Angel Luna , Socialist spokesman in the Valencian Parliament and forceful attitude castigator of Francisco Camps, who, indicted for bribery, still presides in an obscene manner, always bordering on the ridiculous and shameful, the Valencian Government, has shed stone in the plenary hall of the regional parliament to demonstrate that corruption does not go with him. responded well to the provocative statement of the President of the Diputación de Alicante, a leader of the Partido Popular surnamed Ripoll, when challenged to "who was free of corruption Pulling the first stone." Luna has accepted the challenge. It has done just a little pebble, which has symbolized the fine line of separation between the corruption of honesty. The ethics scandal. Many English accompany him in this gesture . No doubt.
There are many honest people in our country, industrious, quiet, respectful, do not roar or insult on TV, they go to bed early and get up early, fighting for their future as watching with concern the their children, whose horizon is more than bleak, because they know nothing of recommendations, compromises and bargaining chips. Are English foot, leaving home at dawn and often do not know whether their use will be sustainable, get off the mortgage if they lose sleep, if they will make ends meet.
are people whose only wealth is to demonstrate that they have a stone in hand paid to be launched, ready to throw timid to show that the moral degradation of corruption , protected by the terrible perception that "everyone is equal, no is a scourge that affects them. One day end up throwing the stone, which will be revealed. It is their only recourse. The test of its credibility. and take refuge in it as they watch, worried about the possibility that, with tricks and delays, corrupt behavior and backbiting inconceivable scandal was unveiled in talks at last unpunished.
Many throw the stone, but what will happen to those who can not do it, more or less? That's the question.
The History and social commitment: Josep Fontana discusses the life and work of Jaume Vicens Vives
never sit on the couches of the old and imposing mansion in Madrid Lion Street houses the Royal Academy of History but hardly could understand the development of English and European historiography without the work of Josep Fontana, professor emeritus at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona . Vitality and lucidity surprised when about to turn eighty, called attention to his brilliant exposition, the argument coherent and well articulated his thoughts outside the topic, prejudice or banality biased. Although I am not a historian, I have followed many of his personal and scientific as well as the daunting task displayed as editor in charge of the Editorial Review, where readers will find some of the references most important of any which have been published in the world in the last twenty years.
no way he could lose his lecture on Jaume Vicens Vives, organized by the Instituto de Historia Simancas University of Valladolid. Fontana's presence to speak of Vicens Vives, in the year that marks the centenary of his birth, is above any other commitment when you have clear how much he has meant to the historian born in Girona in 1910 and died prematurely at fifty years in the modernization of both history and the English culture.
"How did our generation to survive the education you received?" These eloquent words Fontana began his speech to describe the context of hardship, oppression and intellectual poverty that reigned in Spain in the fifties and was not merely an expression of cultural back tax by Franco's dictatorship, responsible for "egregious topping" brought about the intelligentsia, vigorous and brilliant, they tried to give new direction to the arts, literature and science in the years preceding the civil war.
In this context, remarked Fontana, "Vicens was something else." He was a representative of the Catalan bourgeoisie, sensitive to the reality of his time and with clear awareness of the need to change the way history to thereby transform the country culturally and assume the role that historical facts, when investigated with rigor and transmitted intellectual honesty and reliability, training plays in improving society, based on serious knowledge of the past. For if the perceived value of history makes us more aware of our own mistakes and contradictions, and this allows us to overcome, the historian can only be considered as such he understands the social usefulness of his profession and is convinced "You can serve the country through the science of history" .
"What we do is meaningless if has no social utility, "wrote Vicens Fontana in a letter to the mid-fifties, while it revealed the need to open up to European trends, the major refereed journals (including the famous French Annales) the study of nineteenth and twentieth centuries, deliberately delayed, to the knowledge of History of Economics , shelter that is welcomed by historians who were excluded from official history and academic control exerted from the power to strengthening links with territorial approaches Geography (hence the importance of Geohistory ), Or the rationalization of teaching methods (teaching people to think for themselves, "said another of his letters) through the publication of manuals" that taught to think. "
can imagine this gives Vicens apply these principles in an era in which the manipulation of history in the service of an ideology of misrepresentation and distortion facts to justify spurious targets, was the strongest, and which was to permeate the classroom, textbooks, university chairs and the overall work of teachers, forced to defend it ethically and professionally indefensible.
Fighting that environment was not easy . Hence the value of the intellectuals who tried to dignify history being made in Spain and Spain in which stood a few, but of a great intellectual force. Jaume Vicens Vives be one of them. And Josep Fontana, who will never be academic, one of his most prominent disciples.
"Millennium Development Goals? Hope fades in a world increasingly unsupportive
As much as it is intended to evoke the spirit of what it meant ten years ago Summit hosted by United Nations released the Millennium Development Goals commendable would be unfortunate if we now meets in New York do the same feeling of satisfaction and confidence expressed then. Far, far away, are met for those who have been expecting and hoping for over a decade. With an eye toward 2015, date for compliance, are very few, if any, which harbor the illusion that the end will be a fairer world, where efforts to overcome hunger, extreme poverty, endemic diseases and the serious assaults on the environment will be set at levels that lead us to believe that, in fact, we are moving towards a more cohesive world, in which globalization is raised in its most sensitive.
There are many reasons that encourage Unfortunately, against this trend. If in times of economic prosperity, the achievements have been very limited (only minimal progress has been made in combating infant mortality and infectious diseases, while those achieved in primary education are null and poverty and hunger keep their thresholds disaster), no optimism spreads when this campaign is faced in times of crisis and the weakening of the will of global cooperation. official development assistance has dropped significantly - Spain has fallen by 800 million euros - as a result of restrictive policies against the debt by developed countries, while the conquest of 0.7% of GDP has been delayed by those who presumed to move in that direction without reservation. There are frequent unsettled voices of leaders in this regard.
However, in my opinion, this is not the worst. The expectations are complicated and obscure and n an international context where the cause of the crisis are over still, ultimately, the beneficiaries of it. firm position taken by the UN in this process - to replace Kofi Annan has revealed far - declines in time to the strengthening of forums, groups and agreements that bypass international law completely covered on the back of General Assembly or Organization World Trade , where all. But in the G-8 in the G-20 in Davos and in games of that ilk are not all or many fewer. Only a handful of countries and ranks first leaders to talk about anything but solidarity. There is nothing to regulate these organisms, but act as if they were repositories of most of the legal guarantees.
To our knowledge, none of them , lacking the legitimacy of the UN have emerged as sensitive in the commitment ten years ago, and even some of their good intentions have been simply a paper exercise. They spoke of reshaping capitalism to curb tax havens, to monitor speculative transactions to show, in short, who had learned the lesson that led to disaster in the summer of 2007. How have been such intentions? Has anyone heard of new discipline and supervision? It seems that the lead not already in the hands of sovereign states represented at the UN, but the ability to maneuver who, paradoxically, led to the mess that has brought us where we are.
Surprised, I read that Mr Zapatero, Prime Minister of Spain, after showing solicitous of the Moroccan sovereign, will star in "an economic offensive "New York. will not only General Assembly , as appropriate, but in a meeting with the cream of world finance. Nothing less than an encounter with the thirteen banks and investment funds that integrate the world's largest by volume of funds they manage. I have seen the relationship and is not called anyone the business world with productive vocation, creating wealth and employment, but conspicuous representatives of financial capitalism pure and simple. That is euphemistically known as "the markets." "investment brokers", to be precise, are also known. There are, among others, the CEOs of Citigroup, Prudential, Blackrock, Paulson & Co., Bridgewater Associates, Goldman Sachs, MetLife, the chairman of Soros and the director of public debt markets Tiia Cref. Look at the websites of these institutions and know what is good.
perhaps you will come to the same conclusion as I: seeking their attention, governments pay homage to those who not long ago was considered responsible for the crack that affects us, as today, however appear as victorious references to consult. is tremendous, that, using Summit you should self-critically reflecting on what has been done in these ten years with unmet goals, attention is polarized around what they do or intend to make the main architects of the problems facing the world, it does be a very disappointing and painful vision of what is happening. Well I doubt or recrimination has stern warnings to redirect on behaviors known.
It's just, I dare to venture, a manifestation of how in these times of rejection of the different emergency and xenophobia, at the same concentration outrageous wealth and start the public review, who rule the world with the support of their people cede sovereignty to those who understand the injustice and inequality in the world are inevitable.
