Following the death of his good friend Josep Piqué, many people have highlighted his affable, close and open-minded personality. What is important is that these people, in many cases, were representatives of ideological currents contrary to those of Josep Piqué. People who had been politically confronted with him, with whom they shared neither a political project nor the same version of what had to mark the future of our society. But, despite these discrepancies, they wanted to highlight, by remembering it, the ability to dialogue, to find coincidences and, even, the joy of the same way of expressing the discrepancy.
This is a magnificent memory of Josep Piqué. When the ideological discrepancy prevents friendship, it is a bad sign. Freedom without discrepancy hides a background of intolerance, of fear, of cowering limitation. And democracy demands that we be capable of respecting each other and cultivating friendship despite very different opinions and ideas. This strengthens democracy, makes it more authentic, more rooted in the objective of coexistence that is made, grows and is maintained in pluralism.
Sometimes it is difficult; and sometimes even impossible. When the alleged friendship demands that you renounce your own convictions, this is a price that cannot and must not be paid. The friendship that denies me my freedom is not friendship; it is a pernicious expression of ideological supremacism. This is not the terrain of friendship or freedom.
But when that limit is not the scenario, friendship between political dissenters not only has to be possible, but also positive, convenient, recommendable. It is convenient that the respect of the adversary overcome the acrimony of the discrepancy. We must find the space for punctual coincidence, for a pragmatic approach, to put into a corner the intolerance that distances us from the ability to live together and progress.
All this is ratified and expressed by the memory of Josep Piqué. We need the ability to disagree from the argument and not from the disqualification. Friendship helps us. Very often, some opinion leaders criticize that political adversaries can also be friends. Absurd! On the contrary, this friendship is what serves to build bridges between different proposals that, despite everything, can find points of agreement that benefit society as a whole. Certainly not only friendship should make it possible; also, and very mainly, it would have to be achieved by the general interest, collective well-being, social progress, stability.
But when friendship rests on respect, consideration and expression can make it easier. The trust that a good friendship builds has to be valued as a contribution that helps the integration of wills in a common project for the future. Now, everyone knows it but not everyone practices it. It’s a shame because that would help a lot to overcome conflicts and obstacles. With Josep Piqué the difficult path of coincidence was clear; but this was possible, it could be talked about, it could be built. Now, here and at this moment, it would be worth keeping in mind. It would be a good way for the memory of Josep Piqué to have, in his style, a projection of the present and the future. If the expressions that we have heard on the occasion of his death were sincere, we would have to believe that this would be possible.
