tiger phenomenon in the South; the changing and more outward nature of business perspectives and interests on the island; and the economic opportunities opened up by the much reduced level of military and violent conflict in the North. These fundamental changes all pointed to the need to put in place an institutional (political) framework that would assist and facilitate the development of increased economic integration within the island. While there were clearly good political reasons to place emphasis on the North-South axis - the need to recognise nationalist and republican concerns, interests and objectives - there were additional and mutually-supportive economic reasons. As a result, North-South bodies were established, and cross-border co-operation and development rose to unprecedented levels.

It is clear that politics has had a huge impact on the economics of North-South development in a variety of ways, but it is also true that the reverse has occurred. Economic and business initiatives have helped to overcome many of the deep-seated political fears of the past amongst the unionist population in the North, freeing up much needed North-South economic activity. Moreover, the unprecedented turnaround in economic fortunes on the island, with the Celtic Tiger economy of the South accelerating ahead of the North, has changed traditional economic and political perspectives, both North and South, facilitating the possibility of further positive change.

Despite the Celtic Tiger performance of the Southern economy, the thesis has highlighted deep-seated economic problems in both parts of Ireland. It was argued in chapters 6 and 7 that the Northern economy, with its traditional, uncompetitive and highly subsidised industrial base, had failed comprehensively as a self-sustaining entity and is in serious need of fundamental restructuring. On the other hand, the Southern economy, while highly successful in terms of significantly increasing living standards during the Celtic Tiger years of the 1990s, is highly dependent on potentially transient US capital in a very narrow range of industries, and it remains unclear as to how sustainable its performance can be in the longer-term. This is especially so while its indigenous-owned sector is still very weak in international terms. What is clear is that the Northern and Southern economies are currently not well matched for effective North-South integration, and that fundamental restructuring and improvement in the indigenously-owned industrial sector, North and South, are urgently required. More sustainable economic success in Ireland, North and South, needs a much more competitive small and medium sized indigenously-owned industrial sector. This is only likely to come about with the development of a more integrated island economy, which itself will act as a precondition for competitive entry into world markets. In other words, more sustainable economic success and the development of an island economy go hand in hand, with one unlikely to occur without the other. In the absence of such development, the Irish economy, North and South, will not find a place to slot successfully in to the global economy and it will remain part of the semi-periphery.

Can the positive mix of economic and political factors in the 1990s be sustained into the future? The economic context could easily change again, with, for example, the fragile foreign investment-led nature of the Celtic Tiger economic success falling apart. Moreover, the process of European integration, both political and economic, is far from unproblematic and difficulties could lead businesses in the North and South returning to their more arms-length approach to each other. Of course, given the highly turbulent history of Ireland, political agreement made at the end of the 1990s could easily fall apart and not for the first time. As a result, the degree of mutual trust built up between the North and South could break down and create difficulties for the stable continuation of cross-border co-operation. However, while it is never possible to say with any degree of certainty how things will develop in the future, it might just be possible (without being overly optimistic) that the political and economic dynamic that developed during the 1990s will this time be sufficient for further substantial North-South economic and political progress to be made in the first decade of the 21st century.

It may not be too strong to say that the general trend towards increased economic integration and policy co-operation would seem to be irreversible, even if the pace of development is hard to predict. While the Irish border has certainly not disappeared, despite the seemingly wishful thinking of some 'post-nationalist' politicians and analysts, and will not disappear in the absence of more fundamental constitutional change on the island, it is certainly viewed and treated quite differently at the beginning of the 21st century than it was just ten years earlier. The process of EU integration has had a big impact in initiating moves on this, but there continue to be differing attitudes towards the EU in Dublin and London (never mind Belfast), and among the Southern Irish electorate, which will continue to highlight the significance of the border. For example, the South of Ireland is an active participant in the EMU, while the UK government continues to stand outside, with its long-term intentions remaining ambiguous. This has created a significant 'economic fault line' which has certainly hindered North-South economic initiatives given the substantial and changing differential in the euro/sterling exchange rate.

With regard to the three sector studies of North-South policy co-operation, a number of conclusions can be made. In general, the policy areas of A&E health care provision, tourism promotion and the development of a stronger SME industrial base across the island provided three quite different studies of North-South policy. They contributed a number of insights into how activity and policy actually operate on the ground, the range of obstacles that remain to be overcome and the opportunities still to be realised. Such detail is essential for effective North-South policy formulation and implementation.

In the case of A&E health care provision in the border region, it became clear that health care, and A&E in particular, will never be completely divided by the national border. This does not mean to say, however, that difficulties are not present. In fact, a number of significant operational difficulties were identified, such as different costing arrangements, policies and funding structures North and South. What is paramount for further development is the need for greater co-ordinated direction of policy. While border region A&E health care provision was explicitly stated in the 1998 Trimble-Mallon Statement as a priority policy area for cross-border co-operation, very little subsequently followed. Fortunately, the logistic nature of A&E provision in the border region has meant that policy co-operation has been developing anyway, even if more scope remains. More political direction and complementary political structures and forms of representation will be required in the future if further progress is to be realised. Without this, cross-border administrative mismatch will impede further North-South development.

The promotion of tourism on an all-Ireland basis has been ongoing, to differing degrees, for some time. Despite potential problems with regard to cultural representation, all-Ireland tourism promotion is largely seen as a neutral policy area. However, all-Ireland tourism promotion is not without its difficulties due to differential development of the tourism industries North and South over many decades. This has come about almost completely as a result of political and violent conflict in the North, and the subsequent need for the North to catch-up. The new North-South tourist company, which was established as a result of the Belfast Agreement, will ensure that the promotion of tourism on an all-Ireland basis will be intensified and presumably improved. However, a key factor for tourism development in any country is political stability, especially over a considerable period of time. Only with such stability will the tourist industry in the North catch up with its more developed Southern counterpart. Until this happens all-Ireland tourism policy will continue to depend on the goodwill of the South towards the North, as has been the case for some time.

One policy area which has suffered greatly from back-to-back development is industrial policy, in particular the promotion of an all-Ireland indigenously-owned SME industrial base. Extensive analysis in chapters 7 and 8 showed that not only have the industrial development agencies North and South been working separately and with little regard for each other's policies, but they have both placed too much emphasis on trying to promote the narrow industrial policy area of intra-island trade flows, rather than the development of cross-border industrial networks. Some positive moves towards more co-ordinated and wider approaches to industrial policy developed during the 1990s, but these are still in their infancy, and the two sets of governments and agencies on the island continue, in the main, to formulate and implement industrial policy at arms-length from each other. In contrast to tourism promotion, the North has received little if any goodwill from the South with regard to industrial policy. During the period of the Celtic Tiger 1990s, the agencies North and South continued to compete against each other as vigorously as ever without recognising the mutual benefits that could arise from more co-operative working relations.

Furthermore, the type of industrial policy that has taken place in Ireland, North and South, has been largely 'traditional' in nature, with most priority given to the attraction of FDI through the provision of hugely generous forms of capital grants and tax incentives. The policy is far removed from the type presented in chapter 2 regarding cross-border political economy thinking. Consequently, the potential for more integrated all-Ireland industrial development, especially for small, indigenously-owned firms, has yet to be realised. On the basis of empirical analysis and theoretical grounding, industrial policy in Ireland needs to be broadened out from increased intra-island trade to the development of self-sustaining and integrated production networks. Indeed, without the development of such networks an increase in the level of trade within Ireland will not occur because of the mismatched nature of the products manufactured by the indigenously-owned base. These failings of policy and development have only been recognised in recent years by the forward looking actions of the business representative bodies IBEC and the CBI. Fortunately, these business-led initiatives have been supported by political developments at the end of the 1990s, with specific potential offered by the establishment of the North-South implementation body InterTradeIreland, a body that looks to have the potential for significant progress along the line of theoretical thinking presented in chapter 2.

The institutional arrangements are in place to implement effective policies for the development of a truly all-Ireland indigenous industrial base. However, the remit of InterTradeIreland will have to be strengthened, together with the level of financial resources it has to draw upon, if the full mutual benefits of greater industrial integration are to occur. This will involve the existing agencies giving up areas of policy long seen as their own, a change that will inevitably face opposition. The respective development agencies, North and South, will continue to find it difficult to adapt to changing times, with long- and deeply-embedded selfish interests an obstacle to mutual progress - a situation which highlights the continuing significance of the national border in Ireland. Moreover, policy thinking, especially in the North, will not only need to discard its partitionist mentality and recognise the mutual gains to be realised from non-threatening island perspectives, but the focus and aims of industrial policy will also have to move away from cross-border trade towards the creation of all-Ireland industrial networks. Ironically, what is arguably required to make all-Ireland industrial policy a reality is not so much political will, but imagination on the part of traditionally conservative economic policy makers on the island.

The consequences of the changes that took place during the 1990s fundamentally changed the face of Ireland in almost every way - economically and politically, but also socially, culturally and geographically. While there is still no doubt much change yet to occur, it would seem that all-Ireland contexts and perspectives are no longer confined to Irish nationalists and republicans, but are part of everyday life for the vast majority of those living on the island, whether they be politicians, business people or whoever. Historically, this is unprecedented. While an all-Ireland solution to continuing political problems are not accepted by unionists, never mind the British (and arguably the Irish) government, it is now recognised by almost all that any attempts to resolve political differences in the North need to involve an all-Ireland or, put more coyly, an all-island dimension. Given the bloody nature of Irish politics over such a long period, the importance of this breakthrough in political thinking and understanding can not be overstated.

General Lessons for Cross-Border Development
The case study of North-South development in Ireland shows that borders, and the types of economic and political flows which cross them, can change their nature and significance over time, in some ways increasing their permeability and in others closing them down. Economic activity is generally thought to be less prone to stop at borders, but Ireland shows that this is not always the case, and that specific conditions are required for cross-border economic transactions to take place. Political, cultural, historic and other factors can greatly hinder and inhibit cross-border economic flows. Likewise, political factors such as power, governance, democracy and sovereignty are in general more likely to stop at borders and find it far less easy to cross. However, Ireland again shows that, in certain circumstances and with political will, effective institutions can be established which can ease the political straddling of even the most contentious of borders. The cross-border institutions established in Ireland following the Belfast Agreement may be the most important factor that others can learn from. However, more time is required before a more definitive judgement can be offered given that, in the first half of 2001, these institutions had only been up and running for two years.

The Irish case seems to suggest that universal and all-encompassing solutions and lessons for cross-border development are unlikely, and that cross-border institutions and policies need to be tailored to the local specifics of each case. It can not be stated strongly enough that specific and distinct geographies have a huge impact on cross-border development wherever it takes place. The three case studies looked at in chapter 3 emphasise this point. The German-Polish border region, the Nordic area and the Basque Country were in fact specifically chosen because of their very different characteristics and conditions, and they show, with different levels of success, how little and how much can be expected.

In an era of so-called globalisation and EU integration, the permanence of national borders should not be understated. As some have argued, commonly against the trend of conventional wisdom, the day of the nation-state is far from over. What is important to understand is that the significance and nature of national borders change and can be changed, and that an important aspect of this is the cross-border nature of economic activity. This has effects on cross-border regions and wider geographic impacts depend on the political and territorial nature of the particular case. Contested borders in Ireland and the Basque Country (and to a lesser extent, at least historically, the German-Polish border) are clearly acute problems for successful cross-border economic co-operation, as the analysis in this thesis highlights. However, other factors, which are often economic, are also important, such as different industrial structures (in the North and South of Ireland and the Spanish and French parts of the Basque Country), and the nature of post-'socialist' economic transformation in Germany and Poland. Moreover, as the case study of the Basque Country shows, culture, language and common national identity can potentially be important factors for motivating cross-border economic development. However, even in cases such as the Nordic area where borders are not contested, the level of cross-border economic co-operation can remain fairly limited, again highlighting the self-centred nature of nation-states, even when they share strong cultural and historical linkages with neighbouring states.

An important lesson that arises from all the case study areas, and Ireland, is that nation-states are highly instrumental in determining the extent, nature and ultimate success of cross-border development. In the case of the Basque Country the conflictive and unyielding attitudes of the central Spanish and French states, despite arguably unparalleled political autonomy at least in three of the provinces that make up the Basque Country, have obstructed and retarded more positive North-South development. An asymmetric balance of power and financial resources on one side of a border, as in the cases of the Basque Country and the German-Polish region, greatly inhibits progress. Consequently, those who arguably have most to gain, those living in a border region, get passed over as a result of the narrow and short-sighted actions of national governments. This may be an era of globalisation, but the continuing significance of national borders highlights that the nation-state is still alive and kicking. Moreover, geography, with its emphasis on difference, variety and change, whether it be physical, economic, political, social or cultural, is absolutely central to a full understanding of cross-border development wherever it may take place. It can not be stated too strongly that cross-border development inevitably involves difference and specificity.

Theoretical and Conceptual Issues
The discussion in this concluding chapter has already highlighted a number of issues with regard to the relationship between economic and political factors in Ireland and how they impact on North-South development. However, it is useful to reiterate and tease out some of the broader theoretical/conceptual issues discussed in chapter 2 and to try and make some overall conclusions, both with regard to Ireland and more generally.

In summary, chapter 2 concluded by presenting the main general features of a political economy theoretical framework for cross-border development. The following were seen as the key issues which such a theoretical framework would need to embrace:

(i) a recognition of national variations in the relationship between economics and politics, the distinctive, changing and locally-specific nature of national borders in modern capitalism, and the effect of all these factors on economic activity, especially the divisive impact of borders on territoriality;

(ii) a recognition of the way in which modes of regulation on both sides of a border can differ in character and operation, and how state borders can disrupt these modes of regulation. Understanding this points to the need to develop trans-regional cross-border and fully integrated production networks which have a territorial basis, rather than a mere increase in inter-regional cross-border trade, with its narrower functional basis;

(iii) a clear understanding of the complex economic functions of the state, especially its reproductive role, which will in general be driven by the interests of business. Moreover, the role of politics, especially in terms of institutions, is a key aspect of any framework for cross-border economic development. This will involve the broader notion of trans-regional, territorial governance as opposed to inter-regional, functional government, and is likely to involve novel forms of multi-level governance;

(iv) a prioritisation of democracy in development, not just in terms of the traditional area of representative political government, even if it be in a new and radical cross-border context, but also in the economic sphere, ideally in a popular and participatory form.

Each point can be taken in turn to see how they match up with the analysis of the thesis. On the first, Ireland and the three case study areas showed that the relationship between economic and political factors varied greatly between countries and that these differences impacted on the success or otherwise of cross-border development. In the case of Ireland and the North-South policy areas of accident and emergency, tourism and industrial development, significant differences were noted on each side of the border in terms of policies, structures, institutions, funding arrangements and problems. All of these factors require detailed recognition and co-ordinated policy response if effective North-South development is to occur. Likewise, in the case of the German-Polish border region and the Basque Country state borders divide potential territorial integrity and coherence, thus creating problems for cross-border economic development.

Moreover, the Irish border, while relatively short in distance, like other borders is highly diverse. Analysis in chapter 6 showed that economic conditions and the industrial structure varied significantly along the border, with industrial concentrations at each end - Derry/Letterkenny and Newry/Dundalk - and the central region relatively underdeveloped and disadvantaged. This shows that the specific nature of borders can affect spatial economic activity in different ways. Accordingly, both theory and analysis of the Irish case suggest that cross-border policies should not be uniform and need to be tailored to the specific conditions and potentials of border localities.

With regard to the second point, the need to recognise how a state border can disrupt the development of coherent modes of regulation across borders, Ireland again provides ample evidence and avenues for future North-South policy development. For example, while neo-classicist/functional economic transactions between the North and South of Ireland have increased significantly over the past twenty years, the new regionalist/territorial trans-border production networks suggested as the way to economic success by some authors have yet to be developed. A major reason for this is the lack of recognition of, and priority given to, the need to upgrade and develop indigenously-owned industry on the island, and how this could be done more effectively on an all-Ireland basis.

On the third point above, the theoretical framework suggests that meaningful and effective trans-border institutions have to be established if territorial governance is to supersede arms-length inter-regional government. In particular, the state, through its institutions, has to play a key economic role in helping to shape and determine development in cross-border situations. Using the terminology of Table 2.1, functional approaches need to give way to territorial approaches. No longer should the state stop at the border, with government departments merely relating to each other across the border in a functional manner. In the case of Ireland this is partly what has been developing as a result of the Belfast Agreement, with more integrated and all-Ireland government bodies being set up, such as the North-South Ministerial Council, InterTradeIreland and the all-Ireland tourism promotion body. These bodies have the clear objective of attempting to transcend, rather than merely relate across, the border, even if they remain largely functional in nature.

In contrast, the case studies of the German-Polish border region and the Basque Country show that they are some way behind Ireland in terms of putting in place effective trans-regional, never mind functional, institutions of government. It would seem that the establishment of such institutions could be useful in terms of making these border regions both politically more coherent and economically more successful. The case of the Nordic area seems somewhat different. While there exist long-established trans-border political institutions, which have useful political roles in sustaining a Nordic identity and entity, economically they have not been particularly important in the promotion of new and more sustainable forms of Nordic-wide industrial networks.

Finally, the fourth theoretical point argues that democracy should be an essential element of development. In the case of Ireland, the form of North-South institutions that have been set up have little democratic basis. Those who sit on the North-South bodies are unelected government and political party appointments from the North and South, and their line of representation and accountability back to government departments, never mind the electorates, is unclear and indirect. While the North-South bodies report to government ministers in the Northern Assembly and the Southern Dáil, ample scope exists for more direct and cross-border representation. In the absence of this, the bodies will remain functional rather than territorial in nature. This is seen by the fact that individuals get appointed on to the North-South bodies specifically because they supposedly have some relevant expertise. This might represent a form of civic representation and participation, not unlike national advisory bodies, but it is some distance from the type of popular participatory democracy, never mind economic democracy, discussed in chapter 2.

Progress has been made on both the broad economic and political fronts in Ireland along the lines that the theoretical framework suggests, but much remains to be done. Perhaps surprisingly, given the range of economic initiatives that have been pursued and the depth of the political sensitivities that have had to be confronted, more needs to be pursued on the economic front, although the largely undemocratic nature of North-South political institutions has ample potential for development. Certainly, if all-Ireland production networks could be promoted, then an island economy could go a long way to overcoming the constraints to its full development which its current semi-peripheral insertion in the global economy necessarily presents. Whatever the future, the conceptual framework of cross-border political economy would seem to offer one way in which future progress with regard to North South development in Ireland could be measured.

In final conclusion, the novel cross-border political economy theoretical framework that has been developed here adds broader and deeper understanding to our knowledge of cross-border development, not just in Ireland but also further afield. This political economy framework is by no means comprehensive, and certainly far from fully developed, but it does usefully draw on strands of multi-disciplinary thinking which, in a cross-border context, is a relatively underdeveloped theoretical field. Hopefully, some advances in conceptual and theoretical thinking in this respect have been made, together with a much deeper understanding of North-South development in Ireland, the principal objective of this thesis.

Rafael Alberti - poet, writer, artist and Communist

2010-02-23T12:56:00.012+01:00

One of the great things about learning a new language and living in a foreign country is that you can discover a whole new world. In the case of learning Spanish, of course, it’s not just Spanish society that opens up but the whole of Latin America. In these days of globalisation it’s clear that language is still a barrier to wider understanding and that the Anglophile world in particular is unaware, whether intentionally or not, of so many aspects of others’ societies, politics and culture. For me the discovery of the remarkable life and work of the poet, writer, artist and political activist Rafael Alberti is one such example of this immersion in another world.

Although Alberti’s poetry, in particular, has been translated into English, I don't think he’s well known outside Spain and Latin America. He was born in El Puerto de Santa María in the Cádiz region of Spain in 1902 and lived a long and full life of 96 years. In his home town there’s a magnificent Foundation in honour of his life and work. I visited the Foundation recently and was overwhelmed by Alberti’s life, talents and interests.

Alberti started as an artist but is probably best known for his poetry. He was a member of the so-called Generation of ’27, a group of poets and writers, including among others Federico García Lorca, which pushed forward a new style of avant-garde and in some cases surrealist forms of poetry and writing. In the case of Alberti, he mixed much of his poetry with politics. He fully supported the Second Republic, committed himself to Marxism and became a member of the Spanish Communist Party. For Alberti poetry was a way of shaking the conscience of the people and changing the world. When the Spanish Civil War started in 1936 Alberti was a member of the Alliance of Anti Fascist Intellectuals. When the Republicans were defeated, Alberti and his wife, the writer María Teresa León, were forced to leave Spain and they went first to Paris and then, with the help of the poet Pablo Neruda, to Chile. They lived most of their years of exile in Buenos Aires and Rome, and only returned to Spain in 1977 after the death of Franco. On his return he famously said: “I left Spain with a clenched fist, and now I return with an open hand, a gesture of peace and harmony among all Spaniards”.

After returning he was elected to the Spanish Congress on the Communist Party list but he never took his seat, preferring to stay closer to the people.

Alberti published literally dozens of books of poetry, theatre and essays during his life and won many prestigious prizes, including the Premio Cervantes in 1983, the highest literary honour in Spain, the Lenin Peace Prize in 1964 and the Rome Literature Prize in 1991. Significantly, he turned down the Prince of Asturias Award because of his Republican convictions.

The official and highly informative website of the life and work of Rafael Albert is that of the Foundation created in his name. The site presents examples of his poetry and art, and is in six languages:

http://www.rafaelalberti.es/

David Russell - The Scottish/Spanish Classical Guitarist

2010-02-10T18:11:00.009+01:00

I don’t normally listen to classical music but the other day I came across the wonderfully dexterous classical guitar playing of David Russell. Surfing the net I found to my surprise that he was born in Glasgow in 1953 but had moved to the Balearic Island of Menorca when he was five years old. It was there that he took up the guitar and later studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London, becoming a Fellow of the Academy in 1997. He’s lived most of his life in Spain and now resides in Galicia.

When David Russell was studying in London he won the Julian Bream Guitar Prize twice and later gained worldwide recognition winning the the prestigious Andrés Segovia, José Ramírez and Francisco Tárrega competitions. With this international acclaim he has played concerts in many parts of the world, including the principal auditoriums in London, New York, Tokyo and other major cities.

He’s recorded over twenty albums, interpreting the varied music of Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, the Paraguayan composer Agustín Barrios, the Spanish composers Federico Moreno Torroba and Joaquín Rodrigo, the Italian composer Mauro Giuliani, as well as even an album of Scottish and Irish traditional music. In 2004 he won a Grammy for his album Aire Latino, which comprised pieces by a range of Latin American composers.

On a more personal level David Russell had a street named after him in 2003 in his adopted hometown of Es Migjorn in Menorca, was awarded the Medal of Honour of the Balearic Conservatory the same year, received a silver medal from Nigrán, the town where he now lives and most recently the new auditorium in Vigo was named in his honour.

David Russell is a major musical talent. He’s clearly regarded as a maestro in classical guitar circles and in Spain more generally, but I suspect that his brilliance and virtuosity are less appreciated in Scotland. I hope I’m wrong.

This is his personal page on YouTube which features over twenty videos of his playing, including interviews in Spanish and his rather strange Scottish/Spanish accented English:

http://www.youtube.com/davidrussellguitar

Kevin Coyne - An Appreciation

2010-01-29T17:43:00.014+01:00

In the late 1970s and early 1980s when I still went/got invited to parties I always used to take with me a cassette of some of my favourite music. Whenever the party got going I used to put on the first track of my tape - Marjory Razorblade by Kevin Coyne - and watch with amusement the reaction of utter horror and total bemusement as people stopped talking and looked to see who had put on this strange music. The song could be described as a deranged form of a cappella, punky, bluesy, traditional folk, with an unaccompanied Kevin Coyne wailing along in a nasal whine about a strange assertive woman who wouldn’t play their game. After less than two minutes the song segues into the catchy, upbeat, melodic song Marlene, at which point people would start to talk again and some kind of normality would return to the party, with people enquiring as to what the hell the music was. This reaction to Kevin Coyne was typical and it’s certainly true that much, though not all, of his music is an acquired taste.

His music turns from folk to rock and even pop, but is largely blues-based in the widest sense. His lyrics are often about those on the margins of society – the mentally ill, the abused, old people in retirement homes, life’s casualties - hardly the typical subject matter of rock music. He also wrote acutely observed and socially aware songs about the oddities and eccentricities of daily, especially English, life. However, his music and lyrics always involved an element of comic irony while retaining a deep sadness and despair for those pushed to the edge.

I had the fortune to see Kevin Coyne twice in concert. The first time was in the late 1970s in The Marquee Club in London and then in 1981 or 1982 at the Glasgow School of Art in what I remember strangely as an afternoon concert. Eccentric would be the first word to come to mind in describing his live performances - never predictable but always entertaining.

Kevin Coyne was born in Derby, England in 1944 and died sixty years later in Germany from lung fibrosis, having moved there in the mid-1980s after suffering from alcoholism and a nervous breakdown. Along the way Kevin Coyne recorded over forty albums (many sadly now difficult to find), published a handful of books and became an accomplished artist (some of his art was used for his album covers). Despite his health problems he continued to record and play live right up to the end of his life, even when he had to use an oxygen machine on stage.

His best known and most popular album is probably Marjory Razorblade (1973), which includes some of his best known songs – Marlene, Eastbourne Ladies, House on the Hill and Talking to No One. I would also recommend 1975’s more electric Matching Head and Feet (featuring a young Andy Summers who went onto become the guitarist in The Police) and 1978’s eclectic Dynamite Daze, which included the touching song I Only Want to See You Smile, which remains my personal favourite.

His life and work is kept alive at his excellent official website, which not only includes information about his life and music, but also features examples of of his art and writing.

http://www.kevincoyne.de/

There’s also a great blog dedicated to Kevin Coyne’s music at:

http://kevincoyne.blogspot.com/

Kevin Coyne was a wonderful talent who never got the wider acclaim he deserved, retaining a cult status until the day he died. I suspect he may have preferred it that way.

Here he is singing House on the Hill on the BBC’s Old Grey Whistle Test in 1973:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2no4xBL-zc

Eduardo Chillida: Basque Sculptor and Artist - 1924-2002

2010-01-17T13:09:00.014+01:00

I first came across the magnificent work of the Basque sculptor Eduardo Chillida at the beginning of 2000 when I spent four months writing up my PhD in Bilbao. I frequently visited the Guggenheim Museum where there was a major retrospective of his work at the time. Chillida’s huge, abstract, rather industrial sculptures made a deep impression. Last summer I visited the Chillida-Leku Museum in Hernani, followed by a smaller exhibition in Cádiz, and was again overwhelmed by his work.

Chillida’s sculptures are clearly abstract, though Chillida himself described his work as realist. He eschews all figurative notions, preferring to emphasise lines, space, tension, force, equilibrium and labyrinth. The materials he uses are cast or wrought iron, steel, different types of stone, such as alabaster, and wood, each of which seem to emphasise weight and density.

Chillida has said that the evolution in art from the figurative to the abstract reflects the long and slow natural tendency that human communication itself has taken towards abstraction. This development, he says, is inevitable if we are to understand and express the increasing complexity and difficulty of life. He argued that he didn’t abandon representation to avoid difficulty but to get deeper into it. This is important because a key concept in understanding Chillida’s sculptures is “density”. By this he didn’t mean the typical density of colour or anything else material, but the concentration of spirit and boundaries.

“Boundaries are the true protagonists of space, just like the present, another boundary, is the true protagonist of time” – Eduardo Chillida.

The work of many of the artists associated with the abstract expressionism of the New York School, like Rothko and Pollock, is largely characterised by a two-dimensional “frontal” plane, where there is no depth or perspective. In contrast, Chillida’s sculptures have a strong three-dimensional perspective, in which a kind of geometry of lines, space and depth is emphasised. As such his work has been described as a three-way interplay of lineal, volumetric and spatial labyrinths. Moreover, his use of iron, steel and stone in a large format and often in public places, emphasises the relationship of his work with the natural (especially Basque) environment, in particular the sea, air and land. Perhaps his best known work in this regard is Peine del viento (Wind Comb) which is situated on the exposed seafront in his home town of San Sebastián/Donostia.

Chillida’s sculptures are exhibited in galleries and museums all over the world and there are examples of his work set in public places in Spain, France, the USA, Iran, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland and Japan. The best collection of his work is exhibited at the Chillida-Leku Museum in Hernani in the Basque Country, a museum, which the sculptor himself set up. The setting comprises thirty acres of gardens, trees and parkland where almost fifty sculptures are on permanent display, together with a magnificent caserío (farmhouse) where many other examples of his work are exhibited, including some smaller sculptures and fascinating drawings and paintings.

http://www.museochillidaleku.com

Edorta Kortadi Olano, the author of a book on the life and work of Chillida, has written, and I paraphrase and translate, that Chillida’s sculptures “present calm, peace, tolerance, an almost mystic equilibrium.” Another fitting description of Chillida’s work has been that of “spatial poetry”.

The photos above were taken by myself in Donostia in 2008 and at the Chillida-Leku Museum in 2009.

The Artistic Vision of Susana Pannullo

2010-01-08T13:42:00.019+01:00

In his much celebrated work De Profundis, Oscar Wilde wrote: “To the artist, expression is the only mode under which he can conceive life at all”. It's a quotation that the artist Susana Pannullo likes to use when she tries to describe and explain what she expresses in her art.

Her work can be best classified as abstract expressionism in the style of the post-World War II art movement in New York when the city took over from Paris as the centre of the western art world. Artists such as Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning and Mark Rothko, and earlier the Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky, in their different ways developed a new art movement, the style of which was characterised as spontaneous, emotional, spiritual, anti-figurative and anarchic. However, within this broad movement of abstract expressionism there were and are many diverse styles and approaches, with, for example, Pollock's highly controversial dripping paint technique quite different to that of Rothko's colour field paintings.

Susana Pannullo's abstract expressionism is best symbolised by her chaotic and intense use of colour, especially the constant presence of red, black and white, and the varied textures of these colours on her canvasses. Red is a central component in her work, reflecting the passion she wants to express. The difficulties and obstacles with which life confronts us are shown in black, while the peace and tranquillity she so much yearns for are seen in her use of white. Her paintings express a mixture of emotions, feelings and energy indicating an ongoing personal struggle and conflict. As she herself describes it, her art is transmitted from her inner being and soul, and expresses a constant search in life.

Susana Pannullo is Argentinean, with indigenous and Italian roots, but currently lives in Madrid. She studied at the National School of Fine Arts, the Sívori Museum and Morón University in Buenos Aires. For the past eighteen years her work has been exhibited at various art fairs and exhibitions around the world in Buenos Aires, Madrid, Barcelona, London, Mexico and the US.

I've posted here just a few examples of what I consider to be her wonderful work. For more information, and where she can be contacted, see these websites:

http://susanapannullo.tumblr.com/archive

http://www.artistasdelatierra.com/artistas/spannullo

http://www.saatchionline.com/profiles/index/id/73428

The Basque Question - Matxinada by Eoin Ó Broin

2009-12-29T18:16:00.013+01:00

The politics of the Basque Country and the historical struggle by many of its people for independence has long been one of my interests. In my PhD, for example, I carried out an in-depth analysis of the political/economic relations between the Spanish and French parts of the historic Basque Country. This degree of interest in Basque affairs is highly unusual since it's an issue that is little reported and even less written about in the English speaking world, and certainly not widely understood. While there is clearly more written and reported in Spain and Latin America, much is superficial, if not reactionary, and frequently uninformed and highly distorted. As in much discussion of Irish politics in the past, with the Basque Country it is very easy to be drawn into a simplistic and ultimately worthless argument over whether you support “terrorist violence” or not, leaving the detail, nuances and underlying trends of Basque history untouched. As Julio Medem found with his excellent documentary La pelota vasca: la piel contra la piedra (The Basque Ball: Skin against Stone), there is very little space in Spain which allows for any discussion of Basque nationalism without its defenders being tainted as ETA supporters, however much you try to be “objective” and “balanced”. In my six years in Madrid I had many discussions/arguments about Basque society and was rarely less than shocked by the abuse that was directed towards almost all aspects of Basque life, whether it be its history, people, culture or language, never mind its politics (although not its cuisine!). In my opinion, therefore, any book which attempts to discuss and open up debate in an informed and helpful manner is well worthwhile and to be praised. It's only with such debate that understanding and even conflict resolution will ever be achieved.

This is a review of a book written by my friend Eoin Ó Broin. The review was published on The Blanket website. The book was first published in English in 2003 and a year later in Spanish.

Eoin Ó Broin
Matxinada - Basque Nationalism and Radical Basque Youth Movements, Left Republican Books, 2003.

Matxinada - Historia del movimiento juvenil radical vasco, Txalaparta (traducción: Ander Larunbe Anderson), 2004.

Anyone living in West Belfast is only too well aware of the groups of young radical Basques who are seen wandering up and down the Falls Road. However, I suspect that few, including many Sinn Féin activists and leaders, have little more than a superficial understanding of Basque politics and nationalism. This, of course, shouldn't stop Irish republicans expressing solidarity with the historic Basque struggle for independence and socialism. Yet, true and effective international solidarity requires more than knee-jerk support. If we really do back the right of Basques to secede from the Spanish and French states and create a country of their own, then information, knowledge and understanding are a prerequisite. Eoin Ó Broin's book provides just that.

If understanding is superficial, it is perhaps not surprising. Almost nothing is written in English about the Basque Country, its people and their long struggle for independence, with media coverage limited to sound-bites around the latest terrorist killing, bomb or anti-ETA demonstration. Moreover, political sympathisers often make facile comparisons between Ireland and the Basque Country. Such coverage and representations merely obfuscate the complex and specific nature of Basque politics and history, especially when viewed from a left nationalist perspective, and the many differences between the political situations in Ireland and the Basque Country.

The author has immersed himself in lengthy visits, discussion, activism and reading in and about the Basque Country. This immersion in Basque life and his detailed, almost obsessive, research and clear empathy with all things Basque, especially its politics and its youth, shines throughout the book. Ranging widely from the personal, the historic and through to the specific political events of recent years, Eoin Ó Broin presents a highly accessible, readable, extremely well informed and fluent account of the rich complexity of Basque politics and life. For this alone the author deserves huge credit.

Those who attended the recent launch of the book in Belfast will know that the introduction to Matxinada (the Basque word can be loosely translated as rebellion) is a fine piece of writing by itself, with its almost seamless flow of the author's personal and moving reminisces through to the primary focus of the book itself - "a general historical account of the development and interplay of Spanish, French and Basque nationalisms, to give the reader a political context in which to place contemporary developments."

In addition, there is a detailed exploration of radical Basque youth movements and organisations, a key and refreshing aspect of the Basque independence movement more generally. We can clearly learn much from the innovative, challenging and independent politics and activities of Basque youth, which predated much of the more publicised anti-capitalist/globalisation movements in many parts of the world. At a time of rampant, neo-liberal and global consumerism, and the suffocating impact it has had on popular politics and culture, the non-conformist, anti-establishment and confrontational nature of radical Basque youth is vital and heartening.

Matxinada is written from a clear ideological perspective. As a Sinn Féin councillor, activist and editor of Left Republican Review in Belfast, the author has officially represented his party for a number of years in meetings and conferences with Batasuna (and its predecessors Euskal Herritarrok and Herri Batasuna), with the youth organisation Segi (and its predecessors Jarrai and Haika) and other left nationalist groups such as the left nationalist trade union LAB. However, this does not mean that he has written a bland defence or apology for what many would see as "terrorism". On the contrary, the author rightly places left nationalist politics and struggle of the Basque people in its long historic context and its continuing conflict with the relentless, and at times murderous, attacks by the Spanish and French nationalist states. The nature and consequences of ETA activity are not glossed over, but contextualised in an informed and proper manner. Moreover, the seemingly ever-changing nature of political development within Batasuna is presented and the use of armed struggle by ETA is discussed.

If there is one failing of the book it is the absence of a detailed and critical discussion of the recent political strategy of Batasuna and the left nationalist movement more generally. While the author usefully plots changes in political tactics and the various crises that Batasuna has faced, he draws back from a necessary and critical engagement with the strategic means, approaches and development of Basque left nationalist politics. Perhaps this is not the book for such discussion, but the political strategy of left nationalism in the Basque Country can be viewed as inconsistent, if not contradictory at times, disingenuous, overly dependent on militaristic thinking, dogmatic, naively optimistic and inward-looking. The following are just some examples.

• The political gains achieved in 1998 and 1999 after the Lizarra-Garazi Declaration and the ETA ceasefire seem to have been far too readily squandered, whatever the lack of positive response by the Spanish government, pointing to a heavy imbalance in the relative weight given to military and political tactics within the left nationalist movement.

• The key political attitude of Batasuna to participation in Spanish elections changes, apparently with next to no debate either internally or externally, creating confusion among its support.

• Geographical political priorities within the Basque Country seem inconsistent in principle, with most practical emphasis placed on the Basque Autonomous Community, leaving Iparralde (the northern part in the French state) and Navarra of secondary importance.

• The strategic and stated policy of Batasuna that the democratic wishes of the majority of the whole of the Basque electorate would be accepted in a referendum on independence doesn't seem credible given, as would seem likely at present, that it would not be won, nor accepted by left nationalists.

• The speed at which Batasuna denounces the political initiatives of the PNV (the conservative nationalist party which has always been in power in the territorially-limited Basque parliament) seems short-sighted when the PNV has clearly moved far from its earlier more accommodating stance towards the Spanish government. A further example is the left nationalist movement's recent crude dismissal of proposals put forward by subcomandante Marcos of the Zapatistas, having first been welcomed by Batasuna but then ignominiously dismissed by ETA.

• Some of the actions of ETA's armed struggle would seem misconceived, even to some of the most hardline of supporters.

In general, a strange and disconcerting lack of coherent political development and leadership seems to run through much of Batasuna's politics, an issue which deserves much wider discussion not just in Matxinada but within Basque left nationalism itself.

Despite these criticisms, which perhaps do indeed belong to another book, I could not recommend Matxinada more strongly. Even by its own long history the Basque Country, its people and their struggle for independence and socialism are presently at a particularly low ebb, with almost every aspect of Basque life under direct attack from the Spanish government. These attacks are far from limited to those within the left nationalist movement, but range right across Basque society, including anyone speaking euskera or standing up even in the mildest of ways for Basque autonomy and cultural rights. The banning of the political party Batasuna and the youth organisation Segi, the closing-down of the highly successful and popular Basque language newspaper Egunkaria, the use of torture against suspected "terrorists" such as the editor of Egunkaria, and the introduction of harsh undemocratic and draconian laws designed to stop any form of alternative political activity and public demonstrations contrary to that dictated by Madrid. These are just some of the actions of the rabidly right-wing Partido Popular government in Madrid led by José María Aznar.

It is almost thirty years since the death of Franco and the start of the Spanish state's transition from dictatorship to "democracy". Yet, it is clear that a reactionary Spanish nationalism is alive and kicking in Aznar's hands. The Basques deserve all the solidarity and understanding they can receive. This book helps that cause immensely.

Benjamin Black – The Silver Swan

2009-12-27T18:59:00.006+01:00

John Banville is one of Ireland's greatest living writers. His novel The Sea won the Booker Prize in 2005 and The Book of Evidence was shortlisted for the same prize in 1989. Recently he has turned to writing crime novels under the pseudonym Benjamin Black. This is a critical review I wrote in May 2009 of The Silver Swan. The review was published on Amazon.co.uk under the heading “flat and clichéd”.

Benjamin Black - The Silver Swan
John Banville (aka Benjamin Black) is an award-winning Irish writer whose elegant style and breadth of language can be wonderful. Few contemporary writers can match his The Book of Evidence for example. Here, however, Banville has not only inexplicably changed his name but also his style, turning his skills to the racy detective novel. Unfortunately, he fails, unable to adapt to the genre where there are already many great writers; Ian Rankin being for me the best. The main character is a pathologist called Quirke, who strangely and unbelievably acts as a detective. The police on the other hand are equally unbelievable in showing an almost complete lack of interest in the death of a woman in strange circumstances. The dialogue is often flat, utterly clichéd and blunt, leaving nothing for the reader to discern. This reader was at times left laughing at the corny nature and abrupt ending of some of the exchanges. Moreover, Black goes seriously adrift in his drawing of working-class life in what we're led to believe is 1950s Dublin. Cliché is no substitute for empathy.

Best of 2009 - Films

2009-12-19T16:23:00.011+01:00

Following on from my favourite albums and books of 2009, here are the films that have impressed me the most over the past twelve months. As with my books and albums, not all the following films actually came out in 2009.

Los abrazos rotos / Broken Embraces
For me there is no better film director working today than Pedro Almodóvar. Los abrazos rotos can be described as the latest from his mature period, which includes such truly great films as Todo sobre mi madre / All About My Mother, Hable con ella / Talk To Me, La mala educación / Bad Education and Volver. Almodóvar is basically a great story-teller but his luscious style of film-making and his cinematic references are a pure joy. In Los abrazos rotos he yet again gets a stunning performance from Penélope Cruz. There are moments in the film when she simply explodes onto the screen with her sensuality. The cinematography, acting, characterisations, screenplay and soundtrack are all the sign of a man working at his very peak.

The Visitor
This a wonderful film by the “independent” US director Thomas McCarthy. As in his previous film The Station Agent, McCarthy delivers another poignant and very human story. This time it's a post 11 September film about the worsening plight of immigrants in New York City. There's a very touching performance by Richard Jenkins as a university professor who finds there are real faces and people behind his dehumanised development economics research. Moreover, the film introduced to me for the first time the beautiful Palestinian actress Hiam Abass who shows there can still be meaningful roles for older women.

Lemon Tree / Etz Limon
Directed by Eran Riklis this is another film starring Hiam Abass, my acting discovery and revelation of the year. The story is apparently based on a true story about a Palestinian woman who fights to save her lemon grove from being destroyed given that it is seen as a threat to the Israeli Defence Minister who moves into a house which faces onto the grove on the Israel/West Bank border. The setting for the story seems unlikely but the film is saved by Hiam Abass who delivers an intensely powerful and sensitive performance as the woman living alone in the face of such inhuman action.

Hunger
I've already written about this film on my blog so I only have to repeat that it is a stunning and unforgettable piece of cinematic art. Directed by the English director and artist Steve McQueen and starring the hugely talented Michael Fassbender, the film documents the 1981 Irish Hunger Strike, powerfully emphasising the human courage, political conviction and personal suffering of Bobby Sands.

The Edge of Heaven / Auf der anderen seite
Brilliantly directed by the young German/Turk Fatih Akin, the film tells an intricate and compelling story about the interconnected lives of various characters in Turkey and Germany. It's another deeply humane film about aspects of contemporary life that are rarely seen. The political, social and personal are mixed to great effect.

Looking for Eric
The latest film by the English director Ken Loach is a hilarious, sad and touching film about a postman who is visited by his hero, the charismatic French footballer Eric Cantona who plays himself. Set against the backdrop of male working class Manchester, the film shows how football can bring so much passion and joy to people's lives. As ever with Loach's recent films, the sharply written screenplay is by Paul Laverty.

The Winter Guest
I came across this little known film from around ten years ago by chance. It stars Emma Thompson (not normally one of my favourite actresses) and her real-life mother Phyllida Law who actually plays her mother in the film, and is directed by Alan Rickman, far better known as an actor. It's set on a freezing cold day in Fife on the east coast of Scotland and is principally about the relationship between a mother and her daughter. The cinematography manages to make the bleak Scottish landscape (and seascape) look beautiful, while a range of rather oddball characters make for some great dialogue. Overall, the film is atmospheric and almost poetic in style.

Deux jours à tuer / Love Me No More
This is another excellent film I came across this year by chance. It's by the French director Jean Becker and on the surface appears to be about a man suffering a mid-life crisis. The acting is strong and the storyline takes a very unexpected turn and not just for me because it ends up in Ireland.

Paris
Starring Juliette Binoche and directed by Cédric Klapisch this is another excellent French film that I don't think has been widely released apart from in France I assume. The film centres on a set of interweaving stories all of which help to give character and new meaning to the changing nature of Parisian life today.

Best of 2009 - Books

2009-12-17T14:26:00.016+01:00

Following on from my favourite albums of the year, here are the best books I’ve read over the past twelve months. They’re in alphabetical order by author.

Fiction
William Boyd - Restless
William Boyd has long been one of my favourite authors and this book from a couple of years ago is yet another superb piece of story telling. It’s basically a spy thriller, switching between the Second World War and the 1970s, but it also manages to look sensitively at the changing relationship between a mother and her adult daughter with the passing of time. The book was a joy to read and I’m looking forward to reading his latest Ordinary Thunderstorms.

Patrick Gale – Notes from an Exhibition
I’d never read anything by this author before but was immediately taken by his effortless and absorbing writing style. Told over a number of decades, it’s a fascinating investigation of the troubled mind of a talented artist and the effect this has on herself, family and friends.

Siri Hustvedt – The Sorrows of an American
This is the second novel I’ve read by Siri Hustvedt and, if anything, it was better than her first What I Loved. The Sorrows of an American is an emotional, intelligent and beautifully written novel that manages to grasp issues of love, loss, family, identity and much more.

David Lodge - Deaf Sentence
Over the years I’ve read most of David Lodge’s novels and this, his latest, is no disappointment. In typical Lodge fashion the book is hilarious and hard to put down. At the same time he manages to tackle the seriously underappreciated problems of deafness, something he knows about only too well from his own experience.

Ian Rankin – Exit Music
Ian Rankin – The Complaints
I only discovered Ian Rankin a few years. However, I’ve been devouring his books ever since. I actually read seven of his books this year but mention just two here. Exit Music is supposedly the last of the Inspector Rebus novels and is as enthralling as any that have gone before. The Complaints introduces a new character, Malcolm Fox, but the story is still based in Edinburgh and the main character is still a detective. The writing is as gripping as ever and Rankin is a magnificent observer of our times.

José Saramago – Blindness
I read two novels by the Portuguese Nobel Prize winning author José Saramago this year, Blindness and Seeing. The two stories are linked though either can be read alone. Saramago’s writing style is unique and, at times, very dense given that he largely dispenes with paragraphs and character names, but well worth persevering with. Blindness, a book about the consequences of a whole population suddenly losing its sight, is horrific, but only too easy to believe. The novel is hugely rewarding and Saramago tells us much about the dangers we face today and the facile political assumptions, such as democracy and law and order, that so many of us take for granted.

Rose Tremain – The Road Home
This is a beautifully written, sensitive and highly informed contemporary novel about the personally devastating hardships of immigration that every politician should be made to read. I’d never read anything by the author before but I’m glad I did.

Non-fiction
Jeff Connor – Pointless: A Season with Britain’s Worse Football Team
This is a completely unrestricted insider’s account of a year with the football club East Stirling (The Shire) in the Scottish Third Division, which at the time (a few years ago) was the least successful football team in Britain. In these days when money dominates football to such a sickening level, this book is a wonderful reminder of what the game should be all about. What’s more, it’s without doubt the funniest book I read during the year.

Antoni Kapcia – Cuba in Revolution: A History Since the Fifties
I’ve posted an extensive review of this book on the blog earlier this year, so I only have to repeat here that it’s by far the most informed, concise, well written and, above all, refreshing book about Cuba that I’ve ever read.

Slavoj Zizek – Violence
This is a fascinating and hugely thought-provoking book by the ever stimulating Slovenian writer. His premise is that violence sustains what we perceive today as the “normal”, peaceful state of things. It's refreshing to read Marxist-based thinking and analysis helping to explain so much.

Best of 2009 - Music

2009-12-13T15:51:00.020+01:00

For a number of years now I’ve been putting together lists of my favourite music, books and films of the previous twelve months. Now that I have a blog this seems as good a place as any to post my choices for 2009. I’ll start with the music that has had the biggest impact on me this year and those albums I’ve listened to and recommended to others the most.

1. Leonard Cohen – Live in London
2. Jay Farrar & Benjamin Gibbard – One Fast Move or I’m Gone (Music from Kerouac’s Big Sur)
3. Son Volt – American Central Dust
4. Quique González – Daiquiri blues
5. Lúnasa – Redwood / The Kinnitty Sessions
6. Vicente Amigo – Paseo de gracia

My favourite of the year has to be Leonard Cohen’s Live in London. In fact, I don’t actually have the CD but have been watching the DVD of the concert endlessly, never failing to be amazed by the serenity, presence and comic irony of the seventy-five year old artist. His back catalogue of songs covering the past forty years is incomparable and in this concert is performed by a superbly talented band of musicians and singers. The Canadian musician and poet still sings with deep passion and enthusiasm, and brings the massive London audience to a complete silence when he recites his intensely moving poem A Thousand Kisses Deep. My only regret is that he played in Madrid just a week after I left. I’ll probably never get to see him in concert.

Numbers two and three on my list are the works of Jay Farrar, the wonderfully talented American singer-songwriter and musician who has been recording since 1990, first with Jeff Tweedy in Uncle Tupelo and then with his own band Son Volt. Over the years he’s also brought out a number of solo albums as well as collaborating with a number of diverse musicians. His rock, country, folk based music is always fresh, stark and innovative, and his lyrics full of obscure imagery, wordplay and political allusions. With his band Son Volt he brought out American Central Dust this year, probably his best collection of songs since his 1995 Son Volt album Trace.

In November Jay Farrar also brought out a collaborative album with fellow rock musician Benjamin Gibbard of the indie rock band Death Cab for Cutie, called One Fast Move Or I’m Gone; an album of songs especially written for a film about the acclaimed "beat generation" writer Jack Kerouac and his book Big Sur. Most of the lyrics of the songs are taken directly from Kerouac’s book and put to music composed by Farrar and Gibbard. I’ve long been a fan of Jack Kerouac’s writings (I still clearly remember reading On the Road when I was about sixteen and devouring the rest of his books soon afterwards) and, like others, have always associated Kerouac with bebop jazz of the 1950s, the music that features strongly in much of his writings. However, the country-folk approach of Farrar and Gibbard works surprisingly well, adding much to the highly influential literary style of Kerouac. This album is never going to end up being a big seller but it's hugely rewarding.

Number four on my list is Daiquiri blues by Quique González, surely Spain’s most undervalued singer-songwriter. He’s been bringing out great albums almost annually since the late 1990s to much critical acclaim but little commercial success. This year’s Daiquiri blues is for me his strongest collection since Salitre 48 in 2001. Recorded in Nashville, his intimate and poetic (Spanish) lyrics are set as ever to touching and, on this occasion, superbly produced guitar and piano based melodies.

With my move to Andalusia last September, I’ve been listening to a lot of flamenco music and, with the obvious exceptions of Paco de Lucía and Tomatito, for me there’s no better contemporary flamenco guitarist than Vicente Amigo. This year’s Paseo de gracia is a stunningly played and eclectic mix of styles and adds immensely to his previous work, especially his 2000 album Ciudad de las ideas. When flamenco music is played as well as this it’s truly astounding.

Finally, since my years living in Ireland I’ve always been a big fan of Irish traditional music and in the latter half of this year my interest in the music was rekindled when I came across the fresh and hypnotic sound of Lúnasa. Every so often a group of usually young musicians comes along to revitalise Irish traditional music. Although they’ve been together for at least ten years, I only came across Lúnasa over the past few months. Their albums Redwood and The Kinnitty Sessions came out a number of years ago but they still feature on my list.

Bobby Sands and the 1981 Irish Hunger Strike

2009-12-10T16:48:00.006+01:00

The past few years have seen a growing interest in the short but hugely influential life of the Irish Republican hunger striker Bobby Sands. Last year the film Hunger by the award-winning artist and director Steve McQueen, and starring the talented actor Michael Fassbender, won many plaudits and awards, including the Caméra d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. The film is a stunning and unforgettable piece of cinematic art. I can think of few films that have managed to deal so artistically with such a deeply intense political issue – the 1981 Irish Hunger Strike and the human courage, political conviction and personal suffering of Bobby Sands. The film shows the extent to which artistic endeavour can contribute to and deepen understanding of human political action and how less, in terms of dialogue and cinematography, can mean so much more in terms of cinematic impact, insight and value.

Two years previously my friend Denis O’Hearn published the first comprehensive biography of Bobby Sands. Below is a short review I wrote about the book at the time and which was published on Amazon.co.uk.

Denis O'Hearn – Bobby Sands: Nothing But an Unfinished Song. Pluto Press. 2006
This book is superb and should be read by anyone with even a fleeting interest in Irish politics and events. As a biography it is a wonderful account of one of the few truly great 20th century Irish political icons. As an historical record of political change and development in the Irish Republican movement in the 1970s and 1980s - the repercussions of which still resonate today - and the unique role played within it by Bobby Sands, it is an extraordinarily detailed, formidable and unmatched piece of political, social and personal research. And yet the book is also an enthralling read, breathlessly taking the reader through the tumultuous times of one man and his far too short but generation-changing life. Many, many books have been written about Ireland. Very few have achieved the level of empathy for the subject as Nothing But An Unfinished Song. The Sands' family should feel proud and hugely indebted to the author for placing Bobby Sands in a pivotal position in Irish Republican struggle.

Latin American History Makers

2009-11-30T15:08:00.006+01:00

The ever excellent weekly literary supplement Babelia in El País is devoted this week to Latin America. As part of its special edition it asked 100 Latin American personalities to choose the ten hispanoamericanos who have most marked the last 200 years of Latin American history. The participants included a diverse list of politicians, academics, writers, scientists, artists, musicians, etc. from the full range of hispanoamericano countries. The top ten figures were:

1. Simón Bolívar
2. Fidel Castro
3. Che Guevara
4. José Martí
5. José de San Martín
6. Benito Juárez
7. Jorge Luis Borges
8. Gabriel García Márquez
9. Emiliano Zapata
10. Andrés Bello

I was amazed, but delighted, to see Fidel Castro and Che Guevara coming in at numbers 2 and 3. Intellectual life in Latin America is clearly very different to that in Europe or North America.

You can find who voted for who here:

http://www.elpais.com/elpaismedia/ultimahora/media/200911/28/cultura/20091128elpepucul_1_Pes_PDF.pdf

Deeply Flawed Writing on the Irish Peace Process

2009-11-28T19:40:00.003+01:00

The seemingly endless unravelling of the Irish peace process in the 1980s and 90s led to the publication of a number of books, each one supposedly providing new insights into what actually happened, who said what and how the apparently contradictory motivations and objectives of the various interests involved were resolved. Ed Moloney’s book A Secret History of the IRA (the author the well-known northern editor of the Dublin-based newspaper The Sunday Tribune) received huge acclaim and publicity on its release in 2003, with its supposed exposure of the radical change of thinking that was taking place within Sinn Féin and the IRA, led principally by Gerry Adams. This is a critique I wrote of the book at the time. The review was published on The Blanket website and on Amazon.co.uk.

Review of Ed Moloney - A Secret History of the IRA, Penguin Books

"Masterful and definitive", "authoritative and devastating", "extraordinary", "this dramatic book", "superb ". These descriptions are all taken from the cover of the paperback version of Ed Moloney's No.1 best-seller. Why then did I find the book so disappointing, irritating and ultimately boring?

Much of the book is taken up with the peace process of the 1980s and 1990s and the series of negotiations that took place. Other books have documented these events and this period just as well - Brendan O' Brien, Eamonn Mallie and David McKittrick, Déaglán de Breadún and Peter Taylor. What exactly does Moloney's book add to these earlier accounts apart from the apparent notion that Gerry Adam's ideas about changing Republican strategy dated further back than we were previously led to believe, that Charles Haughey was more involved than previously met the eye, and that the Brits had managed to get touts to senior levels in the Republican movement? None of this seemed to be of earth shattering importance or insight to this reader, and certainly not surprising.

What is new is Moloney's detailed descriptions of the two IRA Conventions in 1996 and 1997. If he is to be believed, and there seems little reason to question the accuracy, Moloney clearly got hold of a very good source, presumably someone opposed to the line that Adams and others were taking the Republican movement down. Interestingly, these sections of the book have been given little prominence in reviews of the book that I've read.

After trudging my way through over 400 pages, the book suddenly and inexplicably brings the whole story up to the present, or at least 2001, when the IRA made its historic statement about putting weapons "beyond use". Huge chunks of political development are suddenly jumped over. Yet, the late 1990s was a period of immense change, both for the Republican movement and the Irish political situation more generally, a lot of which gets faint if any coverage, and is treated in a highly and strangely truncated manner (do I suspect editorial pressures from the publisher?).

During this more recent period, but also in earlier years, there are some amazing and glaring omissions. The political effects of the Hunger Strikes are not given prominence. No reference is made to the published papers exchanged by Sinn Féin and the SDLP before the Hume-Adams talks - a crucial development from my recollection since it was the first time both parties clearly outlined their positions and differentiated themselves on a number of key constitutional issues. Stunningly, no reference is made to the Brighton bomb! The effect of the Canary Wharf bomb on the negotiating stance of John Major is underplayed - surely a huge success for the IRA in militaristic terms. No reference is made to the formation of the Real IRA and Continuity IRA, and the subsequent Omagh bomb. Finally and inexplicably, given that it amounts to the success of the Adams strategy, there is no discussion of Sinn Féin out-polling the SDLP in the 2001 Westminster elections.

On a stylistic level the book is badly written, lacking fluency and coherence. As I think someone else has said in one of the few criticisms that I have read of the book, its structure is contrived, beginning with the Eskund affair and then returning to it every so often as if to prove something important, when it doesn't. Also, the book jumps suddenly, confusingly and with no obvious reason backwards and forwards in time. Moreover, the author goes off on lengthy tangents to explain, presumably for the popular US and British audience, such issues as the historic background to Irish Republicanism, the IRA and the British presence in Ireland more generally, and such things as the specific situation in Derry (it's not at all clear why that's included). For this reader it led to major bouts of skip-reading given their extensive coverage elsewhere and irrelevance to the main subject matter.

Whatever one can say about style and content, the book has one fundamental weakness - the facile interpretation of developments that Moloney puts on the political and strategic changes that Adams took the Republican movement through over the past decade and more. Like so many others, Moloney sees the Good Friday Agreement as the endgame, akin to Fukayama's "End of History"; the idea that somehow because of the acceptance of a transitional way forward and the suspension of armed struggle, it means that political struggle has now finished and that Republicans have given up their long-term aims. He states as early as the preface that "the Troubles have ended" … "the conclusion of the historic conflict between Ireland and Britain". Really? This is just nonsense. By presenting political developments within Irish Republicanism in this way, never mind broader political developments in Ireland, Moloney shows little understanding of political struggle more generally and how political tactics and means change and develop as circumstances themselves change, both internal and external. Moloney may have years of experience reporting on Ireland, but that doesn't make him an insightful political analyst.

Gerry Adams and his closest allies have clearly had a long-term view on how to proceed the Republican struggle for many years, though probably not as well-defined as Moloney would like us to believe. Given the length of the peace process and the mind-numbing detail in which it has been covered by the media, and followed and pursued by Sinn Féin activists, is what Moloney recounts the least bit surprising, never mind insightful and new? Where have these glowing reviewers been over the last decade and more? Have they really been so blind to strategic changes that have been going on in Republican circles for some time?

What Moloney says is simply not new. The nature of the events he recounts are central and normal to the evolution of any national liberation struggle. Read Nelson Mandela's autobiography where he tells of similar developments, crises, contradictions of strategic means and personal clashes in the ANC's history - for example, the use of armed struggle, speaking to the apartheid government, etc. Similar developments and debates are taking place in the left nationalist movement in the Basque Country, though with arguably less depth and, so far, with less success. Palestine would be another example, with the machinations going on between the range of different political and armed groupings.

If Moloney had produced a straightforward factual account of political and strategic change within the Republican movement, there would be far less of a problem. However, it's his facile account of the strategic meaning of political changes and developments that irritates, together with his journalistic desire to find headlines rather than meaningful and insightful interpretation.

Moloney places himself in a contradictory position. He seems highly cynical of Adams and the Republican movement more generally, yet at the same time applauds Adams for taking the road to 'peace'! For all of Moloney's journalistic experience, such contradictions expose his lack of political understanding, judgement and strategic interpretation of political struggle. This book is deeply flawed and simply not as good as many would have us believe.

Trudging through the Northern Ireland Economy

2009-11-21T17:27:00.010+01:00

This is a highly critical review I wrote in 1991 for Fortnight magazine of a book on the Northern Ireland economy. It clearly shows my growing disillusionment with what passed for much economic analysis and thinking at the time, and which led me to take a wider and more comprehensive approach to economic analysis, reflected in some of my later publications and most importantly in my PhD thesis.

Richard I. D. Harris - Regional Economic Policy in Northern Ireland 1945-1988, Avebury, 1991, £30.

Any book which attempts to offer a better understanding of the problems which have continued to beset the Northern Ireland economy over the past fifty years deserves praise. After all, as the historian Joe Lee has succinctly pointed out, the northern economy counts among the striking economic failures of the century. In this context Richard Harris has done a commendable job in pulling together, in what was obviously a painstaking exercise, the extensive literature that has been produced on the north's economy. Indeed, the quantity of work referred to by Harris (including much of his own), again highlights the fact that in many respects the northern economy has been researched to death.

Statistics and analyses are presented in abundance on most of the main economic indicators, showing yet again the depth of the problems and the all too clear failure of past policies to resolve them effectively. This would be fine if the analysis provided new insights into the reasons for the seemingly irreducible levels of unemployment and low rates of growth and, more importantly, made suggestions on how these problems might be better tackled. Unfortunately, on both these counts the book is hugely disappointing.

By sticking to the restrictive analytical framework of previous work, which has been largely based on the well used methodologies of shift-share and basic econometrics, Harris adds only marginally to what many of us already know only too well. By saying so little that is genuinely new and insightful the book merely highlights the deficient nature of many of the tools of current economic analysis. If further research is to be undertaken on the north's economy (and indeed in the Republic) then the use of some different and more eclectic perspectives seem to be urgently required. Such approaches might, for example, draw upon recent advances in regional and international trade theory or the application of models from development economics such as dependency theory.

To discuss the issue of regional policy in Northern Ireland in a purely UK context, as the book does, is obviously a fair starting point. However, the distinct nature of industrial policy in the north, which Harris acknowledges, especially the extraordinarily high level of financial aid available to local industry (over five times higher per employee than in Britain and most of Europe) suggests that a wider perspective is required. That the book neglects to even mention the conduct and performance of industrial policy in the Republic or, given current developments, the rest of Europe is indicative of its narrow focus. The most serious deficiency, however, is that, like the recent book on the north's economy, which Harris co-edited with his former colleagues from Queen's University, the present title completely lacks any form of political economy or longer-term historical perspective. To discuss the Northern Ireland economy as if it operated, and has developed, within some sort of political vacuum is simply not on. Harris even has the nerve to suggest that it "would be a distraction away from the major lessons that can be learnt about the conduct of industrial development policy" to discuss the impact of such policy on the political divisions in the north.

A great deal of time and effort has clearly been put into producing a book of almost mind-numbing detail. Unfortunately, it is written in a style which will only appeal to those who enjoy ploughing their way through academic journals. The general reader will, therefore, find the book an extremely dense and trudging read of almost 200 pages.

Those who do make the effort and read through to the final section will be mightily disappointed. 'Reflections and Developments', which runs to just eight pages of text, reads like an afterthought to the rest of the book. Such treatment of the real policy issues, which should surely be absolutely central to economic analysis, seems all too typical of many academic economists in Ireland, north and south, who seem to view the interaction of politics and economics as an avoidable annoyance which simply muddies the assumed certainties of 'economic science'.

8th July 1991

Bob Dylan - What about the Music?

2009-11-17T15:21:00.011+01:00

I own twenty-six Bob Dylan albums dating from his 1962 debut Bob Dylan through to this year’s Together Through Life and have seen him in concert twice – in 1978 at Earl’s Court in London and in 1993 at the King’s Hall in Belfast. His music has been the soundtrack to my life. He’s arguably the most important musician of the past forty years and his influence on music - its interpretation, form and presentation - and culture and society more generally, is incalculable. With the recent release of his Christmas album (I'm giving it a miss), he’s as enigmatic as ever.

Not surprisingly, much has been written about Bob Dylan. My review of the biography below, which was published on Amazon.co.uk in 2002 under the title "Cold and condescending. What about the music?", suggests that much of this writing is of a standard far below what his talent merits.

Clinton Heylin - Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades. The Biography - Take Two. Penguin. 2001
I read this biography not just because I'm a big and longstanding fan of Bob Dylan, but also because of the strength of many of the accolades the book has received, both in Amazon and elsewhere. I couldn't have been more disappointed. The biography is clearly well-researched, despite Heylin's proud but unconvincing defence of the fact that he has never met Dylan. However, the biography lacks any warmth or feel for Dylan and the huge and deep contribution his music has made to modern culture. The book comes down with detail, but much of it is incidental and irrelevant. Moreover, Heylin manages to be condescending and irritatingly opinionated, especially and unnecessarily so about other biographers. His constant use of direct quotes merely breaks the flow of the text and rarely adds much. Normally, when one reads a biography of a musician and songwriter who has played such an important part in one's own life, and especially when the author admits to being fan, one would expect to be driven back to the music with renewed vigour and interest. In the case of Heylin's biography this didn't happen. I can still recall the huge impact that some of Dylan's albums had on my life, and music more generally, but this does not come across in Heylin's often flat and at times self-important writing style. While there is plenty of gossip around Dylan's fondness for women, drugs and drink, few original insights are offered about his music. Indeed, Dylan's music is hardly assessed at all, apart from occasional references to the views of other critics. Dylan's life and music deserve a lot more.

Compay Segundo - An Obituary

2009-11-15T18:59:00.006+01:00

This is an obituary I wrote for the great Cuban musician Compay Segundo who died in 2003. It was published in the Cuba Support Group – Ireland’s newsletter Cuba Today.

The legendary Cuban musician Compay Segundo (real name Francisco Repilado) died from kidney failure at the age of 95 on 13 July 2003. Most people in Ireland will know him as the sprightly singer of the Buena Vista Social Club, who was brought to international fame by Ry Cooder and Wim Wenders in the award-winning film and subsequent concerts. To Cubans he has long been a national star and was one of the father figures of traditional Cuban music, based around the specific rhythms of the son, bolero and guaracha.

He first started listening and playing music at the age of seven and didn't stop for the rest of his life, forming various trend-setting groups in the ‘30s, ‘40s and ‘50s. After the Revolution his music gained further acclaim across Latin America, especially Mexico, and Spain. When his death was announced almost every Spanish language newspaper in the world gave him front page coverage.

I had the privilege of seeing Compay Segundo play in Havana last February. Like many others I was struck, despite his physical frailty, by his continuing commitment and positive attitude to the joys of music and life, not to mention his exceptional tres playing (a Cuban form of guitar).

During the last months of his life he was deeply affected by the savagery of the US and British annihilation of Iraq, and the tragic death of his fellow singer, Polo Montañez, someone who he saw as continuing his life's work.

Compay believed that when people die they come back as butterflies. There are many who will think of Compay Segundo whenever they see a butterfly. His memory and his music will live on forever.

Teddy Thompson - Melodic, catchy, infectious, cynical and self-pitying - a classic!

2009-11-12T17:19:00.004+01:00

One of my musical discoveries of the past few years has been the English singer-songwriter Teddy Thompson. He’s a wonderful young talent. This is a review of his album Separate Ways that I wrote in 2006 and which was published on Amazon.co.uk.

Teddy Thompson - Separate Ways

In my experience great albums are typically not those that grab you on first listening, but those that creep up on you and finally get under your skin until you can't stop playing them. This has been my experience with Teddy Thompson's second album Separate Ways. I knew of him as Richard Thompson's son and, in fact, saw him accompany his father for a few songs some years ago in an unmemorable concert in Belfast. To hear a record so complete in its musical and lyrical content was, therefore, a huge surprise. The thirteen songs (including one hidden) are all played immaculately, incorporating different melodic, rhythmic and catchy styles. Teddy himself has a rather flat but lonesome and infectious voice. His father plays sublime electric guitar on some of the tracks while Garth Hudson of The Band also helps out on keyboards. It's arguably the lyrics, however, that mark this album down as a classic. It's been a long time since I've heard a songwriter bring such fresh, if cynical and self-pitying, insights into personal relationships and their almost inevitable breakdown. Moreover, despite his mere thirty years, he provides searingly contemptuous comment on the mundane nature of modern life. This album is the best I've heard for sometime.

5 September 2006

Hugo Chávez and the Bolivarian Revolution

2009-11-03T19:05:00.008+01:00

Latin America has experienced huge political change over the past decade, nowhere more so than in Venezuela. The election of Hugo Chávez in 1998 began a deeply democratic revolutionary process which has seen him win three general elections, the last in 2006 with the support of 63 per cent of the electorate, surely one of the highest levels of support in any recent election. Moreover, he has survived a coup d’état supported, if not directed, by the US (and openly backed by the then Spanish government of Aznar), and has won four out of five national referendums. In contrast to the unquestioning description of Chávez as a dictator by most of the international media, he’s surely the most democratic leader in the world today. His presidency has not only impacted deeply and positively on the standard and quality of life of a huge swathe of the Venezuelan population whose interests were previously ignored, but has greatly influenced and determined the political situation in almost every other Latin American country. It was against this backdrop that I reviewed the following book about Venezuela in 2004. The review, with the title "Highly Confused, Contradictory and Unclear", was published in the Cuba Support Group – Ireland’s newsletter Cuba Today and also on Amazon.co.uk.

Michael McCaughan - The Battle of Venezuela, London: Latin America Bureau, 2004.

This is a highly informative and much needed book on Venezuelan politics given what little there is available in English. The book is especially good on recent events such as the attempted US-backed coup against the democratically elected president Hugo Chávez in April 2002. There are excellent pieces on the role of the media, the intervention of the US, the radical new constitution that Chávez brought in, the make-up of the opposition, the Bolivarian Circles, the trade unions, the Land Laws, and the 49 laws, etc. The history section and the discussion of the rise to power of Chávez (in particular the strengths and weaknesses of his power base) are very good. He also makes fine use of anecdotal material from people he spoke to or came across by chance.

However, he makes contemptuous swipes at Cuba which are unnecessary and highly irritating. For those of us who have followed the author's articles on Cuba in the Irish Times this comes as no surprise. While he states very clearly the various forms and highly substantial levels of aid (medical, educational, etc.) that Cuba has given to Venezuela since Chávez came to power in a neutral and factual manner, he presents his own unsubstantiated and prejudiced opinions about the Cuban Revolution in a highly non-neutral manner. This is not good writing by any standards and I can't imagine a neutral reader finding it very credible given the immense amount that Cuba has done for Venezuela and at absolutely no financial cost. He doesn't even get his facts right (which of course casts doubt on other statistics stated in the book). As far as I recall there were 75 US mercenaries sentenced in April 2003, not 28 "peaceful dissidents" as he calls them (p.135)! You'd think he'd have got that right given his political perspective.

Apart from the Cuban angle, the last few pages of the book are highly contradictory and especially poorly written/argued. He interprets the Chavista slogan "Hungry and unemployed I'm sticking with Chávez all the way" (p.158) as hopeless, negative and depressing. This seems facile at best and stupid at worst. More importantly, on p.161 he argues that "after five years in power Chávez has failed to reform or rethink the nature of power itself. Perhaps the best thing that Chávez could do would be to retire from power itself, even if he survives the recall referendum test." Yet, as McCaughan goes on to say, Chávez is only 50 this year and he has "revamped state institutions while attempting to alter deeply rooted social relationships in a divided and frightened society." On p.162 he states that "The Venezuelan people have flexed the muscles of citizenship and will be reluctant go back to sleep" (sic). Elsewhere in the book he praises the participatory nature of democracy that Chávez has introduced. In other words, McCaughan himself argues that Chávez has indeed reformed and rethought the nature of power, the very reason why he thinks Chávez should stand down! McCaughan seems to want the Chavista project to continue but without Chávez (see p.162). That doesn't just seem unlikely, but wrong in principle given what Chávez himself has achieved in such difficult and adverse circumstances. Then to finish - the very last sentence of the book - he says "President Hugo Chávez's political career is far from over." This is highly confused, contradictory and unclear thinking which brings to a very poor and annoying conclusion what, in general, is a good book.

23 March 2004

Cuba in Revolution by Antoni Kapcia - A Superb Book!

2009-10-31T11:56:00.007+01:00

This posting brings things right up-to-date since it’s the most recent piece I’ve written and had published. It’s a review of a superb book about the Cuban Revolution written by Antoni Kapcia, professor and head of the Centre for Research on Cuba at the University of Nottingham in England. I couldn’t recommend the book more. Over the years I’ve read a mountain of books and articles about Cuba and I can honestly say this is the best I’ve read. As I state at the end of the review, the author “has written a hugely rewarding and accessible book, completely free of the prejudice and political bias typically associated with such accounts. He openly addresses vexed questions and answers many of the criticisms aimed at the Revolution by its opponents, but without resorting to glib and dogmatic justifications. This book should be the starting point not just for anyone wishing to get a truly informed understanding of the Cuban Revolution, but also for those who want to learn about a truly radical, more just and actually existing form of development.”

The review has just been published in the Belfast-based Centre for Global Education’s journal Policy and Practice – A Development Education Review and can be accessed at: http://www.developmenteducationreview.com/issue9-reviews2

Antoni Kapcia - Cuba in Revolution – A History Since the Fifties. London: Reaktion Books, 2008. (£15.95)

Much has been written about Cuba over the past fifty years of its Revolution. However, it’s difficult to think of another country where such writing has generated so many crude and clichéd representations. On a daily basis newspapers and magazines churn out distorted, negative and highly superficial articles based on at best selective and at worst incorrect information. Across the range of establishment political opinion from the liberal left to the neo-liberal right, a conventional wisdom has built up which depicts Cuba as a corrupt dictatorship under the ruthless, power hungry, unpopular and even megalomaniac Fidel, and more recently Raúl, Castro. This we are told is a political system involving one party rule, thus offending conventional western notions of a functioning democracy; a society without freedom of expression in its media; a country with hundreds/thousands of political prisoners (the numbers vary considerably depending on the source); and a people in severe economic and social hardship. Of course, mention is typically made of the generous health and education systems, and the damaging impact of the US ‘embargo’, but these are normally add-ons in an attempt to provide some ‘liberal’ balance. But if all this is so true then why has the Cuban Revolution managed to survive for fifty years against all the odds. Is the answer simply political repression as we are so often led to believe?

In his deeply informed, concise, well written and above all refreshing book, Antoni Kapcia provides a highly credible explanation for the Revolution’s remarkable endurance that eschews simplistic analysis. Instead, the author adopts a necessarily complex analytical framework which emphasises both internal and external factors, in particular historical colonial processes which date back to the 19th century. He argues that pre-1959 Cuba had deep ideological and political roots, what he terms cubanía, a radical and at times revolutionary nationalism. Using a novel approach, Kapcia shows that the Cuban Revolution has passed “through a series of cycles rather than phases, each cycle being defined by a repetitive process of crisis, debate, decision and certainty, until the next crisis” - crisis being seen as something inherent to revolutionary processes. Using this framework the author analyses why Cuba turned to socialism after 1959; how its economic strategies developed and changed over time; how it survived the fall of the Soviet Bloc; and how it managed to respond to the ever tightening US economic blockade. Most importantly, he shows how the system has managed to retain the loyalty, even if at times critical support, of the ‘silent majority’, that significant part of the population who are neither unquestioning loyal activists nor opponents of the system who have sought emigration.

In a highly informed and fascinating discussion, Kapcia takes the reader through a range of crucial issues:

· the huge social benefits of the system, in particular the development and maintenance of comprehensive education and heath systems;

· the cultural divisions and debates which have taken place, involving far more inclusion than is commonly depicted;

· the adoption of a ‘Third Worldist’ approach to culture and foreign policy;

· the development of popular mobilisation through a series of hugely significant institutions and mass campaigns;

· the origins and changing role of the Cuban Communist Party;

· the implementation of formal popular participation through the Organs of Popular Power;

· the way in which the system has dealt with dissent;

· the role of the Catholic Church and religion more generally;

· the role of trade unions;

· the defining beliefs and values he identifies as underlying the Revolution – activism, culturalism, moralism, youthism and ruralism;

· the functioning of the press and media;

· the changing nature of the émigré community, especially in Florida;

· and much more.

From a developmental point of view Kapcia highlights Cuba’s highly distinctive role, emphasising how the country has sought a new role, status and meaning in the world. A revolutionary foreign policy for Cuba has always meant more than just the normal processes of relating commercially or diplomatically to other countries, or signing international treaties. Rather, Cuba redefined itself in the world, actively emphasising its independence from both the US and the Soviet Union, and placing itself as the revolutionary vanguard of Latin America and the Third World more generally, reflected most clearly in its leading role within the Non-Aligned Movement. The author shows how Cuba became the leading country fighting against US imperialism, and, even when Cuba had close economic links with the Soviet Union in the 1970s, how it could continue to be a frequent critic of Moscow because of the latter’s need to keep Cuba on board as part of its own Third World strategy. A key and continuing aspect of Cuba’s foreign policy has been its ‘internationalism’ and its unique form of development aid, sending not financial resources but thousands of doctors, nurses, teachers and expert advisors to some forty countries, an example from which ‘developed’ countries could clearly learn.

In conclusion, the author uses his explanatory framework to show why there was such a smooth transition of leadership when Raúl recently took over as President from Fidel, an experience totally at odds with the popular unrest and chaos that most external observers expected and wished for.

In just under 200 pages Antoni Kapcia has written a hugely rewarding and accessible book, completely free of the prejudice and political bias typically associated with such accounts. He openly addresses vexed questions and answers many of the criticisms aimed at the Revolution by its opponents, but without resorting to glib and dogmatic justifications. This book should be the starting point not just for anyone wishing to get a truly informed understanding of the Cuban Revolution, but also for those who want to learn about a truly radical, more just and actually existing form of development.

10 August 2009
Madrid

The Economics and Politics of Cross-Border Development and Integration: The Case of Ireland - Introduction

2009-10-27T19:24:00.009+01:00

At the end of 2002 I was awarded a PhD in Economic and Political Geography from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in England, just over five years from when I had started it. By most standards this was fairly quick (most PhD students don’t even finish), especially since I didn’t work on the thesis at all during my nine month stay in Cuba in 2001-02. I’ve posted the introductory chapter below which gives an outline of the motivations, structure, content and objectives of the thesis.

The Economics and Politics of Cross-Border Development and Integration: The Case of Ireland

Chapter 1

Introduction

In an era of so-called globalisation, the economics and politics of cross-border development have taken on a new and growing importance. In many parts of the world, such as the European Union (EU), the economic significance of national borders has seemingly diminished, with goods and services flowing with few impediments across large spatial territories. However, it is also evident that political borders and national state entities remain as clearly defined as ever. Indeed, at a time when economic globalisation and neo-liberal free trade are hegemonic it is ironic that the number of nation-states in the world has arguably never been higher. Against this changing, complex and arguably contradictory context of economic globalisation on the one hand, and the seeming entrenchment of political and national borders on the other, the rationale, processes and success of cross-border development become a fascinating focus of analysis.

The case of Ireland is a good example of these economic and political trends. It is a country that has experienced volatility, upheaval and bloody political conflict in the extreme, with the legacy of British colonial rule and the imposition of a national border within its territory by the British in the early 1920s a continuing source of dispute and violence. Moreover, it is also a country that has seen the highs and lows of economic boom and bust (though rather more of the latter than the former). All this for a small country of around 5 million people, with a land mass of only 84,403 sq. km. situated on the very western periphery of Europe (see Annex A for a map of Ireland).

Ireland has received voluminous analysis and research. Not surprisingly, most of this has centred on its turbulent political history, in particular its fractious relationship with Britain. Much less has been written on its economic history, and only in recent years has the issue of North-South political relations and economic development become a topic for analysis in its own right. Given the centrality of the national border within Ireland, this is a large analytical lacuna and one this thesis attempts to redress.

Research questions and objectives
The primary and general objective of this thesis is to ask how, why and to what extent cross-border economic and political development has evolved and continues to evolve in Ireland. Accordingly, the principal focus of analysis is an examination of the experience of Ireland in terms of the geography, history, economics and politics of its cross-border or North-South development. From a theoretical point of view a number of perspectives can be presented which attempt to come to grips with this issue, and these are presented in the next chapter. From this extensive discussion a novel political economy theoretical framework is presented which tries to provide a comprehensive basis for an understanding of North-South development in Ireland. Moreover, at a practical level there is clearly much cross-border experience in other parts of the world, especially Europe, which Ireland can try and learn from. In chapter 3, three quite different and detailed case studies of cross-border economic and political development in Europe are examined, and lessons, where possible, are drawn.

In presenting the specific, detailed and applied research of cross-border development in Ireland, more general and wider theoretical and practical issues are raised around questions such as how and why economic (currencies, industrial structures, economic performance, etc.) and political (the state, sovereignty, institutions, etc.) factors interact in the way they do, and how the interrelationship between these key factors inhibits and helps to promote cross-border development and integration in other geographical contexts. These research questions represent a secondary area of analysis in the thesis.

Given the primary focus on Ireland in this thesis it is necessary to understand the reasons for choosing it as an area worthy of such detailed examination from the point of view of cross-border development, and why it might help to provide more general lessons. A useful way of explaining this is to look at the motivations for pursuing this research issue in the first place.

North-South development in Ireland - analysis and its limitations
The 1990s saw a growing level of debate and analysis in Ireland (especially, but not exclusively, in the North) around the opportunities and potential for increasing the degree of economic interaction between the North and South of Ireland. This was an issue that was largely promoted by economic and business interests in Ireland (with the support to a lesser extent by the Irish trade union movement), and which initially took place despite a lack of political developments. While there had been occasional attempts to integrate the two Irish economies more closely since the island was partitioned in the early 1920s, none of these had come to very much. For much of the 20th century, both economies developed in a largely separate manner and along quite different development paths. The attempts at closer economic integration over the past ten years or so, however, have been of a different type and scale, with business and its representative bodies recognising the economic benefits that closer co-operation, if not integration, could bring about. This became known as the 'single island economy' project and was pushed forward irrespective of political differences and, at that time, the ongoing political and violent conflict in the North. Much of the motivation behind these moves derived from the effects of European integration, and the Single European Market (SEM) project in particular, and the recognition that both the North and South of Ireland faced similar threats as a result of potentially increased economic peripheralisation in the European Union (EU). Because of these pressures, business on both sides of the Irish border saw the need for joint co-operative activity that would be of mutual benefit.

Much of the initial economic analysis carried out in this area in the early 1990s examined at a fairly general level, or in some cases only asserted, the kinds of economic benefits that might be realised from closer North-South integration of the two economies, and, to a lesser extent, the actual magnitude of the economic benefits that might be realised. There was a particular focus on the potential for increased cross-border trade, which was seen to be well below that which would normally be expected by two regions sharing a common land border, especially on an island. Other issues examined were the almost non-existent policy co-ordination across a range of economic areas (with the partial exception of agriculture), such as industrial development (both indigenous and foreign investment), tourism, education, training, technology, transport, telecommunications, the economically disadvantaged nature of areas along the border itself, and the potential for joint North-South approaches to the EU. However, this work added up more to a general economic policy discourse rather than detailed analysis.

A lot of the discourse in the early 1900s was novel and useful as far as it went, but in four respects was rather limited. First, much of it was highly artificial in that it studiously ignored the glaring political context within which these initiatives at cross-border development was taking place. This was at a time when armed and violent conflict was taking place in the North, and intensive attempts were being made at conflict resolution, which necessarily and inevitably involved a North-South dimension. It seemed unrealistic to ignore the political context of cross-border economic development. Clear examples of this were the statements made by the Confederation of British Industry (Northern Ireland) (CBI) and the Irish Business and Employers Federation (IBEC) which argued explicitly that there was no political dimension to their attempts to create greater economic integration on the island. Of course, there was an understandable fear within the business community that it did not want to be seen to be allying itself with any particular political grouping. Moreover, in the case of North-South economic development, there was the clear concern that business would be seen to be pushing an Irish nationalist agenda, despite the unionist background of most Northern business people, and that any attempts to integrate the two economies might help to lead towards political unification. Indeed, unionist politicians have frequently made such accusations against business people promoting the 'single island economy' project. More worryingly, extreme loyalists had announced death threats against business people undertaking such activity, though these remained as threats rather than actions. However, there seemed a big difference between not wanting to be seen to be promoting a nationalist agenda and discounting altogether the political context within which economic activity necessarily takes place, and downplaying the necessarily political dimension of the policy discourse.

Second, economic discourse around North-South development was not seen by researchers and economists as part of the 'peace process', and the political attempts to resolve the conflict - in particular what became the North-South Strand Two dimension of the peace process. This appeared to change only when the specific economics of the 'peace process' began to be studied in the aftermath of the first IRA ceasefire in 1994, particularly with respect to the magnitude of the 'peace dividend' that might be reaped if peace and political stability could be realised and sustained.

A third shortcoming related to the narrow economic analysis of North-South development was the EU dimension and the growing impact it was having, in particular the increasing influence of market integration within the EU. The economic factors driving European integration impacted on both the North and South of Ireland, and there was a real fear that both Irish economies would become increasingly marginalised within the EU unless joint action was adopted. EU funding was of increasing importance to both economies. There was also, of course, a strong political dimension to European integration. First was the increasingly political nature of EU economic integration. Second was the role of the EU in trying to promote 'peace and reconciliation' in the North through special and specific forms of funding. With the exception of some notable contributions such as Anderson and Goodman (1994a; 1994b; 1994c), the wide-ranging impact of the EU was inadequately dealt with in analysis.

The fourth and final problem with the limited economic analysis on North-South development was that it tended to be highly conventional in its perspective, taking a largely empirical and neo-classical approach, with few, if any, alternative viewpoints being brought to bear. In other words, the lack of a political dimension applied as much to the broader methodological approach as it did to the specifics of the Irish situation. In such a politically intense economic scenario as the North of Ireland it seemed wrong, or at least inadequate, to use an analytical approach that explicitly assumed political factors to be exogenous, rather than endogenous and in need of interpretation.

All of these shortcomings suggested the need to take a broader political economy approach to the subject of North-South development in Ireland; one which looked at the interplay of economic with political forces and the extent to which they encouraged or inhibited North-South economic development.

Structure of the thesis
The thesis is structured in the following way. Chapter 2 discusses, in an analytical and critical manner, the various theoretical approaches that have been developed to understand cross-border economic and political development. A broad approach is adopted, with theory and concepts taken from a range of social science disciplines - particularly economics, geography, politics and international relations. The limitations of many of these theoretical models are emphasised and attention is given to the need for multi-disciplinary approaches which allow for the key interplay of economic and political factors. Such approaches include economic and political geography, regulation theory and Marxist thinking, especially around the role of the state. It is argued that such an approach is required if a more comprehensive understanding of cross-border development is to be realised. Having discussed the various theoretical perspectives, a cross-border political economy framework is developed, drawing on in a critical fashion the thinking, lessons and frameworks of regulation theory, the new regionalist school of thought and Marxist concepts of the role of the state. A novel theoretical framework is presented set in a cross-border geographical context. The rationale and appropriateness of using this theoretical approach is discussed, referring in particular to its potential capacity to account for the key aspects of economic development (especially at the regional level), asymmetric power relations, regulation, governance and democracy issues more widely - all issues of particular importance in Ireland. A key aim of this chapter is to draw out underlying themes that inform and direct analysis throughout the rest of the thesis, especially with respect to the specific study of Ireland.

Importantly, chapter 2 also outlines the theoretical and methodological framework used throughout the thesis and in each chapter of the thesis in terms of information sources, research techniques and methods. This discussion highlights the range of methodological approaches and techniques used, both qualitative and quantitative.

Chapter 3 examines three specific case studies in continental Europe where cross-border economic and political co-operation is taking place. These are:

(i) economic and institutional cross-border co-operation in the German-Polish border region;

(ii) the wide-ranging economic and political co-operative agreements set up among the Nordic countries; and

(iii) the cross-border development initiatives that have taken place within the Basque Country, which straddles the Spanish and French border, and which have taken place, as in Ireland, against the backdrop of political and violent conflict, and a contested border.

The focus of analysis in each of these different case study areas is the interplay of economic with political factors, with regard to motivations, objectives, obstacles and outcomes, and the nature, role and contribution of cross-border and transnational institutions and structures to facilitate development and integration. Examination of these examples of cross-border development in Europe places the subsequent and more detailed Irish analysis in a broader geographical context.

Following analysis of general theoretical perspectives that have been applied to cross-border development and the actual experience of cross-border initiatives in various parts of Europe, chapter 4 turns specifically to Ireland, with an examination of the historical context of Ireland's partition and subsequent developments in North-South relations during the 20th century. This historical perspective provides the essential background to understand the more recent North-South economic initiatives of the 1990s, and focuses in particular on the degree of convergence and divergence between the North and South at different times during the 20th century. This historical examination looks not just at relations between the North and South, but places them in the broader context of historical relations between Ireland and Britain, and their position with regard to the political conflict in the North. The chapter is broken up into three broad historical time periods: (i) 1900 to 1920; (ii) 1920 to 1960; and (iii) 1960 to 1990 - allowing the changing nature of North-South economic and political relations to be clearly presented. The key issues discussed in this chapter are:

(a) the nature and context of the single island economy in the pre-partition period and the way this changed with the creation of two separate political entities in 1921-22;

(b) the development of effectively two separate economies in the post-partition period, with autarkic policies in the South and the North's increasing dependence on Britain;

(c) the way in which political developments have generally worked against North-South economic co-operation; and

(d) the various public and private attempts made at different times to foster cross-border economic co-operation.

The economic and political aspects of the different time periods are examined, in particular the way in which political factors affected economic development, both positively and negatively. This historical account ends at the onset of the 1990s and the effective start of the Single European Market (SEM) project. This sets up the subsequent largely contemporaneous chapters of the thesis.

Chapter 5 examines the key moves towards greater economic and political integration during the crucial period of the 1990s, and the factors that lay behind these changes, including the role of EU integration, the significant range of North-South economic initiatives pushed forward by the business sector and the unprecedented growth of the Southern economy during the 1990s - the 'Celtic Tiger' phenomenon. The chapter takes a critical overview of the key academic contributions to the discussion about North-South development in Ireland, drawing in a multi-disciplinary manner on economic, political and geographic perspectives. The intense series of political initiatives that were put forward during the 1990s in an attempt to resolve the Northern conflict are also critically discussed, including the Belfast Agreement and its key North-South Strand Two dimension.

Chapter 6 then looks in more detail at the actual extent of economic integration between the North and South of Ireland during the 1990s, attempting to highlight the barriers that still need to be overcome if greater North-South economic development is to be realised. This chapter takes a macro-level and largely applied economic and statistical perspective, and examines in detail the specific constraints to greater economic integration. The chapter presents a statistical comparison of the two Irish economies, looking at their relative structures, performances and opportunities for mutual expansion. Two key and related issues are analysed which hinder or inhibit economic integration on the island - the different industrial structures North and South, and the level and type of cross-border trade. The chapter ends by examining the border region, with specific focus on its relative economic situation as a result of North-South development.

Chapter 7 moves to a micro-level approach and looks in detail at three case studies of North-South co-operation in public policy:

(i) the provision of accident and emergency health care services in the border region;

(ii) the all-island promotion of Ireland as a tourist destination; and

(iii) the all-Ireland development of indigenous small and medium-sized industrial businesses.

A detailed discussion of the reasons for selecting these policy areas is presented, with emphasis given to such factors as the public or private nature of provision, the sectoral basis of activity, the economic and political logic of co-operation, and their importance as part of government North-South policy. These sectoral case studies are largely based on interviews with a range of key informants, and provide important insights into the actual nature and extent of North-South development, highlighting the intricate ways in which economic and political factors relate to and influence each other. Annex B outlines the questionnaires used for the semi-structured interviews, and Annex C lists the individuals and organisations interviewed.

Chapter 8 examines in further detail the specific nature of cross-border policy with regard to the development of industry. The chapter examines the opportunities and potential for greater North-South harmonisation of industrial policy, including not just policy towards small indigenously-owned firms but also the attraction of foreign direct investment.

Conclusions are presented in chapter 9, drawing together the main points of the thesis. These conclusions are of both a general/conceptual and specific/policy nature. Three main issues are discussed. First, conclusions are presented on the specific nature of North-South development on the island of Ireland. Second, conclusions are drawn for cross-border co-operation in general, on the basis of the lessons taken from the case of Ireland, and also the three case study areas examined in chapter 3. Finally, conclusions are offered regarding the key theoretical/conceptual issues raised in chapter 2, in particular the conceptual framework of cross-border political economy developed as the underlying theoretical basis for the thesis.

Religious Discrimination, Disadvantage and Class

2009-10-21T18:43:00.010+02:00

In 2003 I had a bit of a lost year. For the previous twelve months or so I’d spent a great time in Cuba learning Spanish at the University of Havana and enjoying Cuban life more generally and then on my return finishing my PhD. Having submitted and received my PhD, I had to find work to survive and so I took the offer of a contract at the West Belfast Economic Forum, a kind of research and lobby organisation for social and economic interests in West Belfast. During my time there I did a public debate on Religious Discrimination and Disadvantage with the Ulster Unionist Member of the Northern Assembly, Dermot Nesbitt. That there were still politicians who denied the existence of such disadvantage was highly dispiriting to say the least and I went into the debate with little enthusiasm. As it happened I managed to widen the debate, putting more emphasis on the issue of class than was normally done by nationalists and republicans, never mind unionist politicians who represented working-class loyalist constituencies. We talked past each other but, hopefully, I made some people from the nationalist community at least think about the narrowness of some of their own thinking on religious discrimination and how religious segmentation is related to social class and arises directly from specific conditions in capitalist development.

Posted below is my contribution to the well attended debate which took place in Whiterock Further Education College on 17 April 2003. The lecture was subsequently published in the West Belfast Economic Forum's Economic Bulletin.

I'd like to start by welcoming Dermot here today. He is one of the few unionist politicians who is prepared to engage openly with nationalists and republicans and actually enter what for many of his constituents will be seen as enemy territory. I look forward to the time when republicans get invited into unionist and loyalist areas and feel safe enough to accept and attend.

Nonetheless, however much I welcome Dermot's presence here this morning I have at least two reservations about this debate. First, I'm sceptical about Dermot's real motivation and intentions for being here today. I hope I'm wrong, but I can't help but think that that he comes here to lecture rather than listen. Second, it's now five years since the vast majority of the people of Ireland voted for the Belfast Agreement, one key feature of which is the recognised problem of continuing religious inequality in the north of Ireland, and the need to do something about it. If we are to stick to the word of the Agreement, as both Sinn Féin and the UUP agreed to do, then we should accept the responsibility to do something about this issue, rather than pretend that the problem has disappeared.

Having listened to Dermot and read his recent articles I have to admit to feeling a little depressed by his clear unwillingness to accept the glaring reality of continuing religious discrimination and disadvantage in our society today.

Let me put it simply and directly. This is a debate that should not have to take place and certainly not when the arguments made by Dermot are so weak and flawed.

There are many people in this room today who know more about the reality of religious discrimination than me, having been on the receiving end of it all their lives. It is somewhat ironic therefore when I ask myself why a Scottish atheist, brought up by Protestant parents, though someone who has lived in Whiterock ward for ten years, is standing here talking to you on the issue of religious discrimination and disadvantage. There are also many people here today who have fought against discrimination and disadvantage much more fiercely and for much longer than me. However, by standing back from the issue hopefully I can add some useful insights to an issue that I believe continues to scar our society.

Almost five years ago I wrote an article for the West Belfast Economic Forum's Bulletin entitled The Politics of Equality in the North of Ireland. Few will remember what I wrote, even those few people who may actually have read it at the time. Nevertheless, I think it's worth reiterating some of what I said at that time if only because I think most of the points I made still stand today. I started the article by referring to the mini-industry that had built up by academics and other analysts around the issue of religious discrimination and disadvantage. For over ten years voluminous research and analysis had been produced by different academics and protagonists, which at times resembled a quasi war given the heated and sometimes abusive nature of the debate.

On the one hand, there were those like the economist and former advisor to the First Minister, Graham Gudgin, who claimed, like Dermot, that religious discrimination was not an issue given that the unemployment differential between Catholics and Protestants could be explained away by differential demography, especially different birth and migration rates between the two religious groups. On the other hand, there were analysts who developed sophisticated econometric models which attempted to explain the unemployment differential by apportioning causes to such factors as different educational qualifications, working in different industrial sectors and occupations, social class composition, differential age structure, family size and a residual factor that was typically assumed to be, though rarely defined, as direct discrimination on the part of employers.

Despite all this analysis at that time, I concluded in 1998 that "much of this work had been relatively fruitless in terms of getting to the core of political and religious discrimination and inequality, producing agreed positions, coming up with effective policy solutions, never mind doing something effective about the problem."

At that time I argued it was important that analysts place equality issues in a broader context which attempted to encompass in a systemic manner the highly interrelated set of factors - social, economic, cultural, geographic and, most important, political and historic.

Five years on I don't think this has happened. In fact, even worse, not only have we had precious few new and insightful studies on religious discrimination and disadvantage since that time, but here we are still listening to Dermot's arguments which are based on an incredibly narrow, technocratic and simple arithmetic model which bears little resemblance to the complexity of social life.

As someone who has worked in academic circles I know only too well that the way in which knowledge, understanding, explanation and consequent policy implications are taken forward is by academics submitting their analysis to their fellow academic peers. Papers are presented at conferences or seminars, their methodology and findings are discussed, arguments are consequently revised and, finally, articles are published in academic journals. While differences of opinion may still exist, at least there are accepted levels of analytical correctness and rigour.

Now, I accept that Dermot is a politician, but he used to be an academic lecturer and he has worked closely on this issue for a number of years with the economist Graham Gudgin who has presented arguments very similar to those presented by Dermot this morning.

What's interesting is that Graham Gudgin's work on religious discrimination has to my knowledge never been accepted by his academic peers. I could be wrong, but I know of no article by either Dermot or Graham Gudgin that has been published in a reputable and tightly refereed academic journal. Rather, Graham Gudgin's analysis has been published in government documents, newspaper articles or political pamphlets where no refereeing process has taken place. The last time, I'm aware of, that Graham Gudgin's work was assessed openly in an academic journal was in 1997 when the Dublin-based economist John Bradley tore his model apart. As far as I'm aware a response to that critique by Graham Gudgin was never published. I'll not go into the details here, only to say that the fundamental methodological critique of Graham Gudgin's work was that the very factors that were presented to explain away discrimination and disadvantage were in fact part of the problem and were themselves never explained.

For example, Dermot, like Graham Gudgin, suggests that the reason why the unemployment differential continues is because the rate of growth of the Catholic population is greater than that of Protestants. In other words, there are said to be too many Catholics chasing too few jobs. What they don't explain, however, is why such a differential growth in population exists. Just because one religious group has a faster growth rate of its population than the other doesn't explain why the unemployment differential exists unless a reason for the population growth differential itself is presented. In other words, there is an interrelationship or circular causation between population growth and unemployment which works both ways. According to Dermot's line of thinking he could just as easily argue that differential unemployment rates between Catholics and Protestants explain differential population growth rates, rather than the other way round. Indeed, research from elsewhere shows that unemployment rates can influence population growth just as population growth can influence unemployment.

No reference is made by Dermot to the generally accepted finding from around the world that birth rates are associated in a highly complex manner with the level of socio-economic development and very specific historic, political and cultural factors. In the north of Ireland all these factors intermingle to create a social process which differentiates the two main religious communities. If you don't try and get to grips with these complex issues then highly sectarian, divisive and offensive policy conclusions can be drawn, and which, of course, have been drawn by some. Put very crudely, if it is argued that there are too many Catholics being born then the logical policy conclusion is forced birth control or forced emigration. I hardly need to say anything more on that apart from the clear fact that it highlights the highly sectarian line of thinking that Dermot's arguments can take us. It's one which he'd be well advised to distance himself from.

This discussion highlights another key issue that Dermot and others cloud over. This is the ambiguity and confusion that surround much of the terminology that is used in this debate. We need to be very clear on what we're talking about here. I'll mention just two terms: discrimination and disadvantage. These are words that are frequently substituted for each other as if they mean the same thing. They are not, though they are clearly related.

With regard to discrimination, the term is typically assumed to mean direct acts of prejudice against individual Catholics (or Protestants) in employment recruitment procedures. My feeling, and many here may disagree, is that this type of discrimination has reduced significantly over the past decade or more, though it has not been eradicated completely. This, I think, is largely the result of tightened fair employment legislation that has been introduced over the past decade and more. However, this is far from meaning that discrimination has disappeared as Dermot suggests. Much more important, as I've already alluded to, is the structural and systemic forms of discrimination that result from the workings of the underlying structures and processes of society and economy in the north of Ireland. Indeed, social and economic relations and policy decision making in the north of Ireland continue to be structured in such a manner that direct individual acts of discrimination would not have to occur at all for relative disadvantage between Catholics and Protestants to continue and be passed on from one generation to the next. In this context, while religious discrimination is not so explicitly seen, religious disadvantage is all too apparent

To show the current situation regarding religious disadvantage, let me show you some of the latest data from the 2001 Census of Population that were released recently.

Unemployment and economic inactivity differentials between Catholic and Protestant males - 2001

- For Catholic males the unemployment differential is 1.8 times greater than that of Protestant males.

- In contrast, Catholic males have half the proportion of retired males than Protestants.

- But, there are half as many more Catholic students than Protestants.

- Most important, almost three-quarters more Catholic men look after the home or family and 20% more Catholic men are permanently sick or disabled. These differentials suggest high levels of hidden unemployment. In other words, Catholic men who would previously have been defined as unemployed have been reclassified to other forms of economic inactivity due to the tightening of social security conditions and other factors such as the discouraged worker effect. This is a phenomenon seen across many parts of Europe, but one which is most prevalent for the most disadvantaged groups wherever they may be.

The issue of hidden unemployment means that the unemployment differential of 1.8 significantly understates the degree of relative disadvantage between Catholic and Protestant men.

Gaps in percentage shares between Catholics and Protestant men compared to expected economically active share

- These data show the other widely accepted form of relative disadvantage - the share
that Catholics and Protestants have in employment in comparison with what one would expect from their share of the economically active total.

- With regard to all forms of employment (full-time, part-time and self employment), Catholic men have a share 1.6 percentage points below what would be expected.

- However, if you look only at full-time employment, the percentage point difference is even greater at 3.3, a significant difference in proportionate terms.

- With regard to unemployment (an indicator not commonly used for some reason in terms of percentage shares) Catholic males have a share of total unemployment 14.4 percentage points above that which would be expected from their share of the economically active population.

- These statistics show something that has been ongoing for some time. There is continuing relative economic disadvantage or inequality between Catholic and Protestant men. This picture of relative disadvantage is also seen in the case of Catholic women, though to a lesser degree

These statistics are all at the regional level of the north of Ireland. What is important to understand is the degree of social and economic disadvantage at the more local level.

Let me show you some data which will be of interest in particular to those here who live in the surrounding areas of Upper Springfield and Whiterock.

Noble indicators of deprivation for Upper Springfield and Whiterock wards

The data for Upper Springfield and Whiterock show that, two almost wholly Catholic wards, suffer deep social and economic disadvantage compared to the rest of the north of Ireland. This is not exclusive to these two areas but something replicated across the rest of Catholic West Belfast, indeed across other Catholic areas in the north. For those who want more detailed information on this, take a look at the Economic Forum's publication Mapping West Belfast that came out last year.

- The data shown here are taken from an extensive analysis undertaken for NISRA by a leading English academic Professor Mike Noble. As such they have become known as the "Noble indicators of social deprivation". These data classify local areas in terms of a broad range of socio-economic indicators showing how deprived each area is in relation to others.

- In terms of multiple deprivation, which is an aggregate indicator of a range of deprivation measures, Whiterock and Upper Springfield rank 3rd and 11th respectively out of a total number of 566 wards in the north of Ireland.

- In terms of income deprivation the ranks are 3rd and 8th, with around two-thirds of households classified as income deprived.

- With regard to employment, Whiterock and Upper Springfield rank 13th and 34th respectively, with around one-fifth of households employment deprived.

- The two local wards come out worst in terms of health and disability status, with respective ranks of 2nd and 9th. In other words, Upper Springfield and Whiterock have proportionately extremely high numbers of unhealthy people.

- The most stark statistics are those for child poverty which show that over 80% of children aged under 16 in Upper Springfield and Whiterock live in poverty.

What is interesting from the Noble data on deprivation is that there are predominantly Protestant wards that also suffer deeply from socio-economic disadvantage. In West Belfast, for example, Shankill and St. Anne's wards also feature near the top of the league tables of disadvantage.

Noble indicators of deprivation for Protestant wards in West Belfast

- For example, St. Anne's ranks 4th and Shankill 10th in terms of multiple deprivation.

- In terms of employment, St. Anne's is 3rd and Shankill 7th.

- With regard to health status, 7th and 15th.

- Worst of all St. Anne's has the worst rank of educational deprivation across the whole of the north of Ireland, Shankill ranked 9th.

These depressing statistics raise an obvious question - does this mean that religion is not an important factor with regard to socio-economic disadvantage? The answer is a resounding no! What I've tried to say here is that socio-economic disadvantage has a number of dimensions. However, the one factor we are discussing here today, religion, is the key factor that defines all aspects of the society we live in and which of course formed the boundaries of the statelet within which we live. However, in addition to the religion factor is the key issue of social class and how people from lower social classes, such as those in Upper Springfield and Whiterock, and indeed the Shankill, continue to bear the brunt of lack of income, jobs, lower education levels, poor health status, environmental degradation and more.

Indeed, class is such an important factor in capitalist societies that in the case of the north of Ireland it manages to transcend religious differences in some specific geographic areas such as the Shankill because of the very way in which our society operates. A very large proportion of the Catholic population has been left behind in terms of socio-economic development, but so have very much smaller proportions of the Protestant population.

What concerns me is that these deep social and economic problems seem to be so far down the policy agendas of our political representatives, and I include Sinn Féin as well as unionist parties when I say this. For example, I have never heard Dermot argue as strongly on the need to empower working class Protestant areas in terms of jobs, incomes and education as much as he berates nationalist and republican politicians on the issue of religious discrimination. But then that's perhaps hardly surprising given the highly conservative and reactionary nature of unionist political thinking. Without wanting to make too cheap a political point, I wonder for example how often Dermot, as a junior minister for equality, has visited and engaged with people in working class unionist and loyalist areas. At least the political representatives in our area, whether they be ministers, MLAs or councillors, live and work among us, and therefore more openly accountable to us.

To finish, what is really going to reverse the deep religious- and class-based levels of relative disadvantage in our society today is not narrow, ill-informed analysis and sectarian political point making which passes for political debate, but a deep and fundamental transformation of society which meets the social, economic and political needs of working class communities, whether Catholic or Protestant. That doesn't mean a vacuous and demeaning equality of esteem between deeply disadvantaged Catholic and Protestant communities, but a radical assault on those social, economic and political factors and processes that continue to create such profound disadvantage and inequality. I would see this is a socialist strategy. Others may prefer to call it a comprehensive anti-poverty strategy. The point I'm trying to make here is that an approach targeted specifically at the socio-economic needs of all disadvantaged communities, whether they be Catholic or Protestant, would benefit all those who continue to suffer multiple social deprivation. However, because of the relatively higher proportion of Catholics who are disadvantaged, they would be the ones who benefit the most. That, I think, is the way forward.

The day I hear Dermot arguing for such an approach on the Shankill Road, never mind in Upper Springfield or Whiterock, I know things will have changed for the better.

Bruce Springsteen and "biographical gibberish"

2009-10-18T18:27:00.003+02:00

In 1981, at the age of 23, I travelled down from Glasgow to London to see Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band in the cavernous Wembley Arena. Since that time I’ve seen him in concert four more times - in Leeds (1984), Dublin (1988), an acoustic concert in Belfast (1996) and Dublin (2003). He’s far and away the best live performer I’ve ever seen. The sheer passion and elation of his concerts can only be understood by those who’ve seen him perform.

In 2002 I published on Amazon.co.uk this review of a biography of Springsteen under the title “Biographical gibberish”.

Christopher Sandford - Springsteen: Point Blank. London: Warner Books. 2000.

This biography attempts to document Springsteen's meteoric rise to fame, placing emphasis on his music, concerts, politics and personal life. The author's assessment of Springsteen's albums mirrors my own, but he downplays or fails to recognise the extent to which Springsteen so radically changed the nature of rock performance. The intensity, pure exhilaration and uplifting nature of Springsteen's concerts are only hinted at. Sandford's account of Springsteen's political development is expressed in a rather patronising manner, and at times irritatingly mixed in with the author's own seemingly reactionary views. The story of Springsteen's personal life, in particular that concerning his parents and various relationships and friendships, despite much analysis and many words, offers little that Springsteen hasn't expressed more eloquently himself in interviews, especially in recent years.

This is a flawed biography, but worst of all Sandford simply can not write. His style is long-winded, repetitive and turgid, and his syntax awful. The book rambles on for over 400 pages in a pseudo-academic manner. The first few chapters, in particular, are poorly structured and at times sentences are incomprehensible and meaningless. Here are just a few examples (I gave up marking the margins after the first three chapters): "No longer would the Boss be the hard-eyed capo who flouted his moll". "Whatever his shin-guard flaws, they were more than matched by his academic scrapes". "Their few talks, hissed through carious teeth, soon left the foreshore of debate for the choppy seas of 'screw you'". "More than once he communicated in a semi-colon". Who does Sandford think he's writing for, never mind impressing, with this gibberish? One of Springsteen's great talents is his ability to communicate. It's a pity that Sandford didn't try and follow his example.

¿Ha terminado la guerra en Irlanda?

2009-10-16T10:18:00.008+02:00

En 2000 pasé cuatro meses en la Universidad del País Vasco en Bilbao, como parte de un intercambio Erasmus, para trabajar en mi tesis doctoral. Durante mi estancia este artículo sobre la situación política en Irlanda se publicó en Elkarri, la revista del movimiento social por el diálogo y el acuerdo. Estoy agradecido a mi amigo Gorka Espiau por publicarlo y traducirlo. Una versión muy parecida se publicó con Karen McCartney en el periódico cubano Granma el mismo año.

Tan sólo hace unas semanas todo parecía condenado al fracaso, el Gobierno británico anunció la paralización de la Asamblea de Stormont así como sus instituciones paralelas, cediendo ante las presiones unionistas y corriendo el riesgo de destruir el consenso alcanzando a través del Acuerdo de Viernes Santo. Como resultado de esta situación, durante tres meses la previsión para el verano ha sido la demasiado familiar y potencialmente violenta de las marchas orangistas.

Casi todos los analistas, incluyendo muchos políticos, transmitían apenas unos días antes de los comunicaciones de los Gobiernos británicos e irlandés, y del propio IRA, que cualquier restauración del diálogo multipartito debería esperar hasta el otoño con el objetivo de ganar tiempo y margen de maniobra.

Aunque pocos lo admitían públicamente, los hechos parecían indicar que los cimientos del proceso habían finalmente cedido sin posibilidad de reconstrucción. La pregunta más urgente era cómo y hacia dónde se podía caminar a partir de ese momento.

Sin embargo, en tan sólo dos días el escenario cambió radicalmente y los gobiernos, después de intensas negociaciones bilaterales y multilaterales con los partidos políticos, aparecieron en escena con una formula que posibilitaba la restauración del Acuerdo de Viernes Santo. Posteriormente, el 27 de mayo la dirección del Partido Unionista respaldó a su líder, David Trimble, en la decisión de retomar su participación en el Gobierno de Stormont.

A pesar de estos avances, persisten dificultades profundas, ya que el Informe Patten sobre la más que necesaria nueva policía que reemplace a la desacreditada RUC y el conflicto anual de Drumcree/Garvaghy Road siguen sin ser resueltos. Es más, parece ser que la tensión ha aumentado debido a este impasse de los últimos meses, y las posibilidades de que haya enfrentamientos y brotes de violencia son muy altas.

Desde el punto de vista de la prensa internacional, el único e inesperado acontecimiento novedoso ha sido la declaración del IRA anunciado la inutilización de sus armas y el hecho de que permita un control independiente de este proceso. Aceptar una revisión periódica del conjunto del arsenal es realmente una declaración histórica, pero matizable en su interpretación. La declaración del IRA dice esencialmente que en caso de que las instituciones sean restauradas y que por consiguiente se retome el proceso, colaborará con el mismo permitiendo una revisión periódica de la armas con el objetivo de garantizar el silencio de las mismas. Pero no está claro que las inspecciones puedan probarlo realmente, debido a las características e importancia del arsenal del IRA, sin mencionar la facilidad de acceso al mercado de las armas en la actualidad.

Lo que resulta verdaderamente significativo e histórico es que la declaración sugiera a los unionistas con absoluta claridad la intención del IRA de continuar por la senda de la no-violencia. Típico del proceso de paz irlandés, el lenguaje y su interpretación son políticamente más importantes que su realidad aparente. La gestión política de una organización armada pocas veces ha sido astuta.

A pesar de que los mensajes de la comunidad unionista repetían constantemente que el verdadero obstáculo para que avanzase el proceso era el decomiso de la armas, un argumento repetido y reforzado sin cesar por los medios de comunicación; todo el mundo sabía que éste nunca se produciría en términos literales. Esta formulación representa la rendición y la derrota de aquellos que se identifican con la causa republicana, al mismo tiempo que podría dar lugar a situaciones de nueva violencia en el interior de la comunidad nacionalista.

Desde el primer día, para muchos el verdadero problema ha sido la resistencia el unionismo a modificar su histórica posición de poder y dominación sobre los nacionalistas en el norte de Irlanda. Desde esta perspectiva, el asunto de decomiso habría sido explotado continuamente como un excusa para detener lo inevitable: la perdida de esta vieja situación de hegemonía. Para avanzar, por lo tanto, era necesario reconocer y transformar la insostenibilidad de esta fórmula de relación social.

El Acuerdo de Viernes Santo, con un complejo sistema de reparto de poder institucional, no es otra cosa que un intento por crear una sociedad más justa e igualitaria. La discriminación política, económica y cultural sobre las nacionalistas debería pasar a ser un triste recuerdo del pasado. Es por este motivo por el que desde febrero a partir del anuncio de suspensión de estas instituciones, el Sinn Féin, a pesar de sus evidentes reticencias a determinados aspectos, lo ha defendido de forma más firme que ninguna otra formación.

El propio proceso no ha sido otra cosa que convencer a estos de la necesidad de avanzar a pesar de las profundas actitudes defensivas y en muchos casos contrarios al mismo.

En lo que respecta al Sinn Féin, este partido cambió su estrategia política hace muchos años cuando su propia dirección concluyó que la única forma de avanzar, aunque llevase generaciones, era a través de la vías políticas y no-violentas. Sinn Féin está convencido desde hace mucho tiempo que es posible alcanzar el objetivo de una Irlanda unida y libre de la soberanía británica a través de un proceso político incluyente. De la misma forma que cree también que el Acuerdo de Viernes Santo proporciona un punto de partida para este camino.

Significativamente, este partido ha conseguido mantener la confianza, no sólo de su propia base diversa y plural, con la dificultad que esto supone, sino que ha se ha ganado el respeto de sus adversarios británicos a través de la práctica política diaria. Queda lejos ya el tiempo en el que los funcionarios británicos e irlandeses veían a la dirección republicana como terroristas patológicos, a pesar de que todavía persisten este tipo de análisis en determinados medios de comunicación. El tiempo ha hecho incluso que los gobiernos británico e irlandés reconozcan públicamente la capacidad negociadora y el talento de la dirección del Sinn Féin. Transparencia y una minuciosa estrategia política han sido las principales características de la propuesta republicana.

A partir de este reconocimiento, un asunto que ha llevado mucho tiempo para poder ser integrado por las diferentes sensibilidades, pero claramente superado, ha sido la transformación de la vertiente militar del conflicto. La dirección del Sinn Féin llegó a la conclusión también hace mucho tiempo que la "guerra" en estos términos había acabado, aunque muchos de sus simpatizantes hayan sido más escépticos. El Gobierno británico, finalmente, también asumió este tesis, siendo el unionismo, una vez más, el último en aceptarla. Parece claro, de cualquier manera, que algunas personalidades del Partido Unionista del Ulster, e incluso de la propia sociedad civil (iglesias, protestantes, empresarios, movimientos sociales, etc.) participan de esta forma de abordar la cuestión. Su reto consiste no sólo en persuadir a otros, sino intentar articular un nuevo discurso para el unionismo de cara al nuevo escenario social y político que se abre paso en la isla.

El sur de Irlanda y el Reino Unido están cambiando en multitud de aspectos. Este último ya no está siguiera "unido" de la misma forma que antaño, y su formulación de "reino" nunca había sido tampoco tan cuestionada. Las nuevas formas de autogobierno introducidas en Escocia, Gales, e Inglaterra facilitan la dispersión geográfica, política y económica, a pesar de su rígido sistema social. Esta fragmentación de la identidad nacional británica crea multitud de problemas y retos para el unionismo, ya que la vieja Gran Bretaña muchas veces anhelada, no existe como tal en la actualidad. Las supuestas alianzas tejidas a lo largo de los años, se han desvanecido rápidamente frente a los ojos de esta comunidad.

En la República de Irlanda, por su parte, el gran éxito económico de la pasada década ha transformado el país profundamente. Y esto ha sido así a pesar de que los beneficios empresariales hayan ido a para a manos de pocos, y cuando esta bonanza económica ha supuesto también la proliferación de caos de corrupción política y financiera. Junto a esto, el otro factor adicional de importancia ha sido la estrecha relación de Irlanda con la Unión Europea, que ha derivado, a su vez, en una mucho más positiva relación política con Gran Bretaña. Por todo ello: la mejora económica, la participación en la UE, la normalidad de relaciones, puede concluirse que Irlanda se relaciona hoy en día con sus vecinos desde una posición de mucha mayor confianza.

En este contexto, choca con estos rápidos cambios políticos, económicos y culturales, la supuesto intención del Gobierno británico de plantear su retirada definitiva del norte de Irlanda a largo plazo. Durante, al menos la ruptura del primer alto de fuego, el principal objetivo del Gobierno británico ha sido mantener la presencia del Sinn Féin en la mesa de negociación, a pesar de las repercusiones en el unionismo. Este ha supuesto un cambio estratégico de proporciones históricas, y es consecuencia directa de la histórica demanda de un diálogo multipartito y sin exclusiones por parte del Sinn Féin.

La capacidad de veto unionista, tratando de impedir posibilidades de cambio, es aplicada en algunas ocasiones cuando el Gobierno británico cede a las presiones de su propio entorno. Se trata de un grupo heterogéneo pero con ramificaciones políticas y militares. Por un lado se encuentran sectores de Parlamento de Westminster, y por otro, los todavía poderosamente influyentes conocidos como "securócratas" (miembros del ejército, y de los servicios secretos MI5 y MI6) que todavía creen en una derrota militar sobre el IRA. Ambos compiten por el control de la política respecto de sus motivaciones, intereses y objetivos.

Sin duda alguna, la capacidad de veto unionista seguirá siendo un referente utilizado por los gobiernos de Londres siempre y cuando surja el nerviosismo sobre los acontecimientos políticos en la región. Sin embargo, a pesar de la fragilidad del proceso en los últimos años, ha existido una sensación de continuidad. Está siendo cada vez más evidente que una nueva y más democrática Irlanda está construyéndose desde hace tiempo y en la que Gran Bretaña jugará cada vez un papel menos importante. La cuestión reside en hacer reconocer esta realidad a todos los principales agentes del proceso, aunque no estén de acuerdo , para adaptarse a ella con el menor daño posible.

De cualquier forma, los progresos realizados hasta el momento han sido verdaderamente importantes. Los cambios han llegado a través de un largo, complejo y a veces, tortuoso proceso. Tal vez, por encima de todo, ha consistido en la creación de las condiciones políticas que permitiesen a los partidos alcanzar un acuerdo para el futuro. Esto ha supuesto necesariamente el diálogo entre partidos políticos con un largo historial de desconfianza, e incluso odio mutuo. De cualquier forma, sin un mínimo de responsabilidad y aprendizaje de los errores del pasado, junto a la creación de una mayor confianza entre los anteriormente considerados como enemigos, el diálogo por sí mismo no hubiera sido suficiente.

Significativamente, este proceso ha supuesto el reconocimiento, aunque no haya sido de forma pública, de la responsabilidad británica de los errores del pasado en Irlanda. Ésta ha conducido a la necesaria articulación de nuevos escenarios y relaciones políticas para el futuro. Un componente toda vía más importante, ha sido la negativa del Sinn Féin a desviarse de su compromiso estratégico de creación de una nueva Irlanda unida a través de medios políticos. Existen muchos temas de importancia para el Sinn Féin, entre ellos el de los presos, la policía y el debate sobre la igualdad de derechos, pero todos ellos forman parte del eje central que supone la necesidad de una revisión constitucional y democrática en Irlanda.

El proceso de paz ha sido un camino largo y tortuoso, y todavía lejos de su final. Ha sido también lento y frustrante, suponiendo a menudo mensajes y hechos contradictorios, pero también, se ha abierto una puerta y un escenario de futuro. A pesar de los inevitables obstáculos y retrocesos que todavía habrá que superar, estos últimos acontecimientos sugieren que, con tiempo, la creación de una nueva y democrática Irlanda unida puede convertirse en una realidad.

Elkarri – revista del movimiento social por el diálogo y el acuerdo
junio 2000

Polo Montañez

2009-10-13T22:31:00.006+02:00

This is a tribute I wrote in 2002 to the truly great Cuban singer-songwriter Polo Montañez who tragically died that year in a car crash. For those who haven’t heard his music I couldn’t recommend it more. The tribute was published in the Cuba Support Group – Ireland’s newsletter Cuba Today.

The Tragic Death of Polo Montañez
At the end of November last year, Cuba tragically lost a great singer, musician, romantic, ambassador and revolutionary in the name of Polo Montañez. For those who haven't been in Cuba over the past two years you probably don't know of Polo. For those who have you'll know his music well - you couldn't escape it. Last year I lived in Havana for nine months and there wasn't a day went by when I didn't hear Polo's wonderful uplifting music echoing through the city's streets. His music, an enchanting mix of catchy country melodies and heartfelt lyrics, filled the lives of Cuban people like no other.

Reading of the news of his death in a car accident I felt utterly shattered. I subsequently received numerous e-mails from my friends in Havana telling me of their sadness and the deep sense of mourning that filled the hearts of Cuban people. Looking back now I realise, without exaggeration, how much my stay in Cuba was defined by Polo's music. Cuba has lost a truly great and humane individual. On his last CD he sings that the last moment in his life must be romantic - I can only hope it was.

Polo Montañez has two CDs, both on the Lusafrica label - Guajira natural and Guitarra mía.

The Incomparable Christy Moore

2009-10-12T21:24:00.012+02:00

I first saw Christy Moore perform at the Glastonbury Festival in 1984. I couldn’t believe that one man and an acoustic guitar could hold the attention of such a huge crowd with such intensity and wit. I’ve since seen him play at least ten times. I’ve posted below a review I wrote of a concert he gave in Dublin in 1991 for the Belfast based magazine Fortnight.

Christy Moore, The Point Theatre, Dublin, Sat. 7th Sep. 1991

"And when Christy Moore sings of Irish Ways,
You know the song has come from the depths of his soul"

Seeing Christy Moore during his record breaking and completely sold-out ten night stint at the Point Theatre in Dublin merely confirmed this tribute from Ron Kavana, another great Irish singer. With no more than an acoustic guitar (and for one song a bodhrán) to accompany his awesome voice, he completely entranced an audience of 3,000 for just under two hours. There is no other performer in Ireland who appeals to such a wide range of the population in terms of class, age and rural or urban background. Punks, farmers and smartly dressed Dublin southsiders mixed freely in the cavernous foyer of the Point before the concert. After twenty five years in the Irish music business Christy Moore has never been as truly popular as he is today. He is simply Ireland's major solo performer.

Presenting over twenty songs from his enormous back catalogue a kind of greatest hits was presented. It is probably no coincidence that a collection of his work from 1981-91 has just been issued. Dressed completely in black, and ironically looking not unlike a priest at times depending on how the lights hit him, he started slowly and even a touch nervously, with Jackson Browne's apocalyptic warning of nuclear extinction Before the Deluge. Maybe not the most cheerful of opening numbers but it does include the refrain "let the music keep your spirits high" which in current times may be as good a description of Christy Moore's music as any. Ever topical he moved straight into Ordinary Man a simple but powerful song about the personal despair of unemployment - the night I saw him it had just been announced that the jobless total in the republic had risen to over 265,000. Then changing the mood completely he lightened the proceedings with Welcome to the Cabaret the first of a number of hilarious songs.

The most moving moment of the night came during his song for the 48 young people who died so tragically in the Stardust disco fire. The electric atmosphere created by his passionate delivery highlighted his ability to touch the raw nerve of Irish sensitivity and at the same time show up the empty rhetoric and hypocrisy of government ministers. If anything, though, such moments were less frequent than in previous concerts over the past few years and the balance between serious political comment and humorous asides was tilted very much to the latter. Indeed, reflecting his apparently mellowing political opinions suggested by recent interviews, there were no songs on this occasion which explicitly referred to his well publicised republican views. However, his overwhelming sense of injustice still shone through on songs like Missing You about the miserable experience of forced emigration. Whacker Humphries, his painful song about heroin addiction, tackled the disgraceful response of the government and the media to those people who have had to take it upon themselves to do something about the pushers who wreak such pitiful lives on the young working class of Dublin's northside.

The strongest memory of the current show, however, is that of unmitigated and spontaneous laughter. The long anecdotal songs included subjects such as Irish soccer supporters travelling to the continent; the improbable hallucinative effects of suffering from the DT's; the comical accounts of the old Lisdoonvarna festival - this time interjected with a quick impersonation of Van the Man singing I'll Tell Me Ma; the tale of the Bishop of Galway running amok among the sheep of Kerry in his black Saab turbo; and finally his hilarious account of coming off the Liverpool ferry and meeting the Rose of Tralee as a bangharda. On the basis of these performances there is surely no better stand-up comedian in Ireland.

Perhaps ironically it is on these irreverent songs that he shows his ability to articulate and comment on the true psyche and contradictions of the Irish people. Few public figures escape his barbed wit with particular targets being Charlie Haughey, Larry Goodman, Seán Doherty and of course the Catholic church. Perhaps his best line of the night in defence of Sinéad O'Connor's recent controversy in the US, was his advice to Frank Sinatra, who follows him later this year at the Point, to learn the words of The Soldiers' Song.

If you know little about the intricacies of southern Irish life then half of Christy Moore's show would pass you by. And this is the dilemma he faces in trying to broaden his appeal outside Ireland and the Irish communities abroad. To achieve international popularity he would need to drop the very Irish essence and distinctiveness of his appeal at home. As The Sawdoctors will soon find out, if they have not already, this cannot and should not be done.

Christy Moore's live performances are something special. If you have only heard the rather sanitised versions of his songs on record then you have yet to experience fully his huge and powerful talent.

Final mention goes to the support act - the incongruous and incomparable pairing of Steve Cooney and Séamus Begley. The former, an Australian/Irishman who plays a nylon stringed guitar which is literally held together by sellotape - the reason for which is obvious when you see him play - combines superbly with the effortless box playing of his Kerry associate. Irish traditional music has rarely been played with such enthusiasm and excitement.