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The Spanish democracy is based on the Spanish Constitution.

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The Spanish Constitution is the most important law in our country.

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It was passed in 1978 and it was approved in a popular vote,

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a referendum that was held the 6th of December 1978.

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That's why we celebrate every 6th of December the Constitution Day.

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The constitution is so important because it sets the basic rules of our social coexistence in Spain.

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Very importantly, the constitution includes our rights as Spanish citizens.

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And these rights are not all equal.

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There are civil rights, political rights and socio-economic rights acknowledged in the constitution and they are different.

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Let me explain this difference to you.

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the civil rights protect your freedom they are things that the state cannot do

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to you forbidden things for example the state the government cannot kill you and

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that's why we have the right to life meaning that nobody can kill you not

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even the police not even the government even if you do something terrible you

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have your right to life and this right is there to protect your freedom because

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if the state could kill you, you would not be free. Some other very important civil rights that

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are included in the Spanish constitution are the right not to be discriminated against,

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the right to free expression, the right to free thought, the right to own your private property,

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the right to free marriage, etc. Political rights are different. Political rights protect another

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value. In this case, the value is participation in society. And political rights, which are also

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included in the Constitution, include the right to vote if you are over 18 and a Spanish citizen,

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or the right to create a political party. They also include the right to protest in the streets

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in order to show your political opinions. This is called the right to free assembly,

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the right to participate in a demonstration for example. Finally, the constitution also includes

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socio-economic rights. These rights protect your equality and they are things that the state must

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give you for free. Let me give you an example. Education is a socio-economic right. Education

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is very expensive, you have to pay the salaries of the teachers for example, but the state pays

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that for you you don't have to pay to go to school because the constitution says that basic education

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will be free for every spanish citizen and why is that imagine you had to pay in order to go to

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school then only people with money could go to school we would not be equal in order to protect

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our equality it is necessary that the government pays for your education and also for your health

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So health is also a socioeconomic right and also social security,

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which includes the pensions for people who are retired

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or the economic financial help for unemployed people who lost their jobs.

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So we have a lot of rights and they are included in the constitution,

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which is the most important law in our country.

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But the constitution also says that the Spanish citizens have duties.

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Of course, we not only have rights, we also have obligations.

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The first one, and the most important, is the obligation to respect other people's rights, of course.

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But the Constitution also includes specific obligations of Spanish citizens.

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They are our civic duties, our obligations as citizens.

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For example, we have the duty to pay our taxes,

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because they are necessary to provide for social services such as health or education.

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The Constitution also says that we have the obligation to help people in case of catastrophe,

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of a very important emergency.

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And we also have the duty to defend Spain, to defend democracy, if it is in danger.