Después de este paréntesis, estamos aquí con un nuevo número de vuestra revista anual de la Escuela Oficial de Idiomas de Cartagena. La novedad más importante es el cambio de formato. Ya no salimos en papel, pero los contenidos son igual o más interesantes que los de antes.
Seguimos pidiendo vuestra participación y esperamos que los contenidos sean de vuestro interés. Estamos abiertos a sugerencias y colaboraciones.
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admin May 12th, 2009
Concurso de Cocina Francesa - Alumnos de la mañana
¿Quién es quien?
Quizz Cultural
Teatro
Danza del vientre
Visita guiada en Francés al Teatro Romano
Concurso de Cocina Internacional
Exposición de Pintura de María, alumna de Francés
admin April 23rd, 2009
The article below is an invitation from the students of Nivel Intermedio Básico, Group E. to the internet community to come and visit Cartagena.
It was written over a period of six weeks from October to November, 2007. It is a piece of collaborative writing, i.e. all the students in the class, edited, corrected and contributed to the article using a wikipage www.pbwiki.com. The use of El Aula Plumier of the E.O.I. was essential. The role of the teacher was to suggest changes and to be the chief editor before it went to press. However, the journalists were the students themselves and the high standard of work is a credit to their motivation, initiative and interest. Once you read it, I am sure you will agree that Cartagena is indeed, a wonderful place to enjoy yourself.
Anton Maojo Youl
Cartagena a wonderful place to enjoy yourself
ARCHAEOLOGICAL REMAINS AND MUSEUMS
Cartagena has many archaeological sites. Several ruins haven’t been uncovered yet. Throughout the old centre you can find museums with remains of Roman buildings. Also, if you walk along the street you can discover different kinds of cultural itineraries such as baroque, modern or contemporary.
Nowadays, the Town Hall tries to join all these itineraries and as a result it has created “Cartagena Port of Cultures”. This initiative allows visitors to enjoy a wide range of options, discovering the cultural and rich history of this town. This is an authentic journey across the centuries that will take you from the town’s origins through to the present day. On the way you will discover its historic vestiges, its most emblematic places and the splendid collections housed in its archaeological museums.
For this reason, if you visit our city, you can know a lot of archaeological remains. So when you go sightseeing, you’ll be witness to the period of greatest splendour under Rome between the end of the 3rd Century B.C. and the beginning of the 2nd Century A.D., as if you were living the experience in person.
The most important archaeological sights are: The Municipal Archaeological Museum, The National Museum of Maritime Archaeology, The House of Fortune, The Centre of Interpretation of Punic Rampart, Augusteum, The Hill of Molinete, The Roman Colonnade, Decumanus, The Byzantine Rampart, The Roman Theatre, The Santa María La Vieja Cathedral, The Roman Amphitheatre, The Centre of Interpretation of the History of Cartagena and Torre Ciega (Blind Tower).
In our opinion, the best and most interesting remains are: The Roman Theatre and The Municipal Archaeological Museum.
The theatre was discovered in 1987, approximately. It’s incredible and marvellous to be able to see the way a Roman Theatre which was built in the late 1st Century B.C. is preserved, in the 21st Century,
The seats were built into the northern side of the Concepcion hill. The theatre’s cavea can hold up to 6,000 spectators and the scaenae, with 450 square metres, is bigger than Theatre of Merida´s cavea.
On the other hand, the most amazing Museum of our city stands on the site of the original Roman necropolis of San Antón…….
Also, there are other important museums which deserve to be mentioned such as: The Naval Museum, Carmen Conde - Antonio Oliver Museum, The Artillery Museum and The Ethnographic Museum.
BAROQUE AND NEOCLASSICAL
There is a baroque-neo-classicist itinerary, which you can visit in the main streets of the centre of the city on foot. There are many important monuments: Technical University, Pavilion of Autopsy, The Wall of Carlos III, Arsenal Military, Church of St. Domingo, Church of Sta. Maria de Gracia “the New Cathedral”, House-Palace Widow of Molina, General Headquarters, Church of Carmen and Park of Artillery.
The most famous are:
- The Technical University: It was the former military hospital designed by the military engineer Sebastian Feringan and it was constructed between the year 1749 and 1762. This solid and wide building was one of the first works realized after that the city was transformed by the main Spanish Base Navy in the Mediterranean Sea. At present, the Technical University of Cartagena is one of the best in Spain with a long tradition and its degrees are highly prestigious. The atmosphere of the city is more fun now because of pubs and restaurant, etc, they are full of students.
- Arsenal Military: This building was constructed between 1739 and 1782 with King Charles III At present it is the only gate that there is in the city that is still preserved.
- General Capitanía: This building is situated in the centre of the city, in the known street “Puerta de Murcia”. In this building, the General Captain of the Zone Maritime of Mediterranean Sea lives and works all year. Also, when King Juan Carlos I visits the city, he lodges here. The front is composed of three bays and its inside is very decorated: Its Imperial stairs is noteworthy.
MODERNIST CARTAGENA
You can find the modernist style in most buildings of the city centre , between the streets Major, Air and España Square.
In this way visitors can see all these wonderful buildings in a few hours on foot. In the middle of the street you can admire the Casino, the Llagostera House and Cervantes House. At the end of this street is the Grand Hotel and from there to Carmen Street, we can see the Pedreño Palace and the Dorda House.
Most of these buildings were built Victor Beltrí in the twentieth century. In the LLagostera house you can see its fantastic facade where the figures of Minerva and Mercury appear. The building of the Grand Hotel is the most representative work of modernism in Cartagena. This building is characterized by its verticality and its over elaborate decoration. At the beginning of Carmen Street is the Pedreño Palace. Its facade presents elements of classical architecture. On this same street is the Dorda House. Its baroque facade, its courtyard with arches and geometric design of walls, and a central fountain surrounded by gardens. To conclude our journey brings us to the Carmelite College, where you can see the influence of Gaudi in the decoration of the facade which tried to combine architecture and nature
Interview a boy from Cartagena:
A:(Journalist)
B:(boy)
A: What do you think about the archaeological sites in Cartagena?
B: I think the ruins in Cartagena are for tourists who want to know something of Cartagena and for many children that go to school and teachers who want to teach something about Cartagena to their pupils.
A: Do you know the different itineraries that you can visit at these sites?
B: No, I only know how to go to the theatre, and how to go home! (smile).
A: And, what about museums, and all things that you can find in them?
B: I don’t remember, because the last time that I went to a place like this, I was very young. I only remember the Roman theatre, and what the houses and the streets of those times were like.
A: Finally I want to ask you one more question. Do you like the ruins, the famous archaeological remains in Cartagena?
B: No, I don’t, because they are very boring. If you want to know something else, you should study ( smiling).
Easter is the oldest festivity in Cartagena. This festivity is a blend of Catholic tradition and military order. Easter in Cartagena is very popular because people feel the tradition. It’s an event that has been declared of international interest and it’s celebrated in March or April, it depends on the year.
Easter celebrations start in Cartagena before other places in the world, the early morning of the Friday before Palm Sunday. This Friday is the patron saint day of Cartageneros, “Virgen de la Caridad” and during the week these brotherhoods do processions.
In Cartagena there are four brotherhoods, which have assigned different days for their procession. These brotherhoods are “Cristo Del Socorro”, “Californios”, “Marrajos” and “Resucitados”. All brotherhoods are similar in their structure when they do a procession, which are formed by various groups.
Penitents, dressed with a robe, cloak and the “capuz” that is a kind of hood with conic form. This “capuz” only allow you to see out the front. These penitents are in formation and can’t move anywhere.
Grenadiers, dressed with the traditional uniform of soldiers of the earlier 19th century.
The “Pasos”, which are represented different parts of the Passion and New Testament. These “Pasos” are transported on the shoulders of many people called “Porta Pasos”.
The military squad escort, formed by soldiers of the different barracks of Cartagena.
All brotherhoods have a different history and were formed at different times.
“Cristo del Socorro” - The brotherhood of “El Cristo del Socorro” was founded in 1691. Nowadays their colour is black but at first it was purple.
“Californios” - The brotherhood of “Pontificia, Real e Ilustre Cofradía de Nuestro Padre Jesús en el Doloroso Paso del Prendimiento y Santo Celo del Bien de las Almas” was founded in 1747, it symbolizes Christ’s passion and its main colour is red. This brotherhood is called “Californios” because circa 1747, two sailors who were in the Californian conquest, arrived Cartagena, joined to this brotherhood and donated a lot of money to it.
“Marrajos” - The brotherhood of “Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno” was founded between 1565 and 1612. Usually it is called “marrajos” because in the 17th century, the fisherman, didn’t have enough money to pay the maintenance cost of the brotherhood, and sold a fish called “marrajo”, and they used the money that they earned to pay their debts. Marrajos symbolizes Christ’s death and its main colour is purple.
“Resucitados” - The brotherhood of “Nuestro Padre Jesus Resucitado” was founded in 1940, and commemorates the Resurrection of Christ. Its main colour is white.
FESTIVALS AND OTHER INTERESTING FESTIVITIES
“In 1990, I went on holiday in September. It was in Cartagena and I could enjoy, among other things, the first festival the “Cartagineses y Romanos”. They were celebrated next to the port.
The following year, it was held in the former artillery park where nowadays you can see the street San Juan. In those days, I already lived and worked in Cartagena. Then, a friend of mine told me all about the origin of this festival that is the most unique festival of the city today”.
A brotherhood wantes to have a celebration in their city such as the “Moros y Cristianos” that took place in others cities. This celebration could be a faithful reflection of the birth of the city. And finally, they decided to revive the Punic and Roman history through theatrical representations and parades carried out by the people of the city.
All the city enjoys this festival, its people and people of the other cities. It improves every year and already it has a fixed place, its “campamento”.
Carthaginian and Roman celebrations are based on the Second Punic War, General Hannibal Barca and Publius Cornelius Scipio being their main characters. Commemorations star with the Quart-Hadast foundation in 223 BC and finish with the Roman victory in 209 BC.
During ten days of celebrations, the extraordinary events happened under Carthaginian domination and up to the final battle they are celebrated and lived again in a wonderful atmosphere which involves both local residents and visitors.
ACTIVITIES AND PARADES
Carthaginian troops and Roman legions are the architects of the celebrations to commemorate the history of the city. They make magnificent parades wearing lavish costumes and weapons which remind us of the best films about Romans. During the second fortnight of September, Cartagena and its inhabitants relive their history and show the great deeds done by their Carthage and Roman heroes. Most of the celebrations take place on the same location as they happened more than two thousand years ago and both participants and audience live magic moments. During these 10 days more than 20 celebrations commemorate the history of Cartagena, among them the most outstanding ones are: “Quart-Hadasht Founding”, The Great Roman Arena” and “The Great General March Past of Troops and Legions”. We can also see “Tanit’s Oracle”, “The Wedding of Hannibal and Himilce”, “The Conquest of Quart-Hadast”, “Plenary Session of the Roman Senate” and many more celebrations full of beauty and colour.
FESTIVAL CAMP.
Part of the success of these celebrations is due to the festival camp. It is a large area where each of the 50 groups of Carthaginians and Romans decorates their own marquee, open to the public, to taste the most exquisite food and beverages of that time. This way the festival camp becomes a great citadel set in antiquity, where mercenaries from different origins, Iberian, Phoenician, Mastien, Carthaginian, Greek and Roman, art and symbolism are present in all the constructions. Nightlife at the festival camp bustles with activity and is full of life.
During the festival, a typical marketplace sets up next to the festival camp. It is a beautiful place where you can taste different products, tasty potions or buy exotic perfumes, and at the same time you can enjoy the roller coaster, witch’s train, crash cars…
The Troops and Legions plan many enjoyable activities in the camp and children can also enjoy the fun fair.
The main activities are:
- The first Friday: “Festival Inauguration” by the Mayor. From that day on, the camp and the fun fair are opened until early morning.
- On Saturday: “Founding Quart Hadasth Espectacle” in which Hannibal decides to swear eternal enmity to Rome.
- On Sunday: “Senate and Rome’s Day”. On that day is held six official acts.
- On Monday: “Wedding Spectacle from Hannibal and Himilce”.
- On Tuesday: “Oracle’s Spectacle” in Cartagonova Stadium.
- On Wednesday: “Roman Circus’ Spectacle” where people will be able to see the fights between gladiators and wild animals.
- On Thursday: The General Hannibal announces his arrival in Roma.
- On Friday: “Big Battle Spectacle” which finishes with Escipion’s victory in Quart Hadasth conquest.
- On Saturday: “Great Parade” where the Troops and Legions will march along the city.
- On Sunday: “Festival Closing” with fireworks throughout the Festival area and the camp.
Cartagena did not have carnival for over half a century because it was prohibited but later it resurged in 1981. Nowadays 5000 people of all ages grouped in “comparsas” and “chirigotas” participate in the carnival.
-comparsa.- It’s a group of people who dress up in identical costumes with spangles and feathers and that parade dancing their own choreography. In the carnival parade there are forty comparsa among children, adults and elderly people.
-chirigota.- It’s a group of people who write and sing their own songs and in their lyrics they make fun of politicians and famous people to denounce with sense of humour unjust social situations.
Seven chirigotas participate in the carnival. These chirigotas are different from those of Cadiz because they allow women to sing .
The main characters of the carnival are “Don Carnal” y “Doña Cuaresma”. The first represents the fiesta, madness and debauchery and the other one represents the time of fast that precedes Easter.
During the week of carnival there are different events from the election of the queens and ladies of different ages, contests of costumes, tasting of paella and typical cakes until the fireworks on the last Tuesday of carnival.
If you have enough time you can visit other villages near Cartagena, which you will enjoy, such as “Fiesta del Caldero” in los Alcázares in October and “Cante de la Minas” in La Unión in August.
In Summer we have a lot of festivities in villages near the beaches. Here you can see some parades, fireworks and some coaches. For example: “Fiestas del Carmen” in July and “Mercadillo Berberisco” in August. Furthermore you can taste our typical gastronomy full of a variety of dishes.
Tourism in Cartagena is bigger than before. Nowadays we can say that Cartagena is the most visited city in Murcia. 80% of the immigrants are foreign and the most of them arrive in Murcia and come to Cartagena, so this city is very important in order for tourism in Murcia to be bigger. Foreigners like visiting Cartagena especially in September when there is the “Cartagineses y Romanos” festival. They enjoy it a lot because they dance, drink and eat typical Spanish food.
TOURISTS IN CARTAGENA
A lot of tourists visit Cartagena every year in order to spend their holidays in our city. During “Cartagineses y Romanos”, Cartagena is full of people from other cities in Spain. This festival was declared a festival of National Tourist Interest and people who love History like it. However, if you go to the campamento at night, you will see young people dancing and drinking. Perhaps, they are not fond of History, but this festival offers a lot of possibilities like excursions, meetings, parades, parties…
In these two weeks, hotels are booked up and you must look for a place in advance to spend these days.
This happens in Carnival as well. However, there are more foreign people during September, because this festival is unique around the world.
The weather is warm almost all year, there is good food (Mediterranean diet), people are nice… for these and other reasons you should visit Cartagena.
MUSIC FESTIVALS
There are many music festivals in Cartagena during the year. Some of them are La mar de musicas, el cante de las minas, Festival de jazz, Mucho más Mayo, MU Danzas…
MU Danzas is not a really music festival, but it is a dance festival. The MuDanzas festival came about in 2001in this festival we can see contemporary dance.
There are a lot of kinds of spectacles. They take place in the “Nuevo Teatro Circo” that is a theatre and one of the most special things is that some performances are on the street among the passer-by’s.
Some of the most important companies that take part are Mario Molina, Dori Sanchez, Nat Nens, Trini Martinez… Sol Picó is one of the most famous dance companies that comes from Cataluña. Besides, it is very funny because you can take lessons from a professional dancer and they are free. Children can’t be bored because there are special spectacles for them.
The Cartagena Jazz Festival is held in the Teatro Circo theatre in Cartagena. This festival was born in 1980 and for two weeks it fills the city with the best traditional and avant-garde jazz in the world. Artists like Cassandra Wilson, Rufus Wainwring or Bill Evans have visited it lately. It will take place next month from 1st to 17th November. In this edition, musicians such as: Benjamin Biolay, Lloyd Cole, Gal Costa, Roberto Fonseca, Ron carter, Chick Corea, Bela Fleck, Niño Josele, Robin McKelle, Richard Galliano, Gary Burton and Dianne Reeves will take part.
MUCHO MAS MAYO FESTIVAL.
It’s a festival for young people which was born two years ago. It’s a variety festival in which many artists from different genre take part. There are lots of things for everybody: concerts, poetry, sculpture, performances, cinema, theatre, graffiti, new technologies, photography…
This is a moving festival. The activities are, carried out around different streets and areas of Cartagena. It has a flexible timetable, so all kinds of people can enjoy it.
SPORTS
There are lot’s of sporting activities and events in Cartagena
Diving in Cartagena
Cartagena is a wonderful place for people who like diving. Its coast offers numerous possibilities, from sandy places to rocky ones. Some zones are stunning like Cabo Tiñoso. There you can find very high cliffs that continue underwater to 50 meters in some points. Cabo de Palos-Islas Hormigas is a marine park; some experts say that in this place you can do one of the best dives in the Mediterranean (this is our opinion too); the protective laws have produced the sought aim: a place where Mediterranean sea life shows itself with splendour.
Inside the biggest salty lake in Europe, the Mar Menor, life is poor, but geological conditions have created a unique ecosystem; in this closed sea there was an important population of seahorses, famous in the World; however, human activity has been negative for these peculiar fish until the point that now it is extremely strange to find one specimen.
Kayaking in Cartagena
Kayaking is an aquatic sport that is growing continuously. Although most people reduce its practice to the summer period, the best time begins when summer finishes. The coast of Cartagena offers a diversity of landscapes that are able to satisfy the most exigent sport lovers. Here kayaking can be practiced most of the time thanks to the Mar Menor, a seawater lake that, although it is the biggest in its class in Europe, has reduced dimensions and, so, the conditions of the water are usually good when the practice of this sport is dangerous in the Mediterranean Sea. Other attractive properties of this coast are the presence of islands not far away from the coast; so, with a partner (for security), you can visit one of this island with the added adventure of travelling in the open sea and to land in a place where wildlife normally maintains itself better than on the continent.
Swimming
Swimming is an excellent form of exercise. Because the density of the human body is very similar to that of water, the body is supported by the water and less stress is therefore placed on joints and bones. Therefore, swimming is frequently used as an exercise in rehabilitation after injuries or for those with disabilities.
In Cartagena there aren’t a lot of people who practise swimming, in my case I love going swimming, and also I know two friends who go to Olympic championships. They have won a gold and a silver medal respectively.
Sailing
A sailboat or sailing ship moves forward because of the reaction to the inertia of moving air in its sails. Since the dawn of history this vital technology has afforded mankind greater mobility and capacity for fishing, trade and warfare. From moving the stones of the great pyramids from Aswan to Giza to allowing man to migrate throughout Polynesia to Nelson’s defeat of the French and Spanish navies at the Battle of Trafalgar, mankind’s history has been intertwined with this seemingly simple technology.
In Cartagena a lot of people practice this sport. There are several sailing schools. There are in Cartagena, Los nietos, La Manga, Los Urrutias…etc. This sport is very interesting and here it is easy to practise because of the Mar Menor. If you practise this sport you could compete in competitions and win a lot of money. Here there are a lot of competitions.
Windsurfing
Windsurfing is a surface water sport using a windsurf board, also commonly called a sailboard, usually two to five meters long and powered by a single sail. The rig is connected to the board by a free-rotating flexible joint called the Universal Joint (U-Joint). Unlike a rudder-steered sailboat, a windsurfer is steered by the tilting and rotating of the mast and sail as well as tilting and carving the board.
It is a difficult sport to practise in Cartagena, because here, there is little access to the sea and this sport needs a lot of water and a lot of wind, and here, there aren’t either of these things. It’s difficult but not impossible, you can do it in beaches like La Manga and Mazarron, but you won’t find it very cheap. For example, here I don’t know anybody who, normally, practises this sport but there are people who practise this sport as an activity on their holidays.
admin April 23rd, 2009
Being against nationalist or regionalist movements is somehow felt to be a rather conservative attitude towards the matter. Alfonso Allepuz opposes this view by, mainly, asking questions to himself… with no answer.
The positions of nationalism nowadays are undergoing radical changes and extremism has settled in to become the staple ingredient of their beliefs and thoughts.
The extremist stances of both the Basque Country and Catalonia, together with the not surprising growing regionalist concern that exists in some parts of the country, such as Andalusia, Aragon or the Canaries, claiming to attain higher degrees of independence, are one of the main streams in the Spanish political panorama. The question, however, is: to what extent is nationalism going beyond the boundaries of common sense? What is the privilege, or the true meaning of being a Catalan or a Basque? Are we all becoming insane? ´So many issues… So many questions´ as Bertolt Brecht once said (So viele Berichte, So viele Frage). Or one could perfectly quote Dylan, with his ironically rhetorical questions… or answers: The Answer is Blowing in the Wind.
The truth is that, however strange it may seem to be, the ´ideological dictatorships´ that exist in countries, such as the Basque or Catalonia are astonishingly conspicuous. The fact is that in these ´regions´ or – please, forgive me- countries, the government, the media together with the educational system are brainwashing the poor inhabitants of these densely populated areas. And, mind you, the origin of all these ideas is … in the ´fantastic´ word: revenge…hatred. Revenge that comes from the past, from something that happened especially in Franco’s times, and the ensuing hatred towards everything that sounds Spanish or brings to mind the word Spain has become now part and parcel of those places. Spain is the feared symbol of tyranny, of repression, of being anchored in the old times.
Whenever one of these politicians – to call them something nice- sees one of the previously mentioned tokens of dictatorship, they thrive on hatred. So, you wanted hatred… there you go, hatred. My question simply is: is hatred a positive value? Could we establish a parallelism between hatred and open-mindedness? If some of you can, you will be more than welcome to teach me. I am so ignorant…
To what extent is nationalism exceeding the limits of reason? The question remains there and I cannot avoid but finishing by referring once again to a poem by B. Brecht full of never-answering questions (Fragen eines lesenden Arbeiters – ´Questions of an Educated Worker´-)
So viele Berichte So many stories
So viele Frage So many questions…
and no answers.A.
Allepuz Ros
admin April 23rd, 2009
How peaceful is your life?
Was it any safer before the M-11?
Is it safer now?
How often do you think about politics? Are we used to living with fear? Terrorism fear?
March 11 brought to Spain, and to our lives, a new meaning to the word ‘TERRORISM’. Until that day our country had been banged many times in name of the terrorist group ETA, without any international attacks. Since that precise moment the ever growing threat of the war in Iraq was just a distant matter.
Our soldiers were there in order to keep the peace that North America, and especially the government of Mr Bush, wanted to establish by force, and though, it wasn’t precisely a very close thing, that tragic day “The Near East” was closer than ever. Suddenly everything changed, Madrid was in the depths of a nightmare, and all the Spaniards were taken in with impunity by Aznar’s government. How they dealt with the massacre was not a secret and the way they manipulated the information showed us a government that could not admit who the real authors of the attacks were, and that our implication in Iraq was the real cause. That lack of honesty sparked off the protests of the average citizen.
Our country leaders may have forgotten that in this century there are many ways of being informed apart from the Internet, mobile phones were the main key that young and older people used to know the truth and demonstrated against the politicians, the injustice and the barbarism of terrorist attacks, so in the imminent presidential elections the Spaniards decided to swap governments.
If we have a look at North America after September 11, the first objective of Mr Bush was, obviously, Ben Laden, but we all know the most wanted ringleader terrorist is still missing maybe he thought that the only way to distract our attention was by attacking an old enemy, here comes Sadam, ‘the long-frightening enemy of The States’.
Everybody knows how this story ends, Sadam was finally imprisoned, and the hypothetical peace came to the streets of the biggest oil producer. We could see how easy it is to invade a country without clear proofs and without the approval of the United Nations.
Of course the Spanish government supported from the beginning the idea of invading Iraq like something necessary for worldwide peace. We all were witness to this triple alliance between USA, Spain and Great Britain; consequently some people called them ‘The three Musketeers’.
It’d have been far better if they had intended to do things well and care about the people who voted for them or not, instead of taking the law into their hands. Is it a coincidence that Mr Bush decided to attack Iraq? And what about the oil? Just judge for yourself.
Mº Dolores Sánchez Martínez (5ºD)
admin April 23rd, 2009
I could hardly believe what was happening live on the screen behind the news presenter. A plane was just crashing into the south Twin Tower at that very moment. The presenter struggled to explain what she was unable to understand.
It was September 11, a date for history.
Thousands of people died, families were shattered and the whole nation shocked. How has the world changed after the terrible attacks on the World Trade Center and The Pentagon?
That day terrorism went global. After the disaster, a series of profound political changes took place. Governments all over the world condemned the savage aggression. The cooperation among countries against terrorism became a new task, a new purpose. International Police and Intelligence Services started to work together in order to fight terror. World citizens were aware of the problem too. Solidarity appeared worldwide.
Yet, as we all know, perhaps nowhere else on Earth more than in America is the arrogance and superiority complex (“the greatest country”) more visible. After the Afghanistan conflict, the Bush administration involved his nation in an illegal war against Iraq, based on the alleged existence of mass-destruction weapons and secret laboratories which were never found. Nowadays, thousands of soldiers have lost their lives in what, it could be said, is becoming another “Vietnam”. But as Mr Bush declared yesterday: “No nation in history has made the transition into a free society without facing challenges, setbacks and false starts.”
Besides, not only was The States hit by the Islamic violence, but also two allied European countries. On March 11 2004, Madrid was shaken by a number of coordinated bombing attacks where 191 people were killed. London had the same experience on July 7, 2004 when terrorists created carnage right in the centre of the city.
Another aspect which deserves particular mention is the idea of security measures. Airports and aeroplanes are thought to be safer than before. But remember, if you look Arabic, or pronounce forbidden words such as “bomb”, you could have real problems. Recently, a mentally retarded man was shot in spite of the cries of his desperate wife’s efforts o claim that her husband suffered from a mental illness.
In a nutshell, thousands of innocent people dead, two countries devastated, huge cultural clash between Arab and Western societies, growing racist feelings… How far can we go in the name of the ‘New World Order’, in the name of ‘Security’ and ‘Patriotism’? I wonder if the American response is being in proportion to the initial attacks and to what extent there could be economic interests underlying this war.
Mª José García Manzanares (5ºC)
