Javier Fernández Arribas
Director of Atalayar entre dos orillas
Political analysts do not usually pay much attention to the initiatives of the citizens, more or less anonymous, who want to contribute to the world peace making a personal effort and assuming significant risks. We are not going to make the mistake of being that naive to believe that the will of political leaders or economic magnates can be moved or changed by the example or one person, but it would be absurd to ignore that the history of Humanity has been built day by day with the sacrifice and the conviction of each and every one of the Earth’s inhabitants. Therefore, it is very relevant that there are young people as the Moroccan sportsman Hasan Baraka, who swam seas and oceans of the five continents to mobilize the conscience of all human beings, and, especially, of all those who have the key decisions in their hands to achieve the world peace. This young man aged 27 years old, who was Born in Tetuán, got the necessary support from Morocco to face a challenge whose main objective was showing that sport is a useful instrument to develop the peace and delivering a message of twinning and unity, as well as of preservation of the environment and the oceans. His initiative depended not only on the weather, his form and his special suit for really cold waters, but also on the political and security ups and downs.
Hasan Baraka’s example can make one reflect on the current situation of the international scene where millions of people demand the necessary measures to overcome the economic and financial crisis to be taken in order to end the huge level of unemployment representing a deadly weapon for the stability of the western societies. In the last months, we have witnessed a whole series of deep crisis in different countries that have resulted in a concerning international instability and, what is the most fearsome, a confrontation between the great powers that resembles the atmosphere of the cold war suffered in the world for many years. The most outrageous cases happen in Iraq with the cruel drug trafficker and terrorist murderers of the self named Islamic State and in Syria, where, in addition to the terrorist attacks of the ES and the interests of Russia, the United States, China and the European Union, we have to take much into account the mess created throughout the years by regional powers such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, Iran, Israel or Egypt, with a cruel and bloody confrontation between Sunnis and Shias; and in Ukraine, where the actions perpetrated by both parties are causing confrontations than mean a crisis close to a civil war, whereas the great powers cannot control the violent groups, which they have used as their local puppets, as they expected.
We have to classify the threat of the terrorist groups in Africa in another field, especially those in Nigeria with the disgusting kidnapping of the girls who have been treated worse than livestock and in the Sahel where the weakness of the states and the institutions provokes a terrorist strengthening that means a greater risk for the stability of the area. Especially now that the need of the European Union, to stop depending so much on Russian gas and to open its means of energy supply through the south from the African continent, has been proven. There are also many economic interests mixed with intolerable massacres such as those happening in the Central African Republic or in South Sudan. However, in the last months, some African countries are suffering the scourge of the Ebola virus with more than 5,000 deaths, tens of thousands of people infected and a much affected generation. This is a disease that has raised, due to selfishness and interest because of the contagion suffered in one’s land as the United States and Spain, the awareness of the international community, which has a decisive challenge for the immediate future of an area of the emerging world in many countries, but can suffer a hard blow for many years.
Swimming to unite the five continents and to deliver a message of peace, unity and twinning, and of protection of the environment and the oceans. Someone may think that Hasan Baraka and those who have supported him are dreamers. Maybe we are, but it is quite clear that the objective pursued is an urgent need at the moment in many parts of the world.
