Under the light of the Tránsito Synagogue, the one that still seems to filter centuries of history between its walls, Toledo was once again the scene of something important: a place where we talk about women, freedom and half a century of democracy with the serenity of someone who knows that every word has weight. And with the wisdom that only experience grants.
The dayWomen for Freedom: 50 Years of Democracy —organized by the Government Delegation in collaboration with EL ESPAÑOL de Castilla-La Mancha— brought together the female voices who have marked the political and social history of this country.
It was then that the prayer room of the Sephardic Museum became too small, as if the memory of so many conquests required more space than the installation offered. In this review of the country’s recent history with a gender perspective, there is no room for immediacy. The meeting took place behind closed doors, as if there was a treasure to be preserved. Nothing streaming.
The meeting began with a conversation between Carmen Calvopresident of the Council of State, and Esther Estébanexecutive president of EL ESPAÑOL de Castilla-La Mancha. This welcome, more than expected, was a serene dialogue.
The representative of this newspaper defined this when she started in politics: “Those who know this woman well pioneer and respected feminist They tell the secret of their success —which led her to the highest responsibilities of the Spanish government, notably that of “all-powerful” vice-president of the government and now nothing more and nothing less than president of the Council of State.
In addition, Esteban highlighted the quality of Calvo who “moves with the same ease on the carpets of Madrid as in the neighborhood meetings of his city brandishing the flag of equality”, an expression he attributed to a party colleague from Córdoba.
The speakers during the conversation.
Later, Calvo joined Miracles ToulonGovernment delegate in Castile-La Mancha, in whose presentation Esther Esteban highlighted their feeling of brotherhood:
“Mila has formed a network of political colleagues while maintaining the intimacy of a group of friends, whom I call ‘the girls in white’, who, being of different professions and different ideologies, have become for her a pineapple, her personal cricket, to whom she turns so that the golden cage of office and power never distracts her from what is happening in the street,” said the host of the event.
Finally, it’s time to Nativel Preciadojournalist and writer, of whom Esteban took a tour of his impeccable professional career, started in the newspaper Above and it has not yet culminated, being present, of course, in the most relevant moments of the Transition.
They all spoke on the journey since 1975: the conquest of rights —Referring to the current panorama, all four highlighted the possible regression in this aspect after the arrival of certain political forces—equal opportunities, the presence of women in public life.
In this context, the communicator and writer Preciado forcefully highlighted the following: “We must defend rights every day, because If they can, they will take them away from us. ». Likewise, referring to his position during the transition period, he highlighted the idea that we always talk about the fathers of the Constitution, but that “there were also mothers”, he said.
Likewise, he introduced into the conversation a current topic such as the ideological tendency of a certain sector of youth: ““If young people knew what a dictatorship was, they would not have the idea of defending this aberration.”
Toulon, for his part, alluded to something that may seem obvious, but which, given the current political and social climate, is essential to remember: “Democracy must be pampered and we must teach it to our children.
In addition, it also reinforced the maxim that it is important not to allow groups to crush all the conquests made for women in recent decades. “They are not democrats, but deniers gender-based violence and the entire transformation of the 21st century”, he declared at the table moderated by Esther Esteban.
Image of the audience present.
In Carmen Calvo’s speech, themes emerged such as constitutional reform, necessary, according to her, at this time: “She was the best and the one who rendered the most services to the coexistence, peace and opening of the countrybut we need to talk about it and reform it.”
Likewise, the politician was honest in opinions such as the delay in the promulgation of the abolitionist law or the current situation experienced by his party, the PSOE, a point of view to which Toulon adhered.
The meeting, with free entry, but with limited capacity, offered a space to look back without nostalgia and forward without naivety.
A half-century of democracy has come a long way, but the conversation in Toledo reminded us that rights – like the memory of the synagogue itself – need care, oversight, and places where they can be reaffirmed. And today, at least for a few hours, this place is the capital of La Mancha.
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