Recuerdos para la Historia de la Libertad:

 Alcalá de Henares (Madrid): De la casa natal de Cervantes a la de Manuel Azaña

 

 

   

MANUEL AZAÑA DÍAZ (1880-1940) 

En 1925 fundó Acción Republicana oponiéndose a la dictadura de Primo de Rivera. El advenimiento de la República en 1931 le hizo Ministro de la Guerra en el gobierno provisional, introdujo reformas en las fuerzas armadas que generaron contra él la oposición de los  militares conservadores. Fue presidente del primer gobierno republicano. Fundó Izquierda Republicana y con la victoria del Frente Popular en 1936 fue nombrado presidente del Consejo y pasó a ocupar la presidencia de la República..........Autor de numerosos escritos que muestran su evolución política. Numerosas obras: “La vida de don Juan Valera”, “Plumas y palabras”, “El jardín de los frailes”, etc.

 Nació y vivió en Alcalá de Henares (Madrid) y tras la entrada de las fuerzas fascistas de ocupación se exilió en Francia en 1939 donde murió en 1940 (Montauban).

 

2.-TRAVELLING "OLD FASHIONED WAY".- 2.....
 
Passing through "Descartes´Life sites" (1596-1650).........to be discovered by traveller him/herself.- c´est à vous de faire la découverte.- a descubrir por el viajero............

La Haye (Touraine): Descartes was born in 1596. 
Bretagne: His father was Councellor.
He lived in Holland...and Danemark........
Later Descartes went to Bavière (Bayern/Germany)

1625-1628: Paris ......and Holland again till 1648   In 1649 he travelled to Stockholm as invited Professor

Stockholm (Sweden).....and died in 1650...
 
IN SHORT: Bretagne- La Haye (Touraine)- Paris// Holland// Danemark// Bavière-Ger// Stockholm/...........or vice versa....................
 
Bon Voyage!!..........Feliz Viaje!!!..............Enjoy travelling!!!.

 

                                                                              

Still  possible!!!, in spite of modern Tunnel and Highway.
Travelling in the Old Fashioned Way: From Paris to London in 70´s
 
This is a very interesting journey, that is made at some time or another by most people, who are in the habit of travelling at all, either for family, business or simply for mere pleasure. The fact that this journey is made so frequently is not at all strange, as each of these capitals is in the center of a world-wide trade and also is unbounded interest to the visitor on account of its historic buildings, monuments and other objects of beauty....................The journey from Paris to London is made in three stages: A railway journey on French soil, the crossing of the Channel by steamer, and another railway journey on english soil..........................Several sea routes across the Channel are opened to the traveller: Calais to Dover, Boulogne to Folkstone, Dieppe to Newhaven. The shortest route by sea is between the French port Calais and the english port Dover, across the Straits of Dover. The distance between the two countries is only 21 miles at this point, and the crossing is made in about 50 minutes............The distance between the two coasts is so short and the traffic so great that the construction of a subterranean TUNNEL (made¡¡¡) is a project worthy of serious consideration by the governments of both countries.......................The journey by rail from Paris to Calais is pleasant and occupies less than three and a half hours. On arriving at Calais the train conveys the passengers as far as the harbour station, where the steamer that is to take them to Dover is moored................When all passengers and luggage are on board the steamer, its readiness for departure is announced by a whistle, and, after the mooring ropes have been released, the ship proceeds majestically out of the harbour. The steamers that perform this short crossing are comparatively small vessels, but they are fitted out with all the latest improvements. The saloons and cabins are confortable; those for the first class passengers being situated astern or on the upper decks, while those for the second class and third are below decks.....................Boats on the ship´s sides are always ready for launching in case of emergency and life/belts are stacked everywhere in complete readiness for use.......On a fine clear day, when the steamer leaves the port of Calais, we see the French coast becoming gradually more and more indistinct in the mist, till finally disappears from our sight................The sea voyage ends with the arrival of the steamer at the Admiralty Pier, which, jutting towards the open sea, acts as a breakwater. On their arrival the travellers must proceed to the Custom House. If a traveller has nothing to declare, the Custom officials mark his luggage with chalk and he may inmediately continue his journey in peace.......The journey from Dover to London naturally awakens in the traveller a certain curiosity, on account of various differences existing between the English landscape and the French...........The english trains are quick and confortable, and the journey occupies about an hour and a half or two hours...........On his arrival in London the traveller steps on to a wide and lofty station, whether it be Victoria, Charing Cross or Cannon Street. The great London termini are all connected by underground railway with all parts of the city and the outlying suburbs, and a short walk along an underground corridor will bring the traveller to the "tube" station. There are also at the station numerous taxi-cabs and other vehicles to convey him to his destination......

19th Century Manchester Free Trade, Chartism and the Anti-Corn Law League THE ANTI-CORN LAW LEAGUE

Due to fierce competition from cheap imported foreign corn in the early 19th century, wealthy and influential gentlemen farmers had lobbied the ruling parliamentary party, the Tories, to prohibit their import by the imposition of Corn Laws in 1815. With this monopoly in place, British corn rose to prohibitive prices, making it impossible for the poor to buy bread.
The Corn Laws were seen by ordinary people as a symbol of the dominant ruling aristocracy's feudal power over them, and of the suppliers' unashamed self interest, at the cost of their staple food. Protests by Lancashire mill-workers at the imposition of such severe measures soon grew.
In September 1838, mill owners and local politicians joined protesters in the formation of an Anti-Corn Law League, at the York Hotel in King Street, Manchester, with George Wilson as its chairman. Support grew so fast that a temporary wooden hall was built in St Peters Street to hold protest meetings - it became known as the Free Trade Hall. Later a stone building replaced this original wooden one. Two major figures emerged as leaders of the Anti-Corn Law movement, Richard Cobden, a Bolton calico manufacturer, and John Bright, a Rochdale mill -owner and a Quaker. Cobden and Bright, both persuasive orators with powerful local backing, (including Archibald Prentice, radical editor of the Manchester Times newspaper), succeeded in getting elected to parliament, (Cobden - MP for Stockport in 1841) where they constantly lobbied and harassed the Prime Minister, Sir Robert Peel (born in Bury). Peel, under severe pressure from the League and its growing band of ever more powerful supporters, repealed the Corn Laws in 1846, thereby splitting the Tory party, and effectively ending his own political career in the process. Manchester would, henceforth be associated with the principle of Free Trade. The Free Trade Hall, the third and now a fine permanent stone building, was built later as a monument to honour the Manchester movement

A no olvidar en vuestros viajes por tierras lejanas........y cercanas¡¡, .................................

1.- Reclamar la igualdad de derechos políticos, económicos, sociales y laborales.

2.- Hacer frente al machismo en todas sus manifestaciones, advirtiendo seriamente, y de manera solidaria, a las instituciones de macarr@s, muchas veces disfrazadas de "Estado" u otros.

3.- Educar a la juventud en el amor libre y libremente consentido, desprovisto de connotaciones mercantiles, que no hacen sino perpetuar el tradicional envilecimiento de las mujeres, y persiguiendo a los inductores a la prostitución, particularmente de menores.

4.- Resulta cuando menos chocante la ínfima representación de las mujeres en organismos que teóricamente deberían ser más favorables (como sindicatos y organizaciones diversas), que mantienen unas tendencias machistas y discriminatorias hacia la mujer, impropias de lo que en teoría proclaman.

5.- Es preciso solidarizarse con determinadas situaciones de la mujer en países que les niegan todo derecho e independencia, y muchas veces las someten a vejaciones intolerables, como la ablación del clítoris, el repudio, la flagelación, etc o las niegan el acceso al trabajo, al estudio, al deporte e incluso a la sanidad, marginándolas de la vida pública y del derecho a decidir sobre ellas mismas, quedando relegadas a un segundo y humillante plano.

6.-Enfín, decir que la Organización de MUJERES( y de hombres) DEMÓCRATAS no es algo que pone a las mujeres en un lado y a los hombres en el otro. ES una organización y un proyecto abierto, libre y democrático, que simplemente toma los problemas de las mujeres como referencia obligada en la resolución del conjunto de los problemas de nuestras sociedades.

Por una sociedad de hombres y de mujeres libres, iguales y solidarios¡¡¡.

                                Secretaría Técnica de la O.M.DFree University R. Descartes......Université Libre R.D.............Universidad Libre R.D

                                 Journey to Setumaa (by K.Toom)

Some things about our journey to Setumaa. We started from a little town Võru. We visited it's church and beside it the momument for the people of Võru who perished in the shipwreck in 1990. Sorry, didn't take pics there. After that we visited a new suspension bridge on the lake Tamula that takes u to an island there in the middle of the lake. (Look at the pic 'bridge'). Near the bridge we could see some swans swimming there. That is not a very ordinary thing on our inner-land lakes, on the sea bays yes, but not on lakes. By the way, this bridge is called 'tourist trap' because the road to it isn't ready yet and it's so narrow that the bus had to stop and we moved on walking some 800 meters. The bus driver could hardly find a place where he could turn the bus around...

The next stop of our journey was in a village called Rõuge where we visited it's old church and then a primeval valley called the Nightingales' Valley. From the watchtower on top of the hill we had a wonderful view all around the valley. It's especially beautiful now at this season of the year. Trees are just getting into leaves, so u can see lots of variations of green... And there in the valley u can see the deepest lake, it's 38 meters!!!! So, we looked around there and enjoyed wonderful weather and had picnic, and then we stepped down from the long stairs to the valley and walked some 1-2 kilometers and reached to the ostrich farm!!!! It's really exotic for us, though... now there are already some 20 ostrich farms. In this farm we could see and feed one mail and 3 femail ostriches. Later the farmer tried to sell us an ostrich's egg. It costs 400 crones (some 25 euros) and he said, it's enough for 12 omletts.

From Rõuge we drived to the village called Vastsellina. We visited the ruins of it's ancient order citadel (pics 'Vastseliina'). That was really a big surprise for me because i thought it's just a site of an ancient settlement. These ruins are on the top of the hill, surrounded by a stream deep down on it's foothill. Over the stream there is a large park where all kinds of open air events take place, like concerts and performances and folkparties with bonfire. The park is really beautiful now, and very many nightingales jugging there all time now...

Our next stop was in Piusa, where we could see old sand caves (pics 'Piusa'). Some centuries ago people dag sand from there. Hard to imagine how they did it, must have been really very hard thing to do. Now there are long underground galleries and large rooms there, the area is more than 4 hectars. Unfortunately most of caves were closed and we could enter just into one of them. It's because bats hibernate there, 6 different kinds of bats, and as this year spring came some weeks later than usually, they still are there sleeping.

Next stop was in a village called Värska. There we visited a tavern were they serve food that was typical for that area 1-2 centuries ago. And there was a museum of Setumaa, it's an open air museum that consists of houses and everything that was needed there...

Last thing to do us was to drive to an old Setu village at the border of Russia. It was really depressing to see how abandoned that area is nowadays. No young people there now, only old who have nothing to do there (i mean, no work at all), so they just drink all time... All houses and yards were so ugly and dirty... really depressing.

Though the last expressions were not so good, we may say that this was really a very enjoyable journey. Weather was just wonderful  and nature is really very beautiful.

                               By K.Toom, editor of local newspaper in Northen Europe and member of Democratic Women Organisation for Scandinavia. Member of Free University René Descartes.

Free University René Descartes. Abs( internet- Madrid)