Felipe VI warned this afternoon, during the 44th awards ceremony of the Princess of Asturias Foundation, that “in this globalized world of great magnitude and opportunities, among unimaginable technological advances, dehumanization is a latent risk”: “At the center of any speech, action or decision, whether in the economic, social, political or artistic field, there must continue to be – always and inescapably – the person. In these times, the King recalled that “history warns us of the serious consequences of deviating from that path.” “As it alerts us to the serious risks of polarization, of the denial of the other for their convictions or beliefs because they think, pray or vote differently.” Don Felipe referred to “the atrocious images of death and desolation” that reach us daily from the Middle East, Ukraine, Africa and other places in the world and that “oblige us” to denounce them to “do everything possible so that peace and security are compatible again”; but he also referred to “closer and everyday” areas to highlight the importance of the work of institutions and civil society. “It is the obligation of the institutions, but also of the citizens, to fight against everything that separates, even one iota, from that integral respect that we owe to the person, to any person, to the dignity of any human being,” stated the King. And he added: »Also fight against everything that is separated from the will and commitment to continue building societies capable of living together, dialogue and working for the common good«. At the Campoamor Theater, before 1,300 guests, Don Felipe stated that “defending the dignity of the person also means protecting and promoting the regime of rights and freedoms that guarantees it and that is the basis of our Democracy.” Next to him, Princess Leonor listened to her father attentively. The King dedicated the beginning of his speech to her and Infanta Sofía, when he recalled that 43 years ago, when he was 13 years old, he attended his first Prince of Asturias awards, which in that edition recognized José Hierro, María Zambrano, Román Perpiñá Grau, Jesús López Cobos, José López Portillo and Alberto Sols García. Don Felipe acknowledged that since then he has had “the great privilege” of meeting “admirable men and women” with whom he has grown up “in every sense,” receiving each year “the guidance and example of their lives and works.” Leonor’s message of “hope”This was the first edition in which the Princess of Asturias presided over the ceremony alongside the King, after having reached the age of majority and having sworn the Constitution before the Cortes Generales as Heir to the Crown. That is why Don Felipe, to recognize the step forward of his first-born daughter as the future Queen of Spain, announced that starting from this edition it will be she who will have the “responsibility of praising the winners” in the next awards ceremonies. Princess Leonor took the new task entrusted to her by her father very seriously. In his sixth speech at these awards, he stated that throughout the decade that he has been attending this ceremony he has felt “very close” to the values promoted by the Princess of Asturias Foundation through its awardees, which they offer through his works “the emotion contrary to skepticism or discouragement: the emotion of hope.” And, for the first time in her speeches, the Princess addressed all those who listened to her in Campoamor and through the media without making distinctions by age, with the conviction that she – who represents her generation – is authorized to speak: “Hope is the feeling that shows us that things can get better, that there is always a crack through which the light enters.” An emotional Joan Manuel Serrat could be seen listening to Princess Leonor pronounce verses from four of her songs in perfect Catalan. Awarded the Princess of Asturias Award for the Arts, Serrat celebrated the award by singing again, after announcing his retirement in 2022. He performed ‘Those Little Things’ and brought the entire Campoamor to their feet. The Romanian poet, essayist and politician Ana Blandiana (Literary Award) highlighted that Miguel de Unamuno, whom she discovered in her adolescence, has marked her “intellectual and spiritual” formation, which links her “forever” to Spain. He asked himself again if poetry can save the world and concluded that “robots will never understand the suffering and obstinacy to express the inexpressible.” The Canadian academic and essayist Michael Ignatieff (Social Sciences Prize) wondered if his career was enough to receive the award and, to this end, he made a distinction between him and the rest of the winners by explaining that some are foxes and others are hedgehogs. «The fox knows many things, the hedgehog knows only one important thing. “I am a happy fox,” he said, to bring a smile to the audience. Jokes aside, he recalled that “creative work is like climbing in the dark.” The cartoonist, film director and painter of Iranian origin Marjane Satrapi (Communication and Humanities award), who almost did not attend the ceremony for personal reasons, received a standing ovation when she went on stage. Awarded for being “an essential voice for the defense of human rights and freedom,” Satrapi noted that “true success lies above all in humanism.” The King thanked Serrat for “the gift.” The other winners of the four remaining categories were Carolina Marín (Sports), for her extraordinary track record in badminton and being an international reference in this discipline; the Organization of Ibero-American States (International Cooperation), for promoting education, culture, science, language and human rights; Daniel J. Drucker, Jeffrey M. Friedman, Joel F. Habener, Jens Juul Holst and Svetlana Mojsov (Scientific and Technical Research), for establishing the endocrine bases of diabetes and obesity, pathologies that have become a global problem public health; and the Magnum Photos agency (Concordia), for their photojournalism work for almost eight decades. The great ovation for Doña Sofía at the beginning of the ceremony; the speech by the president of the Awards Foundation, Ana Isabel Fernández, who highlighted the importance of the generation led by Princess Leonor; the King’s emotion when giving the laudatio of the prizes to his daughter Leonor and his gratitude to Serrat “for the gift”; or the Magnum photojournalists, who received their award carrying their cameras and taking photographs; were some of the anecdotes from the awards ceremony. The awards ceremony concluded with its closing by the King, who called the following year’s edition. After an exciting applause, there was no shortage of bagpipes, the emotional foundation of the ceremony, which closed the event with the Anthem of Asturias.
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