The author does not believe that Spain is “a racist country”: “What there is is enormous solidarity among citizens”
The writer Julia Navarro, who returns with her new novel ‘The boy who lost the war’ (Plaza & Janés), has criticized the “demagoguery” that politicians are doing with immigration, an issue in which “No one can give humanitarian lessons because they are not doing it well.“.
‘The Boy Who Lost the War’ tells the story of a young Pablo, the son of Republican parents who decide to send him to Moscow in 1939 in the face of the advance of the rebel army. There, Pablo will be adopted by Anya, who will take care of him at a time when confronting the Stalinist regime also had its consequences.
Once again, the theme of uprooting and migration is central to Navarro’s narrative, in this case through the child Pablo. For the writer, immigration is a topic “Never ending, because where there are no economic resources to live, it is logical that people want to leave to be able to give a better life to their children.“.
Navarro reiterated in an interview with Europa Press that the reasons for emigration are “hunger, poverty and violence”, which is why he considers current political positions to be “demagogic.”What I see is people who label themselves as those on the other side, claiming that they are evil on the immigration issue and I am the good guy.“, he lamented.
“There is enormous hypocrisy on this issue and politicians here cannot give humanitarian lessons, because none of them are doing it right. And they are turning a tragedy into a political issue instead of giving a humanitarian response.“, he noted.
In any case, the author does not believe that Spain is a racist country, as has been the focus of recent days following the statements made by footballer Vinicius, because Spanish society “is much better than its politicians.”
“I do not agree with Vinicius’ statements that Spain is a racist country, because I believe that it is not.There may be racists, but I, who collaborate with some non-governmental organisations and am close to the problem of immigrants, see the enormous network of solidarity of citizens,” he said.
For Navarro, this is the difference with the Government or the opposition where he governs in Spain, since he understands that “no one” of the leaders is supporting this citizen network of aid to immigrants.There is a huge network of solidarity but it is insufficient, because people go as far as they can go.“, he stressed.
NEITHER “RED” NOR “BLUE” DICTATORSHIPS
On the other hand, the author has shown herself to be against supporting certain totalitarian movements based on ideology, recalling that ““Dictatorships remain dictatorships whether they are painted red or blue.”
“I don’t care about that because they are still dictatorships,” she explained when asked about Stalin’s era at the head of Russia communist and the fascination it caused in certain citizens who were supporters of the Spanish Republic.
“It was an atrocious dictatorship and that fascination was not only present in Spain, but throughout the world, because in the face of fascism there was another alternative, which was the revolution of the proletarians.. But the reality is that they were two dictatorships in conflict, one of them in the name of certain ideals and using the people as a major excuse,” he stressed.
THE ARTISTS, “FIRST ENEMY TO BE DEFEATED”
The author of ‘The Brotherhood of the Holy Shroud’ In his novel he recovers the figure of two Russian poets – Anna Akhmatova and Marina Tsvetaeva – of the time who serve as an example of the artist’s commitment to this type of totalitarian regimes.In these situations, the first enemy to be defeated is anyone who has their own critical thinking,” has stressed.
“In short, anyone who has the opportunity to express this thought, such as a writer, a painter or a musician, also a journalist: The first to be defeated are all those who have a projection in society and therefore become dangerous for dictators”he said.