I INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS “LA DESBANDÁ”. Mollina, October 2022

“FLIGHTS AND FORCED EXODUSES IN THE WORLD TODAY” OLGA RODRÍGUEZ FRANCISCO

ACCOUNT

Saturday 29 October at 11 a.m. saw the beginning of the talk by Olga Rodríguez Francisco on “flights and forced exoduses in the world today”, introduced by María José Montero Corominas.

Olga Rodríguez, journalist, author, researcher and scriptwriter, has directly witnessed the most significant wars and exoduses in recent years.

Her talk, accompanied by a numerous photographs, focused on the repression, flight, exile, violence and pain of thousands of people in the recent history of different countries, each with stories about individual lives on which she has had first-hand knowledge.

Of Afghanistan, the country with the highest number of refugees in the world, where many, in their flight, cross up to 6 borders and those who manage to get to Europe are deported or ignored.

Of Iraq, where she directly witnessed the killing of José Couso in 2003 during the invasion and occupation of the country, where the heaviest bombs after those used in Hiroshima were dropped. She discovered the violence in the secret prisons and destination of the population that fled in its majority to Syria.

Palestine, with 4.63 million refugees around the world, especially in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, which is furthermore the longest standing refugee population in the world. The hardship and cruelty faced by the Palestinian people and the impunity of Israel.

Egypt, where with the erroneously termed “Arab spring” in 2011 there were important social uprisings that were brutally repressed, with many people being forced to flee the country seeking refuge.

She referred to the borders of the European Union: from Serbia, Hungary, Greece, Spain, Melilla.

She mentioned that at the recent NATO summit migration was spoken about as a “hybrid threat”, being considered under the same umbrella as terrorism.

Lastly, she talked about her personal experience on the search for “truth, justice and reparation” in Spain, comparing it to the Argentinian experience.

Specifically, she mentioned the search for the mass grave where the remains of her great grandfather were found along with those of many other people in Villaldangos del Páramo (León) and the obstacles they have had to face before achieving the exhumation.