I hope it lasts a long time

This piece is part of the book CTXT, a utopia in progressin which sixty-seven signatures talk about the first ten years of the magazine’s operation and its political context. It can be purchased here.

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It was in 2018. María Eugenia Rodríguez Palop called me to ask me if I was interested in coordinating the “Climate Change” section of CTXT. Teresa Ribera joined the Government as a minister and left the task.

I loved the magazine. Above all, not pursuing immediacy and giving space to in-depth analysis that would allow us to understand the crazy times we live in.

I spoke with Miguel Mora and Mónica Andrade and told them that I would like to change the name of the section and that my focus would be focused on the visions of social environmentalism, which was where I came from and I believed I could contribute more.

They answered yes to everything. We called the section “Ecosocial Crisis” and I began to participate in the editorial board.

I thought at that moment that it would just be about ordering some articles and reading the ones that arrived. My purpose was for the ecosocial crisis to occupy a relevant role in the environment. More than six years later, this text helps me take stock of everything I have learned and owe to this workspace.

I remember that my first contribution was to recover an article from a colleague that denounced the activities in Latin America of several of those companies listed on the IBEX35. They had rejected it in another left-wing media with the excuse that they did not know if it was rigorous or not. Yes, it was, but you had to dare to name the companies. I was prepared to have to defend him on CTXT, but there was no need. The article was published without any objection and had a long run.

CTXT has mainstreamed the ecological crisis in all sections

Since then, in these years, CTXT has mainstreamed the ecological crisis in all sections. The Context team considers that this is not a peripheral or thematic section. It is accessed from the cover and the articles are highlighted, but the most important thing is that there are already many pieces from other sections that incorporate this approach, to the point that, sometimes, it is difficult to decide where to place them. That, for me, is a huge advance.

It’s not that there weren’t media outlets that dedicated a lot of effort to the ecosocial crisis. In fact there are some, like The Jumpwith which I feel a greater personal affinity than with CTXT itself, but I wanted to participate in a medium in which there were articles that I do not share fully or at all, which constituted a broad, conflictive and controversial meeting space. Among the CTXT audience were people who were not interested in “ecology.” I would be happy to know that some of them, now, when reading about a war, a conflict or speculation, miss the ecosocial approach, which they consider the piece incomplete if it has not been taken into account.

I have learned a lot about what journalism is and how difficult it is to do journalism today. These are times in which a kind of dialogic laziness has settled among many activists and there are people who stop reading when an idea is held that they do not share or the statement they want to find does not appear. It has surprised me that every time a controversial article comes out, even if it is well written and correct in treatment, if you don’t like what it says, there is a cascade of unsubscriptions. Letters that say, “I was very happy with this coverage of political reality but this article on education disappointed me and I am unsubscribing.” It is indicative of the moments we live in.

I have been able to see the flood of texts that arrive on current topics, some not particularly good or relevant, written by people, almost always men, who do not understand that their article will not come out tomorrow, that it needs a style correction or a change in that three-line headline. I have learned even more about the egos of those who write the fourth article saying the same thing and when they are told that this time it doesn’t work, they are very offended, who almost reach orgasm believing they have been censored, instead of thinking that perhaps it was not so relevant. . A whole lesson about narcissism and the ego that I hope I never forget, because it must be easier than it seems to fall into it.

I have seen what it costs to keep a project like this going. The constant concern for economic sustainability, without having to depend or join any company or institution, requires constantly being aware of subscriptions and all the ideas that may arise in order to stay afloat. I have known some moments of strong pressure and painful cuts.

I am proud of some decisions that have been made and that take their toll in a non-metaphorical way, in the most economical sense of the term. For example, do not publish any leaked information during the electoral campaign for which a human being with your first name and two surnames was not responsible. I was perplexed by this negotiating practice. Things are leaked to the press so that the media and especially the social networks are the ones that pressure and twist the balance with retweets and likes. I loved the meeting in which the people on the editorial board, supporters of different parties and above all very detractors of different parties, agreed not to play that game.

I love the collective construction of editorials

I love the collective construction of editorials. There you can see how someone with a lot of intelligence and knowledge of a topic writes a draft that could seem perfect and the contributions of other people detect the cracks and improve it, until they end up with a reflection that we all feel comfortable with and that is better, richer and more complex than the initial one.

I have had the opportunity to be closer to women that I love and admire, such as Nuria Alabao, Marina Echebarría Sáenz, Aurora Fernández-Polanco or Mónica Santos.

Those who know me know that I don’t like political spaces where you can’t have a laugh. In Context we laugh a lot. Like when Guillem Martínez was given a phallic prize; with the highlights of Gerardo Tecé, with the surrealism of the chats from the days of the electoral count, or the days before the last general elections, in which Vanesa had her famous hunch.

I’m especially proud of the coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. I think it was possibly the only medium in which analysis was read that could not be found elsewhere. And above all, there was a criticism of militarism and a defense of peace that caused ridicule in some spaces that, in my opinion, by considering the desire for peace and the demand for international diplomacy childish, contribute to extending, even more, the cultural, warlike and violent carpet along which the neo-fascisms of the 21st century advance.

I am also very satisfied with the commitment to information on the genocide against the Palestinian people.

Not everything has been perfect. There have been some tensions that were not always well resolved and one of my best and dearest friends left the council because of them. I also think that sometimes CTXT has allowed itself to get heated on social networks and the interventions were not always successful, although it got back on track quickly and has not succumbed to the temptation of cashing in on the followers obtained from the fights.

I have felt very respected at work and very well treated, especially when it has been to say no to something I had proposed, or that the article I proposed did not meet the conditions. It is not easy to transmit it to the authors, but if you want to have a careful and quality medium, sometimes there is no other choice.

I greatly value that respect I have felt, especially because I don’t write much. I love it but I’m almost always in two hundred messes and it’s hard for me to find the time to write. I have never had pressure, nor has my voice been less taken into account for writing little.

I have had the help and complicity of the team. I have been lucky enough to write and publish, thanks to CTXT, Absences and misplacementsand it was the germ of The five elements. I have learned to write better thanks to the suggestions and proposals of Vanesa Jiménez, who is the most generous person you could ever face.

That’s what I’ve experienced. I hope it lasts a long time longer.

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Yayo Herrero is responsible for the section Ecosocial Crisis and editorial advisor of CTXT.