UNIDAD 3 INGLES

UNIT 3 Law and Active Citizenship

• Introduction

• In Anger: Socrates

• Contents:1. The Organisation of Freedom: Conflict and Cooperation2. Authority, Legality and Legitimacy3. The Promotion of Justice: Rights and Responsibilities4. Learning Citizenship through Coexistence at School

• This Issue in the Press: A Statesman

• Let’s Go to the Cinema: "Elephant"

• Looking Through Images: A Reflection on Citizenship. Rodin and Velázquez

• The World of Literature: Cervantes (On Weapons and Words)

• Final and Summary Activities

• Find Out and Take Part

Let’s Work

� The law and rights as the organisation of freedom

� The meaning of power and authority

� The need to bind rights and responsibility

� The relationship between citizenry and daily life (for example, life atschool)

� Citizenship as participation and commitment

1Education for Citizenship and Human Rights. Unit 3

Introduction

To talk about citizenship automatically suggests talking about coexistence. Wehave already seen the complexity of human life in the previous units; to set out thecitizenship issue cannot be undertaken of the entire person. And a person is basicallycommunication, society, and being present with and for others. The human being is, asthe ancient Greeks once said, a “social animal”.

Referring to society is not making an allusion to something unknown. In theprevious unit we already learnt that the fundamental constitution of society is family,friends, neighbours, etc. Therefore, society is the group of relationships within which wemove, which allow us to develop and live, even though they may, at times, cause usdifficulties.

We can live in society thanks to the effort of all of its members. Each of us hasa function in society, and we are able to live, and even enjoy, thanks to society and itssocial, political and cultural institutions. Society works thanks to rules or laws; they arenot merely tools of oppression, punishment or sanction. Thanks to rules we can domany things, thanks to rules we can be free as rules give us possibilities. Rules (orlaws) can be compared with paths in the jungle; it could be said that it is annoying thatone should go along these previously drawn paths, that they are inhibiting us, but if itweren’t for those paths we would not be able to reach the other side or move inside thejungle. To live our lives immediately suggests that we use the paths and rules that aregiven to us and that we give ourselves. Imagine what might happen if every day whenwe woke up we had to invent the rules that might be useful for that day (from the mostelementary to the most complex)! Surely we would waste a lot of time (and we wouldn'tget anything done), and even moreso if we imagined that the next day we would haveto invent them all over again. Therefore, it is useful, good and very healthy to use therules or paths that are at our disposal. And this does not stop us from questioning somerules, as nothing guarantees that a path is always valid or that there are no alternativepaths.

On the other hand, human coexistence is not always harmonious or friendly.There are times when conflict arises. It also happens that there are persons who, byusing the freedom and the possibilities that coexistence offers, act for their own benefitor interest. They are people who want to impose their point of view and their lifestyle.Imagine, for example, a thief who steals money from a person, or a terrorist group thatwants to impose its criteria on the majority by using weapons and violence. This isprecisely why the existence of rules and laws is necessary, as they do not only attackthis selfish, unsupportive or violent behaviour, but also, and more importantly, theyguarantee everybody's freedom. This is precisely the function of law: to guaranteeeveryone's freedom. The lives of citizens cannot do without rules. We can call this “thenormative dimension of civic responsibility”.


In Anger: Socrates

Socrates (470-399 B.C.) is one of the great Greek philosophers.He can be considered the father of philosophy. He did not onlyteach ideas and theories but also something that is much moreimportant: an attitude and a lifestyle. The most noteworthy elementof his philosophical approach is that he said that he did not teachanything, rather the only thing he did was help his audience drawout their own ideas from inside themselves, that is to say, hehelped them to think for themselves. That is why he said that hisjob was the same as his mother's, who was a midwife, as it had todo with giving birth, helping one to be born. This process of "givingbirth" to one's own ideas is called "maieutics".


Contents

1. The Organisation of Freedom: Conflict and Cooperation

From Freedom to FreedomsIn the social organisation of human interaction, the Law plays an important role. When

Law is studied it is always divided into two parts, on one hand “private law”, which groups thesubjects related to citizens' private lives as well as family relationships, property, agreementsand the acquisition of citizenship. On the other hand, “public law” groups subjects related tocitizens' public life, such as participation in public activities, the election of individuals to publicoffice, the management of public assets and in general, the regulation of common activities.These two parts of the Law are only understood when there is a general reflection about themeaning of laws and justice, that is to say, when there is an ethical reflection that providesarguments on issuing the best laws, organising them in the best way within the different codesand applying them most justly. Within this overall reflection about general interests, the commongood or common standards, there is a central idea around which all the others revolve: theharmonising of individual freedom with the freedom of other individuals. Therefore, learningabout citizenship can be defined as learning about everybody’s freedom, not only that of oneindividual but of a group of individuals. Without this harmonising of freedoms there are onlyindividuals and no citizens.

On top of this reflection on the freedom of all people, the Law distinguishes between"freedom" in general and "freedoms". And it deals with "public freedoms" when analysing,regulating and encouraging the public dimension of personal freedom. For example, the firstthings that dictatorships and tyrannies do is annul the most basic "public freedoms", such asfreedom of conscience, thought, freedom of speech, the right to protest, and freedom ofassociation and participation. Exercising citizenship is to promote and defend these publicliberties, within the double meaning of the liberties of all people and the liberties of alldimensions of human life.

Regulating Conflict and Social CooperationThe interaction of liberties is carried out through a double movement, on the one hand

through disintegration, separation and confrontation, what we might call conflict dynamics. Onthe other hand, through the movement of integration, unification and cooperation, we have whatwe might call cooperation dynamics. Both movements have positive and negative aspects. TheLaw adopts these dynamics as regular so that higher standards of liberty, justice, equality andpluralism might be socially applied. The following table shows us this double possibility:


Positive aspects Negative aspects

Conflictdynamics

Cooperationdynamics

- Outrage and rebellion in the face ofunjust situations.- Individuality and critical capacities ofcitizens.- Social change and dynamism.

- Coordination of individual actions.- Integration of differences into commonprojects.- Achieving of common purposes andaims.

-Disorder and breaking of rules,regulations and laws.- Sacrifice and heroic behaviour notconsidered by laws.- Personal suffering and pain caused byfighting and confrontation.

- Risk of the levelling out ofresponsibilities.- Complacency with mistakes.- Projects are always carried out ingroups.

2. Authority, Legality and Legitimacy

From Power to Powers

Learning about citizenship does not only consist of learning about how politicalpower functions. Although it is necessary for us to analyse the close relationshipsbetween political power and citizenship, it is important that we extend the reflection oncitizenship to other spheres of power. In this way, citizenship is not only exercised in theface of political power but also in the face of any despotic, tyrannical or abusive showof power. It is important to extend the reflection on power to other fields of daily life, suchas the financial, professional, civil, family or educational aspects, where we oftenconfuse power with other qualities that are necessary for the organisation of theseactivities. This way, we can at least distinguish the following types of powers:

• POWER-COERCION (force); capacity to make someone do something by force.• POWER-CONTROL (power); capacity to convince without forcing someone's will.• POWER-AUTHORITY (exemplary); capacity to convince by guiding someone's

will through example.• POWER-LEGALITY (democracy); capacity to convince and make someone

comply with the laws, harmonising the liberty of all by seeking the common good.

From Authoritarianism to Authority In closed societies, the greatest risk in terms of the use of power in all its guises

is authoritarianism, that is to say, to abuse the authority that one has. Sometimes, insports teams the behaviour of captains or coaches is authoritarian, they abuse thepower they are given or the trust deposited in them in order to promote their owninterests instead of general or common interests.

Active citizenship is one of the best ways of ending any sort of authoritarianbehaviour because it promotes the capacity to criticise, participation and jointresponsibility in the exercising of freedom. In fact, active citizenship helps us todistinguish, in all elements of life, between power (and its forms) and authority (and itsperverted form of authoritarianism).

Ways of Recognising Authority: Legality and Legitimacy Even though power and powers arise from the interaction of liberties, we, the

citizens do not accept just any sort of power or authority. We demand that powers andauthorities have an ethical, political and cultural foundation or basis. This basis orfoundation is called legitimacy. According to Max Weber, legality is one of the ways oflegitimising political power and it has become the most accepted way of breaking awayfrom all sorts of authoritarianism, thus promoting spaces for democratic citizenship.


TYPES OF LEGITIMACY FOR POLITICALPOWER ACCORDING TO MAX WEBER

Traditional legitimacy

Charismatic legitimacy

Legitimacy based on constitutional legality

Characterised by:

Tradition is the source or basis for power; “doing things as theyhave always been done”.

Personal charisma is the source or basis for power: “because ofhis charisma or personal qualities”.

The rule of law, laws or the constitution are the source or basisfor power: “in line with the law”.

3. The Promotion of Justice: Rights and Responsibilities

The Law: Between Law and RightsLearning about citizenship is directly related to the learning of laws. This does

not mean that those who know all the laws by heart are better citizens than those whodo not know them. We mean that active participation in a social and politicalorganisation is supported by or based on (legitimised by) an ordered set of laws. Thissystematised and ordered set of laws receives the name of Law. Unlike the socialhabits, customs or right or wrong forms of social behaviour, this is about written rules,structured and organized according to the subject they regulate. For example, thehighway or traffic code gathers in a written, structured and organised manner the lawsthat regulate driving. In the same way civil or criminal codes bring together the lawsthat regulate property or crimes against a person's life.

Law is also referred to in terms of the right to make a claim for a just cause, forexample when we say "I have the right to X”, as if it says: “it is justice that I am grantedX". In this sense, the term “rights” describes the pretensions of justice that people orcitizens claim before legally constituted authorities.

Justice: Between Responsibility and ResponsibilitiesLearning about citizenship is also directly related to learning about

responsibilities. In the same way that we cannot separate heads from tails on coins,neither can we separate rights from responsibilities. Any claim of a just cause entails aresponsibility exercised by the person who carries it out. If some neighbours demandsports facilities for their neighbourhood because they have the right, they have to do itin a responsible manner, that is to say, using the adequate methods, attending to thecorresponding institutions and, above all, taking joint responsibility for the claim. Thatis why we speak about responsibilities in plural, as, apart from legal responsibilities,there are others, which can be social, cultural or civil.


ACTIVITY: Good citizens or well-behaved citizens?

At the end of the 18th century the philosopher Immanuel Kant was posed animportant problem related to citizenship. What is the relationship between a good person anda good citizen? Is it necessary to be a good person (in moral terms) in order to be a goodcitizen (in legal terms)? Kant was so convinced about the value and importance of citizenshipthat he asserted that even a town of intelligent devils would be interested in coexistenceamong citizens.

“Man is obliged to be a good citizen although he is not obliged to be a morally goodman. The establishing of a state has a solution, even for a town of devils, as surprising as itmight sound, whenever they are intelligent, and the problem can be formulated as follows:“Organising a crowd of rational human beings who, for their conservation, jointly demanduniversal laws, even when each one tends internally to evade the law means establishing aown constitution so that, although their particular feelings are the opposite, they please both,so that the result of their public behaviour would be the same as if they did not have suchinclinations. (Kant, Perpetual Peace, Tecnos, Madrid).

- Do you agree with Kant? Can a good person be a bad citizen? Can a good citizenbe bad person? Find reasons for your answer.

4. LEARNING CITIZENSHIP THROUGH COEXISTENCE AT SCHOOL

The Most Familiar Spaces for the Participation of CitizensBesides learning about rights and responsibilities, learning about citizenship is

learning about feelings. Even though they appear in writing in a code or document,rights and responsibilities are not part of a lesson of civic responsibility that we have tolearn by heart. They are part of a lesson of civic responsibility that has to be performedduring our daily lives and, above all, in those spaces where we usually exercise ourfreedom.

We do not study the constitution or human rights in order to know them by heart,rather we study them in order to be better citizens. This means that citizenship has avital and practical dimension that is a task, a training programme, and an exercise. Inthe same way as before playing a game or carrying out a sporting activity we have toperform warm-up exercises to be in shape and give the best of ourselves to the team,so we have to understand and train in the rights and responsibilities of our most familiarspaces.

The School: A Space with Rights and ResponsibilitiesIn order to perform this warm-up it might be interesting to know the rules that

govern coexistence in the schools to which we belong and in which we participate. Let'sremind ourselves of this dynamic of rights and responsibilities through the followingtable from which we have taken some articles:


ACTIVITIES:

1. Observe how the rules and regulations of your school are organised. Analyse thenumber of articles, titles and sections of these rules and regulations and observethe progression and development being used.

2. Read the rights and obligations that we give you here as an example throughly.Summarise them in your own words. What are the standards that are underlinedand defended?

De los derechos de los alumnos y alumnasArt. 15. Derecho a una formación integral.1. Todos los alumnos y las alumnas tienen derecho a

recibir una formación integral que contribuya alpleno desarrollo de su personalidad.

2. Para hacer efectivo este derecho, la educación delos alumnos y las alumnas incluirá:

a) la formación en valores y principios recogidos en lanormativa internacional, Constitución Española y enl’Estatut d’Autonomia de la Comunitat Valenciana.

b) La consecución de hábitos intelectuales y sociales,y estrategias de trabajo, así como de los necesariosconocimientos científicos, técnicos, humanísticos,históricos y de uso de las tecnologías de lainformación y de la comunicación.

c) La formación integral de la persona y elconocimiento de su entorno social y culturalinmediato y, en especial, de la lengua, historia,geografía, cultura y realidad de la sociedad actual[…]

3. Los alumnos y las alumnas tienen derecho a que suspadres, madres, tutores o tutoras velen por suformación integral, colaborando para ello con lacomunidad educativa, especialmente en elcumplimiento de las normas de convivencia y de lasmedidas establecidas en los centros docentes parafavorecer el esfuerzo y el estudio.

De los deberes del alumnadoArt. 24. Deber de estudio y de asistencia a clase.1. El estudio es un deber básico de los alumnos y las

alumnas, que comporta el desarrollo y aprovecha-miento de sus aptitudes personales y de losconocimientos que se impartan.

2. La finalidad del deber al estudio es que, por mediodel aprendizaje efectivo de las distintas materias quecomponen los currículos, los alumnos y las alumnasadquieran una formación integral que les permitaalcanzar el máximo rendimiento académico, el plenodesarrollo de su personalidad, la adquisición dehábitos intelectuales y técnicas de trabajo, la prepa-ración para participar en la vida social y cultural, y lacapacitación para el ejercicio de actividades profe-sionales.

3. Este deber básico, que requiere del esfuerzo, de ladisciplina y de la responsabilidad por parte de losalumnos y las alumnas, se concreta en las siguien-tes obligaciones:

a) …actitud activa, participativa y atenta en clase,…b) Participar en actividades formativas…c) Asistir con material y equipamiento necesario…d) Realizar las tareas encomendadas por los profesores…[…]f) Respetar el ejercicio del derecho y el deber del estu-

dio de los demás… […]

Decreto 39/2008 del Consell de la Generalitat Valenciana

“Se precisa un estadista (o más)”

“¿Zapatero o Rajoy? Éste parece ser el único dilema para las elecciones del 9 demarzo. En realidad, no creo que sea así. A casi treinta años de la Constitución hay algo nuevoa considerar. Vivimos un momento político muy especial. Precisamos un estadista al frente delGobierno. La razón es que la Constitución se está empezando a desencuadernar y hay queinsuflar sobre ella renovado consenso. El edificio permanece sólido, pero está agrietado en susconsensos básicos: en el territorial desde hace tiempo y, ahora, en el religioso y otros.

El título VIII, sobre las autonomías, está ya en la cuerda floja. Ibarretxe mantiene,terne, su referéndum inamovible para el 25 de octubre de 2008, pase lo que pase. ETA -debilitada o no- sigue utilizando explosivos como argumentos. La Constitución dice que sefundamenta en la "indisoluble unidad de la Nación española". Pero ahora algunos prefierenconcebirse como pluralidad de naciones con "derecho a decidir" por sí solas. ¿Es esoconstitucional?

La cuestión religiosa estaba pacífica y ahora se remueve. La fórmula de consensofue "libertad religiosa", "no confesionalidad" y respeto a las "creencias religiosas de la sociedadespañola", para cooperar con la Iglesia Católica y demás confesiones. Pero algunos mantienenque estamos en un "Estado laico", que no es lo mismo. ¿Qué dice la Constitución? Lástima queel Constitucional esté aquejado hoy de extraña enfermedad autoinmune, muy destructiva desí mismo.

De otro lado, España ha cambiado mucho en treinta años. Se han afirmado, pujantes,nuevas generaciones. Se ha recibido fuerte inmigración. El país es más plural y secular; conmás libertad y nivel de renta, más integrado en Europa y el mundo global. Es normal queconvenga una actualización de la Constitución, no subrepticia, sino a las claras y sin trampas,con llamada explícita al poder constituyente, que somos todos. Pero este proceso no puedeconducirlo sólo un líder de partido sino un auténtico hombre de Estado.

Según Disraeli, la diferencia entre un estadista y un político es que el primero piensaen las siguientes generaciones y el segundo sólo en las próximas elecciones. El estadista tienevisión a largo plazo, conoce los datos de los problemas y resuelve de conformidad, consoluciones que perduran. En cambio, el político al uso se aferra al corto plazo, improvisa, tocade oídas, salta de arbitrismo en ocurrencia, hace salidas en falso y anda obsesionado porbailar el agua a los suyos.

Y aquí surge la pregunta inquietante: ¿son Zapatero o Rajoy genuinos estadistas?No diré yo que no. Pero si lo fueren, lo disimularon hasta ahora admirablemente. Nadie dudahoy que Adolfo Suárez o Felipe González se comportaran como estadistas, al menos algúntiempo. Suárez pasa a la historia como hombre de Estado por culminar la transición, con labatuta del Rey al fondo. González fue -junto con otros- elemento esencial en los Pactos de laMoncloa y en la Constitución. Su mérito mayor como estadista fue situarnos en Europa trascomprender los requisitos de la jugada, desde la liberalización de la economía al referéndumsobre la OTAN (…)”

Por J. A. ORTEGA DÍAZ-AMBRONA, El País, Sección TRIBUNA, 05/03/2008.


ACTIVITIES:

1. Look up the words you do not understand in the dictionary.2. List the main ideas of the article excerpt presented to you.3. If you have the chance to read it completely (you can find it on the Web), what conclusion

does the article reach?4. What is the difference between a “statesman” and a “politician”? List the differences.5. Expand on the information about the events and people mentioned in the text.

Let’s go to the Cinema: Elephant

School life has been shown on the big screen several times, most of them withoutsuccess or quality. The film "Elephant" shows the life of a school by paying special attention toits details. It follows the lives of young people and it seems that nothing happens. This schoolis, however, the famous Columbine High School (Colorado), where an appalling massacre tookplace in 1999 when two armed youngsters took the lives of 13 people (12 students and oneteacher) and wounded more than 20. Unlike the famous documentary by M. Moore, “Bowlingfor Columbine”, the director of this film (Gus Van Sant) stays away from any ideologicalarguments and shows, with amazing skill, the key to the roots of such violence.


THINK ABOUT...- If you watch the film, prepare a list of the characters that appear in it and describe them briefly:what they are like, what they do, how they are dressed, how they react.- What is the explanation that you think the film gives for the violent acts?- Do you think that something like this could happen in Spain? Why?- What do you think must be changed, proposed, so that a massacre like the one at Columbinemight never happen again?- What can each one of us do, at school, in order to reduce the amount of violence in any form?

Looking Through Images: A Reflection onCitizenship

A. RODIN (1840-1917) is one of the greatest contemporarysculptors. He managed to harmonise tradition and creativity.In his works we can see the influence of great artists likeMichaelangelo and the creative impulse that made himquestion conventional forms.


This picture is one of VELÁZQUEZ'S (1599-1660) most well-known. We find ourselveslooking at the work of one of the greatest painters in the history of art. He was a master oftechnique and expressiveness. This painting showsthe surrender of the Dutch before the Spanish army.It was an honourable surrender, and was recognizedas such by the Spanish army in that it allowed anencounter between both troops with their flags aloft.In spite of it being a war the act was filled withgentlemanliness, honour and civic responsibility.

Look Up Some Facts - Who was A. Rodin? Expand on the information.- If you look in art history books or on the Internet you will surely find more works by Rodin. Could youname one?- Rodin reflects in this sculpture what happened to six burghers in the city of Calais. They were sixcitizens that agreed to put themselves at risk in order to help other citizens. Look up for moreinformation about this story using the data we've already given you. Learn to Look- Briefly describe all of the elements of the sculpture, and use the double perspective we bring with us.Take into account that it has to do with a group of people with different attitudes.- How could Rodin's work be characterised? (Based on this image and from others you may haveseen)Think About the Image- What do you think the sculptor wanted to express?- What is the value of having sculptures like this in the squares and streets of our cities?Are they about homage or memory? Are they meeting places?

Look Up Some Facts-Who was D. Velázquez? Expand theinformation.-Where is Breda located? Place it on a map.What was the relation of that area with Spain?- Look up for more information about Bredaand its surrender.Learn to Look- Briefly describe all the elements in thepicture.- What draws your attention in the picture?Think About the Image-What do you think Velázquez wanted to show?- Can a war, a battle be honourable and civil?When? Under what conditions?- What could be the meaning of the keys in thepicture?

FEELING AND THINKING WITHIMAGES- Which image, picture or drawing wouldyou use to represent your idea ofcitizenship?- Should you have to present anexhibition of paintings or sculpture onthe subject of “Citizenship”, to whichartists would you turn? What sort ofworks would you display?

THE BURGHERS OF CALAIS(1886, French Port of Calais)

THE SURRENDER OF BREDA (1635,Museo del Prado, Madrid)

The World of Literature: On Weapons and Words(Cervantes)

M. de Cervantes, The Ingenious Nobleman Don Quixote de la Mancha, Chapter XXXVIII, whichdeals with the curious speech that Don Quixote made about weapons and letters.


FEELING AND THINKING WITH WORDS- Explain the meaning of the text. Look up thewords you don't understand or ask yourteacher.- It is a speech about weapons and words.Which of the two is Don Quixote (Cervantes) infavour of? Underline the arguments of bothsides.- Look for more arguments in favour of one orthe other. Considering that they are two verydifferent activities, how can they be combined?- How does G. Doré represent Don Quixote inthis engraving?

Final and Summary Activities

1. The dictionary of a language gathers the diverse meanings of words. It'sa very useful analytical and reflective task to look up words in them, bothwords we do not know as well as those that are “full” of different meanings.We suggest you to look up two words that have frequently appeared in thisunit: “right" and “law”.


- ¿Did you know all the meanings of these terms?- Look up expressions or create sentences (and contexts) where these terms appear

with their different meanings.

2. Thoroughly read this text by H.G. Gadamer (1900-2002):

“The authority of people does not have its ultimate foundation in asubmissive act and the abdication of reason, but in an act of knowledgeand recognition: it is recognised that the other is above another injudgement and perspective and that, consequently, his judgement ispreferential or has primacy with regard to one's own. Authority is notgranted; it is acquired, and has to be acquired if one wants to resort to it. Itrelies on recognition, and, consequently, on an action of reason itself, thatis, the acceptance of one's own limits, attributing to the other a moreaccurate perspective. Correctly understood, this meaning has nothing todo with the blind obedience of authority.” (Gadamer, Truth and Method,Sígueme, Salamanca),

- What is authority? Where is a person's authority? Why is it positive?- To which distorted concept of "authority" is the text opposed?

3. Prepare an organisational chart of your school and analyse the obligations andresponsibilities of each one of the people, governing organs or representational bodies. Howis the head teacher chosen? How does the school council work? What are the responsibilitiesof the teachers' board or the student committee?

“Right”- Based on something, correct, reasonable;- Faculty of the human being to legitimatelydo things that lead to the vital goals;- Faculty of doing or requesting everythingthat the law or the authority establishes inour favour, or that the owner of somethingallows us to do.

“Law”- Constant or invariable rule and regulationof things, arisen from the first cause or fromthe qualities and conditions of things.- Each one of the existing relations betweenthe different elements that are part of aphenomenon. - Rule issued by a competent authority, inwhich something is allowed or forbidden inline with the legal system and for the good ofthe governed.- In the constitutional system, resolutionvoted by the Courts and sanctioned by theHead of State.

Find Out and Take Part

The institutions in which we live, the ones that make our lives possible, set out ourrights and, also, our duties and obligations. Below, we have proposed a list of "institutions"that distribute rights and duties. What are the rights and duties they distribute? Find out whatyour rights and obligations are (taking into account that they are almost always written down,that is to say, they're "regulated").

Complete the following table:


Family

Sports centres

Library

Shopping Centres

Health clinics-hospital

Work spaces

RIGHTS OBLIGATIONS(RESPONSIBILITIES)

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