The Ideal, by Julián Gómez del Castillo

THE IDEAL

By Julián Gómez del Castillo

In Spain, most young people of 15, 18 or 25 are doomed to unemployment when they finish their studies. 60% of young people under 25 are jobless. How do educators prepare the youth for this fact, or have they chosen to be teachers and given up their job as educators? Have young people been educated to fight against this problem through a liberating moral action or to serve economic imperialism by being resigned and unresisting? Are we aware that the educational task always entails political action? Have young people and educators considered that if 60% of the youth are unemployed and do not fight, this is the result of not having had educators? It is possible that if youngsters could find militant testimonies in their family or group of friends, they would be able to lay down their lives.

We are swindling this generation by concealing from them that the Ideal is above evasion, money, exploitation in its different forms, above the good life, consumption and stupidity.

All human beings fulfill themselves by cultivating the qualities in their being. These qualities include one upon which the others converge: Love. Love is pure disinterested gratuity of self, which in our times is called solidarity, defined through actions for the poor such as "communication of what is necessary to live", that is to say, even life itself.

In the 19^th century, when the poor in Europe bring this to people’s social life, they take history’s most important cultural action for the liberation of the oppressed. Since then, thousands and thousands of people have laid down their lives in solidarity with the impoverished. It is our turn to follow suit. We are not the first ones, others have laid down their lives before but we haven’t yet. We are inspired by their attitude, which encourages us to walk. The seeds of solidarity have already been sown along the paths our Solidarity Marches will walk; paths that have witnessed great efforts and sacrifices in the name of solidarity, including the toll of many human lives.

On 16^th April, 1995, Iqbal Masih was murdered in Pakistan for fighting against child slavery. He was a fighter for peace and there was no room for him in an imperialist world. Christian conscious, he laid down his life at the age of 12. Let us honor his memory on 16^th April. He is an example for the youth of the 21^st century; a century with unemployment, hunger and slavery renewed by economic imperialism.

Our youth need a horizon without dependencies. Our families do not have to live under the threat of 50% of the active population being unemployed. Political parties and trade unions serve the Empire. We must systematically, regularly and steadily launch our liberating moral protest on the streets, on days of reflection, demanding that all public authorities, universities, parties and trade unions implement action plans to eradicate unemployment, hunger and slavery. If we mobilize ourselves, we will force the powerful to respond. We cannot accept the passivity of society, encouraged by public and private powers.

Can we shatter manipulation of consciousness? Yes, we can if we want to; but not with a lazy will, not without sacrifice and feebly. It is necessary to have a will with all the consequences entailed by cultivating human freedom and willpower. This will require that some people should break the chains of information, of uncooperative knowledge, of consumerist lifestyles and religious spiritualism; and that others should break the chains of brutalization imposed by destitution. For everybody, it will require wanting to break free to jeopardize our own lives.