When I was in Syria, I met someone from Seville, who told me the other significant event of year 1492. It was the year when Jews and Muslims were told to either convert or leave Spain, after spending 600-800 years there. The outward aim was generally against the Jews for the purpose of expropriating their wealth, but it seems that the Spanish kingdom also wanted Al-Andalus in the south. A war for money and property in the name of Christ.
Here in South America, at one point 1/6th of the Spanish Kingdom's income came from the silver mines of Potosi. Buenos Aires was the port for this. The other end was Seville. More money and property, in the name of Christ, although on this end it was called the Conquest.
All things relating to nationalistic and patriotic pride appear to replace Christianity in 'modern reconquests'. There are two national holidays, one in May and one in July. It seems to feel like Argentina is gearing up for some feel-good days. Hell with the international community - we've got to take care of ourselves first and foremost.
Las Malvinas is, of course, one of the items on the agenda. As mentioned, this is not going away anytime soon. There is a Plaza de las Malvinas in, I will guess, most towns. There is a Las Malvinas Day on which young leftist groups plaster the city with graffiti, telling los Ingleses to get off those islands (after 200 years). I went by the 'Buenos Aires Design' mall the other day, which sells designer items for the home. There is a 'Las Malvinas' brand of electrodomesticos - i.e. kitchen appliances.
The other item to complete, ideally before May 25th, is nationalizing YPF, the main oil company. It was privatized in the 90s, and currently a Spanish company has more than half the stocks. CFK (Cristina Fernandez Kirchner) wants to increase production and reduce imports, and fuel up the economy.
Given that I am a native of BC, I feel that I've only seen parts of the province being privatized - sales of public property, ideally for increased efficiency, for public benefit. Nationalization - a forced purchase of stocks owned by non-nationals, ideally to regain control and accountability of national resources, in the name of the people - is a bit of a novelty for me. I'm not sure that this is why I travel, but anyways, you take what comes.
In the end, it all seems like a theatre play in the media, with certain scripts that must be said. We are in Act 2, Scene 3, where Spain seems to accept this situation but bitterly weeps, "But only with a fair price!" I suspect that given Spain's woes, they are probably fairly happy to obtain $10 billion, but they need to keep a straight face.
The word Reconquista is, of course, then this very proud nationalistic mask behind desire - Me Want - but everyone loves masks, they seem to be more interesting than what lies behind. The current situation is how to grow the economy, and no-one really knows how that quite happens, particularly in a still uncertain environment where national economies, some of which are faltering, are linked. A non-petroleum future is certainly not in the current minds of Argentina, as in most countries. Perhaps there have been just too many sunny days here to contemplate this.
No comments:
Post a Comment