Freedom or Life?

“Freedom or death!”, one of the most shouted slogans in the history of the West, proclaimed that life was only worth living if something greater than life itself was recognised. The pandemic has jettisoned the ideas we had inherited about freedom and death, survival, a full life, social control and community. The virus has come bearing a new message: “Freedom is death”. And, in order to stay alive, we have accepted the most drastic constraints on the freedom of our lives. In the coming world, what will be valued more, mere protection of life, or life fully lived in freedom? Will we entrust everything to a long, safe, painless existence that requires forsaking the things that give it meaning. What will the yet-to-exist post-pandemic community be like?

The writer and Hellenist Raül Garrigasait, for whom freedom is not a heroic individual act but a capacity of the community, will lead a discussion that raises the question of whether it is possible to learn a deeper kind of freedom as a collective. He will discuss this and other matters with the philosopher Joan Canimas, a specialist in ethics applied to social action, who has recently been very critical of the legal paternalism of the state during the lockdown. Also taking part will be the university lecturer Aida C. Rodríguez, researcher in human rights and expert in restorative justice, who will approach these issues on the basis of her knowledge of situations where freedom is denied.