«Everything fits in the Athenaeum»

His office is full of little owl figurines. Dozens, hundreds… It is the symbol of Minerva, of wisdom…

It all comes from a teacher, Rafael Zamora, who that summer of my fourth year of college told me: “If you want to succeed as a lawyer, you have to be like an owl: with your eyes wide open.”

It’s not enough to have your eyes open, you have to be amazed, right?

I have tried in 47 years of practice to keep my eyes wide open, at least at work. And it has worked well for me.

He has gone from presiding over the Royal Circle of Friendship to heading the Ateneo de Córdoba. How different and at the same time similar both entities, at least in what they socially move. No?

But they have nothing to do with each other. The Real Círculo is, in short, a club, although it will always be “more than a club” (he smiles). The origin of the Círculo is linked to English clubs, while the proletariat, the common people, met in taverns or wherever they could… And in popular clubs. Look, the furniture in this office was from Ángel de Torres, mayor of Córdoba and my ancestor. I say this because he was also vice president of Congress in the First Republic. He was a federalist, a very liberal person, and he was on the verge of being Minister of Justice. And curiously, he founded the first Ateneo of Córdoba and also participated in the creation of the Círculo. That Ateneo had a crisis and was refounded in the 1870s. Then came the dissolution of the associations in the 20th century and, in democracy, the founding of the Ateneo Casablanca by Antonio Perea, a gentleman from head to toe, who captured the spirit of the original institution.

And since 1984, what stages has the Ateneo gone through?

Perhaps the problem with the Ateneo de Córdoba is that it has never had its own headquarters. We were in Bodegas Campos, in a space that was given to us free of charge in the Jardines de Agricultura, and now we are in the headquarters of the Hermandades del Trabajo, with a rent and where we are treated very well. But to the point: the Ateneo de Córdoba occupied a place in culture that has diversified and to which the peñas, cultural associations, institutions, platforms… Society in general have joined. But that was not the situation in the 80s. That is why its creation was so important and that it focused on poetry, copla, flamenco… Although later it diversified.

With flamenco, they bet on the winning horse from the start. In November 2010, it was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Well, at that time, flamenco was even in danger.

I see that almost everything fits into a popular athenaeum.

No. “Almost”… No. Everything fits in the Ateneo. Everything that is a culture, serious, deep… That does not have to be brainy, intellectual… Just as I did in the Círculo, in the Ateneo I have implemented the “yes” rule. The “yes” to every contribution. Of course, each one has his own political and religious ideology and it belongs to his father and his mother… But we have to live together! Tolerance is essential.

Well, now there is a lot of shouting…

There is a lot of shouting. We always try to keep up appearances and we have no problems with coexistence. But now there is a moment of social tension, let’s not go into analyzing the causes. The two Spains have returned. And that is very dangerous.

But have the two Spains returned on a social or political level?

To both of them.

Oooh!

We must isolate ourselves a little, we must put things into perspective, we must listen… During the Second Republic, this tension may have made sense because there were brutal imbalances, and a series of social reforms were made in a hurry and at the wrong time, changes that required a process. And perhaps this is happening now, creating what in sociology is called a “cultural lag”.

Let’s go back to the Ateneo. Happy 40th anniversary. How are you experiencing it?

Well, with a very intense programme. But also, and I can tell you this in advance, with Carmen del Río, on December 18, we want to put on a great show at the Gran Teatro, coinciding with the 150th anniversary of the birth of Julio Romero de Torres and together with the Federation of Peñas. Part of the proceeds will go to a charity in those pre-Christmas dates…

Well, with that generosity they will never have their own headquarters.

(Laughs). And yes, we certainly have a very extensive programme with the cycle on death, the one on nature, the one on times of History… In September a reading club will be created, which will be organised by Soledad Zurera and Alejandro Jurado. Also that month we will form the work team on the river, thanks to Mercedes Mayo; in addition to the commission for the interrelation with other institutions on the study of the possible birth of Cervantes in Córdoba. Then there are the competitions: the Agustín Gómez Prize for flamenco, the Rafael Mir short story prize, the Juan Bernier poetry prize, the monologue competition and the days on cinemas in Córdoba with directors from Córdoba… We are also talking with commercial entities so that the members of the Athenaeum have advantages, printing cards and… Of course, we aspire to our own headquarters in the future.

Is Atenism going through a good moment? I say this because of how active the Federation of Athenaeums of Andalusia is.

Very good times. There is a lot of activity and many athenaeums are being created in Seville, Huelva, Cadiz… The Federation is playing a great role in bringing people together.