Cursing Roll Book Review: Poems and street art

By Elvira Siurana

When you open the book the first thing is the dedication to meeting Miwa Monake Well, this is the African economist after suffering a brutal beating because of their African origin, has been suffering from a serious disability that prevents him from walking and develop valuable normal lives.

This happened in Alcala de Henares, cultured European city, the cradle of the most illustrious Spanish writer, a staunch critic of the brutality and ignorance. The assailant, who was not suspended until the complaint through the media raised a scandal, a citizen of Castile with good looks and respected in their environment. Nobody said until the complaint was clamorous to think of it that was not a normal guy. And surely it is a normal boy, product of his environment and culture.

This is the heart, the origin, central point of the complaint, always poetic in this new book by Silvia Cuevas-Morales. The normality of barbarism. An extreme case with consequences as horrible as this raises the alarm. But if it had not been quadriplegic Miwa and we had heard about the incident. And yet certain that the vast majority of Spanish know or have forgotten this fact.

And this is a country whose people have not been considered racist. That was a thing of Americans, Germans ... we're all friendly and welcoming, Spain is different.

I myself was surprised when a middle of the 90,-as the Schengen treaty, she arrived in Madrid, so happy. He had studied Spanish literature and loved, had dedicated professionally to teach and spread. And when he began to live the culture, the folksy Madrid, ran into the substrate of hatred, resentment, rejection of the differences that characterize the old towns, and without dissimulation, hypocrisy or self-educated people. The Spanish were the gross racist. It took me accept it, until then had not only lived with migrants, foreigners were brought north and money, that made them respectable, even tried to imitate them-gross but knew we were not thinking we were so viscerally racist and xenophobic.

I think many well-meaning-of my generation, had fallen into that error. It is so important why another look.

The incisive poetic, vibrant and sharp Silvia Cuevas-Morales comes like a dagger in our sensibility, many are outraged until there is nothing harder to accept the reality about ourselves. But as we showed Celaya, "if it is bitter truth we must throw at the mouth, and if his gall touches the soul, hiding it is folly."

The fellow "Cambalache" who edited the book are not fools, on the contrary, they work every day too attached to reality, the everyday, analyzing and promoting change, to improve this world in this historic moment we live. Since cooperative project and open to other interesting texts published as this before us cursing Roll, document the present from the critical view that illuminates us and shows the direction in which to develop our vital projects.

Eva Martinez in a short and moving text expounds the philosophy, and deep affection from the simplicity and clarity of speech involved, identifies the group editor in a prologue that is also art.

Silvia Cuevas-Morales is not limited to offering its literary reflection but also illustrates the text with pictorial look through street graffiti that has been collecting photographs of the city walls, from the walls of his neighborhood in Madrid of "Lavapiés" anchor point of many passersby, those of his family "longed city" in Melbourne, Australia.

Roll cursing is one of those gems, unfortunately difficult to access due to dynamic publishing taken over by multinationals. The printed version, the book itself was made in the self-managed press "Cooperative" in Asturias, has been carefully model the designer Amelia Celaya and distribution network handles "Traffickers dreams."

This book is important to have around to make us think and let us not forget.

* If you want to see pictures and hear a couple of poems in this book, click here: http://silviacuevas-morales.blogspot.com/2010/02/rodare-maldiciendo.html