Where were you?

It is very interesting to speak with Spaniards about 9/11. This past week alone I had three different conversation about the specific day. Two were with Spanish girl friends and one was with a woman I tutor. One of my Spanish friends prefaced the conversation with, "I have been meaning to ask you , but was not sure how..." in a very serious and concerned tone., "where were you?" She then listened extremely intently, concerned, and "motherly" as I told the story of where exactly I was when I found out two planes had crashed into the twin towers. I explained to her that my mom walked from basically 1st street uptown to 85th street to pick me up from school and we then walked home through central park mesmerized by the thick smoke that filled the sky coming from downtown. She and the other Spaniards asked exactly what I was doing when the planes struck, if I could see and smell the smoke from where I lived and if I knew anyone who died. Each person then went into a detailed explanation of exactly what they were doing when they found out about the twin towers- where they were, how they felt, what it meant. It was so interesting listening to their perspectives and how deeply they were affected by it even though it wasn't in their own city. The woman I tutor remembered every detail of her day on 9/11. It was 3:30pm and she was watching tv when suddenly the program switched to the news in English and all she could see were images of the towers. She was unsure of what to make of it, but assumed it was an ETA terrorist attack. She continued to watch the news in English understanding little to nothing, but remaining transfixed by the images reappearing on the television screen.

Sometimes I forget that it was not just New Yorkers and Americans who were attacked and effected that day. I sensed a deep feeling of understanding, sympathy and concern in all of my conversations about 9/11. After my conversations I felt a special bond and new understanding between myself and my Spanish friends. They were also deeply affected by the attack, fear and sadness surrounding 9/11 and later in 2004 on their own turf, Madrid.

Aminatou Haidar in Spain

Today there was a peace protest on calle Larios concerning the Western Sahara activist, Aminatou Haidar, who campaigns for the independence of the Western Sahara from Morocco.

If you want more information please check out this article.

Here are some highlights:

Spain said Moroccan authorities Saturday again refused to allow Western Sahara activist Aminatou Haidar to return home, a decision it said it "deeply regrets."

The decision risked worsening the already tense diplomatic relations between Spain and Morocco over the award-winning activist, who has been on a hunger strike for almost three weeks.

Spain had offered to give Haidar refugee status or Spanish citizenship so she could be allowed to return home but she rejected both options on the grounds that she did not want to become "a foreigner in her own home."

Haidar responded by saying her only wish is to "go home to my children and my mother, in Laayoune."

And she again hit out at Spanish authorities, whom she has accused of collaborating with Morocco by accepting her after she was expelled from the Western Sahara.

"Spain is unable to resolve the situation," she said in a statement read by her lawyer, Ines Miranda.

"I say once again that Spain is Morocco's accomplice, and both governments want to push me to death. Spain is directly responsible for the consequences of the hunger strike that I have been keeping for 20 days."

Haidar won the Robert Kennedy human rights prize in 2008 as well as several other awards for her activism on behalf of Western Sahara.