2023-08-14 02:00:00
Plovdiv (Bulgaria) is said to be the oldest city in Europe, founded around 6000 BC. Other cities, such as Athens (3000 BC.) or Lisbon (1200 BC.), are on that podium. If we analyze the Kingdoms, Nations or Republics, we can highlight the Kingdom of England, founded in 927 or that of France (year 420), although it only acquired its name in 877. The first independent “German” kingdom arose in the year 919, in the form of the German Kingdom and in 1143 the Portuguese Republic was officially born. If we focus on the oldest Democracies in the world, the list is headed by the USA, with 223 uninterrupted years, followed by Switzerland (175); New Zealand (166); Canada (156); United Kingdom (138) and Australia (122), among others. And we come to our South America and Caribbean Peoples, whose Cultures; languages; Social organization; Beliefs and even Architectures, were devastated; deleted; looted; unknown and even criminalized. Testimonies of thousands of years of life and identity disappeared; of a sense of belonging, imposing on us to be born again, in the image and likeness of the European empires, which decided the same destiny for Africa and South America: to be a source of wealth and raw materials to sustain the wonderful European lifestyle, giving millions of hectares of land to a few families, convinced that it is much easier to negotiate with two thousand oligarchs than with millions of hungry stomachs. Argentina, in this externally imposed scheme, had to wait a century from the Declaration of its Independence in 1816, to be able to vote and put a Democracy into practice (1916), but only 14 years after that Historic event, it suffered the first Coup de State with which they destroyed us for five more decades (1930 to 1983). So: 200 years of life – which was never fully our own – and 40 years of Democracy – which was never fully realized – are barely a breath, if compared to the numbers expressed at the beginning of this letter. Our Democracy did not fail us, simply, it is just a little girl that we are not educating or feeding properly, which is not reduced only to the act of voting (which must be done, without a doubt), but to that of participate and to build Citizenship.
#steps #democracy