PLAÇA DEL PEDRÓ (People change, circumstances do not)

 Arab trade in the "Plaça del Pedró".

Manuel Vázquez Montalbán represents one of the great writers of XXth century in our country. Died hastily, too soon, in 2003, leaving a lot of things to tell us. However it was one of the greatest writers of the recovery of historical memory. In "El Pianista", Montalbán tells the story of the Spanish Civil War in three stages: before the war, during the Post-War and in the period of Democratic Transition.

One of the topics in the literature of Montalbán is recovering memory through the daily chores of the people of the time. His realism is critical and popular. In a Spain without freedom and full of terror,  Montalbán identifies perfectly the exhaust valves of the society. Often Montalbán talks about seats, roofs, rooftops, where people from all over the world came together to keep each other company, to find them, together, a few less lost. The popular song, the song is sung while sweeping or tends, is another of those exhaust valves civil society of Franco's Spain.

La Plaça del Pedró —o Padró, as it appears in the book— is one of those places where the defeated in war were to talk about their stuff. Here were people of all backgrounds: Malaga, Murcia, Andalusia, Catalonia, Aragon, La Mancha... People from all corners of Spain who had come to Barcelona to seek a better life, a job with which to support his family, or simply to escape from a secure and constant repression in their home.

Today, the "Plaça del Padró" is a multicultural place, as most of the Raval. People from Pakistan, India, Morocco, Syria, Kenya, Nigeria, Romania, intersect with the Catalans and tourists. Sell beer and 'samosa' and talk among them. They came in search of a better future, for a job to raise her family or to escape a repression in their country. People change, circumstances do not.

Old poster of a local furniture store over two new shops from migrated people.

 

One of the main mirrors of this change is the use of the business premises of the square. It has gone from furniture stores, grocery stores, etc. to bazaars, booths and grocery store Indians, Pakistanis or North Africa.

Barcelona has always been a welcoming city, a city open to the influx of people in search of new opportunities. That is our essence and as locals are proud of it, but sometimes we see situations of exclusion that we grieve.

This is our city, enjoy it!

MVM, NARRATOR OF CHANGES

 

In this post we are going to show some fragments extracted from “El pianista” that describe some parts of the promenade that we propose. Our will is that you get close to his literature and his way of writing because in the posts where we are going to describe the significant places we will introduce them through the vision and description made by Montalbán.

 

An example of what we are talking about can be seen in the fragment that we will show. In this fragment we will see how he describes the beginning of Las Ramblas; it is not a physical description but a social description. What he is doing is explaining how Barcelona has evolved describing just a few meters of one of the most characteristics streets of the city:

 

“Empezaríamos por la hamburguesería que han abierto en el viejo Canaletas. Podríamos hacer allí una reflexión sobre la degeneración de la gastronomía y la penetración cultural imperial norteamericana a través de la hamburguesa. A dos pasos están los corrillos de culés y podríamos meditar amargamente sobre la pérdida de señas de identidad de un club como el Barcelona, en otro tiempo vanguardia épica de la Catalunya resistente.”

 

What we can see in that extract is how the city has changed through the description of a new burger restaurant (McDonald’s or Burger King, both of them are in the corner that he is describing). Right after that, he mentions a part of Las Ramblas where the supporters of FC Barcelona –Montalbán’s football team– usually go to celebrate their victories. Through the mention of that football team he analyses how the entire society has changed. This change will be seen in all the future posts because what we will do is show the society that Montalbán describes in front of the present society. Actually his social criticism comes from his leftist ideology –he was a member of PSUC, a left party–.

Finally during our promenade we will recommend a few restaurants around the Raval according to Montalbán’s preferences. Because, it is important to remain the he was a very important gastronomic critic.

 

We hope that you enjoy the promenade!