investiture ceremony for the presentation of an honorary ... · investiture ceremony for the...

Madrid, SpainVillaviciosa de Odón CampusJanuary 17th, 2017

Investiture Ceremony for the presentation of anHonorary PhD by Universidad Europea de Madrid, Address by Rebeca Grynspan,Ibero-American Secretary General

Investiture Ceremony for the presentation of an Honorary PhD by Universidad Europea de MadridRebeca Grynspan, Ibero-American Secretary General

Ana Pastor, President of the Congress; Juan Morote, Rector of Universidad Euro-

pea; Conrado Briceño, President of Universidad Europea; Elena de la Fuente, Ge-

neral Secretary of Universidad Europea; Marta Muñiz, Dean of the School of Social

Sciences and Communication ; Ana Ovejero, Vice Dean of Law and International

Relations, and my sponsor in this ceremony Distinguished academic authorities,

dear students, administrative staff, and friends:

My first words must express my immense gratitude to Universidad Europea de Ma-

drid and its Academic Council for this generous honor. I would especially like to thank

the School of Social Sciences and Communication for sponsoring this distinction,

in which I follow in the footsteps of those who have changed the course of history,

such as Nelson Mandela and Lech Wałęsa.

I am particularly delighted to share a title which has also been received by two of my

greatest friends and role models: António Guterres and Enrique V. Iglesias. Thank you

for the honor of adding my name to this list.

Thanks to you also, dear Ana, for your kind speech and for simply being here, accom-

panying us in this deeply moving ceremony. I am sure that solidarity among women

who reach leadership positions is one of the pillars of the struggle for equal rights.

This is also a new opportunity to express my admiration for your work and your achie-

vements. Your Laudatio was moving for what it represents as well as what it means

to me.

I receive this Honorary Doctorate as a mark of support for the causes I have cham-

pioned throughout my career: combating poverty and inequality, seeking human de-

velopment, and promoting multilateralism, dialogue, cooperation, and peace. These

are also the values of the Ibero-American space, and that is why I am proud to repre-

sent it.

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However, I sense that this honor has also been given me for that career itself, for the

arc of a story which has taken me all the way from a small village in the mountains of

Costa Rica to the highest levels of politics in Costa Rica and internationally.

An homage always involves reflection. It leads us to examine ourselves and judge

ourselves with the yardstick of time. We ask ourselves what we have done with our

talents and the opportunities we were given, and how hard we fought for the dreams

which inspired us in youth.

I remember well my student years, when I was the same age as many of you. I remem-

ber that feeling of a limitless future, a blank page, endless promises and opportuni-

ties. However, as Roberto Mangabeira said in a beautiful letter to his son, we have to

stop being all possible things and become a few, specific things. And this transition is

full of dangers. Many become cynical or skeptical. Many end up betraying the ideals

which once guided them.

I can honestly say that I reject cynicism as much as anyone, and I make a conscious

effort to keep skepticism from overpowering me, because I firmly believe that it is

the friend of stagnation, and the enemy we have to defeat if we want to change rea-

lity. I may have become more pragmatic, more realistic, more strategic, but at heart I

still believe in the same utopias.

This morning I wanted to talk to you about certain beliefs that have accompanied me

in my different posts and responsibilities over the years, and which have guided my

decisions. First, my absolute conviction that we must fight to build inclusive socie-

ties, where nobody is condemned to poverty, marginalization, ignorance or illness by

the family, place or time they are born into. Societies where being different does not

lead to discrimination and where everyone can choose and undertake a life project

freely.


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Second, my conviction that real equality between men and women will mark the cha-

racter of our time. And third, my conviction that politics can be a powerful force for

good, an extraordinary tool for transforming the world through mobilization and co-

llective action. The seeds of these convictions, which I defend every day, were sown

at the very beginning of my own personal journey.

As some of you know, I am the daughter of immigrants. My parents arrived in Costa

Rica in the wake of the Second World War, having survived one of the most horrific

episodes of human history. Turrialba, the town where they settled, was hardly more

than a tiny village at that time. So they began from zero, with the courage which goes

to make epic tales, whether large or small.

The context in which I grew up gave me a unique perspective. From childhood, I was

aware of being part of a minority. My parents didn’t talk the same as their neighbors.

They came from a far-off, unknown place. They followed another religion. Unlike

most of the people around them, they had no farming experience or special connec-

tion to the land. We were different, and yet, we were part of the whole. Costa Rica

opened its doors to us, and gave us the opportunity to earn a living as equals. There

can be no greater proof of that than the fact that the daughter of immigrants, the first

generation born in the country, would be elected Vice President of the Republic at

the age of 38. A great lesson for the times we find ourselves in.

That’s why my commitment to inclusiveness is not, cannot be, merely cosmetic. It

is essential. It is necessary for our existence. It is the foundation of my ethical and

intellectual DNA.

I’m convinced that a society built on respect for human dignity must be diverse and

plural, it must include infinite tones and shades, because that is the nature of human

beings living in freedom.


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The world is full of exclusionary, polarizing, static and simplistic identities which obli-

ge us to behave as if we were an indistinct element of our nationality, our gender, our

race, our faith, our political party. These exclusionary identities are authoritarian in

essence, authoritarian to ourselves, because we limit our own complexity, what we

can say and do, how we can behave, and the people we can mix with. They force us

to choose between different parts of ourselves.

Instead, I believe we must fight to build inclusive identities, which recognize that

each of us is a unique mix of influences and decisions, causes and motivations. As

the Ibero-American Cooperation campaign says, we are all differently equal. Diver-

sity is the consequence of our freedom. It’s because we are free that we can be, for

example, both lovers of our country and citizens of the world. Both feminine, and fi-

ghters for equality. Both religious, and tolerant. Without having to give up aspects of

what we are.

We need to build frameworks which allow each of us to undertake our life project wi-

thin society, and not excluded from it. This was the opportunity my parents enjoyed,

and which gave them and their daughters the capacity to rewrite history and change

their future.

The second conviction I mentioned was my belief that progress towards real equality

between men and women will determine the character of our times. Not just for wo-

men, but for men too. Because this fight must not be just for women, it is not the stru-

ggle of a single sector, but of society as a whole. And this brings me back once more

to the Costa Rica of my childhood. Five years before I was born, Bernarda Vásquez

entered history as the first woman in my country to vote, followed by the election

of Costa Rica’s first three congresswomen, in 1953. As in every country, this achieve-

ment was the result of a fierce struggle. I don’t know what conversations my parents

might have had about women’s suffrage or political participation, in the 1950s. But I

do know their absolute commitment to the education of their children (all girls) gave

us an extraordinary degree of autonomy.


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My sisters and I were the first generation in our family to go to college, and needless

to say, the first women to have professional careers.

I was able to turn my education into empowerment. But that relationship is neither

direct nor automatic. At present, women surpass men at all levels of education,

practically everywhere in the western world, but we are still not equally represented

in the places where decisions are made. Just one in three Latin American members

of congress is a woman, and only one in ten mayors. There are more men called John

leading Standard & Poor’s top 1,500 companies, than all the women put together. It

is estimated that at the current pace of change, it will take 217 years to close the glo-

bal wage gap between men and women, a figure which unfortunately has increased

in the last few years. We once thought things could only get better; now we have to

face the fact that they can also get worse.

This is why we cannot rest on our laurels, although we must always acknowledge pro-

gress when it happens. There is still some good news. For example, Spain has had

considerable success in reducing the wage gap.

Like any woman who has reached a position of power, I have had to break through

many glass ceilings. Experience has shown me that the barriers are systemic, that

the structure of our society imposes huge restrictions on women’s life projects. This

is not only unfair - it’s a colossal waste of talent and ability. It’s no coincidence that

the most advanced countries, with the highest human development indicators, are

also those with the lowest gender gaps. At the end of the day, as many studies have

shown, equality makes us more prosperous, more secure, more democratic, more

peaceful… and also more human.

Because we are not fighting only for women, but also for men, because they also

a right to an emotional life, to a family, and to their own life projects. Changing ste-

reotypes and discrimination does not only require change in “OTHERS” - we have to

change too.


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The third conviction I want to mention is perhaps the least popular among young

people: I believe in politics. I believe in its instruments and institutions. I believe in its

mechanisms and processes. I believe it is a powerful force for transforming reality

and generating deep, lasting changes. I believe in democracy and that it can be im-

proved through Politics with a capital P.

I never planned a life in public service. When I was studying at college, I thought I wan-

ted an academic career. But then I was invited to advise the government, and since

then my life has been guided by a vocation to service.

I know it sounds trite, but it’s true. Every step of the way, I have asked myself whether

I would have more impact inside or outside of these institutions, and I always chose

to remain inside and try to remodel the structure from within.

I understand why citizens are unhappy with the institutions and feel they are out of

touch. To some degree, I think this is a sign of progress, that the general public has

become much less tolerant of corruption, inequality, and ineffectiveness. But I think

dissatisfaction and annoyance are merely a starting point. They are not a proposal.

They are not a course of action. They are just a reaction.

Now, I do know that young people are more civic-minded than the headlines would

suggest. There is activism, which takes the form of innovative and disruptive spaces.

In my role at the SEGIB I’ve seen new forms of civic organization arise, which make use

of talent to find new answers to challenges in the communities. But these new forms

of participation must find a way to fit into the architecture of democracy, which will

let them build long-term projects. There are no power vacuums or vacancies in the

political arena. The spaces which are not occupied by more or less stable and cohe-

rent collectives, committed to the values of fairness and solidarity, will be occupied

by groups with less altruistic purposes.


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So I would like to conclude by encouraging debate about this new frontier of political

and civic participation. I often say that for my generation, which lived through the

end of the dictatorships of Ibero-America, democracy is a conquest. For the youn-

ger generations, democracy is a fact, a constant, to be justified based on its results

and not for its intrinsic value.

I am intrigued, even excited, by the possibility of new mechanisms being created for

decision-making, and for civic mobilization and participation. I just want to repeat

how important it is that these changes lead us towards more democracy, not less.

Dear friends, the great Polish poet Wisława Szymborska, winner of the Nobel Prize

for Literature, used to say that every day we use phrases like “the ordinary world,” or

“ordinary life.” But there is nothing ordinary in this world. Not a stone on the ground,

nor a cloud in the sky. Not a day, nor a night coming after. And above all, not one single

human existence is ordinary. Every boy or girl who comes into the world is a portent.

The dimensions of my story are no bigger than those of another story. It is not better

than anyone else’s. It is just that: a human life, full of turning points, challenges, and

moments of great joy. I have been lucky, and blessed enough, to be able to steer that

life according to my values and principles. In fact, this is what has brought me here

to Spain, where I have been able to work for a community of countries which, with all

their differences, have found ways to cooperate in diversity. They have challenged

time and space to continue celebrating what unites us, not what separates us. They

have given value to often forgotten intangible benefits, to symbols, to culture, which

after all is simply how we treat each other. This is something that inspires me, as you

will have already realized.


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This is my final message to you this morning: I believe we must live with a purpose. I

don’t mean chasing the mirage of absolute control. A thousand factors will always

make that impossible. But we need a guide, we have to follow a star. We must be able

to imagine a better world, and adjust our compasses.

You are in a privileged place for that. For imagining the type of society you want to

build. Imagination is the muscle of empathy. We fight for other people because in

freedom, we are capable of transcending our own individuality. For that reason, tea-

ching is the most sublime of tasks. Because it involves the power to raise ourselves

above our own limits. Because as well as more cultured and more erudite, we can

also become fairer and more compassionate.

Thank you, again, to Universidad Europea for this Honorary Phd, and to each of you

for being here, and for reminding me that, in the words of Pedro Henríquez Ureña,

“utopia is not an illusion, the illusion is believing that ideals take shape on earth wi-

thout effort and without sacrifice. We have to work.” And that’s what we are doing.

Thank you very much.

Rebeca GrynspanIbero-American Secretary General

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