Difficult freedom

Brigitte Vasallo and Helena Maleno Garzón in conversation

What is the grammar of the hate that attacks anyone who thinks differently, loves differently, lives and feels their body differently, professes a different belief or migrates to flee from war or to remake oneself in a more prosperous present? Helena Maleno Garzón, a specialist in migrations and people trafficking, is a witness to the violence perpetrated on frontiers and the processes of persecution endured by thousands of people. But the walls are not just on frontiers, they are also in language. Brigitte Vasallo’s most recent work shows the paradox between normative language and emancipation, questions the power of enunciation and defends the inclusion of the dominated in the dominant. The dialogue entitled “Difficult Freedom” in homage to the thought of Lévinas, discusses the difficulties in an active defence of otherness in the face of frontier walls and fences, whether they are built out of barbed wire or grammar.