Interview to a Morisco

Journalist:

Hello. My name is Fernando. We are speaking from the BBC in London. Today we have travelled to the 17^th Century and we are interviewing a man who has recently suffered the expulsion of the Moriscos. Tell me something about you.

Morisco:

Hello, my name is Abdula Al Abukar and I hope to solve all your doubts.

Journalist:

How did the government tell you the bad new?

Morisco:

In 1570 we received a letter signed by the King that told that we had to leave Spain. It was quite a shocking situation and my family and I thought it was a prank. We got some information from the government and finally they told us it was true.

Journalist:

When did they take you and your family?

Morisco:

Well, It´s a long story.

First of all we live in Valencia, and because as it´s one of the cities with more Moriscos,  they took us the first ones. We had many problems because my family and I were taken in different boats, they told us to calm down that our destination was the same. I arrived first, and a week later my family and my sons arrived.

Journalist:

Where did you arrive?

Morisco:

The first week I didn´t recognized the place and anyone told me where we were. But one day I saw a sign with the name “Rabat” written and then I realized where I was. I was in the capital of Morocco.

Journalist:

Wow! That should have been a very uncomfortable situation.

What was your job in Spain and in Morocco?

Morisco:

I worked for a noble in a land where I was the chief, he gave me that charge because I had been with him my entire live, and we were near friends. He gave me a house near the land where I lived with my family. Notwithstanding, in Morocco I work in a land that doesn´t product a lot of harvest, I have to work more than ten or eleven hours a day, and my salary isn´t as high as in Spain and I can´t maintain my family.

Journalist:

I´m sorry you haven´t found any other place to work.

Why do you think the king wanted you to leave Spain?

Morisco:

Well, I don´t actually know why he decided to expel my family and me out of the peninsula.

I converted myself to Christianity, I obeyed every single law, and I loved Spain; and if I had to die for Spain I would. Three generations ago, my whole family converted to Christianity. Since then we have all been Christians, and my wife and I got married in the church. I felt quite bothered. Do you know the reasons why they expelled us?

Journalist:

Oh, I thought you knew them! Well the main reason was because you weren´t Christians…

Morisco:

But I had converted to Christianity, and I loved Spain. I think the decision Philip has taken isn´t the correct one. I think he isn´t an example of a loyal king. Charles V, in my opinion, he was faithful to his country because he respected having another religion.

Journalist:

Moving to another topic, let´s talk about your social situation there in Morocco.

Morisco:

OK. To be honest, it´s totally different. I have no friends, the food is different… I think I´d have to get used to live in this place. Every one looks at me as if I was an immigrant. It´s quite annoying.

Journalist:

Yes, I can imagine it. Do your wife or children work?

Morisco:

My wife is a homemaker. She works in house and takes care of our sons. Otherwise, my sons do not work. They start to work when they are 12. They are know: 11, 9 and 5.

Journalist:

Do you support this behavior?

Morisco:

Of course not, I think what children should do is go to school and learn, because I haven´t learnt and I feel like if I were nothing; and I don´t want that for my children. I try to teach them the things I know. Has it changed in the future?

Journalist:

Yes. Now it is obligatory to go to school. I´m so sorry you haven’t gone to school. But it has been a slow process. Nowadays, there are still countries that don´t have schools.

Just the last question: do you spend time with your family?

Morisco:

Well, not a lot. I wake up early and they are still sleeping. At lunch time, I have a sandwich at the land, and of course I cannot see them. But when I arrive home and can give them lessons and have fun with them

Journalist:

Thank you very much. I hope you find a better place to live, and that you spend more time with your family. It has been a pleasure.

Morisco:

Your welcome.

Spanish Armada

TASK 1. This is an extract from a letter to the English government which gives details about the progress of the Armada.

·         How useful do you think this information would be to the English government?

In my opinion this letter had a lot of useful information that was used to prepare the defense of the United Kingdom and also to have the details of the ships, leaders, sailors and soldiers of the Spanish Armada.

·         Why were there more soldiers than sailors?

There were around 11000 soldiers, because the intention of Phillip II was to conquer England to expel Isabel I of England because she was not catholic and was supporting protestant rebels from Flanders.

Phillip II was a catholic king and wanted that the whole Europe was catholic too.

TASK 2. This is a report from Lord Howard of Effingham, the Admiral of the English fleet.

·         How do you think the news that the Spanish Armada had been sighted was able to reach Lord Howard so quickly when he was at Plymouth, over a hundred miles away?

The letter was able to reach on time to the English Government because the ship called Golden Hind saw the Spanish ships in a daily review of the sea near the UK cost. The watchers in the coast fired a light that was repeated until Plymouth, where the English army was. As a consequence of that, this message reached the UK government.

·         Why do you think Howard complained to Walsingham about the wind?

This meteorological fact was very important in order to favor the landing of the Spanish troops.

·         Howard says that the Spanish fleet was ‘soe strong’. What made it strong?

The Spanish Armada was so strong because it was composed by 120 ships, with 4 galleasses and many big ships.

TASK 4. An extract from a Spanish captain’s account of the events. He had survived after being shipwrecked on the Irish coast and was then interrogated by the English, but eventually returned home to Spain.

·         The Spanish Armada fought the English fleet for two days without losing any ships. What happened next that changed this?

This day 25 English ships came to Callis to support the ones that were there, and in the night, they sent 6 fired ships into the Spanish army anchored in Callis making a great ship burned and more ships go away.

·         Why was it a good thing that the Spanish plans were stopped?

Because the Spanish had planned to see the prince of Parma that was giving the army 7000 men to join them and invade England.

Also, was a good thing because the ships that went into the sea suffered a terrible weather the next days, changing the wind direction and making the English have advantage so they were fired by the English army.

·         If you could change one thing to give the Spanish a better chance of winning what would it be and why?

In my opinion the worst fact the election of the Duke of Medina Sidonia as the leader of the Spanish fleet. He was the general captain of the Spanish army but he was a man with no experience in maritime fighting. His decisions went from bad to worse.

·         The English celebrated their victory with a medal saying ‘God Blew and they were Scattered’ – how would the Spanish have explained their defeat?

The Spanish troops justified their defeat in the bad military organization, their bad leader and also due to the meteorological conditions they suffered.

TASK 6. Explain in a short paragraph why many people thought that God had helped the English defeat the Spanish Armada.

They thought that God had helped them because the wind pushed the Spanish fleet first against the Dutch coast and afterwards to the North, and looked as if God didn´t wanted them to fight, he didn´t let the Spanish conquer England. And that´s why England won.

The Burial of Count Orgaz.

Differences between Charles V territories and Phillip II ones

I have made a little summary of all the territories that were conquered during the reign of Charles V and Phillip II.
Charles V:
The house of Valois ( Netherlands )
Habsburg  ( Holy roman Empire )
Tratamara ( Spain )
Fernando I:
He inherited the Holy roman empire from his brother.
Phillip II:
All the territories of his father Charles V except the Holy Roman Empire and the territories of Portugal from his mother.

COAT OF ARMS OF CHARLES V

SPAIN

Spain is a sovereign state located on the Iberian Peninsula in southern western Europe. 
It´s also a parliamentary monarchy according to the Spanish Constitution in which national sovereignty belongs to the Spanish people, from whom all state powers originate. This nation, which is a democratic state, is based in three main principles: freedom, justice and equality.

Nowadays, the Head of the State is the King, called Felipe VI, and he is the highest representation of the Spanish State in international relationships since 19 June 2014. The Spanish Crown has been inherited from fathers to their legitimate sons, always following an order explained in the article 57 of the Spanish Constitution.

Otherwise, the head of the government is chosen democratically, who is the president, and whose name is Mariano Rajoy.

The judicial power belongs to many different statutes. These are the Consejo General del Poder Judicial, the Tribunal Constitutional and the Tribunal Supremo .

• Consejo General del Poder Judicial: Highest justice institution in the government.
• Tribunal Constitutional: Their duty is to assure laws and public administration's actuations respect the Constitution.
• Tribunal Supremo:  Is the superior jurisdictional body and is in charge of every order except constitutional guarantees

The legislative power is held by one power:

• The Cortes Generales: Which are formed by the Congreso de los Diputados and the Senado, and it also rules the executive one.

The state is divided into municipalities, provinces and Self-governing Communities, with regard to the territorial organization. 

Types of States

AMARÁS AL LÍDER

SOBRE TODAS LAS COSAS

ORIGIN OF NORTH KOREA AND ITS COMUNIST REGIME

Following Japan’s defeat in 1945 the Soviet Union and United States agreed to split the post-war control of the Korean peninsula between them. On August 10, 1945 two young U.S. military officers drew up a line demarcating the U.S. and Soviet occupation zones at the 38th parallel. The divide should have been temporary; a mere footnote in Korea’s long history, but the emergence of the Cold War made this a seminal event. Seeking to ensure the maintenance of their respective influences in Korea, the U.S. and USSR installed leaders sympathetic to their own cause, while mistrust on both sides prevented cooperation on elections that were supposed to choose a leader for the entire peninsula. The United States handed control over the southern half of the peninsula to Syngman Rhee, while the Soviet Union gave Kim Il-sung power over the north. In 1948, both sides claimed to be the legitimate government and representative of the entire Korean people.

RECENT NEWS ABOUT NORTH KOREA

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/north-korea-independence-day-dating-love-sex-drinking-video-games-and-being-gay-in-north-korea-life-a7233526.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/23/sports/2018-winter-olympics-pyeongchang-north-south-korea.html?_r=0

http://yourdailyjournal.com/opinion/columns/73205/north-korea-what-life-is-this

http://www.businessinsider.com/what-childhood-in-north-korea-is-really-like-2017-5/#in-less-developed-regions-the-trek-to-school-can-be-fraught-with-construction-projects-and-dangerous-terrain-school-buses-when-villages-have-them-are-often-repurposed-dump-trucks-3

NORTH KOREAN LEADERS

The Kim dynasty, officially called Mount Paektu Bloodline, is a three-generation lineage of North Korean leadership descending from the country's first leader, Kim Il-sung, in 1948. Kim came to rule the North after the end of Japanese control in 1945 split the region. He began the Korean War in 1950 in an attempt to reunify the peninsula. Kim developed a cult of personality closely tied to their state philosophy of Juche, which was passed on to his successors: his son Kim Jong-il and grandson Kim Jong-un.

KIM IL-SUNG: Kim Il-Sung is known as the founder and first president of the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea. Kim was born to a small peasant family but they were soon forced to flee following the Japanese occupation of his homeland. After moving to China, Kim soon became radicalized and joined forces that were committed to defying the occupiers. Even as an early teen, he was involved with armed resistance activity and as a young man he was promoted to a leadership role. Driven by his anti-Japanese sentiments, he sided with the Soviet Union in the World War, where he trained and fought along with the Soviet soldiers against the Japanese. He eventually rose to the ranks of a leader in the Soviet military. At the end of the war, he was in a prime position to take over the mantle of leadership of his newly-liberated country. Seizing the opportunity, Kim and his forces soon overruled the entire peninsula but faced stiff resistance from foreign countries. After a bitter and devastating war, the peninsula was split in half and he became the undisputed leader of the northern half. Combining Communist and Marxist ideology with his own brand of Korean self-reliance, he soon forged himself as the shining leader of a new country. After ruling his country with an iron grip for half a century, the supreme leader passed away, leaving his country in the hands of a virtual monarchy.

KIM JONG-IL Kim Jong-Il was born the 16th of February in 1941, and died the 17th of December in 201 was the supreme leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly referred to as North Korea, from 1994 to 2011. By the early 1980s Kim Jong-Il had become the heir apparent for the leadership of the country and assumed important posts in the party and army organs. He succeeded his father and founder of the DPRK, Kim Il-sung, following the elder Kim's death in 1994. Kim Jong-il was the General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), Politburo Standing Committee member of WPK, Chairman of the National Defense Commission (NDC) of North Korea, and the Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army (KPA), the fourth-largest standing army in the world. Kim's leadership is thought to have been even more authoritarian than his father's.

KIM JONG-UN Kim Jong-un  was born the 8th of January in 1984, is the Chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) and supreme leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), commonly referred to as North Korea. Kim is the second child of Kim Jong-il (1941–2011). Before taking power, he had barely been seen in public, and many of the activities of both Kim and his government remain shrouded in secrecy. Even details such as what year he was born, and whether he did indeed attend a Western school under a pseudonym, are difficult to confirm with certainty. And is the one who is governing nowadays

 

INSTRUMENTS USED TO MANTAIN THE DICTATORIAL REGIME

Since the beginning of this dictatorship in the year 1984; each leader has introduced and changed many different laws. This long dictatorship has imposed a schedule for every inhabitant in North Korea. There are some rules that must be done strictly, for example, every time you see a statue or painting of the leader, you must show devotion to it. Another rule is that in the leader´s birthday you must go to the nearest statue and show allegiance to the leader. Also in this dictatorial regime, you cannot find properties, and every aspect of life is controlled by the Government. So, as a consequence, anyone who breaks the rules is sentenced to a public execution, where everyone must go, as well as the family, who must go to forced-labor camps, for three generations.

To sum up, the instruments and techniques used by North Korean leaders are three:

• The control of the Government of the information and arbitrary laws.
• The imposition of restrictions
• And, the one more important I think is the lies told by the State, to make the leader seem a god to them, by watching propaganda or other lies, like, for example the number of books written by the leader.

GULAG: ITS MEANING AND SIMILARITIES IN NORTH KOREA

The word gulag is an acronym of “Glávnoie Upravlenie ispravítelno-trudovyj lagueréi i koloni”, that means General Directions of Field Prisons, and this is the name with which they would go down in history for fields of work for political prisoners in the Soviet Union of Stanlin that were spread across the coldest areas of Siberia.

In North-Korea there are also forced-labor camps, where the people who have been disrespectful with law, or have committed unreal crimes, and there they must stay all their life working in fields, mines, or cutting wood without getting paid either fed (just to survive), and the most shocking part, his or her family for three generations, must stay there all their lives!

MAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF A DICTATORSHIP

A dictatorship is a form of government characterized by the absolute rule of one person or a very small group of people who hold all political power.

1. One Party, One Leader and One Programme:

In dictatorship only one party is allowed to exist and it is the dictator's own party. Other political parties, associations and organizations are not allowed to func­tion. These are banned. All opposition to the dictator is ruthlessly suppressed.

2. Absence of Individual Liberty:

The individual does not enjoy any liberty or rights under dictatorship. Maximum obedience to the laws is equated to the maximum liberty. People are not allowed any liberty of speech, association and press.

3. National Glorification:

Dictators glorify their nations to an illogical extreme. A mad sense of patriotism is inculcated in the minds of the people. They are made intensely nationalistic.

The state is regarded as the march of God on earth. The state is considered to be the end and the individual a means to that end.

4. Glorification of War:

Dictators glorify war. War is considered to be essential for the normal health of body-politic. The state is all powerful and it must enhance its prestige. The dictators adopt a war-like policy and glorify brute force as the means for achieving national greatness.

5. Totalitarian State:

Dictatorship is a totalitarian state which controls each and every aspect of human personality, and takes into its fold all human activities in the social, economic, political, educational, religious and cultural spheres.

No margin for individual liberty is left behind.

6. Racialism:

Dictators preach racialism.

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS: NORTH KOREAN FAMILY AND TEENAGER VS SPANISH FAMILY AND TEENAGER

If I were a Korean guy, my life would be totally different in many ways such as human rights, technology, lifestyle… I wouldn´t have any rights, maybe I would be in a forced-labor camp, just because my parents have done something stupid such as cutting a rope in a mine; or maybe I would be attending school where the only thing I learnt were lies of my leader and of my country. I wouldn´t have any access to Internet or to any encyclopedia. Otherwise, here in Spain I can access easily to reliable information about our country´s history. I also can choose what to wear, where to leave, and surprisingly, how to cut my hair, because in Korea there are just 15 different styles of hair, either for women and men; and here in Spain you can tell your hairdresser how you want your hair has to be cut.

VIDEOS:

• Koeran War

https://youtu.be/ss4dN6oqX68

https://youtu.be/dEHJDGHqjSY

https://youtu.be/X65suu1o0ZE

• Life in North Korea

https://youtu.be/DyqUw0WYwoc

https://youtu.be/uMoSyk0rK9s

https://youtu.be/ufhKWfPSQOw

• Curiosities

https://youtu.be/3WK_8v2qVaI

ZAMORA A SUSTAINABLE CITY

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3DdUv2TuihLYzExMFlrM1pyWUZ3MjJVbURkUUdWZTlxS2tv/view?usp=sharing

CHICAGO HOYT MODEL

ZAMORA´S URBAN PLAN

We define city as an urban settlement where a group of people live. This means that Zamora is a city.

Zamora is a small city in the northwest of Spain, next to Portugal, in the community of Castille and Leon. Probably it started more than two thousand years ago with a Celtic settlement. It’s easy to guess why these first settlers chose this place to inhabit:  On the top of a small hill (with a good vision of the surrounding land), just by a big river that gives food and protection from the south and by another small river that flows calmly to the main river on the north.

The urban plan of Zamora shows an irregular layout with some buildings that determine the historic past of our city: for example, the first medieval wall (which goes from the castle to Plaza Mayor) or the Cathedral. This area is known as the historic centre. This city distribution was created as small neighborhoods (called parish) surrounding churches, so there was always a church in the middle of a square and its parish around it. As the city increased its population, the second wall had to be built. But inside any of the walls of the city the distribution of the parishes surrounding a church has been maintained until recently.

Above all topics, the historic centre of my city has a cultural function. Here they are located the most important Romanic buildings and most of the Romanesque churches, which attracts tourism, but it has little economic importance as there are few shops in this area. Only the town hall, other political institutions, the main library and some museums are inside this first medieval wall. In my opinion, the main problems affecting this zone of the city are the ones derived from the great number of old houses abandoned and uninhabited and the lots without any edification that leads to a low density of population without many services as clinics, supermarkets, secondary schools, etc. The solution could be to force building new houses in abandoned houses and lots. On the contrary, the main commercial area is located around two streets in the second wall: many shops and restaurants are located around them. These straight streets were created at the end of the XIX century with a modernist square and modernist buildings. In my opinion, the main problems here are the high prices that flats and houses have around the two main commercial streets. But in general, in this city there aren’t many problems: the prices of houses are lower than in other cities, there isn’t pollution, it’s a safe city, noises are not excessive and you can go walking to most places...

Later, in the second half of the XX century, as the city's population started to increase, the small river was diverted from its course and some working neighborhoods such as Los Bloques, San Lázaro or San José Obrero were created out of the city walls. In theses neighborhoods low income families settled: in Los Bloques in small flats and In San José Obrero or San Lázaro in small single-family houses. And as a way of modernize the city, the old walls of the city were partially removed to build big buildings. A big neighborhood with linear distribution of straight streets and a some big avenues with trees was created outside the walls; I mean, Avenida Requejo, Avenida Príncipe de Asturias, Avenida Tres Cruces y Avenida Víctor Gallego with all its surrounding streets. A little apart from it the train station was built. Also the small universitary campus and the hospitals are settled in this area. But this expansion zone had a main residential purpose: no more than big buildings with lots of flats can be seen here. The main problems here are the traffic and the difficulty to park in these streets. On the contrary, by the other side of the river there have always been small single-familiar houses with a more anachronistic distribution of the streets.

A big residential area was created at the end of the XX century with big residential buildings: Las Viñas. As an anecdote, it’s worth mentioning that a great number of people that lived of agriculture from the villages of the province bought a flat here with the money received from the European Union grants. Also a residential neighborhood of big buildings with smaller flats was created on the other side of the railway: Peña Trevinca. And just by it, the only big supermarket in Zamora was built by the main road that goes across the city.

At the beginning of this century some residential neighborhoods as la Perla or Siglo XXI has been created offering the possibility to live in a big house to media-high economic class. Especially in Siglo XXI, the houses are bigger but the people is car-dependant because it’s out of Zamora and the public transport comes from time to time. But its pattern is clearly the one of a Garden City.

The conurbation village in Zamora par excellence is Morales del Vino: located 5 kilometers south of Zamora. Other conurbation villages are Moraleja del Vino, Villaralbo and Roales. The main problems affecting the outskirts of Zamora are the ones related with secondary schools and clinics, apart from dependence of a car to come to Zamora. Of course, the solution to these problems would be a good public transport between these villages and the city.

WORLD CITIES

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