We are just one day ahead before the final voting takes place tomorrow within the Spanish Senate on whether the controversial "Ley de Economía Sostenible"  or "Ley Sinde") will be passed or not, and the abundance of news articles, blog posts, tweets, etc. etc. keep flooding the Spanish Web from all over the place. Yet, it looks like things don't seem to have changed that much despite the uproar. People are even preparing to demonstrate publicly later on today to reject the passing of that law, which seems to be inevitable and which, in my opinion, will mark whether Spain is just one other modern, progressive country in the western world, where its Constitution is respected by all, or, alternatively, whether it will become *the* first banana republic in western Europe. What do you reckon?

Unfortunately, those with that power to listen to their constituents and act accordingly don't seem to want to keep doing the job for which they are getting paid for the last few years, which is serve your people, your voters, and it looks like we are just about to prepare for the worse, i.e. the law will be passed even without a discussion and just by a fraction of the entire Senate! Utterly disappointing, if you ask me!

Now, I do realise I am not an expert on politics, nor do I plan to be one; I basically do not know enough to make an educated opinion of what it is all about and how it basically works out, but I *do* pride myself on having that ability to read stuff AND think critically on information that gets thrown out to me. So when I saw the recently published article by Wikileaks under the title "10MADRID174: SPAIN: AMBASSADOR'S MEETING WITH MINISTER OF" (In English) I just couldn't, but feel appalled AND gutted at how deteriorated politics has become in general as of late when your own government, and its people!, are governed by the markets from another country, because that's essentially what's at stake over here. Whether you are in agreement of "Ley Sinde" or not that's out of the question; laws get made and passed time and time again amongst a healthy discussion in most cases. Or perhaps not. However, things, this time around, are very different...

Here we are about to find out tomorrow whether my home country, Spain, will be capable of claiming to be an independent and free state as of December 22nd 2010, or, instead, that banana republic at the service of others, just because you would want to get along with them nicely and therefore become dependent on them enough that they dictate and mandate your own laws. You could certainly debate this particular law and how it come out in the first place; you could certainly debate the validity and the methods under which Wikileaks got access to that kind of information and publish it across; but, in my opinion, and, like I said, I may not know enough about politics in the present day, you can never debate, nor put into question, the sovereignty of a free, independent state just because you may have not only political interests, but also additional commercial ones.

I am very sorry to say this, but that's basically what's at stake in tomorrow's voting from a group of Spanish senators on whether "Ley Sinde" will be passed or not. If it doesn't make it through, Spain will continue to have its credibility intact as one of the most advanced and progressive democracies from the western world that we know of (Something to always feel very proud of, I can imagine!); it it does pass we will be witnessing how Spain will become a surrogate state at the mercy of others' interests and that nightmare of becoming that first banana republic of western Europe will then become a reality.

Tomorrow, as most of you folks reading this blog post already know, we will celebrate the Winter Solstice, the longest night of the whole year; tomorrow, if the voting goes in the wrong direction, we will be having not just the darkest night BUT the darkest of days, and years to come!, for us all, Spaniards, as well and for a long while. Tomorrow we will be able to witness how much worth the vote of each and every single Spaniard really is. Tomorrow, it may well be the last day that I would treasure that unique privilege of casting a vote hoping it does make a difference, as part of a healthy and strong democratic state. If the "Ley Sinde" gets approved tomorrow, that feeling will be gone. For good! It will probably even be pointless to have them rule this country. After all, it's no longer theirs anymore, but someone else's...

Doesn't that make you feel uncomfortable as much as it does to me? Goodness, I hope that tomorrow we can still THINK! and act accordingly! For the sake of all of us, dear senators, think about what you are going to do, before it is too late. 46 million people are watching you with great interest. Please, please, please, don't disappoint us/them!

Ante la inclusión en el Anteproyecto de Ley de Economía sostenible de modificaciones legislativas que afectan al libre ejercicio de las libertades de expresión, información y el derecho de acceso a la cultura a través de Internet, los periodistas, bloggers, usuarios, profesionales y creadores de Internet manifestamos nuestra firme oposición al proyecto, y declaramos que:

1. Los derechos de autor no pueden situarse por encima de los derechos fundamentales de los ciudadanos, como el derecho a la privacidad, a la seguridad, a la presunción de inocencia, a la tutela judicial efectiva y a la libertad de expresión.
2. La suspensión de derechos fundamentales es y debe seguir siendo competencia exclusiva del poder judicial. Ni un cierre sin sentencia. Este anteproyecto, en contra de lo establecido en el artículo 20.5 de la Constitución, pone en manos de un órgano no judicial -un organismo dependiente del ministerio de Cultura-, la potestad de impedir a los ciudadanos españoles el acceso a cualquier página web.
3. La nueva legislación creará inseguridad jurídica en todo el sector tecnológico español, perjudicando uno de los pocos campos de desarrollo y futuro de nuestra economía, entorpeciendo la creación de empresas, introduciendo trabas a la libre competencia y ralentizando su proyección internacional.
4. La nueva legislación propuesta amenaza a los nuevos creadores y entorpece la creación cultural. Con Internet y los sucesivos avances tecnológicos se ha democratizado extraordinariamente la creación y emisión de contenidos de todo tipo, que ya no provienen prevalentemente de las industrias culturales tradicionales, sino de multitud de fuentes diferentes.
5. Los autores, como todos los trabajadores, tienen derecho a vivir de su trabajo con nuevas ideas creativas, modelos de negocio y actividades asociadas a sus creaciones. Intentar sostener con cambios legislativos a una industria obsoleta que no sabe adaptarse a este nuevo entorno no es ni justo ni realista. Si su modelo de negocio se basaba en el control de las copias de las obras y en Internet no es posible sin vulnerar derechos fundamentales, deberían buscar otro modelo.
6. Consideramos que las industrias culturales necesitan para sobrevivir alternativas modernas, eficaces, creíbles y asequibles y que se adecuen a los nuevos usos sociales, en lugar de limitaciones tan desproporcionadas como ineficaces para el fin que dicen perseguir.
7. Internet debe funcionar de forma libre y sin interferencias políticas auspiciadas por sectores que pretenden perpetuar obsoletos modelos de negocio e imposibilitar que el saber humano siga siendo libre.
8. Exigimos que el Gobierno garantice por ley la neutralidad de la Red en España, ante cualquier presión que pueda producirse, como marco para el desarrollo de una economía sostenible y realista de cara al futuro.
9. Proponemos una verdadera reforma del derecho de propiedad intelectual orientada a su fin: devolver a la sociedad el conocimiento, promover el dominio público y limitar los abusos de las entidades gestoras.
10. En democracia las leyes y sus modificaciones deben aprobarse tras el oportuno debate público y habiendo consultado previamente a todas las partes implicadas. No es de recibo que se realicen cambios legislativos que afectan a derechos fundamentales en una ley no orgánica y que versa sobre otra materia.

If you would want to read the English version, head over to Boing Boing and read it over here. And for a much more extensive coverage of the Manifesto click on this link.

(NOTA: Este manifiesto fue redactado conjuntamente por periodistas, bloggers e internautas, en una maratoniana sesión durante la tarde-noche de ayer. Si estás de acuerdo, difúndelo por todas las vías que puedas)