Culture of Legality, a matter of social interest

I write this article not as a lawyer, but as one more Ecuadorian tired of observing and hearing every day through the media about public servants who are added to this extensive list of officials whose careers have been cornered, because the “metastasis” that took hold of them left them without an escape route and their time to be “purged” by justice has come. This is a cultural problem with obvious social implications that, consequently, should be of interest and concern to all. Faced with such a complex scenario, the Culture of Legality emerges as a necessary tool. From an etymological point of view, it could be wrongly assumed that the culture of “legality” is aimed exclusively at legal professionals or that it is a movement whose focus is compliance with the “law” in the formal sense. But no, the Culture of Legality transcends the legal dimension and goes far beyond the law.

It has been a short time since I have joined this initiative to promote this good practice, but I have been astonished, and I would even dare to say that it is correct to say that it has caused me great concern, that in the midst of this idea of the Culture of Legality this has been perceived as a figure that only lawyers must respect and / or enforce. No, the Culture of Legality is not reduced to enforce the current legal system, or to defend laws or other legal norms that have led to the deinstitutionalization of the country. The Culture of Legality goes much further, it encompasses probity and ethics, it seeks to promote honest and upright practices and conduct in all spheres, both in the public and private spheres.

The new normal is to live in a country where every year we are catalogued with a higher rate of corruption, in which society has lost confidence in its institutions, and why not say hope. Thoughts like “just another corrupt person” or “he stole, but at least he did” invade the thoughts of Ecuadorians, who every day stop believing that there are more of us who are good, and with sufficient support, when these acts of corruption have escalated to such a level that we currently live in a country where narco-crime has reached a worrying level of power.

Yes, not every public servant is corrupt, as every rule has its exception, it would be wrong to generalize that; or to say that corruption only occurs in the public sphere, and not in the private one. These ideas are not correct and repeating them does not generate any positive effect, rather I consider that it is a matter of changing our way of thinking and joining this initiative.

I remember when I was a law student that within my curriculum there was the “filler” subject Ethics, and yes, that is what my classmates and I called it when the latter made it very difficult for us to adjust our schedules with respect to the subjects of the different branches of law. For that reason, it was a subject that in each semester we moved it to the following semester. We were interested in taking the rest of the subjects that “did matter” in our preparation as lawyers, worrying, right? Yes, that was the thought of an 18-19 year old student whose vocation to study this career was to advocate for things to be done right, to achieve that longed-for justice, a justice that apparently did not need to be linked to values and ethical principles, or at least that seemed to be the case by not giving importance to a subject that surely was as or more important than the rest that made up the curriculum.

However, more worrying seems to be that not only that 19 year old student thought like that, because it has been a decade since the governing body of education removed from the curricula at primary and secondary level the subjects of Civics and Ethics, which leads me to question, did it cease to be important to encourage in our students the love for their country and good practices subject to ethical values? The effects of this suppression can be seen now, ten years later. Fortunately, as of the 2024-2025 school year, these subjects will once again have to be taught in schools and colleges. Surely there will be those who still believe that this measure is insignificant and that it adds absolutely nothing in our current context, but there are more of us who defend and applaud this decision, because yes, it is essential to inculcate, to recover the love for the country; to defend it, to act well, to not continue allowing individuals in their different roles in society, to continue destroying it.

From my perspective, the duty of the Culture of Legality is to operate as a prevention mechanism, not as a reaction tool; however, in the current Ecuadorian social context we can hardly allow it to work exclusively as a prevention mechanism, and we live in a society in which corruption is widespread, and at such high levels that some of the representatives of the highest State bodies are immersed in this type of cases. Well, given this reality, let us at least allow the Culture of Legality to act as an effect and remedy for all these acts of corruption, which urges the Ecuadorian society to believe again in their representatives and institutions.

Now, let's talk about the consummation of those “small acts” that perhaps are thought to be harmless, but are not and, although it may not seem so, they are related to corruption. Let's start with the student who plagiarizes the work of his classmate, or who does not cite the references of his homework, or who makes use of artificial intelligence mechanisms to perform the assigned task; or, the citizen who crosses the red light, who parks in a place for pregnant women or who performs the preferential line at the bank without belonging to any of the categories indicated, and how to leave aside the citizen who accepts a position for which he is not prepared. Evidently, in all these cases, we are not acting within the framework of the Culture of Legality, and we are wrong as a society to classify them as everyday acts that are nothing more than that, “small acts” that do not deserve to be qualified as what they are, acts of corruption.

These “defenseless” acts with which we believe we do not affect third parties, which have become naturalized in certain Ecuadorians under the label of “viveza criolla”, must begin to be condemned. And no, we do not become more interesting, nor are we smarter for skipping the rules of the game and, above all, the values and ethical principles that regulate a society.

Therefore, I firmly believe that, from the academy, we can create this desired change, through the promotion of good practices that are so necessary for the proper functioning of society, of a real democracy, where citizens feel safe and confident in their institutions. Classrooms are a space for teaching, where the values that come from home are strengthened, where we must train those who tomorrow will exercise a public or private position. This training cannot do without ethics and values; it must promote the importance of probity in the exercise of the profession. It is necessary to start now, without further delay, to promote and participate in this Culture of Legality. It is a necessity, it is in everyone's interest and for everyone, so that only in this way can we return to the ethical course necessary for a correct and democratic social coexistence.