Forced to live in noisy cities, those of us who yearn for silence still survive; Perhaps the soft noises that bring us back to nearby existences have a pleasant reception. Every evening, when life is concentrated in a closed space, from the streets I occasionally hear the sound of a delayed vehicle, a distant rocket of some celebration, I plunge into the night to imagine the stage of the world where silence reigned.

Kafka and the actions of evil

The world is silent and the people are silent. The weight of silence can be unbearable if the psyche is not supplied with the right words, loud enough to resist the onslaught of reality. It is true that we are always words, but spoken or thought: there is a reason why philosophers point out that we must say in order to be. And to give meaningful speeches and not everyday chatter, so the enemy of authentic thinking. When a novel wins me over, it’s not so much because of its story as because of its ability to support facts in reflections that reveal meaning in human endeavour.

I came reading the article “Against Silence” by the Quito writer Juan Carlos Arteaga – by the way, invited to the Fil-Guayaquil that is taking place these days – which made me think about another kind of silence: that of the German people before the extermination of the Jews in the Holocaust. He shows that it is not true that ordinary citizens ignored the steps taken by the Gestapo to persecute and liberate the hated community. The general silence was true and real in a society that did not protest – except in individual and secret initiatives – against the barbaric project.

Life can change

The philosopher Heidegger was accused of this silence about his teacher Husserl (who was humiliated by an anti-Semitic decree that deprived him of the dignity of professor emeritus at the University of Freiburg), to whom the then rector of the university dedicated his famous book Being and Time, a dedication that was removed in another edition.

Totalitarianisms always make provisions for silencing the people very visible.

What dominates the mind of those who remain silent: shame, fear, cowardice? These communication laws, like those suffered by Ecuador, are based on self-censorship, on the shameful calculation of those who do not protest or condemn because they know that an entire well-assembled apparatus targets their words, denying the right to free expression. Every civilized government knows very well that criticism of its decisions is a contribution to balancing forces and doubting the infallibility of initiatives so that everything is subjected to further revision.

Totalitarianisms always make provisions for silencing the people very visible. Let’s look at the current Nicaragua, mercilessly subjugated to contain all discontent: the Ortega Murillo couple imprisoned, confiscated, revoked citizenship and persecuted dissidents in every possible way. Writers Sergio Ramírez – an Ecuadorian citizen by President Lasso’s decision – and Gioconda Belli have a hard time with it. Fortunately, they often publish, from their host countries, both their grievances and their literary works.

Painful, imposed silences. That we don’t fall again. In the meantime, let’s occasionally practice the silence of the soul, which is enriching because it helps us to look at ourselves. (OR)