1. Working Group on Education and Democracy
2. Working Group on Education and Democracy
3. Participants of the 5th Edition of Route to Exile were joined by Carmina Gustrán Loscos, Commissioner of Spain in Freedom. 50 Years; Ángel Víctor Torres Pérez, Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory; and Sira Abed Rego, Minister of Youth and Childhood during their visit to Argelès-Sur-Mer
We commemorate the year 1975 because that is when a window opens— a window of risks and opportunities, of fears and courage, which cannot be understood without the struggles that came before or the transformations that followed. If we focused on the first democratic elections after Franco’ s death in June 1977, or on the promulgation of the Spanish Constitution in December 1978— if we looked only at major laws and great men— citizens would be reduced to background figures. And democracy, which is a collective task, would become the story of a few heroes. That is neither the memory we want nor the memory we need.
The commemoration we propose is both critical and grateful. Critical, because it acknowledges silences and debts: victims without mourning, repressions rarely discussed, inequalities that persist. Grateful, because it recognizes that, with all its limits, democracy expanded rights and horizons. It is not about choosing one or the other but about holding both at once. Democratic maturity means precisely this: celebrating without denying and revisiting without demolishing. We understand democracy as an open, ongoing process, one that overview SPAIN IN FREEDOM: 50 YEARS
45