Here in Valladolid, Spain, we have done two very successful sessions of the Cineforum, a new event that is taking part in different cities of Spain and that consist in the projection of a film and it’s latter discussion touching different and important topics that WYA advocates for. Valladolid already hosted two sessions of the Cineforum in the Law Faculty.
In the first session, we were lucky to have Ana Sanchez de la Nieta, film critic, who introduced us to the topic of freedom of conscience through the movie: “Hacksaw Ridge”. We talked about the ethos and pathos, meaning, what the director (Mel Gibson) wants to transmit with his film about the topic and which feelings it generates on us. After that, the discussion started around the possibilities of objection of conscience, inevitably bringing it to current issues in Spain, such as the possibility of doctors objecting to performing abortions and euthanasia. Fortunately, we did not exhaust all our ideas and saved some for the next session on euthanasia.
This past Friday, we watched “Me before you” where a tough decision is made by the protagonist, leaving everyone in the session somewhat uncomfortable with the end of the movie. This day, the debate became more interesting, with participants from opposing positions contributing to a more lively discussion which also help us to strengthen our arguments and learn to defend our position in more tighten situations. Nevertheless, we know what the general conclusion is: Euthanasia is never a solution, having other alternatives like palliative care, also, there is not a right to die, and even less, a dignified death. As World Youth Alliance defends “no one losses his or her dignity due to suffering or reliance on others”.
Attendance at these two sessions has been great. Not only WYA members, but also more university students have signed up for this initiative. We are happy to have reached out to new and different people, bringing them these approaches to Human Dignity.
Next session would be on April 1st and the topic, we will address will be abortion, through the film Unplanned.
We are preparing ourselves for another lively discussion that will allow us to defend our positions and those of WYA. This initiative is shaping us as even better Human Dignity Defenders.
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Published: March 28, 2022
Written by Carlota Mendez, Chapter Coordinator WYA Valladolid.
