EDUARDO GALEANO

“One survives in the others: in their memory and in their actions” would says Galeano, always lucid, in an interview with BCC World. In recent years, he had fought lung cancer, the illness which took him away at 74 years old, this past Monday. With a sense of humor that those who knew him say that characterized him, he would claim that he has gone to fight elsewhere, for people, like he did for a lifetime. Of course, our memories will always keep him anchored here to his land and to the people he defended: the poor and the weak.

We have read much about the life and work of Eduardo Galeano these days, but I would also like to remember him on this post, because his words and ideas are to be cherished.

Germán Eduardo Galeano Maria Hughes was born and died in the capital of Uruguay, Montevideo, and was a renowned journalist and writer with a lot of weight and strong political voice in his country and elsewhere in Latin America. He was an excellent caricaturist, a good example of his critical spirit that he developed in his writings brilliantly, which combine fiction, documentary, journalism, history and political essay. His most famous works are ‘Open Veins of Latin America’ ​​and ‘Memory of Fire Trilogy’, which dissect the economic and social inequalities in America. Let’s also mention great books like ‘The children of the Day’ or ‘We say no’, among many others. For his work, Galeano was awarded the Stig Dagerman and numerous awards and Honoris Causa titles.

Before he became a leading figure of the intellectual left wing, Eduardo Galeano was always conscious of people, working in various trades, from factory worker to bank employee. As a journalist, he interviewed controversial people and worked in newspapers, weeklies and magazines, including Época, Marcha and Crisis. He was imprisoned and exiled for his ideas, but he never gave up.

In his three marriages, Galeano had three children.

May the man rest in peace, the thinker and the instigator of having good hearts and open minds:

Unlike solidarity, which is horizontal and is exercised as equals, charity is practiced from the society’s top to the bottom, humiliates the receivers and has never altered one bit of power tendencies.

 

Sometimes the ‘freedom of expression’ is confused with ‘freedom of pressure’; or it is reduced to the will of groups of entrepreneurs who decide which news exist and which news do not. So the main thing is to open a new space that is truly a democratic response to the totalitarianism that confuses communication with a business (when communication is actually a human right, not a business) most important is that these new spaces are in open really, other than ‘Miserable Communication’ but Media Communication, where we find diverse voices, where there is full freedom to make REAL COMMUNICATION.

 

At the end of the day, we are what we do to change what we are.

 

Wise is not one who reads more books. Wise is one who is able to listen to the other.

 

The moral code of the millennium does not condemn injustice, but failure.

 

In his 10 Commandments, God forgot to mention nature. Among the orders he sent to us from Mount Sinai, the Lord could have added, let’s say: ‘Honour the nature of which we are part of’. But he did not think about it.

 

Some believe that fate rests in the lap of the gods, but the truth is that it works like a hot challenge over the consciences of men.

 

There is one place where past and present meet and recognize and embrace each other. That place is tomorrow.

 

Poor children are the ones who suffer the contradiction between a culture that estimulates to consume and a reality that forbids it.

 

I cannot sleep. I have a woman crossed between my eyelids. If I could, I would tell her to go; but I have a woman stuck in my throat.

 

Not to be dumb, starts off by not being deaf.

 

If I fell, it was because I was walking. And walking is worthy, although you may fall.

 

The trees that bear fruit are the ones which suffer the slings.

I wish you a happy week,

Álex Rovira