Yesterday: me, ironing clothes. Not normally my preferred method of passing the time, though in this case feeling therapeutic, even meditative. Which might be a sign I've either (a) felt the intensity of the last couple of weeks more than I'd realized or (b) taken to heart far too many old Buddhist-style sayings ('before enlightenment, chop wood -- after enlightenment, chop wood'; 'if you meet the Buddha on the road, get him stewed then roll him for his cash'; etc.). Could be either one, though I suspect in this case it's the intensity bit.
And there's been a lot to absorb. If you've paid any attention at all to recent news from Spain, you're aware of the terrorist attacks, the elections, all that. The atmosphere hereabouts has maintained its recent strange tilt toward political acting out, which on one hand produces abundant opportunities for world-class satire and on the other makes turning on the television more of a crapshoot than normal if one isn't looking for public servants spewing fanciful half-truths and bilious falsehoods.
Since the public relations disaster arising from their apparent manipulation of information during the post-bombing investigation, and their subsequent loss in the national elections, el Partido Popular has engaged in a long, drawn-out, high-profile media offensive to counter the trouncing their image took during those decisive four days. The higher-ups of the party have made the rounds of the various news/interview shows, hammering away at their core message: they never lied, they never misled, they were completely open and honest, they have nothing to apologize for, other unspecified people took advantage of the situation, lying and distorting the facts. José María Aznar, in particular, put on an unnerving display during a lengthy interview on Telecinco, the single free broadcast channel considered to be uninfluenced and unmanipulated by the government. Aggressive, defiantly unpleasant, in the interviewer's face. Difficult to watch.
The state funeral for the victims of the bombings took place two days ago at the National Cathedral. Big name politicians and royalty from around Spain, Europe and other, more distant points on the map showed up for it. Numerous heavy hitters took advantage of being here to stop in and get acquainted with the incoming President, Zapatero -- Tony Blair, Jacques Chirac, Gerhard Schröder, the President of Portugal (Jorge Sampaio), not to mention with the Prime Minister of Poland (Leszek Miller), a country that's played a surprisingly visible role in the days following Zapatero's post-elections reiterations of intent re: the Spanish troops in Iraq. And Colin Powell, who had to wait 40 minutes for Zapatero to finish talking with Chirac.
Pictures of the various meetings were all over the print and television media, many of them shots of Zapatero and [fill in name of foreign leader here] seated, talking, with a third individual sitting between, slightly behind them -- unnamed, mostly women, different with each foreign leader, unmentioned in the photo captions. Unobtrusive, listening intently to the conversation or leaning discretely toward the foreign head of state, talking. Interpreters -- there but not there, reminding me for some reason of the daemons in Phillip Pullman's Dark Materials novels.
Blair and Powell stopped in to see Aznar at Moncloa Palace, the presidential residence, the Prime Minister of Poland also making a brief appearance. Aznar had shed his dark, disturbing persona of the Telecinco interview, appearing genuinely glad to see each of the three visitors, looking quieter, even a touch sad at some moments.
And at some point within the last couple of days, Aznar received Zapatero at Moncloa Palace, welcoming him with a strong handshake and a smile, his manner toward Zapatero markedly different than during the election campaign when Aznar slung enormous amounts of verbal shit in Zapatero's direction, Zapatero rarely responding, and never with the kind of extreme, mean-spirited assaults employed by Aznar. (Aznar not only called Zapatero the weakest Socialist candidate he'd ever seen, he actually on one astonishing occasion compared Zapatero -- a friendly, mild-mannered guy -- with Hitler. An authentically jaw-dropping moment for me, hearing that. Using Aznar's in-country political comportment as a reference point, him referring to Zapatero as Hitler is similar to Hitler calling Chamberlain a fascist.)
The City of Madrid held a ceremony at noon today in Sol, paying homage both to those affected by the bombings and to all the police, firefighters, ambulence crews and medical personnel who worked in the post-explosion hours and days, along with all the anonymous citizens who gave blood, volunteered at hospitals, and assisted in many other unheralded ways. I met a Spanish friend in Sol two days ago, late on a cold, windy afternoon. The platform on which the observances would take place was being erected in front of el Ayuntamiento (the city offices building), the shrine that had extended along the front of the building had been drastically compacted off to one side of the platform, most of the candles extinguished, in disarray, the breeze trying to put out the remaining few small flames. A printed sheet posted among the many handwritten signs taped to the building stated that the shrine would be moved to the fire station near Atocha Station, taking pains to put it respectfully, with as much sensitivity as could be communicated in an announcement like that.
Many, many people stopped to take in what was left of the memorial site, some remaining several minutes, moving slowly along its remaining length, reading signs, gazing at the remaining bouquets and candles. Others slowed down briefly before moving on.
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This evening, la Calle de Génova, Madrid (the dark-glassed building to the left: PP headquarters):
Madrid, te quiero.
rws 8:54 AM [+]