Derechos Humanos/ Human Rights

We are still in confinement/lockdown, but some of the measures have already been relaxed and over the next few weeks we will have a gradual opening towards "normality".  Looking back, there are facets to be highlighted about how the COVID-19 situation has been dealt with in Spain and how the Spanish society has responded to it. Without a doubt, there are many aspects to be analysed in this question, but we will focus on: why have we, the majority of the Spanish society, complied with the indications of confinement in an uncritical manner?  Firstly, it is true that Spain has been one of the countries that has suffered most, is suffering and will suffer the consequences of the pandemic. In the face of this, we have been imposed very hard and difficult lockdown measures , with severe restrictions on people's mobility and freedom for six long weeks; and two of them, under total confinement.  It is strange that in some European countries certain types of confi...

Seguimos en confinamiento, pero ya se han flexibilizado algunas medidas y a lo largo de las próximas semanas tendremos una apertura gradual hacia la "normalidad". Echando una mirada hacia atrás, hay rasgos a destacar de como se ha tratado en España la gestión del COVID-19 y como ha respondido la sociedad española. Sin duda, existen muchos aspectos a analizar sobre esta cuestión, pero nos centraremos en: ¿por qué hemos cumplido, la mayor parte de la sociedad española, la indicación de confinamiento de manera acrítica? En primer lugar, es cierto que España ha sido uno de los países que más ha padecido, está padeciendo y padecerá las consecuencias de la pandemia. Ante ello, nos han impuesto unas medidas muy duras y difíciles de confinamiento, con restricciones severas de la movilidad y de libertad de las personas durante seis largas semanas; y dos de ellas, con un confinamiento total. Es curioso como en algunos países europeos se ha impuesto a la ciudadanía ...

Today, the globalized world is now lucidly aware of what COVID-19 (Coronavirus) had brought; it has made us all cease, to a hault; it is as if it had put an indefinite pause in our lives. It is clear that we are facing a costly reality, with human, economic and social consequences that nobody dared to predict less than three months ago , given the changing stages that the COVID19 pandemic offers us in each country and their states’ respective responses. Let's focus on people, on how this new "model" of life is already affecting us; a system that has found many of us lose our freedom of movement in effort to drastically stifle the rate of infection, hospitalisation and deaths of the world’s populations. Perhaps we had not thought about this basic freedom before, nor would have thought imagined having to be confined to social isolation, one place for a long and uncertain period of time. When one commits a crime, one can assume that depending on the severity, one ...

A día de hoy, el mundo globalizado sabe lo que está ocurriendo con el COVID19 (Coronavirus); nos ha hecho a todos parar, detenernos en seco ; es como si hubieran puesto una pausa indefinida en nuestras vidas. Claro queda, por lo que estamos viviendo, que nos enfrentamos a una realidad y unas consecuencias humanas, económicas y sociales que nadie se atreve a pronosticar , dados los cambiantes estadios que nos ofrece la pandemia del COVID19 en cada país. Vamos a centrarnos en las personas, en como nos está afectando ya este nuevo "modelo" de vida ; un sistema que nos ha hecho perder la libertad de movimientos a muchos de nosotros. Quizás antes no habíamos pensado en la libertad o no nos habríamos imaginado tener que estar confinados en un mismo lugar por un largo e incierto período de tiempo . Cuando uno comete un delito puede asumir que, en función de los cargos por los que puede ser acusado, se enfrente a la posibilidad de perder la libertad. Pero ahora se trat...

Spain is a country, a society, with a history, with its history. But is this history real? When we go around the world, we Spaniards are often known for our cuisine, our culture, our customs, etc. But what about our history? Does the Spanish society know what happened in the period from 1939 to 1975? Do the people who visit our country know the history of Spain? Not at present, not even the majority of Spanish society knows what happened during Franco's rule: the almost 15,000 or 20,000 people who suffered in Franco's concentration camps; the 1,500-3,000 prisoners who were shot; his almost 300 concentration camps scattered throughout the Spanish territory; the thousands of people who tried to take refuge in France but perished in their attempt or were forced to return to Spain, etc. Many times, I hear that it was a Civil War, in which a large number of people died on both sides; and it is true, but the dictatorship comes when Franco assumes power by force and all the people w...

España es un país, una sociedad, con una historia, con su historia. Pero, ¿esta historia es real? Cuando vamos por el mundo, a los españoles se nos conoce, en muchas ocasiones, por nuestra gastronomía, nuestra cultura, nuestras costumbres, etc. Pero, ¿y nuestra historia? ¿La sociedad española sabe lo sucedido en el período que va de 1939 a 1975? La gente que visita nuestro país, ¿conoce la historia de España? A día de hoy no, ni tan siquiera la mayor parte de la sociedad española conoce lo sucedido durante el Franquismo: los casi 15.000 o 20.000 personas que padecieron en los campos de concentración de Franco; los entre 1.500-3.000 prisioneros que fueron fusilados; sus casi 300 campos de concentración esparcidos por todo el territorio español; las miles de personas que intentaron refugiarse en Francia pero perecieron en su intento o fueron obligadas a retornar a España, etc. Muchas veces, escucho que fue una Guerra Civil, en que murió un gran número de personas de ambos ban...

In Ireland, elections were held on Saturday 8 February 2020 for representatives of the House of Deputies; and surprisingly, Sinn Fein, the revolutionary party historically affiliated to the I.R.A. (Irish Republican Army) , won the election with 24.5% of the vote, ahead of the two parties that have dominated the country's politics over the last few years, such as Fine Gael (right wing, conservative and Christian Democrat party) with 20.9% of support; and Fianna Fáil (republican and conservative party between the centre and centre right) with 22.2% of the vote. There was a 62.9% turnout, 2.2% less than in 2016. The I.R.A. was born from the conflict that still exists for the independence of Northern Ireland, whose capital is Belfast, one of the cities most affected by this latent conflict. It arose in 1921, when Great Britain granted sovereignty to Ireland, but reserved the part of the North, which remains under British rule . People who lived and still live in this territory...