Opinió
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L'Espanya subsidiada i la casta depredadora
Eugeni Casanova
06.09.2013
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El deure de decidir
Josep Rull
05.09.2013
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Via a la independència. La Sénia no és frontera
Alfons López Tena
05.09.2013
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'Els qui vivim fora també hem d'empènyer'
Joel Mestres
03.09.2013
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El consell valencià, la Via Catalana i la prohibició del pacifisme
Ferran Suay
02.09.2013
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Estudiar el català a la Universitat de Perpinyà
Alà Baylac Ferrer
30.08.2013
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I a nosaltres, què ens convé?
Marta Serra
29.08.2013
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A França li convé un estat català
Eugeni Casanova
27.08.2013
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'Catalano? Non ci risulta'
Pau Vidal
22.08.2013
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No tot s'hi val
Manel Clavijo
21.08.2013
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Els nens 'desemparats'
Tina Vallès
20.08.2013
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Shawn Renee Lent: Esperàvem que no succeís
Shawn Renee Lent
17.08.2013
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Shawn Renee Lent: Esperàvem que no succeís
Shawn Renee Lent
17.08.2013
Liz Castro
09.06.2014
Building a tower to democracy
What can you say about a people that builds human towers? At first glance, they look freakish, like a contortionist from Cirque de Soleil, eliciting the same proportions of wonder and terror: will that tiny child who has climbed 50 feet up a wavering pillar of color-coordinated, barefoot actors fall to a gruesome death? Is that even legal? Certainly not in my country, where we seem determined to legislate ourselves into a false sense of security that requires that children be kept off the streets, out of the trees, and certainly not on human castles 10 (human) stories high.
(@Borinots from Sants in Lisbon (left) and @Bordegassos in Rome)
But the outward manifestation of human towers—the graceful, seemingly fragile, sometimes trembling tower itself—is only a tiny part of what castleing is about. The most important part is the mass of people at the base, carefully shaped into a pinecone formation—la pinya—in order to properly support the towering structure above. The construction is a metaphor for Catalan society: everyone in the community, whether young or old, fat or thin, man or woman, strong or weak has a role to play in constructing this ephemeral, outlandish, dare to gravity and to complacence.
(@CollaVella dels Xiquets de Valls, in Paris)
The real beauty of a human tower team is what they did on Sunday: travel en masse, more than 5000 of them, to 7 European capitals and 41 Catalan cities, plus a few in the Americas, paying most of their expenses themselves, spending hours and hours on the road, just so they could wave a flag saying "Catalans want to vote", trying to be heard above the Spanish scorn, demagoguery, and fear mongering. Catalan human tower builders are just one somewhat curious representation of the rock-solid Catalan community, built against 300 years of Spanish pressure on their language, their culture, and their traditions.
(@Xiquets de Reus in Geneva)
The secret to Catalan community is "associacionisme" or "associationism" and it's evidenced both by the incredible number of neighborhood and pastime groups and the breadth of the work they do. In the Barcelona neighborhood of Gràcia alone, there are more than 400 associations—from human tower builders to fireworks devils, shop owners groups to hiking clubs. This "associationism" is the "pinya" for the sovereignty movement, the foundation that makes it possible to send castlers all over Europe, to line up 1.6 million people holding hands from one end of the country to the other 250 miles away, to bring out 2 million people this coming Catalonia National Day in September to form a massive letter V along Gran Via and Diagonal in central Barcelona, a V for "Via" (Way), for "Voluntat" (Will), for Victory, and most importantly, for Vote.
(@XicsGranollers in Berlin, left, and @Verds from Vilafranca in Brussels)
For all this is about one thing, and one thing only: Catalans exercising their democratic right to vote on their political future. Make no mistake, a country that can come together to build human towers is a force to be reckoned with.
(Photo in the @Independent of the @JovesValls team constructing a tower near the Tower Bridge in London)
Editorial
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La manera de guanyar importa
Vicent Partal
27.07.2015
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La fi de Pujol i la fi de la Catalunya autònoma
Vicent Partal
25.07.2015
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7 contra 155?
Vicent Partal
24.07.2015
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El 155 o l'evidència de la desesperació
Vicent Partal
23.07.2015
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Rajoy i els conceptes més elementals
Vicent Partal
22.07.2015
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Anem a totes
Vicent Partal
21.07.2015
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Ciutadans contra el(s) valencià(ns)
Vicent Partal
20.07.2015
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Contra la revolució
Vicent Partal
17.07.2015
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Les tres explicacions que no entendran mai
Vicent Partal
16.07.2015
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Setanta-cinc dies per a treballar tots com bojos
Vicent Partal
15.07.2015
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Bones vibracions…
Vicent Partal
14.07.2015
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Turbulències, també a Podem
Vicent Partal
13.07.2015
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Lleida és un gran exemple
Vicent Partal
10.07.2015
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I ara un parell de preguntes
Vicent Partal
09.07.2015
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Entre Irlanda i la CUP
Vicent Partal
08.07.2015
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(In)justícies
Vicent Partal
07.07.2015
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La democràcia té límits?
Vicent Partal
06.07.2015
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Persistència per a guanyar
Vicent Partal
05.07.2015
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Sumar
Vicent Partal
03.07.2015
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L’embolic d’Iceta amb el 9-N
Vicent Partal
02.07.2015
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Contra la 'llei mordassa'
Vicent Partal
01.07.2015
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Europa, en perill
Vicent Partal
30.06.2015
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A les vostres mans
Vicent Partal
29.06.2015
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La trampa
Vicent Partal
26.06.2015
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El retorn de la Generalitat
Vicent Partal
25.06.2015