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#taking the implication that in order for marc to be whole he had to get rid of steven at the end on one ep
murdockmeta · 10 months
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thinking about moon knight having marc call steven the best superpower he's ever had during a really emotional moment and how that show handled DID better than just about any piece of media I've ever seen and. I'm sobbing actually. they equated his neurodivergence with being the greatest part of him after marc had spent so long trying to hide his DID out of shame. and maybe that sounds like bordering on glorification but it really wasn't. because they made it so obvious that what marc meant was that steven kept him ALIVE and that's the most he could ever ask for and anyway. whatever whatever it's fine
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fibula-rasa · 4 years
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12 Christmas Films of a Century Past
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For some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to watch somewhere around 50 Christmas and Christmas-adjacent silent films from before 1920 to put together a playlist for you all. So, I hope you enjoy!
I chose these twelve as a representative selection. My general criteria were:
Christmas should be central to the story
The plot should be novel to a modern viewer or something a modern viewer would be surprised to see so early on film
The list on the whole should have a variety of settings and narrative structures
Here’s a direct link to the YouTube playlist if you want to watch them all in one go. (They are all shorter than feature length!)
Two quick presentation notes: 1. Some of the videos have music and some don’t, so you may want to check your volume level. 2. The intertitles for some of these films are not in English, so be sure you have captions turned on for English translations.
See the whole list BELOW THE JUMP!
1. Santa Claus (1898) (UK)
Directed by George Albert Smith
Short and sweet, this film sees children put to bed by their nanny on Christmas Eve and Santa Claus coming down the chimbley to fill their dutifully hung stockings. Director G.A. Smith used his own patented technique of double exposure to show Santa’s arrival without cutting away from the children’s room. Santa Claus might not pack the punch of a Méliès trick film, but it’s a fun novelty and is purportedly the first appearance of Santa Claus on film.
2. The Little Match Seller (1902) (UK)
Directed by James Williamson
This one’s quick but effective adaptation of the Hans Christian Anderson tragedy featuring impressively well-coordinated superimpositions.
3. The Christmas Angel (1904) (FR)
Directed by George Méliès for Star Film Company
The Christmas Angel follows an impoverished girl driven into the city to beg on a snowy winter night. First she’s chased away from a church by more seasoned beggars; then she’s thrown out of a poultry seller and harassed by police. On the verge of falling asleep in the snow, a rag-and-bone man rouses her and offers her help. Later, the girl passes out beside a road but is luckily spotted by a wealthy couple on a car ride. When they learn of her plight, they bring her home along with food and gifts.
Though not as fantastical as some of Méliès’ more famous works, The Christmas Angel is still highly stylized (and stylish) and features special effects that photograph beautifully. It’s also worth noting that the version of the film included here is the American cut. The original French cut, titled Détresse et Charité (Distress and Charity), did not include the sequence with the wealthy couple and instead ends with the girl dying in the snow.
4. The Night Before Christmas (1905) (US)
Directed by Edwin S. Porter for Edison Manufacturing Company
This is the first time the poem “Twas the Night Before Christmas” was put on film. Loosely following the poem, we see Santa Claus prepare for his yearly trek while a middle-class family prepares for his visit. When Santa heads out, we are treated to an extended panning sequence with a fully painted backdrop for a mini Santa and his reindeer to glide across. When Santa arrives at the family home, he chaotically dumps presents and decorations around their living room and makes a large, decorated tree appear out of thin air. (Across many of the movies I watched to put this post together, this seems to be a favored scenario for the jolly fat man around this time–and it’s delightful.) The family then wakes to find their gifts and the film closes with Santa directly wishing us a Merry Christmas.
5. A Little Girl Who Did Not Believe in Santa Claus (1907) (US)
Directed by J. Searle Dawley and Edwin S. Porter for Edison Manufacturing Company
Even at the risk of this list being too Edison heavy, I couldn’t leave this great short out. While walking with his mother, a rich little boy encounters a poor little girl alone in the cold. They take her home to play and warm up. When the boy learns that the girl doesn’t believe in Santa because apparently Santa doesn’t visit poor children, he hatches a scheme. On Christmas Eve, the boy has a stake out near the fireplace and takes Santa hostage, tying him up and holding him at gunpoint. The boy then forces Santa to visit the girl–going so far as shimmying down the chimney himself to let Santa in the front door. When the girl wakes up to a beautifully decorated tree, new toys, and a full stocking, she can finally believe in Santa Claus. While I’m generally not so into stories about supposedly benevolent rich people, I do love the implications this story has on how Santa Claus works and I also find the means with which the boy gets his way hilarious.
6. Il Natale di Cretinetti / Foolshead’s Christmas (1909) (IT)
and Come fu che l’ingordigia rovino il Natale di Cretinetti / How Greediness Spoilt Foolshead’s Christmas (1910)
and Il Natale di Cretinetti (1911)
Directed by Andre Deed for Itala Film
This entry is a three-for, which I hope you’ll excuse, but I couldn’t decide which Cretinetti Christmas to share! Cretinetti, the comedic persona of filmmaker Andre Deed, is an absolute agent of chaos.
In the 1909 film, Cretinetti attempts to bring a tree home for a Christmas party. The destruction escalates wildly, culminating in an entire building falling to pieces.
If you can believe it, the stakes are even higher in the 1910 film, when Cretinetti can’t resist sneaking out of bed on Christmas Eve to snack on the candy decorating the tree. When Santa sees what Cretinetti has done, he chides him and takes him back to his workshop, which is apparently in heaven. Destruction ensues. Cretinetti then proceeds to cause havoc for Saint Peter, annoying god so much that he calls the devil to come get Cretinetti. Cretinetti is then chased to hell where demons try to cook him alive. Thankfully, spoiler alert, it was all a bad dream and he wakes up on Christmas morning with a terrible stomach ache.
The 1911 film returns to localized chaos. Cretinetti has a run-in with a mail carrier and his Christmas packages get mixed up with one of the carrier’s parcels. The parcel contains three bottles of ether which then begin to emit gasses in the middle of the family Christmas party.
I wasn’t familiar with Cretinetti before reviewing films for this list, but I’m definitely going to seek out more of Deed’s movies. Each of these films had well-executed chaotic slapstick; over-the-top in all the right ways.
7. Making Christmas Crackers (1910) (UK)
Produced by Cricks & Martin Films for Clarke, Nickolls, & Coombs Confectionery
To start, if you’re not sure what a Christmas cracker is, it’s a colorfully decorated paper tube that makes a cracking noise as you pull it open. Inside the tube is a paper hat, a joke, and/or a small toy. It’s a traditional part of UK Christmas celebrations.
This short starts as a documentary of the workers at Clarke, Nickolls, & Coombs constructing the crackers. It’s a fun thought that as early as 1910, people were interested in watching how mass-produced consumer goods were made. It’s also fun to see these skilled workers ply their trade so deftly (even though I’m sure wages and working conditions were less than ideal). The film ends with a family celebrating around a Christmas tree topped with a functional giant cracker.
8. A Christmas Carol (1910) (US)
Directed by J. Searle Dawley for Edison Films Manufacturing Company
There are so so so many film adaptations of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol made before 1920 that it was hard to choose which one to include on this list. In the end I chose this 1910 version for its economy of storytelling, fluid use of special effects, and for Marc McDermott’s great performance as Scrooge.
9. Broncho Billy’s Christmas Dinner (1911) (US)
Directed by Gilbert M. Anderson (Broncho Billy) for The Essanay Film Manufacturing Company
Gilbert M. Anderson was an incredibly prolific and popular filmmaker and star of early American film, particularly in his role as Broncho Billy. As was typical for Anderson, he’s pulling triple duty on Broncho Billy’s Christmas Dinner as the star, director, and producer. The film features a simple and heartwarming story.
On Christmas, Billy comes across a young woman in peril as her horses got startled and are now pulling her cart along wildly. Billy manages to wrangle the horses and in gratitude she invites him to Christmas dinner at her parents’ home. Unfortunately, her father happens to be the sheriff. But, all is well, as it turns out that Broncho Billy’s been given a pardon and the sheriff welcomes him to the table gladly.
The enduring appeal of outlaws or criminals getting into the Christmas spirit is fascinating to me and it’s cool to see such an early instance of the story!
10. Le Noel de la princesse / The Little Princess’s XMas Gift (1911) (FR)
Produced by Société Générale des Cinématographes Éclipse
In all honesty, this is the least Christmassy of all the films I included here, but its style and novelty stood out. The sets, costuming, and production design are lush. It might also be one of the weirdest Christmas stories I’ve even encountered.
After Lord Othberg passes away, the conniving Otto plans to assassinate the baby prince in order to inherit the lordship himself. He poisons the baby, but the princess prays for her baby brother to come back to life as her Christmas gift. An angel appears to her and they summon Jesus, who resurrects her baby brother. Of course, they then place the revivified baby in the castle’s nativity scene, to the joy of all but Otto.
11. Ida’s Christmas (1912) (US)
Directed by Van Dyke Brooke for Vitagraph Company of America
With a more classic Christmassy story, Ida’s Christmas tells us of a family who are facing hard times. Ida (played by a very small Dolores Costello) has her eyes on a pricey doll. Meanwhile, her mother seeks out employment with a wealthy family. The matriarch of the wealthy family overhears Ida’s wish and decides to buy the doll for her as a surprise. Later, Ida is distraught to find that the doll has been purchased but comes across a wallet that someone has dropped. She considers taking the money, but chases down the owner instead. The old man gives her some reward money for returning the wallet. Ida rushes to see if she can buy the doll, but has second thoughts when she thinks about how much her family could use the money. She arrives home with the money just in time for a Santa-esque old man to show up bearing packages and an assurance that the wealthy family has work for her father. The film ends with the family celebrating an unexpectedly Merry Christmas.
It’s a sweet story that hits so many beats of what we now consider traditional Christmas tales.
12. Rozhdestvo obitateley lesa / The Insect’s Christmas (1913) (RU)
Directed by Władysław Starewicz for Khanzhonkov
Fair warning, if you thought The Princess’s XMas Gift was odd, you might need to ready yourself for this one. Stop-motion virtuoso Władysław Starewicz (Ladislas Starevich) spins a tale about a tiny ornament of Santa/Ded Moroz coming to life on Christmas and going out into the wild to bring Christmas joy to creatures small and smaller, including a frog and a ladybug. Starewicz’s animation is as impeccable as ever and the short is imaginative and quirky.
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treatian · 3 years
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The Chronicles of the Dark One: Breaking the Curse
Chapter 34: Criminal Organizations
It was a perfect plan. A brilliant plan. But it was a double-frame job, and that made it a complex plan. He had to make it look like Mary Margaret was behind Kathryn Nolan's disappearance, on the surface, at least. But when it came right down to it, he had to make it something deeper. He intended to make Regina look like she was responsible for framing Mary Margaret. It was complex on the whole, but when he sat down to think it through it, piece by piece, it at least seemed much simpler. But still, expensive.
There was work to be done with this, work he couldn't be seen doing, work he couldn't actually do physically because he might be too slow, or it might arouse suspicions. So, he hired Dove's cousins, damn near all of Dove's cousins. It felt like every last one of them had a job to do or was reporting to him. Marc was already watching David. He'd put Stan on watching Emma Swan while Dove assisted him with Kathryn. He finally broke down and tasked another cousin to watch Mary Margaret and one to keep an eye on Regina from a distance and another for Sidney Glass, first because he wasn't going to make the mistake of underestimating him again and second because he had plans for him later. Hell, he'd even gotten Dove to put his old friend Will Scarlet on the payroll. He'd asked him to stick to his job at Granny's as a new dishwasher a little more reliably for a while. Everything happened at Granny's; he wanted eyes and ears there too. If any of them suspected what they were participating in, they didn't question it. It was expensive, but it would be worth it if he could pull this off with the desired results.
He employed two more to go to Regina Mill's residence, where he told them to retrieve a shovel. They'd returned with one that was large and bulky, probably not the right choice for a woman, but he'd work with what he had. When they returned, he sent them to Mary Margaret's apartment with a skeleton key he'd gotten "on loan" from Regina earlier in the day and a hunting knife he'd had in the back of his shop collecting dust since the beginning of the Curse. It was likely one of Graham's, from the other world, but he'd never claim it now. And because he'd already seen to any evidence it had ever been in his shop, no one would ever trace it to him either. "Use this to get into Mary Margaret's apartment," he explained, handing the key over, "and be sure to hide this," he wrapped the knife in a cloth and gave it over as well, "somewhere in the apartment that is neither too obvious nor too difficult to find. Remember to wear gloves and don't make a mess of things. Oh, and while you're there, I need you to steal something, preferably a box, preferably something old or stashed away in a closet that the girl isn't likely to notice it gone for a while. And on your way back, I need you to go see Sheri Lewis, the butcher..."
A few hours later, they'd done their job. Extremely well, if he had to say so himself. They'd returned from Mary Margaret's with an old jewelry box they claimed they found in the back of her closet buried under some clothes as if for safekeeping. And from Sheri Lewis, former warlord turned butcher, they returned with a sheep's heart. He fetched another hunting knife from his back room and made sure to cut just below all the places Lewis had cut the heart himself. It wouldn't be an exact match, but at least it was two hunting knives that appeared to make the cuts instead of a clean butcher's knife. Then, after cleaning the blade, he placed the heart inside the jewelry box himself then returned to the front of the store and the men who were waiting. He handed one of them the shovel along with the small piece of the shovel he'd broken off himself while they'd been at Mary Margaret's.
"Bury this-" he motioned to the metal fragment, "under this-" he handed him the box as well, "using this-" he explained, handing them the now broken shovel. "Bury it under the old toll bridge." The place that Marc had told him David would meet Mary Margaret when they were seeing each other. "Were seeing," past tense, since his spies reported they were on the outs since the affair went public. "When you are done with that shovel, kindly return it to Regina's home to the place you found it. And please, both of you, remember not to muddy the future crime scene with your fingerprints or other potential evidence," he muttered, glancing down at their shoes. "You only get paid if the right people are implicated."
Breaking and entering, murder weapon hidden, soon enough Kathryn would be secure and missing...but it still wouldn't be enough. He would need DNA. He was a lawyer; he knew that would be the clincher to doing this right. But he had plans for that to be fixed at a higher level. Dove had a cousin who worked in the hospital. When Dove went to pick up Kathryn, he was under orders to get some of her blood and leave it in the mailbox when he arrived at the safe house. Once everyone of his players were asleep, he'd send another cousin to pick it up and take it to the cousin who worked in the hospital and now for him. That cousin would make sure results matched when the time came. In the meantime, he resisted the urge to take notes on who was doing what or start making name tags for all Dove's cousins. It might help him keep things straight, but as of right now, none of this could be tied to him, and if he made a list like that...
"Is it done?" he questioned when he received a call from Dove just past one in the morning a couple of nights after he'd had his conversation with Regina. He was utterly exhausted already. He'd wanted everything done and set by the time this call arrived. He usually was in bed strictly by nine, ten at the latest, but he'd waited up just to hear from Dove that one of the last pieces had fallen into place.
"Yeah, just finished getting her in and settled…if you call banging against a soundproof door settled."
"Did she give you any trouble?"
"No. The car stopped just like you thought. How did you know that would happen?"
"I have my ways, Mr. Dove. Everything else went as planned?"
"Yeah, I blindfolded her, convinced her I had a gun, and got her into the car, then waited until after dark to get her into the house. Blood's in the mailbox. She actually cut herself before I grabbed her, so no harm, no foul there. She's in the basement now. I left her some books and cards to keep her entertained; hopefully, she'll notice when she calms down a bit. Why do you have a house like this?"
"The former tenant wanted to start a band and make a recording studio. When he failed to pay rent, I saw the benefit in keeping what he'd done. Make yourself comfortable, Mr. Dove, check-in and call me if you need something. I'll see your needs are met."
Getting Kathryn, like the rest of the plan, was easy enough. In talking to Regina, he'd learned that Kathryn had confessed to her weeks ago that she'd applied to law school in Boston. Boston…David's affair with Mary Margaret wasn't a strong relationship, nor was his relationship with Kathryn. A little pressure and everything was sure to begin to crack. And with just the right pressure, then Kathryn would get herself to the perfect place to disappear for a while…the town line. Either she'd get there alone, and he could go through with his plan. Or David would go with her, and Mary Margaret would be devastated. One way, and he'd be happy, another and Regina would be. It was a careful bet. But it had paid off. The affair became public knowledge yesterday. Will Scarlet had reported that to Dove, who had let him know that the relationship seemed to be over. Tonight, he wasn't surprised that Kathryn had gone alone. Or attempted to, at least.
He was exhausted, sorely in need of a good night's sleep after all of this, but he wasn't done yet. This weekend was Miner's Day, a town holiday, and the morning after Dove took Kathryn, as the town prepared for a weekend of festivities, he realized that he had one more visit to pay. Regina was taken care of, and Mary Margaret was taken care of…now he had to handle the third person in this trio…Emma Swan.
Yes, he wanted Regina to think he was working for her, and yes, he wanted to let her think she was close to getting everything she'd ever wanted…again. But then he needed Emma to take it all away. Emma was the key; the wild card he needed to be sure was tamed. After what he'd done, in a normal police precinct, Mary Margaret would go to jail for life, without question, because there would be no reason for the police to look deeper into it. But in Storybrooke, Emma Swan was the sheriff, and even if Regina had forgotten who the enemy was, he suspected that Emma would not. With everything pointing to her good friend Mary Margaret she'd investigate, she'd leave no stone unturned. She'd be determined to look deeper and prove it wasn't her. What would she find? Regina. Not Mary Margaret, but Regina. He was paying good money for that.
But it wasn't enough. He needed to be certain that along with Regina's guilt and Mary Margaret's innocence, she discovered something else. Motive. It was time. All his visions in the Enchanted Forest had always been clear. Emma needed to face off Regina. If it wouldn't happen naturally, then he'd kill two birds with one stone and orchestrate the damn thing himself. In the midst of all this, he needed Emma to ask questions, and he needed her to think. Why would the Mayor of Storybrooke hate a simple schoolteacher so much that she was willing to frame her? Why would she murder someone just to put Mary Margaret in jail? Why would she care so much?
Those were difficult questions that required a difficult answer, but the time had come to give her something to believe in that went beyond what she could see. And how would he do that? Well…there was one step in his plan that he was most worried about, one step that he didn't want to leave up to fate. Mary Margaret running away. He had a plan for that, but unfortunately, he needed someone to help him, and he was fresh out of cronies. Fortunately, he knew someone he might be able to convince, someone who used to work for him, someone who hadn't wanted to see him again but wouldn't remember that in this world.
"Mr. Jefferson," he smiled when his old associate answered the door. He stepped forward to offer his hand in a friendly shake. "I don't believe we've met, I'm-"
"Rumpelstiltskin…what took you so long?"
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Why Are So Many Black Ladies Single, Half 1
Why Are So Many Black Ladies Single, Half 1
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flauntpage · 6 years
Text
'Barça is More Than a Club'
Alex and Sílvia are good friends. Born in the same year, they have known each other for more than two decades: they went together to the same school in a small town near Barcelona, and they went on to be university classmates in the Catalan capital afterwards.
Alex and Sílvia also share a big passion: they are die-hard FC Barcelona fans.
On the outside they seem really alike, but nothing could be further from the truth. Alex and Sílvia are really different…especially in everything related to politics.
"Estelada" flags, symbols of the independence movement, are usual in balconies in Barcelona.
On Sílvia’s balcony there is a huge Catalan flag with a white star on a blue triangle: it is the "estelada," a symbol which identifies the independence movement in Catalonia.
In the election held on December 21 in this region of Northeastern Spain, Sílvia voted for the center-right secessionist party Junts per Catalunya. In the vote, pro-independence parties won by a narrow margin over unionists.
On Alex’s balcony, however, there are no flags at all. In the elections, he decided to vote for Catalunya en Comú, a left-wing party which preferred to focus their campaign on social issues rather than positioning on independence.
"Caganers"—literally meaning "guy taking a shit"— are an an awkward traditional Catalan figure used in Christimas nativity scenes, wearing Barça jerseys.
Alex and Sílvia’s political ideology, as usual in Catalonia, has an echo in sports. Alex belongs to a sector of blaugrana fans whose motto is ‘only Barça.’ For them, the club is nothing more than a football team that carries no political significance. When he goes to Camp Nou, Alex’s chants simply cheer the players. Nothing else.
“I go to Camp Nou to enjoy football. That’s it,” says Alex. “In my opinion, when you go to the stadium you have to leave politics at home.”
FC Barcelona flags —as well as official shorts from different seasons—at the Peña Barcelonista Sant Antoni, a fanclub located in central Barcelona.
Sílvia, however, believes that Barça is bigger than sports.
“Narcís de Carreres, a former president, described it very well: Barça is more than a club,” Sílvia says, referring to the famous blaugrana motto "més que un club."
Every time Sílvia goes to the stadium, she wears yellow clothes, a reference to jailed pro-independence politicians and activists. She also shouts in favor of independence every game at the 17:14 minute: 1714 was the year Barcelona fell into the hands of Bourbon troops during the War of Spanish Succession.
“Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, a famous Catalan writer, described Barça as the unarmed army of Catalonia,” Sílvia adds. “I believe that this sentence defines the club really well.”
Barça fans watch the Clásico between Madrid and Barcelona at the at the Peña Barcelonista Sant Antoni.
Alex and Sílvia exemplify two visions of a club which has as many faces and interpretations as fans.
Marc Duch is president of Manifest Blaugrana, an association of members whose objective is to build a more democratic and transparent FC Barcelona.
“What is Barça, you say?,” asks Duch. “I would say it depends on the time: for me, it has been a hobby, an untamable passion, an example to imitate, an absolute shame…and much more.”
“This game is just life for me,” says Ángel, a die-hard Barça fan. “We wait for Barça-Madrid all year long: winning at the Bernabéu stadium is the best thing that can happen. The country’s current situation increases this rivalry, which is goes way further than just sport: it comes from many years ago, and now it’s even tougher. Without a Catalan team, the Spanish league would go down the drain.”
“Barça is an institution with the ability to mobilize hundreds of thousands of people, and that’s why we should demand it to have a proactive role in the social and human improvement of the country,” Duch adds. “That is where, at least partially, the motto ‘more than a club’ comes from.”
"FC Barcelona is the representation of a country, of a feeling.”
Marc Cornet takes this idea even further. On October 1, the Catalan regional government tried to organize a referendum on independence: the Spanish government considered it illegal and sent the police to repress it…violently. After the referendum, Cornet thought it was absolutely necessary for Barça to get more involved in social matters, and that is why, with other club members, he founded the Barça Republic Defense Committee—CDR, in Catalan.
“This game is much more than just sports,” says Cristian. “It’s a representation of the Catalonia versus Spain clash.”
“Our club has always been a symbol of anti-authoritarian resistance,” Cornet explains. “During the twenties, dictator Miguel Primo de Rivera closed our stadium because some fans whistled while the Spanish anthem was played; in 1936, our president Josep Sunyol was killed for being a Republican Catalanist; after the Civil War, the fascists took out the Catalan flag from our crest.”
“We don’t ask Barça to be openly independentist,” Cornet adds. “But we want it to be always on the side of civil rights, and that’s why we founded the CDR: we don’t want any other October the 1st, ever.”
“For us die-hard fans, Barça is our life,” says Jordi, who has followed the blaugrana team for decades. “Beating Madrid is important, but all games are important. Being a Barça fan means being part of something bigger, of some kind of huge family.”
The partisan positions of Duch and Cornet are pretty common among the Catalan culers—that is, Barça fans—but they’re not the only positions. Recently, the fanclub of Elda, near Alicante in Eastern Spain, publicly announced their decoupling from Barça as a reaction to the club’s decisions on October 1 to play their La Liga game behind closed doors as a means to protest against police violence.
An Elda fanclub spokesperson declared to local media that their members had “unanimously” decided to end their relationship with Barça “due to the implication of the club and its leaders in the events that took place in Catalonia.”
“Barça-Madrid is the best game of the season,” says Víctor, barman at the Penya Barcelonista Sant Antoni. “But that’s it. It’s just a football game, nothing more.”
Other public figures such as the former Spanish international Julio Alberto Moreno, who played in FC Barcelona in the eighties, have also shown their disapproval of the club’s management: “The board has been chosen to rule a football club, not a political party,” Moreno said to the Spanish TV channel Antena 3.
“The independence process has destroyed much of the confidence between different social sectors and has caused a clear crack within Catalan society," says Berta Barbet, a political scientist at the University of Barcelona.
“It has also caused a political deadlock in the whole of Spain and has affected many important institutions in Catalonia—including Barça, of course,” Barbet adds.
“Beating Madrid is beating the number 1 enemy,” says David. “Unfortunately, there’s more than football in this game.”
“Still, Barça can still be a key factor in order to fix this division: given its relevance, it could become a positive reference and generate a feeling of union between people who support independence and people who don't,” Barbet suggests.
Jordi Fexas, geographist, historian and writer of several books on the independence movement, disagrees with Barbet’s diagnosis: “The independence process had no negative effects until the Spanish government intervened,” he says.
“Barça is a key part of my life,” says Marta. “It’s not just football. FC Barcelona is the representation of a country, of a feeling.”
“It’s the Spanish State who created the concept of ‘social crack,’” Fexas adds. Independence activists might be naive sometimes, but they have never been violent. It was the State who tried to build the idea of latent violence in order to justify their intervention. Given this repressive context, Barça might act as a soft power to mediate.”
Alex and Sílvia, like most Catalans, are deeply invested in the political events surrounding the Catalan independence movement. The independence debate has been at the center of Spanish politics for almost a decade. Many people are getting exhausted by it.
“The Clásico against Madrid is emotional. It’s really difficult to explain,” says Juan. “There’s a huge rivalry, and winning it is great, because everybody has some friends who are Madrid fans and whom you can laugh at when you beat them. I know the game may also have a political sense for some people, but for me it’s just sport: my family are from Galicia and Andalusia, and I have many friends in Madrid, so for me it’s just football.”
Barça’s convincing victory over Real Madrid at Santiago Bernabéu was seen by many fans as a pause, a little measure of happiness in tense times. For some hours, all culers agreed on celebrating Suárez, Messi, and Vidal’s goals at the eternal rival’s stadium.
“The Barça anthem says it all: ‘una bandera ens agermana,’—‘a flag unites us all’”—says Sílvia. “That is precisely what Barça is able to do: unite.”
Alex sums it up quickly: “In the end, everything is quite simple: we might think differently in political terms, but our love for Barça is the same,"
Barça fans celebrate a goal against Madrid at the Penya Barcelonista Sant Antoni.
'Barça is More Than a Club' published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv
0 notes
Text
‘Barça is More Than a Club’
Alex and Sílvia are good friends. Born in the same year, they have known each other for more than two decades: they went together to the same school in a small town near Barcelona, and they went on to be university classmates in the Catalan capital afterwards.
Alex and Sílvia also share a big passion: they are die-hard FC Barcelona fans.
On the outside they seem really alike, but nothing could be further from the truth. Alex and Sílvia are really different… especially in everything related to politics.
‘Estelada’ flags, symbols of the independence movement, are usual in balconies in Barcelona.
On Sílvia’s balcony there is a huge Catalan flag with a white star on a blue triangle: it is the ‘estelada’, a symbol which identifies the independence movement in Catalonia.
In the election held on December 21 in this region of Northeastern Spain, Sílvia voted for the center-right secessionist party Junts per Catalunya. In the vote, pro-independence parties won by a narrow margin over unionists.
On Alex’s balcony, however, there are no flags at all. In the elections, he decided to vote for Catalunya en Comú, a left-wing party which preferred to focus their campaign on social issues rather than positioning on independence.
Caganers’ —literally meaning ‘guy taking a shit’— are an an awkward traditional Catalan figure used in Christimas nativity scenes, wearing Barça jerseys.
Alex and Sílvia’s political ideology, as usual in Catalonia, has an echo in sports. Alex belongs to a sector of blaugrana fans whose motto is ‘only Barça.’ For them, the club is nothing more than a football team with no political significance. When he goes to Camp Nou, Alex’s chants simply cheer the players. Nothing else.
“I go to Camp Nou to enjoy football. That’s it”, says Alex. “In my opinion, when you go to the stadium you have to leave politics at home”.
FC Barcelona flags —as well as official shorts from different seasons— at the Peña Barcelonista Sant Antoni, a fanclub located in central Barcelona.
Sílvia, however, believes that Barça is bigger than sports.
“Narcís de Carreres, a former president, described it very well: Barça is more than a club”, Sílvia says, referring to the famous blaugrana motto ‘més que un club’.
Every time Sílvia goes to the stadium, she wears yellow clothes, a reference to jailed pro-independence politicians and activists. She also shouts in favour of independence every game at the 17:14 minute: 1714 was the year Barcelona fell into the hands of Bourbon troops during the War of Spanish Succession.
“Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, a famous Catalan writer, described Barça as the unarmed army of Catalonia”, Sílvia adds. “I believe that this sentence defines the club really well”.
Barça fans watch the Clásico between Madrid and Barcelona at the at the Peña Barcelonista Sant Antoni.
Alex and Sílvia exemplify two visions of a club which has as many faces and interpretations as fans.
Marc Duch is president of Manifest Blaugrana, an association of members whose objective is to build a more democratic and transparent FC Barcelona.
“What is Barça, you say?”, asks Duch. “I would say it depends on the time: for me, it has been a hobby, an untamable passion, an example to imitate, an absolute shame… and much more.”.
“This game is just life for me”, says Ángel, a die-hard Barça fan. “We wait for Barça-Madrid all year long: winning at the Bernabéu stadium is the best thing that can happen. The country’s current situation increases this rivalry, which is goes way further than just sport: it comes from many years ago, and now it’s even tougher. Without a Catalan team, the Spanish league would go down the drain”.
“Barça is an institution with the ability to mobilize hundreds of thousands of people, and that’s why we should demand it to have a proactive role in the social and human improvement of the country,” Duch adds. “That is where, at least partially, the motto ‘ more than a club’ comes from.”
Marc Cornet takes this idea even further. On October 1, the Catalan regional government tried to organize a referendum on independence: the Spanish government considered it illegal and sent the police to repress it… violently. After the referendum, Cornet thought it was absolutely necessary for Barça to get more involved in social matters, and that is why, with other club members, he founded the Barça Republic Defence Committee —CDR, in Catalan.
“This game is much more than just sports”, says Cristian. “It’s a representation of the Catalonia versus Spain clash”.
“Our club has always been a symbol of anti-authoritarian resistance,” Cornet explains. “During the twenties, dictator Miguel Primo de Rivera closed our stadium because some fans whistled while the Spanish anthem was played; in 1936, our president Josep Sunyol was killed for being a Republican Catalanist; after the Civil War, the fascists took out the Catalan flag from our crest”.
“We don’t ask Barça to be openly independentist,” Cornet adds. “But we want it to be always on the side of civil rights, and that’s why we founded the CDR: we don’t want any other October the 1st, ever.”
“For us die-hard fans, Barça is our life”, says Jordi, who has followed the blaugrana team for decades. “Beating Madrid is important, but all games are important. Being a Barça fan means being part of something bigger, of some kind of huge family”.
The partisan positions of Duch and Cornet are pretty common among the Catalan culers—that is, Barça fans—but they’re not the only positions. Recently, the fanclub of Elda, near Alicante in Eastern Spain, publicly announced their decoupling from Barça as a reaction to the club’s decisions on October 1 to play their La Liga game behind closed doors as a means to protest against police violence.
An Elda fanclub spokesperson declared to local media that their members had “unanimously” decided to end their relationship with Barça “due to the implication of the club and its leaders in the events that took place in Catalonia.”
“Barça-Madrid is the best game of the season”, says Víctor, barman at the Penya Barcelonista Sant Antoni. “But that’s it. It’s just a football game, nothing more”.
Other public figures such as the former Spanish international Julio Alberto Moreno, who played in FC Barcelona in the eighties, have also shown their disapproval of the club’s management: “The board has been chosen to rule a football club, not a political party,” Moreno said to the Spanish TV channel Antena 3.
“The independence process has destroyed much of the confidence between different social sectors and has caused a clear crack within Catalan society, says Berta Barbet, a political scientist at the University of Barcelona.
“It has also caused a political deadlock in the whole of Spain and has affected many important institutions in Catalonia —including Barça, of course,” Barbet adds.
“Beating Madrid is beating the number 1 enemy”, says David. “Unfortunately, there’s more than football in this game”.
“Still, Barça can still be a key factor in order to fix this division: given its relevance, it could become a positive reference and generate a feeling of union between people who support independence and people who don’t,” Barbet suggests.
Jordi Fexas, geographist, historian and writer of several books on the independence movement, disagrees with Barbet’s diagnosis: “The independence process had no negative effects until the Spanish government intervened,” he says.
“Barça is a key part of my life,” says Marta. “It’s not just football. FC Barcelona is the representation of a country, of a feeling.”
“It’s the Spanish State who created the concept of ‘social crack,’” Fexas adds. IIndependence activists might be naive sometimes, but they have never been violent. It was the State who tried to build the idea of latent violence in order to justify their intervention. Given this repressive context, Barça might act as a soft power to mediate.”
Alex and Sílvia, like most Catalans, are deeply invested in the political events surrounding the Catalan independence movement. The independence debate has been at the center of Spanish politics for almost a decade. Many people are getting exhausted of it.
“The Clásico against Madrid is emotional. It’s really difficult to explain,” says Juan. “There’s a huge rivalry, and winning it is great, because everybody has some friends who are Madrid fans and whom you can laugh at when you beat them. I know the game may also have a political sense for some people, but for me it’s just sport: my family are from Galicia and Andalusia, and I have many friends in Madrid, so for me it’s just football.”
Barça’s convincing victory over Real Madrid at Santiago Bernabéu was seen by many fans as a pause, a little measure of happiness in tense times. For some hours, all culers agreed on celebrating Suárez, Messi and Vidal’s goals at the eternal rival’s stadium.
“The Barça anthem says it all: ‘una bandera ens agermana’, ‘a flag unites us all,’” says Sílvia. “That is precisely what Barça is able to do: unite.”
Alex sums it up quickly: “In the end, everything is quite simple: we might think differently in political terms, but our love for Barça is the same,”
Barça fans celebrate a goal against Madrid at the Penya Barcelonista Sant Antoni.
‘Barça is More Than a Club’ syndicated from http://ift.tt/2ug2Ns6
0 notes
flauntpage · 6 years
Text
'Barça is More Than a Club'
Alex and Sílvia are good friends. Born in the same year, they have known each other for more than two decades: they went together to the same school in a small town near Barcelona, and they went on to be university classmates in the Catalan capital afterwards.
Alex and Sílvia also share a big passion: they are die-hard FC Barcelona fans.
On the outside they seem really alike, but nothing could be further from the truth. Alex and Sílvia are really different…especially in everything related to politics.
"Estelada" flags, symbols of the independence movement, are usual in balconies in Barcelona.
On Sílvia’s balcony there is a huge Catalan flag with a white star on a blue triangle: it is the "estelada," a symbol which identifies the independence movement in Catalonia.
In the election held on December 21 in this region of Northeastern Spain, Sílvia voted for the center-right secessionist party Junts per Catalunya. In the vote, pro-independence parties won by a narrow margin over unionists.
On Alex’s balcony, however, there are no flags at all. In the elections, he decided to vote for Catalunya en Comú, a left-wing party which preferred to focus their campaign on social issues rather than positioning on independence.
"Caganers"—literally meaning "guy taking a shit"— are an an awkward traditional Catalan figure used in Christimas nativity scenes, wearing Barça jerseys.
Alex and Sílvia’s political ideology, as usual in Catalonia, has an echo in sports. Alex belongs to a sector of blaugrana fans whose motto is ‘only Barça.’ For them, the club is nothing more than a football team that carries no political significance. When he goes to Camp Nou, Alex’s chants simply cheer the players. Nothing else.
“I go to Camp Nou to enjoy football. That’s it,” says Alex. “In my opinion, when you go to the stadium you have to leave politics at home.”
FC Barcelona flags —as well as official shorts from different seasons—at the Peña Barcelonista Sant Antoni, a fanclub located in central Barcelona.
Sílvia, however, believes that Barça is bigger than sports.
“Narcís de Carreres, a former president, described it very well: Barça is more than a club,” Sílvia says, referring to the famous blaugrana motto "més que un club."
Every time Sílvia goes to the stadium, she wears yellow clothes, a reference to jailed pro-independence politicians and activists. She also shouts in favor of independence every game at the 17:14 minute: 1714 was the year Barcelona fell into the hands of Bourbon troops during the War of Spanish Succession.
“Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, a famous Catalan writer, described Barça as the unarmed army of Catalonia,” Sílvia adds. “I believe that this sentence defines the club really well.”
Barça fans watch the Clásico between Madrid and Barcelona at the at the Peña Barcelonista Sant Antoni.
Alex and Sílvia exemplify two visions of a club which has as many faces and interpretations as fans.
Marc Duch is president of Manifest Blaugrana, an association of members whose objective is to build a more democratic and transparent FC Barcelona.
“What is Barça, you say?,” asks Duch. “I would say it depends on the time: for me, it has been a hobby, an untamable passion, an example to imitate, an absolute shame…and much more.”
“This game is just life for me,” says Ángel, a die-hard Barça fan. “We wait for Barça-Madrid all year long: winning at the Bernabéu stadium is the best thing that can happen. The country’s current situation increases this rivalry, which is goes way further than just sport: it comes from many years ago, and now it’s even tougher. Without a Catalan team, the Spanish league would go down the drain.”
“Barça is an institution with the ability to mobilize hundreds of thousands of people, and that’s why we should demand it to have a proactive role in the social and human improvement of the country,” Duch adds. “That is where, at least partially, the motto ‘more than a club’ comes from.”
"FC Barcelona is the representation of a country, of a feeling.”
Marc Cornet takes this idea even further. On October 1, the Catalan regional government tried to organize a referendum on independence: the Spanish government considered it illegal and sent the police to repress it…violently. After the referendum, Cornet thought it was absolutely necessary for Barça to get more involved in social matters, and that is why, with other club members, he founded the Barça Republic Defense Committee—CDR, in Catalan.
“This game is much more than just sports,” says Cristian. “It’s a representation of the Catalonia versus Spain clash.”
“Our club has always been a symbol of anti-authoritarian resistance,” Cornet explains. “During the twenties, dictator Miguel Primo de Rivera closed our stadium because some fans whistled while the Spanish anthem was played; in 1936, our president Josep Sunyol was killed for being a Republican Catalanist; after the Civil War, the fascists took out the Catalan flag from our crest.”
“We don’t ask Barça to be openly independentist,” Cornet adds. “But we want it to be always on the side of civil rights, and that’s why we founded the CDR: we don’t want any other October the 1st, ever.”
“For us die-hard fans, Barça is our life,” says Jordi, who has followed the blaugrana team for decades. “Beating Madrid is important, but all games are important. Being a Barça fan means being part of something bigger, of some kind of huge family.”
The partisan positions of Duch and Cornet are pretty common among the Catalan culers—that is, Barça fans��but they’re not the only positions. Recently, the fanclub of Elda, near Alicante in Eastern Spain, publicly announced their decoupling from Barça as a reaction to the club’s decisions on October 1 to play their La Liga game behind closed doors as a means to protest against police violence.
An Elda fanclub spokesperson declared to local media that their members had “unanimously” decided to end their relationship with Barça “due to the implication of the club and its leaders in the events that took place in Catalonia.”
“Barça-Madrid is the best game of the season,” says Víctor, barman at the Penya Barcelonista Sant Antoni. “But that’s it. It’s just a football game, nothing more.”
Other public figures such as the former Spanish international Julio Alberto Moreno, who played in FC Barcelona in the eighties, have also shown their disapproval of the club’s management: “The board has been chosen to rule a football club, not a political party,” Moreno said to the Spanish TV channel Antena 3.
“The independence process has destroyed much of the confidence between different social sectors and has caused a clear crack within Catalan society," says Berta Barbet, a political scientist at the University of Barcelona.
“It has also caused a political deadlock in the whole of Spain and has affected many important institutions in Catalonia—including Barça, of course,” Barbet adds.
“Beating Madrid is beating the number 1 enemy,” says David. “Unfortunately, there’s more than football in this game.”
“Still, Barça can still be a key factor in order to fix this division: given its relevance, it could become a positive reference and generate a feeling of union between people who support independence and people who don't,” Barbet suggests.
Jordi Fexas, geographist, historian and writer of several books on the independence movement, disagrees with Barbet’s diagnosis: “The independence process had no negative effects until the Spanish government intervened,” he says.
“Barça is a key part of my life,” says Marta. “It’s not just football. FC Barcelona is the representation of a country, of a feeling.”
“It’s the Spanish State who created the concept of ‘social crack,’” Fexas adds. Independence activists might be naive sometimes, but they have never been violent. It was the State who tried to build the idea of latent violence in order to justify their intervention. Given this repressive context, Barça might act as a soft power to mediate.”
Alex and Sílvia, like most Catalans, are deeply invested in the political events surrounding the Catalan independence movement. The independence debate has been at the center of Spanish politics for almost a decade. Many people are getting exhausted by it.
“The Clásico against Madrid is emotional. It’s really difficult to explain,” says Juan. “There’s a huge rivalry, and winning it is great, because everybody has some friends who are Madrid fans and whom you can laugh at when you beat them. I know the game may also have a political sense for some people, but for me it’s just sport: my family are from Galicia and Andalusia, and I have many friends in Madrid, so for me it’s just football.”
Barça’s convincing victory over Real Madrid at Santiago Bernabéu was seen by many fans as a pause, a little measure of happiness in tense times. For some hours, all culers agreed on celebrating Suárez, Messi, and Vidal’s goals at the eternal rival’s stadium.
“The Barça anthem says it all: ‘una bandera ens agermana,’—‘a flag unites us all’”—says Sílvia. “That is precisely what Barça is able to do: unite.”
Alex sums it up quickly: “In the end, everything is quite simple: we might think differently in political terms, but our love for Barça is the same,"
Barça fans celebrate a goal against Madrid at the Penya Barcelonista Sant Antoni.
'Barça is More Than a Club' published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv
0 notes
flauntpage · 6 years
Text
'Barça is More Than a Club'
Alex and Sílvia are good friends. Born in the same year, they have known each other for more than two decades: they went together to the same school in a small town near Barcelona, and they went on to be university classmates in the Catalan capital afterwards.
Alex and Sílvia also share a big passion: they are die-hard FC Barcelona fans.
On the outside they seem really alike, but nothing could be further from the truth. Alex and Sílvia are really different…especially in everything related to politics.
"Estelada" flags, symbols of the independence movement, are usual in balconies in Barcelona.
On Sílvia’s balcony there is a huge Catalan flag with a white star on a blue triangle: it is the "estelada," a symbol which identifies the independence movement in Catalonia.
In the election held on December 21 in this region of Northeastern Spain, Sílvia voted for the center-right secessionist party Junts per Catalunya. In the vote, pro-independence parties won by a narrow margin over unionists.
On Alex’s balcony, however, there are no flags at all. In the elections, he decided to vote for Catalunya en Comú, a left-wing party which preferred to focus their campaign on social issues rather than positioning on independence.
"Caganers"—literally meaning "guy taking a shit"— are an an awkward traditional Catalan figure used in Christimas nativity scenes, wearing Barça jerseys.
Alex and Sílvia’s political ideology, as usual in Catalonia, has an echo in sports. Alex belongs to a sector of blaugrana fans whose motto is ‘only Barça.’ For them, the club is nothing more than a football team that carries no political significance. When he goes to Camp Nou, Alex’s chants simply cheer the players. Nothing else.
“I go to Camp Nou to enjoy football. That’s it,” says Alex. “In my opinion, when you go to the stadium you have to leave politics at home.”
FC Barcelona flags —as well as official shorts from different seasons—at the Peña Barcelonista Sant Antoni, a fanclub located in central Barcelona.
Sílvia, however, believes that Barça is bigger than sports.
“Narcís de Carreres, a former president, described it very well: Barça is more than a club,” Sílvia says, referring to the famous blaugrana motto "més que un club."
Every time Sílvia goes to the stadium, she wears yellow clothes, a reference to jailed pro-independence politicians and activists. She also shouts in favor of independence every game at the 17:14 minute: 1714 was the year Barcelona fell into the hands of Bourbon troops during the War of Spanish Succession.
“Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, a famous Catalan writer, described Barça as the unarmed army of Catalonia,” Sílvia adds. “I believe that this sentence defines the club really well.”
Barça fans watch the Clásico between Madrid and Barcelona at the at the Peña Barcelonista Sant Antoni.
Alex and Sílvia exemplify two visions of a club which has as many faces and interpretations as fans.
Marc Duch is president of Manifest Blaugrana, an association of members whose objective is to build a more democratic and transparent FC Barcelona.
“What is Barça, you say?,” asks Duch. “I would say it depends on the time: for me, it has been a hobby, an untamable passion, an example to imitate, an absolute shame…and much more.”
“This game is just life for me,” says Ángel, a die-hard Barça fan. “We wait for Barça-Madrid all year long: winning at the Bernabéu stadium is the best thing that can happen. The country’s current situation increases this rivalry, which is goes way further than just sport: it comes from many years ago, and now it’s even tougher. Without a Catalan team, the Spanish league would go down the drain.”
“Barça is an institution with the ability to mobilize hundreds of thousands of people, and that’s why we should demand it to have a proactive role in the social and human improvement of the country,” Duch adds. “That is where, at least partially, the motto ‘more than a club’ comes from.”
"FC Barcelona is the representation of a country, of a feeling.”
Marc Cornet takes this idea even further. On October 1, the Catalan regional government tried to organize a referendum on independence: the Spanish government considered it illegal and sent the police to repress it…violently. After the referendum, Cornet thought it was absolutely necessary for Barça to get more involved in social matters, and that is why, with other club members, he founded the Barça Republic Defense Committee—CDR, in Catalan.
“This game is much more than just sports,” says Cristian. “It’s a representation of the Catalonia versus Spain clash.”
“Our club has always been a symbol of anti-authoritarian resistance,” Cornet explains. “During the twenties, dictator Miguel Primo de Rivera closed our stadium because some fans whistled while the Spanish anthem was played; in 1936, our president Josep Sunyol was killed for being a Republican Catalanist; after the Civil War, the fascists took out the Catalan flag from our crest.”
“We don’t ask Barça to be openly independentist,” Cornet adds. “But we want it to be always on the side of civil rights, and that’s why we founded the CDR: we don’t want any other October the 1st, ever.”
“For us die-hard fans, Barça is our life,” says Jordi, who has followed the blaugrana team for decades. “Beating Madrid is important, but all games are important. Being a Barça fan means being part of something bigger, of some kind of huge family.”
The partisan positions of Duch and Cornet are pretty common among the Catalan culers—that is, Barça fans—but they’re not the only positions. Recently, the fanclub of Elda, near Alicante in Eastern Spain, publicly announced their decoupling from Barça as a reaction to the club’s decisions on October 1 to play their La Liga game behind closed doors as a means to protest against police violence.
An Elda fanclub spokesperson declared to local media that their members had “unanimously” decided to end their relationship with Barça “due to the implication of the club and its leaders in the events that took place in Catalonia.”
“Barça-Madrid is the best game of the season,” says Víctor, barman at the Penya Barcelonista Sant Antoni. “But that’s it. It’s just a football game, nothing more.”
Other public figures such as the former Spanish international Julio Alberto Moreno, who played in FC Barcelona in the eighties, have also shown their disapproval of the club’s management: “The board has been chosen to rule a football club, not a political party,” Moreno said to the Spanish TV channel Antena 3.
“The independence process has destroyed much of the confidence between different social sectors and has caused a clear crack within Catalan society," says Berta Barbet, a political scientist at the University of Barcelona.
“It has also caused a political deadlock in the whole of Spain and has affected many important institutions in Catalonia—including Barça, of course,” Barbet adds.
“Beating Madrid is beating the number 1 enemy,” says David. “Unfortunately, there’s more than football in this game.”
“Still, Barça can still be a key factor in order to fix this division: given its relevance, it could become a positive reference and generate a feeling of union between people who support independence and people who don't,” Barbet suggests.
Jordi Fexas, geographist, historian and writer of several books on the independence movement, disagrees with Barbet’s diagnosis: “The independence process had no negative effects until the Spanish government intervened,” he says.
“Barça is a key part of my life,” says Marta. “It’s not just football. FC Barcelona is the representation of a country, of a feeling.”
“It’s the Spanish State who created the concept of ‘social crack,’” Fexas adds. Independence activists might be naive sometimes, but they have never been violent. It was the State who tried to build the idea of latent violence in order to justify their intervention. Given this repressive context, Barça might act as a soft power to mediate.”
Alex and Sílvia, like most Catalans, are deeply invested in the political events surrounding the Catalan independence movement. The independence debate has been at the center of Spanish politics for almost a decade. Many people are getting exhausted by it.
“The Clásico against Madrid is emotional. It’s really difficult to explain,” says Juan. “There’s a huge rivalry, and winning it is great, because everybody has some friends who are Madrid fans and whom you can laugh at when you beat them. I know the game may also have a political sense for some people, but for me it’s just sport: my family are from Galicia and Andalusia, and I have many friends in Madrid, so for me it’s just football.”
Barça’s convincing victory over Real Madrid at Santiago Bernabéu was seen by many fans as a pause, a little measure of happiness in tense times. For some hours, all culers agreed on celebrating Suárez, Messi, and Vidal’s goals at the eternal rival’s stadium.
“The Barça anthem says it all: ‘una bandera ens agermana,’—‘a flag unites us all’”—says Sílvia. “That is precisely what Barça is able to do: unite.”
Alex sums it up quickly: “In the end, everything is quite simple: we might think differently in political terms, but our love for Barça is the same,"
Barça fans celebrate a goal against Madrid at the Penya Barcelonista Sant Antoni.
'Barça is More Than a Club' published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv
0 notes
flauntpage · 6 years
Text
'Barça is More Than a Club'
Alex and Sílvia are good friends. Born in the same year, they have known each other for more than two decades: they went together to the same school in a small town near Barcelona, and they went on to be university classmates in the Catalan capital afterwards.
Alex and Sílvia also share a big passion: they are die-hard FC Barcelona fans.
On the outside they seem really alike, but nothing could be further from the truth. Alex and Sílvia are really different… especially in everything related to politics.
‘Estelada’ flags, symbols of the independence movement, are usual in balconies in Barcelona.
On Sílvia’s balcony there is a huge Catalan flag with a white star on a blue triangle: it is the ‘estelada’, a symbol which identifies the independence movement in Catalonia.
In the election held on December 21 in this region of Northeastern Spain, Sílvia voted for the center-right secessionist party Junts per Catalunya. In the vote, pro-independence parties won by a narrow margin over unionists.
On Alex’s balcony, however, there are no flags at all. In the elections, he decided to vote for Catalunya en Comú, a left-wing party which preferred to focus their campaign on social issues rather than positioning on independence.
Caganers’ —literally meaning ‘guy taking a shit’— are an an awkward traditional Catalan figure used in Christimas nativity scenes, wearing Barça jerseys.
Alex and Sílvia’s political ideology, as usual in Catalonia, has an echo in sports. Alex belongs to a sector of blaugrana fans whose motto is ‘only Barça.’ For them, the club is nothing more than a football team with no political significance. When he goes to Camp Nou, Alex’s chants simply cheer the players. Nothing else.
“I go to Camp Nou to enjoy football. That’s it”, says Alex. “In my opinion, when you go to the stadium you have to leave politics at home”.
FC Barcelona flags —as well as official shorts from different seasons— at the Peña Barcelonista Sant Antoni, a fanclub located in central Barcelona.
Sílvia, however, believes that Barça is bigger than sports.
“Narcís de Carreres, a former president, described it very well: Barça is more than a club”, Sílvia says, referring to the famous blaugrana motto ‘més que un club’.
Every time Sílvia goes to the stadium, she wears yellow clothes, a reference to jailed pro-independence politicians and activists. She also shouts in favour of independence every game at the 17:14 minute: 1714 was the year Barcelona fell into the hands of Bourbon troops during the War of Spanish Succession.
“Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, a famous Catalan writer, described Barça as the unarmed army of Catalonia”, Sílvia adds. “I believe that this sentence defines the club really well”.
Barça fans watch the Clásico between Madrid and Barcelona at the at the Peña Barcelonista Sant Antoni.
Alex and Sílvia exemplify two visions of a club which has as many faces and interpretations as fans.
Marc Duch is president of Manifest Blaugrana, an association of members whose objective is to build a more democratic and transparent FC Barcelona.
“What is Barça, you say?”, asks Duch. “I would say it depends on the time: for me, it has been a hobby, an untamable passion, an example to imitate, an absolute shame… and much more.”.
“This game is just life for me”, says Ángel, a die-hard Barça fan. “We wait for Barça-Madrid all year long: winning at the Bernabéu stadium is the best thing that can happen. The country’s current situation increases this rivalry, which is goes way further than just sport: it comes from many years ago, and now it’s even tougher. Without a Catalan team, the Spanish league would go down the drain”.
“Barça is an institution with the ability to mobilize hundreds of thousands of people, and that’s why we should demand it to have a proactive role in the social and human improvement of the country,” Duch adds. “That is where, at least partially, the motto ‘ more than a club’ comes from.”
Marc Cornet takes this idea even further. On October 1, the Catalan regional government tried to organize a referendum on independence: the Spanish government considered it illegal and sent the police to repress it… violently. After the referendum, Cornet thought it was absolutely necessary for Barça to get more involved in social matters, and that is why, with other club members, he founded the Barça Republic Defence Committee —CDR, in Catalan.
“This game is much more than just sports”, says Cristian. “It’s a representation of the Catalonia versus Spain clash”.
“Our club has always been a symbol of anti-authoritarian resistance,” Cornet explains. “During the twenties, dictator Miguel Primo de Rivera closed our stadium because some fans whistled while the Spanish anthem was played; in 1936, our president Josep Sunyol was killed for being a Republican Catalanist; after the Civil War, the fascists took out the Catalan flag from our crest”.
“We don’t ask Barça to be openly independentist,” Cornet adds. “But we want it to be always on the side of civil rights, and that’s why we founded the CDR: we don’t want any other October the 1st, ever.”
“For us die-hard fans, Barça is our life”, says Jordi, who has followed the blaugrana team for decades. “Beating Madrid is important, but all games are important. Being a Barça fan means being part of something bigger, of some kind of huge family”.
The partisan positions of Duch and Cornet are pretty common among the Catalan culers—that is, Barça fans—but they’re not the only positions. Recently, the fanclub of Elda, near Alicante in Eastern Spain, publicly announced their decoupling from Barça as a reaction to the club’s decisions on October 1 to play their La Liga game behind closed doors as a means to protest against police violence.
An Elda fanclub spokesperson declared to local media that their members had “unanimously” decided to end their relationship with Barça “due to the implication of the club and its leaders in the events that took place in Catalonia.”
“Barça-Madrid is the best game of the season”, says Víctor, barman at the Penya Barcelonista Sant Antoni. “But that’s it. It’s just a football game, nothing more”.
Other public figures such as the former Spanish international Julio Alberto Moreno, who played in FC Barcelona in the eighties, have also shown their disapproval of the club’s management: “The board has been chosen to rule a football club, not a political party,” Moreno said to the Spanish TV channel Antena 3.
“The independence process has destroyed much of the confidence between different social sectors and has caused a clear crack within Catalan society, says Berta Barbet, a political scientist at the University of Barcelona.
“It has also caused a political deadlock in the whole of Spain and has affected many important institutions in Catalonia —including Barça, of course,” Barbet adds.
“Beating Madrid is beating the number 1 enemy”, says David. “Unfortunately, there’s more than football in this game”.
“Still, Barça can still be a key factor in order to fix this division: given its relevance, it could become a positive reference and generate a feeling of union between people who support independence and people who don't,” Barbet suggests.
Jordi Fexas, geographist, historian and writer of several books on the independence movement, disagrees with Barbet’s diagnosis: “The independence process had no negative effects until the Spanish government intervened,” he says.
“Barça is a key part of my life,” says Marta. “It’s not just football. FC Barcelona is the representation of a country, of a feeling.”
“It’s the Spanish State who created the concept of ‘social crack,’” Fexas adds. IIndependence activists might be naive sometimes, but they have never been violent. It was the State who tried to build the idea of latent violence in order to justify their intervention. Given this repressive context, Barça might act as a soft power to mediate.”
Alex and Sílvia, like most Catalans, are deeply invested in the political events surrounding the Catalan independence movement. The independence debate has been at the center of Spanish politics for almost a decade. Many people are getting exhausted of it.
“The Clásico against Madrid is emotional. It’s really difficult to explain,” says Juan. “There’s a huge rivalry, and winning it is great, because everybody has some friends who are Madrid fans and whom you can laugh at when you beat them. I know the game may also have a political sense for some people, but for me it’s just sport: my family are from Galicia and Andalusia, and I have many friends in Madrid, so for me it’s just football.”
Barça’s convincing victory over Real Madrid at Santiago Bernabéu was seen by many fans as a pause, a little measure of happiness in tense times. For some hours, all culers agreed on celebrating Suárez, Messi and Vidal’s goals at the eternal rival’s stadium.
“The Barça anthem says it all: ‘una bandera ens agermana’, ‘a flag unites us all,’” says Sílvia. “That is precisely what Barça is able to do: unite.”
Alex sums it up quickly: “In the end, everything is quite simple: we might think differently in political terms, but our love for Barça is the same,"
Barça fans celebrate a goal against Madrid at the Penya Barcelonista Sant Antoni.
'Barça is More Than a Club' published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv
0 notes
flauntpage · 6 years
Text
'Barça is More Than a Club'
Alex and Sílvia are good friends. Born in the same year, they have known each other for more than two decades: they went together to the same school in a small town near Barcelona, and they went on to be university classmates in the Catalan capital afterwards.
Alex and Sílvia also share a big passion: they are die-hard FC Barcelona fans.
On the outside they seem really alike, but nothing could be further from the truth. Alex and Sílvia are really different… especially in everything related to politics.
‘Estelada’ flags, symbols of the independence movement, are usual in balconies in Barcelona.
On Sílvia’s balcony there is a huge Catalan flag with a white star on a blue triangle: it is the ‘estelada’, a symbol which identifies the independence movement in Catalonia.
In the election held on December 21 in this region of Northeastern Spain, Sílvia voted for the center-right secessionist party Junts per Catalunya. In the vote, pro-independence parties won by a narrow margin over unionists.
On Alex’s balcony, however, there are no flags at all. In the elections, he decided to vote for Catalunya en Comú, a left-wing party which preferred to focus their campaign on social issues rather than positioning on independence.
Caganers’ —literally meaning ‘guy taking a shit’— are an an awkward traditional Catalan figure used in Christimas nativity scenes, wearing Barça jerseys.
Alex and Sílvia’s political ideology, as usual in Catalonia, has an echo in sports. Alex belongs to a sector of blaugrana fans whose motto is ‘only Barça.’ For them, the club is nothing more than a football team with no political significance. When he goes to Camp Nou, Alex’s chants simply cheer the players. Nothing else.
“I go to Camp Nou to enjoy football. That’s it”, says Alex. “In my opinion, when you go to the stadium you have to leave politics at home”.
FC Barcelona flags —as well as official shorts from different seasons— at the Peña Barcelonista Sant Antoni, a fanclub located in central Barcelona.
Sílvia, however, believes that Barça is bigger than sports.
“Narcís de Carreres, a former president, described it very well: Barça is more than a club”, Sílvia says, referring to the famous blaugrana motto ‘més que un club’.
Every time Sílvia goes to the stadium, she wears yellow clothes, a reference to jailed pro-independence politicians and activists. She also shouts in favour of independence every game at the 17:14 minute: 1714 was the year Barcelona fell into the hands of Bourbon troops during the War of Spanish Succession.
“Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, a famous Catalan writer, described Barça as the unarmed army of Catalonia”, Sílvia adds. “I believe that this sentence defines the club really well”.
Barça fans watch the Clásico between Madrid and Barcelona at the at the Peña Barcelonista Sant Antoni.
Alex and Sílvia exemplify two visions of a club which has as many faces and interpretations as fans.
Marc Duch is president of Manifest Blaugrana, an association of members whose objective is to build a more democratic and transparent FC Barcelona.
“What is Barça, you say?”, asks Duch. “I would say it depends on the time: for me, it has been a hobby, an untamable passion, an example to imitate, an absolute shame… and much more.”.
“This game is just life for me”, says Ángel, a die-hard Barça fan. “We wait for Barça-Madrid all year long: winning at the Bernabéu stadium is the best thing that can happen. The country’s current situation increases this rivalry, which is goes way further than just sport: it comes from many years ago, and now it’s even tougher. Without a Catalan team, the Spanish league would go down the drain”.
“Barça is an institution with the ability to mobilize hundreds of thousands of people, and that’s why we should demand it to have a proactive role in the social and human improvement of the country,” Duch adds. “That is where, at least partially, the motto ‘ more than a club’ comes from.”
Marc Cornet takes this idea even further. On October 1, the Catalan regional government tried to organize a referendum on independence: the Spanish government considered it illegal and sent the police to repress it… violently. After the referendum, Cornet thought it was absolutely necessary for Barça to get more involved in social matters, and that is why, with other club members, he founded the Barça Republic Defence Committee —CDR, in Catalan.
“This game is much more than just sports”, says Cristian. “It’s a representation of the Catalonia versus Spain clash”.
“Our club has always been a symbol of anti-authoritarian resistance,” Cornet explains. “During the twenties, dictator Miguel Primo de Rivera closed our stadium because some fans whistled while the Spanish anthem was played; in 1936, our president Josep Sunyol was killed for being a Republican Catalanist; after the Civil War, the fascists took out the Catalan flag from our crest”.
“We don’t ask Barça to be openly independentist,” Cornet adds. “But we want it to be always on the side of civil rights, and that’s why we founded the CDR: we don’t want any other October the 1st, ever.”
“For us die-hard fans, Barça is our life”, says Jordi, who has followed the blaugrana team for decades. “Beating Madrid is important, but all games are important. Being a Barça fan means being part of something bigger, of some kind of huge family”.
The partisan positions of Duch and Cornet are pretty common among the Catalan culers—that is, Barça fans—but they’re not the only positions. Recently, the fanclub of Elda, near Alicante in Eastern Spain, publicly announced their decoupling from Barça as a reaction to the club’s decisions on October 1 to play their La Liga game behind closed doors as a means to protest against police violence.
An Elda fanclub spokesperson declared to local media that their members had “unanimously” decided to end their relationship with Barça “due to the implication of the club and its leaders in the events that took place in Catalonia.”
“Barça-Madrid is the best game of the season”, says Víctor, barman at the Penya Barcelonista Sant Antoni. “But that’s it. It’s just a football game, nothing more”.
Other public figures such as the former Spanish international Julio Alberto Moreno, who played in FC Barcelona in the eighties, have also shown their disapproval of the club’s management: “The board has been chosen to rule a football club, not a political party,” Moreno said to the Spanish TV channel Antena 3.
“The independence process has destroyed much of the confidence between different social sectors and has caused a clear crack within Catalan society, says Berta Barbet, a political scientist at the University of Barcelona.
“It has also caused a political deadlock in the whole of Spain and has affected many important institutions in Catalonia —including Barça, of course,” Barbet adds.
“Beating Madrid is beating the number 1 enemy”, says David. “Unfortunately, there’s more than football in this game”.
“Still, Barça can still be a key factor in order to fix this division: given its relevance, it could become a positive reference and generate a feeling of union between people who support independence and people who don't,” Barbet suggests.
Jordi Fexas, geographist, historian and writer of several books on the independence movement, disagrees with Barbet’s diagnosis: “The independence process had no negative effects until the Spanish government intervened,” he says.
“Barça is a key part of my life,” says Marta. “It’s not just football. FC Barcelona is the representation of a country, of a feeling.”
“It’s the Spanish State who created the concept of ‘social crack,’” Fexas adds. IIndependence activists might be naive sometimes, but they have never been violent. It was the State who tried to build the idea of latent violence in order to justify their intervention. Given this repressive context, Barça might act as a soft power to mediate.”
Alex and Sílvia, like most Catalans, are deeply invested in the political events surrounding the Catalan independence movement. The independence debate has been at the center of Spanish politics for almost a decade. Many people are getting exhausted of it.
“The Clásico against Madrid is emotional. It’s really difficult to explain,” says Juan. “There’s a huge rivalry, and winning it is great, because everybody has some friends who are Madrid fans and whom you can laugh at when you beat them. I know the game may also have a political sense for some people, but for me it’s just sport: my family are from Galicia and Andalusia, and I have many friends in Madrid, so for me it’s just football.”
Barça’s convincing victory over Real Madrid at Santiago Bernabéu was seen by many fans as a pause, a little measure of happiness in tense times. For some hours, all culers agreed on celebrating Suárez, Messi and Vidal’s goals at the eternal rival’s stadium.
“The Barça anthem says it all: ‘una bandera ens agermana’, ‘a flag unites us all,’” says Sílvia. “That is precisely what Barça is able to do: unite.”
Alex sums it up quickly: “In the end, everything is quite simple: we might think differently in political terms, but our love for Barça is the same,"
Barça fans celebrate a goal against Madrid at the Penya Barcelonista Sant Antoni.
'Barça is More Than a Club' published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv
0 notes