Counter Culture

Costa Blanca News. Serving the English speaking community in Spain for over 40 years.

Costa Blanca News

Costa Blanca News
TOWARDS the end of last year some of my extended family and I spent a fortnight near Allicante on the Costa Blanca. The Costa Blanca – the ‘White Coast’ – itself covers around 120 miles of beautiful Mediterranean coastline in South East Spain. It runs from from Dénia in the north to Pilar de la Horadada in the South. It’s known as Spain’s most popular year-round holiday area.

According to one popular English language web-site (1) the Costa Blanca runs “along the province of Alicante, it can be divided into two clearly distinct areas of scenery: to the North, a curtain of mountains running closely parallel to the sea, dropping away to form sheer cliffs and secluded pebble coves: to the South, a vast plain of sands, dunes, palm groves and saltpans make up a backdrop for the beaches.”

One day, and out of the blue, we decided to visit Benidorm – sometimes called the ‘Manhattan of Spain’ because of its skyline – which was about 20 odd miles away from where we were staying. As noted in an earlier review (2) of the well-known holiday resort, “I’d heard a lot about this popular holiday resort – good, bad and indifferent – and I wanted to see what it was like first hand.” However, I was disappointed with Benidorm. For me, it had “just about enough to remind us that we were in Spain.”

However, one bright spot was the number of English language papers available. I get myself into a bit of a routine when it comes to picking up local papers. As I noted sometime ago, it doesn’t matter “where the paper is from – anywhere in the English speaking world does me just fine.” (2)

A Spanish travel guide’s map of the Costa Blanca. Because of its climate it is one of Spain’s main holiday destinations.

Probably the best paper that I came across on my visit to Benidorm was the Costa Blanca News. Produced on a weekly basis it has going for over 40 years and serves “the English speaking community in Spain.” My issue covered the period 5 – 11 September 2014. At €2 for 110 pages plus a free 32 page Med TV Guide I thought that it was fantastic value.

Like all local papers, the Costa Blanca News covers a little bit of everything – and more! I was really surprised at the number of features it carried. These included The Brit Scene, Vox Pop and Loose Women. I was also particularly impressed by the dozen or so pages devoted to both Spanish and British sporting events. And although the paper seems to be predominately centred around what’s happening in Benidorm, I was pleased to note that small towns – such as L’Alfàs del Pi, Finestrat and Los Alcázares – were also featured in a news round up.

Of great interest was the What’s On guide. It consisted of nearly 30 pages and was sub-divided into several sections including an alphabetically arranged town listing section, market days, gig guide, theatre, clubs and charities.

Two features in the Costa Blanca News stood out for me – The Brit Scene by an unnamed author and CB Live by Barry Wright. The former included an anti-PC polemic whilst the second was a look at the oh-so ‘right on’ Danish mod/punk band, The Movement. Ironically, both took what appeared to be diametrically opposing views, but I enjoyed them none-the-less!

The Brit Scene’s first two paragraphs set the scene of its anti-PC article:

“The World is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.

This – or something very similar – was said by Albert Einstein and it is very significant in today’s climate of sex abuse gangs, jihadis, weak governments and the liberal pursuit of a harmonious multicultural society.”

The article expanded on these themes and in particular how the fear of being called a ‘racist’ effectively paralysed all state agencies thus allowing the Rotherham sex scandal to continue unchecked. I found much of this article very interesting – although it didn’t say anything that I didn’t know – but sadly it didn’t prescribe any cure to any of Britain’s ills.

The feature on The Movement also caught my eye. A highly political band, the trio’s musical influences include The Jam, The Who and The Clash. Politically their influences “range from Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Marx to Joe Strummer and Paul Weller.”

I enjoyed their polemic on Globalism: “There’s a new and constantly growing generation of young kids interested in political questions, expressing deep fundamental criticism and rejection of the global effects of capitalism and its mechanisms of exploitation, war and oppression – young people searching for truth and enlightenment in times of total manipulation, lies and darkness.”

Despite this The Movement offered no answer to the menace of Globalism! Are they just anti-Capitalist posers, full of ‘leftist’ empty rhetoric? (Personally, some of the most strident critiques of capitalism that I’ve read recently have come from people who’d describe themselves as ‘Third Millennium Fascists.’) Maybe they should just stick to music – check them out on YouTube, and look out for excellent tracks like Losing You and It’s All In Your Mind

When I was in Benidorm I looked out for any signs of history, heritage and culture but couldn’t find much on offer. Therefore I was intrigued to read in the Costa Blanca News about the Moors and Christians Festivals. (4) The pictures and reports looked amazing – this is something that I’ll have to see in person!

I love the various indigenous cultures of the world. Indeed, I think that articles looking at famous battles, castles, buildings, traditional parades and celebrations around the world would make an excellent mini-series for Counter Culture. Maybe we should kick off with a report of the forthcoming Moors and Christians Festival in September? Indeed, I think that I’ll use that as an excuse for visiting the Costa Blanca again! Until next time then …

O YOU can check out the web-site of Costa Blanca News here http://www.costa-news.com/ its Facebook page of here https://www.facebook.com/pages/Costa-Blanca-News/152894188104472 and follow its Twitter feed here: https://twitter.com/costablancanews
(1) http://www.in-costablanca.com/
(2) http://countercultureuk.com/2014/10/20/two-weeks-in-spain/
(3) http://countercultureuk.com/2013/10/26/majorca-daily-bulletin/
(4) http://www.travelinginspain.com/spain_festivals/moors_christian.htm