by VÍCTOR CORCOBA HERRERO
Juan Mollá López, apart from being a man of thought and a writer who is interested in humanity, is a tireless defender of copyright. He justly holds the presidency, effectively and efficiently, of the Collegiate Association of Writers and the first Vice-Presidency of the Spanish Center for Reprographic Rights. Now he shares with us a substantial text written on the occasion of a Conference on the Intellectual Property Rights of Writers in Practice, held last December. In it, great truths are invoked that I wish to remember, share, and reflect on because of how much they say.
For this distinguished cultivator of words and captivator of actions, Juan Mollá López, the writer is usually invoked in great declarations; but, insistently, they are used as masks, as excuses, as alibis, as an ennobling justification of commercial interests. Certainly, that is so. It is a pity that some sowers of verbs take the bait and accept subsidies and crumbs, thus losing all independence. The lesson of Don Camilo José Cela comes to mind: "If the writer does not feel capable of letting himself starve to death, he should change his profession. The truth of the writer does not coincide with the truth of those who distribute the gold." The effects are there. We endure a tremendous climate of mediocrity, the result of that inability to shine in freedom and of coherence between what is written, expressed, and done.
Writers are usually used by the politician in charge when he feels like it. And other times, to shut him up, he extends a beneficial wink of favor (lunch, trip, prize, book edition...) as payment for not making war. That is the real truth that we must admit. To the misfortune of culture, there is a majority of writers who accept this game. Or at least that is the impression that is perceived. Since Ángel María de Lera stood up, giving his life, and made the authorized and free voice of the writer emancipated from powers heard, founding the Collegiate Association of Writers, little progress has been made in this regard. Juan Mollá complains, with all the reason in the world, that now the independent voice of writers is not being heard in the elaboration of the new Laws that have emerged in the maelstrom of the Information Society.
The voice of the committed writer has long remained silent, without any value, due to that sale to merchandise and power. Everything has been politicized to the maximum, with the consented prostitution of the amen. Cultural weeks indoctrinate instead of giving wings. And there is a writer as master of ceremonies. Libraries are inaugurated and the matter is finished. And there is a writer as master of keys. The waste of prizes and distinctions paid for with public money is usually a pure joke. And there is a writer as an authorized teacher. This feast of weddings, acting as a prior father, shames creativity; and, of course, denigrates the writer. The construction of a more just and united humanity should not be a dream or a vain ideal. It should be, in any case, an imperative of the creators, a duty of the thinkers, a cry of truth against so much lies and partisan interests.
The current world, dazzled by its conquests and its scientific and technical achievements, too often yields cultures and crops to ideologies and behaviors that are in contradiction with the true sovereign spirit of the writer. The language of authenticity, the lucidity of the language, and the ingenuity of speech have been lost. In exchange, we have gained the language of roguery and complicity with the most interested power, the simplicity of the language, and the stupidity of sheepishness in speech. What a pity.
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