Leonor defends democracy and warns against “totalitarianism” at the Princess of Asturias Awards

The Diplomat The King and Queen of Spain and Doña Leonor presided over the Princess of Asturias Awards ceremony on Friday, where she praised the winners’ fight against “totalitarianism” and in favour of democracy in their respective areas of activity and highlighted the work of the Organisation of Ibero-American States (OEI) for making “a reality what we hear so often: that only education can transform societies, consolidate democracy and promote respect for human rights”. During the ceremony, held at the Campoamor Theatre in Oviedo, the awards for this edition were presented: Joan Manuel Serrat, Princess of Asturias Award for the Arts; Marjane Satrapi, Princess of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities; Carolina Marín, Princess of Asturias Award for Sports; Michael Ignatieff, Princess of Asturias Award for Social Sciences; Ana Blandiana, Princess of Asturias Award for Literature; the Organization of Ibero-American States for Education, Science and Culture (OEI), Princess of Asturias Award for International Cooperation; Daniel J. Drucker, Jeffrey M. Friedman, Joel F. Habener, Jens Juul Holst and Svetlana Mojsov, Princess of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research; and Magnum Photos, Princess of Asturias Award for Concord. In her speech, Leonor mentioned one of the prizewinners, the Romanian poet Ana Blandiana, whose poems described “what happened in the prisons of the communist dictatorship in her country” and who “has not stopped standing up to totalitarianism with her clean, clear, refined poetry, and with her activism in the defence of human rights and democracy.” “This is what the Franco-Iranian filmmaker, cartoonist and painter Marjane Satrapi also dedicates her life to,” continued the Princess of Asturias. “In her best-known work, ‘Persepolis’, she narrates a childhood and adolescence of repression in her native Iran” and “in her creations she exposes the conditions she lived in those years with her impressive talent to capture the search for a more just and inclusive world, and that gives us hope.” Doña Leonor also quoted a phrase from one of the prizewinners, the Canadian academic and essayist Michael Ignatieff: “There are those who use democracy to destroy it.” “For those of us who, like me, are coming of age, approaching Ignatieff's thought is a challenge, a challenge that attracts us because it speaks to us of shared values and the permanent challenge of coexistence. She also praised the “commitment to democracy and tolerance” of the singer-songwriter Joan Manuel Serrat, “because this musician and poet from Poble Sec is much more than an artistic reference for several generations that he has made happy.” The Princess of Asturias also dedicated a few words to the Organization of Ibero-American States (OEI) for “its commitment to providing the most vulnerable with the necessary tools to approach and better understand life, to develop as fully-fledged human beings; that is, to achieve social development through education, science and culture.” “The OEI makes a reality what we hear so often: that only education can transform societies, consolidate democracy and promote respect for human rights,” she continued. “Cooperation and multilateralism are the hallmarks of an organization that seeks the cohesion of the Ibero-American community of nations,” she added. For his part, King Felipe VI congratulated the award winners and thanked them for “their passion and commitment.” “In this globalized world of great magnitude and opportunities, among unimaginable technological advances, dehumanization is a latent risk, and you, the award winners, remind us with your example that, at the center of any discourse, action or decision, whether in the economic, social, political or artistic sphere, the person must always and unavoidably remain,” he said. “History warns us of the serious consequences of straying from that path. Just as it warns us of the serious risks of polarization, of the denial of the other for their convictions or beliefs; because they think, pray or vote differently,” he warned.

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