Spain vs. Morocco

In the spirit of me having to be at the airport in about 4.5 hours (it's 11:42 pm) to catch a flight to Tangier, Morocco with SU abroad, I figured it would be rather appropriate to write a little about Spanish conflict with Morocco. I had no idea this even existed until I saw an article pop up on my Publico news feed. When I googled the term "Spain denies Morocco" quite a few links came up talking about past conflicts between the governments, so I read a little into it.

From what I could understand, there is a lot of violence and attacks going on in Morocco. There is currently what is being referred to as a "state of terror" in Laayoune, Morocco due to all the violence and killings. There has dispute among whether or not Morocco had sovereignty over the Western Sahara. In 1975, colonial Spain had withdrew it's power from Rabat, Morocco, leaving the territory to Rabat rule. However recently, the Spanish deny that they had ever declared Morocco in control of the Western Sahara. A quote from a Polisario Front representative, talking about the issues currently in Morocco reads: (rough translation)

"First, Spain is directly responsible. According to former legal adviser to the United Nations, Hans Corel, Morocco, not contained in documents available to the UN, or as a colonial power or as the manager of the Sahara, but as an occupying country. Therefore, Spain remains the responsible power until the end of the decolonization process."

It is hard to tell what side Publico is taking in this case. If the denial of Spain were coming directly from Zapatero, I would say that they were mocking him for taking back something he had said. However, the article is a bit unclear. What I did get from the article is that Morocco, or this representative atleast, wants Spain to finish the decolonization process that they started.


Seeing this for the first time was a surprise to me. I don't often see stories of Spanish conflict with other countries in publico, and I am wondering if it holds much weight in other Spanish newspapers. It is definitely something I would like to know more about. U.S. publications weigh heavily on politics and international relations. Although I have learned a lot about Spain in my time here, I really couldn't pin point anything I'd heard as far as conflict with other countries or territories prior to seeing this article.

Ad Spots in Class--Nov. 8th

After watching a number of Spanish ad spots in class yesterday, I knew it was what my next blog would be about. It was very interesting to me to see how Spanish advertising is similar as well as contrasting to American advertising. Although I could not understand a lot of the messages well due to the language/culture barrier, there were a few common trends I noticed among the advertisements.

For one, the sound/music scoring seemed pretty consistent. I wasn't sure if I thought this just because, in my perspective, most Spanish music sounds the same to me. In watching the commercials, I felt like they weren't very diverse as far as scoring, it seemed they just picked a random Spanish tune to stick in the background, and then did their production over it. Although I am not familiar with the themes or meanings of the songs, it seemed that it could have used a little work in some cases.

Also, a lot of the messages weren't very direct. Sometimes the point they were trying to make, or joke even, took too long for me to think about, or I didn't have the prior knowledge to understand it. With ads, I have found that most are marketed at a very simple understanding, as to not go over the consumer's head and completely miss their interest.

My favorite ad that I saw was the Aquarius ad. It really provoked a mood and feeling in me, the production, sound and photography were fitting, and it overall had a great message. It was the type of ad I could picture seeing in the U.S., where as some others seemed a little spotty, like they had somewhat low production costs, which sort of made them look like home videos.

Overall, Spanish advertising was still similar in basics, as far as production and the way they try to capture an audience. From my perspective, although it was difficult if I didn't have prior knowledge of Spanish culture (i.e. recognizing popular show or cartoon references), I realize that a Spanish person would probably have the same issues in recognizing our advertisements.

Political Cartoons in Spain

Or should I say, religious cartoons? Call me crazy, but I think this would be violating the law of separating church and state in the U.S. This cartoon in particular that I found on the Publico website was titled (more or less) "The new generation, less Catholic." This caught my eye because it was interesting to see the taboo that Spanish culture deals with. In my eyes, Spain seems very liberal. As previously discussed, as far as government goes, it is likely that Spaniards would see our left wing democrats in the U.S. as relatively conservative.

The article following this cartoon goes on to discuss how it has been seen that generally, the younger generations of Spain are "maturing with less adherence to Catholicism." To me, I can relate with religion in the U.S. My father's side of the family is very Italian. My grandmother grew up in a very "by the books" Catholic family, and was taught that not going to church was a sin, a typical catholic misconception. I myself was raised as Catholic, as well as confirmed in the church by decision of my father. However, I have my own beliefs as far as Christianity, and they do not side much with the Catholic church's laws and regulations as to how to get to heaven. While trying not to make this into a religious debate, I have found to identify more with my mother's faith, as do many kids my age. I believe more so of having a personal relationship with God, and that by asking him into my heart, confessing my sins to only him, etc, I will get to heaven, not by any steps that the Catholic church is asking me to complete. Which is why I am not surprised that Spanish youth is stemming away from this ideal either.

The article also talks about the high rate of premarital sex in youth in Spain, which the U.S. can also relate to. The cartoon takes a funny perspective on the issue, depicting a Pope running around asking it's public to wear condoms, seeming a little desperate to keep his followers. It may just be that the youth considers the position of the church too radical, which is an easy conclusion to come to when issues such as gay marriage are becoming more accepted in society.

I guess the conclusion I am trying to make from this cartoon, is that although what it represents are very much so like issues in the U.S. having to do with religion and youth, I'm not quite sure the U.S. media would ever come right out with a cartoon as controversial as that. Just another interesting difference!