A handful of superheroes from Camp del Grassot, an area of ??the Gràcia neighborhood in Barcelona that was once full of farmhouses and tile shops, have proposed that the idea they had six years ago, when the light bulb went on to make the fact of being accompanied became a universal right, also enlighten the UN.
The journey seems long and full of curves, but the first steps have already been taken. If good finally triumphs over evil (embodied in solitude not voluntarily chosen), it will be the first time that the Charter of the United Nations drafted in 1947 includes a relational right, since to date no set of principles inspired by the idea of Justice had contemplated the possibility of including a right based on personal relationships.
The promoters of the initiative know that it will not be a bed of roses, but one full of thorns. However, Mau Blancafort, lawyer and one of the spokespersons for this demand, hopes to emulate Michael Night, the protagonist of “The Fantastic Car” and one of his youth heroes, to, like him, be able to live alongside his companions in fatigue a thrilling adventure to the aid of lonely hearts.
In his office in Plaza Gala Placidia, Mau Blancafort gets up from his chair to show the banner that he and his colleagues have paraded in recent months through the Parliament of Catalonia, the Eusko Legebiltzara and the Congress of Deputies: the DA ( or Right to Affective Accompaniment). The logo of the banner shows four smiling people holding the sign, with a flower at one end (to symbolize love) and a dog at the opposite end (to express friendly relationships).
The objective is ambitious: to reach an agreement that covers the entire political arc (at the moment they have managed to get Vox to abstain in the vote in the Congress of Deputies, where promoting this right was being debated), both in Barcelona and Catalonia, Spain, Europe and the ONU.
Blancafort is the author of How can I help. Chronicles of a social volunteer (Pan de Letras Editorial), where he reveals the zero kilometer of his social activism. It happened when he had just started his law degree, just a few days after walking with his partner along the Rambla down to the Palau Moja to visit the exhibition Un si grand àge organized by Amics de la Gent Gran on the corner of the Rambla de les Flowers with Portaferrissa.
For a strange reason, Blancafort remembered this exhibition in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Hospital Clínic, where she had to stay for six weeks when she had just turned 19, after undergoing three operations due to a motorcycle accident. The accident occurred just after lunch, when Blancafort was preparing to travel to her old school with her Italian motorcycle and had to stop at a red light at the intersection of Guillem Tell and Balmes streets, next to Plaza Molina.
When the disc turned green, he had to choose between two options: take Vía Augusta and continue straight to his destination or turn right, go up Balmes and walk along Paseo de la Bonanova. He chose this last option, despite being longer, because it was a prettier road, but he did not get far, because when he was driving through the Plaza Joaquim Folguera (formerly Núñez de Arce), a car unexpectedly left a ford and got stuck in the middle. of the street to try to make a U-turn, causing Blancafort to collide head-on with him and be thrown into the air.
Lying in a bed at the Clínic, Blancafort had the feeling of having been reborn, which prompted him to make the decision: to dedicate part of his time to others from then on. And so until today, when he is 54 years old and has embarked on the great project of his life or ikigai (as the Japanese call what is worth living for), after being the oldest Amics de volunteer for 33 years. la Gent Gran and become one of the founders of Som Base, an association born in 2017 that has set its goal to influence policies that affect people.
The name chosen for Som Base is illustrative: in the castells, a group of people stand together at the base to support anyone who falls from the human tower built by the castellers.
“Why is it necessary to recognize the Right to Affective Accompaniment?” asks Blancafort. “Because with this right – she responds – we can expose the need to educate the population, force them to undertake active policies, justify investments, demand responsibilities, eliminate injustices and create organizations aimed at consolidating the Right to Affective Accompaniment.”
“You don’t have to ‘fight’ against loneliness, because it is a term that engenders violence and is negative, but you have to be in favor of it and act positively,” Blancafort clarifies.
The first step, he indicates, is to influence politicians, taking into account that the promoters of the project are part of non-denominational and apolitical entities. It is difficult to imagine how the right to emotional support could be implemented, but the request to address the problem means bringing to the fore a very real problem that everything seems to indicate will get worse in the future.
Unwanted loneliness – to be distinguished from that chosen of one’s own free will – is the fuse that is lighting many mental problems. Its favorite victims are the elderly and the disadvantaged of any type, although it also preys on the rich and adolescents. For this reason, one of the objectives is to open different relational channels, both virtual and physical (family, friends, neighborhood and community associations, etc.) to turn into a universal right the fact that no one is alone without wanting to be, as happened during the last Covid-19 epidemic, when it was prohibited to visit older people in the residences where they were confined.
“Technology is managing to bring people who are far closer and distance those who are close,” says Blancafort. “Another thing that is happening is that young people live other people’s lives and stop living their own,” she adds. “In the end, new technologies are becoming an engine of isolation,” she concludes.
To tell the truth, they cook beans everywhere. In the United Kingdom, the Government of former Prime Minister Theresa May created the first Secretary of State for Loneliness in 2018. A little later, in February 2021, Japan decided to establish the Ministry of Loneliness to reduce the suicide rate. “Loneliness has become a very important social problem throughout the world, forcing governments to take action on the matter,” explains Blancafort.
At the moment, and as a result of the work carried out, the city of Barcelona has been the first to recognize the Right to Affective Accompaniment, which is why it is already considering the possibility of implementing it in the coming months. Likewise, the promoters of this initiative appeared on December 20, 2022 in the Congress of Deputies to approve a non-law proposal that urges the Spanish government to promote a proposal to the UN to assume this right.
Although the project to provide legal support for the Right to Emotional Support arose in the neighborhood of Gràcia, today it has the support of other associations and people, such as Amics de la Gent Gran, Avismón, Cruz Roja, Cáritas, Fatec, Taula entities of the Third Social Sector of Catalonia, Fundació Pere Tarrés, Fundación Memora, Fundación Affinity, Federació Catalana de Voluntariat Social, Telèfon de l’Esperanza or Voluntaris.cat, among others. Some of these entities actively participate in the initiative and their representatives are part of the different working groups.
The last minute, says Blancafort, is that the promoters of the project are waiting for the elections to the European Parliament to be held in order to present their plan in Brussels before the Health and Food Safety Commission (the Right to Affective Accompaniment is closely related with health). The objective is to get the European Chamber of Representatives to promote an institutional declaration of support.
If achieved, the fantastic car in which the Right to Affective Accompaniment travels will approach New York, where the UN headquarters is located.
