Cronica: Fourth Madrid Conference on Education and Non-violence – University of UNED

Kategorie: Spain

 

On the 22nd April the conference of “Politics, Education and Non-violence” was given during which Tomás Hirsch closed the IV conference of Education and Non-violence that was carried out in the university UNED in Madrid with participation of delegates, professors, students and members of the public, coming from different Spanish provinces, notably Catalonia and also people coming from France, UK, Italy, Greece, Mauritania and Morocco, in addition to members of the Chilean community in Spain and of course many residents of Madrid.
 
8 Universities, more than 30 associations and over 1000 people participated in the conference between those physically present and those virtually present, in 22 countries of Europe, Africa and Latin America.
 
In his conference, Hirsch, with a simplicity and great frankness of argument, highlighted “that if Governments privatize education and turn it into a business, it is clear that they are maltreating people and condemning the future of many”, he also highlighted that the problem of violence has to do with one of the last vestiges of “human pre-history”…, “until not very recently human beings ate each other…” “then they stopped, they made them slaves in stead, it was better because they didn’t disappear…”, “afterwards they gave them a few pennies and saw that they produced more than being slaves….”, “today there have been advances but the violent system continues being the same, with other forms, but maltreating and enslaving populations”, in any case, in this process, there are notable advances.  He emphasized that “…this process has happened over a few thousand years…” and that “… today people are enslaved with debt, with miserable salaries, relegating populations to ignorance and infirmity with these policies of privatizing health and education”.
 
This is his third time through Madrid on this tour that is happening through 13 European countries.  During his time Hirsch has carried out various interviews with the media: Radio Exterior of Spain and the EFE agency.
 
His visit finished with a dinner that was organized by the organizers of the IV Conference of Education and non-violence, the Humanist Education Forum and the association, World without Wars, to which more than one hundred people attended.
 
Tomás has now covered more than 40,000 km in this tour, a trip around the world in just one month!

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