Spanish parents: conscientious objection not “right-wing” tactic

Madrid, Spain, Jun 26, 2007 / 09:02 am

A group of parents in the Spanish city of Cadiz who recently exercised their right to conscientiously object to the course “Education for Citizenship,” have responded to a lawmaker of the United Left political party, saying their position has nothing to do with “right-wing tactics.”

Speaking to reporters, Representative Ignacio Garcia of the United Left, called the parents’ decision to conscientiously object “a political tactic orchestrated by the right and by conservative sectors.”

Javier Sanchez, spokesman for the parents, responded to Garcia with a statement in which he said, “There is no connection between our objection to the course and any political tactic ‘orchestrated by the right or conservative sectors’.”

“We have no idea what Mr. Garcia has based his statement on and we invite him to get to know us, to look into the matter and if he wants, to come to our homes, and he will realize that we are only normal parents concerned about the education of our children,” Sanchez said.

“We think the opposite is the case,” he continued.  Finding no one to help them in dealing with the matter, the group of parents decided to band together and make their objections known to the media, Sanchez said.  Unfortunately, politicians only pay attention when people begin to mobilize, he added.

Parents are concerned, he said, that the class goes above their heads in providing moral guidance that is dependent upon the teacher, the school, the text book and the government currently in office.  The reason, “That we are defending ourselves from this contempt and requesting that at least we be asked what kind of education we wish to give our children cannot be so hard for a lawmaker to understand,” Sanchez stated.

“We’re not trying to make Mr. Garcia agree with us,” his statement concluded, “but as the public servant that he is, we do demand and hope that at a minimum, instead of calling our actions ‘intolerable,’ he would understand them, respect them, and support our constitutional right to ideological and religious freedom.”