Trapiello collects the Mariano de Cavia Award: "Memory is the least democratic of the faculties"

• Interview "I signed 40 more years of the Constitution"

Literature, especially literature written in newspapers, serves to connect intimacy with public debate.

, the article by Andrés Trapiello published by EL MUNDO on December 24 and chosen by the jury of the Mariano de Cavia Award, spoke, apparently,

, of the Christmas Eve dinners at the family home, of the trucks loaded with beets that had to be overtaken on the N-630 on the way to León... However, his last paragraph already announced a broader meaning, more or less political.

«On such a day as today only one has lived for twenty-three years for the truce.

One would want to extend it to the whole year, to all life, a sacred truce that no one, least of all oneself, had the right to break.

Six and a half months after that Christmas Eve article, Trapiello (León, 1952)

, at the headquarters of the newspaper

, the promoter of Mariano de Cavia.

His acceptance speech explained and expanded on all that was potential in

.

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Figurations.

such a day like today

• Drafting: ANDRES TRAPIELLO

such a day like today

«We are told, 83 years later, of democratic memory, and expressed in this way it seems something, when we know that of all the faculties, that of memory is the least democratic: individuals remember, each one his own, not peoples, not the territories,

», said Trapiello in his words of acceptance.

The 83 years that Trapiello referred to are those that have passed since the Battle of Teruel, the trauma that marked his father.

The trauma,

, to which the award-winning article is directed.

«

was what the survivors of that war said to each other 40 years later, in 1978. They did so with seriousness and mutual respect that passed into print under the name of the Constitution.

And of course some and others decided to forget.

They were aware that many of the injustices that each other had committed and suffered in the past were already irreparable, but also that "an excess of memory damages life", as Nietzsche said».

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Culture.

History as a weapon: "We can go from being called revisionists to being prosecuted by law"

• Drafting: LUIS ALEMANYMadrid

History as a weapon: "We can go from being called revisionists to being prosecuted by law"

«We are told, 83 years later, of democratic memory, and expressed in this way it seems something, when we know that of all the faculties, that of memory is the least democratic: individuals remember, each one his own, not peoples, not the territories,

», said Trapiello in his words of acceptance.

The 83 years that Trapiello referred to are those that have passed since the Battle of Teruel, the trauma that marked his father.

The trauma,

, to which the award-winning article is directed.

«

was what the survivors of that war said to each other 40 years later, in 1978. They did so with seriousness and mutual respect that passed into print under the name of the Constitution.

And of course some and others decided to forget.

They were aware that many of the injustices that each other had committed and suffered in the past were already irreparable, but also that "an excess of memory damages life", as Nietzsche said».

After Nietzsche came the appointment to

.

«He knew that if the first victim of a war is the truth, the main enemy of the truth is fiction, mainly that of being remembered by others or of remembering what has never happened.

He knew Chaves Nogales that journalism works with and for the truth.

Of course, also "the difficulty is never in finding and telling the truth, but in finding someone who reads it"».

In fact, much of Trapiello's work in the press, novels, and essays has dealt with these themes: the Civil War,

, and the idea that yes, there was a side in the Civil War that defended democratic reason and progress and another that was against him, but that goodness and vileness occurred in both Spains.

“Naturally, the victims must be repaired, but the greatest delicacy is not to repair some by offending others, it is not to remember what has not happened or only a part in the name of reparation and democracy.

On the contrary.

This is how democracy is weakened.

The thread of democracy led from Trapiello's speech to that of King Felipe, who closed the act with

: «Democracies, especially in times of anxiety and uncertainty, continue to require free, sensitive and anchored to the truth.

Courageous against the aggression of the bombs, or against external abrasion, and firm against any attempt to submit to interests other than journalistic ones.

Total independence from the powers that be must continue to be the hallmark that certifies the purity of a correct way of exercising the profession.

The media are right to continue to claim their autonomy every day because that is the essence of their role.

Trapiello was not alone in the words of Don Felipe.

Along with the writer were

, former director of

, who received the Luca de Tena Award in recognition of her career.

And the photographer

, Antonio Mingote Award for graphic journalism, chosen for a photo taken during the eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano in La Palma.

Morenatti, absent, was represented by his sister.

The Government spokesperson, Isabel Rodríguez;

the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, María Teresa Fernández de la Vega, president of the Council of State, the president of Vocento, Ignacio Ybarra, and the director of the Royal Spanish Academy and president of the jury, Santiago Muñoz Machado accompanied the awarded.

For them it was the

of Ignacio Ybarra, president of the Vocento Group.

And also the culmination of the King's speech:

," said Don Felipe.

«Wherever there is a journalist, there is work, patience, method and a life devoted to narrating the life that unfolds before our eyes.

And that is something that every society should know how to thank you for.

To you, the award winners, and to all those who surely follow the example of your career».

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