The executions in Jordan, unacceptable from every point of view

Wednesday, February 18, 2015



The jihadist barbarism reaches really perverse limits and a global reaction is required of those who realize the need to reject, without hesitation, the serious crimes committed by the threatening representatives known as the "Islamic State" -in the name of God, what nonsense!-.

But applying the measure for measure, although emotional reactions may be invoked, is a terrible mistake because it means positioning in the same scheme of the jihadist murderers. The Jordanian government, urged by the horror of executions, has swept up by outrage. I understand the difficulties of acting calmly in similar cases, but I have no doubt that a State should not, under any circumstances, apply the death penalty.

As President of the International Commission against the Death Penalty that advocates for the abolition, I deeply regret what has occurred and the cold reaction of the countries of the European Union.

Prevent or alleviate human suffering

Tuesday, February 10, 2015



This is the top priority. Research, research. Provide better knowledge to take on the great challenges: health, food, water, environment, education, justice...

My conviction that the collective supreme duty is to ensure a dignified life for all human beings is firmer every day that goes by. I remember in 1956, after visiting a center for children with diseases that cause serious mental deterioration, I felt a so profound shock that I decided to work on prevention of child disability, avoiding pathological disorders that if they are not treated timely in the neonate, are then irreversible.

Today, I just saw a girl of about fifteen suffering from a progressive dysfunction, assisted by her mother and father ... and this renewed my belief and cry with strength: stop investing in very expensive weapons while there are thousands of persons starving daily! Stop space missions on earth while so many persons live in the greatest abandonment and extreme poverty! Stop thinking about the "welfare" of a privileged society when 80% of humanity is excluded! Stop "cuts" in R+D+i, using reference indexes of "recovery" completely unaware to the urgent needs of each person! ...


Think of the daily genocide of those living in inhumane conditions; on parents and families of children suffering from irreversible illnesses ... and decide once and for all to promote scientific development to "alleviate or prevent human suffering”.

Fanaticism, zero tolerance



No to fanaticism whether is religious, ideological, sporting... It is the negation of the distinctive human qualities. It must be eradicated. Any outbreak is dangerous.
 
Say no to Islamophobia, xenophobia or exaltation of any kind. Until recently, people could not express freely. Now they can do it. The time of passive spectators, silence and submission is over.

Especially Europe should be the model in the full exercise of human rights. The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union in 2000, is much more important, much more, than the risk premium. The crisis is not just economic. Above all it is ethical. It is the debacle of a system led by ambition and short sightedness. It is a system that has replaced moral values by stock markets and the UN by plutocratic groups. A system that has been able to invade another country, with thousands of dead, maimed and displaced persons, with false arguments to justify their geo-economic ambitions.

Fanaticism for no one, for anything at personal or collective levels. Zero tolerance.

All human beings should enjoy all freedoms, all rights, without restrictions. Emotion cannot replace reason, cannot invalidate the features that the human species exclusively have.

In recent years, in addition to terrorist actions fostered by the inter- and intra-religious fanaticism, extremely dangerous xenophobic reactions have occurred in countries that should be an example of solidarity and good sense. History demonstrates us that should not be tolerated and correspond to international institutions of great moral authority not allowing it. In 1933, when Hitler wrote in "Mein Kamf" that "the Aryan race is incompatible with the Jewish race", the League of Nations should have reacted strictly and urgently... and neither the holocaust nor, probably, the II World War would take place. But the League of Nations could not do anything because the Republican Party of USA did not allow their country to be part of the institution that its own President had created, and therefore, lacked the necessary moral, strategic and "physical" force to intervene.

All human beings are, without exception, equal in dignity and correspond, considering a quality of global nature and an equal global threat, to provide the democratic multilateralism with resources of all kinds that are needed for this "zero tolerance". It is urgent to refound the United Nations System that allows humanity clarify horizons now so somber, because it is clear that the force of reason will not prevail over the reason of force until we are  "We, the peoples" who have in our hands the reins of our common destiny.

Now we can express ourselves. Million of persons, let’s join our voices in the cyberspace to reject outright any manifestation of fanaticism. Zero tolerance.