Julia Navarro: «I am a militant in the feminism of equality, not confrontation»

Julia Navarro has to her credit a more than consolidated career as a novelist. Millions of followers have enjoyed proposals such as ‘The Clay Bible’, ‘Tell me who I am’, ‘Nowhere’ and ‘You will not kill’, among others. However, she confesses to us: «For me, each book is starting over. I have the feeling that I am playing it. It is always the readers who have the last word. And more, she adds, if it is with a book like the one she is now publishing, “a very personal essay.” In this work, she makes an extraordinary review of an endless number of women from many eras, protagonists in numerous fields: literature, science, philosophy, politics, mythology, art… As much as sometimes she wanted to overshadow, or even silence their work. And she does it from a very accurate, non-exclusive point of view, because she certifies: «To get to know women, you cannot ignore the men who surround them, for better or for worse. For example, it is not possible to understand Teresa of Jesus without her confessors, or Anna Akhmatova without the relentless persecution to which Stalin submits her or without Modigliani, perhaps her great love ». Hence the title of the work: ‘A shared history. With them, without them, for them, in front of them’ (Plaza & Janés). —”Men are a pale reflection of myths,” you proclaim. And she begins her book with legendary figures from classical Greco-Roman literature. Is it all in the myths? “Yes, indeed. In the ‘Iliad’ everything is already there: anger, hate, love, greed, courage… In the end, we are always circling around the same thing, which is the human being, and from the beginning of times have the same passions, good and bad. —Today, when the Humanities collapsed, that knowledge has been left very aside… —It is a disaster. Converting the subjects of Humanities into “marias”, in secondary, or only free choice, not only causes students to leave with less culture. They are also deprived of essential instruments to be free, critical and responsible citizens. In this sense, I believe that Philosophy is essential, it should be in the study plans. It is what provides you with the tools to think, to form your own criteria. I am sure that those who make the decision to relegate the Humanities to the background do not do so by chance. It is not an innocent decision. —In addition to this, young people are completely immersed in audiovisual culture, social networks… —Absolutely. The world has changed, the networks are the bible of young people. However, not having a training will make them easier to manipulate citizens. It is very worrying that today children are so involved in the universe of the image. In a movie, in a series, every second there is a shot, something happens. This means that for most people, reading has an enormous cost, because, of course, something doesn’t happen on each line. They don’t have patience, they get bored. —And on top of that, they try to change the stories and glorify the cancellation… —The ‘woke’ movement is totally reactionary. I am surprised that a part of the left has joined him. The phenomenon goes against the essence of freedom of expression. It gives me goosebumps. It seems that we are living in Orwell’s dystopia, in the territory of single thought, of the thought police. And so cancel, ostracize, everything that does not follow that unique thought. You have to turn against him. He judges people as eternal minors, “you can’t read that, these books at the stake.” It is reaching barbarities such as the burning of Asterix, Tintin or Lucky Luke books in Canada. The world was shocked when the Taliban destroyed the Buddhas and yet the civilized West is not only assisting but participating in the cancellation policy. And seeing the elimination of authors, creators if they had a dissipated life. I don’t know what could happen, for example, with Caravaggio, any day they will put him facing the wall. Or the students of such a University stating that their sensibilities are hurt… The setback in freedoms is very disturbing. That someone dares, in some cases even with the permission of the descendants, to rewrite the works so that they adapt to the tastes, to the morality of today. The past must be known as it was because otherwise we are condemned to not understand the present, where we come from, why things are the way they are. Knowing the past does not mean having to commune with it. When you study ancient Greece, Greek democracy, we already know that there were slaves, but do we then condemn Socrates, Plato… send them to the corner because we don’t like that imperfect democracy? It is a huge nonsense what is happening. «Relegating the Humanities to the background is not an innocent decision» —In his book he also tries to undo topics. Among others, Penelope’s… —Yes. Penelope, like other figures, has almost always been observed from the male gaze. A look that has assigned us a role. In the case of Penelope as the housewife that she is knitting. This doesn’t fit me with a guy as smart as Ulysses who goes off to war and doesn’t know when he’s coming back and leaves his kingdom in the hands of his wife. If Penelope’s head only gave her knitting, it is clear that after two months she would have been left without a kingdom. I vindicate a woman who I’m sure was intelligent. With Ulises, she was hers just like hers. And that’s why she was able to keep Ithaca. — How do you feel about feminism? I consider myself a classic feminist. However, I believe that young people must be listened to, they live in a reality that is new. There are things they say that make me think. But for me feminism is the achievement of full equality. What’s more, I believe that you cannot be a democrat if you are not a feminist. It is not acceptable that one half of the world does not have the same rights and opportunities as the other. There are still many battles to fight. For example, a patriarchal vision of the female body continues. I militate in the feminism of equality, not of confrontation. “The ‘woke’ movement is totally reactionary. It makes my hair stand on end» —Radical feminism places the accent on what happens in the West, where there is still work to be done. But sometimes they ‘forget’ about what happens in other latitudes. —I will be a feminist as long as there is only one woman in the world who does not have the same rights as men, as long as there are subjects and not equal citizens, or women are seen as third-class citizens. —In this sense, he advocates for education, for egalitarian education. —It is fundamental, it is the base. Without education women cannot advance. —In ‘A Shared History’ there are many female names. Would any of them stand out? They are the result of my reading. Figures that I have been finding sometimes fleetingly. And then I have delved into them. They all have their one. However, Medea caught my attention a lot. She has told herself the story of her seeing her almost exclusively as a witch, as a murderer. And in front of her Jason appears as an unblemished hero. And that didn’t fit me. Sure, she is a sick woman, but all the atrocities she commits she does for Jason. To a large extent, Medea is a victim of a trashy hero. —She ends her book by recounting her experience as a journalist in the Transition and how she witnessed the coup attempt on 23-F. —I was going to finish it with Oriana Fallaci, and I dedicate the last pages of it to her. But I thought that I had the luck, the privilege of telling a part of the recent history of Spain. Especially now that the Transition is so reviled by some, I wanted to value some of the germinal years of the recovery of democracy. Clearly claim the Transition. Things went reasonably well. It must be respected that at that time the Spanish citizens did what they thought they had to do and supported and voted for what they considered best. History cannot be rewritten or misrepresented, and the context must be taken into account, the Spain of those years, which is not the current one. Deep down, questioning the Transition is doubting our democratic system and wanting to go back to square one.