Internationalism vs. Globalization

The lines are often fuzzy, but on the whole there are worse things....

My Madrid friends say that they are being "contaminated" by "El Halloween" (pronounced "el CHA-lo-ween" with the "cha" of Chanukah) and that the local festivities of the Día de los Santos and Día de los difuntos are dying out (no pun intended).  I suggested to them that perhaps the Día de los difuntos at least could be rescued by Mexican immigrants, for whom the tradition is very much alive, but they were pessimistic.  I have nothing but fond feelings for Halloween, but I must admit that it's a little weird to see how commercialized it's become here.  The following were displays in the local Hipercor in Vista Alegre:

It's hard to not think that this looks like a US mall, and that is kind of depressing.

On the other hand, I have nothing but fond memories of Halloween, and people (by which I mean children, by which I mean most people) seem to like it.  I think the problem is how completely commercial it is here, simply promoting the need to buy candy, and ridiculous costumes (as opposed to homemade ones) and make-up and cachivaches and similar.  I always think the fake "gravestones" in New England front yards around this time of year are odd when there are so many real abandoned graveyards in that part of the world, with fading headstones which are genuinely wistful and pretty, though more bittersweet and sad than scary.  Do we really need fake gravestones here that say "RIP" instead of the local DEP (Descanse en Paz) when this is the country that brought you Baroque Crucifixion statues?  Difficult to get much more graphic and scary than most of the Semana Santa statues, and as I recall there's plenty of candy given out to kids then too, so the blatantly imported stuff seems unnecessary.

Given that, I was almost charmed the other night when watching La Sexta when they reported that a masked group of far rightists belonging to a party calling themselves "España 2000" (which is more or less Fascism 1.0, alternate spelling of beta version fascism) had planted themselves outside the home of the (leftist) vice-president of the Valencian government and started loudly singing fascist anthems, and unfurling banners modeled on those of the Falange.  They also live streamed the whole event to Facebook as did a bunch of supporters of the Vicepresident, who has denounced this as harassment and a hate crime.  (You can read a reasonable summary along with an indignant denunciation in today's El Diario.)  Anyway, the point is that the masked fascists decided to be intimidating (and anonymous) by wearing masks based on the popular Scream movies, and their chief when asked for comment later by disapproving press protested that it was all in good fun and had been completely "una serenata amable" and they had only been wearing Scream masks because we are close to "el Halloween" and it was just a festive joke.  I sort of appreciate that at least Spanish fascists are trying to recuperate some of the genuinely disruptive and terrifying aspects of Halloween celebrations (like the genuinely uneasy "world upside down" of Carnival), as opposed to just blatantly making it an excuse to sell candy and cheap costumes nobody needs.

Of course, Spanish fascists' understanding of the dangers of Halloween are somewhat akin to Spanish leftists' understanding of the American college town as exemplified by the architecture of the Ciudad Universitaria.  Someone should have told them that the Scream franchise is a parody of Halloween horror movies, and that it's mostly more comical than terrifying.  A bit like the tiki-torch touch of their spiritual cousins in the US.  In both cases I would say the appropriate response comes from one of the modern young women in one of the Scream movies who upon finding herself and her friend accidentally thrown back in time to the Salem Witch Trials and tried as witches (it sort of vaguely makes sense in the movie's context), exclaims, in a parody of Arthur Miller's faux seventeenth century dialect and syntax: "Yo, this is some shit up with which we will not put!"


I do feel sorry for the Valencian vicepresident, especially as she had children in the house, and it must have been scary for them, but I'm also comfortably certain that my neighborhood would not be subject to such displays, since the local graffiti makes clear that there is a more healthy and less consumer-based kind of internationalism flourishing in my neighborhood, and there is some shit up with which we will not put.

Of course politicians of any stripe mostly don't live in my neighborhood (though I honestly can't think why because although it's not very upscale the shopping is great, and it's pleasant and has parks and excellent quality of life).  If they did, they would see the same depressing forest of red-and-yellow Spanish flags that have infested the rest of Madrid, as I wrote about a while ago, and which seem to sadly be becoming part of the scenery, as they did in New York sixteen years ago.  But on the upside, a few have disappeared, and a few people have taken the opportunity to hang other flags.  Some are defiantly anti-nationalist:

"Hablemos" says the white sheet hanging from the open balcony in the center.  "Let's talk."

And some are still a quiet reminder that Republics are good for the whole country, not just part of it.

Hurray for the tricolor of the Second Republic hanging off the roof.

Or as a very small character from a novel I wrote a very long time ago says, "the Spanish flag has purple too."

Here's to meaningful international connections, as opposed to just selling candy.  (It's not like they sell good Halloween candy like maple sugar here, or even good BAD Halloween candy like Candy Corn.  I might have checked.  If it's just local candies with the price raised, humph.)  And to removing borders while retaining cool local customs.