EDITORIAL
These are paradoxical, complex times. We are embroiled in multiple crises and by threats besetting us from the far right or from wars desired only by a few unaccountable interests. They spread their nets and tentacles, pressuring us to succumb to their siren songs through hate speech propagated on social media and opaque platforms that seek to beguile the youngest minds. Perhaps this is the most delicate manipulative problem of an increasingly fluid society, one ever more subordinate to the dependence on“ the digital” in its broadest sense. There are therefore many challenges in the educational engagement of our youth within an international context, which should also shape our European agenda. Without being alarmist, new forms of coup d’ état are already being carried out through what some authors call“ technological authoritarianism”, or a new power that is no longer just merely media-based but rather defined as“ the new power of the more ambitious, ideological and increasingly privatised technological-authoritarian complex”. This too is undermining the foundations of our participatory democracy. We must therefore remain vigilant and strengthen those foundations currently under attack from various sides.
Turning to more pragmatic, even technical, but no less important matters: Europe is discussing the new long-term budget framework which will affect the destinies and public policies of States, regions and cities across the Union. The European Commission has launched a sound proposal to reinforce and promote projects and unify them under a major programmatic umbrella, what will be called AGORA EUROPE. It will bring together existing programmes and perhaps introduce new ones. The programmes most relevant to our fields of content include the Citizenship, Equality, Rights and Values Programmes( CERV or CERV Plus), cultural programmes through Creative Europe, educational programmes such as Erasmus or Erasmus +, research programmes under Horizon, and audiovisual creation or support through the MEDIA programme. It is a challenge the Commission intends to improve and which in theory we welcome and celebrate. There are two main areas I would like to pick out: the budgetary aspect, as the amount would double to reach eight billion euros— without a budget, there is no public policy; and the more political aspect, which is the need to strengthen a major programme representing a more social, cultural, civic and human( or humanistic, if I may say so) Europe. A Europe that will promote programmes and policies not only on memory but also on citizen participation, anti-racism, anti-exclusion, gender, LGBTIQ + issues and more. The big question mark hanging over this good and appropriate initiative is how it will be received by the European Parliament, whether there will be cuts and how the European Council will vote. Ultimately, it is a challenge that will greatly affect civil society organisations based on values— including the founding values of the European Union— and on civil rights.
Returning to the content, this ninth edition of Observing Memories offers an overview of debates and issues shaping the contemporary memorial agenda. With a plural and critical approach, this issue brings together contributions exploring the inclusion of subaltern memories, the revisiting of colonial and slaveholding legacies, the challenges of democratic memory in Spain, and the tensions between commemoration and transmission in European and global contexts. Our aim is to open up spaces for reflection that connect research, institutional practice and citizenship, inviting readers to understand memory not as a static archive but as a living tool for justice, diversity and democratic construction.
In the Deep View section, we reaffirm EUROM’ s commitment to making subaltern memories visible through two essential contributions. Monika Baár analyses the historical exclusion of persons with disabilities in European memory and advocates for their inclusion in building more just societies. She examines the causes of silence and proposes narratives that recognise diversity and agency, highlighting the importance of preserving archives and objects that document struggles for rights and the social model of disability. Likewise, Hisayo Katsui presents the case of Finland, which in 2025 launched the world’ s first truth and reconciliation process directed at a disability community: the deaf and sign-language-using community. After decades of marginalisation, prohibition of sign language and eugenic policies, the process seeks to acknowledge historical harm, offer redress and promote inclusion.
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Observing Memories ISSUE 9