Alvaro Ballesteros is an expert in International Security and Foreign Policy.
http://www.elimparcial.es/nacional/el-premio-jan-karski-2010-63302.html#
“We can not stop the Nazi murderers or save their victims. But protest from the depths of our hearts are full of pity, disgust and horror. This requires us protest God has forbidden to kill us, we Christian conscience demands it. Everyone believes that human beings have the right to love your neighbor. ”
Jan Karski (1942)
Our battered Spain is a particularly sensitive and the Spanish are a nation extremely complex when to recognize the achievements of our countrymen are concerned. Sometimes it seems that rather than a fellow citizen to recognize their successes, rather than praising the achievements of other Spanish, many prefer to bite his tongue, and even if they could swallow. Constructive criticism is so crucial for the progress of any human society, is sometimes buried beneath the envy, the inability to recognize the work of another, and inferiority complexes each. Some believe that this is an important element itself in our national psyche, and who knows? They may be right.
Today I want to talk about a man, Jan Karski, I want to talk of a major award that bears his name, and I want to talk again on the Spanish political contradictions. Hope to hear put them in context, and I hope will forgive me if my criticism of the award seems to just fall into the category that I criticized in the first paragraph of this column.
The man, Jan Karski, Polish Catholic, was one of the leading figures of the Nazi resistance in Poland savagely divided between the Third Reich and Stalin’s Soviet Union. Karski (who died in 2000) was an essential piece when the Allies to keep informed about the situation in occupied Poland and one of the first voices that denounced the genocide of the Jews in Europe, the destruction of the Warsaw ghetto and madness of the Nazi death camps where many innocent people perished.
Jan Karski was a dynamic figure, a Polish army officer who escaped the slaughter of Katyn by his cunning and almost miraculously, a brave man that escaped his obligation to his fellows when he could have escaped the hell that was occupied Poland, and who put their lives at great risk to defend their country and claim the victims of Nazism. A good man, whose name was assigned in 1982 to one of the trees that mark the “Walk of the Righteous” in the “Yad Vashem” in Jerusalem. Streets and monuments in their memory are also in various other parts of the world, and his defense of humanity against the fratricidal madness of the Holocaust is undoubtedly one of the notes to the safeguarding of a century as inhospitable as was the XX .
The prize that bears his name. It is awarded by the American Jewish Committee, a renowned institution founded in 1909, it decided that the best way to protect Jewish populations in danger was working to create a world in which all peoples should be treated with dignity and respect, promoting partnerships pluralistic and democratic, committed to the respect and protection of minorities. The American Jewish Committee, a key institution in the global fight against anti-Semitism, given each year Jan Karski Award for outstanding international personalities for their efforts in combating anti-Semitism and for his commitment to strengthen the safety and security of the State of Israel, within a regional solution based on the existence of two States, including a viable Palestinian state. Jan Karski Prize is awarded each year at the gala in the U.S. American Jewish Committee, which assists the creme de la creme of the international scene, economic, political and military. Agree with me, then, that both the award itself, for the memory and efforts of the great man he is remembered, and by the institution of the committee that awarded the distinction, the Jan Karski Award is a weight that you should feel to its receptors and the same countries they represent a deep pride and satisfaction.
The prize: in 2010 there has been none other than Miguel Angel Moratinos, Foreign Minister Zapatero government. He received his award at a gala in which Hillary Clinton spoke and other prominent figures, and in which the Director of the American Jewish Committee (David Harris) stressed that “Minister Moratinos has created a new chapter in the relationship between Spain and the world Jewish “and admitted his personal courage in opposing anti-Semitism, its essential support for the establishment of Holocaust Remembrance Day as a holiday in Spain, and his major contribution to the opening of Casa Sefarad, a public institution that honors the significant contribution of the Jews in Spain’s history.
Moratinos himself, upon receiving the award at the gala April 2010 the American Jewish Committee, Zapatero said the government “is deeply committed to eradicating anti-Semitism in Spain, is a moral obligation to combat anti-Semitism not only traditional, if not especially the new anti-Semitism, which is much more perverse. ” Moratinos also said that with the American Jewish Committee, personally understood “the heart of the Jewish people is none other than the State of Israel” and “work against any efforts in Spain and Europe designed to demonize and delegitimize the State of Israel .
My personal criticism: it is based on the fascinating feel disbelief that the time to reread this whole episode, and by linking both the award and the winner in 2010. Now it turns out, by pure magic, the Foreign Minister Zapatero, who has spent six years making it the wave of so miserable and incomprehensible schemes violators of Human Rights led by tyrants like Hugo Chavez, and the brothers Teodoro Obiang Castro, is suddenly a world champion in the fight against anti-Semitism and the rights of oppressed minorities in the world.
Also if by magic, it is now that his work, Moratinos, has been central and fundamental to mind recently in the wake of the Spanish people understanding the value of Judaism in our history, and moreover, it led the government itself Zapatero represents the most advanced in Europe in the fight against antisemitism. Sorry, but however much I try, do not leave my surprise at the award and declarations of the winner.
The family tree of my own family is lined with a rich mixture through generations of surnames Christians, Muslims and Jews, testimony to the cultural mix of Granada Andalusian, Sephardic, and Castilian. This, coupled with tolerance education I received from my parents and my own political and personal evolution, I do understand the importance of the work of those working to eradicate anti-Semitism and all other forms of discrimination, whether ethnic, religious or cultural . In addition, my work for years in the Balkans, has made me see first hand the consequences of ethnic hatred and the danger of brake failure those who preach hatred and discrimination, as it related to ethnic nationalism. I understand well, then, what is the issue, but again I reiterate that Moratinos as a champion of anti-Semitism, even give him the prize Hillary Clinton, not me or the least stable.
And the equation is not simply because it suits me to feel sorry that the very anti-Semitism in Spain has grown since the arrival of Zapatero to power in 2004. Because I understand, after analyzing the events of recent years, the PSOE Zapatero in its most radical and populist drift long embraced and supported the more radical attitudes in discourse anti-Jewish and pro-Palestinian, that confuses the defense of the just Palestinian cause popular support for Hamas and its radical environment. As an example, I bring to mind the statement of January 11, 2009 in Madrid, which means the main new feature organizers emphasized the participation of authorized directly by Zapatero PSOE, Pedro Zerolo as a visible leader representing the PSOE and Zapatero’s government. Particularly in a place full of shades and tints radicals, with thousands of posters and banners calling “murderer” to the State of Israel, where Israeli flags were ripped and toned clearly anti-Semitic proclamations.
Nor do I block the equation because, despite the very Moratinos was Spain’s ambassador to Israel and then the EU Representative for the Middle East (yes, stay in a comfortable mansion in Cyprus), and although it is true that led to the creation of Casa Sefarad and, I suppose, he is personally committed to the cause of Israel, the fact remains that today, after more than six years as Foreign Minister of Spain, we dare say that 99 % of the Spanish population is completely ignorant in our country has a festival dedicated to the memory of Holocaust victims, or the institution as it exists Casa Sefarad, or that the government of Spain is keen to combat anti-Semitism.
The equation still does not materialize because the same Karski compare with Moratinos is at least grotesque, with the former repeatedly risking life in harsh conditions to be voice of the innocent murdered by the Nazis, and the second attached to the pageantry, living in the Palacio de Viana in Madrid, surrounded by pomp and extravagance precisely in times of crisis. A real success Moratinos whose diplomats and foreign policy (the hard cash) are minimal since Javier Solana appointed him their representative in the Middle East (again, stay in the comfortable palace in Cyprus). Compare these two figures because I find it as difficult as reírle thank Hugo Chavez or Teodoro Obiang, something that Jan Karski himself could not digest either never.
After all, most disturbing of all this is that before a fact which in itself is positive (as is the Spanish Foreign Minister received the Jan Karski award of the American Jewish Committee), what remains is noted the sad state of politics in Spain. More so after seeing the exciting expectations of the appointment of himself as Foreign Minister Moratinos in 2004 not on today is nothing. If anything, the sense of diplomacy that seems more private and public, foreign policy and totally disconnected from the Spanish public in general.
As we remember Dr. Stephanie Babst (of the World Security Network) when he wrote “The new NATO public diplomacy” of 2009, “Public diplomacy must be credible to be effective. If it comes to manipulating and lying, it immediately loses credibility. ” For a government without credibility, like Zapatero, and a Foreign Minister without credibility, as the very Moratinos, to the award of a prestigious award of the Jan Karski can be bad news. Proof of what I say, the fact that Spain has maintained official silence from both the government in connection with the award. Perhaps not in the Moncloa believe what their “recognized commitment to combating anti-Semitism.” What a great country show, what we have rulers penalty.
Comment by Adamantine:
This article is a little hard to be sure of the translation but I think it great to read a speech that may not be politically correct on such a sensitive topic. I am still sorting out what he is saying.
UNSEALED PROPHECY 