By Will Cade

Before coming to Europe, I never had a passport. At 23, I applied for one, so I could make that great trip across the deep blue yonder. Once I got mine in the mail, I was rather pleased - so pleased, in fact, that when I saw a leather passport wallet with “Passport United States of America” written on it, I had to get it. Now, in Europe, not a day goes by that I don’t regret doing so.

To be honest, I’m scared to travel as an American, and I don’t want people being able to read my nationality every time I buy a sandwich. So far no one has found me out because of my wallet (although when a cashier in Italy saw “US Bank” on my credit card, she was rather surprised) but I have had to learn to say that I’m an American, but I don’t like George Bush, so can’t we all just get along?

Unfortunately, this approach doesn’t always work, or I don’t always have the time to say it. When I was traveling in Prague, about 2 days before Kosovo declared independence, I met two other Americans living there who offered to show me around the city. I usually preferred to hang out with non-Americans (because there are plenty of Americans in the U.S.) but I couldn’t say no to tour guides with local know-how.

One night, they brought me to a café with traditional Czech food, explained the different dishes, and even ordered for me. After the waiter left, a man in a shiny silver suit, yelling a conversation into his cell phone in a Slavic sounding language, sat down at the table next to us, avoiding the other tables in the mostly empty cafe. My new friends tried to carry on as usual, but I started to get a funny feeling about this guy.

He finished his call, and after a few minutes of listening to our conversation, he leaned over our table and asked, “Where are you?”

“I’m sorry?” my friend replied.

“Where are you?” he repeated.

“Where are we from?” my friend offered, and the man nodded.

“The U.S.,” my friend said.

“U.S.?” the man asked, confused.

“The U.S.A,” my friend clarified.

“U.S.A.?,” he questioned, before piecing it together and waving his finger at us disapprovingly, “I Serbia. In Serbia, they no like U.S.”

He commenced to list the death tolls from the Kosovo bombings in the 90s and explain to us why this was “big problem, big, big problem for U.S.” I started to think it might be best to go elsewhere for dinner, or not eat at all, if it meant we could get away from this guy, who didn’t seem to be getting any more cordial.

“I special police,” he then told us, “I shoot 12 Muslims, no problem.”

At this point, our food came, but my appetite had left me. I still picked up my silverware and tried to look normal, but for some reason my hands couldn’t work together to get the food onto my fork. The man started looking at my plate, and just I was starting to believe he could smell my fear and was preparing to attack, he leaned across our table, pointed his finger to within half a centimetre of my food, and excitedly said, “This, good dish. This very good dish. When I child, I eat 12 of these.”

“Oh, really?” I asked politely while crossing my fork and knife over my food to keep his hands away, a bit confused by his sudden change of mood.

“Serbian women… the best!” he continued, winking to us.

“I’m sure they are,” replied one of my friends, who seemed to be getting a kick out of this guy.

“What you do here?” he asked us shortly afterwards.

My friend explained that the two of them lived there, while I was just a tourist, and then asked our Serbian friend what he did.

“Me? I… I…” he responded, searching for his words (or his story), eventually gesturing something with his hands and saying “houses.”

“Oh, you build houses?” I offered.

“Yes,” he said, but I didn’t quite believe him.

As we finished our meal and made our way out, leaving our Serbian friend at his table, I told my friends that it was a little strange how he could carry on a conversation in broken English for almost an hour, but he didn’t even know his own profession, usually the first thing someone learns when they start to pick up a language.

My friends didn’t think too much of this, nor did they share my fear of him following us out of the restaurant. But, then again, they only had to catch a bus next to the café, while I had to walk back to my hostel by myself, fearfully looking down every alleyway (or refusing to look) in case the ex Serbian special police “house builder” dressed in a shiny silver suit decided he had a few more “big, big problems” he wanted to bring to my attention.

Then again, maybe I was overreacting. Maybe he was just a lively debater, and my creativity was getting the best of me, like it does at times. Maybe he saw a group of Americans and thought he could help open our eyes to the things our country had done. Or maybe he just wanted to mess with us, and he had never even held a gun before.

Or maybe my prediction was correct, and he was angry, incredibly angry, and he wanted to make us personally responsible for the horrible things he had seen in his life, because my passport read “United States of America.” If that was the case, I don’t quite agree with his approach, because I couldn’t even vote when the Kosovo bombings were taking place and didn’t have much political influence in grammar school.

After travel experiences like this, I wonder what European travel must be like for Americans who do have a direct and immediate influence on international affairs. It just so happens that George ‘Dubya’ is taking a European Tour at the moment, but I doubt he has had the type of experiences that I have had.

When Air Force One landed at Heathrow this week, it was accompanied by two other jumbo jets carrying a fleet of almost 30 limousines (surely bullet-proof) a Black Hawk surveillance chopper, and the presidential chopper, so the president could comfortably make his way about the city.

While Bush was leisurely strolling about, shaking hands with Gordon Brown and having tea with the Queen, a crowd of 2,500 was protesting in Parliament Square, trying to make their way past the police barricades at Whitehall onto Downing Street. Riot Police and Police on horseback arrived on the scene, beating the protesters back with batons.[1]

Some 25 protesters were arrested, but most have been released. Two men - aged 21 and 26 - are being charged with obstructing police, and a 61 year old woman, god bless her, is being charged with indecent exposure.

I’m not sure what’s stranger: a 61 year old woman “protesting” the best way she knows how; an American college student harassed for an event which happened before he even hit puberty; or 25 Brits being arrested for speaking their mind in a democratic country. Or, even more so, as all of this hoopla is being sorted out, George Bush is probably on Air Force One watching ESPN and making up his own ingenious commentary on the sports world, after wreaking havoc on the political world.

I’m still not sure which is stranger, but I won’t be so scared of my U.S. Passport once Bush no longer has the luxury of cruising across the globe in Air Force One, his destruction and chaos left in the jet stream.

War torn Pristina, Kosovo. 1999

By Cynthia Goldman

Spanish newspapers have been all a buzz reporting the new change in Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero’s government. This is the first time in Spanish history where women outnumber men in governmental positions.

The new numbers show how far Spain has gone in the past 29 years since the conservative dictatorship of General Francisco Franco, in which a man had a legal right to “discipline” his wife by beating her and holding hands in public was prohibited.

The general public, especially women’s groups, are happy with the current change in hopes that Zapatero will pass a broad legislative package to combat domestic violence. The issue has gained attention since newspapers reported the rising statistics of women being killed or attacked by abusive partners. In fact, following terrorism, unemployment and crime, abuse against women is ranked as one of the country’s most serious problems.

While many have commended Spanish efforts for a gender-equal government, similar to that of Nordic countries like Sweden, Italy’s new Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi scuffed at the Spanish cabinet for being “too pink”.

Berlusconi, who was recently re-elected, was quoted earlier saying, “Zapatero has formed a government that is too pink, (something) which we cannot do in Italy because there is a prevalence of men in politics and it isn’t easy to find women who are qualified for government.”

At a news conference, Spanish daily El Pais cited Berlusconi joking, “He’ll have problems leading them” and “Now he’s asked for it.”

In response to the conservative Italian’s jokes and comments, Elena Valenciano, the Socialist Party’s secretary for international relations said, “In Italy, as in Spain, there are enough women sufficiently qualified, intelligent and capable of being ministers or occupying other government posts.”

She also said that Berlusconi should respect the decisions of prime ministers of other countries and follow Zapatero’s example because “it would benefit politics and society in Italy.”

Besides fighting domestic violence, these progressive measures are expected to facilitate divorce proceedings, legalize abortion and educational and awareness programs, including classes on gender equality for schoolchildren.

This news is wonderful to hear since I’ve been living in Spain for almost four months now and have realized how different Spanish and American ideals are. Growing up, I was told women and men are equal. Now that I’m entering the workforce soon, I know that that idea may or may not be the overall consensus in regards to employment and salaries. Nevertheless, the United States prides itself on fighting for gender equality. But it’s a relief to hear that such conservative countries such as Spain are striving for a gender-equal environment as well. I think that although the Italian prime minister spoke negatively about the reform, it won’t be long for other European countries to follow suit. Overall, everyone will be affected by this in a positive way!

by Maja Gojkovic

Spain hosted its first televised electoral debate in 15 years. The debate went down a storm and had an estimated 13 million viewers glued to their TV sets. The debate saw the clash between José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the prime minister, and the opposition leader Mariano Rajoy.

The debate was almost as popular as past football finals between top Spanish clubs and their European opponents and at one point the country saw 60% of televisions tuned in to the debate.

The debate was the first in 15 years with the last televised clash being in 1993 between Felipe González, the socialist reformer, and José María Aznar, the conservative who went on to lead the country between 1996 and 2004.

On March 9 th the Spanish Public will see the result, either another four years of Mr Zapatero’s Socialist party (PSOE), or a return to the Popular party led by Mr Aznar’s successor.

Currently PSOE are in the lead according to the polls although in recent days the votes have narrowed. Monday night’s debate will have a repeat run which will be aired next Monday. Next Monday’s debate could see the result and be decisive in mobilizing PSOE supporters who are thinking of abstaining. According to analysts the party(PSOE) needs a turnout of close to 75 per cent to win enough seats to claim victory.

PSOE was yesterday declared the winner in the first round although according to analysts Mr Rajoy campaign had proved surprisingly effective where his aim is to portray Spain as a country that is on the verge of recession and overrun by immigrants.