WEBVTT

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When I was a university student

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someone gave me
the most important lesson ever.

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It was the course instructor of a course
with an unusual name, Drug Dependencies,

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who decided from the very moment
he saw me - and I don't know why -

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that I shouldn't speak during his classes.

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He never explained me why,
he simply said to me,

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"Excuse me, what is your name?"
"Marta."

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"Well, Marta, you cannot speak."
"Why?" "You simply can't."

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The conversation ended there.

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Halfway through the course,
I understood why he was doing that.

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He wanted me to feel

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the same way the people
I would be treating felt

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using what I learned in his course.

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I had a very tough time during the course,
I could not say anything.

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He absolutely ignored
every move I would make.

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I felt absolutely undervalued
and excluded from my group.

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After a while, I was sent for internship

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- during my last Social Education
course - to a prison.

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And it was that day
when I unconsciously put into practice

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what I learnt:
not to speak, but simply listen.

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I got lost on the road,

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it was very difficult to get to a place
in the middle of nowhere.

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My internship tutor was waiting for me.

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All the way right from the main door
to the block I had to go every single day

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I just couldn't retain any information
or utter any word.

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I simply could not react
to the stimuli I had in front of me.

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When I left that place
and got into my car, I thought:

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"Marta, this is too much for you,

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prison is not the right place
for you to work,"

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and I swore I never would.

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After a while I left Barcelona,

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thinking that I would come across
other creative things somewhere else,

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a different way to fix all the social
problems I was facing as a professional,

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and I left for London.

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And when I came back again,

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they offered me my first job
in a prison in the heart of Barcelona.

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I couldn't believe it. I knew
I didn't want that but I couldn't say no.

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I agreed and I started working there.

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And that's when I thought
I reconciled with that space,

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and I began to understand
what happened inside:

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an inert facility, but full of people,

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people with their own concerns,
dynamic people.

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I understood that working
with people means respect.

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And, while working
in groups with those guys

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that I helped as a professional,

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I realized that they had
no respect for themselves.

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On the contrary, I felt
they respected me.

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During that time,
many questions came to my mind -

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questions like,
"How have they ended up here?"

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If they had the same
existential thoughts that I have,

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why have they been given
such a distinct response

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that has brought them here
at this moment?

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These are questions
I haven't found the answer to yet,

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but what I have always
wondered, above all,

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is if I felt respected by them

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being a young, small woman

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they used to meet every day,
one of the few they meet regularly -

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would it mean, once they'll be out,

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that they could have
a different attitude towards women?

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Towards any kind of women?

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I'm sorry, but this is something
I cannot answer right now

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because we're talking about
very long processes.

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It's as if I sometimes invent
norms in my favor,

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but I try to stay informed

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and speak advisedly

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so I have searched and found out
there are many regulations

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on gender equality,

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of The European Union, the United Nations,
the Spanish Constitution,

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but sometimes, they don't reflect
the reality and we are aware of it.

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The same thing happens
with the Spanish Constitution

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when it says that prisons
have to be a space

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for reeducation and social reintegration.

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And it's puzzling,
because we invest a lot in this;

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we lock people away
and the problem deepens

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because we believe that time
will solve the pending issues,

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and we complain when things
don't turn out to be like that.

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And I wondered, if there
were strategies we could implement

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to really change this,
why aren't they applied?

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And I also wondered if there were
any strategies in place at all

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and I tell you that there are.

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They have been tested and proven,
and have been shown that they work

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and that they reduce recidivism
from 40% to 16%.

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When I read these guidelines,
they made me think:

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why are they always
referring to men?

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Why is it taken for granted
that the sentenced to prison are men?

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And if it is a woman, what happens?

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Wouldn't it be easier
to think of them as people?

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Wouldn't it be much easier to write
the rules thinking of them as people?

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Of course, doesn't come as a surprise
that if they are only referring to men

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they then don't take
cohabitation into consideration

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as there is everywhere
else in this world,

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where for the time being
men and women live together.

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I give you some current facts,
here in Cataluña,

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there are 9,900 people
that are incarcerated -

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9,263 are men and 637 are women.

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There is quite a difference
in numbers between the genders,

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and they serve their sentence
separately, in separate prisons.

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I'd like we all think about this:

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do you really think
that unmixed spaces

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are suitable for the promotion
of gender equality?

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For respect between men and women?

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Do you really think that spaces
where they don't take into account

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the respect for people
nor human beings

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can be spaces where people
can regain self-esteem?

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I think that it can be done,
that there are ways to do this,

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and we recently held several conferences

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where we discussed
research outcomes that proved it.

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There I met someone who told me
something that had a great impact on me,

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Jesús Valverde, who said:

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"We are not here, our mission
is neither to judge nor to justify

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but rather to understand
in order to take action.

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To understand you first need to listen,
and to listen first means to respect."

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Do we really believe that prisons
are spaces that promote a culture

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for gender equality
and respect for people?

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Keeping in mind that today

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we all can end up
in one of these prisons,

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do you really think
that we are treating them

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the way we'd like to be treated?

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Are we implementing strategies
able to help face conflicts

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in a totally different way?

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I invite you to a brief reflexion:

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imagine a situation;
any kind of situation,

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that makes you feel insecure
and absolutely vulnerable,

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and think, what would you need

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to change that situation
and feel secure again?

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Well take that in the prison.

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Take it there,

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because those people will really
try to work that out.

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If we are creating spaces outside
that are an inspiration for change,

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don't you think it is the right time
to create and use those spaces there

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in order to inspire and make a change?

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I personally think so,

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and that's why I work every day

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to help turn the prison into a space

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that can inspire a change in people.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)