While the Barça central defender on loan to Italian Lecce, Samuel Umtiti, left the field of play in tears over the racist insults from the Lazio fans, in the Catalan town of Igualada, another year, the controversy of the black face, something that happens in many other cities. That is, when you paint in black the black king Baltasar and his entourage of black royal pages. They are two different controversies, which, however, show that #BlackLivesMatter is very much alive.
In addition, other debates are arising around the Three Wise Men, such as whether it is ethical for them to ride a camel (do we have to use live animals in the parades?) or if, in Motomami times, it would not be time for them to be replaced by the three Queens Wizards of the East This is what the artist Susi Chin proposes to us, who this week illustrates the Reader’s Burladero with a drawing of her characters of the three Tietes characterized as if they were Melchora, Gaspara and Batasara.
The Reader’s Burladero.
If we had to choose three personalities to be the three Magi Queens in a Parade thinking about what 2023 holds for us, who could we choose?… Here is a proposal:
melchora
Ursula von der Leyen
Queen Melchiora.
For the current president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, whose term expires in 2024, an intense year awaits, with the war in Ukraine and the rivalries between countries within the European Union.
If you want to give us equal prosperity, you will need the strength of a true Queen Melchora, as was the Philippine revolutionary Melchora Aquino de Ramos, who earned the title of Magnificent Woman of the Revolution and Mother of Balintawak for her heroic contributions to her country. Will Ursula von der Leyen live up to her crown in a year that is expected to be turbulent in Europe? Let’s hope that the candies that this queen and her pages distribute are sweet and not bitter.
Gaspara
christine lagarde
Queen Gaspara.
Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank (ECB), is a queen of queens. The pockets of thousands and thousands of families depend on it, who are aware of how much, how, when and why interest rates rise in times of inflation and how it will affect their mortgages and credits. Lagarde doesn’t throw candy from her float, but instead hands out chestnuts, as when she recommends that 2023 wage increases should be below price increases.
Interestingly, Gaspara comes from gazbar either kansbar, which means “treasurer, administrator”. She fits with Lagarde, who does not have (or, at least, does not show it) the romantic spirit of another Gaspara, the Italian poet Gaspara Stampa (Padua, 1523-Venice, 1554), whom the romantics saw as the new Sappho. Lagarde is the bearer of the incense, like the one offered to the baby Jesus. Let’s hope we don’t get burned.
Balthazar
Ada Colau
Queen Balthazar.
In the history of Spain there has already been a famous Baltasara, a pioneer in a world dominated by men. We refer to the actress the baltasara, famous in the 17th century and specialized in men’s roles. In the Spanish Golden Age she was described as a “histrionics” or “holy anchorite”. Her great popularity inspired couplets, such as the one collected by the scholar Casiano Pellicer:
“Baltasara has everything good,
everything has it good, also the face”.
But, the Baltasara of 2023 will be the mayoress of Barcelona, Ada Colau, although she is not black and it would also be necessary to resort to the controversial black face. We are going to attend municipal elections in which we are going to see if the queen keeps her crown or if she stops ruling over the men and women of Barcelona.
For now, this year’s Parade had to avoid Via Laietana because it is upside down, like a good part of the city. The urban planning (tactical or not) that Baltasara has launched in this mandate will be one of the star themes of the electoral campaign, with the Superilles and the changes in the Eixample de Cerdà as the great epicenter. When the time comes, as the couplet says, the voters must answer this question when going to vote: “Does Baltasara have everything good?”
The three Queens of the East.
Now, whether they are Magi Kings or Magi Queens, we know that this year they are going to bring us mostly coal. We have misbehaved. The planet, far from stopping climate change, has again increased the weight of fossil fuels as a result of the tensions of the war in Ukraine. So much so that world coal consumption set a new record in 2022, exceeding 8 billion tons per year for the first time. It is a cheap resource but also the main emitter of carbon dioxide.
the gossip
Vargas Llosa writes a new ‘Othello’
In the gossip of this week, Jaume Collell echoes the breakdown of the relationship between Mario Vargas Llosa and Isabel Preysler. “Vargas Llosa is working on a new theatrical adaptation of the drama othello of William Shakespeare”, says Collell, “for this he has collected first-hand data on the behavior of the character, eaten away by jealousy regarding his wife Desdemona”. And in this case he also alludes to the controversy of the black face: “The Peruvian writer whitewashes the physical appearance of the protagonist, traditionally represented by a black actor or, in any case, with his face made up, visibly dark. Although he has denied that it is a self-portrait, it looks a lot like him.”
To finish this first Burladero del Lector of 2023, we show this photograph provided by Francisco José Eguibar Padrón, who explains: “This image, not without political satire, shows a huge curtain on a facade under construction of a building on Ferraz street in Madrid (a few meters from the PSOE headquarters), where this legend appears: The government coalition surely wishes you a Happy 2023. Well, that, that the three Magi Queens of the East give us a good year.
Satirical advertising canvas on Ferraz street in Madrid.
El Burladero del Lector is made with the contents contributed by the readers of La Vanguardia. If you want to participate with your drawings or photographs related to current affairs, you can write to [email protected]
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