10.09.2014 - 14:06
The most illustrious and well-known Catalans around the world have also taken up positions in favour of the right to decide of the Catalans and of the independence of Catalonia. Figures from the world of sport, music, cinema and knowledge, such as the football manager Pep Guardiola, the tenor Josep Carreras, the actor Sergi López, and many others have often expressed their opinion in favour of the Catalans being able to decide whether they want a new state in a consultation on 9 November.
The manager of Bayern Munich, Pep Guardiola, who won two champions leagues with F.C Barcelona, this week made a cry for participation in the consultation on 9-N on the right to decide on the country’s future. ‘A large majority of the Catalan people want to decide on the future. How? Through the maximum expression of democracy: by voting in a referendum’, Guardiola said in English:
Guardiola has also sometimes taken part in popular events in favour of the right to decide, such as the ‘Catalans want to vote’ castle-building meeting in June in Berlin. Barça’s former manager read a manifesto in favour of the consultation.
The actor Sergi López, with a consolidated career in French cinema is an open supporter of independence. In 2012, at the founding act of the Catalan National Assembly, the grass-roots NGO that is organising the main campaign for independence from Spain, López gave a speech in which he firmly said, ‘Long live the lands, long live the free and independent Catalan Territories’.
The Catalan tenor Josep Carreras, who has performed in the most important theatres and at the most prestigious festivals in the world, has also expressed his favour of the independence of Catalonia. Carreras explained that he has been a supporter of independence since before the movement became a majority. The singer, who yesterday was awarded the Gold Medal of the Parliament of Catalonia, the maximum distinction of the Catalan government, said, ‘We are an adult people and we can take our own decisions’.
In the world of knowledge, two highly prestigious professors have also firmly stated that independence is the best way for Catalonia. Xavier Sala i Martín, economist and teacher at the University of Colombia in New York, and Carles Boix, teacher of political science at Princeton University, created the Col·lectiu Wilson, an entity intended to contribute to discussion on self-determination in Catalonia so that the Catalans might decide freely on their own future without fear or threats. Both also regularly sign articles offering arguments in favour of the independence of Catalonia; in fact, Sala i Martín has just brought out the book ‘És l’hora dels adeus?’ (‘Is this the time of the goodbyes?’ an x-ray of the economic and political situation in recent years and what might be the future of Catalonia.
