UAB students participate in the social Christmas carol with a minute of silence
This year, the FAS' Christmas video includes the collaboration of several UAB students, who dedicated a minute of silence in support of the many social conflicts existing in the world.
The minutes of silence is a practice that dates back to 1912, when Portuguese senators decided to pay their respects to the foreign minister, José Maria Paranhos; but unlike now, it was not one minute, but ten. Later, in 1918, to show solidarity with those who died in World War I, three minutes of silence were established, which was reduced to two at the request of the soldier and journalist Edward George Honey. This practice has become widespread and a minute of silence is usually held to condemn, to express mourning, to express repulsion, to denounce, or also as a show of solidarity.
The FAS asked several UAB students involved in social action programmes: "If we asked you to hold a minute of silence, what cause would you do it for?
The young people (participants of the programme for people in refugee situations or volunteers) have expressed their support for different causes that have been collected in this video published on the FAS instagram channel: women killed by male violence, the conflicts in Palestine and Ukraine, those killed by the practice of female genital mutilation, racism or deaths in the Mediterranean.
Although several causes appear, unfortunately, not all of them are there. Therefore, the message and the wish is that for the next year 2024 there will be no need for more minutes of silence: for a year of peace and respect for human rights.