NEWSPAPER "LA VERDAD" (Murcia)
25 October 1995
"Sí, Spain"
By José A. Lozano Teruel, p. 57
The ciezan José Luis Pardos, presently Ambassador of
Spain in Canada, is not a diplomat in the conventional use of the
term. For many years, along his many important postings in
several Embassies or at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in
Madrid, he has defended and is still defends a new international
ethos based on solidarity and human rights.
In 1978, he summed up his ideal in what he called the rights
of the three D's, that is, Decolonization, Disarmament and
Development. Following the great transformations the world has
experienced in the course of the last twenty years, he has now
put the emphasis on the need for the three C's,, that is
Conservation, Comprehension and Communication, an essential
tripod for the future evolution of humanity. Within Conservation
must be included all the existing concerns relating to
ecosystems, environment and ecological concepts, while
Comprehension refers to the several kinds of traditions, races,
beliefs or popular customs. The last C corresponds to
Communication and will be the subject of our scientific comment
today , a clear proof that our Ambassador is conscious of the
role of science and technology in our society. That is why he
felt that his role could not be that of a mere spectator of their
development, but that he could put them at the disposal of the
Spanish interests by using the almost unlimited possibilities
afforded us by the vast communication highway, INTERNET, which
we referred to last week in this section, concentrating on one
of its most popular tools, the WWW or World Wide Weeb.
An important thinker has contended that the classic concept
of society, based mainly on the ideas of space and time is being
transformed into a new concept of a digital society in which
those references are diminished or cancelled. It appears evident
that the isolation of people, which stems from the industrial
society, makes even more necessary the need for communication,
but if in the past, in order to communicate with someone far away
space was necessary (transfer from one place to another) and time
(derived from the former), the new computer technologies make it
possible to emerge from that isolation without moving and
immediately. The factors space and time have lost their role.
In May 1994, the Minister of Industry Juan Manuel Eguiagaray
visited Ottawa and it was there that he learned and supported the
idea of using the data base existing at the Embassy as a basis
for preparing information, as useful as possible, in hypertext,
which would make its world access possible through the Web of
Internet. It would be, in any case, the first world experiment
done in this field by any Embassy anywhere. On March 9th 1995,
the Canadian coastguards seized a Spanish vessel, the ESTAI, in
international waters, thus giving way to the so called turbot war
or conflict. The tendentious informations issued by the Canadian
authorities were difficult to counter, so a decisive step was
made and within five days, the "Sí, Spain" page was
already available on the world highway of Internet, at the
following address:
http://www.DocuWeb.ca/SiSpain/.
One of the sections included is that of Fisheries where
those who visit the electronic page can simply click the mouse
of the computer and access a vast array of information and
documents relating to the situation of fisheries and Spanish
fishermen in Newfoundland.
From the Fisheries section, one can follow all the events
incurred into in the turbot dispute or the hypoglossal dispute
and learn its scientific name, "Reinhardtius hippoglossoides".
A section on the historical background refers to the Basque and
Celt fishermen who, in the XII and XIII centuries, were already
working in those areas, as well as the foundation of the first
city in North America, Saint John's Newfoundland, by fishermen
originating from Saint Jean de Luz in France and San Juan de
Pasajes in Spain. In other sections, one can find a detailed
account of all the events during the conflict, related chronicles
and news, exchange of official information, the position of the
Embassy with proofs of the manipulation of Canadian public
opinion, the denoucement of the difference in behaviour followed
by Canada to resolve its fisheries conflicts with the USA, etc.
Undoubtedly, the attractiveness and seriousness of the
informations offered were responsible for the immediate success
of "Sí Spain", so that at the beginning of last summer,
only after a few months of operation, over 100.000 users from
more than 65 countries had already accessed its pages. And last
Wednesday, October 18th, it had already reached the record number
of 257.833 accesses. Furthermore, a few months ago, this
initiative was designated , in Canada!, as one of the best Web
cultural sites, along with institutions such as CBC TV or the
National Ballet of Canada. This interest favours another
initiative of the Ambassador, the creation of a "Club of friends"
of Galician and Newfoundland fishermen, which will serve as a
meeting point and mutual understanding, similar to another Club
of Spanish and French fishermen that is supported by Greenpeace.
However, "Sí, Spain" does not only deal with fisheries.
From there, the reader who is interested in Spain may access very
different informations, immediatedly available from the hypertext
which lead to sections on Geography, History, Language, Culture,
Politics, Economy, Education, Science, Industry, Commerce, etc.
Worth mentioning is the access to a very useful Guide for the
Spanish citizen in Canada as well as the inclusion of a Spanish
interactive course for beginners, while other connections lead
to electronic sites such as the Spanish Presidency of the
European Union, Spanish electronic newspapers such as ABC, el
Periódico de Cataluña, La Vanguardia, etc. which,
due to the time lag can be read in Canada several hours before
the dawn of the day they are issued, the MaeNet or information
page of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the ambitious IberWeb
program in Spanish, English and Portuguese developed jointly by
the twenty Iberoamerican Embassies to facilitate as much
knowledge as possible on their respective countries. Moreover,
from "Sí, Spain" one can easily and almost directly access
close to one hundred interesting connections on Spain which range
from authentic flamenco groups to Universities, a Swedish file
on Dalí paintings, virtual tourist guides in Spain, etc.
Today's example confirms Pardos' idea that the spreading of
information is the first pillar of diplomacy, essential
for negotiation and, in any case, representation, thus
establishing a tripod which still constitudes traditional
diplomatic carreer and activity. Thus we must congratulate
ourselves for the example of "Sí Spain" that represents a
perfect harmony between those traditional objectives of Diplomacy
and the present means of science.
End of article.