Security and Democracy

Published in El País
(Spain) on 12 July 2013
by Luis Nieto Moreda (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Cydney Seigerman. Edited by Keith Armstrong.
When Mr. Obama announces that security is incompatible with privacy, we citizens wonder, "What other rights will we have to give up in the future in order to 'guarantee' security?" Maybe this man will end up thinking that democracy itself is incompatible with security. Others thought that before. I still remember them — we called them dictators.

We are talking about the fundamental principles of democracy and of the rights of citizens. I worry about the future. Remember when a judge's order was needed to have your house searched or your conversations listened to? What times! I am worried about the present.

And perhaps the worst part is that the debate between security and privacy is false: The fact that the United States spies on the same European Union leaders and governments they consider to be "friends" is an unmistakable sign that the espionage has nothing to do with security. It satisfies unlawful interests.


Cuando el señor Obama anuncia que es incompatible la seguridad con la privacidad algunos ciudadanos nos preguntamos ¿a qué otros derechos tendremos que renunciar en el futuro para “garantizar” la seguridad? Quizá este señor acabe pensando que la democracia en sí misma es incompatible con la seguridad. Otros lo pensaron antes. Todavía lo recuerdo. Los llamábamos dictadores.

Estamos hablando de los principios fundamentales de la democracia y de los derechos de los ciudadanos. Me preocupa el futuro. ¿Recuerdan cuando era necesaria la orden de un juez para que registraran tu casa o escucharan tus conversaciones? ¡Qué tiempos! Me preocupa el presente.

Y quizá lo peor es que el debate entre seguridad y privacidad es falso: que Estados Unidos espíe a la misma Administración de la Unión Europea y a Gobiernos “amigos” es una señal inequívoca de que ese espionaje nada tiene que ver con la seguridad. Responde a intereses ilegítimos.
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