FUNDACIÓN VÍCTIMAS DEL TERRORISMO 95 - ENGLISH

4 EDITORIAL NOTE MEMORY, EDUCATION, AND DEMOCRACY: THE ESSENTIAL LEGACY OF VICTIMS OF TERRORISM Terrorism was not an abstraction: it was a concrete form of violence that sought to break coexistence, silence society, and bend the rule of law. It did not succeed The memory of the victims of terrorism is not just another commemorative exer- cise. It is, above all, an ethical impera- tive, a democratic responsibility, and an essential educational tool for building a freer, more aware society that is more re- silient in the face of barbarism. At a time marked by profound transformations and new forms of violent radicalization, re- membrance is not only a duty owed to the past; it is also a condition for protecting the future. Spain knows well the cost of terrorism: more than 1,450 people murdered, thou- sands injured, and entire generations shaped by fear, threat, and loss. Behind every figure there are human stories: li- ves cut short, families devastated, chil- dren who grew up without their parents, parents who buried their children. Te- rrorism was not an abstraction: it was a concrete form of violence that sought to break coexistence, silence society, and bend the rule of law. It did not succeed. It did not succeed because citizens re- sisted, public servants gave their lives in defense of freedom, and victims, even from the depths of pain, respon- ded with exemplary dignity. That dignity today forms the moral conscience of our democracy. Spain therefore has a per- manent debt to the victims: a debt that does not expire, that cannot be subject to political circumstance, and that binds society as a whole. In this context, memory cannot be selec- tive or self-serving. It must be grounded in truth: there were victims and there were perpetrators; there were those who sowed terror and those who suffered it. Without this moral clarity, any attempt at a narrative is incomplete and opens the door to trivialization or false equivalence. And the trivialization of terrorism is not only an injustice toward the victims; it is a risk to the quality of democracy. Even today, more than 300 attacks remain unsolved. As long as families remain wi- thout answers, the wound will remain open. Memory, therefore, is not only re- membrance; it is also a call for justice. Likewise, situations persist that cause deep moral harm: tributes to terrorists, acts of glorification, or unequal treatment in the recognition of victims. These acts do not only wound those who have al- ready lost everything; they weaken our collective commitment to truth. The response to this must be unequivo- cal: respect, dignity, and memory. But also education. Terrorism was not an abstraction: it was a concrete form of violence that sought to break coexistence, silence society, and bend the rule of law. It did not succeed. Because if the Spanish experience has taught us anything, it is that the fight