OPINION
Fernando Berlín the author of this blog, is the director of Radiocable.com and participates in various media in Spain. About me My email �?� ENGLISH EDITION HOME

[Published on March 2009]The economical analysis is apocalyptic. The powerful employ themselves to announce the danger we are confronting. An example: Francisco Gonzalez, BBVA president, whoes salary oscillates between 5-16 million dollars annually, -in function with the consulted sources- the other day it was permitted to ask for a great agreement before �??the national emergency�?� in which we are currently in.

And its call, like in other economical figures, is being a very efficient manner against social mobilization. Is a way of screaming �??everybody freeze.�?�

I did not think, however, that this capacity to create uneasiness was efficient among progressives.

Because we are the biggest historic opportunity the leftist party has ever had to change the model, to look for a new one, a more just one.

A few months ago, when the system was at the point of collapsing, even the most doubtful subjects speculated about the necessity to recreate capitalism. But now, that all has been settle, they breath calmly and they only speak of using bandages.

The economic system governing us has sustained big inequalities all around us. This is indisputable. The market can not be governed by itself, because ambition is its only fuel. That does not mean that everything in the world has been damaged. Of course there are many who are satisfied in this system! If I made 5 million euros a year, at the least, I would be happy as well. The same would be if I had a transgenic company, or a bank in a fiscal paradise, or an oil company, or a diamond mine, or even a coffee or cacao distributor�?�or many, many other things. The problem is that a big part of the system has built in unjust ways over thousands and thousands of people that suffer so we celebrate night after night our excesses. We are the bourgeois of the new global middle ages.

This system has been able to convince us of two traps. The first: that today many more individuals live better than with other models. That this is the best of the worst systems.

The second trap is that they have made us believe that we are all inspired to reach the highest levels. Under this illusion, this mirror, thousands of honest individuals contribute to injustice. They become divided, they are careless of the others suffering, they minimize it and are intoxicated with ambition and see change as an utopia.

And in this context one asks himself: Who will present an alternative? Will it be religion? Will it be the left party? The right party? Who will demand a change? Will it be the internet?

OPINION
Fernando Berlín the author of this blog, is the director of Radiocable.com and participates in various media in Spain. About me My email �?� ENGLISH EDITION HOME

«There are still margins left to define its role. Lets do it.   Lets be ambitious».

[Published on April 2009] The economical crises, the lack of global agreement in ethics and a morality that permits us coexist �??social, labor, religious �??and the extraordinary technological transformation and the communication which has provoked Internet, has put up in disaster the world�??s political system.

This way one can understand how to resolve the financial crisis, it has been said to �??reinvent capitalism�?� to �??inaugurate a new time�?� to come back to politics with capital letters.�?� Because the old responses �??the uncontrolled capital, the furious liberalism- have failed like communism failed, it has proven to be inefficient, proper in other eras.

The multilateralism and the political negation install like a new axiom.  But the multilateralism also has spines, it compels compromises, to realize cessations in defense for the greater good (everyday more common,) and often those compromises are painful.

In this new context is in the one Spain is seeing itself in the mind-frame to send more troops to Afghanistan.  To perish the petitions of the strongest.  Further than these anecdotic and concrete topics, the theme places us in debate: Which role should Spain play in this new world? Because in my opinion, still today there are many margins left to define its role.

Spain has initiated ambitious paths in the ambit of universal justice and Human Rights.  Is true, however, as we have pointed out in the past, that when it has tried, the invisible hand of impunity appears.  However it is an inspirational role to play.  It has it all: it is social, democratic, just and pedagogic.

Therefore, if Spain is going to redefine its global role, it should play the role of judge.  Let�??s leave the position of police to be claimed by others.  Let�??s take advantage of the historical conjunction to plant the seeds of ethics for the future.

OPINION
Fernando Berlín the author of this blog, is the director of Radiocable.com and participates in various media in Spain. About me My email �?� ENGLISH EDITION HOME

[Published on April 2009] Those who follow-up on twitter or facebook know that in the past few months, I have been fixing an abandoned house in the middle of the forest. The place is 5 kilometers of the village closest to a forgotten dirt path.

We take short trips on Saturday or Sunday after the Ser program. Some days, if the pressure is high, I have closed down my computer and gone mid week to fight against the weeds, to escape the world. There is no electricity and barely any cell phone coverage maintains one connected to the exterior.

However, yesterday something very curious happened to us. I was with my youngest sister Virginia and night was falling. The place is truly formidable when it darkens because thousand of little creatures fight to impose their wailings. But after we picked up and prepared to leave, the car wouldn�??t start. Not even a pilot would start. The battery was completely drained. The Civic, decided to spend the night there.

Obviously in Spain, in the middle of the 21st century this is not a problem, we called our friend Nico Gª who already knew the place, to pick us up and because he is such a cool guy he stopped by. But during that one hour in complete darkness, seating next to a camping gas, I had the opportunity to use my two little coverage lines and connect to Twitter and post a surrealist message in facebook:

�??�?�in the middle of the forest. My car battery has drained, haha I have to call my friend Nico to stop by!!! S.O.S haha about 20 hours ago�?�

Well, the real interesting story is the messages it triggered. Suddenly, in the middle of nothing, we weren�??t just two, we were so many more!:

�??the night is a good mentor to the forest. Good Luck!�?� -said Felix Lavilla; �??If you need any sort of help give notice. I don�??t have a car. But if there is a need to call a tow truck or something�?�hope is not too much! Cheers�?� -Juanma; �??Wow, you even have cell phone coverage with GPRS and everything! We are so advanced in these Spanish forests! :)�?�-said coolkamio with a lot of reason.In Facebook the response was fantastic: Lisa, Juan Bedel, Jose Marcos, Carmen, David, Jose Esteban, Ramon Villaplana, Marga who with a lot of reason later said: �??Forest don�??t like cars!! Next time walk Fer!�?� or Jacinto who said:

�??Prodigious: to be left without a car battery in the middle of the forest and to be able to cry it out via social media�?�The works of technology and the modern world!.�?�

And also Gemma, and Gracia: �??Maybe you�??ll find the girl at the curb�?�hahahaa�?� -said, and even my sister Macarena: �??Incredible Fer!!!!!! Good Luck!!! Thank god there were no wolfs! Kisses,�?� also Maria Jose, Julia, Jordi, Monica!�?�

Well, this is only an interesting anecdote, one that I wanted to share through here, to give thanks and to conclude that in effect Twitter and Facebook are a light in the middle of the forest.