2023-10-16 16:04:45
Juan Carlos Zapata
In recent days we have seen how, through blockades, our freedom of movement, guaranteed in Article 26 of our Political Constitution of the Republic, has been restricted. Likewise, if we go to more general universal principles, the same Universal Declaration of Human Rights establishes in its article 13 that everyone has the right to move freely and choose their residence in the territory of a State.
The law establishes institutional procedures to guarantee that anyone who believes their rights have been violated can resolve them peacefully, without causing harm to others. When a demonstration becomes a blockage that prevents a person from reaching their destination, whatever their purpose, this causes the actions to transgress the law on which we are basing our own arguments.
The best thing that can happen at this time is that great dialogues and agreements are generated that allow us to reach minimum objectives regarding the importance for all Guatemalans of protecting our electoral system, without falling into divisions that often make us move in different ways. What Johns Hopkins University professor Yascha Mounk calls “the identity trap.”
in his book The Identity Trap: a story of ideas and power in our time, Mounk argues that in recent decades, a healthy appreciation of the culture and heritage of minority groups has morphed into a counterproductive obsession with group identity in all its forms. A new ideology that aims to place the identity matrix of each person at the center of social, cultural and political life that has quickly become very influential. He stifles speech, vilifies mutual influence as cultural appropriation, denies that members of different groups can truly understand each other, and insists that how governments treat their citizens should depend on the color of their skin. This, Yascha Mounk argues, is the identity trap.
Although those fighting for these ideas are full of “good intentions,” they will ultimately make it more difficult to make progress toward the genuine equality we desperately need, equality before the law. Mounk has built his acclaimed academic career by being one of the first to warn of the risks that populists, both left and right, pose to democracy. But, he shows, those who are caught in the identity trap often forget universal principles in order to make their political or ideological points.
In the case of Guatemala, it is legally clear and there is not the slightest doubt that Dr. Bernardo Arévalo and Dr. Karin Herrera will take over as president and vice president on January 14 of next year, as well as the other authorities of deputies and mayors. Furthermore, it is essential that we protect our electoral system and generate the necessary positions to guarantee safeguarding the electoral boards that took care of the votes of the entire population.
Let us not fall into the “identity trap”, and recognize that in the end we are all Guatemalans and what we want is to move towards greater opportunities and a better country, in which the law and institutions are respected, recognizing that we live in a Republic and that we have an electoral system that, although it can be perfected, we must all protect, without limiting rights.
#Lets #limit #rights #lets #maintain #principles