One hundred stories of many voices

Topic 100

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Iván Escobar Fernández, Editor-in-Chief

It is not uncommon to feel overwhelmed by the passing of time: growing up and maturing is, after all, closing doors and discovering paths in the woods, dusting off shelves full of memories and cleaning windows through which to think of other lives, of other circumstances or in other accidents. The years go by relentlessly for each and every one of us and, although the planet continues to rotate at the same speed -at 1,666 kilometers per hour on its own axis and 107,280 kilometers per hour around the Sun-, everything seems to be subject to an indomitable acceleration. Perhaps what is truly beautiful is to be found in the simplicity of an equally unstoppable rotational movement, in our cosmic insignificance or in the irrelevance of our aspirations, since everything will eventually perish. Or maybe not. Perhaps what is truly impressive are the complications, the conspiracies against leaders and regimes, the forging of rebels and idealists, the decline and rise of civilizations, powers, empires. Perhaps, in the humble opinion of the undersigned, the greatness of the human lies in our curiosity, in our impetus to subdue cosmic ferocity, to offer explanations and unravel the latent mystery behind the vital dynamics that have governed and still govern our societies and lives.

Today, in the midst of aggression against Ukraine, immersed in an unprecedented trade war, finally seeming to escape the pandemic, drowning in inflation, savoring the first effects of climate change and facing what seems to be a new change in the world order, revealing and scrutinizing these dynamics seems more necessary and important than ever before. For this reason, in those days when the world seemed to rebel against cosmic laws and time stopped, Paula Alonso brought together a series of young people, all of them university students, and presented the idea of ​​The Global Vision. On a day like today, exactly two years ago, we premiered our first article. Two laps around the Sun later, Paula, who began as an intern at the EUAV department in Action Against Hunger, with the incandescent vitality that characterizes her, continues to advance in giant steps, this time directing her professional career towards the world of corporate cybersecurity in Copenhagen, the European capital where she has graduated from her Master’s degree and where she is working for the multinational consulting firm EY. Her limits go beyond the star with which we have guided ourselves.

Returning to the cosmological principle that opened this article, perhaps what is truly beautiful about the human is simply that: its components; the little stories that, even unnoticed at first glance, adorn and occupy the great canvas of humanity. Each part, larger or smaller, it does not matter, has faced and overcome challenges and problems, and has succumbed to many others. It is normal. The Global Vision team, far from being a homogeneous and perfectly precise machine, is nothing more than a group of young students and enthusiasts whose certainty has been taken away from them. Therefore, it is not surprising that coordinators such as Fermín Lecanda, coordinator of the International Relations and Geopolitics and Economy perspective, and Nadia Gayoso, coordinator of the Human Rights and Development and Society and Culture perspective, remember that feeling of everlasting perplexity born of the pandemic and of the very fact of being, where the axioms before which we postponed perished: whims of life. Now, both Fermín and Nadia have graduated with master’s degrees in European Studies and in Governance and Human Rights, respectively, and they know they are pilgrims on an unprecedented path, but far from being daunted, they remain firm and capable of embracing that uncertainty in which they already they have succeeded both as students and as young professionals.

The pandemic stopped the clock, of that there is no doubt, and many others who were far from their homes had to return, and many others who were locked up at home for months were unable to wait for the lifting of restrictions to fly. Examples of this are Juan Antonio Pérez, coordinator of the Health and Environment perspective, and Marta Hergueta and Sara González Novo, coordinators of the magazine’s social networks and visibility. If Juan Antonio, at the exact moment of the outbreak of the pandemic, was in Strasbourg doing his internship, Marta and Sara saw from Madrid how they were deprived of all freedom, and their future was crushed under an immense question mark. Life, always mysterious and capricious, has wanted its paths -some longer, others shorter- to lead them far away from where they were in that May 2020: Juan Antonio, for example and for the purpose of maintaining a certain order, after graduating and beginning his forays into Youth and Environment Europe (YEE), finds himself in the cold, distant and hypnotic Finland, where he is studying a Master’s degree in Environmental Policies and Law; Marta, driven by the need to squeeze the seconds that were taken from her during confinement, has studied -and completed- a master’s degree in Innovation and Sustainable Development at Lund University and is currently conducting research in the fascinating Costa Rica; and last but not least, Sara González Novo was one of the many people who saw the path along which they were advancing simply disappear. Many, perplexed and scared, would have given up, but Sara, after graduating in Business Administration and Management, decided to take charge and move with more questions than answers to the heart of Europe, where she is currently working and studying a Master’s degree in Digital Management in Berlin.

As soon as you delve into individual circumstances, I repeat, one can identify certain patterns. At The Global Vision, perhaps because it is a multidisciplinary team of editors, their particular stories are the fears, decisions, triumphs and defeats that can be extrapolated to an entire generation. Some, having developed a great feeling and motivation to dedicate themselves body and soul to public services, decided to plunge headlong into the always arduous business of oppositions. There are editors such as Víctor Bazo or Sergio Jiménez, both original members of the magazine who now pursue the tranquility and stability – long-awaited in these imprecise times – of public employment. The path that both travel has required all their energy, and can sometimes be discouraging and rough; but there they continue: persisting, because as a certain Argentine coach always dressed in black preaches: life is work and work, and one day it is worth it.

And it is that education, at least that has been repeated ad nauseam, is the only way to unearth that treasure called work. Therefore, it is not surprising that many of our editors are immersed in postgraduate studies at the most prestigious universities in Europe. It is true that university education, especially since it has been fueled by the uncertainty -Siamese of the pandemic-, has been one of the most popular options in recent years, not only to paint a competent and competitive professional profile on a global scale, but but for one’s own personal flourishing. There is Clara Jiménez who, through her postgraduate degree in Economics of Globalization in Ghent, will once again cross the Atlantic towards Valparaíso; or Ana Úbeda, María de Alfonso and Alejandra Rodríguez, postgraduate students in Women’s and Gender Studies in Granada, in Geopolitics in Madrid and in Development and Economic Growth at Lund University, respectively. Perhaps the world can collapse, but education will always be the backbone of societies and individuals and as Sartre the last -Alejandra- well alluded to, “nothing has changed, yet everything exists differently”.

Although, if every path leads to a goal, to an ocean or a cliff; perhaps the voluntary and vehement intrusion into the world of work is the sweetest of all the possible conclusions of the educational path. Whether it is in a Belgian consulting firm specializing in public affairs and health, as is the case with Inés García Manzanaro; or in the department of foreign affairs in the Division of Peace and Human Rights, as is the example of Alexandra Allet; or in an International Non-Governmental Organization like Lilia Alvarado, or emigrating to Brussels to work fully in international politics like Beatriz Tomé.

But even having been blessed with the gift of financial and professional stability, the questions can arise again. In fact, the doubt is -and will always be- a constant. If the unavoidable doubt has forged currents of thought throughout history, it has also led young people to different fates, even though they are alien to born aspirations or congenital ambitions. This axiom is well represented by our editor Rocío Lalanda, a veterinary student and currently an anesthesiologist who, although apparently a stranger in the world of International Relations, has carried out impeccable work in the Health and Environment section, as her publications clearly demonstrate. In addition to having incorruptibly maintained her fascination with the world of veterinary medicine, that has not prevented her from developing her most creative side through an earring craft project. Her idea, under the name “lalunaenobras”, is just another proof that far from being the hackneyed “crystal generation”, as many insist on pejoratively labeling us, we are the liquid generation, because we do everything and we adapt to everything. Other examples that justify this statement come from the hand of Ángel García -postgraduate in European Studies and Fundamental Rights and currently a freelance professional in the world of interpretation, translation and teaching of foreign languages ​​and editor of Human Rights and Development- and Jimena de Diego who, despite being a graduate in International Relations and editor in our homonymous perspective to her degree, she is dedicated to digital communication and graphic design, fields that fascinate her and in which she is looking for their confluence to be able to continue developing professionally.

Two years go a long way, the one hundred weekly articles published in this magazine attest to this, but if we knew something from the beginning it is that we would have to face painful farewells always sweetened with new additions. There were brilliant minds and excellent pens like those of Jorge Hernández, Carlos Lorenzo, Patricia Mülchi, Marius Märten, Pedro Caro, Mario Marquina, Jorge Menéndez-Pidal, Elena Belenova, Marina Sahelices, Ignacio Juan Vázquez, Isabel Cuadrillero, Patricia de la Hoz , Marcos Echevarría or Julia Roig. Not to mention how much we miss Cristina Segovia, former Coordinator of Human Rights and Development and Society and Culture, whose inner fire and professionalism provided unlimited inspiration and fuel for The Global Vision. Even without knowing many of them personally and being unable to predict the future, I have no doubt that they will only be able to collect triumphs and victories, because working with them has been a real pleasure. On the other hand, integrating new editors, such as María Luisa Muñoz Romero or Irene de Santa Brígida, is always a breath of fresh air and, as a member of The Global Vision, I can only say that the enthusiasm they bring with them would be enough to move mountains.

Perhaps maturing and growing is just that: having more questions than answers. I do not know. However, after having reached one hundred articles and now free of that anguish so well defined by Kierkegaard, one cannot help but admire each and every one of the components that made this project, this idea, a reality. Surely we have erred on countless occasions, I have no doubt, and possibly the circus, returning to the Danish thinker, ends up consumed by flames seeing the direction in which society and information centers are headed. Even so, cured of fright, having witnessed the unimaginable, what no one taught in the faculties, the need prevails to end this chapter in the only truly human way: paying my most sincere admiration and respect to each and every one of the people who they made The Global Vision a space of everyone and for everyone.