Archive for the 'Rights' Category


Brainwashing in the Basque Country.

By: psr, 2008-07-20

Politicians, the media and the public usually speak about several concepts, mixing them up, ultimately diverting attention from the real problems.

Basque nationalist politicians often talk about the “basque conflict.” For the average Spaniard this might be “the problem of ETA”, but it seems to refer rather to a sort of discrimination suffered by the Basque Country, not being a state in itself but part of another. It seems that this conflict never refers to frequent ETA blackmailing on Basque companies, which forced many people to emigrate from the Basque Country. Within the Basque Country, children are taught that the Spanish state oppresses the basque people, and in some cases, the killing of those who seek to deny the existence of such oppression is justified and defended. In …

In capitalism’s defence.

By: psr, 2008-06-25

There are plenty of anti-capitalism opinions reflected in print, the media and on the Internet. When I read such material, I feel the need to reply in the form of an article in this blog, but I can rarely find the time.

Recently, however, I came across another such article in the blog of a friend of mine (the English text is a Google translation from the Spanish original), which has motivated me to write back.

The above-linked article presents capitalism as the source of corruption, slavery, drug trafficking, real state speculation, and several more calamities and misfortunes. It also describes capitalism as a system consisting of robbery, oppression of people, exploitation of workers, all for the benefit of just a few people (the capitalists). It even …

Language, communication and freedom

By: psr, 2008-06-08

Language is often considered to be an aspect of culture. I dissent. First and foremost, language is a means of communication, but the diversity of languages certainly makes humans associate a particular language with a particular group of people. Humans feel identified with other human beings who speak the same language, while feeling more distant from those speaking a different tongue.

Culture or not, language is essentially what allows humans to communicate with other humans and it is therefore a catalyst for growth of the human spirit as language permits access to knowledge and to interaction and relation with other people. The use of language should therefore not be limited nor restricted in any way. This apparently elemental assertion has rarely been true throughout …