Catalan International View
Issue 23 • Spring-Summer 2016 • € 5
A European Review of the World
The (new) idea of Europe: Glocal Europe
by Víctor Terradellas
Forgotten Africa: the Central African Republic
by Patrícia Rodríguez
The Nagorno-Karabakh puzzle
by Natàlia Boronat
Bioethics
by María Casado
Dossier:
Ramon Llull, 700th anniversary of the most Universal Catalan
Contributors: Michela Pereira, Harold Bloom, Anthony Bonner and Joan Santanach Cover Artist: Manel Esclusa sections: Europe · Asia · Africa · Business, Law & Economics · Barcelona Echoes A Short Story from History · Interview · Universal Catalans · Green Debate Science & Technology · The Artist · A Poem
Positive & Negative
Contents
4......... María Teresa Tess Asplund / Donald Trump Editor
Víctor Terradellas
vterradellas@catmon.cat Director
Francesc de Dalmases
director@international-view.cat
Editorial Board
Martí Anglada Enriqueta Aragonès Jordi Basté Enric Canela Salvador Cardús David Fernàndez August Gil-Matamala Montserrat Guibernau Manuel Manonelles Fèlix Martí Eva Piquer Ricard Planas Clara Ponsatí Arnau Queralt Vicent Sanchis Mònica Terribas Montserrat Vendrell Carles Vilarrubí Vicenç Villatoro
To Our Readers
6......... The (new) idea of Europe: Glocal Europe
by Víctor Terradellas
Europe
10........ Scottish elections plus Brexit equals new referendum on
independence?
.............. by Marc Gafarot Asia
14........ The Nagorno-Karabakh puzzle .............. by Natàlia Boronat Africa
20........ Forgotten Africa: the situation in the Central African Republic
.............. by Patrícia Rodríguez Business, Law & Economics
26........ Security and Human Rights: freedom from fear?
by Eulàlia Pascual
Dossier: 700th anniversary of the most Universal Catalan
30........Ramon Llull: yesterday and today
by Joan Santanach
Chief Editor
32........Ramon Llull, from the island to the world
Language Advisory Service
38........Ramon Llull and Catalan tradition
Judit Aixalà
Nigel Balfour Júlia López Coordinator
by Michela Pereira by Harold Bloom
42........The interreligious disputation, Ramon Llull’s ingenious solution
by Anthony Bonner
Ariadna Canela
50........On the Book of the Gentile and the doctrinal coherence
Webmaster
administracio@catmon.cat
Gemma Lapedriza Cover Art
of Ramon Llull
by Joan Santanach
Barcelona Echoes
Manel Esclusa
54........ The New Camp Nou
The reproduction of the artwork on the front cover is thanks to an agreement between Fundació Vila Casas and Fundació CATmón
Designer
A Short Story from History
Quim Milla Headquarters, Administration and Subscriptions
Fonollar, 14 08003 Barcelona Catalonia (Europe) Tel.: + 34 93 533 42 38 Fax: + 34 93 319 22 24 www. international-view.cat
Legal deposit B-26639-2008 ISSN 2013-0716
© Edicions de la Fundació CATmón. All rights reserved. Neither this publication nor any part of it may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, protocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of Edicions de la Fundació CATmón. Printed in Catalonia
Published quarterly With the support of: Departament de Presidència
by Ariadna Canela
56........The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya urban master plan
by Joan Fontserè
60....... Josep Milà: summits of freedom Interview
64........ Jordi Baiget Universal Catalans
68........ Josep Ferrater Mora Green Debate
72........ A Catalan proposal for a law to tackle climate change .............. by Josep Enric Llebot Science & Technology
76........ Bioethics
by María Casado
The Artist
80........ Manel Esclusa A Poem
82........ Tender is the Night
by Lluís Urpinell
Catalan International View
3
Positive & Negative by Francesc de Dalmases
María Teresa Tess Asplund
Born in Colombia and adopted by a Swedish family when only a few months old, María Teresa became famous on 1 May for single-handedly standing up to a right-wing demonstration of 300 neo-Nazis with a raised fist in a show of defiance. A few days later she declared that her gesture was a tribute to Nelson Mandela’s example of political and social struggle. At a time when the far-right is gaining a foothold in Europe in the guise of populism, María Teresa’s gesture symbolizes the determination of those Europeans who do not wish to be mere bystanders while those who stoke hatred and the rejection of those who are different parade the streets. ‘Not only because they could hurt my daughters’, she hurried to point out, ‘but because they could steal their future.’
4
Catalan International View
Positive & Negative
Donald Trump
‘I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters.’ Trump’s remarks during a rally in Iowa expose a kind of politics that discredits its own policies while calling into question a country and a society that not only has failed to turn their backs on him, but which has made him a serious contender to occupy the White House. The growth of populism around the world is directly linked to the public’s distrust of traditional political parties that have been unable to differentiate themselves from one another and which have distanced themselves alarmingly from the electorate. Trump is a dangerous sign of the type of candidate who can dominate the political scene when the political system disillusions the voters.
Catalan International View
5
To Our Readers
The (new) idea of Europe: Glocal Europe by VĂctor Terradellas
When the Canadian philosopher Marshall McLuhan first coined the phrase Global Village in 1961 little would he have imagined he was foreshadowing such a concept as globalization, which was to change the whole world. When McLuhan spoke about the concept he saw it as associated with the birth of electronic media. Nevertheless, the reality has far exceeded the means. The electronic being, and digital networks on a global scale, have long-since surpassed any one type of media and unashamedly show us a new world with new social, economic and of course, political structures.
T
he political structure of states has remained essentially unchanged since the French Revolution. The model of the nationstate has soldiered on for nearly two centuries in the Western world (while being imposed in rather an unscrupulous manner around the world in the postcolonial era). Until now. The globalized world, destined to transform each and every human structure in the world, also appears willing to annihilate this highly inflexible model of governing human society. All of them? Surely not. Many? Probably. In old Europe in particular? For sure. We need to try to understand which and why. States will continue to be the principle indispensable and indisputable elements in the international arena. But
6
Catalan International View
some will need to mutate a little, others a lot, while eventually some will disappear to make way for new political entities of a suitable size and capacity to meet the challenges of the definitively globalized world. Basically, we see how globalization has shown us and taught us two models that face the future with a certain degree of optimism: that of large states (Canada, USA, Brazil, South Africa, China, India and Russia) and the small states (the Netherlands, Denmark, Austria, Norway, Israel, Ireland and Sweden, soon to be joined by Catalonia). The first are viable because they are self-sustaining, with plenty of human and natural resources at their disposal; they, therefore, largely depend upon themselves. Meanwhile, the sec-
To Our Readers
ond, smaller group, are viable due to their proximity to the public and the ease with which they can adapt their economic, social, cultural, political, environmental and other policies. Both give a good indication of what future awaits Europe as demonstrated in this last major global economic crisis. If our continent wishes to play a serious part in this globalised world we need to choose the federal path without delay. To evolve from the current intergovernmental Europe to a federal Europe. A path that is only possible with states convinced of their ability to cede power to a supranational body. Nowadays we see an intergovernmental Europe which depends on states which we would define as medium-sized: Jacobin, like Spain and France, or central-
ist like Italy. We shall ignore Germany, since it is unlike one or the other. Its economic and administrative structure is already prepared for the new world that is coming. The first three, however, France, Spain and Italy, have neither the capacity nor the means to stand their ground before the major global players -with their limited human resources and virtually inexistent natural resources-, or fight against the small states, since they have administrative and civil service models that are distanced from the public and excessively rigid when it comes to implementing the constant changes demanded by the world of the twenty-first century. Ultimately it is their size which limits their own survival. In short: they are overly bureaucratic. Catalan International View
7
To Our Readers
The situation is confirmed by the rankings of countries that are regularly published by numerous organizations such as the IMF, the World Bank and the CIA World Factbook. Two examples by way of illustration: first, according to the HDI, of the 10 OECD countries with the best economic welfare in terms of prosperity -per capita GDP taking into account price differences in different countries when calculating purchasing powerand equality, nine are European, eight of which we could call small, with Germany being the exception. In this regard, Credit Suisse remarked in August 2014 that small countries account for over half of the top thirty countries according to the HDI. The second example: the flexibility and agility of Ireland (a small country) compared to Spain’s bureaucracy and detachment from reality. Ireland has already overcome the worst of the crisis while Spain is becoming more and more bogged down in it.
If our continent wishes to be a global player in this world we need to choose the federal path without delay. To evolve from the current intergovernmental Europe to a federal Europe. This window of opportunity for Europe to emerge as a global player will happen, as I have said, by leaving behind the intergovernmental system and making a commitment to organising the continent under a federal arrangement. If Europe wants to be a serious player and retain its role as an inevitable interlocutor and an alternative to what is offered by giants such as the United States and China, it should take the federal path.
8
Catalan International View
To do so, Germany and its landers, ought to abandon the neuroses and sense of guilt they have carried with them since the end of the Second World War. More so now that the populists and extreme right are seeking a revival in different parts of Europe and are making an anti-Europe stance a major part of their identity. The Europe of local roots and a global outlook needs Germany to lead, but not to own, this glocal Europe. This involves Germany recognizing and anticipating new players to come. I have often said in this column something along the lines of, ‘If Europe has been timely for Catalonia, Catalonia is now timely for Europe’. ‘And necessary’, as my friend Martí Anglada, the Catalan Government’s delegate to Paris, would add. Germany mustn’t forget this. As George Steiner said in The Idea of Europe, ‘Europe will indeed perish if it does not fight for its languages, local traditions and social autonomies’. The European idea of unity in diversity ought to be encouraged, which is why Catalonia is timely and necessary and so too will be Scotland, the Basque Country and Flanders; followed by Bretons, Corsicans and Venetians. Timely and necessary. Catalonia is a modern, dynamic, entrepreneurial and economically strong country. And Catalonia’s independence must also be seen as an act of Europeanism. The Catalan nation can act as a bridge between the north and the south, breaking the dynamic and models of other Mediterranean countries. Catalonia has often stated that in the event of independence it would be responsible for its share of Spanish debt -a debt which will be irrecoverable if the current political status is maintained- and, naturally enough, it will continue to be a net contributor to the EU. Meanwhile, Catalonia could generate projects with a significant Eu-
To Our Readers
ropean perspective, such as a Sovereign Development Fund, dedicated exclusively to specific infrastructure projects and the productive economy in southern Europe (mainly in Spain). A European project, indeed, but also a political project with enormous symbolism as reflected in the maintenance of ties between the Spanish and Catalan population. Ties ranging from family relationships to the economy which need to be preserved and protected. Glocal Europe will mean we find ourselves, meet again and re-establish ourselves as a political entity capable of being an interlocutor with the whole world and simultaneously attentive and always respectful of what we are and what we have become. Paradoxically, this seemingly modern project turns its back on the idea of the Europe imagined by Schuman and Monnet, who defined it as ‘the voluntary union of all European souls’, of its people and its nations. And definitively
brushes aside the spirit of De Gaulle: a Europe of states.
Squaring the circle, Europe’s complexity involves it becoming a global player without sacrificing any of the local dimensions of each and every European Now we know the worst version of globalization, one which standardizes everything, all European societies call for the grounding of the concrete reality of every language and every culture. Squaring the circle, Europe’s complexity involves it becoming a global player without sacrificing any of the local dimensions of each and every European. McLuhan imagined a global village and now our challenge is to discover that nothing is more global than to be exactly what we are and not what we were told to be.
Why do we evolve? In order to live and create, everything needs to open itself up to the world that surrounds us. This natural human instinct to progress explains why we have a new identity. Our transformation reflects our new business model based on innovation and sustainability, on bringing to the world new values. For our clients, our investors and, ultimately, for everyone. When we turn on our energy, everyone can move ahead.
Europe
Scottish elections plus Brexit equals new referendum on independence? by Marc Gafarot*
Following the most recent British general election in 2015, Scottish voters were able to allow themselves to brag that ‘the gap between voters in Scotland and voters in England has never been so great’. It was true then and indeed it is still true, since the nationalist SNP obtained its fifth electoral victory in a row, falling just two seats short of the highly prized, and highly complicated, rerun of their absolute majority. For the first time a political party has passed the million vote mark in Scottish elections.
T
hus, the party led by Nicola Sturgeon appears to have an enviable future, and its defeat in the referendum, far from harming them, has clearly catapulted them beyond the other parties that have been politically ostracised. We shall soon see a new referendum in the UK, this time as to whether it remains in Europe, the result of which could lead to new and uncertain scenarios that could precipitate a new referendum on independence in Scotland and in other territories in a delicate balance, such as Northern Ireland. We ought to pay careful attention to how the events unfold, which may well prove unstable and unpredictable. For some time now, British unionists have jokingly and rather lazily referred to Scotland as a one-party state; and indeed, if we take into account the results of these elections, the politi10
Catalan International View
cal evolution of the country remains strongly favourable to the SNP nationalists and their crusade against the ‘centralization of power in Westminster and the parties of unionist obedience’ in the words of Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s newly re-elected, Prime Minister. The nationalists currently hold fifty-six seats out of a possible fifty-nine in the British Parliament, an unprecedented record, close to the absolute majority, which they have hitherto enjoyed in Holyrood (the Scottish Parliament, designed by a Catalan architect, which came in hugely overbudget -thanks to excesses or vices which were not solely Latin in origin). The Scottish nationalists could be key to tipping the balance against Brexit, depending on how English voters behave, making up eighty percent of the electorate. Pas mal, as the ever-Jacobin French might say, in a state such as
Europe
France where ‘devolution’ works in reverse and where the omnipresent state is calling for more power, regional regrouping and recentralization. Few people in the UK recall a time not so long ago, when the SNP was in the second division, far behind today’s much-depleted Labour Party, with their pro-independence stance a faded, Utopian memory, fit only for a museum. And, though it may not seem like it, there are those in Scotland who also suffer from a cultural inferiority complex, typical of nations that do not have a state of their own, the so-called ‘Scottish cringe’. The nationalists boast of having left behind the role of victim and it is the unionists who persist in believing that Scotland would be nothing without the rest of the UK, or in other words, without the protection of the powerful and ‘perfidious’ Albion.
Whatever the outcome, pragmatism (the central dogma round here) will reign. For the moment the nationalists do not even question the British Pound, much less the rule of Elizabeth II, or I for many Scots. Incidentally, for the Catalans, Philip VI, should be referred to as Philip V, but that’s another matter altogether. A matter which in both Catalonia and Scotland dates back to the early eighteenth century. In Scotland’s case, the collapse of a trading company which wanted to establish colonies in Central America, on the Isthmus of Panama, the so-called Darien Scheme, led to an unwanted union with England as a way forward for a country with a ruling class whose finances were in ruins; Catalonia meanwhile lost a war, and the country’s history was decided as a result of this catastrophe. While the Scots can vote in a referendum beCatalan International View
11
Europe
cause they are a founder nation and a member of the UK, the Catalans seem to expect or long for an act of Spanish indulgence. A moment which perhaps will never come, unless the Catalans decide to take matters into their own hands. Though it remains to be seen if this moment will ever come. Returning to Scotland and its elections, it goes without saying that it was a great outcome for the Scottish nationalists, allowing them to govern comfortably. In theory the SNP has fallen two seats short of a majority, but after having elected a Labour member as speaker of the house (known as the Presiding Officer), who must therefore resign from the party and is unable to vote, their majority has been reduced to one. Since the nationalists have lost their absolute majority they will obviously be unable to govern with the comfort which they have enjoyed up to now. Though neither will they have the weakness of eight years ago when they only had a majority of one. Nevertheless, while we can expect the Tories and Liberals to systematically veto the SNP’s policies, the Greens and Labour are unlikely to do so, since their respective voters would never forgive them for making a pact with the Conservatives, 12
Catalan International View
who in spite of having made gains at Labour’s expense, are still rejected and viewed in a negative light by the majority of voters. It is worth remembering that the current electoral system is designed to limit majorities, thereby allowing smaller parties to enter Parliament, following a second ballot or under the Single Transferable Vote system [http://www.parliament.uk/about/how/electionsand-voting/voting-systems/]. It is a mixed proportional system that was originally created in order to weaken political parties such as the SNP, but which has now become a means with which to provide them with excellent results. That said, although the SNP has increased its votes and its overall share, it has paid a small price in the second vote, in the vote for the party list. A small number of voters who supported them in 2011 have opted for alternatives such as the Scottish Green Party, also pro-independence, but of a less nationalistic variety and with a more ideologically pro-environmental stance. According to many analysts, having made a slight strategic shift to the right, the SNP have been left without the desired repeat of its majority. Or at least this is what was perceived by the electorate. One
Europe
interesting phenomenon is the rise in the number of Conservatives (or Scottish Conservative and Unionists to give them their full name), mainly poaching voters from Labour, who in Scotland, more than anywhere else in the UK, need to rethink their strategy and return to their ideological origins. Scotland has voted centre-left for over fifty years. Old Labour’s ideas are in dire straits; in the past the Labour Party was led by Scots such as John Smith, with strong links to the working class and the trade unions. However, it has suffered very badly from its poisoned inheritance from New Labour, the brainchild of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, both Scots themselves and wayward followers of this legacy. Sticking with the Conservatives, their fierce defence of the Union and their emphatic rejection of a new referendum, has taken them out of the semi-anonymity to which the Tories had been consigned for decades, north of Hadrian’s Wall. Being sandwiched between the SNP and the Conservatives has reopened the Labour Party’s wounds. Losing its position in second place is bad enough, and is made worse by losing out to Cameron’s party, hated by the majority, who depict themselves as the only viable alternative to the nationalist, social democrat rhetoric of Nicola Sturgeon’s party. The Liberal Democrats, as elsewhere in Europe in general, are still riddled with uncertainty in an increasingly long, dark tunnel. Meanwhile, in another inter-
esting outcome, UKIP, which did well in the Welsh Assembly will not in the end form a part of the Scottish Parliament.
The fifth term has begun and soon we shall soon see what the bookmakers have to say, since they are in the best position to gauge public opinion the other side of the English Channel The new parliament promises to be very interesting, with new powers and responsibilities, but one which remains open to new circumstances that may alter the current Pax Nationalista: the referendum on Brexit for starters, with many people wondering whether it may be a prelude to a new referendum on Scottish independence. Politics is highly entertaining and at times capricious in these lands. Perhaps a Scotland which wishes to leave might end up ‘saving’ a UK which wishes to remain in the Union, European in this instance. And equally possible, if they obtain their isolationist victory, the staunchly British unionists, pro-independence from Europe, might open the door to Scottish independence. All in all, very amusing, very British, and why not, very Scottish. The fifth term has begun and soon we shall see what the bookmakers have to say, since they are in the best position to gauge public opinion the other side of the English Channel. The game, however, is not yet over.
(*) Marc Gafarot (Palamós, 1975) holds a Degree in Humanities from the University of Navarra and Masters in European Studies from the London School of Economics and in Latin American Politics from the University of Liverpool. He is an independent analyst who is an expert on international relations, European affairs, nationalism and security.
Catalan International View
13
Asia
The Nagorno-Karabakh puzzle by Natàlia Boronat*
‘We grew up all of a sudden in April, in just a few days’, I am told by a group of students from the State University of Artsakh (the Armenian name for Nagorno-Karabakh) when speaking about the ‘Four-Day War’ that took place this spring. It saw troops from Azerbaijan confronting the self-proclaimed republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, which has the support of Armenia. Once again the prospect of a full-scale war in the South Caucasus has reared its ugly head. The conflict, which also has an ethnic and religious component, has resulted in hundreds of deaths in this area of geostrategic importance, thanks to the oil pipelines and transport corridors, of powerful neighbours such as Russia, Iran and Turkey.
T
hese clashes, involving the use of heavy artillery, have been at their most violent since the 1994 ceasefire. It ended a bloody war following both Moscow and Baku’s failure to agree to the autonomous region of Nagorno-Karabakh’s request to break off from Azerbaijan and to join Armenia, in keeping with Soviet laws regarding the right to self-determination, which permitted such a move. Since 1921, as a result of the policies of the then Commissar of Nationalities, Stalin, of dividing ethnic groups and erecting arbitrary borders, the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave was dominated by Armenians, while also being home to Azerbaijanis, as part of the Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan. Both groups have laid claim to this mountainous land since time immemorial.
14
Catalan International View
Twenty-five years after the disintegration of the Soviet Union (1991) the Karabakhians proudly recount that they staged the first secessionist movement in the USSR in February 1988, involving the first major demonstrations. According to some historians these events were one of the triggers which led to the disintegration of the USSR, since the Politburo were unsure how to react, leading to a war that ended with 30,000 dead, the flight of the Azerbaijani population of NagornoKarabakh and Armenian control over adjacent Azerbaijani land in order to create a security buffer zone. The peace process backed by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Minsk Group remains unfinished since Azerbaijan wishes to restore its territorial integrity and Ar-
Asia
Sculpture ‘We are our mountains’, popularly known as Tatik u Papik [Grandma and Grandpa], by Sargis Baghdasaryan and Safi Garaiev, inaugurated in 1967 and a symbol of Nagorno-Karabakh. Photo by Pedro Mansalva
menia, for its part, refuses to leave the occupied areas until the world recognizes Nagorno-Karabakh’s status. The two opposing sides are separated by a line of contact and constantly accuse each other of violating the ceasefire. Until now, Cristina, Louisa and their fellow university students had only heard stories about the war, and many of them had not seen an actual Azerbaijani in person, because they were born in Nagorno-Karabakh which has de facto independence, without officially being recognized as such by any state. Backed by Armenia, which also refuses to recognize them as a state for fear of antagonising Azerbaijan and the Armenian diaspora spread across the world, this self-proclaimed republic
has tried to lead a normal life for several decades, in spite of living under the constant threat of a possible attack by Baku. In a university classroom this April, half-empty because the boys have been sent to the front line or called up for the reserves, Cristina explains that recent events had convinced them that the only possible solution is for NagornoKarabakh to become independent. ‘Azerbaijan is forcing us to go to war, it is our land and we will defend it to the end’, Cristina states with conviction. A new generation of heroes appeared this April who have helped to repel the attack and, like all of the nation’s youth, they have grown up with the idea that they have to defend their homeland Catalan International View
15
Asia
from the enemy. While some were in favour of dialogue up until this spring, they now firmly believe this is a pipedream, since the recent attack and Azerbaijan’s violation of the ceasefire have demonstrated the fragility of the line of contact. For the inhabitants of Nagorno-Karabakh, Baku has clearly committed an act of aggression in order to regain territory, in preparation for a full-scale war or to distract the Azerbaijani public’s attention from internal problems by uniting them against a common enemy. Meanwhile, Baku claims the attack was merely a response to Armenian provocations.
The conflict has resulted in hundreds of deaths and once again the prospect of a full-scale war in the South Caucasus has reared its ugly head At the end of a speech at the classroom-museum of the self-proclaimed republics in the post-Soviet space, Valeri Avanissian, the Vice Rector of International Relations stated that, ‘The only way to resolve the conflict is with the international recognition of Artsakh’. Masis Mayilyan, the former deputy minister of Foreign Affairs and director of the think tank Foreign and Security Police in Artsakh, also believes that to find a solution to the current impasse the ceasefire agreement must be strengthened, together with the international recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh. This is the only mechanism that would safeguard their security, as they could then form military alliances. Many experts saw the current situation coming many months ago, as a result of Azerbaijan’s active rearmament programme in recent years. It has the support of Turkey and 16
Catalan International View
internally it has also been hit badly by the fall in the price of oil. Mayilyan declares that, ‘the FourDay War has diminished the prospect of regulating the conflict through agreements with Azerbaijan, since they have violated the ceasefire agreement that was supposed to last until the end of the peace talks’. Unlike Turkey, which has always professed itself to be Azerbaijan’s close ally, Russia has implied that Armenia is its main partner in South Caucasus. However, following the outbreak of hostilities, many analysts are convinced that Moscow is being duplicitous. As part of its policy of maintaining a balance of forces between Armenia and Azerbaijan and ignoring the defence agreements with Yerevan they are also selling weapons to Baku. In addition, Armenia firmly believes the Kremlin had a vested interest in maintaining a stalemate all these years in order to maintain instability in the South Caucasus and Russian influence in the form of mediation. In a conversation in Yerevan, the political scientist Gaguik Avakian told me that, ‘Moscow’s whole policy is aimed at introducing peacekeeping troops to the line of contact between the opposing armies and strengthening Russian presence in the South Caucasus’, a zone of geopolitical, economic and ethnic confrontation. Neither Armenia nor Azerbaijan wish to see this happen, however. According to Avakian, ‘Russia always betrays its allies and they love to recall the words of one of their czars, who said their only allies are their army and their fleet. This is the underlying logic of their foreign policy everywhere’. The analyst believes that Armenia’s current government, headed by President Serzh Sargsyan, is ‘Moscow’s puppet’. Since they do business with Russia they have let themselves
Asia
Activity carried out in the Stepanakert Charles Aznavour Cultural Centre for children displaced by the conflict. Photo by Pedro Mansalva
become entangled in Russia’s Eurasian Union project, instead of looking towards Europe. In Yerevan and other parts of the world where there is a large Armenian diaspora there have been protests against Russia, accusing Moscow of destabilizing the situation in the South Caucasus. Meanwhile, many Russian analysts argue that Moscow is not in the least bit interested in a fullscale war in the South Caucasus and even less so at a time of tense relations with Turkey due to the war in Syria. Arevik Petrosian, a historian at the University of Artsakh and a political activist, describes the events in April as ‘the end of the dream’ in which Russia would help them. According to Petrosian, they have been betrayed
by Moscow’s supposed neutrality and its silence, since she is convinced they were aware Azerbaijan was preparing the attack. Petrosian believes that one of the problems facing her land is demographic, since the 150,000 people who live in Nagorno-Karabakh will not be able to obtain the support of the international community. Some also see in this conflict with Azerbaijan -with its Turkish majority- a struggle between Christianity and Islam and a continuation of the Armenian genocide when nearly a million and a half Armenians were killed in a massacre carried out by the Turkish government between 1915 and 1923, at the end of the Ottoman Empire. On the streets many people in NagornoCatalan International View
17
Asia
Photo by Pedro Mansalva
Karabakh claim they would be unable to go back to living with Turkish Muslims. Meanwhile the authorities strive to downplay the religious component of the conflict, reminding everyone that Armenians fleeing the Ottoman Empire were well welcomed in the Muslim countries of the Middle East. ‘The problem in Karabakh is not religion’, states the Archbishop of the Artsakh diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Parev Martirosyan. According to the Archbishop, it is a struggle for freedom and an attempt to right a ‘historical wrong’ committed by Stalin when he ceded the region, historically part of Armenia, to Azerbaijan, a state which the Soviet Union had just finished creating in order to placate the Turks. Martirosyan claims they are in favour of a peaceful settlement of the conflict, since war cannot last forever,
but that one needs to defend oneself, and that a return to Azerbaijan is impossible because the Azerbaijanis have always oppressed Armenians and their culture, language and religion. The spiritual father of the Karabakh Armenians calls on the soldiers to defend themselves, but not to kill if they can possibly avoid it, to treat their prisoners well and not to spill their blood in vain. From the vantage point of Gandzasar monastery, a cultural and spiritual centre that traces its origins back to the twelfth century when, according to the Armenian religious tradition, it became the resting place of John the Baptist’s relics, father Grigor is convinced that, ‘God is with us, perhaps with Azerbaijan too, but they do not fight for anything, we are fighting for our country while they only fight for a piece land’.
(*) Natàlia Boronat holds a degree in Information Sciences from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and in Slavic Philology from the Universitat de Barcelona. Since 2001 she has spent most of her time in Russia. She worked in St. Petersburg as a Catalan lecturer at the State University and in the tourism industry. She now lives in Moscow, where she works as a freelance journalist for different Catalan media organizations and reports on the current situation in the post-Soviet arena.
18
Catalan International View
Good for you. Good for nature.
The water of your life
AigĂźes de Barcelona manages the complete water cycle. It ensures rigorous compliance with all the steps necessary to guarantee water with the highest health standards. It manages each step: from when it is collected, treated, transported, stored and distributed, until it comes out of the tap at home. Finally, it is returned to the natural environment under the best conditions. For example, we help to maintain the lagoons of the Llobregat Delta with reclaimed water. We preserve a water cycle which has become a worldwide benchmark thanks to its efficiency and health safety.
Africa
Forgotten Africa: the situation in the Central African Republic by Patrícia Rodríguez*
Africa is a huge continent which is known for the enormous heterogeneity of its social and cultural makeup. It is a continent comprised of 55 countries, occupying a landmass of over 30 million square kilometres, which is home to over 3,000 ethnic groups and 2,000 distinct languages. The African continent has played a major role in humanity’s development, playing host to major empires and social, cultural, political and economic movements. Nevertheless, it is Africa’s contemporary history which prevails in the collective imagination. In other words, the continent’s colonial and post-colonial history. An image of a weak, contradictory continent submerged in permanent conflict, impossible to govern and plagued by intractable territorial difficulties. According to Kapuściński, ‘In reality, except as a geographical appellation, Africa does not exist’. No doubt the Polish essayist and journalist saw how defining the continent by its disasters, misery, armed conflict and lack of social development, meant that the truth had remained blurred, thanks to an oversimplification of reality. In fact, Africa is like any other land with over one billion inhabitants, divided into ‘artificial’ countries with borders that are the product of colonization, solely designed to serve the settlers’ interests, rather than the result of any cultural or linguistic differences or historical realities.
A
gainst such a short-sighted, uncertain, background, the media, and television in particular, plays a part in propagating misunderstanding and ignoring realities. The anthropologist Jonathan Benthall speaks of the media’s capacity to ‘construct’ disasters, since they do not truly exist until the cameras arrive. Three of the most brutal forgotten conflicts in the world are taking place right now in Africa, in the Central African Republic (CAR), the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of South Sudan. The three countries are in a permanent state of conflict and political and institutional instability, originating in
20
Catalan International View
problems that were never resolved following decolonization. The influence that economic interests exert on these states means their people are permanently exposed to a situation of vulnerability with the constant violation of their rights. All three nations share a common denominator, the possession of natural resources which are highly prized by companies in Europe, the US and China and the very states themselves. The overall ‘diagnosis’ of the situation is repeated, with local variations depending on each country: the government is continually under attack, with periodic coups by armed rebel groups, in many instances splinter groups from
Africa
the government itself, the product of supposed ethnic or religious differences. These groups are backed by Western countries who intervene in defence of their business interests, since in reality they are the owners or operators of the country’s mineral deposits and other natural resources. The armed groups are also supported by other countries in the region, who take advantage of the instability and internal struggles in order to access new areas beyond their borders, not so much to conquer more land, but rather to gain control and access to the natural resources. Gold, coltan, tungsten and tin, to name the most important, are key to
the manufacture of high-tech products, from mobile phones and tablets, to satellites and machines used in healthcare. Multinational companies are solely interested in the resources which are crucial to the high-tech industry of the twenty-first century. Trade in these minerals enriches those who do business in them, but not their true ‘owners’. The trade involves opaque trading relationships between the governments, corporations and armed groups that control the areas where the resources are extracted. This relationship generates conflict, corruption, institutional and governmental instability and arms trafficking, leading, ultimately, to a further Catalan International View
21
Africa
increase in the instability and lack of economic and social development in the area. It is the civilian population who suffer most from this situation. Humanitarian organizations and certain international agencies consider the civil war in the CAR to be one of the most neglected conflicts of our time. The country has approximately five million inhabitants, whose main economic activity is agriculture, accounting for over 50% of its GDP. Economically they are dependent on foreign aid, organized through a multi-donor fund named Bêkou primarily intended for healthcare, the rebuilding of infrastructure projects and the empowerment of women, with a budget in excess of €200 million for the 2014-2020 period. The country is blessed with a wide range of natural resources (such as diamonds, uranium, gold and timber). Nevertheless, its inhabitants suffer from some of the highest poverty rates in the world.
Humanitarian organizations and certain international agencies consider the civil war in the CAR to be one of the most neglected conflicts of our time Attempted coups have regularly taken place in the CAR since it gained independence in 1960, while its social and economic problems, far from being resolved, exacerbate the population’s suffering. However, the 2013 coup marked a turning point, plunging the country into chaos and ungovernability. First there was a coup by the armed coalition Séléka, exerting its despotic rule and carrying out continual abuses against the civilian population, leading them to create anti-Balaka self-defence groups in May of the same year as a form of protection. Nevertheless, these in turn 22
Catalan International View
were responsible for committing terrible abuses against civilians in general and the Muslim community in particular. A transitional government was appointed in January 2014, tasked with readying the country for new elections in 2015. Simultaneously a major humanitarian effort was launched, centred on the capital, Bangui, which failed to reach the whole country. At the end of 2014, 12,000 UN peacekeepers were deployed as part of the MINUSCA mission. Nonetheless, the Séléka and anti-Balaka militias have kept up their fighting and the abuses committed against civilians. The armed groups use religious rhetoric for political ends, but it is difficult to ignore the economic interests and corruption generated by the fight to control trafficking in diamonds and timber, the country’s main resources and source of wealth. The continual conflict and persistent political and institutional instability exacerbate the population’s suffering, affecting healthcare, access to water, the infrastructure and the economy. With regard to healthcare, the civil war in the CAR has destabilized its healthcare system, which was already highly destructured, with a chronic lack of qualified personnel, material assistance and medicine. According to Doctors Without Borders the country currently has one doctor for every 55,000 inhabitants. In terms of access to drinking water the CAR is currently (as of March 2016) in the middle of the dry season. A little rain is on its way (or the ‘pluie de mangues’ as they say in the CAR, when mangoes literally ‘rain’ from the trees), but in the meantime the wells have run dry and the River Ubangui is nothing but sand. A part of the population of Bangui (those lucky enough to have access to mains water) receive water for just a few hours a day, often at night,
Africa
when one has to fill as many containers as possible. One of the workers for a humanitarian organization told me he’s lucky as one of his six sisters lives in a neighbourhood on the other side of town, so when he has no water his sister does and vice versa. They are therefore able to fill their water containers at different times of the day. And this is in the capital, Bangui. Outside of Bangui there is no mains water, only wells, which are often operated by hand. The country’s infrastructure is either in disrepair or simply non-existent. Getting around the country is complicated, with a distance of 150km often requiring a six-hour journey by car, a situation which is even worse in the provinces, where 65km may take over two hours. The population lives in relative isolation, which has obvious consequences for their health and safety.
Geographical factors, such as the fact that the CAR is landlocked, heavily influences its economy and trade, with the major factor being that it is surrounded by some of the most troubled countries in the region, whose involvement in the conflict is plain for all to see. The CAR has diamonds, the trade in which has been vetoed under the Kimberly Process1, though this does not prevent traffickers shipping the diamonds to Cameroon for sale. The country’s principal productive sector is agriculture, which is unable to grow in a normal fashion thanks to the war, which directly affects the population’s nutrition, particularly for its women and children. The state’s ability to control the country is hampered by the fact that its has sufficient funds to cover just 8% of its annual budget. The country’s resourcCatalan International View
[1] A certification process designed to prevent ‘conflict diamonds’ from entering the legitimate market. It was created in order to ensure that diamond purchases were not financing war or human rights abuses.
23
Africa
es, the wealth of its diamond deposits, contribute virtually nothing to the state’s coffers. The current situation in Bangui is ‘stable’, while the situation in the provinces and prefectures is not so clear. There continue to be movements and warlords that define territories and control the population. There is still a constant trickle of attacks, robberies and rape, though to a lesser extent than before, thanks to the presence of international forces. The armed groups appear to be adopting positions now that the time has come to negotiate with the political leaders. And the positions are taken by force, not through the use of dialogue. There are 454,000 refugees and 437,000 displaced persons, nearly one million people in total, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), many of which scrape out an existence far from the refugee camps, making access to humanitarian aid even harder. Once more, women and children are the collectives which most suffer the consequences of this reality. In the case of women, widespread, systematic sexual violence represents a serious threat to their safety during and after the conflict. Of all war crimes it is the least visible and least punished throughout history. As for children, according to UNICEF sources there are an estimated 6,000 to 10,000 child soldiers in the CAR. The causes of the situation in the CAR are manifold: the country’s natural wealth, principally diamonds, the
economic interests of Western economies, the lack of access to education, friction between groups with different economic structures, agriculture vs. lifestock. These conflicts must be addressed in their entirety, taking into account their different characteristics, without forgetting to take responsibility for what happens in the world to which we belong. At the very least we ought to be aware of what is going on and refuse to turn ours backs. In the coming weeks there will be a second round of general elections that will shape the parliament (the first having been declared void). Parliament will be made up of a multiplicity of parties, most of which having been created especially for these elections. Probably none of them will reveal their political manifesto since they do not exist, as we would understand it. As a consequence, whoever is eventually declared president will have to be prepared for some tough negotiations in order to satisfy everyone and in order to govern. When they released what are called the ‘provisional final results’ (that’s right, the ‘provisional final results’. Africa is full of surprises if one looks closely enough), the residents of Bangui’s arrondissements, its boroughs, took to the streets to dance and sing, in celebrations unheard of for many years. The population is optimistic, which is obviously a good thing. The elections in the CAR or Ködörösêse tî Bêafrîka as they say in the local language (literally Heart of Africa) is a historical event, an opportunity for peace in the country.
(*) Patrícia Rodríguez A Development Aid Consultant. She holds an Economics degree (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona), an MA in Strategies, Agents and Policies for Development Aid (Universidad del País Vasco) and a Postgraduate Diploma in African Societies (Universitat Pompeu Fabra). She was the Catalan Agency for Development Cooperation’s head of Sub-Saharan Africa for 10 years.
24
Catalan International View
Catalan International View
25
Business, Law & Economics
Security and Human Rights: freedom from fear? by Eulàlia Pascual*
The threat of terrorism is one of the most complex challenges currently facing the world. This is especially true of democratic countries since it is putting to the test their ability to respond to this phenomenon without sacrificing the values of democracy and human rights. Anti-terrorist strategies are often incompatible with a respect for fundamental freedoms. Professor of international relations, Mahmood Monshipuri1 argues that there are two types of response when faced with such a challenge: the utilitarian model and the justice model. The former justifies the curtailing of civil rights and liberties in order to pursue terrorists effectively. While the justice model states that the right to justice, respect for human dignity and social justice are the most powerful instruments in the so-called ‘War on Terror’.
I
t is apparent that many states have chosen the utilitarian model, while civil society has chosen the justice model, out of a respect for international law, and a desire for peace and development. As we shall see, it is a model which was advocated by the UN’s 1994 Development Programme and continues to be defended by international organizations and lobbies which promote aid and human rights.
[1] Monshipuri, M. ‘Terrorism, Security and Human Rights. Harnessing the Rule of Law’. Ed. Lynne Rienner Publishers. Boulder – London, 2012. [2] It sounds like the title of a Hollywood B-movie. The script and the casting would certainly seem worthy of such a comparison.
26
Rethinking Human Rights
There are calls from many quarters for the need to ‘rethink’ human rights and to ‘adapt’ them to a new era with new challenges. The debate as to whether security policies, which have been tightened in the fight against terrorism, are causing a decline in the respect for human rights is a relatively recent one. Catalan International View
Meanwhile, the reality is that the threat to certain rights, which international law itself considers to be intangible, universal, indivisible and inalienable, is not a new one. Long before the start of the so-called ‘War on Terror’ 2mechanisms to ensure compliance with human rights standards already responded to the geopolitical interests of world powers -and not only of Western ones. And these same interests, at both the international and domestic level sparked an interesting debate concerning the universality of human rights and ‘adaptations’ to realities mistakenly taken to be cultural, which violate basic rights such as gender equality, access to justice, the freedom of expression, thought and beliefs and the prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and the death penalty.
Business, Law & Economics
Human rights are also seen to be threatened by two underlying issues which are worthy of reflection. On the one hand the concept of human rights has been debased to such an extent that it is often the case that every political party and social movement, wherever they may lie on the political spectrum, adopts them as a slogan and preaches them in their speeches, before promptly violating them. Moreover, rules and conventions on human rights and the organizations charged with defending them and promoting them have multiplied ten-fold in recent years. And so too have related NGOs and lobbies in civil society. More importantly, in spite of such formal developments and the redundancy of proclaiming human rights, an immense majority of the world’s population have their most ba-
sic rights denied them, precisely those which are covered by the Universal Declaration of 1948. A shocking example is the treatment of refugees who have been protected by the UDHR since 1948 and more specifically by the 1951 Refugee Convention.
Long before the start of the so-called ‘War on Terror’ mechanisms to ensure compliance with human rights standards already responded to the geopolitical interests of world powers The truth is that democracies have never been consistent in promoting democracy, the fundamental importance of human rights and development. Catalan International View
27
Business, Law & Economics
Nor have they based their diplomacy on these values. They disguise their dishonesty and hypocrisy by formally defending these values, in an ineffective manner. According to every study on the matter these values are the very basis of the resolution of conflicts and a way to achieve peace, justice and social equality and therefore the most effective tool in the fight against terrorism.
The truth is that democracies have never been consistent in promoting democracy, the fundamental importance of human rights and development, nor have they based their diplomacy on these values A non-existent contradiction: human security is also a human right
[3] Kaldor, M. In Defence of New Wars. Stability: International Journal of Security and Development. 2 (1), p. Art. 4. March 2003.
The truth is that human security is not in any way incompatible with human rights but rather constitutes a human right in itself. In 1994, the Human Development Programme (UNDP) introduced the concept of Human Security, declaring that it was not related to weapons, but rather to the defence of life and human dignity, and that it is it to be obtained through sustainable development rather than the use of force. The report also clearly stated that the concept of human security also has an internal dimension which requires the state to protect its citizens from violence, insecurity and poverty: ‘freedom from fear and freedom from want’. It is vital we appreciate that this requirement of human security also lies with states in respect to their territorial sovereignty and that they must protect the population from all kinds of violence, whether material (gender-based violence, for example) or structural. The same report also noted that poverty and insecurity foster intolerance and
violence, and that fairer and more equitable societies are in turn less violent. Responsibility over security within the United Nations has mainly been assigned to the Security Council, along with other UN organizations and NGOs. The Security Council has a duty to maintain peace in the dual, international and domestic, sense and it must intervene in cases of serious and massive violations of human rights. However, not only has the Security Council almost never acted in this regard, it has excelled in looking the other way, according to the geopolitical needs of the countries that hold a seat on the Council. In addition, since 2003 there has been a reconfiguration of the concept of human security and the so-called ‘just war’, in violation of Article 20 of the International Covenant on Civil Rights and Politics, which prohibits ‘any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence’. We have gone from the promotion of development and diplomacy in favour of peace and the prevention of the violation of human rights to multilateral policies, with the intervention of international institutions which are heavily militarized and under the almost exclusive control of the United Nations Security Council. Not only is it a heavily politicized body, two of its permanent members are major human rights violators. As a result, responsibility for the field of human security has been rested from NGOs and international organizations which promote peace and development. A dramatic result is that these ‘new’ strategies actually correspond with an outdated historical model of war. According to the Professor of Global Governance Mary Kaldor3, new wars do not inhabit a specific geographical area.
Business, Law & Economics
They are fought over the construction of ideologies in cyberspace, and employ financial strategies to raise funds by way of criminal acts such as the trafficking of people, organs, drugs, weapons and oil. According to Kaldor, the protection of human security must therefore be guided by five principles: the protection of human rights, the establishment of a legitimate political authority, multilateralism, consultation with the population and a rational approach. Civil society needs to firmly reassert its defence of the justice model. This model includes instruments that allow for the resolution of tensions between fundamental rights, like those occurring in relation to safety and the right to freedom of expression, freedom of movement, association and expression, among others. In response to legal cases involving Handyside vs. UK, Gillow vs. UK, Klass vs. Germany, Young vs. UK, James & Webster vs. UK and The Sunday Times vs. UK, among others, the European Court of Human Rights has developed a doctrine on this issue. The Court imposes three conditions to any limitation of fundamental rights: that the limits are specified in the law, that they are necessary in a democratic society in order to achieve a legitimate aim, and that the limitations are in proportion to the aims pursued, ends that, as already mentioned, need to be legitimate. The word ‘legitimate’ is not the same as ‘legal’ since legitimacy implies an ethical dimension. Furthermore, the Court considers that, although states can make an initial assessment, public opinion is of
fundamental importance in establishing limits on rights. And it is clear that in the case of terrorism, the weight of public opinion is against the measures taken by governments and likewise it radically opposes the way in which the refugee situation has been handled. In keeping with the Universal Declaration, human rights constitute a universal ethic based on respect for the inherent dignity of human beings, equality and social justice. We ought to defend the effective positivisation of these rights through their constitutionalisation as a fundamental, binding law -as stated in the European Convention on Human Rights- which serves to limit political, economic and social actions. The Jihadi phenomenon is extremely complex, but it has not arisen spontaneously from one day to the next. It has sociological, political and economic causes, and it is by means of these pathways, together with the application of international laws on Human Rights and Humanitarian Laws, that we have to resolve it. The law, if it is legitimate, confers moral authority. We need to confront terrorism on the basis of the values that we have constructed. The terrorists, with their terrible acts of gratuitous violence, pose a moral dilemma. However, there is no doubt that the basis of any democratic system is the respect for rights and fundamental freedoms. If we should forget this, we risk falling into the trap of turning into the very thing which we are trying to defeat.
(*) Eulàlia Pascual Lawyer. Member of the International Criminal Bar and of the International Criminal Justice Committee of the Barcelona Bar Association. Member of the Board of the International Catalan Institute of Peace (ICIP) and of the United Nations Association of Spain (ANUE). She holds a Master’s in Fundamental Rights and their Judicial Protection. Currently completing a PhD in Sexual Violence in Conflict.
Ramon Llull 700th anniversary
30
Catalan International View
Ramon Llull 700th anniversary
Ramon Llull:
yesterday and today
700th anniversary of the most Universal Catalan by Joan Santanach
R
amon Llull was one of the foremost writers and thinkers of the Middle Ages, not just in Catalan-speaking areas but throughout the whole of Europe. No other Catalan author has exerted his influence, either geographically or across time. His wide-ranging interests were such that he made notable contributions to every area of the knowledge of his day, from philosophy and theology to law, medicine, astronomy, rhetoric and logic. Simultaneously, he produced a substantial body of literary work that includes emblematic titles, among them Blanquerna (which contains The Book of the Lover and the Beloved), The Book of the Beasts and The Book of the Gentile and the Three Wise Men, which places him at the very start of the Catalan literary tradition. As a result of his intellectual concerns, Llull made innovations in numerous fields. He is today regarded as the founding father of modern-day combinatorial com-
Catalan International View
puting, as well as of the theory of voting and electoral systems, and of interreligious dialogue, with a special emphasis on dialogue with the Muslim world and contact between different faiths, which is still so necessary today. Ramon Llull’s work is known and renowned in university circles, and there are a number of international academic institutions that specialise in the study of his writings and thought. As a result, more works are published about him each year -not just in Catalan but in many other languages- than any other Catalan author. The celebration of Llull Year in 2016, commemorating the seventh centenary of his death, will provide an opportunity to showcase the importance of his contribution to the world of letters and to draw the attention of the general public to the extent to which his thinking has influenced numerous European intellectuals, an influence that continues to this day.
31
Ramon Llull 700th anniversary
Ramon Llull, from the island to the world by Michela Pereira*
‘An individual was born in the thirteenth century who was to boldly transform philosophy. He has gone on to enjoy a brilliant reputation until the present day. His distinction was a desire to initiate a philosophical revival, which at the time was in decline. Thus, inspired by the heavens, he introduced a new form of philosophy based on the art of discovering the truth: I speak of Ramon Llull, who long ago achieved fame for his new art.’ 1
S
[1] J. J. Brucker, Historia critica philosophiae, Leipzig, Breitkopf, 1742, vol. IV: Periodus tertia, a restauratione literarum ad nostra tempora - Pars prima, de studio philosophiae emendandae sectario - Caput primum, de viris doctis qui de externo philosophiae habito emendando restituendoque solliciti fuerunt, p. 4. “Exortus quidem seculo XIII nouus quidam in orbe philosophico heros est, fama illustri ad nostra vsque tempora celebratus, qui prostratam philosophiam humo tollere, nouamque ueritatis inueniendae artis inuenisse coelitus edoctus videri voluit; nempe Raymundus Lullius, noua arte sua diu celeberrimus”. Brucker (Augsburg 1696-1770) taught in Jena.
32
o begins the third part of Johann Jakob Brucker’s Historia critica philosophiae issued in the year 1742. Llull, born in Palma (Majorca), the capital of the Balearic Islands in 1232 (making this year the seven hundredth anniversary of his death), was the first in a series of ‘innovative philosophers’. Thus Brucker defined those thinkers, who fostered practical speculation and reflection on the problems and demands of an increasingly structured and dynamic society from beyond the university lecture halls, where the development of ideas was still based on the gradual accumulation of exegetical commentaries on Aristotle’s writings. In the same year as Brucker’s Historia, 1742, the tenth volume of the innovative philosopher Ramon Llull’s collected works was published in Mainz. Approximately twenty years earlier, in 1721, a scholar from Mainz, Ivo Salzinger, who can be deemed to be the last heir of Renaissance Lullism, ordered Catalan International View
the first volume of the collection to be printed, which crowned this important era in which the great Majorcan’s fame shone brightly. Salzinger’s publishing endeavour was preceded by his visits to Catalonia and the numerous contacts he made there, thanks to which various Majorcan Lullists collaborated on his project: this enabled him to carry out the daunting task of researching manuscripts, collating, and in some instances translating documents, making the Mainz edition a splendid example of eighteenth century scholarship. Many of Llull’s fundamental theological and philosophical works saw the light of day thanks to this publication, as a completion of those which had been published in various European printing centres during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The final result of the work initiated by the German-Catalan research group created by Salzinger is to be found in the earnest engagement of the Majorcan Antoni Pascual, in
Ramon Llull 700th anniversary
his extensive work Vindiciae Lullianae (Avignon, 1778), which amassed virtually all the data concerning the life and work of Ramon Llull available at the time. Following the publication of Pascual’s work, the outpouring of studies involving the figure of Llull went into a rapid decline, and the presence of Lullism in European culture fell to its minimum. The Illuministic paradigm was responsible for the loss of interest in a figure that, on the one hand had strong religious connotations, and on the other, had been linked to esoteric circles thanks to the connexion of Llull’s authentic works, particularly those dedicated to his Ars combinatoria, with the alchemical writings attributed to him by a long tradition. The figure of the ‘saintly alchemist’ which had slowly gathered strength around the historical core of Llull’s life and works was incompatible with the new foundations of Western thought. One
may state without fear of contradiction, that during the nineteenth century and beyond, the memory of the Majorcan philosopher was confined to distinct cultural sectors which were not interconnected. These included firstly the Franciscan Order, in which the scope of Llull’s philosophical and theological ideas struggled to gain a place among such outstanding personalities as St. Bonaventure (Giovanni da Fidanza) and John Duns Scotus. Nevertheless, they preserved the memory of Llull’s missionary activities and writings, i.e. the fundamental aspect of his personality and his intellectual commitment. By way of contrast, Llull was a highly influential figure in occult circles, as shown, e.g., by Antoine Lenglet-Dufresnoy’s Histoire de la philosophie hermétique. At the time, students of esotericism had been completely banished from official academic and scientific circles, although they continued to greatly influence, in a covert manner, the affairs Catalan International View
33
Ramon Llull 700th anniversary
of intellectuals and politicians (take for example the role of Freemasonry in what Frances Yates called the ‘Rosicrucian Enlightenment’, as well as in the political movements of the nineteenth century).
Catalan had been spoken throughout the Mediterranean, being an important vehicle for trade, not only of a commercial nature I have left for last -not because it is less important, but instead to emphasize its importance-, the continuity of the admiration for Llull and the continued interest in his thought and works in his homeland, Majorca, and in the context of Catalan culture at large. In the nineteenth century, the majority of Lullists had ties to Catalonia or the Balearics, while there were few scholars of Llull in the rest of Europe and they were generally interested solely in collecting manuscripts of his works or of the alchemical works attributed to him. It was to be his birthplace where interest in Llull was once more revived: this happened following the recognition (or the creation) of his role as the ‘father of the Catalan language’, in conjunction with an increased awareness of national traditions and languages across Europe, thanks to the romantic movement. It is in this context that the project was launched, to publish the writings of Llull in Catalan. The first result of which was the publication of his works in verse and the first volume of his prose, both edited by Jeroni Rosselló (in 1859 and 1886-1887, respectively). It was a significant publishing project that was systematically pursued in the early twentieth century with the collaboration of Mateu Obrador (Obres 34
Catalan International View
de Ramon Llull, The Works of Ramon Llull). In the past, Catalan had been spoken throughout the Mediterranean, being an important vehicle for trade, not only of a commercial nature. However, in the early twentieth century the Catalan language was not as widely understood as it was during Ramon Llull’s lifetime. Thus, the Majorcan publishing endeavour did not immediately succeed in awakening a new interest for Llull’s writings within European culture, except in the specialized area of the study of Romance Literature and the fledgling science of philology with which it was associated. Although Llull’s collected Catalan works can be considered complementary to the Mainz edition in terms of a complete understanding of Llull’s writings, thanks to their different approach, their publication brought to light a kind of division within Lullian studies: first, literary studies, philological and linguistic, which were based on the works in Catalan, and second, the religious and historico-philosophical studies, that made use of Salzinger’s Latin edition and to a large extent those of the Renaissance. Thus, a division was introduced between Llull’s literary and philosophical works, notwithstanding the undeniable unity of Llull’s inspiration, underlying the author’s intention to create a new means of communicating knowledge of his time: the ‘transmutation of science into literature’, as Robert D. F. Pring-Mill called it in the 1960s. The separation of the two branches of Lullian studies seriously limited an understanding of the overall meaning of his work, in spite of the fact that it favoured a deeper and specialized study of specific areas of his work. In fact, his vision was essentially unitary and uni-
Ramon Llull 700th anniversary
versal, both in terms of the ultimate goal to which he devoted his life from the moment of his ‘conversion’ -the attainment of world peace through religious reunification- and of his search for an instrument of communication capable of overcoming the limits of natural languages and one that is of service to the universality of reason -combinatory art. This concept was a complete novelty in the culture of his time, as it reveals the miraculous story of the origin of his Ars. According to the Vita (1311) dictated by Llull himself, the illumination that he received while staying in contemplation on Puig de Randa Mountain [Majorca], made him intuit a language capable of directly displaying the structures of created reality and making them understandable to all peoples regardless of their language or culture. This is the Ars combinatoria, the ‘common language’ from which one can build the ‘necessary arguments’ (rationes necessariae) concerning the truths of faith which Llull considered essential for the conversion of the ‘infidels’: according to Umberto Eco it is ‘a universal language not only because it must serve all peoples, but also because it will employ letters of the alphabet and symbols, thus making it available to the illiterate of any language’. Thanks to his yearning for universal diffusion, and to his deliberate pragmatism, throughout his whole life Llull accompanied the development of the combinatoria with the decision to write his works in several languages: Catalan, a living language, accessible to the layman; Latin, the universal language of culture; and Arabic, another living language and a means to communicate with the people he sought to address in his missionary work. The first work he wrote following his illumination was the first version of the Ars, complete with all its visual devices:
alphabet, rotating figures and combinatorial matrices. The title, which expressed Llull’s program in an extremely synthetic manner, was Art compendiosa d’atrobar veritat [the Compendious Art of Finding Truth]. Unlike his later works on combinatorics, which were written in Latin, this first version was written in Llull’s mother tongue, Catalan. It was not translated into Latin until later, when it was entitled Ars compendiosa inveniendi veritatem. Ars refers to the artificial or ‘instrumental’ nature of the device, that is implemented via doctrinal content which reflect the then current philosophical notions, according to the paradigm shared by the three Mediterranean cultures and, ultimately, inherited from the Neoplatonic worldview. Compendiosa since its contents are synthetically symbolised by means of the letters of the alphabet. Finally, atrobar/invenire evokes, in the case of the Catalan term, courtly culture (the troubadours’ of poetic invention), and in Latin, one of the key moments of literary creation, known, since the classical period, as inventio [invention]. Nevertheless, the Lullian atrobar refers neither to poetic imagery nor to literary rhetoric: it is oriented toward reality, of which language is a vehicle. Indeed Ramon Llull’s efforts consisted precisely of ‘finding’ or ‘inventing’ a universal language through which the cultural differences of his time and his world could be unified. The search for truth, to which all faiths aspire (Christianity, Judaism and Islam), and in whose name these can mutually confront in peace, as Llull proposed in his Liber de gentili et tribus sapientibus [Book of the Gentile and the Three Wise Men, circa 1274-1276], can therefore be pursued through the Ars combinatoria, his newly invented instrument. In spite of the fact that the calm Catalan International View
35
Ramon Llull 700th anniversary
and rational confrontation recounted in the Liber de gentili did not withstand the reality of a conflict which Llull soon would have confronted, he even conceived the Crusades as an ancillary enterprise, and orientated to the mission. This is characteristically shown in the Liber de fine (1305), in which Llull mentions a list of his own books as an indispensable part of the equipment for the military order in charge of the Crusades. The Crusaders were supposed to have studied the books during their training, and use them to support their preaching activity, once such a possibility had been made possible through military means. For preachers, the learning of languages was as essential as studying the arts. Therefore, the creation of schools of Oriental languages, to train missionaries in order to convert non-Christians through the use of debate rather than of force, was one of Ramon Llull’s preoccupations throughout his life. Already in 1276 he had obtained by King James II of Majorca the permission to establish a language school for missionaries in Miramar, and as late as 1311 he petitioned the Council of Vienne for permission to initiate a similar project on a larger scale.
For preachers, the learning of languages was as essential as stuying the arts Unlike most Scholastic masters, Llull developed his thought during the course of a long active life, and his works were often written during his numerous travels to various Mediterranean countries. Aside from Barcelona and Montpellier, he also visited Italy on several occasions: he went to 36
Catalan International View
Rome, where he tried to convince the Popes to adopt his Ars as a tool for reforming knowledge and convert the infidels. He also visited Genoa, Naples and Pisa. He repeatedly visited Paris, where he presented his Ars to the masters at the university and to the court of Philip the Fair. His voyages took him to Cyprus, as well as to the Islamic countries of North Africa, Tunisia in particular, where he personally tried to use his debating technique with Muslim scholars. In fact, he was convinced that if he could persuade scholars, the conversion of lay people would have followed naturally. It did not happen, however, though he continued trying until the end, as evidenced by the story -fiction, but with a ring of truth- of his martyrdom by stoning in the city of Bejaia. This continuous interweaving of thought, writing and action, as well as the diversified nature of Llull’s works, mean we must not ignore any aspect of his output, if we really wish to understand the greatness of his personality and the originality of his intellectual endeavour. These, indeed, are the features extolled by those who, on the threshold of a new era indignantly rejected the ‘barbarism’ of the Scholastics, and conferred upon him the fame of Doctor Illuminatus (Enlightened Master). This thorough understanding has once again become possible today, since the divisions between literary studies and philosophical and theological studies of Ramon Llull have started to be removed. Naturally, this does not mean rejecting specialized studies, but rather reflects the recognition that every additional step in the understanding of such a multifaceted, and yet so firmly focused author, can and should be made through an increasing integration of specialistic disciplinary contri-
Ramon Llull 700th anniversary
butions. And, as is usually the case, this possibility arises from the intensification of the critical editions and study of Lullian texts: since historiography progresses thanks to an increasingly detailed knowledge of the catalogue and chronology of his works, of the manner in which they were composed and transmitted, of the relationship between the versions in different languages -in short: the totality of information provided by critical editions, whose enterprise was started in Llull’s native island in the 1950s and is still earnestly pursued on a worldwide scale. Now, when the greatest number if not yet all of Llull’s major works have been again made available to the scholarly world, their philosophical and theological interpretation can encompass
the whole of his thought, not being restricted to sectorial readings. The image of Ramon Llull which derives from this hermeneutic renewal is the portrait of a layman deeply engaged in a new kind of philosophical research, inspired and devout, yet innovative and highly technical: the thought of a vernacular philosopher who aspires at finding truth and the way to disclose this to the whole world, joining intellect and love in a new universal message, fit for his time and for ours. Since, as Ramon Llull wrote in his Arbre de filosofia d’amor (1298), ‘the majority of men in this world are not capable of loving, since, if they were able to love as well as they are to think, the whole world might be in order and in a fair condition.’ 2
[2] R. Llull, Arbre de filosofia d’amor, ed. S. Galmès, ORL XVIII (1935), p. 70: “los demès homes d est mon no saben amar; car si sabien tan be amar com saben entendre … poria esser tot lo mon ordenat e en bo estament”.
(*) Michela Pereira (Pistoia, 1948) has been Professor of the History of Medieval Philosophy at the University of Siena for many years. She is a member of the International Society for the Study of Medieval Latin Culture (SISMEL) of Florence. In the field of Lullistic studies, she specializes in the study and publication of the pseudo-Lullian alchemical tradition, while also being dedicated to the study and the publication of original Lullian scientific works, and the definition of Ramon Llull as a vernacular philosopher.
Catalan International View
37
Ramon Llull 700th anniversary
Ramon Llull and Catalan tradition by Harold Bloom*
The life of Ramon Llull is so improbable that it is tempting to see him as the Catalan Don Quixote, a literary character rather than a historical personage. He is in reality the Cervantes of Catalonia, or its Goethe, Dante, or Chaucer, the maker who inaugurates a literary language, and so founds a tradition.
H
e was truly Quixotic, though his Enchanted Dulcinea was the voluntary conversion of the Jews and Muslims, a mad enterprise in which Llull had no Sancho Panza to argue him back into reality. In fact, Ramon Llull was more Quixotic than Cervantes’ Knight of the Sorrowful Countenance. Llull would not have said, with the canny Don Quixote: ‘I know who I am and who I may be if I choose’. The Catalan visionary was uncanny, in the mode that was to become Giordano Bruno’s, but Llull was as Catholic as Bruno was Hermetist. The Church martyred Bruno, who was burned alive in Rome, because his God was not Jesus Christ but Thrice Greatest Hermes. And yet there are resemblances between the system or Art of Llull and of Bruno, possibly because
38
Catalan International View
both were influenced by Jewish Kabbalah. Llull is a contemporary of Catalan Kabbalah, but their mutual affinities are difficult to disentangle, partly because each also had a relation to Sufi speculation. Though I will attempt, further on, to surmise part of Llull’s influence upon Catalan literary and spiritual traditions, I am not a scholar in this area, and cannot go beyond a kind of critical impressionism. Catalonia is a distinct civilization, and its temperamental differences from Castile are initially bewildering to an amateur and outsider like myself. But there are also diverse Catalonias: Llull was Majorcan, and Barcelona is not Majorca, though they now seem more akin than either is to Valencia, which has its own prideful literary traditions.
Ramon Llull 700th anniversary
Catalonia is an idea, or a complex of ideas, as well as a place and a people, held together by a language and by a history of Spanish oppression, which culminated in Franco’s Fascism. The honor of Catalonia, like that of the Basque region and of Madrid, is to have fought so fiercely against militaristic and clerical Fascism. To Catalans and Castilians alike, this may now seem archaic, but here in the United States it is not, since we currently are ruled by a theocratic and militaristic regime. Our leader is a semi-literate who asserts that Jesus Christ C.E.O. is his favorite philosopher, and who says that his Iraqi crusade is a mission from God. As I remarked, when last in Barcelona, to call this pious plutocrat a Fascist would be to flatter him. I mention him here only to remark that he is a weak imitation of
the more formidable Huey Long, the Kingfish of Louisiana. Before Long was assassinated in 1935, he prophesied: ‘Of course we will have Fascism in America but we will call it democracy’. Our mindless leader now says that God has ordained him to bring democracy to Iraq. Clearly it is better to live under King Juan Carlos than under King George.
Catalonia is an idea, or a complex of ideas, held together by a language and by a history of Spanish oppression I will avoid further political asides, as Llull’s fecundity and originality alike are astonishing, and will absorb all my Catalan International View
39
Ramon Llull 700th anniversary
energy to respond. Robert Hughes, in his exuberant book Barcelona (1992), catalogs Llull’s identities: ‘by turns rake, love poet, scholar, mystic, philosopher, man of action, and missionary’ (p. 127). I would add that he was also the creator of Llullism, which is an Art distinct from Hermeticism and Kabbalah. Some day we may refer to the Art of Sigmund Freud as we now refer to the Art of Ramon Llull. It may be that all Catalan higher thinkers and writers are temperamentally Llullians just as in my own generation most of us were Freudians, whether we thought so or not. That statement must sound odd, particularly if one were a Catalan poet or intellectual who is more a skeptic than a Catholic believer. Yet the devout Llull pragmatically was also Sufi and Kabbalist. He is a fascinating and difficult writer, whom I tend to read most often in Latin, since he translated his own Catalan into what was then the universal language.
Llull’s God is never ineffable or beyond feeling, and so Llullian theology is always positive Llull’s central visionary ideas have been illuminated by two monographs of Mark D. Johnston, one on the Catalan genius’s evangelical rhetoric, and the other on his spiritual logic. As a literary critic, I am more concerned with Llull’s rhetoric, which is his art of arts. Eloquence is the most characteristic quality of Llull’s work, and his grammar of invention originates conceptions of influence that enchant me, since influence is the thought I spend my life attempting to think through to the end. On influence, Llull is a Neoplatonist but with a highly individual 40
Catalan International View
twist. Influence in Llull, as in Plotinus or Proclus, is a metaphysics of emanations, of transmitted resemblances from the Divine down to the human. But only likeness, not essence, is thus communicated. So far, Llull agreed, but the Catalan sage has a metaphysics of language entirely his own. He cuts loose fiercely from the negative theology of the Neoplatonist Pseudo-Dionysius; Llull’s God is never ineffable or beyond feeling, and so Llullian theology is always positive. Nothing perhaps is more Catalan about Llull than this; the Castilian Dark Night of the Soul is alien to him. Unlike Aquinas, Llull is almost a pragmatist: he is always in search of moral consequences, and these are sought on the level of popular culture. His Art looks around it, among the people, as well as backwards to Plato and Aristotle. Llull after all asserted that he received direct revelations from God. It was from these visions that he derived the preternatural strength that sent him forth into Muslim marketplaces, where he was nearly stoned to death. Yet it was his Art of Arts that made logically necessary his drive towards voluntary universal conversion of all Muslims and all Jews. Llull gambled everything upon improving rhetorical communication between God and the human, and his great insight was that perfect communication depended upon a united humankind. For almost all of us, nowadays, this is an unacceptable way of thinking through our possible relationship to God. Yet Llull’s originality remains so vast that one can understand it only by clearing one’s mind of exhausted clichés. To start apprehending Llull, you need to see that, in our terms, he was more a poet than a metaphysician or a theologian. His pragmatic faculty is what we now call the imagination. He
Ramon Llull 700th anniversary
fathered Catalan high literature precisely because not only did he reinvent the Catalan language -as Shakespeare, Dante, Goethe, Montaigne reinvented theirs- but because like Cervantes and Walt Whitman he reforged the relationship between mythmaking and the individual spirit. That he did this so selflessly doubtless stems from his personal mysticism, but there is little that is conventional or traditional in his visionary life. In that regard the orthodox Ramon Llull resembles the great heretics: Jakob BĂśhme, Meister Eckhart, Giordano Bruno, and William Blake. There are excellent scholars of Llull, including Anthony Bonner, Frances Yates, and Mark Johnston, but I have discovered only a few insights of a literary, critical kind devoted to him. I am not a Llull scholar, or more than an amateur in Catalan literature and history, though I am a general literary crit-
ic. Still, my lifelong subject is influence, particularly literary influence, and I seek always to better understand the matter of genius, and the originality that must attend it. Llull’s rhetoric comes at the reader with an open hand, not with a closed fist, but that evangelical hand is unlike any other that I know. As with the great Hermeticist, Bruno, Llull organizes his imagination with an Art of Arts: memory, logic, rhetoric, psychology, cosmology, and theology are fused in an elaborate dance of principles and figures, as they were by the Sufis and by the Catalan Kabbalah, which the comprehensive Llull certainly absorbed and employed. But everything Llull appropriated, he transfused into the Art entirely his own. Excerpts from a keynote address to the Catalan Poetry Symposium (Poets House, co-sponsored by the Institut Ramon Llull, 2006)
(*) Harold Bloom Literary critic and Sterling Professor of the Humanities and English at Yale University
Catalan International View
41
Ramon Llull 700th anniversary
The interreligious disputation, Ramon Llull’s ingenious solution by Anthony Bonner*
In order to understand in what way Ramon Llull’s solution to the problems of interreligious disputation was ingenious, we must look at what these problems were and the environment in which they emerged. First, however, we must wipe the slate clean of modern concepts which, rather than clarifying, can cause confusion.
R
elations between different religions are often discussed under the umbrella of ‘tolerance’, of the tolerance or non-tolerance of one group towards the ‘other’, which has some obstacles. The first is the desire to ‘judge’ the past, to point out the goodies and baddies of the story. This has its origin in a view of history which sees it as a source of lessons for the present, as a series of models of behaviour for society which, therefore, must be taught to the young. The fact of ‘judging’, of handing out passes or fails, also gives us the comforting feeling of being on the right side. Thus, ‘judging’ the past often tells us more about the present than the past. The second obstacle is that the very concept of ‘tolerance’ only began to circulate in the 16th century, with the voyages of discovery that made so many human divergences known, with the 42
Catalan International View
birth of Protestantism which opened the way to religious divergences, and with the rediscovery of the variability of Greek philosophy that led towards scepticism… At that time, with the Enlightenment of the 18th century, the idea of ‘tolerance’ gained full rights in Western society. Even today it is more a privilege of advanced societies, imbued with relativised values. ‘Tolerance’ is often combined with another concept, that of ‘interreligious dialogue’. But this is still more a privilege of these modern societies capable of looking favourably on diverse options, which in other times and other societies simply did not exist as possibilities. I believe it is better to look at medieval society through another aspect: the problem of violence. The popular images of the Middle Ages, of an armed man dressed in armour sitting on a horse, itself also protected -the clear predecessor
Ramon Llull 700th anniversary
of the modern tank-, and living in a fortress conceived more for defence than for comfort, are not far from the reality. Since just before the year 1000, many European landscapes were covered with thousands and thousands of castles, and the societies that best knew how to exploit the new military tactics were the most successful, such as for example the Normans, with their conquests of England, the south of Italy, Sicily and part of the Holy Land. In fact, the best symbol of the new military exploits was the crusades. Within this panorama of violence, there were bloodier moments, such as -to mention events closer to home- the conquest of Minorca, and others more benevolent, such as that of Valencia. The same happened with the famous ‘coexistence’ between the three religions in the Iberian Peninsula: there were periods when one group tolerated
the presence of the ‘others’ without too many objections, and others in which violence broke out. But we must not fool ourselves; even in times more favourable to coexistence, violence did not completely or permanently disappear, it was always dormant as a latent possibility. In terms of ‘interreligious dialogue’ in such an environment, with three religions already constructed in identity containers and based on power structures where the least blunder could reactivate the latent violence, such an event was not possible. In a fundamentally theocratic world, it was difficult to accept other beliefs as right. With religions which guaranteed that they held the key to eternal happiness, one of them had to be right; it was not possible for two or three with contrasting dogmas to be right simultaneosuly, or for them to have interchangeable eleCatalan International View
43
Ramon Llull 700th anniversary
ments in their beliefs, a necessary condition for an ‘interreligious dialogue’. No, in such a world, the only interreligious contacts possible were through controversy, in the form of disputations, preaching or polemic writings. In the Mediterranean area, the literature of controversy was highly cultivated, using all the languages present. As an example, suffice it to say that there was a literature of written Christian apologetics in Arabic -especially in the Middle East- and when Llull declared himself christianus arabicus he was consciously introducing himself into that tradition, in order to be able to dispute with Muslims in their own language and translate works into Arabic.
Ramon Llull: ‘There is no end to disputes based on authorities.’
[1] For a more detailed analysis of this work in the framework of apologetics, see my study “L’apologètica de Ramon Martí i Ramon Llull davant de l’islam i del judaisme”, in M. Salleras (ed), El debat intercultural als segles XIII i XIV. Actes de les Primeres Jornades de Filosofia Catalana, Girona, Col·legi Universitari de Girona, 1989, pp. 175-176. [2] H. Hames, “Review Essay - On the Polemics of Polemic: Conceptions of Medieval Jewish-Christian Disputation”, SL, 37, 1997, pp. 131-136. [3] ORL, XIV, p. 271.
44
However, within these apologetics there were at least three subspecies. One, the defence of one’s own faith, does not interest us today. Basically it was to reaffirm our faith, to placate us and reassure us that it was not wrong. Another tried to refute the beliefs of the adversary. We find this one, in a pure state, in the Pugio fidei by the Catalan Ramon Martí. It is an obsessive attack on Judaism, in which he has followed the trail not only of the Old Testament but also the Talmud, with the aim of supporting his arguments against a faith he clearly hates.1 The third subspecies was the attempt to persuade the adversary, to win him over him to the truth of our faith. Clearly, this is what Llull wished to do but had problems putting it into practice. Traditionally, he had resorted to the arguments about the Bible, of which the Muslims accepted some important Catalan International View
parts, and the Old Testament, which was the fundamental text of Judaism. This is why the famous disputation of Barcelona in 1263 was held between the Dominican convert Pau Cristià and the head of the Catalan Jewish community, Nahmanides. However, such a disputation only produced hermeneutic discussions that did not get anywhere. One of the protagonists argued: ‘Such text shows that […]’, to which the other responded: ‘No, according to our interpretation, it does not mean that, but […]’. As Harvey Hames has said, in reality they were not really arguing, for example, as to whether the Messiah had already come, but academically about hermeneutic questions. Moreover, they were not talking about the faith or the customs of the people who practiced those religions, but about books. Therefore, each side of such a disputation could return home thinking he had won, because he had correctly explained his interpretation.2 Ramon Llull summarised the situation in an immortal phrase: ‘There is no end to disputes based on authorities’3. His solution produced a series of remarkable innovations in the matter of interreligious debate. First, he based his arguments not on texts but on facts, religious or scientific facts that everyone could accept; for example, that there was one God (the three Mediterranean religions were monotheist); that this God necessarily had to have a set of attributes: he had to be good, great, eternal, etc.; that seven planets revolved around the Earth; that the world was based on four elements (fire, air, water, earth), and that these last positions were acceptable because the three cultures were inheritors of Greek science. It was on these bases -and without textual discussions- that Ramon Llull
Ramon Llull 700th anniversary
sought to prove the articles of faith. However, with questions of the Divinity he could not do so, in the classic sense of proving the causes that had created it, because there are no causes for God, there is nothing superior or anterior that would have created him. For this reason he decided to do the opposite; that is, to prove the articles not by the causes but rather by what they implied. The second innovation is how he does it, and for this I will set out a general summary and an explanation of some evidence, both taken from the Book of the Gentile and the Three Wise Men that Llull wrote as a model of interreligious disputation. It is a work he wrote at the start of his career, which he possibly conceived as a school text book for missionaries in Miramar, and which for practically his whole career he did not tire of recommending to his readers. I will analyse it in some detail because the entire plot is remarkable. The book begins with the presentation of the protagonist, a gentile who is ‘very wise in philosophy’, but ignorant of the existence of God and suffers terrible anguish over the idea that after death ‘there is nothing’. He sets out on a journey ‘in a foreign land [to see] if by chance he could find a remedy to his sadness’, in the course of which he reaches a magnificent forest. In another part of the same forest three wise men arrive, a Jew, a Christian and a Saracen, who have come from the city to talk together. They arrive at a fountain in the middle of five trees where ‘a beautiful and nobly dressed lady’ is watering her horse. They ask her name and what these five trees, with things surprisingly written on the flowers, represent. She answers that she is called Intelligence, and then offers a description and explanation of the five trees. Abridging
greatly, the system of the book is based on the seven attributes of God (goodness, greatness, eternity, etc.), the seven virtues (faith, hope, charity, etc.) and the seven mortal sins (gluttony, lust, avarice, etc.). She then makes them into binary combinations that she writes on the ‘flowers’ of the trees; that is, the first tree combines a divine attribute with another, so that on its first flower is written the two words ‘goodness’ and ‘greatness’, on the second ‘goodness’ and ‘eternity’, etc. The second tree combines divine attributes with virtues, so that on the flowers we find ‘goodness’ and ‘faith’, ‘goodness’ and ‘hope’, etc. On the third tree we find the divine attributes combined with sins, on the fourth the virtues combined with each other, and on the fifth the virtues combined with the sins. After describing these binary combinations of the ‘flowers’, the Lady of Intelligence explains that each one of these five trees has two conditions. Of the first tree, for example, a condition is that we always attribute to God the greatest nobility in essence, in virtues and in works. The second is that the flowers do not contradict each other, and there is the same number of each. The conditions of the other trees give a kind of spiritual and moral classification, in which the positive concepts (here the divine attributes and the virtues) must agree with each other and oppose the negative (the sins). Llull adds that it is necessary to affirm anything that best shows these concordances or contrarieties. Finally, there are two general supplementary conditions, the first of which says that it is necessary for the ten aforementioned conditions to ‘agree on an end. The other is that they should not oppose that end, [which] is to love and know and fear and serve God’. Making people love, Catalan International View
45
Ramon Llull 700th anniversary
know and remember God was the goal of all Lullian enterprise, as a missionary and reformer of Christian society. As one can see, here there is nothing that was not acceptable to any monotheist religion. They are not dogmas that must be imposed on the adversary; they are no more than completely neutral rules of the game for the debate to come. And given that -as we shall see- the game will consist of comparisons between concepts, those of ‘concordance’ and ‘contrariety’, which we have already seen in the conditions, they are fundamental tools. Finally, these conditions as rules of the game mean that many quotations from the Book of the Gentile in later works do not refer to the work in general, but specifically to them. Even Llull’s French disciple, Thomas Le Myésier, wrote that: ‘In these conditions of the trees is all the virtue of all the arts of Ramon’. Next, the Lady of Intelligence leaves, and one of the wise men, after lamenting the rancour and hatred produced by religious differences, says: ‘Think, gentlemen, of the harm that comes from men not belonging to a single sect, and of the good that would come from everyone being under one faith and one religion. This being the case, do you think it would be a good idea for us to sit beneath these trees, beside this lovely fountain, and discuss what we believe, according to what the flowers and the conditions of these flowers signify? And since we cannot agree by means of authorities, let us try to come to some agreement by means of demonstrative and necessary reasons’. It is an extremely clear programmatic declaration. In place of authorities, it is necessary to use the system that the Lady had shown them to reach ‘demonstrative and necessary reasons’. The others agree, and just when 46
Catalan International View
they are about to begin, the poor Gentile appears, quite undone by his existential tribulations. The wise men greet him, saying that ‘the God of glory, who was Father and Lord of all existing things, and who had created the whole world, and who would resuscitate the righteous and the wicked, would protect, console and help him in his suffering’. The Gentile is astonished at such a greeting, because he has never heard talk of this God or the resurrection. When the three wise men learn of his need, they offer to provide proof of the existence of God and of the resurrection, something they decide to do according to what the Lady of Intelligence has taught them. All of this is in the Prologue, and then the First Book is devoted to this proof. After listening to them, the Gentile is amazed at how he has been able to spend his life until then in darkness, and even more at how he has now been able to know God and his own salvation. Then his thoughts turn to his parents and the people of his land who, through ignorance, will go to ‘everlasting fire’, and is seized by a very strong desire to return to his home and preach the faith he has just discovered. He implores the wise men not only to accompany him, but more than anything to instruct him in how he can undertake this conversion of his family and countrymen. Thus far it is a kind of rose-coloured spiritual novel. Not a word about the differences between religions, not even in all of the speeches of the Prologue and the First Book has Llull bothered to specify which of the three wise men was speaking. Everything has happened in an idealised world of harmony and mutual understanding. But now things take a turn. If it is a question of converting the people so that they are saved, each of the three wise men in-
Ramon Llull 700th anniversary
sists that it is necessary for the Gentile to first convert to his religion. The Gentile, frightened, exclaims: ‘What! Are the three of you not a single religion and belief ?’. ‘No’, respond the wise men, ‘we differ as to belief and religion, for one of us is a Jew, the other a Christian, and the other a Saracen’. ‘And which of you’, asks the gentile, ‘has the better religion, and which of these religions is true?’. ‘Each of the wise men answered, [says Llull] speaking one against the other, each preaching his own belief and blaming the other for what he believes’. This confuses the poor Gentile. He says that after the happiness that they had given him, now they had made him return to ‘ire and grief ’ much worse than before. After some tears of desolation, he asks if by chance the wise men can dispute between themselves, each one explaining his position as best he can, to determine which of them ‘was on the path of salvation’. The wise men agree to his request and decide to do so as in the First Book; that is, according to how the Lady of Intelligence had shown them. Moreover, they decide that the order of the speeches will be by order of age: that is, first the Jew, then the Christian and finally the Saracen. They also make a very important agreement to avoid confrontations: none of the wise men will be able to ‘oppose’ another while he is presenting his religion; the only one who can interrupt with questions would be the Gentile himself in order to ask for clarification. With this begins the body of the book, in three long chapters, in each of which a wise man demonstrates the articles of his faith, with arguments developed according to the conditions that the Lady of Intelligence had shown them. To see how, let us take just one example.
In order to show that the world is not eternal, as the Greek philosophers maintained, but has been created by God, he takes a series of ‘flowers’ to construct diverse arguments with this same end. Let us take only one ‘flower’ entitled ‘Greatness Power’, where it says that: ‘Greater power is shown to exist in God if the world is created by the power of God; for it is greater power to create out of nothing a world so vast and beautiful, than it would be if the power of God has not created the world. And since that by which God’s greatness and power are more in accord with one another and are best demonstrated to the human understanding should be granted, according to the first condition of the first tree, it is therefore shown that the world was created from nothing and had a beginning’.
Ramon Llull did something very surprising in the interreligious discussion of the Middle Ages, and possibly of all time What Llull has done here is to take the creation of the world as a hypothesis, and show that it simply coincides more with the two concepts of the flower; that is, the greatness and power of God, and therefore satisfies more the first condition of the first tree than the contrary hypothesis of an eternal world would. He says nothing at all of the causes of creation, but rather only speaks of the implications, which he contrasts with the two concepts of the flower in question, and this according to a condition of the tree. In other cases he shows how the negation of a hypothesis leads to a reductio ad absurdum, or, put another simpler way, he only speaks of what would happen if it were not true. Catalan International View
47
Ramon Llull 700th anniversary
Even more important is the fact that Llull has constructed the text without saying a word about who is right or who is wrong, and without citing any text or authority. He has presented a purely abstract argument which stands or falls under its own weight. So abstract that it does not even occur to us to ask which of the three wise men is presenting it. It is the Jew, and we find that Ramon Llull has done something very surprising in the interreligious discussion of the Middle Ages, and possibly of all time. He has constructed the argument not on a doctrinal base that one of the opponents could use against the other two, but based on a technique that all three can use equally. And this technique was his Art, of which the Book of the Gentile offers a toned-down version. This explains the importance that Llull attributed to it, given that it provides a tool of discussion that the adversaries cannot undervalue.
He said simply, ‘let us enter through another door’, which was the door of his Art This is the nature of all the argumentation of the Book of the Gentile, sometimes with simpler reasoning and, sometimes, far more complicated (as in the case, for example, of the Trinitarian arguments of the Christian), until all three wise men have offered proof of their respective articles of faith. When they have finished, the Gentile summarises all that the wise men have explained to him, and they are very happy to see that he has really understood them. Then, with tears in his eyes, the Gentile makes an excited (and exciting) prayer to the Lord that they have taught him, a remarkable 48
Catalan International View
text since it is completely interreligious, something atypical of the period. At the end, just when the Gentile wants to announce which of the faiths he has chosen, comes perhaps the biggest surprise of an already surprising book: the wise men do not want to know! They say that this is ‘in order for each to think that his was the religion chosen’. And they add: ‘And all the more so since this is a question we could discuss among ourselves to see, by force of reason and by means of our intellects, which religion it must be that you will choose’. The Gentile, as one might suppose, is frightened, but they part amicably, and the three wise men agree to return to the place every day to debate, according to the trees and the conditions of the Lady of Intelligence, in order to see if they could agree that ‘all three of us have one faith, one religion, and until we can find some way to honour and serve one another… For war, turmoil, ill will, injury and shame prevent men from agreeing on one belief ’. This ending has provoked many comments. It is clear that Llull intends to surprise and give an impression of impartiality, to strengthen the idea of a technique that in itself is not imposed on any of the three sides. A technique, moreover, which it would be necessary to continue practising in order to perfect its use, in the same way that at the end of many works Llull recommends that the reader should continue to use and adapt what he has just learned to other purposes. Perhaps he also does so because until now the three have worked to convince an outsider, the Gentile. Now it would be necessary to undertake a slightly different task: to persuade each other, a task more appropriate for the Lullian mission itself. The key question, however, which has been discussed at length in the
Ramon Llull 700th anniversary
literature on Llull, is how, although the work is open-ended, given that he does not seem to incline towards any of the three religions, the Majorcan can declare in later works that this book shows that the Christian is right? How can he justify a passage like that of the Book of the Beloved and the Lover, where he says: ‘Tell me, fool, how you know that the Catholic faith is true and the beliefs of Jews and Saracens are false and erroneous?’. He responds: ‘In the ten conditions of the Book of the Gentile and the Three Wise Men’.4 Is there some trick we have not seen? The answer is yes, and that the trick is precisely in those ten conditions which he always cites when he cites the Book of the Gentile. In order to understand how this works, it is enough to look at one of them, the first condition of the first tree. As we have seen, it says ‘that God is always attributed with the greatest nobility in essence, in virtues and in works’. This allows Llull to argue that a God without internal and external activity, or ‘idle’ as he says, would be a lesser God, and that a God whose ac-
tivity produces the Trinity (internally) and the Incarnation (externally) would have ‘greater nobility in essence, in virtues and in works’. And with proof of these two dogmas, we have the key, as Eusebi Colomer has said, both to Lullian theology and to his writings of religious persuasion. With this we have seen how Ramon Llull has constructed an ingenious and highly innovative edifice, and how he has operated a kind of short circuit in all the problems of the interreligious controversy and of the hostile attitudes of one group against another. He has found a dirty slate of insulting graffiti, of defences and attacks, of hermeneutic discussions that can never end, and with a masterful stroke he has made it clean, with a methodological proposal to which it was difficult not to pay attention. Instead of wanting to deny the problems of lack of understanding or of violence, he has said simply, let us ‘enter through another door’, which was the door of his Art. It was not the door of another dogma but simply of a new tactic.
[4] ENC, B13, p. 163.
(*) Anthony Bonner Dean of the Maioricensis Schola Lullistica
Catalan International View
49
Ramon Llull 700th anniversary
On the Book of the Gentile and the doctrinal coherence of Ramon Llull by Joan Santanach*
It has been rightly said that Lullian dialogue is not free from conflict. His stay in Bejaia in 1307 and the defiant attitude that Ramon adopted there, as well as multiple passages gleaned from all his work, show that confrontation forms part of the range of possibilities with which Llull confronted the contact with the religions other than Catholic. The act in 1307, when in the middle of the city’s main square he publicly affirmed the falseness of the Muslim faith, was one of the harshest and most intransigent known, but it responded to Llull’s belief as to the superiority of the Christian faith over other religions. Not in vain, one of the three objectives he had marked at the moment of his conversion to the penitence was ‘to write a book against the errors of the infidels’, as he recalled, almost fifty years later, in the Vita coaetanea. When Llull dictated his biography to the monks of the Carthusian Monastery of Vauvert, in 1311, and after having written not one but many books against the errors of the infidels, this conviction continued as fundamental to his missionary strategies.1
[1] For the Vida coaetanea, see A. Bonner (ed.), Selected Works of Ramon Llull (1232-1316), 2 vols., Princeton (NJ), Princeton University Press, 1985; and specifically for the stay in Bejaia in 1307, the recent catalogue of the exhibition Raimundus, christianus arabicus. Ramon Llull and the Meeting between Cultures, Barcelona, European Institute of the Mediterranean, 2007. [2] The writing of this work must be placed between 1274 and 1283, years corresponding to the first artistic cycle of Lullian production. For this text, see Ramon Llull, Llibre del gentil e dels tres savis, critical edition by Anthony Bonner, “Nova Edició de les Obres de Ramon Llull”, vol. II, Palma de Mallorca, Patronat Ramon Llull,
50
H
owever, some of his texts, with a less combative and even amiable tone, have recently contributed to creating an image of Llull distanced from the apologist of Christianity that I have just outlined, and that attribute to the Majorcan a much more conciliatory and tolerant attitude towards the beliefs of nonChristians than the historical data we have, and the works he left, allow us to suppose. In the dissemination of this vision, in which it is clear that various aspects should be examined and revised, a determining role has been played here by a work written in the first years of his output, the Book of the Gentile and the Three Wise Men.2 This work uses a narrative fiction in which a gentile who has no knowledge Catalan International View
of God, but who has some philosophical training, is indoctrinated by three wise men, one a Jew, one a Christian and one a Muslim, who justify to him the necessary existence of the divinity. Once the gentile declares that he is convinced and consoled by this belief, at the end of the first book of the work, the wise men tell him that it is not, however, so simple, as they belong to different religions. Then, the gentile listens to the explanations that each of the wise men gives of his own beliefs in the three following books. While one of them sets out his reasons, the other two remain in silence and never interrupt or refute the affirmations made; thus, the only one who asks questions to clarify aspects which remain unclear is the gentile -who, in principle, we
Ramon Llull 700th anniversary
must consider impartial. Finally, after the wise men have explained to him the main articles of their respective religions, they refuse to hear which of the three the gentile has decided to adopt in order to continue their discussions on religious issues with the same cordiality and friendliness they have shown throughout the work. The respectful attitude of the wise men and, above all, the apparently open ending of the book have contributed, as mentioned, to creating an image of Llull as tolerant and ready to accept the belief of the other if he is capable of demonstrating it, that is, justifying with necessary reasons. Only from a superficial reading of the work, however, can it be suggested that Ramon considers all three religions equally valid. Moreover,
this possibility would be contradicted by the rest of his output in which, with some exceptions, such as the Book of the Gentile, when speaking of Jews and Muslims -or Saracens, as Christians referred to them-, he uses largely denigrating and often directly insulting terms. One only has to read the names, so politically incorrect, that he gives them in a text such as the Doctrina pueril, written shortly before the Book of the Gentile, where he dedicates whole chapters to the old law and to Mohammad. In the passages of these chapters, with a markedly controversial tone, his scorn for determined basic aspects of the Hebrew and Muslim religions is made explicit, such as the hope of the Jewish people in the coming of the Messiah and the condition of prophet Catalan International View
2001 (English translation by A. Bonner, in A. Bonner [ed.], Selected Works of Ramon Llull [1232-1316], 2 vols., Princeton [NJ], Princeton University Press, 1985). [3] These are chapters 69 and 71 of the work; see them in Ramon Llull, Doctrina pueril, critical edition by Joan Santanach, “Nova Edició de les Obres de Ramon LLull”, vol. VII, Palma de Mallorca, Patronat Ramon Llull, 2005, pp. 177-179 and 182-185.
51
Ramon Llull 700th anniversary
that Islam attributes to Mohammad.3 According to Llull, the Jewish faith is vain and unjustified, and the Muslim belief is absolutely without foundation.
Llull frequently focuses his efforts on proving the needs of the central dogmas of christianity
[4] For an analysis of the argument developed around the Trinity in the Book of the Gentile, in which, moreover, the close relationship in the work between the artistic and literary elements is emphasised, see L. Badia, “Poesia i art al Llibre del gentil de Ramon Llull”, within her Teoria i pràctica de la literatura en Ramon Llull, Barcelona, Quaderns Crema, 1992, pp. 19-29. [5] See Book II, chap. 4, flower 2, “De bonea caritat”, in the cited edition of the Book of the Gentile, pp. 67-68.
52
Let us return, however, to the Book of the Gentile. The amiability of the outward forms of this work, rather more complex than the Doctrina pueril and in which Llull largely uses his own formulations and argumentations of his Art, must not confuse us. Cordiality in any case does not mean doctrinal tolerance. And any attentive reader who has followed and correctly understood the reasoning developed by the three wise men in the respective books can have no doubt about which of the three religions is finally chosen by the gentile. In the end, Llull seeks to persuade the readers, by making an effort to understand the arguments set out, to follow the same path as the gentile, and realise that only one of the three is the true one. In other words, Ramon does not offer the readers an explicit solution to the problem put forward at the end of the first book but obliges them to try to understand the reasoning of the wise men and evaluate how far this reasoning is correct so that they themselves reach the desired conclusion which, as we will see, can be but one. Llull frequently focuses his efforts on proving the needs of the central dogmas of Christianity -the Trinity and the Incarnation of Jesus Christ-, which serve to individualise it with respect to other religions.4 If we focus on Catalan International View
the second, we see that in the Gentile he not only justifies the divinity of Jesus Christ but inevitably introduces doubts into two questions that, as I have already pointed out, he had fully rejected in the Doctrina pueril: the Jewish hope in the advent of the Messiah and the prophetic character of the figure of Mohammad. When speaking of the coming of the Messiah, in the second book of the work, the Jewish wise man justifies the situation of subordination and of captivity that his people suffered in the 13th century for their love of God; God, in his turn, would take pity on them and send them a Messiah, so that they would be freed from captivity and worship the divinity as they should; if not, the goodness of God would not be perfect in terms of greatness, power and love.5 However, the gentile asks him a question and makes a comment that demolishes his arguments. In the first place, he asks him how long they have been in this captivity, and the wise man responds that it has been more than 1,200 years, which puts us around the year 70 AD, the moment of the fall of Jerusalem. The wise man adds, moreover, that this is the third captivity they have had to suffer and that, although they know the cause of the first two -that of Babylonia and Egypt-, they do not know the reason for the present one. The comments by the gentile, who the wise man no longer responds to, suggest a possible cause for the captivity. It could be, affirms the character, that the Jews have committed a sin, without being aware of it, by having acted against the goodness of God, and that they cannot liberate themselves from their captivity until they recognise this fault and ask for forgiveness. Clearly, the gentile, who we must sup-
Ramon Llull 700th anniversary
pose still knows nothing of Christianity -the Christian wise man speaks in the next book-, offers a decontextualized situation, but which any reader who is minimally familiar with the Gospels must relate and identify with the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. In accordance with this then, the reader must understand that the Jews can only be liberated from their captivity when they recognize that the crucifixion of Christ was an act against divine goodness and, consequently, when they convert to Christianity. Much the same happens when justifying the condition of prophet attributed by the Muslim wise man to Mohammad, in the fourth book. The Jewish and Christian wise men still remain silent while the gentile asks various questions that, although being formulated from the respect that any disciple must show the master, serve to warn the reader.6 In the end, when the Muslim wise man explains his articles of faith, the gentile has already heard the explanations of the Christian and has been able to see the artistic validity -in the sense of being founded in the Art- of the incarnation of Jesus Christ, a decisive point in the creation and overcoming of original sin. And the response that the gentile makes in this case to the Saracen about Mohammad goes precisely in this direction; that is, emphasising a logical inconsistency in the reasoning of the
wise man, who would have fallen into contrariety between two divine dignities. And this, according to figure A of the Art, is impossible.7 In short, there is cordiality, but absolutely no ideological or doctrinal concessions to the rival. The Book of the Gentile is a complex and difficult text, which Llull wrote thinking about a public capable of understanding the mechanism of the Art and, therefore, with a sufficiently rooted philosophical and theological training to understand the subtleties. Nothing to do with the Doctrina pueril, aimed at readers with a far more inferior training and incapable of correctly evaluating the arguments of the three wise men -something which explains that Llull, in the Doctrina, heavily simplifies the positions and, therefore, avoids any doctrinal confusion. Although this analysis of the Book of the Gentile waters down the tolerant and dialoguing image that today we tend to associate with Ramon, it is only through a profound and attentive knowledge of the meaning of his work that we can correctly evaluate his contribution. This does not, of course, undermine the fact that Ramon was one of the medieval authors who took contact with the other most seriously and who made most effort to establish points of dialogue. But he did so with marked cards.
[6] See Book IV, art. 3, flower 1, “De bonea granea”, in the cited edition of the Book of the Gentile, pp. 162-163. [7] See Book III, art. 6, flower 1, “De bonea granea”, in the cited edition of the Book of the Gentile, pp. 116-117.
(*) Joan Santanach Professor of Medieval Literature at the University of Barcelona
Catalan International View
53
Barcelona Echoes
The New Camp Nou The New Camp Nou, with its unique design, was unveiled to the world this March. It is a stadium fit for the twenty-first century that excels in its inclusive spirit of openness. The grandstand of the current Camp Nou held a ceremony bursting with symbolism. It was attended by the Board of Directors, headed by President Josep Maria Bartomeu, representatives from the sporting world and the Catalan government, former players who had helped write the history of the stadium and the players and coaches from Barça’s first team.
President Bartomeu spoke of a historic day: ‘Camp Nou will be open, eyecatching and a new icon for Barcelona. Everyone wins’. The proposal made by the team consisting of Japanese architecture firm Nikken Sekkei and Catalan PascualAusió Arquitectes was chosen on 8 March by the Espai Barça jury, comprised of four members of the Board of Directors, the architect Juan Pablo Mitjans, -son of Francesc Mitjans, architect of the current stadium-, three members of the College of Architects of Catalonia and a representative of Barcelona city council. The renovation project will convert the current stadium into a New Camp Nou: open, without a conventional façade, serene, timeless, Mediterranean and democratic. The architectural project for the New Camp Nou retains the uniqueness of Camp Nou’s stadium, with its distinctively shaped grandstand, which adds great sentimental value to the stadium created by Mitjans. Nikken Sekkei and Pascual-Ausió plan to extend the canopy to cover the whole stadium, across all three levels, and the roof itself. The proposal intends to turn the canopy towards the street, flowing outwards, forming an overhang which in turn will cover the public areas. The New Camp Nou will be one of its kind in the world. The winning proposal thus maintains the current stadium’s excellence with space for 105,000 spectators and 54
Catalan International View
all manner of facilities. The New Camp Nou will be seamlessly integrated into its surroundings, the so-called Barça Campus; doing away with the barriers and fences between the stadium and the neighbourhood, it will be completely open to the city, thus creating a new green space. In the New Camp Nou every seat in the stadium will have excellent sightlines. The first tier will be steeper, incorporating a design with an innovative, parabolic shape. The second tier retains the perfect structure and visibility of the current stadium, but with improved comfort, accessibility and services, as does the third level, which will completely encircle the grandstand. The very top of the stadium will be ringed by a walkway with 360-degree views, which will be connected to both the stadium and the city.
A stadium integrated into the neighbourhood and the city
The New Camp Nou’s position within Espai Barça, and its integration within the Les Corts neighbourhood and Barcelona as a whole, is one of the most significant characteristics of the winning proposal. The whole forms a spacious setting, with the absence of vehicles, changes in levels or barriers. The building work will be carried out without interrupting matches in the stadium. The construction will take place in various phases ending during
Barcelona Echoes
the 2020/21 season, though the definitive timing is subject to the project being accepted as part of the New Metropolitan Plan and the the Espai Barça urban planning project. Commissioner Jordi Moix and the Espai Barça team, led by William T. Mannarelli, are working alongside the institutions and teams of architects to develop urban plans and architectural projects, in coordination with the Barcelona city council and the Catalan government, local residents and various organizations. The Social Area of FC Barcelona will also oversee, in conjunction with leading companies in the sector, the migration process by which members who have seats in the current stadium will be assigned seats in the New Camp Nou. The stadium’s enlargement will allow for seats to be allocated to many members
currently on the waiting list, while also providing an opportunity for relatives and friends to be seated together, and to improve the provisions for members with reduced mobility.
The Espai Barça Exhibition
The Espai Barça Exhibition, dedicated to the New Camp Nou, was inaugurated following the event. The exhibition, which is being held in the Sala París, opened its doors to coincide with the launch of the new Palau Blaugrana and now displays every architectural detail of the winning project for the New Camp Nou. Club members, supporters and members of the public from Barcelona and around the world can visit this public exhibition. It is a unique opportunity to see the architectural model of a stadium that is truly one of a kind.
(*) Ariadna Canela (Barcelona, 1979) holds a degree in Philosophy and a degree in Advertising and Public Relations from the Universitat de Barcelona. An inveterate traveller, she combines her creative side as a sculptor and artistic creator with her collaboration with organizations involved with international analysis and cooperation for development.
Catalan International View
55
Barcelona Echoes
The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya Urban Master Plan: orderly economic and industrial development by Joan Fontserè*
The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya’s Pla Director Urbanístic [Urban Master Plan] (PDU) is a model which emerged from the needs of the territory. The most recent plan was drafted 25 years ago, and therefore fails to meet current needs. In this context, there was a genuine attempt to create a new framework within which to direct the urban model towards a balanced development of the municipalities in which the Circuit is located: Montmeló, Granollers and Parets del Vallès.
T
he new framework allows for the construction of a veritable urban centre for activities related to the automotive world, through an intermunicipal agreement in order to support sustainable growth of the municipalities with the needs arising from the management of the Circuit, while promoting and stimulating the economic engine which it represents. Meanwhile, the planning integrates the development of the area surrounding the Circuit, while respecting certain environmental and landscape criteria, and providing the infrastructure and connections that will enable economic activity and for each piece of land to be used as intended. The urbanistic criteria that have been selected to replace the existing ones are based on the following requirements: providing the country with the conditions that allow it to exploit the Circuit’s potential, integrating the installation into its environment, responding to new demands which a first class installation such as the Circuit requires, defining a new framework of supra-municipal alignment, defining and managing supra-municipal stakeholders and defining and limiting land
56
Catalan International View
usage intended for large infrastructure projects. The process of drafting the PDU began in 2012 at a time of low urban development pressure. For three years, the Government of Catalonia, Incasòl, the RACC, the Circuit and the three councils concerned undertook the rigorous, meticulous task that has resulted in an Urban Master Plan that not only means the Circuit is at a world-class level, so too is the county, Vallès Oriental, and Catalonia as a whole. The urban framework has been revised in order to meet the new demands and needs of a world-class installation at the highest level, rethinking and adapting aspects already contained in the existing special plan while including new ones, taking into consideration the likely social, environmental and economic impact. A thorough job has been done as part of the process of drawing up the plan, carrying out an analysis of the territory and systematically combining all the elements, creating a hub of economic activity and ensuring the sustainable development of the surrounding towns. As a result, the Barcelona Commission on Territorial Planning approved the Urban Master
Barcelona Echoes
Plan (PDU) relating to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in order to ensure orderly economic and industrial development of the territory. The Urban Master Plan covers an area of 574.22 hectares and operates in four sectors: the Circuit’s home straight, plus Can Guitet, Can RibaCan Ninou and Palou Sud, which I will examine in more detail below. The Circuit’s home straight sector (12 hectares) is planned for entertainment and recreational use, as well as offices, research centres and the manu-
facture of technology. This is the area which has already begun to produce the initial results: the Campos Racing team has confirmed it will base its R & D centre here in order to develop highperformance electric vehicles. The team has an excellent track record and is internationally respected in the world of motoring. It has partnered with the Chinese company BAIC BJEV to jointly expand at the international level in creating both electric vehicles for general usage and sports and competition vehicles. This has been one of the Catalan International View
57
Barcelona Echoes
first fruits of the PDU, with many more on the way, thus strengthening the economic projection model the PDU represents. The Can Riba-Can Ninou area (29.89 hectares) will be aimed at recreation and leisure pursuits, although it also includes the installation of hotels, which will cater to the Vallès Oriental county in particular, and Catalonia as a whole, with greater hotel capacity. This would mean it will more comfortably absorb extra demand generated by the Circuit with the activities that take place there, not only during races, but the rest of the year. Keeping in mind that the Circuit de Barcelona-
58
Catalan International View
Catalunya was in use 90% of the time in 2015, taking into account race days, daily rentals and events such as private training sessions, presentations, filming and corporate events among many others. The Can Guitet sector (35.36 hectares), which covers land between the Circuit and the towns of Montmeló and Parets del Vallès, has an extensive industrial network which will allow for the introduction of additional services, primarily office space, for technology, research and education, either for vocational training or at the university level. The Palou Sud area (26.72 hectares) is intended for recreational use,
Barcelona Echoes
with free-time activities and sports facilities, with the possibility of building a go-kart track, a driving school and so on. These complementary activities are necessary to further enhance the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya and its surroundings as a centre for activities related to the automotive world. It is also significant that the development of the PDU has been created with the use of criteria which respect mobility, and the integration of the facilities with the environment, thus reducing the Circuit’s impact on the environment, while paying special attention to preserving the passage of the River Congost and the surrounding forests. The Circuit takes its environmental impact seriously. It demonstrates its commitment to continuous improvement of its environmental performance with its ISO 14001-2004 certification. The Circuit takes its environmental responsibilities seriously, since it regularly hosts large events and carries out activities on a daily basis. To this end, one of its major objectives is the gradual, on-going reduction of any negative effects which the installation might have on the environment and people’s welfare. In this respect, the environment has been a priority in the drafting of the PDU. In short, the Urban Master Plan has firstly provided a solution to a problem involving the area, which was in need of a new organisational plan in order to provide it with economic visibility. This will promote economic regeneration around the Circuit as key in-
frastructure which promotes regional competitiveness, making it the centre of activity that will increase the chances of bringing new jobs and investment to the area. New opportunities for economic development that will enrich the cities of the Vallès Oriental district and Catalonia as a whole.
With its Urban Master Plan, the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is confirming its position as an economic engine of Catalonia as a whole Thanks to the PDU, which has been meticulously prepared over a period of several years, the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya will create synergies throughout the region and promote an area specialized in the motor world, a strategic focal point that will stimulate the region’s economy via urban planning. Industrial uses, sport and services for these four areas of activity will undoubtedly bring technological innovation, with the promotion of talent and entrepreneurship, as well as the creation of start-ups. With its Urban Master Plan, the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is confirming its position as an economic engine of the Vallès Oriental area and Catalonia as a whole, with a model that will help us achieve ‘pole position’ at all levels to everyone’s benefit: employees, entrepreneurs, the public and, ultimately, to residents of Vallès Oriental and Catalonia as a whole.
(*) Joan Fontserè (Sant Feliu de Codines, 1974) holds a degree in Business Administration and Marketing. With a distinguished career in the sporting world, he has worked for companies such as TopFun and Octagon Esedos. In 2011 he became Director of the Centre d’Alt Rendiment [High Performance Centre] in Sant Cugat, where he worked until his appointment as CEO of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, in June 2015. He is also councillor for Sant Feliu de Codines.
Catalan International View
59
A Short Story from History
Curated by Jordina Arnau
Josep Milà: summits of freedom Josep Milà’s name is synonymous with passion for the mountains and the defence of freedom. This vigourous 94 year-old has led a courageuous, defiant life, which has yet to be told. His is one of those stories which unfortunately is not well known, and which is typical of the Catalan people’s rebellious nature when it comes to defending their cultural, social and political rights when they have been denied. Milà is one of the pioneers of Catalan mountaineering who carved out a brilliant career across the five continents but whose exploits have gone unreported in the media. Why? The answer is simple: Milà carried out his sporting achievements during the darkest days of the Franco dictatorship. He was subject to the regime’s disapproval for the highly political nature of his mountaineering, through which he called for an end to the dictatorial regime while promoting Catalan nationalism.
‘I fell in love with the mountains at a time of war, but I wasn’t able to enjoy them until peacetime, and even then not entirely, since I was persecuted’
The story begins, however, at the end of the Spanish Civil War (19361939) when Milà was a young farmer who was only 16 years old when he was
60
Catalan International View
involved in the conflict. He became part of what was known as the 3rd ‘Hypomobile’ Battalion of the 26th division of the Republican army (the former Durruti Column). The battalion was engaged in resupplying the frontline in the mountains with food and ammunition. Milà himself says, ‘I fell in love with the mountains at a time of war, but I wasn’t able to enjoy them until peacetime, and even then not entirely, since I was persecuted’. After his experiences on the frontline he was forced to spend some months in a French concentration camp, Vernet d’Ariège, together with eleven other prisoners from his hometown (the so-called ‘Vilafranca Consulate’). Upon his release he refused to fight for France against Nazism. Instead he returned home, to the small town of Vilafranca del Penedès, located some 60 kilometres from Barcelona. The situation was bleak, however, as a result of the repression by the Franco regime which he tried to resist: the denial of one’s own language, the right to free association which he defended and
the cultural expressions which he had experienced as a young man. Faced with such a situation, Milà’s passion for the mountains once more took hold of his life, which he used as an excuse not to attend mass, which was held by the falangistas [the sole legal political party under the Francoist dictatorship] every Sunday all over Spain. In an interview Milà declared that the mountain was literally a means of escape during the Franco years. He and a few friends began to go on trips to the mountains of the Penedès region,
a pastime which became increasingly popular and resulted in the founding of the Joventut Excursionista Vilafranquina [the Vilafranca Young Hikers Association] in 1943. This secular alternative to the obligation to attend Sunday mass was the cornerstone of all of Milà’s subsequent activities in the Penedès region, from the upkeep of streams and paths for public use to group outings and all manner of camping trips in order to foster collaborative spaces in which to conceal the people’s new-found desire for debate and freedom. Catalan International View
61
Six years after beginning such activities Milà was arrested, tortured and tried for producing ‘illegal propaganda’. What offence had he committed exactly? It turns out that Milà had taken to leaving cards with the Catalan flag at the summit of numerous peaks across the Pyrenees, with texts written in Catalan such as the following: ‘Catalan glory, we sing and we feel in our hearts. All with one voice, long live the motherland’. Such verses perfectly illustrate the degree to which mountaineering served as a means for Milà to denounce the linguistic and cultural repression exercised by the Franco dictatorship and to express his people’s desire for freedom. Following his trial, the Spanish Federation of Mountaineering expelled
62
Catalan International View
Milà for life from every hiking organisation. This left him unable to obtain a passport or travel document. Milà recalls that, ‘Since the Maquis [the antiFranco guerrilla movement] were still active at that time, one had to obtain permission to go to the mountains. They never issued me with another document. What’s more, I had to report to the police every week for two years. For many years I had to do mountaineering while being afraid in case they caught me’. Shockingly, Milà’s conviction stood for 55 years and he was unable to obtain the licence in question until 2004, although the Franco period theoretically ended in 1975. Milà was not deterred by the obstacles the Federation placed in his way.
He did not hesitate to disobey them and travel to the Alps. He climbed the summit of the Matterhorn and Montblanc in 1960 thanks to the help of an acquaintance who worked for the police in Barcelona. Milà was not only at risk of facing prison for continuing to spread propaganda in favour of the freedom of Catalonia, he also suffered extreme hardship and the threat of frostbite since, among other things, he climbed while only wearing a pair of Chiruques (thin-soled shoes which lacked waterproofing). Stepping up the pace of civil disobedience, Milà began a career that combined mountaineering with the call for freedom for Catalonia. He travelled to over 150 countries in total and climbed
many of the highest peaks in the world, with the exception of Everest due to a lack of funds. Throughout this period Milà was involved in passing on his vast knowledge to others, making him a leading figure for those who feel a true passion for the mountain. Without an ounce of rivalry, never once giving up, Milà’s exploits included climbing Kilimanjaro at the age of 70. Milà’s fascinating career made an impact on the international stage, while being greeted with complete silence in Spain. It was not until the arrival of democracy that he was officially recognised by a number of institutions, with awards such as the Generalitat’s Forjador de la Història Esportiva de Catalunya Medal [awarded to those who have made a major contribution to Catalan sporting history], which he received in 1989. Milà’s story is thought-provoking because, unfortunately, a display of Catalan identity in an elite sport is still an uncommon sight and not the norm. A recent instance is that of Núria Picas. After winning the Ultra Trail World Tour, the Spanish Federation threatened to strip her of her title if she took to the podium with the estelada [the flag which represents Catalan independence], while also forbidding her from carrying the Catalan flag. We clearly have a long way to go.
(*) Jordina Arnau (La Selva del Camp, 1991) a journalist with extensive experience in the field of television. She began her career in local television in La Selva del Camp, Tarragona and Reus, before working for Televisió de Catalunya. She is currently working as a freelancer on several documentary projects, including one on Josep Milà.
Catalan International View
63
64
Catalan International View
Interview
Jordi Baiget ‘We have one of the most open economies in the EU’ Interviewed by Josep Lluís Mérida Photos by Ramon Vilalta
In spite of having been in politics for over 30 years, the economist Jordi Baiget (Balaguer, 1963) has always stayed in the background, preferring to be on the sidelines. During Artur Mas’ last term in office, he took a more prominent role as Secretary to the Government, but now that he has been appointed Minister, that his name has unquestionably come to occupy the forefront of Catalan politics, leaving behind the anonymity and relative comfort he previously enjoyed while being behind the scenes. A few months ago President Puigdemont appointed Baiget Minister of the Department of Business and Knowledge in a parliament that is expected to have a short term. In his new post Baiget has been charged with the creation and consolidation of certain structures which will enable Catalonia to become a new state within the European Union. What has this change been like on the personal level, moving from a more discrete role to being at the forefront of Government? I took on this position while being fully aware of both the honour of serving my country and the responsibility it brings with it, especially at this particular moment in time. My desire is still to serve the people and the country, as it was before, when I wasn’t in the limelight. What role does the department you head play in the Government of Catalonia as a whole? Our mission is to help consolidate economic growth in order to create more stable and better-paid jobs. We can only achieve this in the context of a global economy if we support the totality of the country’s business fabric in this transformation process, and if we are committed to innovation, talent and creativity: if we can transform excellence in the field of
knowledge into new and better products and services. This is our challenge and we wish to help by supporting and stimulating economic activity. And to achieve this by connecting businesses to knowledge... Precisely. Overcoming the current economic crisis required a change in the existing economic model: we needed to promote innovative growth, based on knowledge. It is therefore of vital importance we engage with the productive economy and bring it closer to the world of knowledge. Remember that our universities and research centres are two of this country’s most valued possessions. Several of Catalonia’s 12 universities are ranked very highly, not only at the state level but at the European level and globally. Proof of this is the fact that we have an enormous capacity to attract foreign students: in the last three academic years, the number of in-
Catalan International View
65
Interview
ternational students enrolled in Catalan universities has increased by 13.4% and currently exceeds 23,000. We are also leaders in research and innovation, with more than 60 centres of investigation and a consolidated network of infrastructure, technology centres and science parks which employ some 25,200 researchers and 45,000 other staff in the research, development and innovation sectors. Business and Knowledge brings them together, facilitating exchange and creating synergies between the two worlds that must necessarily be in contact as a way to encourage growth and economic and social progress. It helps in building a new economic model that will ultimately result in us becoming a more prosperous nation.
‘Our universities and research centres are two of this country’s most valued possessions. Business and Knowledge brings them together, facilitating exchange and creating synergies between the two worlds that must necessarily be in contact’ How do we achieve the prosperity of which you speak in this period of the twenty-first century? What ought to be the foundations of this new economic model you’ve outlined for us? Firstly, we believe that industry ought to be the backbone of our economy: the main engine of growth. Such a commitment will allow us to consolidate our economic recovery while we move forward in setting up a model of sustainable economic growth with resilience to change, while generating stable, quality employment. We must not forget that this only makes sense if we build an economy that serves the people, not vice versa. In other words, if we ensure that growth is focused on ensuring better welfare and quality of life for all our citizens. Why industry exactly? Firstly, out of tradition: Catalonia has always been a country with an industrial vocation. But secondly, and more importantly, effectiveness: it has been 66
shown that the most open and essentially industrial economies have been the most resilient to the difficulties which have risen from the crisis that we have suffered in recent years. So much so that at the European level the consensus opinion is that reindustrialization is the fairest way out of recession, creating jobs and maintaining or even improving the standards of the welfare state of each society. Therefore, in Catalonia, industry is once again key. It currently directly represents 20% of our GDP, over 50% if we include related services. The challenge is to create an environment that is favourable to the development of industry. This starts with dialogue. Industry needs to feel accepted at the territorial level and we need to ensure it is taxed more favourably, with access to better infrastructure and better energy prices. When it comes to GDP, however, tourism has a big role to play in the Catalan economy... This is true. And without doubt this is another important component of our economy. Catalonia receives more than 21 million tourists each year, of which over 80% are from outside of the Spanish state: in fact, every year a quarter of the foreign tourists coming to Spain visit Catalonia. With such figures it is clear that tourism has an enormous strategic value. As a result, we wish to remain a top tourist destination. And in order to do so we wish to emphasize the quality and variety we have to offer. Looking towards the future, our challenge is to move forward in the diversification of tourism, while reducing its seasonality: in order that Barcelona, despite being one of our main attractions, is not the only one, and that tourists don’t only come during holiday periods. We are an extremely diverse country, it’s not all sun and sand; We do have beaches, of course, but we also have mountains, besides a rich cultural and culinary heritage, a strong service sector and the experience and necessary infrastructure to host all manner of congresses and fairs (such as ICT, medical sector, logistics). We ought to further emphasize our diversity when presenting Catalonia as a holiday destination. Meanwhile, Catalonia wants to become an independent state and there are voices, especially from the Spanish state, saying that the secessionist process
Catalan International View
Interview
is having a severely negative impact on the economy. Is this the case? Absolutely not. What is more, the situation is of complete normality, not only because as a country we are attracting more tourists than ever, as I just mentioned, but because we are also at a key moment in terms of attracting investments and thanks to our economy’s increasing rate of internationalization. This is crucial because investments have not only failed to decline, they have in fact increased. We are currently the European economy which attracts most foreign capital: with a growth of between almost 58% between 2014 and 2015, and the Financial Times’ FDI index names us as the southern European region which will be the most attractive to investors in the next two years. In terms of the internationalization of our economy, we have never been better off and have never had such a positive outlook: 48% of our GDP comes from sales to outside Catalonia. Thus Catalonia’s foreign exports were in the order of 64,000 million euros last year, an all-time high, representing 25.5% of total exports from the Spanish state. There is strong growth: 6.1% in 2015, well above of the 4% the Eurozone average. We have one of the most open economies in the European Union. And what do you say about the supposed exodus of companies? That repeating a lie a thousand times doesn’t make it true. There may be some companies that have relocated, but they’re few. Yes, businesses have always been moving their headquarters between different regions of the state, but this doesn’t mean closing factories or losing jobs. Madrid has lost more com-
panies than we have. The numbers speak for themselves: Catalonia lost 815 company headquarters in 2015, 17.4% less than in 2014, while Madrid lost 1,035. And this is without taking into account that businesses from other Spanish regions also set up their main offices in Catalonia.
‘Industry ought to be the backbone of our economy: it has been shown that the most open and essentially industrial economies have been the most resilient when confronting the economic crisis’ In this context, among the responsibilities of the department you head is the building of certain so-called ‘state structures’ that will allow the country to be prepared for a possible scenario of independence. What is Business and Knowledge’s role in this exactly? An important part of the work that we will be carrying out over the coming months will focus on designing and proposing different tools to complete this process. In essence this will involve the fields of energy, design and the articulation of a Catalan energy system; the international trade in goods and services; intellectual property; market regulation and the university system. But aside from specific actions, I would like to stress once again that our commitment should be made to ensuring our model of production is prosperous and sustainable: to help our business fabric to consolidate our country’s economic recovery.
Catalan International View
67
Universal Catalans
Universal Catalans
Josep Ferrater Mora
by Joan Vergés Gifra*
This year marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the death of Josep Ferrater Mora, arguably the most important Catalan philosopher of the twentieth century and one of the most remarkable intellectuals to have lived in exile. Ferrater Mora studied Philosophy at the University of Barcelona between 1932 and 1936. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War he fought at the front on the Republican side, before being wounded and subsequently forced into exile in 1939. He found refuge first in France, then in Cuba (1939-41), Chile (1941-47) and finally the USA. In 1949 he obtained a post at Bryn Mawr College (Pennsylvania), where he taught philosophy until 1981. Throughout his distinguished career Ferrater Mora was a guest lecturer at many American and European universities and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by some of these institutions. Although he always closely followed events in Spain, Ferrater Mora never again took up permanent residence here.
E
xile played a key role in Ferrater Mora’s professional and private life. Not in a tragic sense, however, which is typically the case. For Ferrater Mora, in keeping with what Josep Pla wrote of the philosopher in his celebrated portrait of him in the series Homenots, exile was ‘extremely fruitful and greatly efficient’. Ferrater Mora was obsessed with always looking ahead (he never wrote a memoir and disliked wallowing in the past) and, like the philologist Joan Coromines, was able to capitalize on the opportunities the host country offered him. His work is proof of this. Ferrater Mora’s legacy in philosophy is extraordinary for a number of
reasons. I would like to highlight two. First, even though his work was continually evolving and being reviewed (he characterized it as an ‘open system’ and, indeed, this was the title of the seminar he gave in 1989 to inaugurate the Ferrater Mora Chair in Girona), it also constitutes a solid, distinctive body of work. There are philosophers who excel in having a unique way of thinking, but that do not give us much of an idea of the intellectual period in which they lived. There are others, however, who provide us with a useful image of the time in which they lived but who stand out for failing to have said anything original. This is not the case with Ferrater Mora. His work allows us to Catalan International View
69
Universal Catalans
do both at once: immerse ourselves in the fundamental intuitions of the author and his style and at the same time observe the changes experienced by philosophy over most of the last century. His work acts as both a voice and a testimony.
Ferrater Mora has a unique philosophical insight that is characterized by being constantly alert to changes and developments occurring in the philosophical and scientific discussions of the moment
Indeed, Ferrater Mora has a unique philosophical insight. It is a thought that is characterized, among other things, by being constantly alert to changes and developments occurring in the philosophical and scientific discussions of the moment. For example, he introduced applied ethics to Spain in the early 1980s (see Ética aplicada [Applied Ethics], 1981), in conjunction with Priscilla Cohn. And before that he made a major contribution to introducing the study of formal logic (see Lógica matemática [Mathematical Logic], 1955) to Spain. This attention to developments and changes in the discipline is clearly evident in the evolution of his intellectual interests and how he approached them. In the early phase of his philosophical output, Ferrater Mora aligned himself with the currents which dominated the European continent until the mid-twentieth century, phenomenology and existentialism in particular. During his exile in the US, however, he fully immersed himself in the so-called Anglo-Saxon analytical philosophy. Ferrater Mora’s ‘continental’ baggage and his ‘analytical’ approach profoundly 70
Catalan International View
affected the way in which he conducted philosophy. In this style, particular attention is paid to the ‘way of doing’ philosophy and the use of language. In fact, his poet friend Joan Oliver (also known by the pseudonym ‘Pere Quart’), with whom he maintained an ongoing correspondence over many years, called Ferrater Mora, ‘a philosopher who loves language almost as much as a poet. To be sure, his love of language is a thinker’s love’. This concern for changes in knowledge and the way of doing philosophy, however, did not prevent Ferrater Mora from producing work containing his own original thoughts. According to Ferrater Mora, one can find the essential part of his thoughts in his essays El ser y la muerte [Being and Death] (1962), De la materia a la razón [From Matter to Reason] (1979), Fundamentos de f ilosofía [Foundations of Philosophy] (1985, a reformulation of El ser y el sentido of 1967), Indagaciones sobre el lenguaje [Enquiries into Language] (1970) and his long prologue to Ética aplicada [Applied Ethics] (1981). His most significant contribution to philosophical thought is his commitment to so-called ‘integrationism’. In the definition provided by the most recent edition of his Diccionario de Filosofía [Dictionary of Philosophy], Ferrater Mora states that integrationism is ‘both a method and a philosophical point of view’ that had passed through different phases. In his later period he identified with an ‘interest in the analysis of certain concepts in order to show that, in certain basic instances, two concepts can be opposed and, at the same time be complementary’. This, essentially methodological approach was based on an assumption in which realities (physical, organic, mental entities, human action, institutions and so on) are
Universal Catalans
irreducible in themselves, yet form a continuous materialistic foundation. A second reason why Ferrater Mora’s legacy is extraordinary is due to the instrumental nature of his written work. His Dictionary of Philosophy is of particular interest. A colossal work that was first published in Mexico in 1941 and eventually consisted of four volumes. It is the most comprehensive dictionary on philosophical matters ever written by a single individual. Seven editions have so far been published, the most recent, in 1994, being an expanded edition -at the hands of Josep M. Terricabras- and reprinted on numerous occasions. Even today, every self-respecting student of philosophy has a copy on their bookshelf. It is a vital addition to any university library. Ferrater Mora dedicated a sustained effort to his Dictionary throughout his career, spanning many decades. It goes without saying that it was not his favourite work. It even came to be an unwanted obligation. He once wrote that, ‘it is not merely a reference book: it is, if I may be so bold, a kind of “universe” of which I am unable to rid myself forever more, like a cumbersome burden’. What is undeniable is that the book was his life. And as such, it is therefore the work that allows us to get closer -or with less ambiguity- to Ferrater Mora’s personality. A personality that some see as typically Catalan. It is of note that,
in 1944, he published Les formes de la vida catalana [The Forms of Catalan Life], a surprisingly successful work, which associates Catalan identity with traits of continuity, wisdom, moderation and irony.
His Dictionary of Philosophy is of particular interest. A colossal work that was first published in Mexico in 1941. When the writer Josep Pla paid Ferrater Mora a visit in the autumn of 1963 he recalled that the famous historian Américo Castro, also exiled in the US, always said that a work like the Dictionary could only have been written by a Catalan, ‘in other words, a grafter endowed with an almost morbid, granitelike determination’. To which Ferrater Mora replied, ‘Maybe it’s not so strange. What seems clear is that in general Catalans have a strong work ethic -specifically akin to an artisan. Catalans have the background of a craftsman. I was born on Princess Street, in a working-class neighbourhood. It shapes one’s character’. Death surprised Ferrater Mora in Barcelona (on a visit to promote his latest novel, La señorita Goldie) on 31 January 1991, the same city in which he was born on 30 October 1912.
(*) Joan Vergés Gifra (Banyoles, 1972) Professor of Political Philosophy at the Universitat de Girona and Director of the Ferrater Mora Chair of Contemporary Thought. He has been Consultant Professor at the UOC (Open University of Catalonia, Humanities), Adjunct Professor at the UAB (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Humanities) and Visiting Professor at the UPF (Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Political Sciences). A Visiting Fellow at the University of Harvard (1997-98) and Visiting Scholar at the University of Oxford (1999).
Catalan International View
71
Green Debate
A Catalan proposal for a law to tackle climate change by Josep Enric Llebot*
Since December 2015 we have been bombarded by news reports on the climate and its future. This was topped by reports a few months ago that the Arctic ice sheet has once again reached an all-time minimum, in keeping with the fact that the northern hemisphere has once again experienced a particularly mild winter. The likely cause of these events is a particularly intense episode of the Southern Oscillation, more commonly known as El NiĂąo, which causes a steep reduction in fishing catches and rainfall around Christmas time along the coast of Peru. It is known that the phenomenon substantially affects weather patterns in many parts of the world, causing effects such as drought in certain places while producing heavy rains and flooding in others. We are clearly experiencing a change in environmental conditions associated with global warming. We must ask ourselves if everyone is sufficiently aware of this fact and whether enough is being done to remedy the situation.
T
he UN Conference on Climate Change which took place in Paris from 30 November to 12 December 2015 was designed to provide a boost to the international management of climate change mitigation. According to the evaluation of governments, the media and leading environmental organizations and social movements, it would seem that a major step forward has been taken in reducing the impact of global warming. However, the positive appraisal was not unanimous. There are those in the world of science and social activism who also question the effectiveness of the Paris Agreement on two grounds: firstly, by seeing it as being unambitious in terms of its goals and secondly, for employ-
72
Catalan International View
ing voluntary commitments which fail to even guarantee to achieve the agreed objectives. As a result, the agreement’s detractors have described it as a monumental fraud. Moreover, many independent observers, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have been saying for years that the path to ensuring global warming does not exceed 2° Celsius involves greater efforts than the current agreements and that the later such steps are taken, the harder it will be to face up to them and implement them. Christiana Figueres, the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), justifies the apparent contradiction between a gener-
Green Debate
ally positive, optimistic evaluation of the agreement, with a simultaneous acceptance of its technical failure in achieving its objectives, by arguing that in order to ensure effective, concrete action, focusing on the technical aspect is not enough. We must also take into account the vision of those who will put it into practice and the societies in which it must operate. There is no denying that the Paris Agreement represents a major shift compared to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. In Kyoto climate change was managed in a more homogeneous manner, with developed countries being required to reduce their emissions while developing nations had no emissions obligations. The world has changed a great deal since then and the sources of
atmospheric emissions have increased both in number and intensity. As a result, everyone voluntarily agreed to the Paris Climate Conference, though not unconditionally, to reduce emissions while also working towards the common goal of limiting global temperature rise to a maximum of 2° Celsius. The agreement uses a common methodology, opting for transparency, with countries making a commitment to regularly report back on their agreements and evaluating them in light of changes in global temperature. In the past, climate science led the debate on climate change. Now however, there is essentially no need for debate. No rigorous arguments exist for questioning either the existence of Catalan International View
73
Green Debate
the problem or its cause. Nevertheless, debate does exist as to how we should act. A model emerged in Paris that was the result of a political agreement containing the basic, essential elements in order to achieve the objectives which had been outlined and accepted by all: developed and developing countries, warm and cold, continental and island, those with fossil fuel reserves and those with few energy resources, those with vulnerable populations and societies and those with the capacity to adapt. The agreement still leaves outstanding questions, apart from the formal aspect of ratification, which are not answered in the way the agreement was drafted, particularly with regard to funding the minimum of $100 billion a year which has been established in order to help countries with little economic resources to put into practice their climate policies, or the concept of responsibility for the losses and damages caused by events attributable to climate change.
In the past, climate science led the debate on climate change. Now however, there is essentially no need for debate. No rigorous arguments exist for questioning either the existence of the problem or its cause.
One aspect that has always arisen in the negotiations is that the achievement of objectives in order to build a low-carbon economy and a society which is resilient to climate change is an issue that depends on management at various territorial levels. States and organizations that represent various states are those which negotiate and establish agreements under the auspices of the United Nations. Nevertheless, these must be implemented in areas 74
Catalan International View
where responsibilities for management also fall on the governments of cities, and regional governments. For this reason, organizations representing cities and regions have gradually been given more of a voice in discussions on climate management and this concern has been incorporated into various points of the texts that emerged in Paris. Climate change manifests itself as global warming, which induces profound changes in the functioning of the planet’s climate, which in turn impacts the activities occurring in our society, such as agriculture and health. Greenhouse gas emissions are the direct cause of global warming. These are the result of many activities which are fundamental to the functioning of our society, such as the generation of energy and the transportation of goods and people. In addition, both the causes and the effects occur to different degrees in different countries. In short, to act on the problem one must act according to one’s region and industry. To this end, the various levels of government in Catalonia, well aware of their responsibilities and the importance of their actions, have developed and implemented plans to mitigate and adapt to climate change and, most recently, the Catalan government has taken an important step by drafting a law on climate change, which is to be debated during the coming months in the Parliament of Catalonia. The general objectives of the climate change law are to ensure that Catalonia moves towards an economic model based on low carbon emissions, that its actions are consistent with EU climate policy and that the Catalan government consolidates its competence in both mitigation and adaptation. It also seeks to guarantee the Catalan administration’s role in coordinating steps to reduce climate change and to encourage par-
Green Debate
ticipation and transparency in climate policies. The bill which has been put forward opts for a model that is based on incentives, rather than obligation and control. The set of measures and instruments outlined in the law seek to establish a framework to facilitate a smooth transition to a low-carbon economy, in order that those activities which are consistent with the objectives of the law can benefit from it. The aim is to clearly establish the objectives which are to be achieved, while providing freedom as to how they are to be achieved, in keeping with the Paris Agreement. The bill’s organizational model and means of establishing flexible goals are based on the systematic, independent evaluation of results. These stipulate that the government must present parliament with the results of the evaluations every three years at most. They will also be discussed by the Catalan Climate Council, which is made up of the leading organizations and institutions which represent the various interested parties. On one hand the bill establishes the objectives for the viable, yet necessarily ambitious reduction of emissions, while on the other it creates the Inventory of Atmospheric Emissions of Catalonia, which includes the creation of an annual Inventory of Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Catalonia. The bill also includes adaptation objectives and outlines requirements for planning instruments and sectoral programming with the aim of achieving coordina-
tion, in order to ensure public administrations take into account the climate change perspective in every area of policy making. These include provisions relating to 13 areas: agriculture and livestock, water, biodiversity, wood and forestry management, energy, industry, services and trade, infrastructure, waste, health, transport and mobility, tourism, universities and research, and planning and housing.
The bill which has been put forward opts for a model that is based on incentives, rather than obligation and control It introduces environmental taxation as a tool to promoting ways to produce and consume while making less of an environmental impact and also being less wasteful of natural resources. The bill outlines a new tax in the form of a tariff on CO2 emissions by cars and vans. A range of instruments are proposed in order for the law to achieve its aims. One such is a Climate Fund, which will be partly financed by resources provided by the Carbon Fund, created by the Spanish government, in order to build a sustainable economy. In short, the law is a legislative initiative which proposes flexible tools and objectives to lead the country towards a future in which it is less dependent on fossil fuels and uses its resources more efficiently.
(*) Josep Enric Llebot (Barcelona, 1953) is a physicist, currently Professor of Condensed Matter Physics at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). He has worked in environmental physics and, as Dean of the UAB’s Faculty of Sciences (1991-1993) he pioneered the study of Environmental Science. As Secretary of the Environment and Sustainability (2011-2016) he also backed the climate change bill in Catalonia. He is a member of the Institute of Catalan Studies (IEC) and president of the Catalan Physics Society. He was recently awarded the Generalitat of Catalonia’s St. George’s Cross.
Catalan International View
75
Science & Technology
Bioethics by María Casado*
Since the 1970s, the relationship between human beings, science and medicine has undergone a significant change. Together with standard clinical therapies, developments in biotechnology have given us the ability to intervene in fundamental life processes. The possibility of conducting a genetic diagnosis of diseases which have yet to manifest themselves, or to apply gene therapy in the treatment of certain cancers, are just two examples of radically new forms of medicine and biology that involve a change of such magnitude that it calls into question the evaluative parameters which have traditionally been used. These scientific advances and their application have made such an impact on people’s dignity and rights that it has led to problems of a global nature which are dealt with by bioethics. To quote the title of Dworkin’s1 well-known work, biotechnologies -especially when combined with computer technology- allow for ‘life’s dominion’, with its baggage of sacredness, and the fears and concerns that this can entail. Some background
[1] Life’s Dominion: An Argument about Abortion, Euthanasia, and Individual Freedom. R. Dworkin New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1993. [2] Today it is accepted that the Lutheran pastor Fritz Jahr had coined the term Bioethik long before Potter, in two papers published in 1927 and 1934 in Germany. [3] M. Baroni, El origen de la bioética como problema, [The Origin of Bioethics as a Problem] Ed.UB, Barcelona, 2016. [4] Initially part of the Faculty of Theology of Catalonia, the IBB was Spain’s first bioethics centre. It became a private foundation in 1984 and has been part of the Universitat Ramon Llull since 2000.
76
It is often said that bioethics was born in 1970, when the American oncologist Van Rensselaer Potter created the word ‘bioethics’2 to refer to the need to build a bridge between science and humanities that would analyse the new global techno-scientific problem. There is some debate as to who actually coined the term since it was also used in 1971 in the name of The Joseph and Rose Kennedy Center for the Study of Human Reproduction and Bioethics -of Georgetown University- led by gynaecologist André Hellegers and funded by the Shrivers-Kennedy family, as part of their fight against abortion. In the late 1980s and early 1990s feminist, secularist and multiculturalist thinkers joined the discipline -largely in opposition to the theologians’ bioethical monopoly. They brought new issues, perspectives and approaches to bioethical analysis, signalling a major Catalan International View
shift in bioethics that has allowed the discipline to mature and develop and, in some ways, to reshape itself3. These viewpoints found it difficult to make themselves heard as they were ignored by the bioethical establishment, which in spite of its overtly religious nature -whether Catholic or Protestant- presented itself as neutral. A similar pattern emerged in Catalonia where bioethical reflection during the early years was in the hands of the Jesuits of the Borja Institute4. Founded in 1976, the Institute was led by Father Francesc Abel i Fabre, a Jesuit priest and gynaecologist, who studied at Georgetown University under Hellegers, from whom he adopted clinical bioethics, with his religious institution’s characteristic emphasis on principlism. In the 1990s, a process of institutionalization of bioethical reflection occurred, with the emergence of the first research ethics committees in
Science & Technology
Catalonia and the Basque Country, a pattern which also occurred in the hospital field. In 1991, the Catalonia Bioethics Committee was established as an advisory body on bioethics to the government and administration of the Generalitat de Catalunya and a point of reference in the Catalan scientific community’s bioethical debate. At around the same time the University of Barcelona created its Observatory of Bioethics and Law research centre, an interdisciplinary initiative that signalled a break with the overtly religious nature of the discipline and which brought to bioethics an approach framed in terms of human rights as recognized in international instruments and constitutional principles. This development had an influence that spread beyond Catalonia’s borders and the group itself. Thanks to the support of the UNESCO Chair in Bioethics at the UB5, it became increasingly signifi-
cant. This was partly due to the regulatory impact of the Observatory’s work and the international networks which were being created at the time, in keeping with the field’s interdisciplinary nature and search for pluralism.
Bioethics is based on the recognition of the plurality of the moral choices which characterize modern societies and the search for a minimum agreed framework More recently, bioethical initiatives led by private companies, laboratories and organizations have flourished. These entities organize and finance activities in a field that has been defined as one of the main focuses of interest and ‘the issue of the twenty-first century’, according to such diverse figures as Pope John Paul II and Víctor Grifols, Catalan International View
[5] It was recognized by UNESCO in 2007, with the allocation of the UNESCO Chair in Bioethics at the University of Barcelona, unique in the Spanish state. www. bioeticayderecho.ub.edu
77
Science & Technology
president of the laboratory and foundation which bear his name.
Fundamental aspects and features
Bioethics covers numerous areas and in order to address them it is necessary to be particularly predisposed towards multidisciplinary dialogue. Arguably the best feature of this area of study is precisely its interdisciplinary nature, since it is not possible to analyse the matters it deals with by using a traditional approach of separating them into distinct branches of knowledge. The themes which are currently accepted without question as forming part of bioethics include the following: problems resulting from genetic engineering and gene therapy, mapping of the human genome, assisted reproduction, research and experimentation, sexual and reproductive health, the voluntary termination of pregnancy, sterilization, euthanasia, transplantation, the use of Big Data in health and data confidentiality, disability, neurobiology and psychiatry, AIDS, human enhancement, drugs, the prioritization of resources and access to scientific and technical progress, ecology, and the role of social responsibility in healthcare.
The idea that human dignity must always be respected and the rejection of mere technical efficiency as a valid criteria are some of the causes of developments in bioethics
[6] CBC http://comitebioetica.cat/el-comite/ que-es-la-bioetica/
78
Bioethics is based on the recognition of the plurality of the moral choices which characterize modern societies and the search for a minimum agreed framework by which individuals belonging to various ‘moral communities’ may consider themselves bound Catalan International View
by a common structure, which in turn allows for the resolution of conflicts with a sufficient degree of agreement. The development of decision-making procedures in which all stakeholders can participate is a critical step. Since our societies claim to be democratic and are undoubtedly plural, bioethical problems should be discussed before legal solutions are adopted. These in turn should be based on a consensus. A consensus relating to issues concerning such special individual and collective values is difficult to achieve. ‘Bioethics does not advocate a particular moral attitude or seek to offer certain, definitive answers. It avoids extreme moral positions while seeking a reasoned response based on critical, focused reflection, tailored to the unique nature of the particular question at hand. Bioethics does not determine what is good but rather encourages people immersed in a situation of conflict to agree to their own answers through dialogue and mutual respect’6. In order for this to happen we should focus on the search for compromise in developing rules which are acceptable to most citizens regardless of their ideological stance.
Bioethics and the Law
It is imperative that societies, legislatures and governments take into consideration that the adoption of certain policies involves choosing a particular model which excludes others and which ought not to be agreed upon without prior reflection and debate. Ultimately, however, if no agreement is reached, the law has to establish the limits of what is allowed, resulting in the close relationship between bioethics and the law, -understood as a rule of conduct arising from the will of society as a whole-. In our country we have numerous legal provisions which deal with issues relating to Bioethics, such
Science & Technology
as the Assisted Human Reproduction Law, the Transplantation and Organ Donation Law, the General Health Law and in particular the Law on Patient Autonomy, which establishes a model of doctor-patient relationships based on the principle of informed consent and respect for the autonomy of the healthcare worker.
Need for collective involvement
The idea that certain lines should not be crossed, the idea that human dignity must always be respected and the rejection of mere technical efficiency as a valid criteria are some of the causes
of developments in bioethics. A debate involving the whole of society should allow for an evaluation which accompanies and guides the changes and which builds systems which control its consequences, taking into account that prevention is better than cure, which in this area can be almost impossible7. Catalonia has a long tradition of dialogue and engagement with a civil society which is fully involved; both provide favourable conditions for success in this collective task, which must be based on the respect for others (autonomy), understood as solidarity out of respect (justice).
[6] Casado, M. coord. Materiales de bioética y derecho [Bioethical Material and the Law], Cedecs, Barcelona, 1996.
(*) María Casado (Huelva, 1952) is Director of the Observatory of Bioethics and Law at the University of Barcelona (UB) and Holder of the UNESCO Chair in Bioethics. Professor of Philosophy of Law. Coordinator of the Consolidated Research Group: Bioethics, Law and Society. Founder and director of the UB’s Masters in Bioethics and Law.
Catalan International View
79
The Artist
Manel Esclusa
Skin and Shadow ‘Manel Esclusa puts an end to intrigue and instead fixes moments with a blast of beauty. The effect does not call for indifference, instead it sincerely calls us to follow him in all manner of balancing acts. The photographs will explode inside us without the need to move the figures, since the harmony on a higher plane will identify us with the creator of the work. The miracle appears in the marking of reality; the act of playing with balances will produce all manner of forms with an ease of means.’ Joan Brossa in Manel Esclusa. Pell i ombra [Manel Esclusa. Skin and Shadow]. Fundació Vila Casas (2016). Manel Esclusa (Vic, 1952) was introduced to photography by his father when he was just eight years old; he picked up techniques during regular visits to his father’s photography studio. Between 1966 and 1972 Esclusa worked with his father in the field of commercial photography. In 1974, Esclusa won a photography scholarship from the Art Castellblanch Endowment Fund, allowing him to attend the Stage Internationaux de la Photographie, in Arles, where his teachers included such luminaries as Ansel Adams, Neal White, Arthur Trees, Ian Dieuzaide, Denis Briat and Lucien Clergue. Esclusa sees photography as a space for reflection and art. His technical knowledge 80
allows him to explore and experiment with these possibilities, without being limited to their testimonial or documentary qualities, but rather exploring its technical possibilities to capture scenes with unique lighting and colour. The author places his work between light and shadow and favours the creation of spaces for nocturnal poetry, which can project the result of an investigation into the exposure times and movement. His work ultimately exhibits a certain abstract condition in which forms and volumes recreate cadences of silent rhythms with a wide chromatic range, to reveal the nuances to be found between the whites and the blacks.
Catalan International View
The Artist
Esclusa’s spaces, which prioritise urban environments and their architectures, are timeless places which are substantially dreamlike, the product of a ghostly unconscious, which refer to memories of cities seized by weightlessness and semi enchantment. Nonetheless, they reveal an unexpected life and show the viewer the dynamism of their structural and architectural lines, along with flashes of light that emphasize fleeting time and moments. Manel Esclusa’s work has been awarded numerous prizes over the years and has been exhibited in galleries and art centres around the world. Since 1975, he has combined his creative projects with his work as a professor of
photography at the EINA University School of Design and Art, Barcelona and the Institute of Photographic Studies of Catalonia. Skin and Shadow, under the curatorship of Glòria Bosch, features some of the works that were part of the award-winning exhibition and accompanying book Barcelona, ciutat imaginada [Barcelona, Imagined City] (1988), currently preserved in the Arxiu Fotogràfic de Barcelona [Photographic Archive of Barcelona] alongside those from the Barcelona, pell i ombra [Barcelona, Skin and Shadow] project (2010), in a space dedicated to the works from the La pell efímera [Ephemeral Skin] series (2009-2015).
Catalan International View
81
A Poem Curated by Enric Bou Professor in Iberian Studies, Università Ca’ Foscari di Venezia
TENDRA ÉS LA NIT (Homenatge a S. Fitzgerald) No hi ha rics a la nit! No hi ha corbs a la nit! Rossinyols té la nit, Només caça a la nit! Cap carronya a la nit! Els bancs tanquen de nit! Tots venim de la nit! Tots tornem a la nit! No hi ha rics a la nit! Tendra tendra és la nit! [de Cants fondos, 2008]
82
Catalan International View
A Poem
TENDER IS THE NIGHT (Homage to S. Fitzgerald) No rich people at night! No crows at night! Nightingales have the night Only hunting at night! No carrion at night! Banks are closed at night! We all come from the night! We all go back to the night! No rich people at night! Tender tender is the night! [from Cants fondos, 2008]
[Translated by Enric Bou]
Lluís Urpinell (Barcelona, 1953) studied Catalan and English philology and has taught at the Universitat de Barcelona’s Institut de Ciències de l’Educació. He co-founded Tarotdequinze (UAB, 1972-1975), a highly influential poetry magazine. A former president of the Associació Professional de Traductors, Intèrprets i Correctors de Llengua Catalana, his published work includes Exili forçós al Walhalla (1976), Lerwick (1980), March/Arthur (1986), and a defiant Tractat d’Ofilogia (1995). He was responsible for publishing the facsimile version of the first Catalan magazine written entirely in the US, La Llumanera de Nova York. He has been defined as a gambler, mixologist, karaoke singer, English teacher, editor, simultaneous interpreter, traductologist and translator. He writes and thinks against the grain, making him an unpredictable figure who nonetheless is always working for the renewal of poetry in extremely innovative ways.
Catalan International View
83
Editorial Board Martí Anglada Former foreign news editor at TV3 (Catalonia Television). He has been foreign correspondent in the Middle East, Italy and Great Britain (1977-1984) for the Barcelona newspaper La Vanguardia and TV3’s foreign correspondent in the United States (1987-1990), Brussels and Berlin (2009-2011). He has also been an international political commentator. His books include Afers no tan estrangers [Not So Foreign Affairs] (Editorial Mina, 2008), Quatre vies per a la independència: Estònia, Letònia, Eslovàquia, Eslovènia [Four Ways To Independence: Estonia, Latvia, Slovakia, Slovenia] (Editorial Pòrtic, 2013) and La via alemanya [The German Way] (Brau Edicions, 2014). He was named the Government of Catalonia’s new delegate for France and Switzerland in September 2014.
Enriqueta Aragonès A research professor at the Institut d’Anàlisi Econòmica (IAE-CSIC) and affiliate professor at the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics. She holds a degree in Economics from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and a PhD from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. Most of her research takes place on the frontier between economics and political science. In particular she examines questions concerning political science using the instruments of economic analysis and game theory. Her articles are published in leading journals in both political science (American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science) and economics (American Economic Review, Journal of Economic Theory).
Jordi Basté (Barcelona, 1965). Journalist. He worked at Catalunya Ràdio, collaborating on Joaquim Maria Puyal’s football broadcasts( 1982-2004). He also r eported on basketball matches and presented the programs La Jornada and No ho diguis a ningú. Later he joined RAC1 radio station, where he presented the sports programT u diràs ( 2004-2007). S ince then he has been the director and presenter of the morning magazine El món a RAC1 ( currently the leading program in Catalan radio history) for whichhe received the Premi Nacional de Radiodifusió in 2010 and the Premi Òmnium Cultural de Comunicaciói n 2012. O n TV, he has w orked on Basquetmania and a s a c odirector and presenter of Gol a gol for Televisió de Catalunya (2001-2003). In 2010 Basté received the Protagonistas award for communication and in 2011 he r eceived an Ondas award in recognition of his distinguished career in broadcasting.
Enric Canela (Barcelona, 1949). Holds a degree in Chemistry from the Universitat de Barcelona (UB) and a PhD in Chemistry, specialising in Biochemistry. He has taught at the UB since 1974, where he is currently professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and collaborates on research into intracellular communication. He also conducts research on theoretical Biochemistry and regularly publishes in scientific journals of international repute. He is a member of numerous scientific societies. Between 1991 and 1995 he was vicepresident of the Catalan Society of Biology. Between 2007 and 2009 he was president of the Circle for Knowledge. Between 2007 and 2011 he was a patron of the National Agency for Evaluation, Certification and Accreditation (ANECA) in Spain. He is currently vice-rector of Science Policy at the UB.
Salvador Cardús (Terrassa, 1954). PhD in Economics at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). Visiting researcher at the University of Cambridge, Cornell University (USA) and Queen Mary College of the University of London. Currently he is professor of Sociology at the UAB and the former Dean of the Faculty of Political Sciences and Sociology. He has conducted research into the sociology of religion and culture, media, nationalism and identity. His published works include, Plegar de viure [Giving Up on Life] with Joan Estruch, Saber el temps [Understanding Time], El desconcert de l’educació [The Education Puzzle], Ben educats [Well Educated] and El camí de la independència [The Road To Independence]. In the field of journalism he was the editor of the Crònica d’Ensenyament magazine (1987-1988) and was deputy editor of the Avui newspaper (1989-1991). He contributes to ARA, La Vanguardia, Diari de Terrassa and Deia newspapers. He is a member of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans. www.salvadorcardus.cat
August Gil-Matamala Has been a practising lawyer since 1960, specialising in the fields of criminal and labour law. He has taken part in numerous cases in defence of those on trial for their demands in favour of people’s rights, as well as hearings before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Gil-Matamala fought the first successful case against the Spanish state for the violation of basic rights. He is a founder member of the Commission for the Defence of Individual Rights of the Col·legi d’Advocats de Barcelona [the Barcelona Bar Association] and the Catalan Association for the Defence of Human Rights, which he presided over from its foundation in 1985 to 2001. Gil-Matamala has also been president of both the Fundació Catalunya and the European Democratic Lawyers organization. In 2007, coinciding with his retirement, he received the Creu de Sant Jordi (St. George’s Cross, the highest honour awarded by the Catalan government).
Montserrat Guibernau Professor of Politics at Queen Mary College, University of London. Holds a PhD and an MA in Social and Political Theory from the University of Cambridge and a degree in Philosophy from the Universitat de Barcelona. She has taught at the universities of Warwick, Cambridge, Barcelona, the London School of Economics and the Open University. Guibernau has held visiting professorships at the universities of Edinburgh, Tampere, Pompeu Fabra, the UQAM (Quebec) and the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Currently she holds a visiting fellowship at the Centre for the Study of Global Governance, London School of Economics. Montserrat Guibernau is the author of numerous books and articles on nationalism, the nation-state, national identity, and national and ethnic minorities in the West from the perspective of global governance.
84
Catalan International View
Editorial Board
David Fernàndez (Vila de Gràcia, 1974) is a journalist at La Directa and a member of Coop57. He has been a member of alternative social movements since the 90s, is a member of the Amical de Mauthausen, the Intersindical Alternativa de Catalunya, Entrepobles, and the Coordinating Committee for the Prevention of Torture. He was an MP for the CUP-Alternativa d’Esquerres in the parliament of Catalonia during the 10th Legislature (2012-2015), where he chaired the Commission of Inquiry on Tax Fraud and Corruption. He currently works in the fight against poverty and social exclusion and as an activist is involved in the anti-corruption project llumsitaquigrafs.cat. He is the author of numerous books, including Cròniques del 6, Cop de CUP and Foc a la Barraca.
Manuel Manonelles A political scientist specialised in international relations and human rights, he has been Director General for Multilateral and European Affairs of the Catalan Government since June 2014; a position he combines with that of associate professor of International Relations at the University Ramon Llull (Barcelona). Member of the Steering Committee of the Jean Monnet Centre of European Excellence on ‘Intercultural Dialogue, Human Rights and Multi-level Governance’ located at the University of Padua (Italy), he has participated in the work of the Leading Group on Innovative Financing for Development (2009-13) under the coordination of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and in support of the International Commission Against the Death Penalty (2011-2). He has been special advisor to the Co-chair of the UN High Level Group for the Alliance of Civilizations, as well as director of the Foundation Culture of Peace and the World Forum of Civil Society Networks (known as the Ubuntu Forum). He has been an international electoral observer and supervisor for the OSCE and the EU on many occasions, and has participated in several international intergovernmental and non-governmental processes. He is currently the Government of Catalonia’s Director General of Multilateral Affairs.
Fèlix Martí Former president of the International Catholic Movement for Intellectual and Cultural Affairs (Pax Romana), from 1975 to 1984; director of the Catalonia magazine (1987-2002), aimed at disseminating the Catalan culture around the world; director of the UNESCO centre of Catalonia (1984-2002) and subsequently its honorary president. From 1994 to 2002 he was editor of the Catalan editions of the yearly reports of the Washington-based Worldwatch Institute, L’Estat del món [The State of the World] and Signes vitals [Vital Signs]. He promoted the Declaration on Contributions by Religions to a Culture of Peace, signed by leaders of the great religious traditions in 1994. President of the Linguapax International Institute from 2001 to 2004 and its honorary president thereafter. He published his memoirs Diplomàtic sense estat [Diplomat Without a State] in 2006. His latest book is Déus desconeguts. Viatge iniciàtic a les religions de l’Orient [Unknown Gods. Journey of Initiation Through the Religions of the East], published in 2013. He was awarded the UNESCO Human Rights Medal in 1995 and the Catalan government’s Creu de Sant Jordi award in 2002.
Eva Piquer (Barcelona, 1969).Writer and cultural journalist. Works for several newspapers and magazines. Has been a lecturer at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and a New York news correspondent. Won the 2002 Josep Pla prize for her novel Una victòria diferent [A Different Victory]. Also author of several books, including La noia del temps [The Weather Girl], Alícia al país de la televisió [Alice in Television Land] and No sóc obsessiva, no sóc obsessiva, no sóc obsessiva [I’m Not Obsessive, I’m Not Obsessive, I’m Not Obsessive]. Her latest book is called La feina o la vida [Life or Work].
Ricard Planas (Girona, 1976). Journalist, art critic and cultural promoter. Studied Philology and the History of Art at the Universitat de Girona. In 1999 he founded the magazine Bonart, dedicated to the contemporary art scene in the Catalan Countries. More recently he created and directed the Catalan art fair INART in 2005 and 2006. Has worked as the curator for exhibitions by important artists such as Arranz-Bravo, Lamazares, Formiguera, Cuixart, Ansesa and Grau-Garriga. Ricard has collaborated with Ona Catalana, Catalunya Ràdio, iCatfm and Onda Rambla radio stations. Has also worked for the Diari de Girona, El Punt and El Mundo newspapers, among others.
Clara Ponsatí Professor of Economics at the University of Saint Andrews. Holds a degree in Economics from the Universitat de Barcelona, a Masters in Economics from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and a PhD from the University of Minnesota. She is a research professor and director at Institut d’Anàlisi Econòmica-C.S.I.C., affiliated faculty and research fellow at the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics. She has been senior researcher at C.S.I.C., associate professor and assistant professor at UAB and Postdoctoral research associate at Bell Communications Research, Morristown, NJ. She is a member of the editorial boards of The International Journal of Game Theory and The Review of Economic Design.
Arnau Queralt Holds a degree in Environmental Sciences from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and a Masters in Public Management from ESADE, the UAB and the Universitat Pompeu Fabra. Since October 2011, he has been the director of the Advisory Council for the Sustainable Development of Catalonia (CADS), an advisory body of the Government of Catalonia attached to its Presidential Department. Since October 2012, he has been a member of the Steering Committee of the European Environment and Sustainable Development Advisory Councils (EEAC). From May 2010 to October 2011 he was secretary general of the Cercle Tecnològic de Catalunya foundation. He has been on the board of the Catalan Association of Environmental Professionals since 2004 and was its president from 2010 to 2012.
Catalan International View
85
Editorial Board
Vicent Sanchis (Valencia, 1961). Holds a degree in Information Sciences from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. In his career as a journalist it is worth highlighting that he has worked and collaborated on many publications and with numerous publishers; he is director of El Temps magazine, and he has been director of Setze magazine, the Catalan supplement of Cambio 16, and director of the newspapers El Observador and Avui. He has also excelled as a scriptwriter and director on different TV programmes. At present he is president of the editorial board of Avui, and vice-president of Òmnium Cultural. Vicent is also a lecturer in the Faculty of Communication Sciences at Universitat Ramon Llull in Barcelona.
Mònica Terribas (Barcelona, 1968). Holds a degree in Journalism from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Stirling (Scotland). She is a lecturer at Universitat Pompeu Fabra. From 2002 to 2008 she presented and subsequently directed the current affairs programme La nit al dia for TV3 (the Catalan public television). From 2008 to 2012 she was Director of TV3 and the following year, the CEO and editor of the newspaper Ara. Since September 2013 she has presented El matí de Catalunya Ràdio, Catalonia’s public service broadcasting flagship current affairs programme.
Montserrat Vendrell (Barcelona, 1964). Has been BIOCAT’s CEO since April 2007. As a cluster organization, BIOCAT’s goals include promoting the development of biotechnology companies and research institutions. Vendrell has been the Chairwoman of CEBR (the Council of European Bioregions) since 2012. She holds a PhD in Biology (Universitat de Barcelona), a Masters in Science Communication (UPF) and a degree in Business Administration (IESE, PDG). Before BIOCAT she was linked to the Barcelona Science Park, where she held several posts such as Scientific Director (1997-2005) and Deputy Director General (2005-2007). Among other tasks, Dr Vendrell led the design and implementation of the Park’s Strategic Plan, as well as the organization and management of scientific activities and technological platforms. She was a member of the Steering Committee of the Park’s Biotech Incubator, and in charge of international relations.
Carles Vilarrubí (Barcelona, 1954). Businessman. He is currently Executive Vice-President of Rothschild Spain Investment Bank, specialising in key mergers and takeovers in the financial sector on an international scale. President of CVC Grupo Consejero, an equity and investment advisory firm, with a portfolio of shares in consulting and service companies from the world of communications, the media, marketing, technology and telecommunications. President of Doxa Consulting Group, independent consultants on technology, media and telecommunications, leaders in the sector and with a presence in Spain and Portugal. He is a member of the advisory board of the Catalan confederation Foment del Treball Nacional [National Employment Promotion] and patron of the Fundació Orfeó Català - Palau de la Música. He has also been a member of the governing council of ADENA WWF (World Wild Fund for Nature), and sat on the boards of the Fundación Arte y Tecnología, Fundesco and Fundación Entorno. He is vice-president of F.C Barcelona.
Vicenç Villatoro (Terrassa, 1957). Writer and journalist. Holds a degree in Information Sciences. He is director of CCCB (Barcelona’s Center for Contemporary Culture). Former president of the Ramon Trias Fargas foundation and the former director of the Institut Ramon Llull. As a journalist he has worked for numerous organizations. He was the editor of the Avui newspaper from 1993 to 1996 and head of the culture section of TV3. Between 2002 and 2004 was director general of the Catalan Radio and Television Corporation. He has contributed to a range of media companies, such as Avui, El Periódico, El País, El Temps, Catalunya Ràdio and COM ràdio. He has written a dozen novels.
Francesc de Dalmases (Director) (Barcelona, 1970). Journalist and consultant in humanitarian aid and cooperation and development. Has been president (1999-2006) of the Association of Periodicals in Catalan (APPEC); coordinator for the delegation to the Spanish state of European Bureau for Lesser-Used Languages (1995-1999); coordinator for the third conference of the CONSEU (Conference of European Stateless Nations) (1999); and coordinator for the publication Europa de les Nacions (1993-1999). Has acted as a foreign expert in aid projects in such diverse locations as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Mongolia, Kosovo, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mexico, Guatemala, Morocco and Congo. He is a member of the Cooperation Council of the Catalan government. In 2011 he joined Barcelona’s Council’s Aid Commitee and is a board member of the Federation of Internationally Recognized Catalan Organizations.
Víctor Terradellas (Editor) (Reus, 1962). Entrepreneur and political and cultural activist. President and founder of Fundació CATmón. Editor of Catalan International View and ONGC, a magazine dedicated to political thought, solidarity, aid and international relations. Víctor has always been involved in political and social activism, both nationally and internationally. The driving force behind the Plataforma per la Sobirania [The Platform for Self-Determination] as well as being responsible for significant Catalan aid operations and international relations in such diverse locations as Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Albania, Afghanistan, Mongolia, Pakistan and Kurdistan. Currently he is General Secretary of International Relations for Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya.
86
Catalan International View