Translator: Kara Watkins Reviewer: Javi Garriz
Well, good morning!
Thank you all for coming from so far away to see me
on this wonderful stage.
What is a comedian like you doing
at a TEDx like this one?
Well look, I'm also an architect
and 35 years ago I was trying to restore
the monastery in my town and the money ran out.
I went to see Chueca Goitia who told me,
"There's no money because Suárez is spending it on the unemployed.
Go to INEM (National Institute of Employment); they have money there."
I went to INEM and they told me,
"The unemployed can't work because they're unemployed."
(Laughter)
I would see young people in the streets
who couldn't work because they were unemployed
and there was no money to restore the monument
so I thought:
why don't we take unemployed people
to restore monuments with the money from unemployment?
Well, it's an idea.
So young people weren't professionals;
they couldn't restore monuments,
but there were older artisans and unemployed graduates
who could manage them and drag them to work by the ear.
And so I got the idea for "Trade School Workshops."
The trade school workshop would consist
of grouping together young people with an architectural project.
They would be directed by previously selected unemployed graduates.
And we would recover young people,
we would recover trades, and we would recover patrimony.
In short, I convinced the government and European funds came in.
And over the course of 30 years
750,000 people were in this project, earning a salary,
in Spain, principally, and in Latin America,
in the major cities' World Heritage Sites.
Now, what is the main problem that we have in Spain?
You'll tell me it's unemployment.
And unemployment, of course, 5 million, 4 million...
What will we do with the unemployed?
Let us not say from now on, the unemployed,
let's say the jobless. Unemployment is the problem
and the philosophy is the same as the trade school workshop:
the jobless person is the solution.
That's why we've proposed something very simple: the team.
One jobless person, alone, at home
experiences what happens to a building that is not in use:
there are leaks, the windows are broken, vandals enter in.
They get discouraged, they lose heart,
they become depressed, alone.
They give out their resume, they're not accepted,
they aren't called, they hardly have interviews,
they become socially disconnected.
And they get discouraged like the rest of society.
In Spain the idea has spread that
if Merkel doesn't come after the elections
to fix our unemployment problem, we have no solution.
And I thought,
"well, there is an extraordinary source of people".
Unemployment, current joblessness,
is very different from unemployment in '85.
Then it was mainly young people,
and it was a particular Spain, but now
it attacks and affects the majority of the population;
there are extremely valuable people: engineers,
architects, doctors, lawyers, psychologists...
all types of professionals who are unemployed.
So, the current approach is
you go to INEM, they'll call you if there is anything,
you send your resume, and time goes by in this cycle,
and virtually all of society is disheartened.
So I said to myself, what can we do
that is like the trade school workshops
so that the jobless can
have an opportunity?
So they don't get rusty,
so they stop being unemployed,
and go on to being proactive.
Then I got the idea
to do the same as the trade school workshops,
but instead of restoring monuments,
they have to restore themselves.
It required a change of philosophy.
Welfare can't solve
a collective problem
of never-reached proportions in Spain.
It is a different approach, another philosophy.
If unemployment is the problem,
the jobless person is the solution
and the solution involves the team.
What is a "Lanzadera"? It is a team of jobless people,
volunteers, workers, prominent and supporting.
20 people from different professions,
between 58-60 to 20 or 25 years old,
who get together periodically forming a team,
daily, in some municipal or private offices to work.
And their job is for everyone to look for jobs for everyone
and everyone helps each other.
First to cheer up, to reinvent oneself, to rehabilitate,
and, in second place,
to improve their attitude and aptitude for work,
in a very active way.
They have the employability map,
a coach, or trainer, who was also unemployed,
directs or coordinates them,
and they have a joint contract to help each other
during the 9 months that the "Lanzadera" lasts.
Only the professionals earn anything during the "Lanzadera";
the rest will have the subsidies they pertinently receive.
At this time there are 5 working "Lanzaderas."
4 are in Cantabria, we have convinced the Autonomous Community,
in Santander, Torrelavega, El Astillero, and Castro Urdiales.
They have been running for 5 months and the rate of insertion is 60%.
A second round of people have already entered the "Lanzadera."
Those who leave the launching phase because they find jobs
return and continue participating in it.
They're trying to create a "Lanzadera" space.
There's a fifth "Lanzadera" in Aguilar de Campoo
financed by a private business.
The fundamental principal is very simple:
trust in the individual, in the dignity of the individual.
Unemployment fundamentally attacks
a person's dignity.
The first thing that "Lanzadera" does is restororing the person's dignity
because every person there feels useful;
they can help others, that's already doing something,
and, additionally, they receive help and support.
That is from the bottom up.
The fundamental beginning, or the starting point,
is that feeling sorry for yourself doesn't solve problems
and a heavy load becomes light
when it is carried by many.
What can society do?
Because we think, okay, there's the "Lanzadera".
And the rest, what do we do?
Help them, give them our time pro-bono.
If you have time and know something,
go make yourself available to the unemployed
so they can see that society also supports them,
and doesn't misunderstand the problem;
it's not the discouragement from the media telling us
nothing can be done.
Yes, something can be done with a different approach.
There isn't money for courses and for...
besides, that is not the solution.
The solution comes from the individual, from the transformation of the person,
so they assume their full potential
and develop individual values.
Afectiveness, solidarity, ingenuity, love for work, etc.
And those are the "Lanzaderas",
and this is why I came up this stage,
to tell you about it and so that you share it,
and so people demand it from the administration.
(Applause)