I am no longer going to school and I am in good health
This article was written by Xabier Urmeneta, Juana Mari Astigarraga, Jon Mirena Landa, Iñaki Lekuona and myself on behalf of the Argituz Human Rights Association back in May 2012. We wanted to point out that Economic, Social and Cultural rights are not second-division rights in comparison to Civil and Political rights. And that cuts in Economic, Social and Cultural rights can lead -and do lead- to cuts in Civil and Political rights.
This is a small part of the article:
“But it would seem that the Government forgets that any international covenant signed and ratified by the state has a superior legal rank to any law except the Constitution. And instead of defending those rights and fulfilling its obligations reference to its citizens, they are only concerned by the market and financial speculators, and allows itself to be accountable before them.
Rephrasing Pastor Martin Niemöller, in his famous sermon pronounced in 1946 in Kaiserslautern: first they came for freedom of demonstration, and I kept quiet because I do not usually go to demonstrations. Then they came for the right to free trade unionism, but I did not care, as I am not a trade unionist. Now they are coming for the right to healthcare and education, But I am not going to protest, I am no longer going to school and I am in good health. Now they are coming for me, but it is too late”.
I will be translating all my articles in due course. Once I do get to translate this one, I shall be posting the full translation here. In the meantime, you can see the original version in Spanish and in Basque in the links below.
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