The news goes so fast ahead of us that it soon becomes obsolete. Tweets are so fast on the net that we lose the breaking news when our eyes flicker. The crises we are experiencing one after the other prevent our gaze from rising from our day to day, and even from looking beyond. Today everything is so transitory that putting perspective on those around us is an essential, healthy and urgent exercise.

Currently, 65 wars or armed conflicts are active in the world and cause displacement. Paradoxically, however, the differences in the opening of the limits for asylum, refuge and protection are serious. As reflected in the recent management of asylum policies following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, solidarity and social justice are possible, but not from the point of view of universal human rights. This is what we deduct from the culturally close armed conflicts that make borders more flexible, but others, unfortunately, are still far away, and exclusion, violence and death occur within those limits.

This situation should lead us to ask some uncomfortable questions. What is our position on other conflicts that take place further in Europe? Do we equally welcome all people from other places fleeing violence? And did we pay them the same attention? In short, are the lives of some people worth more than others to our old continent?

We need asylum policies that provide equal protection for people fleeing harassment and violence. We demand public policies that defend collective well-being and are prepared to guarantee the human rights of all people. We ask not to look on the other side, as we mobilize for peace, because in the Basque Country we produce weapons that are on the front lines of the struggle. Furthermore, we believe that it is essential to promote a culture of peace so that people and peoples can live together peacefully. Finally, we believe that development cooperation policy is part of the solution to build fairer and fairer societies.

In the system in which we live, capital accumulation and individual decisions are above solidarity, empathy and life. We are aware that this heteropatriarchal capitalist system is responsible, among others, for the structural causes of inequalities, poverty, environmental degradation and forced migration. In fact, every year millions of people are forced to flee their countries for racial, religious, national, political views, ecological disasters, membership of a particular social group or their affective-sexual orientation. As well as the armed conflicts in their countries.

The Zero Poverty Platform of San Sebastian is composed of 16 organizations and social movements of the city, and we know that the causes of these inequalities are multiple, many factors influence and are the result of political and economic decisions. And that their agendas are far from defending human rights and migratory policies for social justice. That is why we believe that poverty and inequalities, in any of their manifestations, can be avoided. We can invest with political will the current global economic and political model, responsible for the emergence of inequalities and the economic, health and migratory crises in which we live.

The institutions must provide bold, urgent, supportive and fair responses to alleviate the current situation and the multiple crises that this entails. It is urgent to move towards new life models that put life at the centre, respect for the environment, gender equity and, ultimately, a decent life for all people.

Citizenship can also contribute to this through denunciation, mobilization, social participation or daily life. That is why, under the motto “You yes, you no: asylum rights for all people”, we invite the citizens to participate in the initiatives we have organized on the occasion of 17 October, International Day against Poverty and Exclusion, in particular, in the campaign we have prepared this Sunday 23. Starting at 12:00 from the Wind Comb to the Donostiarra Boulevard.