60th Anniversary of the European Union (Union?)

We want a Europe that is a beacon of democracy, a Europe that is a lighthouse.

Not a delocalized Europe.

Not a dependent Europe. A Europe of the North and South Atlantic, a Europe of the Mediterranean, of the Pacific.

A Europe allied with the United States, but with independent security and with its own autonomy, which is clearly visible to the world.

In Schuman’s declaration, which initiated the long road toward the European Union 60 years ago, we can read "world peace cannot be safeguarded without the making of creative efforts proportionate to the dangers which threaten it". This is the Europe we want. The one that knows that there is nothing inevitable, nothing that can’t be changed or reinvented, like Schuman and Monnet did that 9^th of May in 1950.

2010, the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion, has become the European year of destabilization, exploitation and an exclusive market that replaces values with money.

Today we are part of this rich neighborhood in the global village in which no more than 18% of the inhabitants of the earth live. We must open our windows and doors in solidarity, aware of the collective shame of so much hunger, poverty, lack of healthcare and sanitary services in so many parts of the world.

The material poverty of so many has its origins in the spiritual poverty of a few.

This is not the European Union that we want and that we should painstakingly work for each day.

The financial institutions that were “rescued” by the G-20 (plutocracy), instead of by the United Nations (democracy), and which are now destabilizing the world with false news, biased evaluations, and all sorts of cunning arguments disguised as the “market"... should be tried as criminals.

We must put an end to this irresponsible economy of speculation, tax havens, and delocalization of production, fueled by greed.

And mechanisms must be put into place to protect the most vulnerable of the population, with alternative sources of financing (such as taxes on electronic transactions, currency exchanges, credit cards, etc.) and the establishment of a Basic Income to enable all people to receive the equivalent of minimum wage.

And above all –I will never tire of repeating this- we must change this war economy (3,000 million dollars spent daily) to an economy of sustainable development (renewable energies, food production, water, healthcare, environment, housing, transportation...)

Let no one be deceived: charity and justice, yes; charity without justice, no. Because the solution lies in the full and effective recognition of equal human dignity.

Civil society must assume commitments, but not take on the responsibilities of government. Government which, in a democratic system, is the genuine representative of its citizens.

And citizens will no longer remain silent, resigned witnesses...

The time for silence has come to an end.

It is time for education at all levels.

It is time to avoid distractions.

It is time to continue, time to “rise up”, as José Ángel Valente said in one of his poems.

Development is cooperation, not exploitation.

It is aid, not conditional loans.

It is sharing.

It is tending an outstretched hand, not a raised fist.

It is inventing the roads to tomorrow.

It is including others.

It is committing oneself.

It is getting involved.

It is being ourselves, building with our daily activities a culture of peace. With the spirit of solidarity and fraternity described in Article 2 of the Universal Declaration.

The things we have to hear!

“Spain is paying a high price for its progressist illusion”, said former President Aznar impassively in a statement published on the front page of the ABC daily (March 28), seated and staring directly at his readers, wearing a half smile. He is one of the Azores Three, and the only one who has not yet acknowledged the immense error –and the suffering and deaths- caused by that horrendous decision…

It is not Spain but rather the whole world that is paying a high price for the diappointment of neoliberal globalization, the “bubbles, total deregulation, replacing ethical principles and social justice with the laws of the market, the alienation of multilateralism that has been replaced by groups of plutocrats, the weakening of the Nation-State, transferring not only financial resources, but also political responsibility to large private consortia.

Mr. Aznar is profoundly displeased that after 60 years the progressives in the US have extended healthcare to all citizens; that over 30 million Americans, the poorest and most vulnerable, finally have access to medical services, despite the large insurance companies.

We will never again allow ourselves to be deceived, no matter how much media power is mobilized in favor of formulas which, in addition to disappointment, have produced enormous social unrest and have promoted the extension of an economy of speculation and war, delocalizing production in the East. We now want all human beings, and not only those who live in the rich neighborhood of our global village to benefit from progress. We now want to eradicate poverty and hunger. We now want fewer war machines and more global sustainable development: renewable energies, food, water and healthcare for all, while protecting the environment…

And we will no longer allow those who disappointed us so deeply to determine the new course of mankind

How brave they are with the little ones!

Everyone judging Cuba… The Cuba that ends at Guantanamo. The Cuba that lacks public liberties, but where the “Ladies in White” may make statements and stage demonstrations, and cameras can film hunger strikes and the resistance. The Cuba of those who are tired of waiting and those who are waiting still.

The Cuba that has not bowed to the absolute power that has subjected it to interminable embargos. The Cuba that provides schooling for its children and healthcare that enables it to export teachers and doctors. The Cuba that must evolve, as must other “democratic” countries of the same hemisphere where over 40% of children receive no schooling and there is mass emigration, because their wealth is exploited by a handful of multinational corporations; countries that remilitarize the continent, accepting U.S. bases on their borders…; countries with the death penalty and the arbitrariness (until recently, but also applauded by the ultras) to invade other countries on a whim; and that have a large part of their communications media in the same hands...

Where are the reporters who, for example, can film what is happening inside China? How many death penalties have been executed there in the last year? How many are on hunger strikes?

I am certainly very aware of what must change in Cuba. Commencing with President Raul Castro’s last speech. But I resist always looking in the direction indicated by the world’s great media strategists. I like to do just the opposite…