Pablo J.Luis Molinero

«Interstellar journey to a new world» is the name of my latest musical work finished two days ago and uploaded yesterday to the Authors and Editors General Society.

If almost 55 years ago we (supposedly) stepped on the Moon, today we should already have a clear interplanetary mentality and be ready to sail through space, instead of still being cavemen (in our beliefs and attitudes) and troglodytes (in our actions and purposes).

Stephen Hawking stated that either we manage to inhabit other worlds or we disappear as a species; which is warning us that, instead of spending wealth and lives to take over a small piece of this tiny planet, we should spend wealth and energy to make a possibility that trip across the space ocean.

It is a similar decision to the one made by queen Isabella the first of Castile (a woman centuries ahead of her time) who, instead of invading Portugal and taking advantage of the already stabilized Portuguese navigation around Africa to bring the so much demanded products from the East, she financed a trip to nothingness, because the unknown was enormous: What would they achieve? To reach the east coast of Asia by sailing west (because the world was round) or to fall into the abysses at the end of the Earth (because the world was flat)?

Two agonizing months, surrounded by water and water and more water; just water, while the food was decreasing and the other water (the drinkable one) decreasing; seeing even impossible to return home.

Traveling through space in search of a new world is something similar, although, in this case, we’d know where to go and the most likely chances of success. But, equally, for months we would be surrounded by silence and empty space.

When, taking advantage of a space wave (curvatures of space) traveling through the wave which I call space-time shortcuts, which Hawking (in my opinion) incorrectly called “wormholes” is when we’ll have the sensation of going towards nothingness, since we will be in absolute darkness (except the one inside the ship) since the light moves along the surface of the space wave: it will be passing above us.

But, at all times, we feel the greatness of the universe.

In this musical piece, I don’t describe sounds since there will only be those of the ship itself and her instruments, but I describe the sensations of being in space, surrounded by asteroids, rocks, comets, the firmament all around us; the hopeful arrival at a possible habitable planet, the disappointment of seeing that it isn’t so and return to routine… until one is found which is suitable to inhabit.

A happy singing (in Spanish, English, German, French, Italian and also Esperanto representing the rest of the languages) in gratitude for having found it, the joy of having a new home for humanity and the desire to live united in peace in that new planetary home. Then (humming) we begin to build, taking advantage of optimism, joy, hope; in addition to the tools brought on the ship and what we get from the nature itself that fills that planet.

Don’t try to imagine or guess, feel comfortable in your seat in the spaceship and let the music take you through the outer spaces; only your inner being knows what they are like.

For those who enjoyed and congratulated me on my previous work “Embrujo andaluz” I must say that this work is totally different; I hope you like it too. You tell me.

Este artículo presenta al premio Nobel de literatura Abdulrazak Gurnah y lo que dijo de la colonización española.

This article presents Nobel Prize winner Abdulrazak Gurnah and what he said about Spanish colonization.

Como puedes ver, se apoya simplemente en:

1) su mala experiencia con la colonización inglesa de su país,

2) en cómo fue tratado los primeros años que vivió en Inglaterra y

3) en las palabras del presidente mexicano exigiendo al rey Felipe VI que pidiera perdón ¡¡Tremendos argumentos para ser un premio Nobel!!

As you can see, it is simply based on:

1) his bad experience with the English colonization of his country,

2) on how he was ill-treated during his first years living in England and

3) on the words by a Mexican president demanding King Felipe VI to ask forgiveness. Tremendous arguments to be a Nobel Prize winner!!

Porque lo malo es eso, que todo el planeta tiene la tendencia de tomar las palabras de un premio Nobel de Literatura como verdad ex cáthedra.

El señor Gurnah se ha limitado a:

1) generalizar que todas las colonizaciones son iguales, y toma como referencia la que él ha conocido,

2) dar por bueno lo que haya oído como leyenda antiespañola,

3) no saber distinguir “colonizar” de “civilizar”.

El DRAE lo dice bien claro: Colonizar: “Formar o establecer colonia en un país. || 2. Fijar en un terreno la morada de sus cultivadores”. Civilizar “Elevar el nivel cultural de sociedades poco adelantadas. || 2. Mejorar la formación y comportamiento de personas o grupos sociales”.

Because the wrongdoing is that the entire planet has the tendency to take the words of a Nobel Prize winner in Literature as ex cathedra truth.

Mr. Gurnah has limited himself to:

1) generalize that all colonisations are the same, and taking as a reference the one he has known,

2) accepting whatever he has heard as anti-Spanish legend,

3) not knowing how to distinguish «colonizing» ” from “civilizing.”

The official dictionary of the Academy of the Spanish Language says it very clearly: Colonize: “To form or establish a colony in a country. || 2. Establish the residence of its cultivators on a piece of land”. Civilize “Raise the cultural level of less advanced societies. || 2. Improve the training and behaviour of people or social groups”.

Ser premio Nobel no es simplemente ganarse 10 millones de coronas suecas y ser admirado y reverenciado en todo el planeta; ser premio Nobel es adquirir una enorme responsabilidad.

Esto lo tenía yo muy, pero que muy claro cuando en 1918 el presidente de mi asociación de escritores y dos académicos literarios me informaron de que habían presentado mi novela “Biografía Kármica” como candidata al premio Nobel.  Ser premio Nobel implica medir muchísimo tus palabras, no puedes hacer afirmaciones baratas, basadas en experiencias personales y en chismes ajenos.

Being a Nobel Prize winner is not just winning 10 million Swedish crowns and being admired and revered throughout the planet; being a Nobel Prize winner is acquiring an enormous responsibility.

I saw this very, very clear when in 1918 the president of my writers’ association and two literary academics told me to have sent my novel “Karmic Biography” as a candidate to the Nobel Prize. Being a Nobel Prize winner means measuring your words very carefully; you cannot make cheap statements based on personal experiences and other people’s gossip.

Este señor, antes de hacer tal afirmación insultante hacia un país que se entregó en cuerpo y alma a civilizar el continente americano que estaban unos en la edad de piedra y otros en el neolítico, debería haber investigado un poco más y se hubiera encontrado las opiniones de no-españoles alabando la labor de España en América:

This man, before making such an insulting statement towards a country that dedicated in body and soul to civilize the American continent, some of them in the Stone Age and a few in the Neolithic, should have investigated a little more and see the opinions of non-Spaniards praising the work of Spain in America:

Alexander von Humboldt:

“Admiro entre los habitantes de estos lejanos parajes esa lealtad, esa sencillez, esa mezcla de autoridad y de afabilidad, bondad y honradez en el carácter y en el comportamiento, que ha sido siempre característica de la nación española. Si las luces no están muy extendidas, mucho menos lo está la inmoralidad. Los caminos de Europa son más peligrosos que los de la España americana, por la gran paz que hay en esta. (…) Mientras más vivo en las colonias españolas, más me gustan. Al regresar a Europa me desespañolizaré con gran pesar. “Es preferible el régimen paternalista español a la destrucción implacable que se está produciendo en el Norte en nombre del progreso”.

Alexander von Humboldt:

“I admire among the inhabitants of these distant places that loyalty, that simplicity, that mixture of authority and affability, kindness and honesty in character and behaviour, which has always been characteristic of the Spanish nation. If the lights are not widespread, much less is immorality. The roads of Europe are more dangerous than those of American Spain, because of the great peace there is. (…) The longer I live in the Spanish colonies, the more I like them. Upon returning to Europe, I will un-Spanishize with great regret. The paternalistic Spanish regime is preferable to the relentless destruction that is taking place in the North in the name of progress.”

Charles F. Lummis:

«No solo fueron los españoles los primeros conquistadores del Nuevo Mundo, sino también sus primeros civilizadores. Ellos construyeron las primeras ciudades, las primeras iglesias, escuelas y Universidades, montaron las primeras imprentas y publicaron los primeros libros; escribieron los primeros diccionarios, historias y geografías, y trajeron los primeros profesores y misioneros. Una de las cosas más asombrosas de los españoles, es el espíritu humanitario y progresivo que desde el principio hasta el fin caracterizó sus instituciones».

«Algunas historias han pintado a esta heroica nación como cruel para los indios; pero la verdad es que la conducta de España en este particular a nosotros debería avergonzarnos. La legislación española referente a los indios de todas partes, era incomparablemente más extensa, comprensiva, sistemática y humanitaria que la de la Gran Bretaña, la de las Colonias y la de Estados Unidos juntas». «Toda la epopeya americana de la Conquista del Oeste es un juego de niños comparado con un sólo episodio de las gestas de los españoles en América».

Charles F. Lummis:

«Not only were the Spanish the first conquerors of the New World, but also its first civilizers. They built the first cities, the first churches, schools and universities, set up the first printing presses and published the first books; They wrote the first dictionaries, histories and geographies, and brought the first teachers and missionaries. One of the most amazing things about the Spanish is the humanitarian and progressive spirit that from the beginning to the end characterized their institutions.

«Some stories have painted this heroic nation as cruel to the Indians; but the truth is that Spain’s conduct in this matter should embarrass us. Spanish legislation regarding Indians everywhere was incomparably more extensive, comprehensive, systematic and humanitarian than that of Great Britain, the Colonies and the United States combined.

«The entire American epic of the Conquest of the West is child’s play compared to a single episode of the feats of the Spanards in America.»

Sverker Arnoldsson:

“La leyenda negra antiespañola es la mayor alucinación colectiva de Occidente. Los historiadores han estado más atentos a la literatura y los textos propagandísticos antiespañoles que a los documentos y los datos referidos a la economía o la organización de la cosa pública».

Sverker Arnoldsson:

“The black anti-Spanish legend is the greatest collective hallucination of the West. Historians have been more attentive to anti-Spanish literature and propaganda texts than to documents and data referring to the economy or the organization of public affairs.»

Herbert Eugene Bolton:  

«Se debe admitir que el éxito de España permanece como una fuerza que hizo posible la preservación de los indios, en oposición a su destrucción que fue tan característica de la frontera angloamericana.»

Herbert Eugene Bolton:

«It must be admitted that the success of Spain remains a force which made possible the preservation of the Indians, as opposed to their destruction which was so characteristic of the Anglo-American frontier.»

Un conocido jefe apache:

«Yo, Jerónimo, nací apache y español. Mis lenguas maternas fueron mi dialecto apache y la lengua de Castilla. De niño pequeño fui bautizado católico y fui a la escuela del Rey en las misiones franciscanas. Mientras los apaches éramos españoles, vivíamos en paz y éramos leales al Rey. El mismo día que supimos que ya no éramos españoles, sino mexicanos, empezaron nuestros problemas con el Gobierno. Benito Juárez, masacró a nuestras mujeres y niños para usurpar nuestros desiertos llenos de minerales valiosos. Y después nos traicionó, pues éramos mexicanos y nos vendieron a los gringos como si fuéramos ganado. Los gringos nos extinguieron como etnia y nación hispánica.»

A well-known Apache chief:

«I, Jerónimo, was born Apache and Spanish. My native languages were my Apache dialect and the language of Castile. As a small child I was baptized Catholic and went to the King’s school in the Franciscan missions. While we Apaches were Spaniards, we lived in peace and were loyal to the King. The same day we learned that we were no longer Spanish, but Mexican, our problems with the Government began. Benito Juárez, massacred our women and children to usurp our deserts full of valuable minerals. And then he betrayed us, because we were Mexicans and they sold us to the gringos as if we were cattle. The gringos extinct us as an ethnic group and Hispanic nation.»

Alfonso Borrego, descendiente directo del jefe apache Jerónimo preside una asociación que reivindica la acción creadora de España comparada con la acción depredadora de anglo-americanos e incluso de gobiernos mexicanos.

Alfonso Borrego, a direct descendant of the Apache chief Jerónimo, presides over an association that vindicates the creative action of Spain compared to the predatory action of Anglo-Americans and even Mexican governments.

Erasmus Darwin

(médico, naturalista, fisiólogo y filósofo, abuelo paterno de Charles Darwin): “En mis viajes por el vasto imperio español me he asombrado de cómo los españoles tratan a los indios, como a sus pares, incluso formando familias mestizas y creando hospitales y universidades para ellos, he conocido alcaldes y obispos indígenas y hasta militares, lo cual redunda en la paz social, el bienestar y la felicidad general que ya quisiéramos para nosotros en los territorios que con tanto esfuerzo les estamos arrebatando.“Parece que las brumas de Londres nublan nuestros corazones y mentes, mientras que la claridad de la soleada España te hace ver y escuchar mejor a Dios. Sus Señorías [del Parlamento inglés] deberían considerar la política de despoblación y exterminio ya que claramente la fe y la inteligencia españolas están construyendo, no como nosotros un imperio de muerte, sino una sociedad civilizada que finalmente acabará imponiéndose como por mandato divino. España es la sabia Grecia, la Roma imperial, Inglaterra el corsario turco”.

Erasmus Darwin

(doctor, naturalist, physiologist and philosopher, paternal grandfather of Charles Darwin): “In my travels through the vast Spanish empire I have been amazed at how the Spanish treat the Indians as their peers, even forming mestizo families. and by creating hospitals and universities for them, I have met indigenous mayors and bishops and even soldiers, which results in the social peace, well-being and general happiness that we would like for ourselves in the territories that we are taking away from them with so much effort.

“It seems that the mists of London cloud our hearts and minds, while the clarity of sunny Spain makes you see and hear God better. The Honourable Members [English Parliament] should consider the policy of depopulation and extermination since clearly Spanish faith and intelligence are building, not like us an empire of death, but a civilized society that will finally prevail as if by divine mandate. Spain is the wise Greece, the imperial Rome, England the Turkish corsair.”

Presidente John F. Kennedy:

“Siempre he pensado que una de las grandes omisiones de los americanos en este país, en lo que se refiere a su pasado, ha sido el desconocimiento en su totalidad de la influencia, exploración y desarrollo españoles a lo largo del siglo 16 en el sudeste de los Estados Unidos, lo que constituye una historia formidable. Desgraciadamente, demasiados americanos piensan que América fue descubierta en 1620 y se olvidan de la formidable aventura que tuvo lugar durante el siglo XVI y principios del XVII en el sur y en el sureste de los Estados Unidos.”

President John F. Kennedy:

“I have always thought that one of the great omissions of Americans in this country, with regard to their past, has been the complete ignorance of Spanish influence, exploration and development through throughout the 16th century in the southeastern United States, which constitutes a formidable history. Unfortunately, too many Americans think that America was discovered in 1620 and forget the formidable adventure that took place during the 16th and early 17th centuries in the southern and southeastern United States.”

Walter Whitman:

“Los americanos tenemos todavía mucho que aprender de nuestro pasado. Hasta ahora, deslumbrados por los escritores y profesores de Nueva Inglaterra, nos hemos abandonado tácitamente a la idea de que solo las Islas Británicas dieron origen a los Estados Unidos, conformando en esencia una segunda Inglaterra, lo que es un error inmenso.“ Para la compleja identidad americana del futuro, será el carácter hispano el que aporte sus aspectos más necesarios. Ningún legado exhibe una mayor carga histórica, ni es comparable con su religiosidad y lealtad, o con su patriotismo, valor, decoro, seriedad y honor”.

Walter Whitman:

“We Americans still have much to learn from our past. Until now, dazzled by New England writers and teachers, we have tacitly abandoned ourselves to the idea that only the British Isles gave rise to the United States, essentially forming a second England, which is a huge mistake.

“For the complex American identity of the future, it will be the Hispanic character that provides its most necessary aspects. No legacy exhibits a greater historical burden, nor is it comparable with its religiosity and loyalty, or with its patriotism, courage, decorum, seriousness and honour.»

Presidente Theodore Roosevelt:

“La Fe católica inspiró aquella espléndida floración del tiempo de los Reyes Católicos, de energías intelectuales y morales más exuberantes que las de los bosques vírgenes de esta América; de aquellos frutos sazonados del siglo de oro español; ella creó el carácter hispano, robusto y viril, noble y generoso, grave y valiente hasta la temeridad; los sentimientos caballerescos de aquella raza potente de héroes, sabios, santos y guerreros, que nos parecen hoy legendarios; de aquellos corazones indomables, de aquellas voluntades de hierro, de aquellos aventureros nobles y plebeyos, que con pobres barcos de madera, corrían a doblar la tierra y a ensanchar el espacio, limitando esféricamente el Globo y completando el planeta y abriendo, a través del Atlántico, nuevos cielos y nuevas tierras.“Su fe movió a esa raza española, que ha hecho lo que ningún otro pueblo: descubrir un mundo y ofrecérselo a Dios, que se lo concedió. Fue un fraile español, el padre Las Casas, el que inspiró las Leyes de Indias, tan paternales, para que los españoles, con la transfusión de su sangre, de su vida y de su Fe, implantaran en nuestro suelo una civilización muy distinta de la de otros pueblos conquistadores, más humanitaria que la que mata y esclaviza razas, como han hecho los franceses y los ingleses, y nosotros mismos con los indios en Norteamérica”.

President Theodore Roosevelt:

“The Catholic Faith inspired that splendid flowering of the time of the Catholic Monarchs, of intellectual and moral energies more exuberant than those of the virgin forests of this America; of those seasoned fruits of the Spanish golden century; She created the Hispanic character, robust and virile, noble and generous, serious and brave to the point of recklessness; the chivalrous feelings of that powerful race of heroes, wise men, saints and warriors, who seem legendary to us today; of those indomitable hearts, of those iron wills, of those noble and commoner adventurers, who with poor wooden ships, ran to bend the earth and widen the space, spherically limiting the Globe and completing the planet and opening, across the Atlantic , new heavens and new earths.

“Their faith moved that Spanish race, which has done what no other people has done: discover a world and offer it to God, who granted it to them. It was a Spanish friar, Father Las Casas, who inspired the Laws of the Indies, so paternal, so that the Spaniards, with the transfusion of their blood, their life and their Faith, would implant on our soil a civilization very different from that of other conquering peoples, more humanitarian than that which kills and enslaves races, as the French and the English have done, and we ourselves have done with the Indians in North America.”

Edgar Sanderson:

“El honor de dar América al mundo, el consiguiente engrandecimiento de España, acaecido en lo sucesivo con nuevas aportaciones territoriales a costa de una exploración secular no igualada por ninguna otra nación en región alguna y que constituye en conjunto la más maravillosa serie de valientes proezas que registra la Historia, suscitó a la larga la animadversión en la mayor parte de la naciones europeas y no se perdonó medio para contrarrestar la grandeza del glorioso pueblo que, llevado por su intrepidez al otro lado del «Mar Tenebroso»… había hallado y estaba colonizando un nuevo Mundo. Tal leyenda colonial antiespañola no ha podido, sin embargo, resistir al fulgor de la verdad aportado por nuevas y desapasionadas investigaciones, el cual ha iluminado y continúa esclareciendo el fondo de crasa ignorancia y a veces de mala fe que había, no ya en plumíferos de baja estofa, sino en historiadores de renombre universal”.

Edgar Sanderson:

“The honour of giving America to the world, the consequent aggrandizement of Spain, which occurred from now on with new territorial contributions at the cost of a secular exploration unsurpassed by any other nation in any region and which together constitutes the most marvellous series of brave feats recorded in history, aroused in the long run the animosity of most of the European nations and no means were spared to counteract the greatness of the glorious people who, carried by their intrepidity to the other side of the “Dark Sea”… had found and was colonizing a new World. Such anti-Spanish colonial legend has not been able, however, to resist the brilliance of truth provided by new and dispassionate investigations, which has illuminated and continues to clarify the background of gross ignorance and sometimes bad faith that existed, not just in low-quality penmen, but in historians of universal renown.»

Compañero escritor Abdulrazak Gurnah; un premio Nobel tiene la enorme responsabilidad de no ser nunca un plumífero de baja estofa, ni con la pluma ni con la palabra.

Cuando Alfred B. Nobel, en su testamento, detalló los premios que llevarían su nombre, dijo claramente que la obra literaria no solo debería tener buena narrativa y fantasía; sino, sobre todo, nobleza, con valores elevados por encima de la medida habitual, escritos por el bien de la humanidad y sin pertenencia nacional de ningún tipo.

No creo, amigo Gurnah que eso esté acorde con echar basura en el lugar equivocado. Enhorabuena por su galardón, seguro que se lo merece; pero ahora, eso hay que demostrarlo día a día.

Fellow writer Abdulrazak Gurnah; A Nobel Prize winner has the enormous responsibility of never being a low-level penman, neither with the pen nor with the word.

When Alfred B. Nobel, in his will, detailed the prizes that would be named after him, he said clearly that the literary work should not only have good narrative and fantasy; but, above all, nobility, with values elevated above the usual measure, written for the good of humanity and without national belonging of any kind.

I don’t think, friend Gurnah, that this is consistent with throwing garbage in the wrong place.

Congratulations on your award, I’m sure you deserve it; but now, that must be demonstrated day by day.