The historic leader of the Spanish Socialists, Felipe González, took part in the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the PS in Lisbon this Wednesday with a speech defending the importance of memory in politics.
“To celebrate is to remember. I assure you that those who lose the memory of where they came from are unable to build the future. What gives us identity is memory. What gives us identity is being faithful to the memory , in successes and also in the mistakes”said Felipe González at the Carlos Lopes Pavilion in Lisbon.
Invited to be one of the speakers at the dinner commemorating the 50th anniversary of the PS, the former President of the Government of Spain recalled with emotion the path taken by the Spanish and Portuguese socialists and the role of Mário Soares in Building Democracy in Portugal.
“When everyone, or almost everyone, had dropped their arms because they thought there was no solution and that authoritarianism would return after the Carnation Revolution, there was a human being who took to the streets and walked through Portugal and said: this we will not toleratehe said.
Felipe González praised “this civic courage, this democratic conviction, of a pluralistic democracy, of a democracy that respects the rule of law, defends human rights” and added that “this firm conviction” must be preserved.
“If you lose that, you have to repeat the historical cycle: defending democracy when it is lost, instead of defending it when you have it”warned.
The former Secretary General of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) paid “homage to this government, to the present government” of Portugal, led by António Costa, considering “to be loyal to these principles, the foundations of coexistence, and that it keeps on fighting”.
In his speech, delivered in Spanish, González pointed to income inequality as an ongoing challenge, “with new and different obstacles”, and which must continue to be fought with “new tools”.
At the end, he referred to the war in Ukraine, arguing that treating it as a world conflict “irritates anyone who has experienced armed wars”, but that Russia’s aggression cannot be tolerated.
“If we tolerate what happens without solidarity with Ukraine, all the rules of the game will be broken, the sovereign construction of the country’s independence will be broken. Ukraine”he appealed, adding that “being supportive comes at a cost, it’s not free”.
Source: DN
