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by Régis Gimeno // AC/DC Concert el 07.06_Barcelona
BCN Week wants your photos. Each month we‘ll print the best submission we receive, and put runner-up entries on the website. Participate and send your photo to edit@bcnweek.com.
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To say that Barcelona tries to stir up excitement about major sporting events
would be an understatement. When international press coverage and envy are
on the line, the Marca Barna PR team goes into full swing, hacking out a place for
the city on the world stage. It’s not that we don’t enjoy the esports, but we start
to feel a little dirty when we get the impression that we’re being used as part of a
giant marketing machine.
Case in point: in early July, there’s a tricycle race coming to town. Technically,
the men will be riding bicycles, but the best of them will also be supported by
the third wheel of doping enhancement. Still, according to Hereu, the Tour de
France’s spin through Catalunya, “Es un ilusionante reto organizativo, una gran
noticia para la propia carrera, para la promoción del ciclismo y para Barcelona,
que se proyecta nuevamente al mundo a través del deporte.” And here we thought
drugs were bad. In an effort to amass huge amounts of citizen “participation”,
the Ajuntament is inviting all the residents of Barcelona to trade in their individuality
for a colored card so that they can form a part of the largest yellow wave
in the world. This wave will inspire the cyclists to pump their hammy legs that
much harder, and in the process give the world a powerful jaundiced visual, the
result of which hopefully will be the permanent inclusion of Barcelona on the
Tour route.
In addition to the giant paristaltic ona, the city has also planned some other
activities through its approximately 500,000€ budget for the event. Tagging
buses and BiCiNg bikes with Tour insignia may be cool, but it’s nothing compared
to the plan to break a Guinness World Record for the largest number of
stationary bikes planted outdoors. Apparently, Barcelona is angling to steal this
golden crown from the Irish by setting up 500 bikes at Arc de Triomf and giving
a massive spin class the day the Tour arrives.
All this to say that we’re not immune to Yellow fever. But oddly, we can’t seem
to keep our minds focused on the race. While we’re sure that this somehow
makes us bad citizens, this month BCN Week presents our own version of monochrome
tunnel vision. Donovan would be proud.
Los Editors
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I expected something better from you...
So today I picked up your newspaper at a local bar in Gràcia and there it
says, written by a Mr. Muniente Sariñena: “El castellano, arrinconado en
Catalunya”. It calls catalan a “lengua materna inoperante” (!!). Unheard
of: Amazingly, it blames English and the British/American “empire”
(literally) for it.
Spanish spoken newspapers, radio, and TV outnumber catalan
spoken ones by a 10:1 proportion. Does someone still believe Spanish is
“cornered” in Catalonia? Yet you allow these writers to arouse hatred,
bigotry and intolerance.
I would expect a better understanding from someone that lives here
in Barcelona. I think you can do better than that. For a start, pass your
columnist a copy of your own editorial: “...either abuse conspiracy
theories to simplify circumstances, which is just stupid scapegoating or...”
Andreu Ylla
Dear Andreu,
As a community newspaper that incorporates many different points of
view, we are always happy to receive and publish letters like yours. By
the same token, however, we don’t want to ignore opinions just because
we don’t share them. Despite the difficulty inherent in balancing responsibility
and freedom of speech, we maintain that the best way to
deal with conflict is to get it out in the open. In this respect, we think that
Mr. Muniente’s argument, which went at the (important) Spanish vs.
English as a second language debate, not at Spanish vs. Catalan, is
valuable as a platform for conversation.
Los Editors
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