Fantasy in times of harsh reality

"Let us create fantasy in these times without fantasy, when destiny is a door leading nowhere," said Paco Ignacio Taibo II, director of the Semana Negra literary festival, in Gijón City Hall last Friday.

Standing next to him, Rafael Felgueroso, deputy mayor of the Asturian city, stood expressionless throughout the ensuing ovation from the 140 writers participating in the crime, sci-fi and fantasy literature event. After a 24-year history, political winds of change at the city council - now run for the first time by Foro de Asturias, a party formed recently by former Popular Party heavyweight and new regional premier Francisco Álvarez-Cascos - mean that this could be the last year ever for Semana Negra (Black Week).

This year, the train that traditionally takes participating writers from Madrid to Gijón did not stop in Oviedo, the capital of Asturias. Francisco Álvarez-Cascos did not board the train, as his predecessors did, nor did Carmen Moriyón, the new mayor of Gijón. Weeks earlier, Moriyón had announced that she would review the agreement that the city has had for the last 24 years with the Semana Negra Association, which organizes the popular festival.

"I won't say no right off the bat," said Moriyón in an interview with Europa Press, "but if the cost is close to 300,000 eurosand they still have that controversy with the university over its location, and the noise issue with the residents, then we'll have to rethink it."

The mayor wants a makeover of the city's cultural program, and defends other types of events, such as a golf tournament for 400 children. The regional government, which provides some of the funding for Semana Negra, said through a spokesperson that "the city of Gijón has full autonomy to take whatever decisions it considers necessary."

Felgueroso attended the speech by Taibo II in lieu of culture commissioner Carlos Rubiera, whom this newspaper was unable to reach. He spoke of "the effort" that the city has to make to hold the festival, including a subsidy of 230,000 euros, part of which is provided by other public bodies such as the Teatro Jovellanos, also a festival venue.

Although the deputy mayor was unable to specify a final figure, other public outlays for the festival include the costs of land use and the provision of municipal services such as road safety, water supply, and police, firefighters and medical services.

José Manuel Sariego, the former culture commissioner under the Socialists, countered that the subsidy was "perfectly affordable because it represents just 20 percent of the event's total cost. Whoever decides to cancel it will be robbing part of the heritage that belongs to the people of Gijón."

The rest of the funding for the festival comes from private sponsors such as Pepsi, Mahou and Air Europa, and from fees paid by businesses to set up tents inside the festival grounds.

"Semana Negra will be impossible without municipal support; it's not just about the economic contribution, but also about the will to cooperate," said Taibo.

In one of the festival's tents, a makeshift "wailing wall" had been erected, where festival-goers have left messages of support for Semana Negra and criticized the new fence that, for the first time in its history, delimits the event's boundaries. Labeled "the wall of shame" by Taibo, the fence was ordered built by the rector of Oviedo University, Vicente Gotor, who fiercely opposed having the event take place on the Viesques campus, on the outskirts of Gijón. Despite the rector's concerns about noise, a court ruling from July 19 found in favor of the festival.

The city refused to become involved in the dispute, which cost the university 70,000 euros. But Mayor Moriyón has told the university that the festival will no longer be held there, even though Felgueroso has confirmed that "the land belongs to the city."

Vicente Álvarez Areces, the Socialist mayor of Gijón for 12 years and regional premier of Asturias for another 12, was one of the veteran politicians who did attend Semana Negra's inauguration. Areces was mayor 24 years ago, when he created Semana Negra with cartoonist Ángel de la Calle, publisher Juan Cueto and writer (and current festival director) Paco Ignacio Taibo II.

"It is the paradigm of a free-thinking festival with a critical spirit," said Areces, standing in front of a tent bearing a large poster of the famous Delacroix painting Liberty Leading the People . "Now it seems that the new government has rocky relations with Semana Negra. It would be a mistake not to support it. Nobody can argue that it has any other goal apart from benefiting Asturias."

"I like a fight," said the festival's director. "And the sillier the opponents, the more fun it is for me." He and other speakers noted that this is not the first time they have faced "a conservative crusade," pointing to opposition from the Popular Party in the first edition of the festival in 1988.

For Carmen Veiga, a Socialist councilor and former director of Teatro Jovellanos, its location will determine whether Semana Negra is held in Gijón again. "I don't want to have to drive 28 kilometers next year," she said, after hearing rumors that the festival might be transferred to the city of Avilés (though Taibo has said there has been no official offer as of yet, and Román Álvarez, culture commissioner of Socialist-run Avilés, said he is unaware of the plan).

Meanwhile, crowds have packed the festival grounds since last Wednesday. The event's writers are aware of what is at stake. On the terrace of the Hotel Don Manuel, where some of the readings will take place, a small group of Latin American writers sat drinking mate and discussing the matter. Argentinean Miguel Ángel Molfino said that a week dedicated to the tough guy could not be suspended. Kike Ferrari, winner of last year's detective novel prize, argued that it was "really an ideological dispute in disguise. They don't dare say that this is just a hive of commies." Uruguayan author Híber Conteris, runner-up for last year's Hammett Prize, added that "those who believe there is a contradiction between the popular and the academic have a medieval mentality."

"Paco has proven nothing can stop him. I want a Semana Negra, not just any old festival, even if it's held in Gijón," said writer Fernando Marías, while Spanish-Uruguayan author Carmen Posadas described the festival as a necessary reality check for the world of literature. "When I walk among the food stands and attractions, I realize how this festival desacralizes. It takes literature down from the ivory tower where it unfortunately often resides," she said.

On Sunday, the last day of the festival, Taibo ended speculation on Semana Negra's early demise by giving Gijón's government 45 days to show its support. He said next year's event would be held in Asturias, but it remains to be seen whether Gijón will be the venue or not.