WE'RE WITNESSING THE MELT-DOWN OF EUROPE'S WELFARE STATE?

          I've got this nasty feeling that the welfare state, the most admirable "invention" of modern Europeans, is being dismantled systematically, with the debt crisis as a flimsy pretext, and they won't stop until it's bare-bones it won't be worth its name. It gets me terribly down. I had this quixotic fantasy that countries around the world will eventually adopt a welfare state system where no one, certainly not the helpless poor, is left to his/her own inadequate devices.

          The system, anchored to the concept of equitable redistribution of wealth through redistributionist taxation, requires, sine qua non, lots of social conscience, the wealthy sharing a part of their wealth so that those who can't are not left alone to fend for themselves.

          The sacrifice is well worth it. At stake is the achievable human dignity for all. For all is the operative phrase here.

          The welfare state also of course requires a certain economic level to take root and remain viable, for how could there be a redistribution of wealth when there's nothing to redistribute? This doesn't mean, however, that the system should be at the mercy of boom-bust cycles. In fact the welfare state should be built on unshakeable foundation so that it is a bulwark against inclement economic weather and no government could undo it on the pretext of fixing purported systemic flaws.

          For decades Western Europe has been showing the world that the welfare state is doable. But lately some EU countries, forced by the loan sharks to reduce their deficit, seem all too eager to slash huge chunks of social spending at a great cost to the people who are already reeling under the staggering crisis.

          Ominously, one can detect a barely disguised common discourse by European politicans demonizing the welfare state; to hear them talk you'd think the welfare state is the culprit of Europe's debt crisis!

          Is this just the act of governments who are forced to reduce the deficit on the spot, some against their better judgment, and for no other reason? Or is there a hidden agenda, on the part of the others, to hack away at a welfare state system that's never been truly popular among powerful members of the business sector in boom times as well as during an economic downturn?

          The putative panorama is alarming. The dismnantling of the welfare state in Europe, where the best practicable model is found, can only bring about a most unfortunate retrogression of society, depriving countries in other regions of a model and inspiration for a social equity that works.

          In the evening of March 22 there was a demonstration in downtown Madrid protesting against the harsh labor reform that the rightist Spanish government has just passed into law. (The pictures you see in this blog were taken during that demonstration.) 

          Actually there is a sense of doom among the less privileged and not only because workers can now be sacked at the drop of a hat; worse, so many of the social gains, the cornerstone of the welfare state, are being pushed back and there doesn't seem to be a way to stop the powerful forces.

          As I paused between shots, and worrying that the battery of my camera was running empty, a couple approached me and asked what the demonstration was for. They were taller than the average Spaniard; indeed they turned out to be from South Africa (the woman) and Canada (the man).

          I said the people were demonstrating against the labor reform though it was obvious from the banners, even for those who can't read Spanish, that the demonstrators weren't just protesting against sacking-made-easy. Frowning, the Canadian said, "We're worried about Europe."  And you can be very sure that he wasn't alluding to its deficit.

MADRID EASTER: NO COUNTER-PROCESSION FOR ATHEISTS

          The Madrid Association of Atheists and Freethinkers (Asociación Madrileña de Ateos y Librepensadores) failed to obtain a permit for their "procession" on Maundy Thursday. This is the second year the association applied for the permit and was turned down by the Office of the Central Government's Delegate (Delegación del Gobierno) in Madrid.

"Christ of the Seven Last Words," a

sacred image that becomes extra-relevant

among Caholics during the Holy Week

          The delegate's office swears it has no quarrel with the association's constitutional right to demonstrate but in the circumstances it is "evident" that what the atheists are up to is to "provoke" the Catholics for whom Maundy Thursday is a very special day, being the eve of Christ's death on the cross.

          The atheists and freethinkers' association wants to stage its own "procession" at 8:00 P.M. in the centrally located neighborhood of Lavapiés where and when various religious processions will be passing through.

          The members of the association say they just want to have equal rights with the Catholics and to demonstrate against the entrenched privileges of the Catholic Church. They're thinking of taking the Office of the Government's Delegate to court.

PROFILE: AMANCIO ORTEGA, The Boy Behind the $37.5 Billion Fortune

          Amancio Ortega, or Choliño as his mother called him, is the youngest of the three children of a poor railway worker who earned 300 pesetas ($2.30 or approx. €1.80) a month. "And don't tell me that wasn't so bad in those days," he says. "Three hundred pesetas, then and now, is no way to live. It just won't make both ends meet."


          It was after the Spanish Civil War, dubbed the "dress rehearsal" for World War II.

          And yet the boy was enormously proud of his father, of how well he did his lowly job.

          One day after school he accompanied his mother Doña Josefa to the grocery store. To his utter humiliation he heard the man behind the counter tell Doña Josefa that he was sorry but he could no longer extend her credit.

          Deeply hurt, Amancio vowed then and there that this was the last time his mother would ever be demeaned, a mother he so adored that to this day the sheer memory of her could bring tears to his eyes. He dropped out of school and became a gofer at the nondescript Gala shirt shop in A Coruña, a port city in northwestern Spain where he lived with his family. At twelve years old he couldn't be hired formally. Choliño would have to wait till he was older to sign his first bona fide work contract.

          From Gala he moved to a better shop, La Maja, and there he fell in love with the daughter of a moneyed client. The mother of the girl thought he was the son of the shop owner and when she found out he was only a salesclerk she nipped the budding affair, and no remorse.

          Choliño, a sensitive child, admits that the injustice of the snob helped strenghten his resolve to make it big. He says it wasn't all for the money though he, who knew from first hand experience how it felt to go to bed on a grumbling stomach, would, without any hesitation, confess to giving due importance to money. 

Choliño

          Now 76, he owns a fashion empire (Inditex) that has more than 100,000 employees in 78 countries around the world. It's of course one of the world's biggest clothiers; net sales on the first half of 2011 alone totalled $8.07 (€6.21) billion. With Inditex shares rising 20% in that year, his fortune increased by $6.5 (€5) billion.
         
          But Inditex isn't all there is in the billionaire's holdings. He's into prime real estate (recent acquisitions include the Picasso Tower in one of Madrid's posh addresses for $536/€412 million and the Zara store space on Fifth Avenue corner 52nd Street, between St. Patrick's Cathedral and MOMA, New York, for $324/€247 million). He's in the hotel business. He co-owns a soccer team; is the proprietor of Casas Novas, reputedly the best horse-jumping circuit in Europe, etc.

          Choliño, the founder of Inditex, has three children: Sandra and Marcos, by his first wife Rosalia Mena, a self-made billionaire in her own right, and Marta, said to be the apple of his eye, by his present wife Flori Pérez.

          Forbes magazine's 2012 listings rank Choliño the fifth richest man in the world, and Spain's richest, with an estimated wealth of $37.5 (€29) billion. He's also one of the world's most reclusive tycoons. And one of the most unaffected? He sure looks like it despite his occasional temper outbursts. One of the most endearing things about him is his ready smile.

           ¡Ole, Choliño!                          

                       

Inditex shop windows in

downtown Madrid

MADRID EASTER, PROCESSION BY PROCESSION

The celebration of Easter by the Madrid folk, a tradition of five centuries, is said to be sombre. If this is true one could not but wonder what they'd say about irrepressible Andalucia's Easter; some swear it's the Passion of Christ at its most extravagant!
          I'd say Madrid's Semana Santa (Holy Week) is extravagant enough. And at any rate "sombre" is beautiful as devotees and tourists alike will tell you.
          Wherever you are in Spain, no Semana Santa is worth the name without the religious processions. To a great extent Semana Santa is processions.
          And so you won't miss out on this essence of an Easter that can't fail to move you, here are some of the more important processions you can join (being spectator is only second best) in the historic old center of Madrid. Many of them, with at least a float for Christ and another for Virgin Mary, His mourning mother, set out in the evening but mind the exceptions.
         

HOLY WEEK PROCESSIONS 2012

PALM SUNDAY 1 April

>> Procesión del Cristo de la Fe y del Perdón y de la Santa María Inmaculada de la Iglesia (Procession of Christ of the Faith and Pardon and of Immaculate Mary of the Church)

Starting point: Basilica Pontifica de San Miguel, Calle San Justo 4. 7:00 PM. Metro Opera, Sol.

This inaugural procession of the Holy Week is dedicated to Cristo Rey (Christ the King) and takes place at midday on the streets around the basilica.  The faithful carry palms or bay leaves, a re-enactment of Christ's triumphant entry into Jerusalem amidst cheers of "Hosanna to the Son of David! Hosanna in the highest!"

Façade of the Church of Nuestra Señora
del Carmen. Construction of the
church was finished in 1640

HOLY WEDNESDAY 4 April

>> Procesión de Nuestro Padre Jesús de la Salud y María Santísima de las Angustias (Procession of Our Lord Jesus of the Health and Our Lady of Sorrows)

Starting point: Parroquia de Nuestra Señora del Carmen, Calle Carmen 10. Metro Sol, Callao. 9:15 PM.

Through Paseo del Prado, Plaza de Neptuno, Puerta del  Sol, Calles de Arenal, de Cava de San Miguel . . .

          It's now the midpoint of the Semana Santa and a hint of solemnity begins to settle on the streets of Madrid where otherwise it's party time all the time. The penitential aroma of Catholic Easter is intense inside churches.

MAUNDY THURSDAY 5 April

>> Procesión de Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno, "El Pobre" y María Santísima del Dulce Nombre (Procession of Jesus Nazarene "The Poor" and Our Lady of Sweet Name)

Starting point: Iglesia de San Pedro el Viejo, Calle Nuncio 14. 7:00 PM. Metro La Latina, Sol, Tirso de Molina.
Through the Plazas Cerrada and Mayor, Calles Mayor and Toledo . . .

This statue of Our Lord Jesus of the Health is brought
out for the procession on Holy Wednesday from
the Church of Nuestra Señora del Carmen 

>> Procesión de Nuestro Padre Jesús del Gran Poder y Virgen María de la Esperanza (Procession of Lord Jesus of Great Power and Our Lady of Hope)
Starting point: Colegiata de San Isidro, Calle Toledo 37. 8:00 PM. Metro La Latina, Sol, Tirso de Molina.
          This is presumably the most spectacular procession of Madrid Lent and among the most popular. The venerated statues of Jesus and Mary are brought out on lavish and heavy religious floats by costaleros who have to bend their knees to almost knelling position to negotiate the main door of the baroque church where, incidentally, San Isidro (c. 1082-1172), patron saint of Madrid, is buried.
          The balancing act (literally) at the start of the procession elicits restrained shouts of encouragement from the fervorous crowd and, when successfully done, the costaleros get a soft applause befitting the solemn occasion.
          And it is of course televised nationwide.

The Church of San Isidro on Toledo Street

          The costaleros are a group of synchronized young/-ish men who carry the floats on their shoulders for hours; that's how long the processions last. No matter how strong they are, the weight of the floats adorned with tons of fresh flowers and huge burning candles will sooner or later take its toll on the costaleros. Just the same, bearing the floats is a great honor. In suffering pain they earn the rare privilege of accompanying Jesus in His Lenten agony.
          The Procesión de Nuestro Padre Jesús del Gran Poder passes through the Plaza Mayor and the Plaza de la Villa areas.
          Maundy Thursday, like Good Friday, is a national holiday in Spain. As you well know it's all about the day of the Last Supper, after which feast Jesus went to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane where Judas Iscariot betrayed him to the chief priests of the Sanhedrin (the biblical Jewish council) for 30 pieces of silver.

Virgin Mary and San Isidro, Patron Saint of Madrid

GOOD FRIDAY 6 April

>> Procesión de Jesús Nazareno de Medinaceli y de María Santísima de la Esperanza (Procession of Jesus Nazarene of Medinaceli and Our Lady of Hope)

Starting point: Basilica del Cristo de Medinaceli, Plaza de Jesús. Metro Anton Martin. 8:00 PM.

Through central locations including Paseo del Prado, Calle Alcalá, Plaza de Cibeles and Puerta del Sol.

          The Procession of Jesus of Medinaceli is the most emblematic of Madrid's religious processions and arguably the most multitudinary with some 800,000 devotees joining in from all parts of Spain, by some reckoning.

          Good Friday is the central point in the Cathjolic calendar. It involves an agonizing soul-searching of the Sinner -- i.e., All Humanity. Jesus must die on the cross to redeem the Sinner.

          It's the culmination of the Holy Week and is comparable only to Christmas, the day the Son of God is born in a supreme act of love for mankind. It's about the only time when Madrid -- and Spain, indeed -- comes closest to standing still. But for the processions, of course.

>> Procesión del Santísimo Cristo de los Alabarderos (Procession of Most Holy Christ of the Yeomen)

Starting point: The Royal Palace, Plaza Oriente. 7:00 PM. Metro Opera.

          From the palace the procession traverses Plaza de la Villa, Calle Mayor, Plaza Mayor . . .  It ends in the 17th century baroque Catedral Castrense de las Fuerzas Armadas, home to Christ of the Yeomen, on Calle Sacramento.

          A year or two ago the Infanta Elena, eldest daughter of King Juan Carlos I of Spain, joined the procession to the delight of the crowd.

>> Procesión del Silencio (Procession of Silence)

Starting point: Iglesia del Santísimo Cristo de la Fe, Calle Atocha 87 bis. Metro Anton Martin.

Held in the Barrio de las Letras, passing through the Plazas de Anton Martín, de Matute, de Santa Ana; the Calles de Huertas, de Moratin, de Prado, de Echegaray, de Lope de Vega . . .
          It used to be that this unique procession started at midnight onto Good Friday. It also used to be truly silent, with only the footfalls echoing eerily in the dark hours. But it no longer is. There is now a band in the procession. And it begins in the evening (7:00 PM).
          Another unusual thing about it is that the statue of the Virgin Mother is borne by women.

The Holy Entombment, with Our Lady of Solitude
 looking on her beloved Son, Church of
Nuestra Señora del Carmen

          Many Lent devotees are garbed in tunics and tall pointed hoods a la Ku Klux Klan. But who copied who? Legend has it that the early KKK members saw the Spanish processions and borrowed the attire from the penitents who will take off the hood, symbol of the death of Christ, on Easter Sunday to signify His resurrection.
          It's an unforgettable moment  down Calle Lope de Vega when the devotional image of Christ stops outside the convent of the Trinitarians and the nuns open the window to sing to Him.

>> Procesión del Santo Entierro (Procession of the Holy Entombment)
Starting point: Parroquia de Santa Cruz, Calle Atocha 6. 8:30 PM. Metro Sol, Tirso de Molina.
Through Plaza Mayor, Calle Mayor, Puerta del Sol, Calle Carretas . . .

HOLY SATURDAY 7 April

The Sorrowful Virgin, Basilica of
Jesus de Medinaceli

>> Procesión de la Soledad (Procession of Our Lady of Solitude)
Starting point: Iglesia de San Gines, Calle Arenal 13. 4:30 PM. Metro Opera, Sol
Through Plaza Isabel II, Plaza Ramales, Calle Mayor . . .

>> Procesión de la Virgen Dolorosa (Procession of the Sorrowful Virgin)
Starting point: Iglesia-Basilica de Nuestro Padre Jesús de Medinaceli, Plaza de Jesús. 8:00 AM. Metro Anton Martin.
Through Calle del Prado, Plaza Santa Ana, Lope de Vega . . .


EASTER SUNDAY 8 April


>>>>Tamborrada (less of a religious procession and more of a triumphant Drum Parade celebrating the Resurrection of Christ)
Starting point: Monasterio del Corpus Christi--Jerónimas "Carboneras", Plaza de Conde de Miranda 3. Metro Sol.
Through Calle Sacramento, Plaza de la Villa, Calle Mayor . . . and ending up with the exultant beats of percussion instruments -- timbales, carracas, the tambores of course -- at the Plaza Mayor.

"Victory Over the Grave," Bernard Plockhorst.
Public domain. Photo: Annie Cee
(Wikipedia)

END OF MADRID EASTER

...........

          Note: Most of the places and schedules of the processions are based on 2011's. And though these vary minimally from year to year, do go to the churches -- the starting points of the processions -- and check out the info the day before.

          Have an unforgettable Semana Santa!
          Drop me a line, won't you?