CATALONIA FALL 2015

FALL ESCAPE - Mont Rebei -

LLUÍS COMPANYS

“The only president of a democratically elected government in Europe ever to be executed.”

Assassinated by Spanish authorities. Refusing to wear a blindfold, he was taken before a firing squad of Civil Guards and, as they fired, he cried ‘Per Catalunya!’ (For Catalonia!).

Life Sciences Live a healthy life in Catalonia The leading and birthplace region of pharmaceuticals in Spain.

FALL 2015 AICSUSA.ORG

Hellena Cardus Publisher AICS President Fall 2015

Welcome to our Fall 2015 edition of CATALONIA, a quarterly publication by AICS (American Institute for Catalan Studies) which is based in the mega metropolis of Houston, Texas. This is the seventh edition of CATALONIA and over the past year AICS/ CATALONIA Staff has grown and expanded over 2 continents and consists of the following contributors.

Hellena Cardus, AICS President, V.P. of North America FIEC (Federation of Catalan Entities), CATALONIA Publisher Roslyn Smith, AICS Cultural Arts Chairperson, Editor in Chief, CATALONIA Jordi Guillem, AICS Vice President, Senior Writer, CATALONIA Mayte Duarte Seguer, AICS Cultural Liaison, Interviewer and Senior Writer CATALONIA Gonรงal Mayos, Senior Writer, CATALONIA Esther Beltran, AICS Scientific Liaison, Senior Writer CATALONIA AICS has translated and published Catalan literary works including Uncertain Glory by Joan Sales, translated by David Rosenthal, The Catalan Nation and its People, by Josep Carner-Ribalta and Public Power in Catalunya, by Philip B. Taylor.

We encourage you to become a member by visiting our website AICSUSA.org and receive a complimentary copy of CATALONIA. If you are interested in becoming a Sponsor for CATALONIA magazine, please contact: Jordi Guillem jguillem@cataloniamagazine.com Share the Experience!

Hellena Cardus hcardus@cataloniamagazine.com

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Roslyn Smith

Editor-in-Chief AICS Cultural Arts Chairperson

Fall 2015

CATALONIA FACTS ° Population, 7·6 million people (like Switzerland) ° Surface area: 32,114 km2 (bigger than Belgium)

° GDP: €204,000 million (like Denmark) ° Over 10 million people speak Catalan in Spain, France and Italy (more than Swedish for example). ° Catalonia’s Government has had 129 Presidents to date. Its first Constitution dates back to the 13th century.

Don’t forget to like us on Facebook.com/CataloniaMagazine rsmith@cataloniamagazine.com

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CATALONIA LINKS

CONTENTS

CATALONIA 3 PUBLISHER’S NOTE 8

20

NEWS

14 LLUÍS COMPANYS FOR CATALONIA

8

20 LA MERCÈ

A FESTIVAL OF FESTIVALS

31 MONT REBEI 34 CATALAN CIVILIZATION

“DO CULTURE AND CIVILIZATION GO HAND AND HAND ”?

39 CATALONIA EN CATALÀ COVER ART BY JOAN MIRÓ

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2231 CATALONIA MAGAZINE is published quarterly by AICS- American Institute for Catalan Studies . Contact: aicsusa.org Publisher Hellena Cardus hcardus@cataloniamagazine.com Editor-in-Chief Roslyn Smith rsmith@cataloniamagazine.com Senior Writer Jordi Guillem jguillem@cataloniamagazine.com © 2015 CATALONIA MAGAZINE. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is prohibited. Printed in the U.S.

The 27S 2015 Vote WHAT Following an agreement between the two main pro-independence parties (CiU and ERC) and representatives from the main civil society organizations supporting self-determination, Catalan president Artur Mas announces on 14 January 2015 that Catalonia will have a de facto independence referendum via early election.

WHEN The early election of plebiscite character took place on Sunday 27 September 2015.

HOW The vote followed the Spanish electoral law.

WHO The election registered a record turnout of 74,95% (4.130.196 votes), more than 7 points higher than in 2012. All adult (+18) citizens in Catalonia inscribed in the electoral census had the right to vote. The usual regulation also applied to Catalan citizens living abroad. Due to bureaucratic problems, only 7.5% of the nearly 200,000 catalans living abroad and registered to vote could finally do so. Foreign citizens living in Catalonia were not able to vote.

WHY In November 2012, parliamentary elections were held in Catalonia. Political parties in favor of a referendum received almost 80% of votes and 107 out of the 135 seats in the Parliament. After exploring various legal ways to hold a binding referendum, all of them denied by the Spanish Government and Constitutional Court, the Catalan Government decided that the only way to carry out the democratic mandate was in the form of a plebiscitary early election.

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CATALONIA

RESULTS

As the pro-independence parties have obtained an absolute majority at the Parliament, this means that the Catalan people have given a clear, democratic and unmistakable mandate for its Parliament to advance towards independence. At that point, the Parliament and the Government of Catalonia will start negotiations with Spain and the international community to achieve the best way to implement this mandate.

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CATALONIA

NEWS

Life Sciences Life Sciences Live a healthy life in Catalonia

With a pharmacy industry as a historical driver of the local economy, life sciences activities account today for 6% of Catalan GDP, have an annual turnover over â‚Ź11,000 M, and employ some 35,000 people in over 500 companies. The sector includes all fields of life sciences, pharmaceutical, medical technology and biotech.

As a destination of foreign investment projects, between January 2003 and December 2014 Catalonia was the fourth Western European region in terms of job creation in the life sciences sector and the second, in terms of medical technologies.

THE ORIGINS OF PHARMACEUTICALS IN CATALONIA TODAY, IS A GREAT PLACE FOR INTERNATIONAL PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES Within the context of Spain, Catalonia concentrated 46% of Spanish pharmaceutical production during 2008-2013 and 36.33% of Spanish pharmaceutical exports during the period 20032014 came from Catalonia.

Catalonia, as the leading and birthplace region of pharmaceuticals in Spain, is home to the five biggest Spanish pharmaceutical companies: Almirall, Esteve, Ferrer, GrĂ­fols and Uriach. Catalonia is also home of Lacer, Indukern, Salvat and Isdin. Furthermore many international companies have established here, such as Novartis, Sanofi, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Bayer, Pfizer, Roche, Menarini, Pierre Fabre, BBraun, GE Healthcare, Zoetis, Otsuka, Invent Farma, Intas, Accord, AstraZeneca, Synthon or Angelini, to mention just a few. Know-how, talent, infrastructures and a strategic location, make Catalonia the right place from which to operate in South European markets and beyond, including North Africa and Latin America.

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THE BIOTECH CONNECTION Catalonia is the leading biotech region in Spain, holding 22% of Spanish biotech companies.

Amgen, the world's first biotech company, has its Iberian headquarters in Barcelona.

Inkemia, AB-Biotics, Biokit, Salvat, Reig Jofre, Oryzon, Advancell, Gendiag, Readycell, Bionure, Alexion,GP Pharm, Endor or Lipotec are part of the biotech industry in Catalonia. Since biotech and pharma are increasingly more interrelated industries, the importance of the Catalan biotech sector is another asset for pharmaceutical companies to set up in Catalonia.

CATALAN AND INTERNATIONAL MEDTECH COMPANIES Catalonia leads the distribution of medical devices production in Spain, with a 42% of total production. Health Technology industry in Catalonia combines local companies -Phibo, BioSystems, Deltalab, Stat-Diagnostica, Traiber, Avinent, Grifols or Texpol- and leading medical devices companies. Among these last ones we can find Olympus, Roche Diagnostics, Hartmann, Biokit, Dako-Agilent, BBraun, Siemens, GE Healthcare, Stryker, Siemens, Boston Scientific, Hologic, Gore, Menarini Diagnostics, Azbil, Johnson&Johnson or Zimmer.

CATALONIA’S ACTIVE RESEARCH CLIMATE GIVES ADDED DYNAMISM TO THE LIFE SCIENCES SECTOR Catalonia has 56 research centres with a joint budget of more than €380 million yearly working in life sciences or related disciplines (nanotechnology, photonics, etc.). These centres have formed over 900 active research groups and more than 360 research projects in main areas of bioinformatics, genetics/genomics and nanotechnology and in the therapeutic areas of cancer and neurodegenerative diseases.

These research centres have a combined workforce of 7,200 people, 4,500 of which are researchers, and the 17 Catalan university hospitals have more than 3,500 researchers devoted to biomedical research. The recognition of seven Catalan research centers as “Severo Ochoa” centres of excellence, out of a Spanish total of 18, is a positive indicator of the level and impact of the Catalan research system.

EAMLESSLY CONNECTED TO AN ADVANCED CLINICAL TRIALS RESEARCH

BARCELONA CLINICAL TRIALS PLATFORM (BCTP) IS A STRATEGIC INSTRUMENT PROMOTED BY THE CATALAN HEALTH DEPARTMENT AT THE GOVERNMENT OF CATALONIA AND BIOCAT (THE ORGANIZATION THAT COORDINATES AND PROMOTES THE LIFE SCIENCES SECTOR IN CATALONIA), TO IMPROVE THE COORDINATION, INTEGRATION, QUALITY, AND SPEED OF CLINICAL TRIALS IN THE REGION. THE INITIAL LIST OF MEMBER INSTITUTES INCLUDES 7 UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS WITH OVERALL CLINICAL RESEARCH CAPACITY OF 5 MILLION PATIENTS AND 2000 INVESTIGATORS TO WHICH BCTP PROVIDES A SINGLE POINT OF ACCESS. CURRENTLY, MORE THAN 3000 TRIALS ARE ONGOING, EITHER IN ONE SITE OR ACROSS MULTIPLE SITES.

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CATALONIA

A SECTOR WITH GREAT BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN CHRONIC DISEASES In 2030 around 24% of the Catalan population will be over 65, a fact that is increasing the number of secondary interventions and chronic diseases. In fact, chronic patients now account for 20% -25% of the total and consume 65% -70% of the resources. This means that multinational pharmaceutical and biotech companies are devoting more resources to research drugs for diseases in this area: ranging, for example, from cancer to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

P4 MEDICINE:PERSONALIZED,PREDICTIVE,PREVENTIVE& PARTICIPATIVE Medicine is becoming less reactive and more preventive. This means empowering both the patient and the physician with more personalized medical treatment — focusing on integrated diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disease in individual patients. The healthcare industry, public policy sector, and consumer industries are currently creating new and creative business models and products to lead this transformation.

NUTRACEUTICAL PRODUCTS & PROBIOTIC FOODS Nutraceuticals are products that provide health and nutrition benefits in addition to the basic nutrition value present in foods. The global nutraceutical market (functional foods, beverages market and dietary supplements) was valued at around $250 billion in 2014. This market is expected to reach around $385 billion by 2020, at a compound annual growth rate of 7.5% from 2014 to 2020. In the area of prevention the use of probiotic foods that offer health benefits is also on the increase.

STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS, JOINT VENTURES & ACQUISITIONS With pharmaceutical companies struggling to launch new therapies given the difficulty in obtaining R&D resources, they have realized that the performance of its internal innovation is lower than what you can get through alliances. This has led to more alliances between companies and R&D Centers both nationally and internationally, to smaller biotech companies becoming a source of new discoveries that can be sold to large companies, and to companies specializing in their more profitable business units and getting rid of lower performing units.

INCREASE OF OTC CONSUMER HEALTH PRODUCTS Thanks to lower regulation both in price terms and in development controls, laboratories get higher returns from products that do not need a doctor’s prescription at the point of purchase, such as nutritional supplements, oral hygiene products, cosmetic dermatological products, etc.

In Spain the consumer health market has grown at a rate of 2.1% annually since 2010, according to figures from IMS Health.

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THE GENERIC MEDICINE MARKET AND BIOSIMILARS In 2020, about 70% to 80% of medicines will be generic or biosimilars, according to the study of the EGA, European Generic Association. In the same year it is expected that patents for drugs with a cumulative sales valued $ 259,000 million will expire. In Spain— one of Europe’s largest generic manufacturers —only between 2014 and 2015, eight patents will expire on molecules accumulating over 500 million sales, representing huge opportunities for new generic drugs.Biosimilars are an area of major interest for both innovative and generic pharmaceutical companies. They refer to medicines developed to be highly similar to existing biological medicines (the ‘reference medicine’). Since 2006, when they were first approved, the EU approved biosimilar medicines have generated more than 400 million patient days of clinical experience worldwide. 6 biological medicines with sales of €10.1 billion in 2013 in Europe will lose exclusivity by 2020, offering huge opportunities for biosimilar medicines MHEALTH AND EHEALTH GROWTH The global mHealth market is expected to reach around $23 billion in 2017 and to concentrate in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific. There are more than 97,000 health apps according to the last IMS Institute for Healthcare informatics study. eHealth and mHealth allow the provision of healthcare services at a distance, improve healthcare system efficiency and enhance patient care.

Telemedicine (remote medical assistance) is extending to new services, from the fall prevention to the management of chronic diseases.Catalonia offers a good climate to start a business in the mHealth sector: an entrepreneurship an innovative attitude, a mobile and tech friendly atmosphere (WMC – 22@ innovative district – smart city initiatives), and a deep interest and cooperation of physicians, hospitals, tech companies and government.

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CATALONIA

The Delegation of Catalonia to France and Switzerland, the Public Diplomacy Council of Catalonia (DIPLOCAT) and the Catalan Dignity Commission commemorate the 75th anniversary of President Lluís Companys’ arrest The Delegation of Catalonia to France and Switzerland, the Public Diplomacy Council of Catalonia (DIPLOCAT) and the Catalan Dignity Commission commemorate the 75th anniversary of President Lluís Companys’ arrest. French Historian Denis Peschanski, the Head of the Delegation to France and Switzerland Martí Anglada and Antoni Strubell, spokesperson of the Catalan Dignity Commission took part in the press conference.

Denis Peschanski, a historian and CNRS research director w ho specializes in Vichy, wished to remind that LLuís Companys’ arrest by the Nazi military police in August 1940 in France, falls within a context of close collaboration between the Nazi authorities and the Francoist State that resulted in the meeting of Hendaye between Franco and Hitler on October 23, 1940.

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Peschanski declared that it is important from a social and political point of view to explain the histories of President Companys and of many others exiles because “memory is told in present tense”.

Delegate Martí Anglada outlined Companys’ political career, highlighting his political implication in the republican movement from a young age, the leading role he had during the Second Spanish Republic and his efforts to maintain the Government of Catalonia stable during the Spanish Civil War. The Delegate regretted the lack of knowledge in France, but also in the rest of Europe, about the arrest and execution of Lluís Companys, the only democratically elected president in Europe to have been executed during World War II. A short Televisió de Catalunya (TVC) report was screened in order to understand the historic research carried out recently on the last few months of President Companys. It combined images of documentaries “Lluís Companys, recovered paths” and “My name is Druillet” which were both directed by journalist and former TVC correspondent in France Montserrat Besses.

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LLUÍS COMPANYS “For Catalonia” 14 | CATALONIA | AICSUSA.ORG

Companys is the only incumbent democratically elected president in European history to have been executed, and seventy-five years later the council of war which sentenced him is still in force…...

Born in El Tarròs, on June 21, 1882 into a family with aristocratic roots, he was the second brother of ten. His parents were Josep Companys and Maria Lluïsa de Jover. When he was 9 years old his family moved to Barcelona and Companys studied at the Liceu Poliglota, where he met Francesc Layret with whom he would later study law and with whom he would maintain a great friendship until his assassination in 1920.

From a young age Companys was actively involved in the youth section of the Republican Nationalist Federal Union and became president of its political wing. In 1917, along with Layret, Marcel·lí Domingo and others he formed the Catalan Republican Party and became a member of Barcelona’s City Council.

In 1920 he acted as a labor lawyer in defense of trade union militants, an action which led to his imprisonment and deportation to fortress La Mola in Mahon (Menorca). In December of the same year he was elected as deputy in Sabadell for the Catalan Republican Party and took the place of Francesc Layret, who had been assassinated by gunmen from the trade union Sindicats Lliures and Governor of Barcelona Severiano Martínez Anido just when he was about to defend Companys in order to secure his release.

In 1921 he was one of the founders of the Unió de Rabassaires i Altres Conreadors del Camp de Catalunya and ran its newspaper La Terra.

During the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera he acted as consultant lawyer to the Unió de Rabassaires and from 1928 he formed part of various committees in Catalan parties that would organize opposition against the dictatorship.

Lluís Companys, second from left, with his siblings and father, Joseph Companys i Fontanet,

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CATALONIA

In March 1931 he participated in the creation of the Republican Left of Catalonia (Esquerra Republican de Catalunya/ERC), a party which absorbed Francesc Macià’s Estat Català, Companys’ own Partit Republicà Català and Joan Lluhí’s newspaper L’Opinió as well as various other groups. In the municipal elections on April 12th the new party received wide-spread support in Catalonia. On April 14th, accompanied by Aragay Lluhí, Vallescà and others Companys entered Barcelona City Hall, took possession of the mayor’s office and from the balcony proclaimed the Catalan Republic.

A little after Macià proclaimed the Catalan Republic from the balcony of the Diputació de Barcelona. These acts would lead to the restoration of the autonomous regime of the Generalitat, the historical governing body of Catalonia, the president of which would be Francesc Macià.

During the first two years of the Republic, Companys held various political positions. In June 1931 he was elected as a representative in the Corts for the Province of Barcelona and member of the Diputació Provisional de la Generalitat for Sabadell. In September 1931 he actively participated in drawing up the constitution of the Spanish Republic. In October 1931 he voted for female suffrage.

In January 1931 he was nominated Vice-President of the Assemblea de la Generalitat and provisional president in place of Jaume Carner. In November 1932 he was elected a member of the Catalan Parliament and in December became the first president of the Parliament. From June to November 1933 he was Secretary of the Navy. In November 1933 he was elected as a representative of the City of Barcelona.

On December 25th Francesc Macià died, and so the Catalan Parliament decided to elect Companys President of the Generalitat, a post he took up from January 1st 1934. Companys formed a coalition government with members of Estat Català, Acció Catalana Republicana and the publishing group l'Opinió with Unió Socialista de Catalunya and Esquerra Republicana.

In 1934, Companys introduced the proposal for the Law of Cultivation Contracts into Parliament, which approved it, and which subsequently caused a major confrontation between the Spanish government and the Catalan opposition. The situation worsened when Alejandro Lerroux became Spanish Prime Minister. Relations with the Catalan government worsened further when he appointed three Spanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right (CEDA) ministers, led by José María Gil -Robles, to his cabinet.

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This contributed to the declaration of a general strike by Spanish socialists and the Catalan Alianza Obrera. In spite of political tensions of the time Company’s nationalism was strengthened and following the regression to conservativism by the republican regime and threats against Catalan autonomy, on October 6th he proclaimed the Catalan State within the Spanish Federal Republic. This led to a declaration of a state of war and to rioting in the streets. The Catalan State only 10 hours and ended with the arrest of the entire Catalan government and the heads of the Mossos d’Esquadra.

The dissolution of the Catalan government led to amongst other things the repeal of the Law of Cultivation Contracts, the closure of the Catalan Parliament, the dismissal of most left-wing mayors and town councilors, the suppression of the Statute of Autonomy and the repression of left-wing parties. In light of these events Companys was condemned to 30 years imprisonment by the radicalCEDA government, a sentence that he carried out at the Puerta de Santa Maria prison in Cadiz until February 1936 when he was freed due to the electoral victory of the Popular Front. He was elected as a representative of Front d’Esquerres de Catalunya and he returned a President of the Generalitat.

After the military uprising of July 1936 Companys was actively involved in resistance in Barcelona and throughout the duration of the civil war (except its initial stages) he tried maintain the status quo of Catalan politics by means of coalition governments, a balance which in September 1936 culminated in a popular unity government headed by Josep Tarradellas, who was named as First Minister of the Generalitat until May 1937, when Companys would retake control of running the Catalan government. During the war he first resisted anarchist influence (until May 1937) and later that of orthodox Marxists as well commanding the Generalitat in the fight against Franco’s forces.

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CATALONIA

On January 23rd 1939, when Francoist forces were about to enter Barcelona, Companys crossed the French border with Lehendakari José Antonio Aguirre and others. He was exiled first to Perpignan and then to Paris to participate in the running of the exiled Generalitat government.

He finally ended up in Brittany where he remained in spite of constant danger in order to not lose contact with his son Lluís who suffered from a serious mental illness.

He was arrested in La Baule-les-Pins near Nantes on 13 August 1940, and detained in La Sante Prison. He was then extradited by Nazi German authorities to the Spanish government in Madrid in early September 1940 and imprisoned in the cellars of the headquarters of the Direccion General de Seguridad (State Security) at the Real Casa de Correos in Puerta del Sol. He was held there for five weeks, kept in solitary confinement, tortured and beaten, while senior figures of the Franco regime visited his cell, insulted him and threw coins or crusts of bread at him. After a military trial which lasted less than one hour, lacking legal guarantees where he was accused of military rebellion, Companys was executed at Montjuic Castle in Barcelona at 6:30 a.m. on October 15, 1940. During the trial it was revealed that “it was not Lluís Companys that they were trying, but the President of the Generalitat of Catalonia”.

Refusing to wear a blindfold, he was taken before a firing squad of Civil Guards and, as they fired, he cried 'Per Catalunya!' (For Catalonia!). He is buried at the Montjuic Cemetery, near the castle. The cause of death was given as 'traumatic internal hemorrhage Companys is the only incumbent democratically elected president in European history to have been executed, and seventy-five years later the council of war which sentenced him is still in force.

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Since 1985 Companys’ remains have laid in the Fossar de la Pedrer at the cemetery in Montjuïc, which was converted into a mass grave for thousands of victims of Francoist repression.

After the fall of Francoism and the restoration of democracy , both the political & personal life and death of Lluís Companys have been the subject of many great studies, debates and tributes by authors from various generations and ideologies. The memory of his career and especially his death has become a symbol of Catalonia and of a democratic government suppressed by the forces and arms of a totalitarian regime.

On September 29th 2008 in a solemn ceremony at the Generalitat, the German and French consuls (representing their respective governments) accepted responsibility for the detention and deportation of Lluís Companys to the Francoist regime. Every October during the yearly commemorations of the shooting of Lluís Companys both political and social institutions call for his acquittal: however the Spanish government has always refused to review Companys’ case and those of others, citing the Amnesty Law of 1977.

"We will suffer again, Fight again, and Win again" Lluís Companys

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LA MERCÈ

Photo by Larry –Flo

A Festival of Festivals

CATALONIA

CULTURE

Every year, around September 24th, Barcelona celebrates La Mercè, the patron saint of the city, and its Festa Major. A festival of festivals, it draws together between 1.500.000 and 2.000.000 people during its week-long run. Festivities, cultural and artistic events take place throughout the city in differing public spaces.

The legend goes that on the night of September 24, 1218, the Virgin appeared simultaneously to King Jaume I, Saint Pere Nolasc and Saint Ramón de Penyafort.

She asked all three to create an order of monks dedicated to saving Christians imprisoned by the Saracens. It was the time of the wars of religion.

Centuries later in 1687, Barcelona suffered a plague of locusts, and placed itself in the hands of the Virgin of La Mercè. Once the plague had been overcome, the Council of the City named her patron saint of Barcelona. The Pope did not ratify this decision until two centuries later, however, in 1868.

After Pope Pius IX declared the Virgin of La Mercè the patron saint of the city, Barcelona began to celebrate a festival in the month of September. La Mercè really took off in 1902, when under the impulse of Francesc Cambó, the festival became the model the those that are currently held all over Catalonia. However, the history of La Mercè would suffer many high and low points that extended

CATALONIA

With the arrival of democracy, La Mercè became a truly popular celebration thanks to the participation of organizations from all over the city. Today it is a festival held in a large number of public places with a program centered on Mediterranean culture. In less than a week Barcelona brings together a huge program of events which forces you to choose between them: street arts, street processions, concerts, traditional dances...

The most traditional activities of the Mercè Festival are, in fact, a compendium of popular culture from all over Catalonia. There is the Gironese Sardana, the human castles and devils from the Camp of Tarragona, dances that still survive today all over the Catalan lands. But the great Barcelona specialty is its street parades, originating from the spectacular processions which took place centuries ago for the celebration of Corpus Christi. They are some of the oldest street spectacles that still exist today. Now, as ever, the organization of the street parades relies on groups representing popular culture working side by side with the street artists. Their joint task means that we can keep alive the festive and theatrical spirit that these events have always had.

Barcelona’s Festa Major is the festival of the people, all who are in the city and wish to celebrate, and enjoy it

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CATALONIA

Barcelona is an open city, a meeting point, a melting pot of cultures, origins and beliefs, that have left a mark in the history of our land. La Mercè encloses the Guest City program aimed to bringing Barcelona’s people closer to the different cultures with which they coexist. Through this parallel program, a city from somewhere else in the world is invited to present its culture and its top artistic proposals.

The cities of Medellin (Colombia), Quito (Ecuador), Istanbul (Turkey), Dakar (Senegal), Saint Petersburg (Russia), Montreal (Quebec-Canada), Vienna (Austria) and Stockholm (Sweden) have already shared the magic and quality of their top avant-garde artists in music, theatre, dance and film, as well as their most representative traditional expressions with the people of Barcelona. The stages of Barcelona become a great showcase for the guest city to present its culture to Catalan society. Buenos Aires was the guest city in La Mercè 2015.

Free of charge!

Free char

“everything free” is the basis of the policy for public culture, in which the “everyInstitute of is the bapolicy Culture of Barcelona cul(ICUB) works which the

of Bar(ICUB

Organizing La Merce is one of the most motivating challenges on the calendar, due to its complexity and notoriety. That’s why, among other reasons, Barcelona’s City Council, organizer of the festival through its Institute of Culture (ICUB), works all year round with more than 200 groups and associations so that Barcelona has the best possible Festa Major.

Everyone takes part in La Mercè and that is the key to its success

CATALONIA

The following discourse was reclaimed by the Generalitat of Catalonia in March 2015. It took many years of requests and demonstrations before the Spanish government would release it. It had been held in the military archives in Avila, Spain since Gestapo confiscated them from the Generalitat’s Paris office in 1940.

Original discourse in Catalan can be seen in full size view on page 43

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Translation of Lluís Companys’ discourse to the people of Catalonia “For our freedom and for our independence “Against traitors, against invaders” People of Catalonia I talk to you in these moments when I search more than ever within my weaknesses of my abilities and conditions, the best resources in order to be worthy of being the President of the Generalitat, with all the responsibility in these historical circumstances and to be worthy of my own obligation as a Catalan person and a man. I talk to you in these moments searching desperately for the words that could describe the intensity and complexity of my own feelings as a human being, but it’s hard to find those words.

On the 18th July our country, using the forces of Generalitat government and supported by civilians, was able to defeat, annihilate, undo and chase out of the Catalan borders the military fascist forces that dared taking arms against the Republic. Our territory was cleaned of these rebel factions. However, the war ignited by this betrayal has devastated Spain. Catalan soldiers were present in all fronts defending the Spanish republic government, giving the best of their energy and resources.

The military uprising, which was conceived abroad, has become a civil war for independence. The old monarchic flag, a symbol of oppression, is now blushing its colors due to the shame of being confused with foreign flags. This war of desolation and tragedy unleashed in the territory of the Republic, has become a glorious epopoeia for universal law and justice within Europe and the world.

During this time, Catalonia has been the place where the Spanish republican government has been operating from. And in our country we have also received thousands of civilians of other sister lands and heroes from other places of the Iberian Peninsula. The republic of Spain gained the support of the Catalan people by recognizing their Statue as a nation. It was the beginning of our freedom and historical reparation for the past oppression. Thus, the union of the Catalan and Spanish republican governments against those who want to dissolve the Republic, is strong and sealed with the blood and the fire of the men and women united in glorious sacrifice heroically defending Republic in all Spanish territories.

But now it is me speaking, talking to you Catalan people, hoping my words are strong like a mass and sharp like a knife. I talk to the people in the countryside, where I preached propaganda when I was young. I talk to the workers, with who I shared prison many times. I talk to the middle class, to the intellectual groups; in fact, I talk to all the people of Catalonia, disregarding what they think and their social condition, because I speak in the name of our nation. I speak in the name of our beautiful and wonderful Catalonia, a magnificent country with fertile fields, a nation with an indelible trace through democracy along our history. Our people have a particular character: we believe in liberalism and democracy, we believe in peace, we love art but work hard. That is Catalonia!

Our Catalonia, its name makes our hearts shake with emotion and touches all of the fibers of our soul. I talk to those of you who love the place you were born, and where your children were born too, who know well those spots of our country, full of poetry and charm in our beloved land, where the sea, the mountains and the sun align so that we can live and work well, where our love for our nation and fraternity within men can flourish. I speak to all of you in your language, the same you learned AICSUSA.ORG | CATALONIA | 27

I talk to all Catalan people! I would like to pass on them all the patriotic love, all the civic obligation, all the bravery in front of History, all the interest towards the future, for only one thing. One word that we did not want to say, but we had to use it and hear it, and for the last two years we have given ourselves to it without measure. One word that has become absolutely necessary, obligatory and sacred to all citizens of the Republic; but now, if possible, this word should have more sublime and heroic vibrations. One only word: WAR! Everybody must go to war, we all have to give our lives, if necessary, to fight this war and win, for the honor and duty and life of Catalonia. For the independence of the Republic and for democracy in the universal concert of human civilization.

From the very first moment, Catalonia has been in the right place in all the active fronts. But now, foreign armies are at the door of our homes. They bring in their souls a particular interest in submitting and mocking our people, because they know our nation has always favored culture instead of violence, freedom instead of tyranny. Catalonia principles condense the meaning of their fight against the world.

They have totalitarian conceptions of state, oppression systems, imperialistic ambitions, dominant classes against democracy and liberalism, whereas here our people’s legitimate concerns are canalized peacefully, searching for the most pure forms of justice and stability. They hate everything we represent, even our structure, environment, history, life rhythm, the invaluable core of our spirit. If they feet touch Catalan territory, it would shake Catalonia subsoil and our mountains would tremble in shame. Our language would be prosecuted, our institutions plundered, our people submitted and our habits mocked.

“VOE VICTIS”, moors and other foreign soldiers trying to dominate our Catalan nation! This cannot happen, Catalan people, not in fact, not in name, it is not in favor of Catalonia past or future.

We must be aware of the depth and width of the majestic moment that we are living, a time in History clicking bells all over the world, a time that will penetrate in the depths of the future. Catalan people!

Catalan people! We must work and we must fight. We must resist, because resistance means triumph.

Multiple interests may connect themselves in the coming possibilities. The head of the Spanish republican government, Dr Negrín, he pointed out in his vigorous discourse the day before yesterday, what our approach must be: RESIST! All Catalan people must be an example. Both, a general mobilization to work in the fortifications and military mobilization to move men to the battlefront must happen. Our soldiers fight fiercely at the borders of our territory. Each of them is where they should be, everybody in the rearguard is following their duties strictly. Every soldier is a giant, and every Catalan is a soldier!

Being Catalan means being a heroic warrior in the dictionary of history. Let’s fight for victory, brothers! For the victory that we will celebrate just here, a decisive bastion and glorious definitive wall. Air up the flag of the Republic! Let it blow in the wind, covered in glory in front of the world undaunted eyes. All Catalan people wear the Catalan four red bars printed on their chests and in their souls. And we shall execute a tenacious resistance, a terrible one so we can prepare the next action to push invaders out of the republican territories.

-Who are you?

-I am Catalan in the unbreakable and invincible wall of love and defense for my nation.

-What do you want? Why do you shoot your guns and spread blood?

-I fight against the invaders in my country. I fight in front of the whole world and the infinite space for the name and the existence of Catalonia. I want to win and deserve the peace that I love.

I COULD NOT LIVE WITHOUT FREEDOM LONG LIVE CATALONIA!” 28 | CATALONIA | AICSUSA.ORG

CATALONIA

REMEMBER

Francesc Ribas Soberano Reus, 1893 – Barcelona, 1965

Francesc Ribas Soberano was born in Reus, Catalonia into a middle class family in 1893. He moves to Tarragona in 1907 and to Barcelona upon his father’s death. Francesc Ribas completed his MD at the University of Barcelona in 1915. In 1928 he moves to Paris to specialize in Pulmonary disease at l’Hôpital de la Charité and also, Cardiology at l’Hôpital de Tenont under Camille Lian, the first specialist to diagnose heart attacks. During his residency in the French capital, he makes several trips to Sweden to learn the Social Security System they had in place, and also visits several tuberculosis centers in Europe.

He was a close friend and personal physician to Lluís Companys (President of the Catalan Republic). Francesc Ribas Soberano joins the Esquerra Republicana, the most independent faction of the party, in 1931. He presents his candidacy for the Parliamentary elections of Catalonia in 1932 and is elected as a Representative. He actively participates in the Health, Justice and Budget Commissions.

Dr. Ribas continues to be actively involved in his Medical career and in 1932 founds and directs the Anti-Tuberculosis Hospital in Puig d’Olena, San Quirze de Safaja, Municipality in Catalonia. Both President Francesc Macia and Dr.Emile Sergent, (his teacher) attend the Hospital’s opening.

In 1934, Francesc Ribas Soberano is named the Generalitat’s Representative to the Medical Board of the Hospital Clinic. There he obtains funding for the hospital and ensures the use of Catalan as the official language for all medical records. In 1935 he promotes the 24 hour Urgent Care/Ambulance Service. This Service has a pivotal role in the formation of several well-known surgeons in the Civil War. This Service was also of great importance in the development of the Blood Transfusions Service.

At the end of 1938, he exiles his family to Oceja, North Catalonia (French Pyrenees). In April of 1943, he returns to Catalonia clandestinely and hides in Centelles until the Fall when he turns himself into the Spanish Dictatorship’s authority. The Spanish Tribunal condemns Francesc Ribas Soberano to political exile in Alacant, Spain where he practices as the town’s physician until mid-1962.

In 1965 he returns to Barcelona upon his death.

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North facade of Sanatori del Puig D’Olena in Sant Quirze de Safaja, which Dr. Francesc Ribas i Soberano is the medical director since its opening in 1932

A visit from LluĂ­s Companys, president of the Generalitat, to the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona shortly after the outbreak of the Civil War. The accompanying Ventura Gasol, Minister of Culture. Among the delegation that received, in the foreground, Francesc Ribas i Soberano, representative of the Catalan government hospital.

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MONT REBEI

FALL ESCAPE Photographs by Jordi Montilla

Mont Rebei is located on the border between Catalonia and Aragon. To the west, is Baixa Ribagorça and to the east is Pallars Jussà i la Noguera. It lies in the narrowest part where the Noguera Ribagorçana river crosses Montsec.

It is a place full of wildlife, it houses many noteworthy birds of prey, and impressive beauty from its rugged landscape making it a perfect getaway for climbers and cavers. The maintenance of the reserve is run by the Fundació Catalunya La Pedrera.

On the Catalan side, the passage through the gorge is entirely a path carved into the rock. The path is located at a high altitude and has no railing, so it is not recommended for those who suffer vertigo.

To the south, the road gains altitude and crosses the slopes of the mountain to discern the reservoir.

Mont-rebei is without a doubt one of the most unique natural areas of the foothills, from a landscape point of view, being the only major free gorge infrastructure in Catalonia.

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SITGES

International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia is the number one fantasy film festival in the world and represents, at the same time, the cultural expression with the most media impact in Catalonia. With a solid experience, the Sitges Festival is a stimulating universe of encounters, exhibitions, presentations and screenings of fantasy films from all over the world.

Born in 1968 as the 1st International Week of Fantasy and Horror Movies, today the Festival is an essential rendezvous for movie lovers and audiences eager to come into contact with new tendencies and technologies applied to film and the audiovisual world.

Sitges’ status as the number one fantasy film festival in the world allows it to receive visits from toplevel movie stars, directors and producers like Quentin Tarantino, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Jodie Foster, Paul Verhoeven, Ralph Fiennes, George A. Romero, Cameron Diaz, Viggo Mortensen, Terry Gilliam, Rutger Hauer, Sarah Michelle Gellar, John Landis, Joe Dante, Zoë Bell, Dino de Laurentii, Takashi Miike, Wim Wenders, Tony Curtis, David Cronenberg, Vanessa Redgrave, Darren Aronofsky, Brad Dourif, John McNaughton, Peter Greenaway, John Woo, Park ChanWook, Johnnie To, Paul Naschy, Ray Liotta, Jon Voight, Sam Raimi, Robert Englund, Tarsem Singh, Roger Corman, Mira Sorvino, Santiago Segura, Narciso Ibáñez Serrador, Guillermo del Toro, Kim Ki Duk, Álex de la Iglesia, Aitana Sánchez Gijón, among others from the long list of people who, year after year, are a media attraction.

The Festival is governed by a Foundation, made up of representatives from the Sitges Town Council, the Generalitat de Catalunya (Catalonia’s autonomous government) and other institutions, associations and public and private companies.

Most of its resources come from the sponsors, companies and collaborating institutions that consider their alliance to the Festival to be an excellent platform for widening their scope and branding.

The Sitges – International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia is a part of the E.F.F.F.F, as well as the venue chosen year after year for the presentation of the Méliès d'Argent 32 | CATALONIA | AICSUSA.ORG

080 Barcelona Fashion is conceived as a meeting point for the textile and fashion industries in Catalonia. They strive year after year to provide a space for all the distinct branches of design to express themselves in, with 080 Barcelona Fashion as their ally. For this reason, new designers, who are making their debut at their first fashion show, model their garments on the catwalk alongside those who already have a name and a trajectory in the industry as well as alongside some of the big local multinationals.

Spring-Summer 2015 designs by Naulover, Yerse, Miriam Ponsa, Zazo & Brull.

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CATALAN CIVILIZATION BY | MAYTE DUARTE

Catalonia is at a critical moment in the history of its civilization. Why Catalan “civilization” and not “culture”? In agreement with Dr Mayos we must confine ourselves to the facts and collective, public and institutional creations made by Catalans and/or those that have taken place in Catalunya with a perspective that goes beyond mere archaeological and reductively patrimonial interest, far from life and the present. That in order to be confront a sovereign future we have to raise awareness and advance and progress, – like any country or people or village does or should do as part of “common human heritage” and thus in addition to being called “civilized” they can be called “cultured”, “cultivated” and “with culture”. Which is why we wanted to get the opinion of one of our most famous philosophers Gonçal Mayos , Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Barcelona.

Mayte Duarte - Do culture and civilization always go hand in hand?

Goncal Mayos - Culture and civilization are not the same things and so they do not always go hand in hand. They are not synonymous terms and so – if we accept that there is no such thing as a perfect synonym- these two words have significantly different meanings, each one rather interesting, and so we won’t confuse them.

The distinction between “culture” and “civilization” has been the subject of an extensive and complex debate dating back to at least the end of the 18th century. Indeed just when it was thought that this discussion had been forgotten it was revitalized by the controversial “clash of civilizations” theory put forward by Samuel Huntington. We will briefly note the nuances and meanings that separate them.

Traditionally the term “civilization” was reserved for collective, public, objectified, intersubjective and materially observable aspects. On the other hand the word “culture” was used mainly for personal, subjective, mental or spiritual aspects which reveal personal singular character and its individual value. Hence why Immanuel Kant stated in 1784 “the idea of morality belongs to culture", whilst “customs relating to matrimonial matters and exterior decency is called “civilization ”.

In short popular customs and socio-political institutions from a country’s laws to its museums are principally part of “its civilization”, whilst the current and subjective knowledge of individual people, as well as the particular specificities of their great classics, belong to the idea of “culture”. In agreement with this distinction Norbert Elias published hid famous book "The Civilizing Process”". His main theory is the evolution of social strategies designed to pacify social life by controlling individual instincts, desires, habits and behaviour.

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We can therefore compare a more immaterial, intangible subjective and personal Kultur with a more material, tangible, institutionalized and collective Zivilisation. Yet according to sciences such as socio-biology both of these are similarly necessary for the cultural and hyper-social species that is man. As humans we have to construct for ourselves a complex (sense of) sociocultural recognition based on a shared heritage, in which each generation has to absorb and educate itself in.

This says a lot about human complexity, given that - as Bruno Latour highlights - science, technology, culture etc advance through inseparable dialectics that link individual and collective human actors, material artefacts and possibilities and theory-conjectures (Karl Popper’s “World 3”).Along these lines the archaeologist considers there to be a “fractal relationship“ between material culture and the immaterial-symbolic, between social order and the subjectivity of its members in that they are different levels in which an analogous structure can be observed.

Classical philosophers such as Hegel, - demonstrating that his “idealism” has been misinterpreted, considered “property” to be essential for integral human development. The underlying idea, which modern studies have basically shown to be right, is that humans inevitably need to take on and throw themselves behind a heritage that is at the same time both material and symbolic in order to fully develop themselves in socio-cultural individual recognition and be collectively recognized.

According to Axel Honneth, we can state that the different facets of social, cultural and political recognition presuppose adequate areas of tangible, material, institutionalised and collective Zivilisation, “monumental”, “incarnate” and, if you like, “fossilized” in particular “opuses” and the results of creative acts carried out in the past. Now these are conditions that also may sprout and update immaterial, intangible, symbolic, subjective and personal Kultur. Full recognition has as conditions of possibility these different types if “culture”, “possession”, “appropriation” and “tradition” which, significantly, have the same etymology as the words “pater” (father), “posse/ poder” (to be able), “propi” (own) and “trade” (trade).Hannah Arendt distinguishes between three types of activities for which humanity not only survives but also defines its “condition”, and through which it recognizes itself: Labor-Arbeit, Work-Herstellen-Poiesis and ActionHandeln-Praxis, Thus these three types, like previous dichotomies, presuppose a certain relation between cultural “heritage”, what they classify and what they specify.

Only through integrating these aspects - which are, at times, not correctly connected - can we begin to come close to an interdisciplinary, synthetic, holistic and “macrophilosophical” version of the contemporary socio-cultural reality of “heritage” and recognition. Therefore the traditional vision of human culture used to respond to a very partial and unilateral selection. For this reason we have to broaden the notion of “heritage”, culture and civilization by clarifying and evaluating that which has not been thought of as such, that which has been avoided, concealed and deferred, but which is key to human self-recognition. Therefore it will be evident that heritage, culture and civilization is all that which allows humanity to recognize itself in its complexity diversity, wealth and plurality Thus we are starting to approach a more complete, integrated and interdisciplinary definition and we are overcoming ancient partialities and dichotomies(e.g. placing the material above the immaterial, limiting oneself to high culture whilst avoiding popular culture, etc.),including and conceptualizing aspects that traditionally have not been thought of, that have remained hidden and even that have been excluded from human heritage, civilization and culture.

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As can already be seen one must not confuse the distinction between culture and civilization with software and hardware. Both of them have to coincide both in civilization and culture, both cannot exist in a completely immaterial state. However the important difference lies, as we will see, in how civilization can be reduced to a computer with its programmes “closed” and without the life force of electricity updating the software in this piece of hardware. However culture needs these three things to be and to realize fully its potential: it must have hardware with software functioning “in real time”.

On the other hand and for this exact reason “civilization” can survive, even if it is lacking, when “culture” can no longer exist. Precisely because culture has an existence that is sometimes very ethereal and is connected to the people that “cultivate it”, it needs to be specified and institutionalized publically and materially in “civil, civic and civilized” institutions that may house, maintain and protect “cultural heritage” and more immaterial and subjective culture. Thus in its purest form “culture” only persists as long as it lives, is thought about by people, whilst “civilization” maintains many of its monuments and impressions until long after people or humanity has disappeared entirely.

What’s more, we must not forget that being “cultured" is above all a personal quality and merit that can be seen but which refers to the “cultivation of the spirit” that one has had to carry out for oneself. Whilst on the other hand “civilization” is public, collective and material shaping that is achieved thanks to the fact that many cultured people (indeed whole generations) have been constructing a type of “shared city” (a “civilization”) precisely so that subjective does not disappear when the person who “cultivated” it dies.

For example an illiterate shepherd may have an enormous amount of personal culture related to nature and their environment, but if he dies alone and without having constructed a lasting collective civil environment (something that is closer to “civilization”) he will simply leave no trace or simply a vague memory that will also disappear as those who remember him and knew him personally disappear.

We can therefore say that in order to survive in the long term has to become civilization and breed an idea of “heritage”. However simultaneously, to be alive, to develop oneself and to progress as a human, a civilization needs to be cultivated personally by people in order to penetrate and give life to their souls, and to be lived by them. On the other hand “civilization” and “heritage” can simply boil down to monumental ruined buildings and empty streets (or full of tourists that are alien to the real “culture” of the people that built them, such as Palmyra, Luxor, the Great Wall of China or Machu Picchu. There only the visitor with great personal culture will even begin to be able to understand and imagine the “culture” and the people that created these now dilapidated and silent relics of “civilization”.

Let us recall the well-know speech delivered by Napoleon to his troops during the campaign in Egypt in 1798. He told them "Soldiers:—You are about to undertake a conquest the effects of which, on civilization...are incalculable. And indeed this conquest did have enormous consequences for “civilization” although relatively little on the personal culture of the soldiers themselves. This was without a doubt different for the scholars Napoleon brought with him to study Ancient Egyptian civilization. But surely this was not, for example, the same for the group of soldiers who took great fun in using the nose of the Great Sphinx as target practice, destroying what had survived centuries of ravage by sand and wind. Similarly this has also been the case for more recent attacks perpetrated by Daesh in Iraq and Syria.

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As we can see sadly “civilization” and “culture” do not always go hand in hand, thus weakening the “human heritage” that belongs to us all.

A similar thing can be said of books and writing. As Umberto Eco beautifully explains at the end of The Name of the Rose, many times in life so little has been saved, like a fire in a library: “fragments, quotations, unfinished sentences, amputated stumps of books.” So little remains of the “civilization” that the mythical library preserved and of the “culture” of the people that built it. But as Adson so clearly states “The more I reread this list [that has been saved from the fire] the more I am convinced it is the result of chance and contains no message. But these incomplete pages have accompanied me through all the life that has been left for me to live since then; I have often consulted them like an oracle [...] nor do I know whether thus far I have been speaking of them or they have spoken through my mouth.”

Ultimately, what Eco is trying to tell us is that those fragmented pieces of “civilization” have been capable of bringing to life the “culture” (and life) of those who read them, investigate them and conserve them in their minds. Only then really “civilization”, culture and “human heritage” go together hand in hand. But very easily can “heritage” lie abandoned, “civilization” have no one to keep it updated, alive and “cultivated or “culture” not find how to survive in a relatively more persistent form of “civilization” and “heritage”. Therefore sadly “civilization” and “culture” do not go hand in hand, and humanity loses an essential part of its “heritage”.

Exactly for this reason in the book “La societat de la ignorància”, we have denounced a lack of culture, the sensation of existential insecurity and the unawareness that is growing amongst people, paradoxically under the “civilizing” splendour of the Internet and the knowledge society, and enormous libraries and the increasing “museumization” of heritage. Therefore at times no one really takes control of “culture”; they relate themselves to "civilization" and "human heritage" in a purely mechanical and unconscious form. This sense of common lacks interest and even true value for many people, who more and more tend to close themselves off in privacy, “private property” and “their” professional hyper specialization.

Meanwhile, the common, “human heritage”, “culture” or “civilization” built between them and which has affected us all, is each day more forgotten, estranged and unconsidered. Therefore people maintain an important working professionalism (if not they would be joining the growing number of unemployed) and even make the effort for an apparently “cultural tourism”, but deep down they repudiate, in the best sense of the terms, the “cultural”, collective, civic and “political” norm..., that is to say, people, by renouncing culture and the cultivation thereof, now have very little real and profound contact with what is constructed between us all, common heritage, even with civilization itself...they are alone, dusty and in ruins, even though they do not seem to be.

In this case perhaps it is still being “civilized” in the sense of enjoying or having inherited a great “civilization” but it is not cultured nor is it a matter of having culture, given that this civilization really has not been cultivated nor updated, and this is happening more and more during our time. Surely some of the tourists from the United States and other powerful “advanced” countries that visit seemingly poorer countries can present themselves as “civilized” to the villagers (who are only there to conserve the ruins of their ancient populous “civilization”). But many times the latter has as much culture as the former. Therefore, like the example of the shepherd, the villagers today may not have such powerful economic, cultural, political and social institutions as these tourists, but perhaps they know their surroundings better and are more profoundly developed culturally.

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We thus see that to be "civilized” is more a collective “value” than a non-personal or individual one.

It says more about society itself, its power and its institutions than about any individual person.

Therefore “civilization” usually manifests itself in formal and public symbols such as clothing, “manners”, the type of language used, economic capacity, classifiable “heritage”, and other institutions that “respond” or “attend” to the needs of their citizens.

For this reason both today and during the age of colonization people consider certain customs, types of relationships and lifestyles, types of cooking or construction, technology and “social capital” to be “civilized” or to be signs of “civilization” to the detriment of others... which in reality are collective capacities, heritages or inheritances rather than skills, merits or fruits of “personal cultivation”..

So we can also see that we often disregard authentic personal achievements in a totally unfair way.

We refer to, for example; values, capacities, skills, sensibility and conscience “cultivated” and effectively developed by oneself.

Such injustices were opposed by Dante, Petrarca and Boccaccio when they demanded the “cor gentil” in the face of the cold, inherited and almost dead “civilization” supported by aristocrats. These individuals unjustly boasted about that which they had not developed within themselves and believed that this gave them superiority over people who had indeed done it and were considered “more civilized”. Dante, Petrarca, Boccaccio and many other Renaissance scholars thus reacted to an indiscriminate accusation of "vulgarity and of being “uncultured” by those who in reality only benefitted from being born lucky and the previous success of the class into which they were born..

For this reason Walter Benjamin advised that “any monument to culture is also a monument to barbarity ”, Horkheimer and Adorno demonstrated the perverse dialectic that converts what should be liberating illustration into oppressive myth and Voltaire lamented that sometimes “civilization does not suppress barbarism, but refines it”.

Gonçal Mayos, associate pr ofessor of philosophy at the Univer sity of Barcelona. He runs Open-Phi (Open Network for Post disciplinary and Macrophilosophy) and the International Research Group “Culture, History and State”. President of the Maragall School of Philosophy, first officer of the Board of the Ateneu Barcelonès, patron of the Francesc Pujols Foundation and advisor to the UOC. After much specific analysis work in modern philosophy, he is now interested in “macrophilosophy” (a term he coined himself). Macrophilosophy studies critically, synthetically, interdisciplinary and comparatively human processes of profound relevance, great power and long duration. It therefore studies the nature and evolution of rationality, the social and political mechanisms that make modernization and post modernization possible and the inhibiting factors of these dynamics, with special attention to the new and current conflicts (macrophilosophy of the present).

He has done research at Hegel Achiv of theUniv. Ruhr-Bochum, at the University of Heidelberg and at París-University René Descartes. He has been awarded the Premi Extraordinari llicenciatura (UB), Tercer Premi Final Carrera (MEC), Premi Prat de la Riba (IEC). www.ub.edu/histofilosofia/gmayos www.goncalmayossolsona.blogspot.com.es 38 | CATALONIA | AICSUSA.ORG

EN CATALÀ

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CATALONIA

EN CATALÀ

Lluís Companys Els primers anys de la seva vida política Lluís Companys va néixer, fill d'una família benestant, al Tarròs, a la comarca de l'Urgell, l'any 1882.

Amb 9 anys, la família es va traslladar a Barcelona i Companys va estudiar al Liceu Poliglota, on va conèixer Francesc Layret, amb qui estudiaria també la carrera de Dret i amb qui mantindria una gran amistat fins al seu assassinat el 1920.

De jove, Companys va col·laborar activament amb les Joventuts de la Unió Federal Nacionalista Republicana i en va ser president de la secció política. El 1917, amb Layret, Marcel·lí Domingo i altres, va crear el Partit Republicà Català, del qual va ser regidor a l’Ajuntament de Barcelona.

L'any 1920 va exercir d'advocat laborista en defensa de militants sindicalistes, tasca que va haver de deixar perquè va ser detingut i deportat al castell de la Mola, a Maó. El desembre del mateix any, va ser elegit diputat per Sabadell en representació del Partit Republicà Català i va ocupar l'escó de Francesc Layret, que havia estat assassinat a mans dels pistolers de la patronal i del governador civil Martínez Anido just quan es disposava a defensar Companys per treure'l del presidi.

L’any 1921 va ser un dels fundadors de la Unió de Rabassaires i Altres Conreadors del Camp de Catalunya i va dirigir La Terra, l'òrgan de la Unió. Durant la dictadura de Primo de Rivera va actuar com a advocat assessor de la Unió de Rabassaires i, des del 1928, va formar part dels comitès dels partits catalans que dirigiren l'oposició política a la dictadura.

República i Guerra Civil El març de 1931 va participar en la fundació d’Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, partit que va aglutinar l’Estat Català de Francesc Macià, el Partit Republicà Català de Lluís Companys i el grup l'Opinió de Joan Lluhí, a més de diverses associacions comarcals i locals. A les eleccions municipals del 12 d’abril, el nou partit republicà va rebre un gran suport a Catalunya. El 14 d’abril, acompanyat d'Aragay, Lluhí, Vallescà i d'altres, Lluís Companys va entrar a l’Ajuntament de Barcelona, va prendre possessió de l'alcaldia i, des del balcó, va proclamar la República de Catalunya. Macià poc després proclamaria des dels balcons de l’aleshores Diputació de Barcelona la República Catalana. Aquests actes acabarien amb la recuperació del règim autònom de la Generalitat, la històrica institució d'autogovern de Catalunya, de la qual seria president Francesc Macià.

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Els dos primers anys de la República, Companys va ocupar diversos càrrecs polítics. El juny de 1931, va ser elegit diputat a Corts per la província de Barcelona i membre de la Diputació Provisional de la Generalitat per Sabadell. El setembre de 1931, va intervenir activament en el projecte de constitució de la República Espanyola. L’octubre de 1931, va votar a favor del vot femení. El gener de 1932 va ser nomenat vicepresident de l'Assemblea de la Generalitat i president provisional, en substitució de Jaume Carner. El novembre de 1932, va ser elegit diputat al Parlament de Catalunya i, el desembre, primer president del Parlament. De juny a novembre de 1933 va encarregar-se del Ministeri de Marina. El novembre de 1933, a les eleccions legislatives va ser elegit diputat per la ciutat de Barcelona.

El 25 de desembre de 1933 mor Francesc Macià. El Parlament de Catalunya va decidir elegir Lluís Companys com a president de la Generalitat, càrrec que va ocupar a partir de l'1 de gener de 1934. Companys va formar un govern de concentració amb membres d'Estat Català, Acció Catalana Republicana i el grup de l'Opinió, amb Unió Socialista de Catalunya i Esquerra Republicana.

El juny de 1934, Companys va presentar el Projecte de llei de contractes de conreu al Parlament, que la va aprovar, i va provocar un greu enfrontament entre el govern espanyol i l’oposició catalana. La situació es va agreujar quan Alejandro Lerroux es va convertir en president del Govern espanyol. Les relacions amb el Govern català van empitjorar quan va nomenar tres ministres de la Confederación Española de Derechas Autónomas (CEDA), encapçalada per José María Gil-Robles.

Aquest fet va propiciar que els socialistes espanyols i l’Aliança Obrera de Catalunya declaressin una vaga general. Tot i les tensions polítiques del moment, el nacionalisme de Companys es va anar afermant i, davant la involució conservadora del règim republicà i les amenaces contra l’autonomia catalana, el 6 d’octubre de 1934 va proclamar l'Estat Català dins la República Federal Espanyola. Aquest fet va provocar la declaració de l’estat de guerra i l’enfrontament al carrer.

L’Estat Català només va durar deu hores i va finalitzar amb la detenció de tot el Govern català i els caps dels Mossos d’Esquadra.

La dissolució del Govern català va comportar, entre altres, l’anul·lació de la Llei de contractes de conreu, la clausura del Parlament català, la destitució de la major part d’alcaldes i regidors municipals d’esquerres, la supressió de l’Estatut i la repressió dels partits d’esquerres. Arran d’aquells fets, Companys va ser condemnat a trenta anys de reclusió pel Govern radical-cedista de la República Espanyola, pena que va complir al penal del Puerto de Santa María, a Cadis, fins al febrer del 1936, en què va ser alliberat gràcies a la victòria del Front Popular. Elegit diputat pel Front d'Esquerres de Catalunya, va tornar a presidir la Generalitat.

Després de l’aixecament militar del juliol del 1936, Companys va treballar activament en la resistència de Barcelona i va intentar mantenir, durant tota la Guerra Civil, llevat dels primers moments, l'equilibri de les forces polítiques catalanes, mitjançant governs de concentració, equilibri que culminà amb un govern d'unitat popular, el setembre del 1936, encapçalat per Josep Tarradellas, a qui va nomenar conseller primer de la Generalitat fins al maig del 1937, en què Companys tornaria a assumir la direcció del Govern de Catalunya. Durant el conflicte bèl·lic va resistir la influència primer anarquista, fins al maig del 1937, i després la marxista ortodoxa, a més de comandar la Generalitat en la lluita contra les tropes revoltades de Franco.

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EN CATALÀ

Exili i mort El 23 de gener del 1939, quan les forces franquistes estaven a punt d'entrar a Barcelona, Companys va travessar la frontera amb el lehendakari José Antonio Aguirre i altres. Es va exiliar primer a Perpinyà i després a París per treballar en la representació a l'exili de la Generalitat (Consell Nacional de Catalunya). Va acabar finalment a la Bretanya francesa, i s'hi va quedar, malgrat el perill que corria, per no perdre el contacte amb el seu fill Lluís, que tenia una greu malaltia mental.

El 13 d'agost de 1940 va ser detingut a La Baule (Bretanya) per la policia militar alemanya per ordre de les autoritats espanyoles amb col·laboració de membres de l'ambaixada espanyola a França. El Govern de Hitler, a petició de Franco, li va aplicar l’extradició i se’l van emportar a Madrid, on li van obrir diligències per “ser el president de la Generalitat, ministre de la República i responsable dels fets realitzats a Catalunya”. Després de diversos interrogatoris, el 3 d'octubre va ser traslladat al Castell de Montjuïc a Barcelona on li van fer un consell de guerra sumaríssim sense garanties processals. En el judici es va manifestar que “no era Lluís Companys qui es jutjava, sinó el president de la Generalitat de Catalunya”.

Va ser afusellat el 15 d'octubre de 1940, a dos quarts de set de la matinada, al fossar de Santa Eulàlia del Castell de Montjuïc. Moria, amb 58 anys, amb el crit “Per Catalunya!”

La memòria de Lluís Companys Des del 1985, les despulles de Companys reposen en un mausoleu al Fossar de la Pedrera del cementiri de Montjuïc, lloc que es va convertir en tomba comuna per a milers de víctimes de la repressió franquista.

Després del franquisme i amb la reinstauració de les institucions democràtiques, tant la trajectòria personal i política com la mort de Lluís Companys han estat objecte d’un gran nombre d’estudis, debats i homenatges d’autors de procedència ideològica i generació diverses. La memòria de la seva figura i, especialment, de la seva mort ha estat reivindicada en qualitat de símbol de Catalunya i d’un govern democràtic suprimit per la força de les armes d’un règim totalitari.

El 29 de setembre de 2008, en un acte solemne a la Generalitat de Catalunya, la cònsol d’Alemanya i el cònsol francès a Catalunya, en representació dels respectius governs, van assumir la responsabilitat en la detenció i deportació del president Lluís Companys, lliurat als franquistes.

En les commemoracions de l’afusellament de Lluís Companys, que es fan cada any a l’octubre, tant les institucions polítiques com les entitats socials reclamen l’anul·lació del judici. No obstant, l’Estat espanyol sempre s’ha negat a revisar la causa contra Companys i altres víctimes del franquisme adduint la Llei d’amnistia del 1977.

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Text d'una al·locució radiada molt emotiva de Lluís Companys feta davant la imminència de l’ocupació de Catalunya per les tropes franquistes. Es tracta d’una crida gairebé desesperada als catalans perquè resisteixin i continuïn lluitant per les llibertats.

CATALONIA

MEMORIA

Francesc Ribas Soberano

Nascut a Reus al sí d’una família molt modesta, als cinc anys la família es trasllada a viure a Tarragona i als catorze anys, arrel de la mort del seu pare, es trasllada a Barcelona.

Estudia medicina a la Universitat de Barcelona i es llicencia el 1915. El 1928 es trasllada a viure a Paris per a especialitzar-se en malalties pulmonars i cardíaques i en particular com a tisiòleg. Treballa a l’Hôpital de la Charité et Ténon de Paris i esdevé deixeble dels professors Emile Sergent i Camille Lian. Durant aquesta època també passa llargues temporades a Suècia on es familiaritza amb el sistema de seguretat social d’aquest país capdavanter i visita nombrosos centres antituberculosos del nord i centre d’Europa.

Amic i metge de Lluís Companys, el 1931 s'adhereix a Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya i el 1932 esdevé diputat al Parlament de Catalunya per a la ciutat de Barcelona. Al Parlament de Catalunya participa activament a les Comissions de Sanitat, Pressupostos i Justícia. A Esquerra és afí ideològicament a la línia més nacionalista, d'acord amb les seves conviccions independentistes. Era pròxim a Martí Barrera i Francesc Viadiu, entre d'altres.

El 1932 funda i dirigeix el sanatori de Puig d’Olena, al municipi de Sant Quirze de Safaja, que acull malalts de tuberculosis entre els quals el poeta Màrius Torres, fill del seu amic el doctor Humbert Torres, dirigent d'Esquerra i, com ell, diputat del Parlament de Catalunya. A l’acte d’inauguració del sanatori hi assisteixen el president Francesc Macià i l’il·lustre professor Emile Sergent.

Per decret de 27 de setembre de 1934 del Conseller d’Obres Públiques i Assistència Social i Sanitària, Pere Mestres, és nomenat representant de la Generalitat de Catalunya a la Junta Administrativa de l’Hospital Clínic de Barcelona. Arrel dels Fets d’Octubre de 1934, és substituït en aquest càrrec per un militar espanyol del desembre del mateix any fins al març de 1936, data en que el recupera fins al 26 d’agost de 1936, data en que la Junta Administrativa queda dissolta per decret de la Presidència de la Generalitat.

En aquest càrrec es preocupa pel finançament de l’hospital i per les condicions de treball i de remuneracions del personal hospitalari d’acord amb les seves sensibilitats socials ja que considera que per a ésser eficient el personal ha de guanyar un sou d’acord amb les responsabilitats que assumeix. També recolza, en qualitat de representant de la Generalitat, la proposta del doctor Bastos que les reunions es facin en català i que les actes de la Junta Administrativa es redactin també en aquesta llengua, proposta que és adoptada per unanimitat.

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Arrel de l’esclat de la Guerra Civil, la Generalitat li encomana d’organitzar l’Hospital Clínic en Hospital de guerra. En aquesta tasca organitza el Servei d’urgències per a que funcioni les 24 hores del dia (les urgències hospitalàries s’havien prèviament obert el gener del 1936), crea el primer centre de transfusió sanguinia en col·laboració amb els doctors Duran i Jordà que van idear un sistema de refrigeració, emmagatzament i transport de la sang per a subministrar els hospitals de campanya al front. Al servei d’urgències hi posa un equip de metges (entre els quals el doctor Broggi) destinats a poder fer les intervencions quirúrgiques immediates dels ferits.

Al maig de 1936, a iniciativa del doctor Corachan, conseller de Sanitat i Assistència Social presideix una comissió del Parlament de Catalunya per tal de redactar un projecte de llei d’Assistència Social, aprofitant els seus coneixements sobre el sistema de seguretat social suec.

La primavera de 1936 és nomenat també cap dels Serveis d’Assistència Antituberculosa. El novembre de 1937 és designat com un dels membres del Consell Administratiu de l’Hospital Clínic.

A l’inici de la Guerra Civil, Lluís Companys li encomana de buscar i traslladar el seu fill esquizofrènic a un sanatori a França.

El 23 de desembre de 1938 marxa a la Catalunya Nord (a Oceja, Cerdanya) on ja s’hi havien refugiat prèviament la seva esposa i els seus fills. Posteriorment acull a Oceja, a casa seva, la família Torres.

A l’abril de 1943, torna a l’Estat Espanyol clandestinament i s’amaga, fins al final de la Segona Guerra Mundial, al Mas Blanc, al municipi de Centelles, prop del Sanatori de Puig d’Olena, per tal d'ocupar-se'n de la seva direcció.

El 1945, acabada la Segona Guerra Mundial, s’entrega a les autoritats franquistes i el tribunal de depuracions el condemna el 1947 a ser desterrat fora de Catalunya al considerar-lo com un element perillós i el confina a Alacant on exerceix de metge fins al 1962, quan torna definitivament a Barcelona per motius de salut, morint d’una angina de pit el 8 de maig de 1965.

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