La Bélgica de Hergé

Cuando uno piensa en Bélgica, inmediatamente le vienen varias cosas a la cabeza. Europa. Gofres. Cerveza. Chocolate. Cómics. Además de ser la capital europea por excelencia y de estar plagada de gofrerías y tiendas de chocolate, Bélgica goza del privilegio de ser una de las cunas del cómic más importantes del mundo. Estas pequeñas historietas inundan las calles de la capital belga, llenándola de vida y de color. Sin duda, uno de los más conocidos es Tintín, de Hergé. 

Las aventuras de este famoso personaje le llevaron a recorrer más de medio mundo, siempre acompañado de su incondicional Milú. Curiosamente, Hergé nunca viajó hasta que tuvo una edad avanzada y toda la documentación para los cómics de Tintín la sacó del National Geographic, además de estudiar diversos libros y coleccionar artículos y fotos que todavía hoy en día se conservan.

Sin duda, la huella de Hergé y su pequeño héroe están presentes en la Bélgica de hoy día. Además, a unos 30 km de Bruselas se encuentra el Museo Hergé. Pero si da la casualidad de que estáis allí y no os da tiempo a ir, siempre podéis pasaros por La Boutique Tintin, justo al lado de la Grand Place.

Por supuesto, no todo son viñetas allí, pero ¡qué decir de Bruselas! Pasear por sus callejuelas tiene un gran encanto que se mezcla con el olor tan delicioso de gofre recién hecho. Y la Gran Place... como decía Jean Cocteau "es el teatro más bello del mundo".  Es curioso que una capital de este tamaño sea la sede de la mayor parte de las instituciones europeas. Cuesta imaginar que mientras unos pocos afortunados sacan fotos al Manneken Pis, unas paradas de metro más allá se está decidiendo el futuro de nuestra Unión...

Si tenéis ocasión de visitar Bélgica, ¡no os lo perdáis! (¡y que no se os olvide comer gofres!)

Nepal: The Maoist Dream

"The hills are not mere hills now

They are red warriors

The jungles are not jungles now

They are mass of people’s armies

The villages are unified

In the camps of retaliation

In this peak of the land

Everest is glowing as red flags"

Salute Jelbang

Krishna Sen Ichhuk

That is how this story begins: with a poem describing Nepal's Maoist Dream. This interesting report elaborated by Al Jazeera focuses on that -too often forgotten- dream. Some people may not know where Nepal is. They may even wonder why we should care about the History of an underdeveloped country. Fine. If you have identified yourself with these ideas, please, do not waste your time and stop here. If not - and I hope you did not- keep on reading!  

Asia is a huge continent. As such, it is composed of lots of wonderful states, each and every one of them with a historical, political, social, cultural and economic background. Yet, we tend to forget that. Social movements did not only have an impact on Europe. Nepal is a clear -unknown- example of that. 

Nepalese History is long and complex. Let's summarize it a little bit, shall we? 1950. Up to this year, Nepal had been governed by different dinasties. Finally in 1951, Nepal started to be administered by an hereditary government- similar to the monarchical system. 

After many struggles for democracy throughout the 20th century, in 1991, Nepal held elections. Despite the constitutional reforms, the system was still corrupted. Five years later, in 1996, the UCPN (M) (Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)) led a violent insurrection that marked the beginning of a bloody Civil War which lasted for 10 years.

In 2006, the new government and Maoist rebels finally signed a ceasefire and began the negotiations for the establishment of a Republic and the constitution of an Assembly, therefore putting an end to monarchy and hopefully setting the first steps for a democratic state. In September 2015, a new constitution was promulgated. 

Al Jazeera's article tells the stories and testimonies of different people that were somehow affected by this Civil War. Students, warriors, teachers, writers. What they all had in common was that Maoist dream. A dream of hope, a dream of change, a dream of opportunities and, above all, a dream of justice.

Did they succeed? Did they achieve anything at all? Was it really worth the suffering ? 

Maybe these questions can be answered. Maybe not. Just in case you want to try, here you have the article. You can download it as a pdf :-) 

Nepal: The Maoist Dream

Have a nice weekend!