ENGLISH EDITION More power for the elderly Musac «Existencias», a glimpse of an overwhelmed Sisif UNO¿s globe makes a stop in León Knowledge, a recipe for your health There are five Europeans for each African Half of the elderly suffer ill-treatment

The Forum of Civil Society on Ageing claimed yesterday in León measures for a real «empowerment» of the elderly in our current society. Over 150 representatives of national and international organizations which work with the elderly, as well as professionals, agreed on a number of measures to present in the UNO Conference on Ageing, which starts today in León. In order for the elderly to get the social relevance that they deserve, governments must «promote continual education throughout their lives and universities must adapt to the elderly», points out the draft of conclusions reached by the forum of Non-Governmental Organisations. In the same way, the organisations of the elderly demand «the importance of women¿s role in all the politics concerning the elderly», given that besides being the majority amongst the elderly, the forum came to the conclusion that «discrimination is still prevailing». Another aspect that they demand is a bigger implication of society with the elderly and the integration of the programmes for this group within the global actions in the communities. To be more precise, Non-Governmental Organisations also claim «a broader participation in the politics that affect the elderly and the acknowledgement of their contribution in society.» Non-Governmental Organisations have suggested the UNECE countries (UNO¿s European region with the United States) that we must underline the importance of the values of respect and intergenerational exchange with the elderly from an early age. On 21st September Musac opened « Existencias», its third major project drawn from its collection after «Emergencias», the museum's opening exhibition on 1st April 2005, and «Fusión, Aspectos de la cultura asiática» in the Musac collection, that took place between 2005 and 2006. The show takes over the museum's entire exhibition space (five halls, Laboratorio 987 and the Showcase Project: over 4,000 square metres), introducing the work of over 200 Spanish and international artists from the Musac collection. Unlike the opening exhibition, which dealt with contemporary artists' political and social concerns, «Existencias» does not follow a specific subject. On the contrary, it goes with the flow of art collecting's inherent trend towards accumulation and selection. Through this cumulative presentation, reminiscent of the baroque salons and cabinets, the intention is, on one hand, to underline certain concepts inherent to generating an institutional collection (accumulation, a diversity and blending of disciplines) and, on the other hand, to evaluate our ways of seeing as determined by this cumulative use of space. The visitor feels somehow overwhelmed by the pressure of walls packed with works of art and, as collectors do, has to decide which of them have the right to be there and which don¿t. «Existencias» is therefore a sort of game, and the museum seems to challenge everyone with a test in which we are all involved as soon as we cross the main door. We acept the gamble by admiring the brilliant image of Perejaume and, almost out of breath, we have to come into the videoinstallation by Julian Rosefeldt, «Asylum», one of the most poingant metaphors of the Camus Sisif myth ever. Marina Abramovic, Jennifer Steinkamp, Maximo Vitali or Joanna de Vasconcelos, whose brilliant heart constantly repeats that love is also made of ordinary accumulations, follow this speech smartly. It's really dangerous for the soul and no one should leave León without visiting it. Don't miss it or you will regret it. MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART (MUSAC), avenida de los Reyes Leoneses, 24 (Mies Van der Rohe Architecture Price) T Over 300 professionals will tackle the revision of the United Nations Action Plan for the Elderly -approved five years ago- in the Conference on Ageing, which will take place from today until next Thursday. They will give their conclusions and offer their compromises in the Declaration of León. The director of Population and Social Matters of Unece, Kaj Bärlund, will spell out today in León the general situation of the ageing in the 56 countries which belong to the European Region of the United Nations, in which the United States, Canada, Israel or Russia are also included. Of the 31 governments which have given information about the fulfilment of the compromises of the Assembly on Ageing in Madrid in 2002, twelve have clearly indicated that they have prioritised the systems of social protection, another twelve the field of heatlh and quality of life and eight the area of job markets. The conclusions of the six plenary sessions which the ministers and their delegates will develop until 8th November, will be included in the Declaration of León, a ministerial document which will be studied in the World Assembly on Ageing in the year 2012. The development of the conference has required a security operation which has involved in the last month police dogs and horses, units of subsoil analysis, as well as 500 local and national police agents. ...90% of them are women. Moreover, the demand for places in the University of the Experience is rising. It has centres in León, Ponferrada and Astorga and attends more than 500 elderly people. Besides, the Universidad de León is preparing an Erasmus programme for the elderly. It would be a similar experience to the scholarships there are in the European universities, but limited to 15 days and 15 people. ...practical example the enormous differences that there are in the continent in terms of ageing depending on the areas: «There are five Europeans for each African over 65. For the year 2050, 35% of the European population will be over 65 and, for instance, only in Spain we have gone from one million elderly people in the year 1900 to seven million in 1990. In 2050 there will be 12 million Spanish people on retirement age. ...people suffer from ill-treatment, either of psychological nature or of common criminal nature such as thefts, fraud, excesive prices and any other that in some way can affect the elderly. According to Magarian, «ill-treatment exists even though it is systematically denied; nowadays it has become a topic of specific attention for UNO. On the other hand, extreme social exclusion is also an active phenomenon amongst the elderly. 33