For a public institution to host the congress of an organization dedicated to promoting the reduction of the rights of a large part of the population might seem crazy in 2024. But if no one stops it, that’s exactly what will take place on December 2 in Madrid, as the Values Policy Network holds its sixth international summit no less than in the Senate. What seems improbable becomes possible. The question is how.
Reading or listening to the Values Policy Network, one asks: what values? “Value” is like “family”: a term that seems to have only one meaning, only one way of understanding it, the one that the right wants to give it. And this is how this organization states on its website that it defends life “from the moment of conception” or that marriage is “an institution between a man and a woman, where each has a different contribution and in same complementary time”. “.
Here, near where I write, I have one of the books that my grandmother Ana kept when she was young that taught her about marriage and how to be a good woman. And the language is exactly that: man, woman, complementarity, difference and other terms that essentially serve to endorse gender roles, stereotypes and the usurpation of women’s ability to decide over their bodies and their lives.
The matter does not end there, because the Network also affirms that euthanasia, like abortion, cannot be considered a right but that, yes, it is the right of parents to choose education of their children in accordance with their beliefs. This is the agenda of the international right, which is also successfully applied in the United States, Argentina, Italy or Hungary, but also in the countries where PP and Vox govern. in Spain. And it is this program and this alliance that, in 2024, will transform the unthinkable into something not only possible, but very true for thousands of people.
Last week, the AP news agency published information in which he stated that since the U.S. Supreme Court decision that eliminated abortion protections and so-called “heartbeat laws” in many states, it is more common that before authorities charged the women with crimes related to their pregnancy.
My colleague Mariangela Paone this story how the Meloni government in Italy restricts the right to abortion without having to touch the law. And in Spain we have new data on voluntary terminations of pregnancy: only 20% of interventions in 2023 were carried out in the field of public health, among other things due to the delay or reluctance of many communities when it came to launching pregnancy registries objectors and to guarantee treatment in public centers.
With this panorama in mind, the Senate Council approved this summer the transfer of a room to the Political Values Network. Although the majority at the table is from the PP, the members of the PSOE did not oppose it and recognized that only now have they become aware of the event, since transfers are frequent and part of of administrative problems that occur every week and it’s not “They vote one by one”. We will see what happens, because the anger is great and all the left parties, including the PSOE, have already presented calls for the cancellation of the event.
‘I’m not a superman, I’m a very simple man who wants to make you fall in love…’. Chorus piece that Bustamante sang, it must be said. Although this is not the reason he himself stated in an interview with Luz Sánchez Mellado in El País who invented masculine deconstruction, but for crying in public. “They made me intimidation In OTfor being a pioneer in showing how a boy, a man, cried in public. Sorry, I invented masculine deconstruction: I was criticized for being a crybaby, and today, thank God, with the evolution of society, these things are no longer seen in a negative way. Ahead of its time, no more, no less. The David Bowie or Freddy Mercury thing was bullshit. It’s funny because the expression itself says a lot about masculinity. I would love Busta to read this interview that I did a long time ago to Roberto Garda. Is a man’s screams a “revolutionary” or transformative act in itself? It’s up for debate…
A film, a series, a book…
- ‘Mammal’ (on Filmin), a film by Liliana Torres to reflect on motherhood and non-motherhood. I liked it and we still need cinematic stories that tackle this topic.
- I watched the first season of ‘One of your sons’ (on Netflix) a while ago and when I heard they released the second one, I went for it. I love the protagonist. Keywords: woman, ovarian reserve, ex, doubts, madness…
- “Sad Tiger”by Neige Sinno (Anagrama), a book that is worth it but I warn you, it’s hard. The writer dissects the story of his own abuse, committed by his stepfather for years. Very interesting to think about a lot of things.
One last note
Anne Sexton is one of those poets who obsessed me at one point and whom I still love very much. And now that October is here, I remember what he wrote:
“The thing about October is, I think, it kind of gets into your own blood. No excuses. “Almost merciless.”
Anne
