Asturian-American Migration Forum

Quedei ablucau tres alcontrame na Web col blog d’un rapaz afin al PSOE/FSA d’Asturias que punxera 3 (tres!) enl.laces a la cancion de Barack Obama en YouTube.

Segun sou perfil, el nom del blogger ia ‘Jose Victor’ ya ia estudiante de dreito, ya tamien ‘politico en formacion’. Pa char una gueyada a esta amuesa de pensamientu con tan poucu xeitu ya xinxa, mirai eiqui:

http://josevicrodriguez.blogspot.com/20 ... nador.html

Nada nun hai tan l.lonxe del espiritu de la campana de Barack Obama cumo el PSOE/FSA d’Asturias, la estaya ensin reformar ya con tan pouca l.luz en casa del socialismu asturianu. Seique hai outros sitios con pouca l.luz, cumo Turkmenistan au siguen aliel.los al manual de Turkmenbashi, el lider turcoman que morreu hai pouco. Pero n’oucidente d’Asturias (Cangas) hailos inda que nun prenden la l.luz pa que teamos a escuras.

Abaxu hai una trescripcion del canciu d’Obama pa que esti Jose Vitor faiga contraste sou pensamientu col espiritu de la campana d’Obama.

Cumo voluntariu pa la sua campana nas primarias de Washington DC esta invernada (2008), farei tou pa que’l candidatu democrata tarreza ya repudie cualisquier intentu del PSOE/FSA de sofitar a Obama. Fainos muitu mal esti tipu “d’endorsement” na campana de noviembre…

Eiqui vei l’enl.laz al canciu d’Obama pa los que inda nun lu vieran.

http://ru.youtube.com/watch?v=2fZHou18Cdk

Ya eiqui, una trescripcion, feita rapidin, n’asturianu:

Nos, somos quien

“Foi una creyencia que punxeran nos documentos mas vieyos d’esta nacion, declarando el sou destin. Nos, somos quien.
Boriaranlo los esclavos ya los abolicionistas al forxar carreiros pola l.liberta. Nos, somos quien. Nos, somos quien.

Cantaranlo los inmigrantes de la que entainaban de puertos l.lonxanos, cantaranlo los pioneiros de la que marcharan pal ueste…de dias ya momentos abondo duros. Nos, somos quien.

Foi un glayiu de la xente trabayador que s’organizara, de muyeres que garraran sua oportunida pa votar, de un presidente qu’escoyera la l.luna cumo la nuesa fronteira ya un rei que mos l.levara al altu’l monte ya mos dixera au taba la Tierra Prometio. Nos, somos quien, somos quien pa la xusticia ya la igualda. Nos, somos quien.

Nos, somos quien pa l’oportunida ya la prosperida. Somos quien pa la oportunida ya la prosperida. Si que somos quien pa sanar esta nacion. Nos, somos quien pa iguar esti mundu. Nos, somos quien.

Sabemos perbien que’l carreiru vei ser l.longu. Pero nun escaecer que nun importan las torgas en meta’l camin. Nada nun vei torgar el poder de las idegas, del pensamientu activu, de voces que glayan pol cambeu. Queremos camudar las cousas, you quiero camudar las cousas.

Dixeranos que nun somos quien a fader esto, pero el ruxerrux de las voces vei tornase inda mas fuerte ya dissonante. Entrugaranos que fixeramos toos xuntos un ‘reality check, alvirtieranos de nun fader medrar esperanzas falsa na xente.

Pero cumo la narrativa que ia America, nunca nun houbo nada falso no cincante la esperanza. Nos tamos pol cambeo, you tou pol cambeo.

Ya la esperanza de la rapacina que sal del colexu publicu de Dylan ia igual que’l suanu que tien el rapaz caleyando pelas cais de Los Anxeles. Vamos remembra-ys que daque ta pasando n’America, que nun tamos tan dividios cumo paeciera na politica, que somos una xente, que somos una nacion.

Ya xuntos tamos pa entamar el prosimu gran capitulu de la hestoria Americana conas tres pal.labras que fairan boveda dende las costas ya de mar rel.lumante a mar rel.lumante:

Nos, somos quien. Nos, somos quien.”

----

To my horror, I found a blogger in Asturias who belongs to the PSOE/FSA with the chutzpah to create 2 (two!) links to the Obama song swirling through YouTube.

According to the profile, the blogger’s name is ‘Jose Victor’ and he’s a law student, as well as a self-qualified ‘budding politician’. Check out this demonstration of gravity-defying thinking:

http://josevicrodriguez.blogspot.com/20 ... nador.html

Nothing is further from the spirit of the Barack Obama campaign than the Asturian PSOE/FSA (the unreformed and unenlightened Socialist party in Asturias), aside from the manual written by Turkmenbashi, leader of Turkmenistan before his timely death last year.

I’ve written out the lyrics below, Jose Victor, to let your formidable incongruence speak for itself. As an unashamed Obama volunteer in the DC campaign this past winter, I will make sure the candidate of the Democratic Party repudiates and rejects any attempt at endorsement by the PSOE/FSA. It is harmful to our campaign.

Here is the YouTube of the Obama song, for those of you who have not viewed it:

http://ru.youtube.com/watch?v=2fZHou18Cdk

And here is a transcription, done in haste:

Yes, we can

“It was a creed written into the founding documents, that declared the destiny of a nation. Yes, we can. It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed the trails for freedom. Yes, we can. Yes, we can.
It was sung by immigrants as they struck out of distant shores, pioneers who pushed westward as they…of unforgiving moments. Yes, we can.
It was the call from workers who organized, women who reached for their ballots, a president who chose the moon as our new frontier and a king who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land. Yes we can, to justice and equality. Yes, we can.
[chorus]
Yes, we can, to opportunity and to the prosperity. Yes, we can to opportunity and prosperity. Yes, we can heal this nation. Yes, we can repair this world. Yes, we can.
[chorus] Si, se puede.
We know the battle ahead will be long. But always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way. Nothing can stand in the way of the power of militants, of voices calling for change. We want change, I want change.
[chorus]
We have been told we cannot do this by a course of sentences that will only grow louder and dissonant. We’ve been asked, all of us, for a reality check. We’ve been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope. But like the story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope. We want change, I want change.
[chorus]
And the hopes of the little girl who goes to the public school in Dylan are the same in the dreams of the boy who…streets of L.A. We will remember that there is something happening in America, that we are not as divided as our politics suggest, that we are one people, that we are one nation.
And together we will begin the next great chapter in the American story with three words that will ring from coast to coast, from sea to shining sea:
Yes, we can. Yes, we can. Yes, we can.”

Paul, este tal Victor no es un estudiante sin más, ni un afiliado cualquiera del PSOE. Si lees con detenimiento los mensajes que están colocados debajo, podrás ver que se trata del "Secretario de Organización" local. Eso quiere decir que es un hombre del aparato. Nada extraño tanto elogio por lo tanto.

Carlos wrote:Si lees con detenimiento los mensajes que están colocados debajo, podrás ver que se trata del "Secretario de Organización" local. Eso quiere decir que es un hombre del aparato.

Well, the adulatory comments about Jose Manuel Cuervo do remind me of Turkmenistan or Ceaucescu's Romania. The content reeks of an apparatchik mentality ('Saludos socialistas'), as you point out, found only in yes-saying, button-pushing systems of government. Poor Asturias...

My expectations are much lower: I just want this guy to take down the Obama clips! Please, Jose Victor or whatever your name is, do not link to the Obama campaign. We risk losing the White House again! [yes, tongue in cheek]

Is ,,, do you think this Jose manuel cuervo has got something to do with this one ?

http://andrew.stottsan.net/photography/ ... C_9355.jpg

it is the mexican connection in the asturian "wild" west all over again ...

"the politician in formation" is sucking up to evil higher powes trying to fish out his next paid job in local politics ( or keep his current one ) I guess ... sad very sad indeed ... sad to see a person in his early twenties that cynical and selfserving. Not that if he was older would be any better tho ,,, but his "enthusiasm" for something ( at best ) so grey , mediocre and uninspiring as the asturian establishment wiffs of something less than sincere ...

ayalgueru wrote: sad to see a person in his early twenties that cynical and selfserving. Not that if he was older would be any better tho ,,, but his "enthusiasm" for something ( at best ) so grey , mediocre and uninspiring as the asturian establishment wiffs of something less than sincere ...

Absolutely, it's pathetic. We have a great word for that in Asturian: noxu. But like Carlos pointed out, it's the mind of someone in the party machine of the FSA, or 'apparatchik'. The word is not innocent, it comes from the party meetings and congress sessions inside Moscow's Kremlin until 1991.

There was a joke in Soviet Russia about a KPCC (Communist Party of the Soviet Union) session where everybody rose on cue, pushed the 'Yes' button on cue and engaged in copious applause, also on cue. One day, the KGB was asked to find out who the American spy was in the audience. They found him out easily enough: while everyone else was sleeping, on cue, during a long speech, the only person to remain awake was the American spy.

Ta bien esa semeya de Jose Cuervo. Alcuerdame de borracheras que garrara you con tequila n'Olympia, Washington!

For those interested, the secretary of the FSA (the Socialist party in Asturias), Javier Fernandez, actually grinned with satisfaction when asked about Obama´s victory in the US during a press conference yesterday in Asturias (Nov. 5, 2008).

Fernandez is the dogma-maker for the ruling PSOE in Asturias, an organizer who has fought against Asturian language rights and has turned the FSA into one of the least transparent political parties of modern Spain, and one that depends on a clientelist network of payoffs.

Nothing in the spirit of the FSA would ever approach the values of the Obama campaign. And yet here is a man who claims a degree of affinity with Obama. It is a real joke for those of us who know how the Asturian Socialists work...

On other fronts, can someone in West Virginia please explain why the state went red?

You know I've been trying to answer that question for the last eight years. Most of the state office went blue,as well as US Senate, US House of Representatives, a lot of ticket splitting. I don't think it was about race , its been the same story for the past eight years

Hmm. This is a topic that could offend some, so I'm trying to write very objectively.

Talking about conservatism is difficult because there are several different varieties of conservatives. Fiscal conservatives may have a very intellectual position based on reason and study. Of course, none of us is as objective and rational as we'd like to think.

Social conservatives, in my experience, tend to base their views on emotional reactions and thus seem to be more easily manipulated. That can, however, make them powerful campaigners! Of course, there are plenty of people leaning to the left who make decisions based on emotional reactivity rather than reason. These folks bum me out just as much as those on the right. Again, none of us are as rational as we think we are.

In many areas of WV those with education have had to leave the state to find work. Also, living in small towns or in areas away from the diversity of our urban centers doesn't give people easy exposure to different ways of living and thinking. You don't need both to be broad-minded. Either helps.

Perhaps having a minority background, such as being Asturian-American, helps give one an appreciation for diversity and different ways of thinking.

It should be said that many people without a college education do just fine with critical thinking and many who have a college degree don't, but it's fair to say that having a dose of higher education does tend to increase one's ability to think critically. Critical thinking isn't inborn; it takes practice and education is one way we get that practice.

Also, I think those who have always lived on the coasts, find it hard to imagine just how conservative many people in the center of the country are. But, again, it's complicated. When I lived in Iowa, I was impressed by the openness and intelligence of many of the farmers I met. If I recall correctly, the level of education in Iowa is very high, so once again education and exposure to diverse ways of living and thinking influence one's point of view.

I think that the capacity to think critically can be found in most people of normal intelligence. Formal education is certainly one way in which it can be developed, but there are others as well. One of the best critical thinkers I have ever known is a rough and tumble street kid from the Bronx who never finished high school. He can hold his own in conversations with professionals in history, law, religion and several other fields. He has always been interested in a wide variety of subjects, has always read everything he could get his hands on, and has retained most of it.

What tends to make a difference, in my opinion, is what type of thinking and emotion we choose to use in relation to a particular topic, and why we make such choices. I have seen people capable of keen analysis fall victim to emotional reaction rooted in their religious or political beliefs. They react rather than analyze, lash out rather than put together a convincing argument.

That's it exactly, Bob. Education no guarantee that one will develop critical thinking skills. The having to survive on the street may be a better teacher. Reading and talking with people who have different perspectives are also good strategies.

And, no matter whether we develop those skills or not, the emotional forces that are part of being a human being can easily overwhelm our rationality. That's why we can't fully trust ourselves or anyone to be rational all the time. We all regularly prove ourselves to be capable of great immaturity. And this is why taking a deep breath really is helpful: it gives us a chance to reconsider whether we really want to act foolishly.