Almost 850 social groups and representatives of the world of culture, such as actors Juan Diego Botto, Javier Bardem, Luis Tosar, Carolina Yuste or Aitana Sánchez Gijón, have signed a manifesto against the rearmament plan proposed by the European Commission.
Among the signatories of the initiative are the interpreters Alberto San Juan, Ana Turpin, Guillermo Toledo, Nur Levi, Nathalie Poza, Gorka Otxoa, Fele Martínez and Sergio Peris-Mencheta, among other actors, along with the filmmaker Montxo Armendáriz, the writer Isaac Rosa or the singers Rozalen, Luis Pastos, Amparo Sánchez (Amparo Sánchez (Amparo.
The text, which has been given during a concentration in the doors of Congress on the occasion of the appearance of President Pedro Sánchez on Defense Policy, has been presented by Botto and Yuste with support of Deputies of Add, Podemos, Bildu and BNG.
The two performers have proceeded to read the manifesto, entitled ‘We do not resign ourselves when rearranging the war in Europe’ and that claims, before the EU rearmament plan, that society needs the “security that gives quality health and education”, access to decent housing for youth and the guarantee of pensions for the elderly.
It does not give security the “unbridled increase in military spending”
“We do not want our children and grandchildren to live the horror of war,” the document collects to question in “what exactly contributes to that future in peace the unbridled increase in military spending that the European governments are proposed to approve without citizen debate, without transparency or detail, and urgently,”
“What part of these billions is destined to improve education, health, the terrible situation of housing, precariousness in culture, environmental harmony or international solidarity? Wouldn’t it be necessary to invest in greater political and diplomatic efforts than in the face of threats of aggression, they seek paths of dialogue not yet explored?”
Then, he also wonders if he is “stupid, simplistic or naif desired” the defense of peace and social justice, to denote “the winds of war, the warninglist language and the commitment to weapons” as means to bring a better future.
The war climate gives rise to “authoritarianism”
In this way, the groups and personalities that subscribe the manifesto proclaim that “the rearma of Europe will not bring peace, it will not contribute to distension” and what will cause is even more close to war. In fact, they warn that “militarist contexts are usually accompanied in addition to setbacks in social rights, freedoms and policies,” apart from originating “fear and social alarm, ideal scenario to normalize mechanisms of repression and authoritarianism”, as in their opinion it is already beginning to be seen.
“The citizenship of our country has been demonstrated above in the past its commitment to peace and antibelicist policies. They are part of our recent collective memory of the mass demonstrations against the Iraq war promoted illegally by the government of José María Aznar, the movement of rejection of the permanence of our country in NATO,” the text reasons.
Thus, they warn that raising European military expenditure to 800,000 million in four years, as the president of the European Commission has marked, Úrsula von der Leyen, “it will be carried out through an exceptionality mechanism that will prevent debate in parliaments and, in general, the clear and detailed information to European citizenship.”
They warn that social investment will buy “tanks and fighters”
“We cannot and do not want to accept that the money of our public hospitals, our schools and our public universities, our system of attention to the agency, our social protection and coverage policies (…) will be destined to buy tanks, rifles, fighters and missiles for the war, because the warning elites that currently govern Europe and the USA,” criticize the signatories of the manifesto.
In contrast, they argue that “true security” is provided by public pensions, health system doctors, free treatments in public hospitals or public schools and universities, elements that contribute to social equality.
Then, they censor that “war climates are designed in comfortable offices, but it is the peoples who pay the consequences.” Therefore, they advocate in this key moment to “dissipate the growing tension and defend a model of peace, social welfare and rights expansion.”
“We do not resign ourselves to war, because we do not want the peace of cemeteries, because history shows us that the only realistic path to get peace is not military, but political. Get to work and work for peace, we demand it,” concludes the manuscript.