Misplaced worries?
“So what, it is our country!” This is a phrase, and different versions of it, I heard a few times last week, said by people during several documentaries I watched and a few essays I read. At first glance, there didn’t seem to be any connection between a film about the missing and murdered indigenous women in Canada, a series about immigrating to Andalusia, a series called “Far from home”, and the papers I read after seeing some episodes of the TV series “George Gently”. Somehow though, the misconception of historical rights evolving into believing the concept of supremacy and finally sprouting as racism looks to be a common nominator regarding the defending one’s own uncertainty and lack of education. It doesn’t come as a surprise that the solution to most problems in society lays in democratic compromising or – this seems to be getting rather popular – a pyramid construction with a narcissistic puppet on top.
The most obvious solutions are frustrated because of conservative proven systems that secure financial gain for the ones in power. Even when a new solution to an existing problem would benefit all those that are involved, there are still rich and influential lobbyist groups that successfully manage to turn political decisions their way. Society and environment are linked like heart and brain, one doesn’t function without the other. So-called “brave” political decisions are far and few between, resulting in the retardation of necessary changes to save our planet and the conditions for the human species to survive over time. Of course, hemp would be a very good substitute for the eucalyptus “farms” – often confused with forests – there are no technical or even economic reasons, only political and cartel-like controlled ones. The only reason I would ever leave this beautiful country again are the fires all around us and the corruption that is the source of all this evil. If nothing changes, this man-made fires will keep destroying lives and nature, and at some point, one will have to decide whether living with the stress and the danger that threatens your livelihood every summer weighs up to enjoying this beautiful vicinity of Central Portugal. Obvious results of climate change, short-term profit scams, the risk of destroying even more with upcoming lithium mines, the ridiculously low wages and lack of opportunities, could become the seeds of national populism.
In the documentary series “Letters to Andalusia”, a Dutch reporter started to write letters to the people of this new place he was forced to immigrate to. You will need some background information as to why he ended up in that situation. For 15 years he was a reporter for the Dutch National TV, based in Columbia. He got married, has 2 children and ended up fleeing the country with his family after serious threats on his life. He was not allowed to re-settle in The Netherlands (although he and his children are Dutch, have a Dutch passport and he’s working for the national broadcast company) because his wife was refused to enter the country. As a result of this nationalist right-wing believing that every foreigner is a threat to society, he was left with two options. Send his wife back to Columbia and stay in Holland with his two kids, or find a country where they would be welcome. They were welcome in Spain. He and his children of course as EU passport holders and the residence for his wife was arranged in 2 weeks, no problems at all. He wanted to learn as much about this new home for him and his family as possible. As a journalist (with a camera crew) he meets all kinds of people who reacted to his letter. Half of them welcome all the “foreigners”. He interviewed some younger men from central Africa who found a job at a fisher boat, work that, according to the owners of these boats, doesn’t appeal to Spanish youth. The same reasons why seasonal work in the agricultural industry is almost solely done by immigrants or former refugees, something that seems to be a worldwide phenomenon.
On the other side, there are souvenir shops specially devoted to Franco. A part of the people believe that times were much better during the dictator years. Because they see a change in the world around them, believing that all economical misfortunes are to blame on these immigrants (while in fact, they boost the economy by just doing the “filthy, badly paid and hard” jobs) and therefore will vote for a nationalist party who presents them the ultimate scapegoat. Fascism is luring for its chance in every society where a whole “class” of people are feeling discriminated, robbed of their pensions, have less to spend year in year out because of austerity measures, and where “middle class” is losing their position, often falling back into a situation their parents and grandparents fought so hard for to get out of.
I see the same thing happening here in my village. Younger families return to live with their parents because the big city, the place where they have a job and where their children go to school, became non-affordable to live in. While the majority welcomes “so-called expats” as a form of a positive economic boost because they spend their money in this country, the reactions from people who were driven out of their city-life are much different. One of my neighbours, who came back to the village, blames all these “rich foreigners”, the call-center expats, (he works as a maintenance employee at the former Expo site) Air B&B and the “wealthy tourists” for driving up the prices of property and rent. A third of his income is spent on traveling costs to go to work now, and it is only because they live in their parents’ house that they are able to survive. He’s not an extremist, but he isn’t that fond of “foreigners” anymore. His solution for the problem is well thought over; Nobody should be allowed to purchase a property if you are not economical (a job) or family bound to the area or city the house is in. After some discussion, he agreed that it should depend on the value of the property, that there should be a minimum price for properties that could be bought by people with no connection to the city. After a few glasses of wine, I was reassured that he didn’t mean people like us who just bought a house in a village that would have stayed empty for a long time anyway.
The conversations we had – including about the fires that were around our village and the fact that we have been very lucky the last 3 years – made me realize that it only takes one disappointment more for my neighbour to lose his ability to acknowledge some nuances in the way he looks at things. I told him about a documentary I saw about “western” families with their addiction to iPhone, designer clothes and all the new gadgets and luxury, who were dropped off at an Amish family in the US to learn how to be a family again. They are forced to communicate with each other face to face and they have to abandon all modern means of communication. What you see is that this experiment results in a huge culture shock. I must say, I enjoyed myself, but I did have difficulty hiding my astonishment and annoyance about how ridicule the problems of these “modern” families are. Although we (my neighbour and me) came to the conclusion that we could adjust much easier to that way of living - there isn’t that much difference with the way his parents live, except for the tractor and the TV – his reaction was; “Why should we work harder but at the same time be deprived of all these things even people on welfare can afford in Northern Europe?” It actually made him angry.
After WWII the world changed for the better. Watching episodes of the series “George Gently”, I realized that things we take for granted weren’t that normal in those years. You can have a different view on British Television, but they are very good at placing events in a time frame. Everything checks-out, from cars to streetlights, interiors to clothing, no matter whether the story is situated in the 19th century or the early sixties. This “Gently” series gives a very good description on a time when, according to a lot of British people on social media, life was much better, and is a time to long back to. Unmarried pregnant girls were “locked up” in a church ruled hospital and never saw their babies, homosexuals were fair game for the police, the death penalty was a common sentence, racism was a normal part of society. I was surprised that the makers of the series didn’t avoid showing the signs at certain pubs with “No coulered, no Irish”. They made the effort of representing that era as realistic as possible. I really do think it would be quite informing for young generations to watch the series (not just for the detective plots) to see how this process, towards the society they are living in now, went during the sixties. The Canadian documentary about a large amount of missing and murdered indigenous women shows painfully how racism got anchored in certain parts of society. I visited British Columbia a few years back and thought people were overwhelmingly kind. The sunshine coast is mostly inhabited “former” hippies and it struck me that marihuana was cheaper than cigarettes, as a matter of fact, I thought it was the nicest place I ever visited. I also learned however that racism belongs to everyday life. We. Dutch, are known for wanting everything as cheap as possible, so after being dazzled by the prizes of food in supermarkets (they put all taxes and VAT at the end of your register bill so at the end your shopping turns out more than twice as expensive as on the prices on the labels) we found an indigenous supermarket where prizes were literally half of what we had to pay elsewhere. There were big signs with “No American Express” but our European visa card wasn’t a problem, it turned out very difficult to pay cash at any store. When we proudly told some Canadian friends we found a solution for making our 30 days more doable, we were firmly told that it wasn’t appreciated to shop at those supermarkets. We were baffled about the reactions and the underlying racism that seemed so normal to them. At that time we were looking for a place to immigrate to and visited many countries, ending up in Portugal which seemed the ideal place.
All this traveling around made us aware that there isn’t a perfect paradise on earth, for us Portugal came close though. Looking at the rise of fascism and racism in certain countries - even our home country turned from being one of the most liberal, democratic and free in the world to a capitalist tax-haven for the international rich and powerful, where even a Dutch citizen is refused to come back to, just because he married a woman from South America – we think Portugal was a good choice at the time we had to decide. The situation, however, is changing, merely because a big group of people are falling behind, especially in the areas where plantation fires are threatening homes, lives and the environment in exactly the regions where well paid jobs are scarce, where people would do anything and take all consequences for granted to get a job in a lithium mine. Where young couples can’t afford to start their own family except when staying under the roof of their parents. I know, that has nothing to do with foreigners buying an expensive house or even starting a small business based on a “work-away” concept. But if the cliff gets too high for this growing amount of people to see any horizon, it only takes one charismatic populist to convince them it’s all because of these East-European immigrants who take away their 3,75 per hour jobs and those rich foreigners with their swimming pools next to their villa. Facts don’t matter in that case and seeing what is happening in some other countries it’s not an unthinkable scenario. For now, I can’t think of a place I’d rather live than in this beautiful and welcoming country, which became my country after 13 years too, but I can’t get these, maybe un-reasoned, worries far enough out of sight to just ignore them. I can only hope my neighbours (and all like him) situation will evolve for the better, which at the same time would make me more at ease to stay if future bush fires don’t ruin our little paradise that is.
The most obvious solutions are frustrated because of conservative proven systems that secure financial gain for the ones in power. Even when a new solution to an existing problem would benefit all those that are involved, there are still rich and influential lobbyist groups that successfully manage to turn political decisions their way. Society and environment are linked like heart and brain, one doesn’t function without the other. So-called “brave” political decisions are far and few between, resulting in the retardation of necessary changes to save our planet and the conditions for the human species to survive over time. Of course, hemp would be a very good substitute for the eucalyptus “farms” – often confused with forests – there are no technical or even economic reasons, only political and cartel-like controlled ones. The only reason I would ever leave this beautiful country again are the fires all around us and the corruption that is the source of all this evil. If nothing changes, this man-made fires will keep destroying lives and nature, and at some point, one will have to decide whether living with the stress and the danger that threatens your livelihood every summer weighs up to enjoying this beautiful vicinity of Central Portugal. Obvious results of climate change, short-term profit scams, the risk of destroying even more with upcoming lithium mines, the ridiculously low wages and lack of opportunities, could become the seeds of national populism.
In the documentary series “Letters to Andalusia”, a Dutch reporter started to write letters to the people of this new place he was forced to immigrate to. You will need some background information as to why he ended up in that situation. For 15 years he was a reporter for the Dutch National TV, based in Columbia. He got married, has 2 children and ended up fleeing the country with his family after serious threats on his life. He was not allowed to re-settle in The Netherlands (although he and his children are Dutch, have a Dutch passport and he’s working for the national broadcast company) because his wife was refused to enter the country. As a result of this nationalist right-wing believing that every foreigner is a threat to society, he was left with two options. Send his wife back to Columbia and stay in Holland with his two kids, or find a country where they would be welcome. They were welcome in Spain. He and his children of course as EU passport holders and the residence for his wife was arranged in 2 weeks, no problems at all. He wanted to learn as much about this new home for him and his family as possible. As a journalist (with a camera crew) he meets all kinds of people who reacted to his letter. Half of them welcome all the “foreigners”. He interviewed some younger men from central Africa who found a job at a fisher boat, work that, according to the owners of these boats, doesn’t appeal to Spanish youth. The same reasons why seasonal work in the agricultural industry is almost solely done by immigrants or former refugees, something that seems to be a worldwide phenomenon.
On the other side, there are souvenir shops specially devoted to Franco. A part of the people believe that times were much better during the dictator years. Because they see a change in the world around them, believing that all economical misfortunes are to blame on these immigrants (while in fact, they boost the economy by just doing the “filthy, badly paid and hard” jobs) and therefore will vote for a nationalist party who presents them the ultimate scapegoat. Fascism is luring for its chance in every society where a whole “class” of people are feeling discriminated, robbed of their pensions, have less to spend year in year out because of austerity measures, and where “middle class” is losing their position, often falling back into a situation their parents and grandparents fought so hard for to get out of.
I see the same thing happening here in my village. Younger families return to live with their parents because the big city, the place where they have a job and where their children go to school, became non-affordable to live in. While the majority welcomes “so-called expats” as a form of a positive economic boost because they spend their money in this country, the reactions from people who were driven out of their city-life are much different. One of my neighbours, who came back to the village, blames all these “rich foreigners”, the call-center expats, (he works as a maintenance employee at the former Expo site) Air B&B and the “wealthy tourists” for driving up the prices of property and rent. A third of his income is spent on traveling costs to go to work now, and it is only because they live in their parents’ house that they are able to survive. He’s not an extremist, but he isn’t that fond of “foreigners” anymore. His solution for the problem is well thought over; Nobody should be allowed to purchase a property if you are not economical (a job) or family bound to the area or city the house is in. After some discussion, he agreed that it should depend on the value of the property, that there should be a minimum price for properties that could be bought by people with no connection to the city. After a few glasses of wine, I was reassured that he didn’t mean people like us who just bought a house in a village that would have stayed empty for a long time anyway.
The conversations we had – including about the fires that were around our village and the fact that we have been very lucky the last 3 years – made me realize that it only takes one disappointment more for my neighbour to lose his ability to acknowledge some nuances in the way he looks at things. I told him about a documentary I saw about “western” families with their addiction to iPhone, designer clothes and all the new gadgets and luxury, who were dropped off at an Amish family in the US to learn how to be a family again. They are forced to communicate with each other face to face and they have to abandon all modern means of communication. What you see is that this experiment results in a huge culture shock. I must say, I enjoyed myself, but I did have difficulty hiding my astonishment and annoyance about how ridicule the problems of these “modern” families are. Although we (my neighbour and me) came to the conclusion that we could adjust much easier to that way of living - there isn’t that much difference with the way his parents live, except for the tractor and the TV – his reaction was; “Why should we work harder but at the same time be deprived of all these things even people on welfare can afford in Northern Europe?” It actually made him angry.
After WWII the world changed for the better. Watching episodes of the series “George Gently”, I realized that things we take for granted weren’t that normal in those years. You can have a different view on British Television, but they are very good at placing events in a time frame. Everything checks-out, from cars to streetlights, interiors to clothing, no matter whether the story is situated in the 19th century or the early sixties. This “Gently” series gives a very good description on a time when, according to a lot of British people on social media, life was much better, and is a time to long back to. Unmarried pregnant girls were “locked up” in a church ruled hospital and never saw their babies, homosexuals were fair game for the police, the death penalty was a common sentence, racism was a normal part of society. I was surprised that the makers of the series didn’t avoid showing the signs at certain pubs with “No coulered, no Irish”. They made the effort of representing that era as realistic as possible. I really do think it would be quite informing for young generations to watch the series (not just for the detective plots) to see how this process, towards the society they are living in now, went during the sixties. The Canadian documentary about a large amount of missing and murdered indigenous women shows painfully how racism got anchored in certain parts of society. I visited British Columbia a few years back and thought people were overwhelmingly kind. The sunshine coast is mostly inhabited “former” hippies and it struck me that marihuana was cheaper than cigarettes, as a matter of fact, I thought it was the nicest place I ever visited. I also learned however that racism belongs to everyday life. We. Dutch, are known for wanting everything as cheap as possible, so after being dazzled by the prizes of food in supermarkets (they put all taxes and VAT at the end of your register bill so at the end your shopping turns out more than twice as expensive as on the prices on the labels) we found an indigenous supermarket where prizes were literally half of what we had to pay elsewhere. There were big signs with “No American Express” but our European visa card wasn’t a problem, it turned out very difficult to pay cash at any store. When we proudly told some Canadian friends we found a solution for making our 30 days more doable, we were firmly told that it wasn’t appreciated to shop at those supermarkets. We were baffled about the reactions and the underlying racism that seemed so normal to them. At that time we were looking for a place to immigrate to and visited many countries, ending up in Portugal which seemed the ideal place.
All this traveling around made us aware that there isn’t a perfect paradise on earth, for us Portugal came close though. Looking at the rise of fascism and racism in certain countries - even our home country turned from being one of the most liberal, democratic and free in the world to a capitalist tax-haven for the international rich and powerful, where even a Dutch citizen is refused to come back to, just because he married a woman from South America – we think Portugal was a good choice at the time we had to decide. The situation, however, is changing, merely because a big group of people are falling behind, especially in the areas where plantation fires are threatening homes, lives and the environment in exactly the regions where well paid jobs are scarce, where people would do anything and take all consequences for granted to get a job in a lithium mine. Where young couples can’t afford to start their own family except when staying under the roof of their parents. I know, that has nothing to do with foreigners buying an expensive house or even starting a small business based on a “work-away” concept. But if the cliff gets too high for this growing amount of people to see any horizon, it only takes one charismatic populist to convince them it’s all because of these East-European immigrants who take away their 3,75 per hour jobs and those rich foreigners with their swimming pools next to their villa. Facts don’t matter in that case and seeing what is happening in some other countries it’s not an unthinkable scenario. For now, I can’t think of a place I’d rather live than in this beautiful and welcoming country, which became my country after 13 years too, but I can’t get these, maybe un-reasoned, worries far enough out of sight to just ignore them. I can only hope my neighbours (and all like him) situation will evolve for the better, which at the same time would make me more at ease to stay if future bush fires don’t ruin our little paradise that is.
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