Convened a demonstration on May 11 to defend Europe and democracy | Spain

The pride of belonging to Europe and claiming its democratic values, their freedoms, coexistence, well -being, in the face of the aggressiveness of Russian President Vladimir Putin against Ukraine or the attitudes of his American counterpart Donald Trump, with Your tariff wars and the Persecution to migrants. « Europe has never been as at risk as now, » said lawyer Manuel de la Rocha, president of the NGO Movement for Peace, during an act in Madrid in which an initiative of civil society that calls to go outside on May 11 to defend Europe and democracy has been formally presented. The central act is planned in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol at 12.00, but its organizers have assured that other similar ones are planning in cities such as Barcelona, ​​Malaga, Zaragoza or Seville.

This call, organized by a group of people from culture, university and communication, together with young, union and social organizations, is a reflection of the demonstration that Last March he gathered 50,000 people in Rome to claim the pride of being European. Seven of the drivers in the Spanish edition – among them the president of the Circle of Fine Arts, Juan Miguel Hernández; Journalists Angeles Blanco (Telecinco), Andrea Rizzi (El País) and Ana Pardo de Vera (Public); The political scientist Cristina Monge, and the representative of the European Youth Association Team Europa, Gonzalo Martín, in addition to the appointed of La Rocha – have exposed this Friday in the Circle of Fine Arts the way in which the initiative has been created and some of the reasons why they believe it necessary.

The organizers have stressed that it is an appeal that has brought together organizations of different sensibilities that were planning similar acts, and among those that have summoned the association of European journalists already UGT and CCOO, and that even in the case of the Youth Association Team Europa, a similar movement had already been brewing before the act of Rome occurred. « The European feeling is what drives us, » said the president of the Circle of Fine Arts, which has advanced that the banners that announce the acts that are organized in the center will be replaced by European flags from April 30 and until May 11. « This is also worth a call to integration and the defense of the concept of Europe. We want more Europe and more democracy, » he said.

Blanco has been responsible for giving way to his companions, sitting in six white chairs located on a black stage, and accompanied by a large projection screen with a flag of the European Union and the date of the concentration: May 11 – two days after Europe, which is celebrated on May 9 – at 12.00. « A few years ago we woke up with that invasion of Ukraine, we had a clear enemy, which was Russia at that time, and things have also been liking a little more, » explained Telecinco journalist. « It is true that now the United States, a traditional and historical ally of Europe, seems to be less, with the arrival of Donald Trump to the White House. These tariffs announced. That also European defense, after the separation of the United States. Anyway, a very complicated panorama. I think it is time to mobilize, » said Telecinco journalist.

« What are the risks? » The Rocha lawyer has asked. « On the one hand, attitudes, Trump’s measures, Putin’s aggressiveness, the ultra -nationalism that is within Europe, within our countries, and that does not want this Europe, but wants to strengthen nations against the consolidation of the European Union. And in front of that threat, the alternative is the European Union, » he said. « We have to defend a European Union in favor of the multilateralism of a world with rules against those who want to act simply with the power of force, with the arrogance or with the aggression to sovereign states. We want a Europe that faces hate, racism, xenophobia, machismo, LGTBI-Fobia, and to the denialism of climate change, » he added.

« We had a concern from different areas of making a collective reflection about what Europe is, » said Monge, which has asked for a reflection on « the Europe we want. » « European citizenship has to be a much more active part of what they have formed so far from that European construction, » he said.

Rizzi, correspondent for Global Affairs of El País, stressed that the European project is « the only salvation in a time of new imperialisms » and has appealed to the need to defend and reinvent it. « It is necessary to mobilize from all areas and the construction of an alternative narrative, » he said. “From external and internal areas of nationalist populisms, ultra -rightist, for years they have worked with enormous intelligence in the construction of narratives that have convinced many, taking advantage of the new technological tools, promoting resentments that in some cases had a real material basis, justified, but fostering them, exacerbating us and then hurrying them and a huge ideological tsunami has been formed capable of building an alternative narrative. « Imperialist powers love us in the menu (…) It is time to respond firmly, » he said.

Pardo, corporate director of the newspaper Publicrecalled the « war of misinformation » that is lived, something that makes the population dissociate from democracies and the EU, and against which journalists must fight contributing knowledge, while making a « positive » claim, everything involves belonging to Europe. « How is it possible that we intend to have low self -esteem, taking into account what we have in the United States? I can’t think of a major reason to go out, » he contributed.

« We want to be an oasis in the age of revenge, » Gonzalo Martín, president of the European team, also emphasized the commitment of the call for integration and for claiming in positive. « In this context in which everything is so polarized and everything is faced with someone (…) On May 11 we want to make a concentration in favor of Europe, in favor of the European Union and for integration. »

Together with the reasons, exposed to the act, they have distributed a decalogue with the reasons why they consider the mobilization “in the face of the risks that are loom over the EU and our democracies” and claim that the political construction of Europe will be accelerated.