The arrest of the Spanish rapper known as Pablo Hasel in February sparked violent protests in his native Catalonia, but also across Spain. Judging from international news coverage, Spain’s young people had erupted in anger over a lack of free speech in the country, 46 years after its post-dictatorship transition to democracy. A closer look, …
Read The Article from Pablo Hasel’s Arrest Revives the Debate Over Spain’s Free Speech Laws
Last month’s election in Catalonia underlined the deep and longstanding divisions in the region over whether to seek independence from the rest of Spain. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s Socialist Party may have won the most votes, but separatist parties together won the most seats in the regional Parliament and are poised to form a …
Read The Article from A Hollow Election Victory for Catalonia’s Separatists
Picking winners and losers from Joe Biden’s presidential victory is decidedly Trumpian. This false dichotomy of friends and enemies, you’re either with us or against us, has dominated US politics for the past four years. But politics is about power and power is not a zero-sum game. It is messy and diffuse, and the coming …
Read The Article from #Elecciones2020 | The Winners and Losers of a Biden Victory
¡Estoy muy emocionada de agregar "guionista" a mi currículum con este video! Este fue un proyecto fantástico para trabajar antes de la Asamblea General de la ONU que está en pleno apogeo. …
Read The Article from Video. For a New, Fair and More Inclusive Multilateralism
“I know a predator when I see one,” Kamala Harris assured viewers during her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention this week. This thinly veiled reference to Trump gained even more relevance when Steve Bannon was arrested on Thursday. You know, the architect of Trump’s 2016 campaign, especially the central theme of building a …
Read The Article from The fall of the man who invented Trump’s wall
MADRID—Tens of thousands of households in Spain began receiving checks last Friday under a new guaranteed minimum income program that was passed by parliament in early June. Plans to provide a guaranteed income had been part of the coalition agreement reached in January between the ruling Socialists and their junior coalition partner, the far-left Podemos …
Read The Article from Its Economy Battered by COVID-19, Spain Tries a Guaranteed Minimum Income
MADRID—In late March, about 100 Moroccan migrants living in Spain paid smugglers 5,400 euros each—roughly $6,100—to make the treacherous journey home in inflatable rafts. In a curious case of reverse migration, they desperately fled a wealthy country that had been crippled by the coronavirus and could not offer them work for the foreseeable future. Yet …
Read The Article from Morocco Is a COVID-19 Success Story. But at What Cost?
Trump’s preferred lying platform, Twitter, can fact check him all it wants, it can label his tweets for violating rules against glorifying violence but none of this will stop him ever. Still, Twitter made an attempt to signal the mendacity of his tweets to the Twitterverse by including a small link below that tweet that …
Read The Article from Twitter can’t stop Trump’s lies or racist calls for violence
MADRID—On the first Friday in March, Spain was deep into the rigorous hand-washing phase of its response to the coronavirus pandemic, but still about a week away from a lockdown. That night, I met a friend at a quiet tapas bar close to home. Afterward, we went to another bar in the Arguelles neighborhood, a …
Read The Article from Learning the Value of Solidarity in Coronavirus-Stricken Spain
The Democratic Primary was really over after former Vice President Joe Biden won nearly all of the Super Tuesday states. But if that wasn’t clear enough to Senator Bernie Sanders, then the results on March 10thshould have been. Yet here we are, with another primary Tuesday in Florida, Illinois, Ohio and Arizona, all states that …
Read The Article from Sanders can concede to Biden or declare war against the Democratic Party
Democrats are terrified of another four years of Trump. It’s a dangerous kind of fear. It’s the kind of fear that leads to bad decisions based on making what appears to be the safe and rational choice. After months of flirting with a large field of candidates that represented the diversity that the party gives …
Read The Article from Biden might make Democrats feel safe but ‘safe candidates’ lose
Democrats generally care deeply about climate change, but in choosing a candidate for the coming battle with President Trump there is one issue that reins above all others: electability. Democrats across the country are tying themselves in knots trying to decide who might be able to take down this toxic presidency. This is an unfortunate …
Read The Article from How climate change is shaping the Democratic primary race
Un repaso de cómo ha cambiado el paisaje mediático estadounidense en los últimos años y cómo el país se dirige hacia unas elecciones con un presidente que parece disfrutar del caos. Durante una reunión en el despacho oval entre los presidentes de EE UU, Donald Trump, y de Turquía, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, este último, sacó …
Read The Article from Desinformación en EE UU de cara a las elecciones 2020
MADRID—Spain returned to the polls Sunday for the fourth time in four years, and just six months since its last election. After giving the center-left Socialist Party, the leftist Podemos party and center-right party Ciudadanos, or Citizens, the opportunity to form a government in April, voters punished them this time around for failing to do …
Read The Article from Spain’s Socialists Lose Their Electoral Gamble, as the Far-Right Vox Gains
Alana Moceri ha impartido conferencias, seminarios y talleres a gobiernos, partidos políticos, grupos cívicos, asociaciones profesionales, universidades y empresas. Sus temas principales incluyen: Poder: tienes más que piensas Como pensar de forma global La política estadounidense: instituciones, campañas, comunicación política La Unión Europea y comunicación Información de contacto — Alana Moceri has given conferences, seminars …
Studying Why you should take notes by hand — not on a laptop 10 things not enough kids know before going to college Re-reading is inefficient. Here are 8 tips for studying smarter Cal Newport’s TED talk on deep work and why you should quit social media If you want to remember something, try drawing …
Read The Article from My recommendations and advice for IR students
It's pretty rare that I do an interview in English but it does happen from time to time! I spoke with PressTV last week about the failure to form a government in Spain. …
Read The Article from Interview with PressTV: failure to form a government in Spain
When I studied political science at UCLA at the end of the 1980s, a question that sparked hot debate was about the growing the Latino vote: Which party would they eventually settle on? Of course, the question itself is an enormous error, since Latinos are a large and diverse group, but still we argued over …
There are plenty of things that President Donald Trump isn't good at: deep thinking, strategy, understanding the workings of U.S. government that he leads. While coming up short in these areas somehow didn't keep him out of the White House, what had a lot to do with getting him in was his 6th sense for …
LEGAL En cumplimiento de la Ley 34/2002 de 11 de julio, de servicios de la sociedad de la información y comercio electrónico le informamos que los datos del responsable del sitio web son: Alana Moceri Teléfono: 666225881 Email: alana@alanamoceri.com Conforme a la Ley 34/2002, de 11 de julio, Servicios de la Sociedad de la …
It was a nice surprise to be back on with Valentin today! Really, it's not been a good week for the Republicans and I think that the Scott McClellan book does a lot of damage, not only to the Bush legacy but to McCain's campaign to be the third Bush term. You can watch an …
Finally: I real debate with my nemesis, Republicans Abroad Chair James Levy! The very interesting poll of Spanish citizens about the US election that’s mentioned at the beginning of the interview was conducted by MAS Consulting and you can see the full results on their blog. (I should have credited them in the interview since …
Does he think that he can just say whatever he wants because it’s being read outside of the US or does he just not get American politics? Mario Vargas Llosa wrote a passable summary of the Democratic Primary in “Obama en los infiernos” in Sunday’s El Pais, EXCEPT for his conclusion about the Clinton campaign: …
Better late than never! Here’s my Intereconomia interview from May 2nd. Friday May 9th, Sean Carroll substituted for me because I was on my way to Tenerife to participate in the iCities conference on blogs, e-government and digital participation. …
Read The Article from Intereconomia Interview (a little late)
This is the question that I am asked over and over lately by the Spanish press. I talked about it a bit in my weekly interview in TV Intereconomia last Friday: I refered to Howard Dean’s comments to the Washington Post saying “he is ‘less concerned than a lot of Democrats’ about the consequences of …
Read The Article from Interconomia: are the Dems handing a win to McCain by all this in-fighting?
I suppose I’m not the only person who was shocked to hear the news that Esperanza Aguire’s decision to put Catholic priests on the Ethics Committees of all of Madrid’s public hospitals. (maybe I shouldn’t have been so shocked given we’re talking about Esperanza!) I may not be a Spanish citizen, but I do have …
Another week without James and of course the big question was what the primary in Pennsylvania on Tuesday means. Of course, there’s a lot of numbers out there and I relied on the NY Times Election section which has very nice summaries of the delegate counts and projections. Then there’s always the weekly question about …
These polls change every day so there’s really no use in getting all riled up over them. However, due to the winner-take-all nature of awarding electors in each state in the presidential election and importance of winning the so-called “purple” states (not red nor blue but undecided) I think today’s findings from Gallup are a …
Read The Article from More polling on Obama/Clinton vs. McCain…
I’m beginning to believe that El Pais has made an editorial decision to support John McCain in his presidential bid. I first got this impression, two Sundays ago when the ran a front page story about him that extended to the following two pages touting him as a hero. I’ll just wait and see if …
Read The Article from Don’t believe everything you read in the Spanish press about the US Election
I went it alone again today—which allows for more analysis. In preparing to talk about Mark Penn’s dismissal from the Clinton campaign, I found myself trying to translate “pollster” to Spanish—turns out, there’s no such term. It also turns out that I skipped over talking about the pitfalls of having your chief pollster doubling as …
The topics for this debate as e-mailed to me were all focused, of course on the Obama-Clinton race–wonderful because I like to talk about our two fantastic candidates but on the other hand, we need to make this fair and include McCain as well. The DNC site always provide good talking points for this. I …
I really felt the difference doing an entire 8 minutes on my own and not having James to spare with. The advantage of an interview like this is that I don’t have to worry about being attacked or having to go on the attack and can focus more on an analysis of the situation. …
I’m reading articles about Elliot Spitzer’s announcement following his being identified as a client of a prostitution ring and I’m seeing very little commentary about the women in the story. In one radio report, a friend says she was shocked and speaks of him (Spitzer) talking of his wife and daughters with pride. Well, this …
Read The Article from Elliot Spitzer and educated women of fine family and career backgrounds
Four years ago I watched the election returns here in Spain and was inspired. I was inspired that change could happen so dramatically here in Spain. I thought—if this can happen here, it can happen in the US. I went online and found Democrats Abroad, signed up and wrote that I was willing to help …
So, I was ready to slam the Republican (James had sent a sub yesterday) in the TV Intereconomia debate that we do weekly on what was called “La Campana” and now with the much more macho title: “Maximo Interes.” With the name change came a format change and I all three of us were on …
Read The Article from Democratic Party Files Complaint Against McCain for Ignoring FEC Law
Watching the debate tonight between Prime Minister Zapatero and the opposition leader Mr. Rajoy, more than anything I was struck by how the leader of the Popular Party got his moves from his Republican friends from across the pond. Shame on Mr. Rajoy for using immigrants as scare tactics. Shame on him for trying to …
Read The Article from Rajoy & immigration: right out of the Republican Party playbook
It was a pleasure to interview with Daniel Urena of MAS Consulting Group, who is very knowledgeable about American politics, political communication and online activism. …
Libertad Digital is known for it’s fairly right wing politics, nonetheless I was surprised and a bit miffed that they kept cutting me off and giving the floor to James, who later comented that now I know what it’s like for him to interview with Cadena SER. …
I just voted online in the Democrats Abroad Global Primary. The interest in this primary has been tremendous: Democrats Abroad international membership has doubled in the past few weeks. In Spain, we’ve grown our membership base by more than a third. My phone has been ringing off the hook today with press requests. In fact, …
It’s been a busy couple weeks to say the least…I’ve got a couple posts I want write, first this one that I started over a week ago: I attended an excellent conference two weekends ago organized by Spain’s socialist party (PSOE). The idea was to invite prominent progressive intellectuals from all over the world to …
When I was about 7, I spent a lot of time running around in a T-shirt my Aunt Gloria had given me emblazoned with the words “WOMEN’S LIB” (it was VERY 1975). I may not have fully understood its meaning back then, but I can assure you that I’ve never been afraid to call myself …
Democrats Abroad has a new website. It just went live and looks fantastic! http://www.democratsabroad.org/ So, what can you do today to help elect a Democrat in 2008? If you are an American living abroad:1) Register with Democrats Abroad NOW so you can vote in the global primary February 5-12th–just followingthis link to the Democrats Abroad …
Read The Article from do something today to help change the world in ’08
I’m from a small town in the San Francisco Bay Area called San Carlos. This town is among others, such as San Mateo, Menlo Park and Palo Alto, connected by the railroad that runs between San Francisco and San Jose. These towns mostly began as country retreats for wealthy San Franciscans then tuned into middle …
Surfacing MadridParty’s Waning; It’s Time to Shop By SARAH WILDMANPublished: July 29, 2007 Partygoers have returned to the Malasaña neighborhood, not to relive their youth, but to dine at upscale restaurants, shop for designer dresses and even buy baby outfits. Click here to read the article… …
My favorite example when explaining the verb structure used to do something is: When I lived in Los Angeles, I used to ride my bike along the famous beach path on weekends. (This is a past habit, living in Madrid makes this impossible at the present moment!) I’d ride down San Vicente Boulevard to Santa …
Federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents raided 10 medical marijuana clinics in Los Angles County this week. Yes, that’s right, medical marijuana clinics. Those of you who’ve spent time with me in class know that California is quite different from the rest of the U.S. In 1996 voters in California approved the “Compassionate Use Act” that …
Read The Article from California is different: medical marijuana
Linguistic folliesJul 19th 2007From The Economist print edition IN RECENT years Brussels has been a fine place to observe the irresistible rise of English as Europe’s lingua franca. For native speakers of English who are lazy about learning languages (yes, they exist), Brussels has become an embarrassingly easy place to work or visit. English is …
Read The Article from Reading: The economic consequences of the rise of English
Don’t miss your chance to get an up close and personal report on Afghanistan: Julio de la Guardia and Alexandra Meyer will join the Madrid Chapter of Democrats Abroad Spain this Wednesday while they’re in Madrid on vacation from their work in Afghanistan. Julio is currently Chief Press Officer and Spokesperson for EUPOL, the EU …
Read The Article from Afghanistan Talk This Wednesday In Madrid
Democratic presidential candidates will participate in the first official debate tonight (1:00am here in Spain) and one the some predict to be the most democratic debate ever. It will be televised on CNN and the questions will be chosen from thousands of videos posted to Youtube.com. The debate will be broadcast not only in English …
Read The Article from Democratic Presidential Candidates Debate Tonight
A very important cause and a great party! Check out the video and you’ll have no doubt that Democrats have more fun! …
Read The Article from Video: Democrats Abroad Spain 4th of July Party
9 years ago today I boarded plane in Los Angeles, passed through Washington DC and Frankfurt and eventually landed in Malaga. I had just broken up with my boyfriend and was about to turn 30 years old and a couple months on the beach combined with Spanish classes seemed like a good idea to get …
The Madrid Chapter of Democrats Abroad Spain if throwing a 4th of July Party and you’re invited! Celebrate Independence Day at 7 p.m. onWednesday, July 4, at the terrace of Ribs Gregorio Benitez Restaurant,calle Gregorio Benitez 4, Madrid, next to Arturo Soria Plaza, metro Arturo Soria. http://www.ribs.es/restaurantes/gregorio.php Live music with Angie Herna and Soul Fingers. …
The long awaited visit from Condoleezza Rice finally happened last Friday. James Levy (President of Republicans Abroad in Spain) and I discussed this visit in our weekly debate TV Intereconomia just before her press conference, but unfortunately, there was no time for us to comment after. As an American and a Democrat living in Spain, …
This headline caught my attention yesterday. I met Cindy when she was in Madrid in December of 2006. She spoke at a Democrats Abroad cocktail reception that we organized for her and I can tell you, it was not a pleasant experience. We asked the people who were guiding her around Madrid, to arrive at …
Read The Article from Cindy Sheehan steps down as the face of the antiwar movement
“MADRID, Dec. 10 — Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, who earned great popularity by withdrawing Spanish troops from Iraq in 2004, has used his political capital to broadly reshape life here, pushing Spain to the left both socially and politically. One result is the opening of deep rifts in a country long dominated by …
Last Wednesday December 6th Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee visited Madrid and attended a reception organized by Democrats Abroad Spain. During a breif talk, he said one win is not enough. “Our job is to plan for the long term.” The coming two years of a Democratic majority in Congress and the …
From today’s New York Times:World Briefing EuropeSpain: White Christmas by Decree By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSEPublished: December 8, 2006 The southern town of Lepe has not had snow for half a century, but it will have a white Christmas this year, by order of the Town Hall. It has brought in two converted cannons to fire fake …
Read The Article from Spain in the New York Times: A White Christmas
The most important film you’ll see this year, An Inconvenient Truth, explains why global warming is an urgent, life-threatening reality. According to the film’s website, “If the vast majority of the world’s scientists are right, we have just ten years to avert a major catastrophe that could send our entire planet into a tail-spin of …
As you may have noticed, English in Madrid has been on holiday since November 2. This is due to my role as Vice President of Democrats Abroad Spain and the US elections that took place on November 7th. It’s been a fun week filled with lots of news, parties and interviews with the Spanish press. …
Many of us are following the US midterm elections and the most entertaining, shocking and disappointing parts of any election are the TV ads. Here’s where things really get interesting and often very dirty. Take a look at few that are in today’s news: The good: Michael J. Fox The actor, who suffers from Parkinson’s …
Two recent research studies, one in Scotland and the other in California, give evidence that smoking bans are improving the health of bar workers. In 1995, California passed a law called “smoke-free workplace” a public health measure designed to protect all employees from exposure to secondhand smoke in indoor workplaces. The banning of smoking indoors …
Read The Article from Reading: why smoking should be banned in bars
Have women achieved equality with men? The Washington Post ran an article last week about women’s progress here in Spain. What do you think? Did they get it right? Before (or after) you read, take a look at the following words and match them to their definitions below. I’ll post the answers in the comments …
Read The Article from Reading: After Machismo’s Long Reign, Women Gain in Spain
In September our bodies have returned to work but our heads (and hearts) are lingering somewhere in summertimeland. This September, with its especially summerlike weather was no exception. But today, being a Monday–the first Monday of October no less–seems to be the real deal despite the weather. Time to get serious. Time to look forward. …