Anita Roddick va ser una d’aquelles dones emprenedores que van aportar el seu gra de sorra per canviar el món. Va ser la fundadora de la cadena de productes de bellesa The Body Shop i una compromesa activista a favor del medi ambient i dels drets de les comunitats més vulnerables per la globalització.

Va crear una companyia exitosa, present en desenes de països i que, en el moment de la seva venda -a la multinacional L’Oréal- va assolir un valor de 980 milions d’euros. De fet, la polèmica no va estar exempta en aquesta operació: l’activista que havia unit forces amb Greenpeace per boicotejar petrolieres com Exxon, va acabar venent la seva empresa sostenible i natural a una empresa poc compatible amb els seus valors.

En tot cas, Roddick va donar un brillant discurs a Seattle el 1999, a l’International Forum on Globalization, una organització multidisciplinar centrada en l’anàlisi i la crítica al procés de globalització. Un discurs en què va advocar per un comerç més just, però sobretot, més humà … amb principis

“We are in Seattle arguing for a world trade system that puts basic human rights and the environment at its core. We have the most powerful corporations of the world ranged against us. They own the media that informs us – or fails to inform us. And they probably own the politicians too.
It’s enough to make anybody feel a little edgy.

So here’s a question for the world trade negotiators. Who is the system you are lavishing so much attention on supposed to serve?

We can ask the same question of the gleaming towers of Wall Street or the City of London – and the powerful men and women who tinker with the money system which drives world trade. Who is this system for?

Let’s look more closely. Every day, the gleaming towers of high finance oversees a global flow of two trillion dollars through their computer screens. And the terrifying thing is that only three per cent of that – that’s, three hundredths – has anything to do with trade at all. Let alone free trade between equal communities.

The great global myth being that the current world trade system is for anything but money

It has everything to do with money. The great global myth being that the current world trade system is for anything but money.

The other 97 per cent of the two trillion is speculation. It is froth – but froth with terrifying power over people’s lives. Reducing powerless communities access to basic human rights can make money, but not for them. But then the system isn’t designed for them.

It isn’t designed for you and me either. We all of us, rich and poor, have to live with the insecurity caused by an out of control global casino with a built-in bias towards instability. Because it is instability that makes money for the money-traders.

“The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie – deliberate, contrived and dishonest,” said John F Kennedy, “- but the myth – persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.” Asking questions can puncture these powerful myths.

I spend much of every year travelling around the world, talking to people in the front line of globalisation: women, community farmers, children. I know how unrealistic these myths are. Not just in developing countries but right under our noses.

Like the small farmers of the USA, 500 of which go out of business every week.

Half a century ago there were a million black farmers in the US. Now there are 1800. Globalisation means that the subsidies go to the big farms, while the small family farms – the heart of so many American communities – go to the wall.

Or the dark, cramped factories where people work for a pittance for 12 hour days without a day off. “The workers are not allowed to talk to each other and they didn’t allow us to go to the bathroom,” says one Asian worker in that garment factory. Not in Seoul. Not in Sao Paulo. But in San Francisco.

We have a world trading system that is blind to this kind of injustice. And as the powers of governments shrink this system is, in effect, our new unelected, uncontrollable world government. One that outlaws our attempts to >make things better.

According to the WTO, we don’t have the right to discriminate between tuna caught without killing dolphins and tuna caught by those who don’t care, don’t worry and don’t try.

According to the WTO, we have no right to hoard patented seeds from one harvest to plant the following year.

According to the WTO, we have no right to discriminate against beef with growth hormones.

According to the WTO, the livelihoods of the small-scale banana farmers of the Windward Islands are worthless – now facing ruin as the WTO favours the big US exporters

The truth is that the WTO, and the group of unelected trade officials who run it, are now the world’s highest court, with the right to overturn local laws and safety regulations wherever they say it ‘interferes with trade’.

It is government without heart, and without heart you find the creativity of the human spirit starts to dwindle too

This is world government by default, but it is a blind government. It looks at the measurements of money, but it can’t see anything else. It can recognise profits and losses, but it deliberately turns its face away from human rights, child labour or keeping the environment viable for future generations.

It is government without heart, and without heart you find the creativity of the human spirit starts to dwindle too.

Now there will be commentators and politicians by the truckload over the next week accusing us of wanting to turn the clock back. They will say we are parochial, inward-looking, xenophobic and dangerous.

But we must remind them what free trade really is. The truth is that ‘free trade’ was originally about the freedom of communities to trade equally with each other. It was never intended to be what it is today. A licence for the big, the powerful and the rich, to ride roughshod over the small, the weak and the poor.

And while we’re about it, let’s nail another myth.

Nobody could be more in favour of a global outlook than I am. Internationalism means that we can see into the dark corners of the world, and hold those companies to account when they are devastating forests or employing children as bonded labour. Globalisation is the complete opposite, its rules pit country against country and workers against workers in the blinkered pursuit of international competitiveness.

Internationalism means we can link together at local level across the world, and use our power as consumers. Working together, across all sectors, we can turn businesses from private greed to public good.

It means, even more important, that we can start understanding each other in a way that no generation has managed before.

Let’s be clear about this. It’s not trade we’re against, it’s exploitation and unchecked power.

I don’t pretend for a moment that we’re perfect at The Body Shop. Or that every one of our experiments work out – especially when it comes to building trading relationships that actually strengthen poor communities.

We are absolutely committed to increasing our trade with communities around the world, because this is the key – not just for our future, but the planet’s. It means that they trade to strengthen their local economy for profit, but not because their very survival depends on it.

Community trade will make us not a multi-national, but a multi-local. I hope we can measure our success in terms of our ability to show just what’s possible if a company genuinely opens a dialogue with communities.

Heaven knows, we’re not there yet. But this is real life, and all any of us can do is to make sure we are going in the right direction, and never lose our determination to improve.

The trouble is that the current trading system undermines anybody who tries.

Businesses which forego profits to build communities, or keep production local rather than employing semi-slaves in distant sweatshops, risk losing business to cheaper competitors without such commitments, and being targeted for take-over by the slash-and-burn corporate raiders. Reinforced by the weight of the WTO.

It’s difficult for all of us. But if we are going to change the world then nobody – not governments, not the media, not individuals – are going to get a free ride. And certainly not business, because business is now faster, more creative and far wealthier than governments ever were.

Business has to be a force for social change. It is not enough to avoid hideous evil – it must, we must, actively do good. If business stays parochial, without moral energy or codes of behaviour, claiming there are no such thing as values, then God help us all. If you think morality is a luxury business can’t afford, try living in a world without it.

So what should we do at this critical moment in world history? First, we must make sure this week that we lay the foundations for humanising world trade.

We must learn from our experience of what really works for poor countries, poor communities around the world. The negotiators this week must listen to these communities and allow these countries full participation and contribution to trade negotiations.

The rules have got to change. We need a radical alternative that puts people before profit. And that brings us to my second prescription. We must start measuring our success differently.

If politicians, businesses and analysts only measure the bottom line – the growth in money – then it’s not surprising the world is skewed.

Let’s measure the success of places and corporations against how much they enhance human well-being

It’s not surprising that the WTO is half-blind, recognising slash-and-burn corporations but not the people they destroy.

It’s not surprising that it values flipping hamburgers or making sweaters at 50 cents an hour as a valuable activity, but takes no account of those other jobs – the caring, educating and loving work that we all know needs doing if we’re going to turn the world into a place we want to live.

Let’s measure the success of places and corporations against how much they enhance human well-being. Body Shop was one of the first companies to submit itself to a social audit, and many others are now doing so.

Measuring what really matters can give us the revolution in kindness we so desperately need. That’s the real bottom line.

And finally, we must remember we already have power as consumers and as organisations forming strategic and increasingly influential alliances for change. They can insist on open markets as much as they like, but if consumers won’t buy, nothing on earth can make them. Just look at how European consumers have forced the biotech industry’s back up against the wall.

We have to be political consumers, vigilante consumers. With the barrage of propaganda served up to us every day, we have to be. We must be wise enough so that – whatever they may decide at the trade talks – we know where to put our energy and our money. No matter what we’re told or cajoled to do, we must work together to get the truth out in co-operation for the best, not competition for the cheapest.

By putting our money where our heart is, refusing to buy the products which exploit, by forming powerful strategic alliances, we will mould the world into a kinder more loving shape. And we will do so no matter what you decide this week.

Human progress is on our side.”

El 20 de setembre de 2001, nou dies més tard de l’atac terrorista a les Torres Bessones de Nova York, el president Bush es va dirigir al Congrés en sessió conjunta. El texà, que havia estat elegit amb el dubte del frau electoral i que era percebut com un novell sense experiència en política exterior i defensa, va donar el pas endavant que necessitava la seva presidència. En aquest discurs va marcar la política exterior nord-americana per al seu mandat. La lluita contra el terror, com a pretext per a tants abusos com després van cometre, va tenir la seva posada de llarg en aquest impressionant discurs de George W. Bush.

“We Are a Country Awakened to Danger and Called to Defend Freedom.”

Mr. Speaker, Mr. President Pro Tempore, members of Congress, and fellow Americans, in the normal course of events, presidents come to this chamber to report on the state of the union. Tonight, no such report is needed; it has already been delivered by the American people.

We have seen it in the courage of passengers who rushed terrorists to save others on the ground. Passengers like an exceptional man named Todd Beamer. And would you please help me welcome his wife, Lisa Beamer, here tonight?

We have seen the state of our union in the endurance of rescuers working past exhaustion.

We’ve seen the unfurling of flags, the lighting of candles, the giving of blood, the saying of prayers in English, Hebrew and Arabic.

We have seen the decency of a loving and giving people who have made the grief of strangers their own.

My fellow citizens, for the last nine days, the entire world has seen for itself the state of our union, and it is strong.

Tonight, we are a country awakened to danger and called to defend freedom. Our grief has turned to anger and anger to resolution. Whether we bring our enemies to justice or bring justice to our enemies, justice will be done.

I thank the Congress for its leadership at such an important time.

All of America was touched on the evening of the tragedy to see Republicans and Democrats joined together on the steps of this Capitol singing “God Bless America.”

And you did more than sing. You acted, by delivering $40 billion to rebuild our communities and meet the needs of our military. Speaker [Dennis] Hastert, Minority Leader [Richard] Gephardt, Majority Leader [Thomas] Daschle and Senator [Trent] Lott, I thank you for your friendship, for your leadership and for your service to our country.

And on behalf of the American people, I thank the world for its outpouring of support.

America will never forget the sounds of our national anthem playing at Buckingham Palace, on the streets of Paris and at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate.

We will not forget South Korean children gathering to pray outside our embassy in Seoul, or the prayers of sympathy offered at a mosque in Cairo.

We will not forget moments of silence and days of mourning in Australia and Africa and Latin America.

Nor will we forget the citizens of 80 other nations who died with our own. Dozens of Pakistanis, more than 130 Israelis, more than 250 citizens of India, men and women from El Salvador, Iran, Mexico and Japan, and hundreds of British citizens.

America has no truer friend than Great Britain.

Once again, we are joined together in a great cause.

I’m so honored the British prime minister had crossed an ocean to show his unity with America. Thank you for coming, friend.

On September the 11th, enemies of freedom committed an act of war against our country. Americans have known wars, but for the past 136 years they have been wars on foreign soil, except for one Sunday in 1941. Americans have known the casualties of war, but not at the center of a great city on a peaceful morning.

Americans have known surprise attacks, but never before on thousands of civilians.

All of this was brought upon us in a single day, and night fell on a different world, a world where freedom itself is under attack.

Americans have many questions tonight. Americans are asking, “Who attacked our country?”

The evidence we have gathered all points to a collection of loosely affiliated terrorist organizations known as al Qaeda. They are some of the murderers indicted for bombing American embassies in Tanzania and Kenya and responsible for bombing the USS Cole.

Al Qaeda is to terror what the Mafia is to crime. But its goal is not making money, its goal is remaking the world and imposing its radical beliefs on people everywhere.

The terrorists practice a fringe form of Islamic extremism that has been rejected by Muslim scholars and the vast majority of Muslim clerics, a fringe movement that perverts the peaceful teachings of Islam.

The terrorists’ directive commands them to kill Christians and Jews, to kill all Americans and make no distinctions among military and civilians, including women and children.

This group and its leader, a person named Osama bin Laden, are linked to many other organizations in different countries, including the Egyptian Islamic Jihad [and] the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.

There are thousands of these terrorists in more than 60 countries.

They are recruited from their own nations and neighborhoods and brought to camps in places like Afghanistan, where they are trained in the tactics of terror. They are sent back to their homes or sent to hide in countries around the world to plot evil and destruction.

The leadership of al Qaeda has great influence in Afghanistan and supports the Taliban regime in controlling most of that country. In Afghanistan we see al Qaeda’s vision for the world. Afghanistan’s people have been brutalized, many are starving and many have fled.

Women are not allowed to attend school. You can be jailed for owning a television. Religion can be practiced only as their leaders dictate. A man can be jailed in Afghanistan if his beard is not long enough.

The United States respects the people of Afghanistan — after all, we are currently its largest source of humanitarian aid — but we condemn the Taliban regime.

It is not only repressing its own people, it is threatening people everywhere by sponsoring and sheltering and supplying terrorists.

By aiding and abetting murder, the Taliban regime is committing murder. And tonight the United States of America makes the following demands on the Taliban:

Deliver to United States authorities all of the leaders of al Qaeda who hide in your land.

Release all foreign nationals, including American citizens, you have unjustly imprisoned. Protect foreign journalists, diplomats and aid workers in your country. Close immediately and permanently every terrorist training camp in Afghanistan. And hand over every terrorist and every person and their support structure to appropriate authorities.

Give the United States full access to terrorist training camps, so we can make sure they are no longer operating.

These demands are not open to negotiation or discussion. The Taliban must act and act immediately. They will hand over the terrorists or they will share in their fate.

I also want to speak tonight directly to Muslims throughout the world. We respect your faith. It’s practiced freely by many millions of Americans and by millions more in countries that America counts as friends. Its teachings are good and peaceful, and those who commit evil in the name of Allah blaspheme the name of Allah.

The terrorists are traitors to their own faith, trying, in effect, to hijack Islam itself.

The enemy of America is not our many Muslim friends. It is not our many Arab friends. Our enemy is a radical network of terrorists and every government that supports them.

Our war on terror begins with al Qaeda, but it does not end there.

It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated.

Americans are asking, “Why do they hate us?”

They hate what they see right here in this chamber: a democratically elected government. Their leaders are self-appointed. They hate our freedoms: our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other.

They want to overthrow existing governments in many Muslim countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. They want to drive Israel out of the Middle East. They want to drive Christians and Jews out of vast regions of Asia and Africa.

These terrorists kill not merely to end lives, but to disrupt and end a way of life. With every atrocity, they hope that America grows fearful, retreating from the world and forsaking our friends. They stand against us because we stand in their way.

We’re not deceived by their pretenses to piety. We have seen their kind before. They’re the heirs of all the murderous ideologies of the 20th century. By sacrificing human life to serve their radical visions, by abandoning every value except the will to power, they follow in the path of fascism, Nazism and totalitarianism. And they will follow that path all the way to where it ends in history’s unmarked grave of discarded lies.

Americans are asking, “How will we fight and win this war?”

We will direct every resource at our command — every means of diplomacy, every tool of intelligence, every instrument of law enforcement, every financial influence, and every necessary weapon of war — to the destruction and to the defeat of the global terror network.

Now, this war will not be like the war against Iraq a decade ago, with a decisive liberation of territory and a swift conclusion. It will not look like the air war above Kosovo two years ago, where no ground troops were used and not a single American was lost in combat.

Our response involves far more than instant retaliation and isolated strikes. Americans should not expect one battle, but a lengthy campaign unlike any other we have ever seen. It may include dramatic strikes visible on TV and covert operations secret even in success.

We will starve terrorists of funding, turn them one against another, drive them from place to place until there is no refuge or no rest.

And we will pursue nations that provide aid or safe haven to terrorism. Every nation in every region now has a decision to make: Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists.

From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime. Our nation has been put on notice. We’re not immune from attack. We will take defensive measures against terrorism to protect Americans.

Today, dozens of federal departments and agencies, as well as state and local governments, have responsibilities affecting homeland security.

These efforts must be coordinated at the highest level. So tonight, I announce the creation of a Cabinet-level position reporting directly to me, the Office of Homeland Security.

And tonight, I also announce a distinguished American to lead this effort, to strengthen American security: a military veteran, an effective governor, a true patriot, a trusted friend, Pennsylvania’s Tom Ridge.

He will lead, oversee and coordinate a comprehensive national strategy to safeguard our country against terrorism and respond to any attacks that may come.

These measures are essential. The only way to defeat terrorism as a threat to our way of life is to stop it, eliminate it and destroy it where it grows.

Many will be involved in this effort, from FBI agents, to intelligence operatives, to the reservists we have called to active duty. All deserve our thanks, and all have our prayers.

And tonight a few miles from the damaged Pentagon, I have a message for our military: Be ready. I have called the armed forces to alert, and there is a reason.

The hour is coming when America will act, and you will make us proud.

This is not, however, just America’s fight. And what is at stake is not just America’s freedom.

This is the world’s fight. This is civilization’s fight. This is the fight of all who believe in progress and pluralism, tolerance and freedom.

We ask every nation to join us.

We will ask and we will need the help of police forces, intelligence services and banking systems around the world. The United States is grateful that many nations and many international organizations have already responded with sympathy and with support — nations from Latin America to Asia to Africa to Europe to the Islamic world.

Perhaps the NATO charter reflects best the attitude of the world: An attack on one is an attack on all. The civilized world is rallying to America’s side.

They understand that if this terror goes unpunished, their own cities, their own citizens may be next. Terror unanswered can not only bring down buildings, it can threaten the stability of legitimate governments.

And you know what? We’re not going to allow it.

Americans are asking, “What is expected of us?”

I ask you to live your lives and hug your children.

I know many citizens have fears tonight, and I ask you to be calm and resolute, even in the face of a continuing threat.

I ask you to uphold the values of America and remember why so many have come here.

We’re in a fight for our principles, and our first responsibility is to live by them. No one should be singled out for unfair treatment or unkind words because of their ethnic background or religious faith.

I ask you to continue to support the victims of this tragedy with your contributions. Those who want to give can go to a central source of information, libertyunites.org, to find the names of groups providing direct help in New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

The thousands of FBI agents who are now at work in this investigation may need your cooperation, and I ask you to give it. I ask for your patience with the delays and inconveniences that may accompany tighter security and for your patience in what will be a long struggle.

I ask [for] your continued participation and confidence in the American economy. Terrorists attacked a symbol of American prosperity; they did not touch its source.

America is successful because of the hard work and creativity and enterprise of our people. These were the true strengths of our economy before September 11th, and they are our strengths today.

And finally, please continue praying for the victims of terror and their families, for those in uniform and for our great country. Prayer has comforted us in sorrow and will help strengthen us for the journey ahead.

Tonight I thank my fellow Americans for what you have already done and for what you will do.

And, ladies and gentlemen of the Congress, I thank you, their representatives, for what you have already done and for what we will do together.

Tonight we face new and sudden national challenges.

We will come together to improve air safety, to dramatically expand the number of air marshals on domestic flights and take new measures to prevent hijacking.

We will come together to promote stability and keep our airlines flying with direct assistance during this emergency.

We will come together to give law enforcement the additional tools it needs to track down terror here at home.

We will come together to strengthen our intelligence capabilities to know the plans of terrorists before they act and to find them before they strike.

We will come together to take active steps that strengthen America’s economy and put our people back to work.

Tonight, we welcome two leaders who embody the extraordinary spirit of all New Yorkers, Governor George Pataki and Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. As a symbol of America’s resolve, my administration will work with Congress and these two leaders to show the world that we will rebuild New York City.

After all that has just passed, all the lives taken and all the possibilities and hopes that died with them, it is natural to wonder if America’s future is one of fear.

Some speak of an age of terror. I know there are struggles ahead and dangers to face. But this country will define our times, not be defined by them.

As long as the United States of America is determined and strong, this will not be an age of terror. This will be an age of liberty here and across the world.

Great harm has been done to us. We have suffered great loss. And in our grief and anger we have found our mission and our moment.

Freedom and fear are at war. The advance of human freedom, the great achievement of our time and the great hope of every time, now depends on us.

Our nation, this generation, will lift the dark threat of violence from our people and our future. We will rally the world to this cause by our efforts, by our courage. We will not tire, we will not falter and we will not fail.

It is my hope that in the months and years ahead life will return almost to normal. We’ll go back to our lives and routines, and that is good.

Even grief recedes with time and grace.

But our resolve must not pass. Each of us will remember what happened that day and to whom it happened. We will remember the moment the news came, where we were and what we were doing.

Some will remember an image of a fire or story or rescue. Some will carry memories of a face and a voice gone forever.

And I will carry this: It is the police shield of a man named George Howard who died at the World Trade Center trying to save others.

It was given to me by his mom, Arlene, as a proud memorial to her son. It is my reminder of lives that ended and a task that does not end.

I will not forget the wound to our country and those who inflicted it. I will not yield, I will not rest, I will not relent in waging this struggle for freedom and security for the American people.

The course of this conflict is not known, yet its outcome is certain. Freedom and fear, justice and cruelty, have always been at war, and we know that God is not neutral between them.

Fellow citizens, we’ll meet violence with patient justice, assured of the rightness of our cause and confident of the victories to come.

In all that lies before us, may God grant us wisdom and may He watch over the United States of America.

Thank you.

El 18 de juny de 1940, el jove i acabat d’ascendir a general, Charles de Gaulle, es va dirigir a França des del seu exili a Londres. Havia arribat un dia abans i gràcies a la intervenció de Churchill, primer ministre britànic, va poder dir al poble francès que França no estava encara derrotada, tot i l’armistici del govern col·laboracionista de Pétain. Les paraules que van canviar la història van prendre cos en un breu però intens discurs:

Els líders que, des de fa molts anys, estan al capdavant dels exèrcits francesos, han format un govern. Aquest govern al·legant la derrota dels nostres exèrcits, s’ha posat en contacte amb l’enemic per al cessament de les hostilitats.

És cert que hem estat i seguim estant submergits per la força mecànica terrestre i aèria a l’enemic. Infinitament més que el seu número, són els tancs, els avions i la tàctica dels alemanys, els que ens fan retrocedir. Són els tancs, els avions i la tàctica dels alemanys, els que han sorprès als nostres líders fins al punt de portar-los a on ara es troben.

Però s’ha dit l’última paraula? Ha de perdre l’esperança? És definitiva la derrota? No!

Creieu-me a mi que us parlo amb coneixement de causa i us dic que res està perdut per França. Els mateixos mitjans que ens han vençut ens poden portar un dia la victòria.

Perquè França no està sola! No està sola! No està sola! Té un vast imperi rere d’ella. Pot formar un bloc amb l’Imperi britànic que domina els mars i contínua la lluita. Pot, com Anglaterra, utilitzar il·limitadament la immensa indústria dels Estats Units.

Aquesta guerra no està limitada al desgraciat territori del nostre país. Aquesta guerra no ha quedat decidida per la batalla de França. Aquesta guerra és una guerra mundial. Totes les faltes, tots els retards, tots els patiments no impedeixen que existeixin, en l’univers, tots els mitjans per aixafar un dia als nostres enemics. Fulminats avui per la força mecànica, podem vèncer en el futur per una força mecànica superior: està en això el destí del món.

Jo, general De Gaulle, actualment a Londres, convido als oficials i soldats francesos que es trobin o entrin en territori britànic, amb les seves armes o sense elles, convido als enginyers i als obrers especialistes de les indústries d’armament que es trobin o entrin en territori britànic, a posar-se en contacte amb mi. Passi el que passi la flama de la resistència francesa no s’ha d’apagar i no s’apagarà.

Ni Zapatero és Roosevelt ni Sarkozy, De Gaulle. No obstant això, a l’Elisi han sabut trobar en la commemoració del 70 aniversari del famós discurs del general De Gaulle una oportunitat per fer front a la crisi econòmica … si més no a nivell discursiu.

Si el “Appel du 18 juin” del president va ser un moment culminant en la política francesa, si aquest discurs va donar entitat al que posteriorment seria president de la República i va donar cos al propi relat de França; no és intel·ligent prescindir del que, 70 anys més tard, pot aportar el General -el seu discurs- a l’ànim general del país.

Davant d’això, la pregunta sembla clara: a qui pot desempolsar Zapatero? A quin líder podem remetre’ns? A quin punt de resistència i unitat pot referir-se el Govern? Aquí la nostra història ens torna a posar al nostre lloc. Encara que sigui una exageració i no representi el que opinen realment els espanyols, no és estrany escoltar en airades converses això de “això amb Franco no passava”. O “tots els polítics són uns xoriços, necessitem un dictador”. En calent, pel moment, sens dubte. Però es comenta.

I la història ens torna al nostre lloc per l’absència d’aquestes figures que encarnin la lluita democràtica. Corregeixo, no és absència: perquè les tenim. És oblit, indiferència. Que recordem abans les frases lapidàries de Roosevelt -només hem de tenir por de la pròpia por-, Kennedy -no preguntis el que el teu país pot fer per tu: pregunta’t què pots fer tu pel teu país- o al mateix De Gaulle -la flama de la resistència francesa no s’ha d’apagar i no s’apagarà-.

Els grans líders transcendeixen al seu temps. Segueixen inspirant a generacions futures. El discurs inaugural d’Obama era un reconeixement a Lincoln, Roosevelt, Kennedy i Clinton. A qui reconeixia Aznar? A qui ho feia Zapatero? No ho faran de Companys, que té en una de les seves cites més famoses el cant a la resistència que aquesta crisi exigeix: “Tornarem a lluitar, tornarem a sofrir i tornarem a vèncer”.

Els banquers han fugit dels seus alts pedestals en el temple de la nostra civilització. Ara podem restaurar aquest temple amb les veritats que coneixíem abans de la crisi.

La mesura de la restauració està en la mesura amb què apliquem els valors socials més nobles que el simple benefici monetari.

La felicitat no rau en la mera possessió de diners, es troba en la joia de l’assoliment, en l’emoció de l’esforç creatiu.

La recuperació demana, però, no només canvis en l’ètica. Aquesta nació demana acció, i la demana ara.

La nostra tasca principal és posar a la gent a treballar. Això no és un problema insoluble si l’enfrontem amb saviesa i valentia.

La recuperació pot acompanyar-se, en part, mitjançant la contractació directa pel propi govern, el tractament d’això com si fos una emergència de guerra, però al mateix temps, a través d’aquest treball, el compliment de projectes molt necessaris per estimular i reorganitzar l’ús dels nostres recursos.

Pot acompanyar-se amb l’actuació sense demora de tots els governs, el nacional, els autonòmics i els locals. L’exigència que retallem els seus costos considerablement.

Pot acompanyar-se amb la unitat d’acció en les mesures de recuperació, sovint disperses, antieconòmiques i desiguals.

Hi ha moltes maneres en què es pot ajudar, però mai es pot acabar amb la crisi només parlant d’això.

Cal actuar, i actuar amb rapidesa.

Zapatero no ha anunciat la reforma laboral amb paraules semblants a aquestes. Tampoc ho va fer quan va anunciar les mesures: les seves paraules van ser fredes. El seu discurs va semblar el d’un metge que anuncia un funest diagnòstic. Guardant les distàncies, com si la cosa no anés amb ell.

Aquestes paraules són del discurs d’investidura de Franklin D. Roosevelt, quan havia d’enfrontar la duríssima crisi econòmica després del crack del 29, adaptades -molt adaptades, permeteu-me el joc- i retallades. Però mostren la importància d’un líder a l’hora de triar bé les paraules.

George Lakoff, que assisteix a la trobada internacional d’ACOP que comença avui a Bilbao, afirmava ahir en un acte de la Fundación Ideas que “el relat, la narrativa, té enllaços directes amb l’emoció. L’emoció es construeix amb ella“. I aquest és el punt clau. Perquè sense entendre el poder de les paraules, del discurs i del relat en una situació política, econòmica i comunicacional difícil com aquesta, no es pot plantejar un escenari de millora.

Perquè la realitat és, a qui parla Zapatero? Ho fa als ciutadans? Als seus votants? Només als mercats financers? Aquesta és la pregunta clau, a nivell de comunicació. Amb tota la incertesa que envolta la situació econòmica actual és necessari que els líders parlin clar. Per això, a qui parla Zapatero?

Aquesta resposta, no la tinc. El que és, si cap, més preocupant. Si el llenguatge, les paraules, activen circuits i emocions en el nostre cervell -que condueixen al vot, però també ens poden conduir a la fallida del sistema-, triar-les bé ha de ser una prioritat. Tant com saber a qui i per què els hi parlem.

No és d’estranyar que el mateix Zapatero acceptés ahir al Congrés que el seu propi Govern és el que menys ha ajudat a la credibilitat del país. Recorden quan, deliberadament s’optava per no dir la paraula crisi?

Les paraules no canvien la realitat. Però si la percepció del que passa. Sí afecten a la confiança en el líder, en la recuperació i al país. I aquesta batalla, Zapatero l’ha perdut. No ha estat conscient del que desperta el llenguatge. El que generen les paraules. I es va quedar sense.

El germà del president Kennedy va anunciar als seus seguidors la mort de Martin Luther King en un impressionant discurs d’unió en un dels moments més agitats de la història dels Estats Units:

I have bad news for you, for all of our fellow citizens, and people who love peace all over the world, and that is that Martin Luther King was shot and killed tonight.

Martin Luther King dedicated his life to love and to justice for his fellow human beings, and he died because of that effort.

In this difficult day, in this difficult time for the United States, it is perhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are and what direction we want to move in. For those of you who are black–considering the evidence there evidently is that there were white people who were responsible–you can be filled with bitterness, with hatred, and a desire for revenge. We can move in that direction as a country, in great polarization–black people amongst black, white people amongst white, filled with hatred toward one another.

Or we can make an effort, as Martin Luther King did, to understand and to comprehend, and to replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand with compassion and love.

For those of you who are black and are tempted to be filled with hatred and distrust at the injustice of such an act, against all white people, I can only say that I feel in my own heart the same kind of feeling. I had a member of my family killed, but he was killed by a white man. But we have to make an effort in the United States, we have to make an effort to understand, to go beyond these rather difficult times.

My favorite poet was Aeschylus. He wrote: “In our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.”

What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence or lawlessness; but love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or they be black.

So I shall ask you tonight to return home, to say a prayer for the family of Martin Luther King, that’s true, but more importantly to say a prayer for our own country, which all of us love–a prayer for understanding and that compassion of which I spoke.

We can do well in this country. We will have difficult times; we’ve had difficult times in the past; we will have difficult times in the future. It is not the end of violence; it is not the end of lawlessness; it is not the end of disorder.

But the vast majority of white people and the vast majority of black people in this country want to live together, want to improve the quality of our life, and want justice for all human beings who abide in our land.

Let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world.

Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a prayer for our country and for our people.

Nick Clegg és el líder dels liberaldemòcrates britànics i aquest dijous, quan caigui la nit, veurà si en despertar, el somni s’ha convertit en una realitat o només ha estat això, un somni. I és que si aquestes eleccions britàniques tenen un nom propi és el seu. De fet, el presumible vencedor de les eleccions, David Cameron, ha tingut en aquest candidat un seriós competidor. No ja per l’aritmètica parlamentària, sinó un seriós competidor en termes de comunicació i popularitat.

A això ha contribuït el seu rol en els tres debats celebrats. Per primera vegada, el Regne Unit ha assistit a un debat entre els seus líders i el nombre clau ha estat el tres. Tres debats, tres candidats. Tres ocasions per confrontar idees, però sobretot, tres ocasions ben aprofitades per Clegg per mostrar als britànics que hi ha una altra via.

I ha funcionat. El convidat que només podia guanyar, va guanyar en la batalla dels mitjans. La guerra de les percepcions. Ara només queda esperar a veure si també aconsegueix la batalla dels vots. Perquè el sistema britànic és bastant peculiar. I aquí la gran pregunta és si Clegg pot arrossegar vots en circumscripcions en què els candidats del seu partit són o desconeguts o amateur. En definitiva, veure si el discurs de Clegg serveix per trencar amb la cultura política tradicional del Regne Unit.

I per què Clegg? Quina és la clau del seu secret? Per què és el nom propi d’aquestes eleccions? La resposta, en aquest vídeo.

El general George S. Patton fill va dirigir aquest discurs als homes del Tercer Regiment dels Estats Units el dia abans de la invasió de Normandia, el cèlebre dia D, durant la Segona Guerra Mundial. Un exemple clar del que una arenga pot i ha de fer entre una entregada massa.

Patton, a diferència de molts oradors contemporanis, no usava notes o apunts. Ni molt menys telepromters. Sempre es dirigia als seus homes amb un llenguatge col·loquial, directe. “No es pot dirigir un exèrcit sense paraules malsonants, s’ha d’utilitzar un llenguatge eloqüentment informal“, solia dir.

“M’ocuparé personalment d’acabar amb aquest cabró fill de puta de Hitler”

You are here today for three reasons. First, because you are here to defend your homes and your loved ones. Second, you are here for your own self respect, because you would not want to be anywhere else. Third, you are here because you are real men and all real men like to fight. When you, here, everyone of you, were kids, you all admired the champion marble player, the fastest runner, the toughest boxer, the big league ball players, and the All-American football players. Americans love a winner. Americans will not tolerate a loser. Americans despise cowards. Americans play to win all of the time. I wouldn’t give a hoot in hell for a man who lost and laughed. That’s why Americans have never lost nor will ever lose a war; for the very idea of losing is hateful to an American.

“La idea mateixa de perdre és odiosa per a un nordamericà”

You are not all going to die, only two percent of you right here today would die in a major battle. Death must not be feared. Death, in time, comes to all men. Yes, every man is scared in his first battle. If he says he’s not, he’s a liar. Some men are cowards but they fight the same as the brave men or they get the hell slammed out of them watching men fight who are just as scared as they are. The real hero is the man who fights even though he is scared. Some men get over their fright in a minute under fire. For some, it takes an hour. For some, it takes days. But a real man will never let his fear of death overpower his honor, his sense of duty to his country, and his innate manhood. Battle is the most magnificent competition in which a human being can indulge. It brings out all that is best and it removes all that is base. Americans pride themselves on being He Men and they ARE He Men. Remember that the enemy is just as frightened as you are, and probably more so. They are not supermen.

“L’autèntic heroi és l’home que lluita encara que tingui por.”

[...]All of the real heroes are not storybook combat fighters, either. Every single man in this Army plays a vital role. Don’t ever let up. Don’t ever think that your job is unimportant. Every man has a job to do and he must do it. Every man is a vital link in the great chain. What if every truck driver suddenly decided that he didn’t like the whine of those shells overhead, turned yellow, and jumped headlong into a ditch? The cowardly bastard could say, “Hell, they won’t miss me, just one man in thousands”. But, what if every man thought that way? Where in the hell would we be now? What would our country, our loved ones, our homes, even the world, be like? No, Goddamnit, Americans don’t think like that. Every man does his job. Every man serves the whole. Every department, every unit, is important in the vast scheme of this war.

[...]Sure, we want to go home. We want this war over with. The quickest way to get it over with is to go get the bastards who started it. The quicker they are whipped, the quicker we can go home. The shortest way home is through Berlin and Tokyo. And when we get to Berlin, I am personally going to shoot that paper hanging son-of-a-bitch Hitler. Just like I’d shoot a snake!

[...]There is one great thing that you men will all be able to say after this war is over and you are home once again. You may be thankful that twenty years from now when you are sitting by the fireplace with your grandson on your knee and he asks you what you did in the great World War II, you WON’T have to cough, shift him to the other knee and say, “Well, your Granddaddy shoveled shit in Louisiana.” No, Sir, you can look him straight in the eye and say, “Son, your Granddaddy rode with the Great Third Army and a Son-of-a-Goddamned-Bitch named Georgie Patton!

Aquest dijous, un any més, una data es va marcar en un profund negre en el nostre calendari. 11 de març. Una altra vegada. I amb ella, els records del dia de la infàmia. El dolor d’una societat sencera que va assistir estupefacta al major atemptat terrorista de la història d’Espanya. Aquell dia, 192 famílies van trencar de dolor i més de 40 milions de ciutadans els acompanyàvem en aquest dol i intentàvem donar-los el nostre suport.

Però sembla que, any rere any, continua havent-hi gent en aquest país que es preocupa més per mantenir la insídia i les teories de la conspiració que en donar suport a les seves víctimes. Grups mediàtics que abonen el camp a la divisió, l’enfrontament. Que any rere any augmenten el ja insuperable dolor de les víctimes.

Un any més, l’11 de març va despertar gris i trist. I es va tornar encara més negre en veure, sentir i llegir segons quines coses. Des de les portades de certs diaris al tracte d’una de les associacions de víctimes. De res ens serveix retre homenatge any rere any si encara hi ha voluntat de fer d’això una arma política.

Per això, el discurs que Pilar Manjón va dirigir als diputats i diputades de la comissió d’investigació de l’11M ha de ser recordat. Perquè aquell dia les seves paraules van deixar glaçats als polítics i a un país sencer. I perquè aquesta valentia li ha causat encara més dolor.