Civ 1

Catalan International View A European Review of the World

The EU: a ‘non-emotional identity’

by Montserrat Guibernau

Kosovo: twenty-first century, year zero

by Víctor Terradellas

The pillars of Putin’s Russia

by Natàlia Boronat

Politics and Culture: the Baroque roots of populism Issue 1 • Spring 2008 • 5 E

by Vicenç Villatoro

Climate change: more than a change in the climate

by Pere Torres

Kenya, the power of self-deception

by Nicolás Valle

Lebanon at the crossroads of its destiny

by Zeina Mogharbel

SECTIONS: Europe · The Americas · Interview · Opinions · Africa · Middle East Business & Economics · Science & Technology · Green Debate · The Artist · A Poem

Editor: Víctor Terradellas editor@international-view.cat

Director: Francesc de Dalmases director@international-view.cat Senior Designer: Quim Milla designer@international-view.cat

Editorial Coordinator: Geni Flos coordinator@international-view.cat Editorial Board:

Chief €Editors:

Martí Anglada Manel Balcells Enric Canela Àngel Font Anna Grau Montserrat Guibernau Guillem López Casasnovas Manuel Manonelles

Fèlix Martí Arcadi Oliveres Eva Piquer Ricard Planas Vicent Sanchis Pere Torres Vicenç Villatoro

Judit Aixalà Francesc Parés

Translation Team: Nigel Balfour

Júlia López Seguí Executive Production: Headquarters, Administration and Subcriptions: Fonollar, 14 08003 – Barcelona · Catalunya (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 Catalunya by: Grup Balmes Published every three months.

Cover Art: Enric Ansesa

Catalan International View

To Our Readers

6......... Besllum

Contents

by Francesc de Dalmases Europe

8......... The EU: a ‘non-emotional identity’

by Montserrat Guibernau

12........ Kosovo: twenty-first century, year zero

by Víctor Terradellas

16........ The pillars of Putin’s Russia

by Natàlia Boronat

22........ Euro-weariness in Catalunya

by Vicent Sanchis

The Americas

26........ A splendorous election

by Martí Anglada

Interview

30........ Albert Sánchez Piñol

by Eva Piquer

Opinions

36........ Politics and Culture: the Baroque roots of populism

by Vicenç Villatoro

40........ For when another Hemingway comes along

by Anna Grau

46........ Building complex bridges

by Manuel Manonelles

Africa

50........ Kenya, the power of self-deception

by Nicolás Valle

Middle East

56........ Lebanon at the crossroads of its destiny

by Zeina Mogharbel

Business and Economics

60....... The internationalisation of business: The human factor

by Mireia Gimeno

Science and Technology

64........ Biotechnology and Biomedicine in Catalunya, a window on the world

by Manel Balcells

Green Debate

68........ Climate change is more than a change in the climate

by Pere Torres

The Artist

72........ Enric Ansesa versus ‘Catalan Hills’

by Ricard Planas

A Poem

74........ Ausiàs Marc

Catalan International View

Editorial Board Martí Anglada

Manel Balcells

Foreign news editor at TV3 (Catalunya Television). He has been foreign correspondent in the Middle East, Italy and Great Britain (1977-1984) for the Barcelona newspaper La Vanguardia and United States correspondent for TV3 (1987-1990).

He has also been an international political commentator.

He recently published Afers no tan estrangers (Not So Foreign Affairs) for Editorial Mina (part of Grup 62).

(Ripoll, 1958). Doctor specialising in orthopaedics, traumatology and sports medicine. Holds a degree in Health Management from EADA and is a member of a number of scientific societies.

In his long career in the health sector he has been medical director of Granollers General Hospital (Barcelona); both director and secretary of Coordination and Strategy for the Department of Health of the Generalitat of Catalunya; councillor for the Department of Universities, Research and Information Society; and consultant for the Catalan Hospital Consortium. Since the 27th of December 2006 he has been president of the board of directors of the Private BioRegion Foundation of Catalunya.

Enric Canela (Barcelona, 1949). Holds a Chemistry degree from the Universitat de Barcelona (UB, 1972) and a PhD in Chemistry with Biochemistry as his specialisation. Lecturer at the UB since 1974, he is professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and head of the department of the same name in the Biology Faculty of the UB. He collaborates in research on intracellular communication and theoretical biochemistry. He regularly publishes in scientific journals of international renown. Between 1991 and 1995 he was vice-president of the Catalan Biology Society. He has been president of the Society for Knowledge since September 2007. Since June 2007 he has been patron of the National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation (ANECA) for the Spanish state.

Anna Grau Journalist and writer. From 1991 to 2005 she worked as a political journalist in Barcelona and Madrid, where she was the correspondent for the Avui newspaper and numerous programmes for TV3, Catalunya Ràdio, Ràdio4 and COM ràdio. In 2005 she left for New York, where she currently works. Author of El dia que va morir el president (the Day the President Died), Dones contra dones (Women Against Women) and Endarrere aquesta gent (Reject These People) and the essay Per què parir (Why have a baby?).

Guillem López Casasnovas (Menorca). Holds a degree in Economics (distinction, 1978) and Law (1979) from the Universitat de Barcelona (UB). He obtained his PhD in Public Economics from the University of York (UK, 1984). He has been a lecturer at the Universitat de Barcelona, visiting scholar at the Institute of Social and Economic Research (UK), University of Sussex and at the Graduate School of Business at the University of Stanford (USA). Since June 1992 has been full professor of economics at Barcelona’s Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), where he has been vice rector of Economics and International Relations and head of the Scool of Economics and Business Science. In 1998 he created the Economics and Health Research Centre (CRES- UPF), which he directed until recently. Co director of the Master’s in Public Management (UPF-UAB-EAPC). In 2000 he received the Catalan Economics Society Award and in 2001 the Joan Sardà Dexeus Award. He is also a member of the Menorcan Institute of Studies, of the Directors’ Board of the International Health Economics Association, The Catalan Royal Academy of Medicine and a distinguished member of the Economists’ Society of Catalunya. Since 2005 he has been one of The Spanish Central Bank’s six independent

Fèlix Martí Former president of the International Catholic Movement for Intellectual and Cultural Affairs (Pax Romana), from 1975 to 1984; director of Catalonia magazine (1987-2002), a publication printed in four different languages, aimed at disseminating Catalan culture; director of the UNESCO centre of Catalunya (1984 to 2002) and later its honorary president (from 2003). 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 promotes 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 honorary president thereafter. Wrote his memoirs Diplomàtic sense estat (Diplomat Without a State), published by Edicions Proa in 2006. Was awarded the UNESCO Human Rights Medal in 1995 and the Generalitat de Catalunya’s ‘Creu de Sant Jordi’ (St. George’s Cross) in 2002.

4

Àngel Font i Vidal (1965). Holds a degree in Chemical Sciences from the Universitat de Barcelona and a diploma in Business Management from EADA Business School. Began his career in an environmental engineering company and subsequently joined Intermón Oxfam where he held the post of coordinator on projects in Latin America, fund-raising and public relations and assistant to the director general. Since 2000 he has been director of the Un Sol Món (One World) Foundation financed by the Caixa de Catalunya (Building Society) where he runs projects for social housing and employment for disadvantaged groups as well as the development of microfinance in Spain, Latin America and Africa. Àngel Font is a member of the Cooperation Council of the Generalitat de Catalunya and was the first vice-president of the European Microfinance Network. He carries out teaching duties related to the management of non-profit organisations at a number of business schools.

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 professorhips 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.

Manuel Manonelles Political commentator specialising in international relations, human rights and democratisation processes. Currently director of the Foundation for a Culture of Peace, Barcelona. He has been special advisor to the Co-chair of the UN High Level Group for the Alliance of Civilisations, as well as advisor to the coordinator of the Secretariat of the World Forum of Civil Society Networks (Ubuntu Forum), which is a member of the International Council of the World Social 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.

Arcadi Oliveres (Barcelona, 1945). PhD in Economic Science, lecturer in the Department of Applied Economics at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and president of the organisation Justícia i Pau ( Justice and Peace). He is also president of the Catalan Council for the Promotion of Peace, the International Peace University Foundation of Sant Cugat del Vallès, the Federation of Internationally Recognised Catalan Organisations (FOCIR) and the Easy to Read Association. He is an expert on North-South relations, international trade, external debt and defence economics and also lectures on aid and development for a number of master’s and PhD programmes.

Catalan International View

Eva Piquer

Ricard Planas

(Barcelona, 1969). Writer and journalist. Works for the Avui newspaper where she coordinates the cultural supplement and the culture section. 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).

(Girona, 1976). Journalist, art critic and cultural promoter.

Studied Philology and the History of Art at the University of 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.

Vicent Sanchis i Llàcer (València, 1961). Holds a degree in Information Science 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 has been editor and director of El Temps magazine; 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, content director of Grup Cultura 03 and vicepresident of Òminium Cultural. Vicent is also lecturer in the Faculty of Communication Sciences at Universitat Ramon Llull de Barcelona.

Pere Torres Biologist and environmental consultant. After some time spent on research (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona), he joined the Government of Catalunya in 1991. He was in turn secretary of the Catalan Inter-university Council (1991-1993), head of the Environment Minister’s staff(1993-1995), general director of Environmental Planning (1995-2000) and secretary for Regional Planning (2000-2003). Since 2004 he has done consultancy work in public management, sustainability and land use planning and has been a regular contributor to the International Institute for Governability and the Cerdà Institute.

Vicenç Villatoro i Lamolla

Francesc de Dalmases (Director)

(Terrassa, 1957). Writer and journalist. Holds a degree in Information Sciences. Currently the president of the Ramon Trias Fargas Foundation. As a journalist he has worked for numerous organisations. 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. As a writer he has written a dozen novels.

(Barcelona, 1970). Althought originally trained as a Social Educator (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona), he works as a journalist as well as being a logistician 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). He is a founder member of CAL (the Coordinator of Associations for the Catalan language). Has acted as a foreign expert in aid projects in such diverse locations as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Mongolia, Kosovo, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mexico, Guatemala and Morocco. He is patron of the Reeixida Foundation and the CATmón Foundation.

President of IGMAN-Acció Solidària and director of ONGC a magazine dedicated to political thought, solidarity, aid and international relations. He is a member of the Cooperation Council of the Generalitat de Catalunya.

Víctor Terradellas i Maré (Editor) (Reus, 1962). Entrepreneur and political and cultural activist.

President and founder of CATmón Foundation. Editor of Catalan International View and ONGC, a magazine dedicated to political thought, solidarity, aid and international relations.

Victor 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 SelfDetermination) 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.

1 Year (4 issues) just 40 euro Name (please print)

Address payament enclosed

charge my:

mastercard

visa

Account # Signature

Date

Fonollar 14 · 08003 BARCELONA · CATALUNYA · Europa · www.international-view.cat

Catalan International View

5

To Our Readers

Besllum*

(* A Catalan word with no literal translation meaning ‘imperfect, uncertain understanding of something’)

by Francesc de Dalmases

On the 24th of October 1971 Pau Casals received the Peace Medal before the United Nations General Assembly. He graciously accepted the award with the following words:

‘This is the greatest honour of my life.

Peace has always been my greatest concern. I learnt to love it when I was but a child. When I was a boy, my mother, an exceptional, marvellous woman, would talk to me about peace, because at that time there were also many wars.

What is more, I am a Catalan. Today, Catalunya is a province of Spain. But what has Catalunya been? It has been the greatest nation in the world. I will tell you why.

Catalunya had the first parliament, long before England. Catalunya had the first United Nations. In the eleventh century all the governing bodies of Catalunya met in a city in France which at the time formed part of Catalunya. They spoke about peace in the eleventh century. Peace in the world and against war, the inhumanity of war. So I am so happy, so happy, to be with you today.

That is why the United Nations, which works solely towards the ideal of peace, is in my heart, because anything to do with peace goes straight to my heart.

I have not played the cello in public for many years, but I feel that the time has come to play again. I am going to play a melody from Catalan folklore: El cant dels ocells [‘birdsong’]. When birds are in the sky, they sing: “peace, peace, peace”, and it is a melody that Bach, Beethoven and all the greats would have admired and loved. What is more, it is born in the soul of my country, Catalunya.’

6

Catalan International View

We have used the words of the maestro Pau Casals because in some way they well define the reasons why you have this publication in your hands. The Catalan nation’s desire for understanding and dialogue is a characteristic that has permeated all of our history, as too is our desire to participate in first person with all nations.

The 21st century has seen a world deliberating between hope and convulsion. We choose hope based on justice, peace, liberty along with the other individual and collective human rights.

These are the foundations of our hope. On this solid base we believe we are able to build the ideals of living together, and mutual understanding and acknowledgement, rather than the walls of incomprehension, fear, hate and repression that have played a large part in contemporary world history.

In an international climate that dangerously swings between black and white, Catalan International View will be on the lookout for the shades of grey In an international climate that dangerously swings between black and white, Catalan International View will move from the North to the South and from the East to the West on the lookout for the shades of grey. We will be looking for the keys that will help us to better understand the planet on which we live. We shall do so from Catalunya, a European nation bordering the Mediterranean, half way between the East and the West: half way between Shanghai and Los Angeles and half way between Kinshasa and Saint Petersburg.

Our goal shall be that outlined by the ex-Secretary General of the UN Kofi Anan when he referred to the necessity to know how to love what we are without hating what we are not.

In the views that are held in the following pages and the editions to follow you will rarely find articles or information about what is happening in Catalunya. Catalan International View will not be a means to get to know and understand Catalunya. We do, however, offer an international analysis from a Catalan perspective and sensibility. It represents our own characteristic, determined concerns which, as you will also see, are rich in their diversity.

Interpreting the world is an enormous and exaggerated proposition which is beyond our reach, and indeed beyond the reach of any individual or institution with any degree of knowledge and humility. Our objective is more achievable: to offer a new eyepiece through which to view the global, interconnected world in which we live with a new perspective.

The widespread local and global effects produced by the great political, economic and environmental questions of our day make these three the key axes around which the magazine will revolve.

The readers will not be required to struggle to identify us with one particular doctrine or a specific school of thought. Our intention, to look for the shades of grey far from dogmatic truths and fundamentalisms, means we seek reason and truth from all sides, so long as they are based on the common concepts of democracy, liberty and respect for human rights.

Finally I should like to say that we will value equally the answers that we may find as much as the questions that may arise from the dialogue found in Catalan International View. To paraphrase the poet Kavafis, I can say that we do not know, nor have the intention to discover, where our Ithaca is to be found, but we begin the journey which starts right now with enthusiasm, hope and determination. Thank you for accompanying us.

Catalan International View

7

Europe

The EU: a ‘non-emotional’ identity1

by Montserrat Guibernau*

What constitutes European identity? What are or could be its main components? European identity cannot be founded upon the cultural and linguistic homogenisation of its citizens, a mistake too often made by nation-states seeking to annihilate internal diversity to create a homogeneous citizenry. National and ethnic minorities claiming the right to cultural and linguistic survival, and in some cases the right to selfdetermination, are now contesting such attempts. In a similar manner, European identity cannot claim to be based upon a common past and it cannot even boast clear-cut geographical or cultural boundaries.

In contrast, a still embryonic European identity relies on the shared consciousness of belonging to an economic and political space defined by capitalism, social welfare, liberal democracy, respect for human rights, freedom and the rule of law, prosperity and progress. In my view, these are the pillars of a European identity primarily defined by the sharing of a specific political culture and the desire to benefit from the economic advantages derived from EU membership. Nevertheless, are these factors sufficient to generate loyalty to the EU? Would support for the EU dwindle were it to be hard-hit by an economic crisis?

As I see it, a major economic crisis would undoubtedly call into question the very purpose of the EU. This at a time when the economic prosperity associated with the Union has become of paramount importance to the EU-15, while simultaneously acting as a magnet for those nation-states which joined the EU in 2004 and 2007 as well as for those currently applying for membership.

The EU is still a fragile institution and to make it work, nation-states need to believe that they would not get a better deal by abandoning the Union. Economic prosperity is driving EU integration and a major failure in this area would 8

Catalan International View

bring the EU’s capacity for political integration to a standstill.

At present, the economic incentives of EU membership are enormous. However, the determination to protect national interests is so robust that, if a major economic crisis were to affect the EU, this could prompt some member-states to believe that they could do better on their own or by establishing alternative partnerships. Under those circumstances, a still feeble and incipient European identity would suffer a major blow.

In my view, European identity is best defined as an emergent ‘non-emotional’ identity, at least

while in its early stages, in contrast to the powerful and emotionally charged national identities of our time.

European identity cannot be founded upon the cultural and linguistic homogenization of its citizens In its present form, I do not expect European identity to arouse feelings comparable to those inspired by national identity. In a similar manner, I do not anticipate the emergence of a European nationalism powerful enough to mobilize the masses in the name of Europe; finding common causes and interests that would unite Europeans and prompt them to sacrifice their own lives in the name of the EU would be problematic. So far, the nation-state retains the emotional attachment of its citizens and when it becomes alien to them or too broad and distant, individuals turn to regional, ethnic, local and other forms of identity tying them to more sizeable communities than the EU.

Challenges to an EU identity In addition to economic success, several other key challenges to the consolidation of a European identity should be mentioned, among them a widening gap between the elites and the masses regarding perceptions and attitudes towards the EU. Not even European elites share a coherent vision of the EU, however. Rather, there exist substantial differences regarding their ideas as to the institutional shape the EU should progress towards, as well as the degree of political and economic integration it should aim for. Max Haller highlights the lack of a single project for an EU identity by signalling the existence of ‘significant differences in their ideas, both among political leaders and elites in different European nation states, and between different political parties, as well as between economic, political and cultural elites’2.

Catalan International View

9

Up to a point, the gap between elites and the masses has materialised in the opposition to the draft Constitution that received a ‘no’ vote in France and the Netherlands in 2005. Dissatisfaction with the EU’s democratic deficit, concern about the future of social welfare, disagreement on the institutional model propounded for the EU, lack of representation (voice and vote) for constitutional regions such as Catalunya, Scotland and Flanders, opposition to what is perceived by many as a growing hyper-bureaucratic entity distant from ordinary citizens, inability to speak with a single voice at crucial moments (intervention in the wars of the former Yugoslavia and Iraq) and discontent about their own national governments have prompted a large number of citizens to vote ‘no’. Saying ‘no’ to the Constitution, among other issues, implies that, for some, the brand of European identity emerging from the EU’s charter does not fulfil their aspirations. At the dawn of the largest expansion ever experienced by the EU, it is of crucial importance to pause and reflect on the message being sent by the citizens of two founding EU member-states.

In my view, the emergence of a European identity requires the political will to build a common project for the future, a vision encompassing socio-economic progress, commitment to liberaldemocracy and the pledge among EU members to replace conflict with consensus. When constructing such a project we should be wary of grand ventures, which in the past have resulted in conflict and destruction. Mazower cautions us: ‘It was thus not preordained that democracy should win over fascism and communism, just as it remains still to be seen what kind of democracy Europe is able and willing to build3.… Yet we should certainly not assume that democracy is suited to Europe’4.

A further challenge to the EU derives from the rise of populist right wing nationalism in the shape of political parties fully integrated within the democratic system which tend to exploit fears of economic and cultural take over by immigrants, legal and illegal refugees and asylum seekers attracted by the EU’s wealth. Fear of diversity, feel10

ings of being worse off than newcomers regarded as benefiting from social welfare, cultural clashes, prejudice, and differences in life-styles all generate anxiety. They also encourage some sectors of the population, many of whom are to be found among the working class, to support right wing often populist parties prepared to be ‘tough’ and place the interests of their own citizens first.

The emergence of a European identity requires the political will to build a common project for the future Current debates on whether assimilation, integration or multiculturalism should prevail are causing heated confrontations in European societies. Evidence of ‘ghettoisation’, the existence of parallel societies which do not interact with each other, discrimination, racism, clashes between some members of ethnic groups, and confrontation between migrants of different origins have ignited resentment and violence. The outburst of violence registered in France throughout November 2005 exemplifies this. In addition, the 7th of July 2005 London terrorist attacks perpetrated

by British citizens of migrant origin have shaken British society to the foundations.

Mazower’s idea that ‘The real victor in 1989 was not democracy but capitalism, and Europe as a whole now faces the task which Western Europe has confronted since the 1930s, of establishing a workable relationship between the two’ expresses one of the EU’s greatest challenges since it is capitalism and the need to stand up as a global economic player what has prompted European integration in the first place.

Furthermore, the EU’s will to assert its identity as a global political actor through the implementation of a common foreign and security policy, including the eventual framing of a common defence policy as envisaged in the Maastricht Treaty for the EU (Article B) is proving a challenging objective. Lack of accord among EU leaders has

Catalan International View

resulted in the absence of a unified EU response to profound crises such as the occupation of Kuwait by Iraq and the subsequent Gulf War (1991), civil war resulting in the disintegration of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, the recognition of new independent states such as Slovenia and Croatia and the US-led invasion of Iraq. Most recently, Kosovo’s declaration of independence (February 2008) has once more highlighted the lack of a unified reaction among EU member states.

To assume that an emotional attachment to the EU should naturally accompany membership

underestimates the complexity and strength of national identity, which still continues to act as the immediate frame of reference for the majority of citizens. Even accepting that the nation-state is changing and re-casting its nature, I do not think we can declare that it is fading away. In my view, European identity will remain an abstract concept in the medium term and its future will crucially depend on the socio-economic and political consequences of adopting a single currency, successfully managing enlargement and dealing with mass immigration as well as the cultural, social and political questions associated with it.

*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 professorhips 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.

1 A substantially longer and more detailed version of this article can be found in Guibernau, Montserrat The Identity of Nations (Polity Press: Cambridge, 2007).

2 Haller, Max ‘Voiceless Submission or Deliberate Choice? European Integration and the Relation between National and European Identity’ in Kriesi, H. et al. (eds) Nation and National Identity: The European Experience in Perspective (Rüegger: Chur/Sürich, 1999) pp.

263-296, p. 272. See also, Puntscher-Riekmann, Sonja Die kommissarische Neuordnung Europas (Springer Verlag: Berlin, 1998).

3 Mazower, Mark Dark Continent: Europe’s Twentieth Century (Allen Lane, The Penguin Press: London, 1998) p. 12.

4 Mazower, Mark Dark Continent: Europe’s Twentieth Century (Allen Lane, The Penguin Press: London, 1998) p. 3.

5 Mazower, Mark Dark Continent: Europe’s Twentieth Century (Allen Lane, The Penguin Press: London, 1998) p. 405.

Catalan International View

11

Europe

KOSOVO twenty-first century, year zero

By VĂ­ctor Terradellas*

The shocking images of the burning of the American embassy in Belgrade, the destruction of Kosovo’s border posts and the revolts in Mitrovica conceal the extreme complexity of self-determination for Kosovo.

It is a process which will not be easy, but which should be approached while emphasising the welfare of its citizens over the interests and opinions of the international community.

Welfare and self-determination We hold this position because in recent years, and especially in recent months when the country was seen to be moving inexorably towards independence, one has had the feeling that what really needs to be taken into account in terms of Kosovo are the opinions held in Washington, Moscow, Belgrade or Brussels.

Nothing could be further from the truth, however. In order to understand Kosovo and the will of the majority of its citizens it is necessary to go there. One needs to have experienced its evolution since the end of the war with Serbia and it is necessary to do as we have done, to go to Kosovo and attempt to understand why independence is a political option while self-determination is probably the only chance this Balkan state has for a viable future.

The effort required to picture Kosovo in the mid and long term cannot be determined by Serbian reactions and decisions. It remains clear that Serbia is a vital participant when it comes to analysing any question currently related to the Balkans. However, Serbia now faces the immense challenge of building a new country that is cur12

rently not only moving away from the Yugoslavia of Tito but also from the sense of continuous defeat that has accompanied it for almost twenty years. Kosovo is simply the latest episode in a cycle that a large part of Serbian society has witnessed in the form of continuous defeats that began with Slovenia and continued with Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In this context, we need to go a little further, we need to understand the violent unrest in Belgrade and Mitrovica as the inevitable price to be paid when decisions have been made and paths have been chosen that outline a new Balkan region, with no chance of a return to the past. It represents a Balkan region that is conscious of its history while convinced that it is necessary to construct a new future in which people and nations all enjoy the same rights and the same opportunities.

It is here where we consider it truly necessary to reach the objectives and deal with the genuine protagonists of Kosovan independence: the men and women that live in Kosovo.

The major challenge facing Kosovo is not to meet with the approval or disapproval of the Rus-

Catalan International View

cial progress brought about by Kosovo’s new status as a state.

Appealing to the undeniable segregation that the majority of Kosovan society suffered throughout the period in which they lived under Serbian (or Yugoslavian) rule may be historically correct.

However, it is politically futile at the time of constructing a new Kosovan state. This is because, for a small country both geographically and demographically, the consolidation of a society united in its heterogeneity will provide a vital impulse when it comes to facing the future. sian, American or European governments. Its true challenge is to equip itself with an executive, legislative and judicial system that will put an end to the self-destructive tendencies that Kosovan society has suffered recently. Kosovo’s greatest challenge is to see internal differences as enriching the country rather than dividing it. It is a goal that has to unite the totality of institutions and services the new state is putting into place.

Kosovo’s greatest challenge is to see internal differences as enriching the country rather than dividing it The fact that a majority of the Kosovan population views this process positively does not mean we should forget that a minority of the population view it with anger and moreover, with fear. The main objective of Kosovo’s leaders and international assessors must be to convince the minority that the process of self-determination signifies a move forward for them and that they will personally benefit from the political, economic and so-

A precedent?

In the debate as to whether Kosovo sets some kind of precedent for other nations in Europe without a state, it is easy to connect each opinion with its corresponding self-interest. Some of the opinions appear to be paradoxical: while Russia has maintained a firm opposition to Kosovan independence, Russian support and the example of Kosovo have been used by the leaders of the breakaway republics of South Ossetia and Transnistria in order to strengthen their calls for independence. The position of Javier Solana, the High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, is also contradictory. He supported the self-determination process while his ex-colleagues in the ruling Spanish socialist party, represented one of the main opposing voices internationally to Kosovan independence. According to the majority of international sources and the media, it was an opposition that could be interpreted as a message in political code directed at those who seek Basque and Catalan independence. Among those analysing the Kosovan process with a vested interest, the Unrepresented

Catalan International View

13

Austria

Hungary

Slovenia Croatia

Romania

Bosnia and Hercegovina

Bulgaria

Serbia

Montenegro Kosovo Macedonia

Italy Albania Nations and Peoples Organisation (UNPO) also stands out. Its sixty-nine members, among which Kosovo itself was represented, see this process as offering the possibility of imagining a future of self-government and independence for their nations.

Greece

supported a unilateral process of self-determination.

A state’s strength resides in its legitimacy and in the possibilities it has of establishing links with other What do we really understand by such a prec- states that are equally legitimate edent, however? It is clear that seeing a parallel between Kosovo and, to name some examples, Kurdistan, Quebec, Scotland or Catalunya, is not only exaggerated, it is simply unthinkable. The key factor, in our assessment of the situation, is not to look for demographic, territorial, political or economic similarities, but rather to analyse the political process that has allowed Kosovo to have access to self-determination. On this point what really stands out and what makes Kosovo effectively a precedent is that the international community (with the United States and the European Union in the lead) have largely recognised and 14

The U.S. and the E.U. have, therefore, validated the majority opinion of the Kosovan population and have maintained their collective, inalienable right to decide. They have recognised, indeed, that to exercise the right to self-government is a democratic, peaceful process, where the major protagonist is the collective that decides to emancipate itself.

If we wish to go beyond the characteristics that mark and define Kosovan society, if we wish to

Catalan International View

carry out an analysis from an international perspective, this is the principal value of Kosovan independence. It is also the principal element we can extrapolate to other areas on the international scene. It represents a unilateral process of self-determination with the support of the international community.

This precedent creates jurisprudence, as did Montenegro’s referendum for selfdetermination. In that case, the European Union set clear reasonable conditions for the recognition of the independence of a new state within Europe: in a referendum for independence more than 50% of the population must participate and a vote in favour requires at least 55% or more of the votes. In Montenegro’s case, the turnout far exceeded 86%, of which 55.5% were in favour of independence.

Without wishing to make unfair comparisons or absurd predictions, we can see a twenty-first century where globalisation clearly generates the need to define with more precision than ever the national communities around the world.

This is not an easy process, nor does it evolve in a regular way. The paradigm of nation-states born in the West out of the French Revolution triumphed worldwide in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It has impregnated and informed international politics ever since.

The recognition of the right to self-determination goes hand in hand with the understanding

that a state’s strength resides in its legitimacy and in the possibilities it has of establishing links of mutual understanding with other states that are equally legitimate. Alongside politics, the economy and the environment, this constitutes one of the great challenges of the twenty-first century.

Kosovo can teach us a lesson. *Víctor Terradellas i Maré

(Reus, 1962). Entrepreneur and political and cultural activist. President and founder of CATmón Foundation. Editor of Catalan International View and ONGC, a magazine dedicated to political thought, solidarity, aid and international relations. Victor 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.

Catalan International View

15

Europe

The pillars of Putin’s Russia

By Natàlia Boronat*

Russia celebrated the night of the 2nd of March as if it were a patriotic party, or at least the Kremlin’s ideologues wished it were that way. That day had seen presidential elections to formalise the transfer of power from Vladimir Putin to his successor, Dmitry Medvedev.

No one expected any surprises, and there were none, since the power structure that Putin has created in Russia does not allow for any alternatives.

The entire state apparatus had worked for months for the ‘yes’ vote for the candidate proposed by Putin, in order for it to appear like the people’s choice.

symbol of absolute power in present day Russia.

St. Basil’s, the 16th century cathedral constructed to celebrate Russia’s victory over the Tartars, could be seen behind them.

Throughout the last 8 years, and in particular during Putin’s second term, The Russian people have a better standard of Russia has developed a system of ‘verliving than in the 90s and the economy has grown, tical power’ based upon a strengthenmore than anything thanks to the rising price of ing of presidential authority petrol and the result of reforms that at the time were rather unpopular. The people showed their support for Medvedev, who is seen as a symbol of this supposed well-being. However, in reality they did not know what they were voting for as no one has a clear idea what form his power will take, in a country that is eminently presidentialist. Medvedev will occupy his position, but Putin, who was not able to stand for a third consecutive term, is to be prime minister. Analysts point out that ex-spy that he is, Putin knows how to keep what he really thinks a secret and keeps his cards close to his chest.

That night Putin and Medvedev made a triumphant appearance before the thousands of spectators that were celebrating the electoral victory with a concert in Moscow’s Red Square. The camera took a long shot of the president and his hand-picked successor parading like film stars with the walls of the Kremlin as a backdrop, the 16

Medvedev spoke first to say that the two thirds of the population that had participated in the elections ‘allow us to continue with the course embarked on by president Putin’ and ended with the cry ‘together we will go forward and together we will win!’. The final phrase appeared more like a pre-electoral slogan for a campaign that need not have been held because the elections had already been won when Putin chose his successor on the 10th of December.

With the coverage the television channels gave to Medvedev’s movements as deputy prime minister during the two months leading up to the elections an image was created of him being the only real candidate.

Since everyone was clear that voting would not decide anything because Putin had held the ‘election’ months earlier, the Kremlin feared that

Catalan International View

no one would turn out to vote. That night in Red Square, Putin thanked the people for their participation, which stood at around 70%, and which demonstrated that ‘we live in a democratic society and that our civil society is effective, responsible and active’.

Putin’s Russia is characterised precisely by not being democratic and civil society is neither effective, nor responsible or active, because the Kremlin does not let it exist. Due to a lack of tradition and thanks to their recent Soviet past the Russians are not very active in the political process and the

few that do participate must challenge a repressive machine that is extremely powerful. The day after the president’s speech, Moscow once again witnessed the other side of the regime. An opposition march against the ‘election farce’ and the repressive, antidemocratic policies of the Kremlin was met with violence.

The creation of Russia’s ‘vertical power’ structure Throughout the last 8 years, and in particular during Putin’s second term, Russia has developed

Catalan International View

17

a system of ‘vertical power’ based upon a strengthening of presidential authority, firm control over civil society, the media and non-governmental organisations and the elimination of political alternatives. These combine to create a strong state.

Some analysts consider that the Kremlin decided to embroil itself in the second Chechen war in October 1999 essentially to reinforce Putin’s image as a strong leader, capable of bringing order to a country after the chaos of the 90s. The war took place shortly after Putin’s arrival in the Kremlin, fresh from having served in the Soviet secret services.

Before being elected president, in February 2000, in a clear warning to the influential oligarchs with which Yeltsin had surrounded himself, Putin had already said that big businesses must stay in the margins of political decisions. A few months later, Vladimir Gusinsky the proprietor of the TV channel NTV, was imprisoned for a short time. Later the channel was to pass into the hands of Gazprom and he was subsequently allowed to leave the country. At the end of 2000 an old friend of Putin, Boris Berezovsky, proprietor of the ORT channel (which is now entirely in the hands of the Kremlin) also fled Russia when legal proceedings were begun against him. Since then many other media companies have been bought by companies that are close to power. Later on it was to be the turn of Mikhail Khordorkovsky, the owner of the oil giant Yukos, imprisoned for fraud and tax evasion once he decided to enter politics.

The new president appears to be in favour of the need for a more independent judiciary and media, to fight against corruption and the nihilism of the law, economic liberalisation and of having a more open dialogue Under the current system, the siloviki play an important role. These are the ruling clan that with the West The first step in the construction of this vertical power structure was to be the changes in the Federation Council, Russia’s upper house, in June 2000.

Putin stripped the regional parliaments’ governors and presidents of their mandates in the Federation Council. Under the leadership of Boris Yeltsin they had formed part of the Council, having the power to block laws and decide who would hold certain positions. So too did they lose the right to the diplomatic immunity they had enjoyed.

In his first ‘State of the Nation’ address, in July 2000, Putin said that the weakness of the state had suffocated the reforms and that ‘power has to be based on the law and in the hierarchies that are created’, and believed in a strong, centralised state with limits on the freedom of the press. In order to justify the struggle he had initiated against the independent press, he explained that many media organisations depended on ‘commercial economic interests’ and that they were ‘organs of disinformation in a fight against the state’.

18

originate from military, police and security structures. According to a study by the Centre for the Study of the Elite, 78% of Russia’s political and economic elite originate from the KGB or the FSB (the Federal Security Service, the successor to the KGB). Officially the FSB is concerned with espionage, counter-espionage, the fight against terrorism and economic crime, border control, the security of the leaders of the Federation and the fight against drugs. Some analysts point to the siloviki as being responsible for the decline in democratic freedom as they also have an influence on the drafting of the laws that lead to a tighter control over the economy and society.

The hostage crisis in the school in Beslan, in September 2004, brought new changes to the structure of the federation. Putin announced there was a danger the country would disintegrate and cancelled the elections of governors. From then on they were to be elected directly by the president.

The electoral law was also reformed with the intention of reinforcing the stronger parties, sup-

Catalan International View

pressing the independent parties and vetoing their access to the lower chamber of the Duma. Lev Gudkov, director of the Levada Centre of sociological studies, considers that in Russia ‘the elections are a ritual for legitimising the party that is already in power’.

The role of enemies in Putin’s rhetoric The anti-Western slogans and the role of the creation of exterior enemies in order to unite Russians were particularly prominent throughout 2007 and early 2008. In his famous speech at the Security Conference in Munich 2007, for example, Putin accused the U.S. of returning to the Cold War with their plans to construct an anti-missile shield in the Czech Republic and Poland. Later, he indirectly compared them to the Third Reich. Since

then the accusations against the West have continued because Russia feels threatened by NATO placing bases near to Russia’s frontiers.

The change in rhetoric can be observed after 2004, following Putin’s re-election, when Moscow felt that it would surely lose its influence over some of the ex-Soviet Republics. In December 2003 the Rose Revolution had triumphed in Georgia, bringing Mikheil Saakashvili and his Western politics to power. In May 2004 the European Union was enlarged towards the east when three ex-members of the Soviet Union, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania joined. In December that same year, following fraudulent elections in Ukraine, the Orange Revolution triumphed and Viktor Yushchenko took the presidency. Moscow, however, supported the pro-Russian candidate Viktor Yanukovych.

Catalan International View

19

The Kremlin accused non-governmental organisations financed by the West of being behind the anti-Russian and ‘colour’ revolutions in the post-Soviet arena. It took measures to strengthen the laws governing NGOs in order to better control them and supervise foreign financing. Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, who last February had his visa to enter Russia rejected believes that the NGOs in Russia ‘live beneath the constant threat of harassment, which is a serious menace to the freedom of expression’.

The organisations that are victims of the strictest controls are those that take a critical view of the Kremlin and that focus on delicate topics.

The Society for Russian-Chechen Friendship, in Nizhny Novgorod, for example, was closed by judicial decree because one of its members was accused of being an extremist. Their ‘crime’ was to have published a letter from the separatist Chechens calling for dialogue with the Russian government.

To combat the dangers of Western interference, the extremists, the phantom of an Orange Revolution or an opposition supposedly financed by the West, the Kremlin has created a patriotic youth movement, the Nashi (‘Ours’ in Russian), that take to the streets at the least sign of a threat.

In contrast to the opposition campaigns, the Nashi are always authorised and manage to mobilize thousands of youths, many of whom admit they form part of the movement with the hope of it opening doors to better employment.

What will Medvedev’s Russia be like?

Medvedev has inherited a vertical power structure that is very well formed. The speeches that have been made by the future president, who does not originate from the secret services, raise a glimmer of hope that there will be a certain relaxation. He appears to be in favour of the need for a more independent judiciary and media, to fight against corruption and the nihilism of the Extremism is a recurring word in Russian law, economic liberalisation and of having a more rhetoric. Legislation exists to punish ‘extremist’ open dialogue with the West. activities. These are seen to be those that create public disorder for religious, ideological, national Nevertheless, some analysts believe that we or political motives, those that incite such types should not hold false hopes since so far there have of violence or discrimination, that which promote been no serious changes. Everything will follow its Nazi ideology, or activities aimed at destabilizing current course because Putin, who has warned the the state. Since the law was passed in 2002 it has West that Medvedev will also be firm, is not leavwitnessed several amendments and it now covers ing. Later, everything will depend on economic activities that may be against the state. Lev Pon- factors, power struggles between the various clans omariov, director of the organisation the Move- within the Kremlin and whether the new presiment for Human Rights, denounces the new law dent will stop playing the role of the loyal helper against extremism as being employed to repress and reveal his own personality. Or perhaps it is the opposition. He claims that ‘the interpreta- nothing but a temporary solution since Putin can tion is so flexible that any person who opposes return once more as president in 2012. the government can be punished: it is analogous to the period of the USSR, when anyone could be accused of anti-Soviet activity’. *Natàlia Boronat i Rovira (Salomó, 1973). Holds a degree in Information Sciences from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and in Slavic Philology from the University of 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 organisations and reports on the current situation in the Post-Soviet area.

20

Catalan International View

Founded in 1851

Air Soil Taste www.demuller.es Phone: +34 977 757 473 路 +34 977 771 129 Cam铆 Pedra Estela, 34 E43205 Reus (Baix Camp)

Europe

Euro-weariness in Catalunya

By Vicent Sanchis*

For many months now the phrase ‘a fed-up Catalan’ has been doing the rounds in the Spanish and Catalan press. Essentially, those who employ the expression are referring to Catalans who are deeply unhappy with the treatment they receive from the state.

One example of this would be those fed-up with the recent fialures in basic infrastructure brought on by a lack of funding, such as problems with the suburban train network or the electricity grid. The disgruntled Catalan is politically sterile, however, since they are incapable of taking the issue any further. They get angry with the Spanish government and state institutions (whichever party governs, the state is still profoundly centralised, in spite of the process of decentralisation begun with the drafting of the constitution in 1978) but do nothing. In the recent Spanish state elections the party that achieved the best results was the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC). They did so while calling for a vote for ‘an optimistic Catalunya’, which is to say, for a Catalunya which does not feel offended by the state. This has led some analysts to conclude that there are few ‘fed up’ Catalans. They could not be more mistaken.

There are many such people, despite the fact that with 25 representatives in Spain’s lower house the PSC is the party with the most votes. This time, however, it is not about showing a dislike for the government led by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero that has managed the state with utter incompetence. This time thousands of Catalans set aside their differences and voted for Zapatero via the PSC simply to prevent Mariano Rajoy’s People’s Party (PP) from winning. The discomfort that the Catalans have built up over recent years has not gone away and there will be more opportunities in the not-so-distant future to make it apparent.

22

The majority of Europeans look on Brussels with mistrust and they blame it, unjustly, for being responsible for some of their problems If Catalunya, or rather most Catalans, view Spain with distaste, likewise they view the European Union (EU) with weariness. A tremendous fatigue has spread among the public and for many years this has been reflected in opinion polls . Initially the European project truly inspired people.

Catalunya has believed for many decades that Europe represents a civilizing influence. This belief has endured since the end of the Second World War and the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951. Europe was seen to be a source of security that could serve as a civilising influence on the worst instincts of a Spain that throughout the twentieth century suffered a corrupt monarchy, two dictatorships, a troubled republic and a further dictatorship that lasted four decades. All of these regimes, some more than others, it goes without saying, shared a deep mistrust and hostility towards Catalan nationalism. All of these regimes, with the exception of the Second Republic, which accepted Catalan autonomy as undesirable but inevitable, set as an objective the dissolution of the so-called ‘Catalan difference’ within the framework of Castilian roots that they imposed throughout Spain.

Catalan International View

Pro-Catalan politics began to take shape in the second half of the twentieth century. Its history is one of an often futile resistance in the face of a state which has never hesitated to employ all the tools at its disposal in order to defeat it.

It has meant more than this too. Pro-European Catalans not only looked north with the hope of bringing Spain into line in terms of human rights, the justice system and the acceptance of minority groups. They also counted on economic modernisation. Spain began progressing very slowly from the 1960s onwards, incapable of putting an end to the entropy of autocratic rule. Europe signified an opening to commerce, markets and modernity. A wave of optimism for the future swept Catalunya when Spain joined the Union in January 1986.

At a time of an economic crisis that had begun in the mid-70s and by which time was starting to recede, membership of the European Economic Community resulted in significant subsidies, such

as the Cohesion Fund and the Structural Fund, among others. Furthermore it signified the adoption of modernity and a platform from which Catalunya could project itself to the world. Minorities that were much more politicised thus saw part of their dream come true. Since the 60s they had defended the need to integrate themselves into the European political system in order to create what they saw as the ‘Europe of the People’. According to a strict Pan-European logic this objective made sense. If the degree of European political organisation increased, state control would necessarily decline. If state power were to weaken, the regions (which often coincide with earlier stateless nations) would increase their strength. In effect the EU has gradually made solid progress in this area. Internal borders have weakened, many states have rejected their own currency, making the euro their own while accepting the Central European Bank’s authority and the directives is-

Catalan International View

23

sued by Brussels regulate many activities that were previously strictly under state control.

Nevertheless, while Europe progressed in one area, it took a step backwards in another. After the great impulse of the 80s and 90s, the states have become stuck in the new century. This has occurred because various governments have warned that the Union has perhaps advanced too quickly and because some countries have endured prolonged crises, which has been the case of Germany as a consequence of reunification. There has also been a crisis of values, as is the case with France, which has led to a lack of confidence in the excessive opening they themselves had encouraged. The older ranks of leaders, such as Margaret Thatcher and Helmut Kohl gave way to the insecurity of the newer, more moderate leaders. Perhaps Europe has allowed the incorporation of too many new states in too little time, or perhaps the inertia that states and even societies have suffered has led to a period of regression after so much evolution.

Whatever Europe is in the first decade of 21st century, it is not the Europe of the 90s, thanks to successive additions to its membership. The bitterest symptom of this new development has been the failure of the Constitution. So far no one has convincingly accounted for what happened. Nevertheless, it appeared that the organisation that had so pompously received the name ‘European Union’ was going too far.

Too far for a Germany that no longer felt itself to be the leader and for a France submerged in the most serious structural crisis since the end of the Second World

War. The rejection by France and Holland, of all countries, initiated a feeling of doubt that has only partially been overcome with the Treaty of Lisbon, which was signed last December. The 27 states that currently make up the EU have been capable of breaking the institutional stalemate and turning over a new page. New initiatives include the approval of the post of a permanent president, the increasing influence of the European Parliament and the incorporation of a mechanism that recognises citizens’ initiatives.

However, the fact that the new treaty has not been put to a referendum in each EU member state serves to highlight a failure. The majority of Europeans look on Brussels with mistrust and they blame it, unjustly, for being responsible for some of their problems.

In Catalunya this process has had more serious effects. On one hand the constitutional failure has seriously cooled the old confidence in Europe. The Euro-enthusiasts have lost heart. One need only look at levels of abstentions in the last European Par-

a Europe of states. There is no sign of this situation changing in the future.

Present day Europe is still a Europe of states. There is no sign of this situation changing in the future

liamentary elections, or the constitutional referendum itself, to see this is so. At the same time a feeling has begun to take hold that Euro-bureaucracy does not always solve every problem.

Often it even serves to make them worse. What is more, those who thought that a strengthening of the EU would represent a weakening of state power have bitterly realised that this is not the case. Time and again, in rulings on cases brought before European courts they have been told, in answer to any question, that the issue must be resolved in Spain or that it is the Spanish government that must present the case. There is no ‘Europe of the People’. Present day Europe is still

This is not the only problem Europe faces.

The Catalan and Basque independence parties propose holding referendums of a more or less self-rule nature in the future. However, the two majority Spanish parties have replied by saying that if a Spanish autonomous community manages to separate itself from the state, such a decision would result in its exclusion from the EU. The European dream of Basque and Catalan independence is being used as a means to dissuade their nationalistic desires. It is not surprising, therefore, that dissatisfaction with Europe is spreading throughout Catalunya. Nobody in Catalunya is looking for a return to the past, however. There is no anti-European feeling in Catalunya, nor is there Euro-scepticism, but rather a feeling of fatigue. It is great frustration brought about by the fact that in Brussels it necessary to employ the same obvious arguments that the Catalans have used in Madrid for the last two centuries to no avail. It is even more unfortunate when one notes that having Catalan recognised by European bodies with any more dignity than by institutions of the Spanish state is not legally viable, in spite of it being one of the main European languages. It is a sad feeling of history repeating itself. The European Union has worn out its most loyal defenders.

*Vicent Sanchis i Llàcer (València, 1961). Holds a degree in Information Science 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 has been editor and director of El Temps magazine, 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, content director of Grup Cultura 03 and vice-president of Òminium Cultural. Vicent is also lecturer in the Faculty of Communication Sciences at Universitat Ramon Llull de Barcelona.

Catalan International View

25

The Americas

A splendorous election

By Martí Anglada*

It is the most complete, wide-ranging and, indeed, splendid election the United States has seen since the 1960s. It is also the most momentous and captivating in recent memory. Why do America’s 2008 primary elections raise, or some would say demand, such attention and energy? It would be insufficient to reply with the cliché that it is because it concerns the election of the leader of the world’s number one power. The expectation goes beyond this fact and is generated by the exciting possibilities that arise from an election covering such a broad spectrum. When it is possible to choose one option among so many covering the whole spectrum, as the primaries of 2008 are set to do, the degree of expectation is utmost.

At the start, the array of candidates from the two main parties covered all the colours of the political rainbow, from the Democratic left of John Edwards, to the Republican anarchism of Ron Paul. Compared with previous electoral campaigns, this could have been considered normal and unexceptional. However, the unique nature of the current electoral process became blindingly apparent after Super Tuesday on the 5th of February. In a historically rare outcome four options were left on the table, representing the main tendencies in the American political imagination. Mike Huckabee, with his Baptist pastor background and his guitar, represented the U.S. religious right in a more genuine and popular way than the current President George Bush. John McCain personifies the spirit of present day enlightened Republicanism, more influenced by thinkers of the French Revolution than the Puritans of the Mayflower. Barack Obama represents the vision of a new world, of permanent regeneration, of the capacity to begin again, free and new every fifty years. Hillary Clinton represents the Democratic tradition rooted in the great industrial states on the Atlantic coast and the Great Lakes, founded on the American version of the welfare state and unionisation.

After the Texas and Ohio primaries on the 4th of March the excitement continued in the 26

Democrat camp at full power. There are those Democrats that complained that while the Republicans already have McCain mathematically determined as candidate for the presidency, the Clinton-Obama fight could drag on till the Denver Convention at the end of August. This would leave the Republicans with a clear five months of campaigning without the counterweight of a sole Democrat candidate. It is obvious that the prospect of Clinton and Obama fighting it out throughout the spring, while McCain has a free hand to outline and execute his strategy ahead of the November elections, is not an encouraging prospect for the Democrat establishment. However, some consolation can always be found, and the ease with which Obama and Clinton fill the front pages of the newspapers and occupy centre stage in the media, pushing McCain to one side, is not to be underestimated.

The Clinton-Obama fight can be viewed from different angles. From the moral integrity standpoint, so overriding in U.S. elections, where it is almost impossible to find a candidate who has not received donations from a businessman with a dubious past, Hillary Clinton has the advantage of having been exhaustively investigated (cast your mind back to the Clearwater affair). She was thoroughly investigated during the electoral cam-

Catalan International View

paigns and the eight years of her husband’s presidency. Barack Obama, on the other hand, is essentially a mystery in this area, where any kind of slip is inadmissable, thanks to the political regeneration he symbolises.

In terms of social policies, closely linked to the Democratic tradition, healthcare coverage highlights the differences between the two aspirants for the Democratic nomination. Barack Obama, softer in this terrain, proposes that private health insurance be compulsory for children, but not for adults as of yet, however. Obama claims that his goal is mandatory health insurance for all, but that at the moment it is limited to extending coverage. At present some 37% of the American population has no kind of healthcare, with a public system that only guarantees treatment for the poor and the elderly. Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, is less centrist and more genuinely centre-left, at least from a European perspective. The senator proposes mandatory health insurance for all.

Hillary Clinton will conduct a similar foreign policy to her husband, President Bill Clinton. Obama, in contrast, is an unknown quantity in terms of foreign policy From the point of view of a collective hope for change, a fresh start after eight years of Bush, Barack Obama comes out a clear winner, especially among younger voters. We should remember that for the last twenty years, since the presidential elections of 1988 in which George Bush senior was elected, all the Presidents have been called either Bush or Clinton. This means that a twenty-something voter has no memory of a President that does not belong to either of these

two families. In this sense, Hillary Clinton clearly represents continuity and Barack Obama is, in contrast, the new world that excites a large part of the younger electorate. What is more, the use that Obama makes of the Internet and new multimedia technology has created and consolidated a community around his campaign on the Web. It is characterised by its agility and innovation (this surely is Obama’s major contribution to the renovation of the political process). The brilliant oratory (some would say rhetoric) of the senator from Illinois, have placed him at the centre of the stage and, indeed, of the whole show. I saw a woman named Chris Cooler on television, an ardent admirer of the Afro-American candidate; she claimed ‘Obama has an image like a rock star, and when people see him on stage they go ‘wow!!!’’. Everything points to the fact that the admirer was accurate in her assessment.

In order to fully judge the Obama-Clinton fight there is also their foreign policy to be taken into consideration. From what she has said so far in the campaign, Hillary Clinton will conduct a similar foreign policy to her husband, President Bill Clinton. Although it may seem almost impossible to bring about changes in the tendencies in international terrorism under an Islamist banner, the Clinton name is associated with the most concerted effort, so far, to seek a solution in the Arab-Israeli conflict (Camp David, Taba). It is worth noting, however, that the attacks on the

Catalan International View

27

U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania took place while Clinton was in power.

The Clinton name is also associated with the ‘wrestling diplomacy’ between Washington and Tehran in the days of the reformist President Mohammad Khatami. Viewed from Europe, the Clinton era coexisted with the implantation of the euro, and an impulse towards a European defence structure under the NATO umbrella.

Obama, in contrast, is an unknown quantity in terms of foreign policy. His position of regeneration with strong ethical foundations echoes somewhat the foreign policy of President Jimmy Carter (1977-1980). In Carter’s term in office, the US went from a period of relative calm with the USSR (The Helsinki Final Act), to the planning and deployment of the Euro-missiles in Western Europe. In the same period as Carter’s presidency 28

there was the triumphant revolution of the ayatollahs in Iran. Subsequently the US lost a great ally, Shah Reza Pahlavi, ending in the American hostage siege in Tehran, which was to haunt Carter’s last days in office.

Who will be the arbiter in these exceptional elections? It is probable that the 45 million Hispanics will end up tipping the balance The unfolding of the Obama-Clinton fight may obviously depend on the remaining primaries (including the results from Michigan and Florida if the votes are finally accepted or if the votes are repeated). It could also depend on a scandal if one were to emerge on the way. Ultimately, if

Catalan International View

the battle reaches the Denver convention with a draw, it will all depend on the superdelegates (current or former Democratic Party officeholders, who in the early primaries appeared to favour Clinton and who now seem to be more divided).

It is also important that the struggle within the Democrat camp has a resonance in the Republican camp. According to the polls, some 19% of Obama voters would not vote for Clinton if she were to be the candidate in November (would they abstain or vote for McCain?). The same polls indicate that 29% of Clinton’s voters would not vote for Obama, were he to be chosen (in a similar manner, would they abstain or vote for McCain

in November?). There are even Republicans supporters of Mike Huckabee, who has now pulled out of the race, who would rather vote for Obama than McCain.

Who will be the arbiter in these exceptional elections? It is probable that the 45 million Hispanics (making up nearly one sixth of the US population) will end up tipping the balance. In this area it seems that Hillary Clinton has the advantage: in Texas, 75% of Hispanic Democratic voters voted for her. Only some 25% voted for Obama. *MartĂ­ Anglada

Foreign news editor at TV3 (Catalunya Television). He has been foreign correspondent in the Middle East, Italy and Great Britain (1977-1984) for the Barcelona newspaper La Vanguardia and United States correspondent for TV3 (1987-1990). He has also been an international political commentator. He recently published Afers no tan estrangers (Not So Foreign Affairs) for Editorial Mina (part of Grup 62).

Catalan International View

29

Interview

Albert Sánchez Piñol “Morality has not progressed in the last million years” Interviewed by Eva Piquer*

The international exposure that is so needed by Catalan culture is not a problem for Albert Sánchez Piñol (Barcelona, 1965). This anthropologist and writer broke through the borders with his first novel ‘La Pell Freda’ (Cold Skin), so far translated into around forty languages. This interview took place, ironically, the day after Kosovo’s declaration of independence.

30

Catalan International View

Does it make sense to draw parallels between Kosovo and Catalunya?

Our situation is unique. Although we can’t draw direct parallels with Kosovo, we can find points of reference. Aside from historical and legal arguments, what really matters is the will of the people. If the people of a country want to be independent they will be. Full stop. There is no law in the world that can stop them. This goes for everywhere in the world. In the case of nation states like Kosovo the mask slips and we see frantic reactions such as we got from Spain. The only parallel we can draw is this obsession with putting the constitution before the will of the people. Catalunya will be whatever the Catalans want it to be.

When you travel the world to promote your books, do you see yourself as a kind of ambassador for Catalunya?

‘Ambassador’ is too strong a word. But when you travel abroad you have the option of acting like a Catalan or not. And I naturally decided that I would.

This obliges you to constantly explain what Catalunya is…

If you don’t explain what it is they think it’s a bicycle, or a brand that they’ve never heard of.

Foreigners quickly realise if you’re acting as a Catalan or not and they’re interested.

Do they appear receptive?

Not very. I’ve noticed that we have a lot less friends abroad than we think.

Then we’re in trouble…

Or not. We can also take time to reflect: we can’t expect our friends to fight our battles for us.

In Kosovo there was a lot of American wheeling and dealing, but ultimately the decision was taken by the Kosovans, not Washington. We Catalans tend to think that when we’re given a platform we can explain ourselves and people will understand us. It’s not like that, however. When we have had a platform they’ve listened and then they’ve told us to go home. They haven’t agreed with us simply for being Catalans. There are two factors at work here: the historical necessity of a society without a state apparatus to explain itself and a kind of typically Catalan arrogance that leads us to believe that we are right and that others will agree.

But it doesn’t work like that.

We show up all innocently…

…And we exaggerate what little we have.

Frankfurt (Book Fair) was a platform for making ourselves understood, but it had its limitations.

For a start, more politicians went than writers.

Catalan International View

31

The image the Germans got of us was of a Third World republic, thanks to the invasion of Catalan politicians.

On the 31st of January, the president of Israel Shimon Peres received a Catalan delegation headed by the president of the Catalan parliament, Ernest Benach. They gave him three Catalan books translated into Hebrew, one of which was Cold Skin.

Peres said he had already read Cold Skin and he found it to be an ‘extraordinary book’. The message of this book is particularly pertinent for a country in a conflict such as Israel . . .

I was very pleasantly surprised that Shimon Peres, given the political situation in his country, has read a book that explains that your worst enemy closely resembles you.

Can literature change the world?

No, no. Do you know of one single literary work that has changed anything? Mein Kampf and Das Capital changed things, but literature hasn’t.

This thing with Shimon Peres is an example. He agrees with the truth behind the subtext of Cold Skin, but how does that help him with the reality going on in his country? It strengthens your argument, but events continue regardless. Culture hasn’t made us better, it doesn’t imply moral progress. An example can be found at Auschwitz where the butchers and torturers were often educated people.

Do you agree with Adorno that there can be no poetry after Auschwitz?

Adorno had a very idealistic idea of poetry. It is so naïve to think that a poem can change the world! I didn’t even believe this when I myself was naïve.

Are you more an anthropologist or a writer?

This is like asking which taste stands out in a cocktail. What is important is that the cocktail is well made. I am a writer that has an anthro32

pological viewpoint and an anthropologist with a narrative, literary stimulus.

It seems to me that what interests you most is what they call ‘the human condition’…

I am passionate about it. And as to how people live. I feel that everyone should take part in a so-

Catalan International View

ciological immersion in another human community. The more remote from their own, the better.

You come back with a clearer vision, it’s not so easy to pull the wool over your eyes afterwards. In our society the most cherished principle is liberty.

But you tell me what time you get up on Monday morning and I’ll tell you how much liberty you have. We live a lie. Here they’ve told us that working only 40 hours a week is a great social victory, when the Pygmies only work 7 or 8 hours a week.

ference between the characters having problems and having conflicts. In summary, the concept of the social responsibility of the writer is a 19th century invention. Shakespeare’s only responsibility was to fill a theatre. I never fail to see why my opinion, if I believe in democracy, is worth more than that of an electrician. A writer is not a shepherd that has to guide their flock. Unfortunately, people look for shepherds.

Everyone should act as they see fit. But I don’t see why the opinion of a writer should be worth more than that of any other citizen.

Can one learn how to write?

There are things that don’t just come by chance. I don’t really believe in chance. I have been concerned about writing, about how stories unfold since I was very young. I would’ve liked to have gone to a good writer’s workshop.

But the received wisdom in Catalan literature, as in French literature, is that you don’t learn how to become a writer. It sees literature from a basically religious standpoint: it’s like the Holy Ghost.

What is a writer’s responsibility to society?

This is a question implied by the dominant view that sees the writer as a kind of priest with a moral responsibility. The sanctification of the writer originated from the French Revolution: the French revolutionaries expelled the Church and God from society for being reactionary forces and filled the vacuum with culture. Until that moment the writer had been a kind of shaman. From then on they were converted into a kind of priest, a preacher, with a direct line to God, which is to say, with culture. This has created a terrible defect from which we are still suffering: the novelist’s role has been confused with the intellectual’s. We haven’t understood that they are two different disciplines. There are many intellectuals who believe that if they have a good academic background they will be good novelists, which isn’t true. Umberto Eco is an exception. The majority of novels by intellectuals are dire because they don’t know how to write, they don’t realise that there’s a dif-

Should writers commit themselves politically?

Culture has not made us any better, it does not imply moral progress.

In our society the most cherished principle is liberty. But you tell me what time you get up on Monday morning and I’ll tell you how much liberty you have Was the commercial success of Cold Skin accompanied by criticisms from elite circles?

Whatever happened, it’s their problem. The truth is that I choose to write popular literature.

And this kind of popular literature is much more difficult to construct than that which is understood as elitist literature. In reality, what they write is failed popular literature because they haven’t the slightest idea how it’s done, as to the techniques by which you construct a narrative text. If you look through the eyes of an anthropologist, the way the elite operate is strange. The economic and political elite are simple: either you’re the owner of a bank or you’re not, you’re the president of the Generalitat (the Catalan government), or you’re not. But cultural elites operate because someone decides they are the cultural elite. They don’t need to present any kind of certificate or proof. And if they have a series of extra-artistic elements such

Catalan International View

33

as a good surname, or a particular pedigree, the better. Who decides who enters and leaves the cultural elite? Those who are on the inside, who control the door and the key. In the 21st century we have an 18th century concept, by which an elite must exist in order to carry the torch. They think that with the Nobel Prize everything is settled.

Well here in Catalunya in particular we can’t allow this as we have the precedent of historical experience to guide us: Occitan won thanks to Frederic Mistral, but where is Occitan today? What we really need is a popular literature of the best possible quality.

Cold Skin demonstrates that globalisation can help small cultures: a book written in Catalan can become a worldwide bestseller.

If we’re smart globalisation can work in our favour, but we need to know how to play our hand and we shouldn’t be pessimistic. There are people who have struggled to achieve the ‘.cat’ domain, for example. The big difference between now and a hundred years ago is that nowadays a writer in Iceland can write a book that three months later is being read in Turkey. So now we’re getting on the bandwagon too.

If we’re smart globalisation can work in our favour, but we need to know how to play our hand and we shouldn’t be pessimistic

Who are the writers you most look up to?

I’ll name three; Claude Lévi-Strauss, with his structuralist concept of the world; Ernst Jünger, a protofascist who, in spite of everything, made some contributions to literature; and Henry Miller, who demonstrated that you can make literature from anything. If these three guys were in the same room together they’d come to blows.

But literature allows us to do this, that’s what’s so amazing.

34

As an anthropologist are you an optimist in terms of the future of humanity? In other words: does humanity have a future?

Like any other plague, yes. At face value, structural anthropology is somewhat reactionary. It says that nothing ever changes, that the human race’s underlying structures remain unchanged throughout history. You can change the order of the dominant and the dominated, but the system remains. Unfortunately, I can vouch that this is

Catalan International View

correct. In the last million years the human race has not progressed in terms of morality. Nothing is going anywhere, there is only technological progress. For this reason I am sympathetic to

Humphrey Bogart’s character: he knows that the cause is lost, but he can’t help fighting for it anyway. *Eva Piquer

(Barcelona, 1969). Writer and journalist. Works for the Avui newspaper where she coordinates the cultural supplement and the culture section. 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).

Photos: Francesc Parés

Catalan International View

35

Opinions

POLITICS AND CULTURE the Baroque roots of populism

By Vicenç Villatoro*

It is now some five hundred years since Europe began to lay down the foundations of Western modernity.

It was to be a cultural, political and economic model which would lead to the bourgeois and democratic revolutions. A part of the continent deliberately disconnected from this process. In the north and centre of Europe the advent of the Reformation was associated with the appearance of new cultural values of enormous political and economic transcendence: the centrality of Man and Reason created a space in which science (and its cousin technology) could develop alongside democracy and industrialisation. These values stemmed from a mercantile thought process, highly preoccupied with material well-being.

Meanwhile, in the south of Europe a Catholic Counter Reformation reacted against the new values of modernity which removed religion from the centre of public life. It generated an alternative way of thinking destined to preserve the old knightly values which were presumed to have existed. These were based on the existence of an immutable natural or divine social order, of spiritual legitimation, where the most treasured principle is Honour. This alternative form of thought negates or relativises the emerging values of modernity such as science, material progress and a mercantile spirit. Where these value systems took root more strongly (particularly in Castilian Spain and central and southern Italy) they served as a material brake on the incorporation of modernity and with it its political and economic forms. This was a factor which slowed down industrialisation and caused a weakness in the democratic regimes.

Even when the material access to modernity actually occurs, this alternative way of thinking engenders political discussion contrary to liberal democracy, such as fascism in its day and the present-day populisms. To put it another way, if 36

we look beneath the surface of current populist thinking, particularly present in Latin America, we find in its origins that way of thinking developed in the Baroque period. It was a reaction to the first flowerings of modernity, despite the fact that it has become more sophisticated and amplified by contributions from other spheres. As a result, contemporary phenomena such as AntiAmericanism, anti-Semitism, anti-mercantilism and also anti-Catalanism in Spain’s case, could find an explanation and a root in that first reaction to modernity that fed and informed a large part of southern European Baroque and in particular the extraordinary Castilian Baroque.

José Antonio Maravall speculated as to the role of the formidable Castilian Baroque theatre of Calderón, Lope and Tirso, among others, as propaganda for the old social order when faced with the threat of modernism. The poetry and prose of Quevedo also perform this function. In Castilian Baroque the corrosive effect of money subverted a social order based on the hierarchy of blood, which places the aristocracy at the top, with those of impure, tainted blood at the bot-

Catalan International View

with a Counter Reformist nature. Cervantes is one noteworthy exception. However, the ideology of the major part of Castilian Baroque was and contained brilliant and powerful mechanisms. To these we must add another factor in its favour: Castilian Baroque and the Counter Reformation was projected towards Latin America and carried its extraordinary cultural and aesthetic models with success. The result was that this reactionary form of Baroque became established and began to multiply in the Americas to the point where it became one of its foundations. This alternative take on modernity put down strong, tenacious roots that allowed it to survive in many areas to the present day.

In the origins of the present populist discourse we find that of thinking formulated in the roque period as a reaction to first flowerings of modernity

tom. When money or personal ambition mixes that which should not be mixed, the result is conflict and catastrophe. It can only be defeated by returning to the natural order of things. Money, in Quevedo’s celebrated satire, is subversive because it is ‘what makes dukes and farmers equal’, who are in both the natural and divine social order unequal. Who can ‘be both Christian and Moor’ and undermine the religious foundations of society?

This reactionary propaganda machine working against the threat of modernity has a virtue: literary excellence. Castilian Baroque, in the shadow of the Counter Reformation, experienced its Golden Age. Certainly not all Baroque work was imbued

day way Bathe

To summarise briefly, this alternative mode of thought with roots in Baroque and the Counter Reformation depicted Northern Europe (and later North America) as a society based on the idea of money, economic progress, science and rationalism. These values would later be identified with the emerging bourgeois class. Its prototype was a member of the bourgeoisie or a merchant, with ‘merchant’ taken to be anyone who works for material gain. On the other hand the values that are proposed on behalf of the Baroque model are of a spiritual nature, with a disdain for money and science. It placed an emphasis on a society organized in terms of honour, blood and history. The North values progress. The South values Death: nowhere will you find more paintings of skulls than in the extraordinary Baroque collection in the Prado Museum. If the North is the merchant or the industrialist, the South is the soldier, hero, or the mystic.

The roots of this distinction can be found in the 16th century, but they have persisted till the 21st century. The 19th century in Spain, for exam-

Catalan International View

37

ple, revolved around the Spanish American War of 1898, where a direct confrontation between the ‘gentlemen soldiers’, who were naturally the Spanish, preoccupied by honour and the ‘vile rabble of merchants’, naturally the Americans, motivated by profit and greed. In this reading of events the Latin race were the reservoir of spirituality, the sense of honour and duty, of venerable military values. On the other hand, the Anglo-Saxon race, as the press of the time referred to them, represented bourgeois values and the merchant race.

They were not alone, however: the Jews were seen as the merchant race par excellence. The struggle was also reflected in Spain. Joan Maragall, in his Ode to Spain reacted against the traditional values he saw as leading to the disaster of ’98 and a Spain that ‘Thought too much about your honour and too little about your life’. He criticised the aesthetic of death and the transformation of funerals into celebrations, thus situating Catalunya on the side of the merchants and against the side of heroes and mystics. Therefore, for those that remained in the shadow of the old way of thinking born out of Baroque and the Reformation and who wished to confront the new bourgeois civilization of merchants, science and industry, it became clear who they were up against: the Americans, the Anglo-Saxons, the Jews, the Catalans and the Merchants. Spanish anti-Semitism without Jews, anti-Catalanism, Anti-Americanism, these are all successive and often simultaneous incarnations of this rejection of modernity.

This old confrontation against heroes and merchants, religion and science, tradition and progress, took shape during the Baroque period. Subsequently, however, it expanded in time and space and in particular took root in Latin America, leaving the foundations for later populist movements. It is possible to make a literary anthology of Spain, South America and in some ways Italy, in order to illustrate the reappearance of old Counter Reformation ideas. I will highlight just two, however, one in order to demonstrate how these ideas have crossed the Atlantic and one to underline how they served to participate in the creation of fascism in 20th century 38

Spain. This can also be understood as a rejection of modernity. The first is Rubén Darío, an excellent Nicaraguan poet, heir to Baroque not only in form, but in substance. The acceptance of antimerchant and anti-rationalist values, which are also anti-bourgeois, and the adoption of popular religion based around Baroque and an exaltation of honour make him an important link between the debate around Castilian Baroque’s reaction to modernity and the political discourse of contemporary populist politics. This debate is present to some degree throughout his work and perhaps appears to a more explicit degree in some of his poems such as Letanías de nuestro señor don Quijote (Litany for Our Lord Don Quixote) or especially A Roosevelt (To Roosevelt). In this poem he confronts a Latin America ‘That prays in Spanish’ and a rich, powerful United States which adores science and progress. The populists would later do the same. Fundamentally, according to the old Baroque tradition, while the industrial North relies on Reason and money, the mystical and heroic South relies on religion: ‘And you can have all, except one thing: God!’.

This alternative way of seeing modernity put down strong, tenacious roots that have allowed it to survive in many areas to the present day The other example of the perpetration of the Baroque reaction to modernity that I should like to propose is to be found in the poems of the noted falangist author Agustín de Foxà. He wrote them during the Spanish Civil War and they are collected in the volume El almendro y la espada (the Almond Tree and the Sword). Among eulogies to Mussolini’s Rome and Hitler’s Germany there can be found abundant, often shining examples of the contrast between the values Foxà proposed and what are considered icons of modernity: science, technology and commerce, which symbolise the image of the machine. In his poem to the old Spain Un tanque ruso en Castilla (A Russian Tank in Castile) he proudly declares: ‘Castile is not sci-

Catalan International View

fascism and populism offered a mystical, heroic bread. entific; factories do not emerge from its terrain; its soil produces Theogonies, olive trees, battles, kings, gods, as does Athens’’. Even more explicit is his anti-scientific and anti-economic stand in a poem entitled La Espiga (the Head of Wheat): ‘These evil men, when they see a bird they dream of a pneumatic machine…We do not want your science that burns our fairytales…To the enormous machines we would undoubtedly prefer the naked girl who dives into the river’. In 1937 the Baroque and Counter Reformation inheritance, from an ideological point of view, was very much alive.

It is worth noting something strange: Foxà’s poem is against Russia. From a Baroque point of view, initially communism and capitalism are seen as two branches of the same tree of modernity. It is a scientific, industrialist, economic tree. Fascism and populism are a third way, not because they follow a path that is equidistant between the two great tendencies of the 20th century. On the contrary, they see them as sharing a common background, from an alien tradition that is radically opposed to their own. Later, some populists were to borrow from Marxism, but first they were to remove its economic aspects. They adopted Marxism as an epic, rather than as a scientific proposal.

Foxà himself, in his poem The Head of Wheat, expressed solidarity with the communists’ call for social justice, although he disliked their economic and practical outlook. It is natural for communists to demand bread to fight the hunger of the people. However, he finishes by saying ‘The Falange should not give us bread, but wheat, which is bread in a miraculous work of gold’. Bread on its own would be trade, something offered by merchants. The Baroque movement, and the different varieties of

It is not difficult to find echoes of the Baroque and Counter Reformist tradition of creation and rejection of modernity. They can be found in current populist discourse around the world. From institutional populism to the populism of reform.

It can be found in the placards carried during Catalan demonstrations against the Iraq War which stated ‘No to the economy’ it was there in ‘Up with Death’ by Millán Astray and all of its subsequent versions, ‘Life or Death’ included. It is present in the debates as to national dignity, national pride, vendepatrias (those seen to ‘sell out’ their nation).

‘Sell’ is a term employed by merchants which is used as an insult in the vocabulary of knightly soldiers. It is also present in Chavez’s allegation that Christ was the first socialist. It is found in persistent anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism (and anti-Catalanism in the Spanish context) in populist discourse which denigrates trading nations. It is possible to read and understand the arguments of Peronism, Falangism, the new Latin American leaders, by the light of Counter Reformation thinking of the 16th century. A reaction against modernity. An affirmation of a society based on traditional military and mystical values of honour, against a new society based on rationalism and the idea of economic progress. Soldiers against merchants. Two value systems, two vocabularies, two dialogues. The specific, painstaking task of rereading the present day discourse of some political leaders through the lens of the Baroque is not possible on these pages. However, I would urge the reader to do this on their own. The continuity of this red line will become as evident to them as it was to me, the capacity for resistance and regeneration of this reactionary way of rejecting the values of modernity. *Vicenç Villatoro i Lamolla

(Terrassa, 1957). Writer and journalist. Holds a degree in Information Sciences. Currently the president of the Ramon Trias Fargas Foundation. As a journalist he has worked for numerous organisations. 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. As a writer he has written a dozen novels.

Catalan International View

39

Opinions

For when another Hemingway comes along

By Anna Grau*

One of my best friends works in Spain as a reporter for a foreign media organisation. Recently he sent me an e-mail saying he had been invited to a series of international conferences in Barcelona on the topic of finding out what image of Catalunya foreign correspondents ‘sell’ to the world. ‘Got any ideas?’, he asked.

I started thinking and wrote: ‘Remember that the people who have invited you want to hear that Catalunya is known for what it really is abroad...

They don’t want to think that the reality may be different. If you say that it is, they will reply that it’s the foreign correspondents’ fault. That you’re not doing your jobs properly’.

After considering the issue some more, I added: ‘if I were you I would talk about Barcelona, which is well-known. If you want to be popular, you could say that before coming to Spain you didn’t realise how interesting and different Catalunya is.

That it is a voyage of discovery, that sometimes it is difficult to explain this to the outside world, but that bit by bit...’.

Answer: ‘I don’t give a damn about looking good, Anna. I want to speak the truth, that no one cares about Catalunya because: 1- in order to write an article about Catalan politics you need thousands of paragraphs explaining the historical context and usually they don’t give you enough space for this. 2- it’s too regional for a foreign audience. It’s hard enough to ‘sell’ Spain; you can imagine what it’s like ‘selling’ Catalunya!’.

So I said to him ‘perhaps you could compare Catalunya’s place in the world’s imagination with 40

the place of the omnipotent Jews and their lobby in most of the European and world press’.

At the time my suggestion was both tongue in cheek and tender. As I mentioned, this foreign correspondent is one of my closest friends. I met him in Madrid at an international conference, where Bill Clinton was giving a talk as ex-president. There was an instant chemistry between us (the reporter and I, not myself and Bill Clinton, although this may be because we spent little time together). When I immediately get on well with someone I start to ask questions. I asked this chap what he thought would happen next in the Middle East. By ‘next’ I meant after the attacks of 9/11 in New York, which were still recent events.

He did not reply straight away, instead his eyes turned misty. I predicted the inevitable avalanche as a reply. Since I felt empathy for this particular individual and I did not wish to argue, I quickly added ‘before you make any radical statements, you should know that I am always on Israel’s side, with or without reason!’. My friend-to-be stopped in his tracks and I felt very satisfied to have provoked in this way somebody who I imagined to be another vocal member of that group which spends the day berating Israel and the US and defending whoever throws bombs at them,

Catalan International View

but not to disappear. Has anyone ever asked for the physical disappearance of France, Germany, or Russia never mind how many wars they start, with or without reason?’

He listened closely to me. When at last I asked him if he really had nothing to say he replied: ‘Yes…I’m a Jew’.

This was to be the start of a beautiful friendship in a fertile, curious land where I was not afraid to say I was a Catalan in Madrid and he did not avoid saying he was a Jew in an atmosphere full of sociological anti-Semites. We both felt as if we belonged to an immaginary country which everybody dares to challenge, and a real country which no one wants to know. We had an absurd form of dual nationality.

wherever and whenever it happens. I felt smug for having added another puzzled buffoon to my collection.

Whilst information is being globalised, the desire to understand it is not. As long as narrow viewpoints continue to get narrower and get worse still when they travel, I feel there is little that can be done However, at heart I am not really like this.

There was something in his stupefied expression that struck me. To summarise, as I did not know how to control myself: ‘what I wanted to say is that I demand respect for the state of Israel, that I think it has a right to defend itself like any other state does when they are bombed. If they overstep the mark with this defence at any point, or if they get it wrong, then we can ask them to put it right,

Of course it is easier to complain that people do not understand you than for you to understand people. I have never been more conscious of this fact than when I went to live in the US in May 2005. I have lived there ever since as a writer and journalist.

For a writer and a journalist, moving from your country to work in another is always a shock.

When you work at home ‘information-gathering’ and ‘reporting’ are separate, perhaps too separate.

A foreign correspondent, however, needs to collect information and process it at the same time.

Their reporting operates at the midpoint between information and opinion. They cannot say whatever they want, but neither can they present the bare facts for the reader to assimilate for themselves since the reader lacks key details and the necessary proximity to the news.

As a result, foreign correspondents have to take risks, or launch themselves into globalised hyper-information, Coca-Cola information, that determines minute by minute what is news and how it is news. CNN did this job in the first Gulf War. With the second Gulf War the media closed its ranks against America’s existence (among other things).

Catalan International View

41

Certainly there have been moments in history when it was possible to be a European journalist in the United States and to be extremely enthusiastic about the Normandy landings or what happened in Bosnia. Just as Hemingway was affected by seeing republican Madrid beneath Franco’s bombs. Nowadays, however, you are supposed to think that the US is an enormous confederation of idiots, with Michael Moore, George Clooney and Barack Obama being the only exceptions.

It supposedly makes sense to pay a journalist who is physically present to collect information at first hand, or at least first look. This is in order to have someone who is immune to stereotypes and generalisations. In reality, precisely the opposite occurs. Foreign correspondents, if they wish to have a brilliant, peaceful career should not question the generalisations held by his or her media 42

organisation. Not only should they not question them, what is more, they should reinforce them as much as possible.

To give an example: imagine the editor calls the journalist to commission a piece about the news that the Seminole tribe have bought the Hard Rock chain. The Seminole tribe, like other Native North Americans, enjoy a unique, autonomous status within the United States. It comes close to being a nation within a nation. They are exempt from certain taxes as well as other federal obligations, in theory in order that they can preserve their traditions and their original way of life, historically threatened by the White Man’s hegemony.

What exactly have the Seminole done with so much autonomy? They have abandoned their

Catalan International View

struggle and their traditions in order to get rich selling cheap tobacco and buying hotels, restaurants and casinos. Of course, when this occurred voices called for the need to change this special status, something that does not bother the Seminole. They are clear that they do not want autonomy in order to be genuine, but rather in order to do what they like. It has never been a question of more or less ancestral traditions for them, but rather of simple sovereignty. It is also about a promise.

Now imagine the difference between reporting something like this in one media organisation or another. Imagine the range of headlines that could go from ‘the Seminole teach the Catalan government a lesson’ to ‘the Indians break America and empty its casinos’.

The liberty of a country to be a country, or anything else it wants to be, is a factor of the number of people who have the curiosity to know what it is Am I exaggerating? Not half as much as The New York Times did a year ago when it published a report on Spanish society’s changing habits shockingly entitled: ‘Adios siesta, hola Viagra’. The thesis behind this serious, lengthy article was that in order to engage with modernity the Spanish have had to sacrifice their mid-day nap. This has had a positive effect on their productivity at work, while having a negative impact on their sexual productivity. The stress has started to show in the legendary Latin macho, who has had to resort to Viagra. The New York Times goes as far as to interview a porn star specially for the occasion, who calls his nation’s virility into question since no one can tell real erections from chemical ones.

Without doubt this is an article that could provoke a wry smile were it to be read in Barcelona: an envy not to be admitted, that Spain occupies a place in America’s imagination, while Catalunya

does not. The fact that Catalunya has never had its own Ernest Hemingway may be mitigated by the fact that Spain’s place in the American popular imagination is so ridiculous. Hemingway has left such a pathetic legacy.

The general conclusion is that no one truly understands anyone, essentially because they do not want to. People who go around with their eyes and ears open are very rare, people who are really prepared to change or open their minds to anything, or who possess to some degree that precious virtue, so admired by the classics, and that we so sadly lack: an incurable curiosity.

Whilst information is being globalised, the desire to understand it is not. As long as narrow viewpoints continue to get narrower and get worse still when they travel, I feel there is little that can be done. We live in a banal, virtual world where everyone and everything is becoming simplified. Of course, sometimes you can make the most of an opportunity: if no one knows you, you are able to reinvent yourself. For a Catalan, it is easier to deny being Spanish in New York than in Pontevedra, for example. What you actually get them to believe you are is another thing altogether: a mixture of Canadian and Portuguese, or the cousin of a Seminole or the citizen of some obscure Third World country, for example.

Personally I am in favour of investing as much energy as possible in promoting oneself abroad.

There are worse ways of wasting money. However, the trick is not so much to invest in the product, or the brand, but rather in the customer. Advertise for better customers. Encourage free and inquisitive spirits that are so curious and genuinely interested that in the end you will need to get rid of them as they want to know everything and ask too many questions.

The freedom of the press is not, and never has been, more than the possibility of reading every newspaper and working out what is actually happening. It is a luxurious freedom that almost no one takes advantage of: reading the daily dose that

Catalan International View

43

44

Catalan International View

drops on your doormat is simply too tempting. The liberty of a country to be a country, or anything else it wants to be, is a factor of the number of people who have the curiosity to know what it is and what is occurring.

There is no need to depend on a Hemingway or a New York Times.

abroad is to be mean with the time you devote to report to headquarters. You left home for a reason after all.

The freedom of the press is not, and never has been, more than the possibility of reading every newspaper For some months now, a media organisation I work with showed an interest in and working out what is actually a news item that had been published in a happening New York newspaper. It told the gripping story of a young Jewish couple travelling on the subway who happened to reply ‘Happy Hanukkah’ when someone wished them a ‘Happy Christmas’. The result: the wellwishers wanted to split their head open there and then. Luckily there was a young Muslim man in the same carriage who was a karate expert and who decided to step in to help the couple. He got a black eye, but also the praise and love of everyone in the city.

The story was so sensational that while I read it, while looking at the photos of the participants (every one of which resembled a character from a Coen brothers’ movie) I began to have doubts. What if it was staged?

A kind of viral marketing campaign like the famous video of the ‘Obama girl’? A way of saying to the world ‘look how wonderful New York is at Christmas’?

I did not write about my doubts as I would have had to provide proof and they were not paying me for that. What is more, it would have taken a great deal of time and effort. The first golden rule when writing from

Some months later another incident took place on the subway. In this case I did not need to verify any of the details: my sources were direct and very reliable. The central character was again a Jew (this time without a girlfriend), with his counterpart being an African American who was insulting him. He continued to do so for fifteen minutes, saying such things as that the Holocaust was nothing to the suffering experienced by the slaves, or that the Jews were responsible for 9/11, which is why they did not go to work that day.

Throughout those eternal fifteen minutes the Jewish passenger sat there and took the abuse without opening his mouth or taking his eyes off the floor. The problem was that no one else in the carriage was capable of moving a muscle either.

No one did anything. No one got involved. Not my source, nor those responsible for reporting events on the other side of the Atlantic, who in this case did not know how to handle the news.

Nothing unusual or interesting had taken place.

What I don’t understand, therefore, is what do people complain about?

*Anna Grau Journalist and writer. From 1991 to 2005 she worked as a political journalist in Barcelona and Madrid, where she was the correspondent for the Avui newspaper and numerous programmes for TV3, Catalunya Ràdio, Ràdio4 and COM ràdio. In 2005 she left for New York, where she currently works. Author of El dia que va morir el president (the Day the President Died), Dones contra dones (Women Against Women) and Endarrere aquesta gent (Reject These People) and the essay Per què parir (Why have a baby?).

Catalan International View

45

Opinions

Building complex bridges

By Manuel Manonelles*

Some experts suggest that there are two new challenges of a global nature which define our times due to their special nature. These are, on one hand, global warming, and on the other, the need for stronger ties between cultures and civilizations. In other words, the need to prevent the prophecy of a ‘‘clash of civilizations”, to which this article is devoted.

I am not arguing that addressing these issues is to be done to the detriment of the other dramatic challenges that we have been facing in recent decades: poverty, under-development, hunger, pandemics such AIDS, malaria or tuberculosis and so on. On the contrary, they are totally interconnected, and what we need is not only to multiply our efforts on a global scale, but do so in an integrated and coherent manner, if we do not want to be progressively trapped within this new civilization of fear.

A multi-polar and volatile reality Many commentators perceive and therefore present this as a bipolar reality or tension between “the West” and “Islam” which in itself serves to form part of the problem. Unfortunately however, it is a much more complex issue and one easily finds clear evidence of the complexity and multipolarity of the problem.

socio-cultural paradigm such, again, geographically distant realities: from Wellington to Kyoto, Helsinki to Lisbon via London, Boston to Vancouver, where the differences are clearly enormous.

While not denying the existence of a real problem, pretending that these tensions are only between these much undefined blocks is either foolish or intellectually and politically biased.

What about the religious tensions in the Pacific, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, for example, or the decades-long unsolved question of Kashmir, which today has a nuclear dimension? Not to mention some macro-countries like China, where the relations between the ruling Han elite and the different ethnic realities and cultures found in the countryside is becoming more and more problematic.

To add to this we have a third dimension in terms of the global dialectic between the extremist minorities and moderate majorities, who are too often silent or silenced. Indeed, in too many cases The shades of grey are enormous, and the di- the logic of the mainstream media focuses on the versity of the different Islams, both in geographical radical minorities. As a consequence, despite being terms as well as in terms of schools of thought, ways a minority, they incrementally become the unrepof interpretation and living the Islamicity, together resentative public interlocutors of a more moderwith the internal debates between the theocratic ate majority. This is done by constructing an image and the secularist is a never-ending one. The same which responds more to the needs and requests of goes for such an ambiguous concept as “the West” the “media market” than to the objective, balanced within which some mean to include in the same portrayal of reality.

46

Catalan International View

In recent years, the international community has become more and more aware of these huge tensions and their destructive potential. It is not very hard to see that for some time now this negative potential and the power linked to it has been recognised and in some cases is even being used by many actors, whether they be states or nonstates. The exploitation of misunderstandings, misperceptions and polarized views is the nucleus of the political discourse and rationale of many extremist and fundamentalist actors, regardless of whether or not they are terrorist groups.

Institutional responses Indeed, several initiatives have emerged in order to counterbalance this depressing panorama at the international and global scale. One of the large scale initiatives, at least in its conception and its intended outreach, is the Alliance of Civilizations. It began in 2004 and is currently directed by the former president of Portugal Jorge Sampaio.

of inter-cultural dialogue. It was precisely within UNESCO that two of the intellectual pillars of the Alliance were conceived. Both the Culture of Peace process, started by Federico Mayor when he was Director General of UNESCO and the Dialogue Among Civilizations, under the leadership of President Khatami of Iran, clearly paved the way towards the Alliance1. The former did so by reinforcing the paradigm of international relations based on dialogue and peaceful resolution of conflicts through a comprehensive compendium of measures. It received the support of the whole international community2. The latter, promoted new forums for encounter and dialogue in an increasingly polarized world.

In any case, the Alliance of Civilizations can neither be understood nor properly perceived without taking into account that it is nurtured and reinforced by many other In any case, the Alliance can neither be un- initiatives and policies derstood nor properly perceived without taking into account that it is nurtured and reinforced by many other initiatives and policies. Among these, the most outstanding include the central role that UNESCO has played since its creation in terms

The tragic events of 9/11, Madrid, London, Bali, the invasion of Iraq and the dramatic escalation of global insecurity and fear that derived

Catalan International View

47

from it, clearly showed that, on the “soft side” of global politics and action, the mere promotion of dialogue was not enough. It was more important than ever to send a clear political message and image of moving towards action, from dialogue to alliance.

Today the Alliance is in the early stages of implementation, after an initial period of conception and launch which ended with the recent 1st Forum of the Alliance in Madrid. This took place after the presentation of the Alliance Report3 to the Secretary General of the United Nations in November 2006 in Istanbul, and its debate in the General Assembly.

What defines the policies, what creates the feeling of a clash of civilizations is more a general perception of such a problem rather than the problem itself In addition to this, the significant role that the General Assembly has played in the last two years within the UN framework also needs to be taken into account. First it convened an informal thematic debate in its 61st session focusing on Civilizations and the Challenge for Peace: Obstacles and Opportunities. This became the basis for convening a High Level Dialogue (the highest available for such a body) in the 62nd session on Interreligious and Intercultural Understanding and Cooperation for Peace. By doing so, the General Assembly recognised the urgency of these matters and, in cooperation and interaction with the Alliance of Civilizations, as well as other initiatives such as the Tripartite Forum, it serves to keep the issue at the top of the international agenda, forcing the member states to take notice.

At the regional level, several substantive initiatives are taking place. The Council of Europe, which is the European institution with the longest standing commitment to this area, has been 48

preparing a White Paper on Intercultural Dialogue, through a long consultation process. It is about to appear in order to “formulate a coherent and longterm policy for the promotion of intercultural dialogue within Europe and between Europe and its neighbouring regions”. The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is also working in this area, and the European Union has declared 2008 the European Year for Intercultural Dialogue5, promoting a large number of activities.

Catalan International View

Perceptions vs. realities and transparent information about a reality, create even more fear and suspicion. the role of the media Recent experience clearly shows that in today’s interconnected global society, which some define as a screen-driven society (driven by the screens of our TVs, our computers, 2nd and 3rd generation cell phones, and so on) perceptions sometimes take on even more significance than the actual realities.

What defines the policies, what creates the feeling of the aforementioned clash of civilizations (which, if it existed I would define more as a clash of ignorance and misunderstandings)6 is more a general perception of such a problem rather than the problem itself.

It is exacerbated by a media machine which keeps repeating stereotypes and misperceptions using misleading language, however unitintentionally instead of giving

Therefore, one of the main challenges when trying to find modalities which ensure successful actions and policies in the field of interreligious and intercultural dialogue is to ensure a doubletrack approach. Two tracks that, while being interlinked and complementary, are of a completely different nature.

On one side, the track which deals with the real problems and realities, while on the other, the one that deals with the perceptions, the stories and the narratives that help to create, in one way or another, the atmosphere in which we currently live. Here we find the central role of the media and by extension of media literacy. It is not by chance that one of the first concrete actions the Alliance is already implementing is precisely in creating an online Media Literacy Education Clearinghouse.

Without doubt this is not enough, but together with other initiatives it is a small and at the same time indispensable stone in the gigantic work of building the bridges our world so dramatically needs.

*Manuel Manonelles Political commentator specialising in international relations, human rights and democratisation processes. Currently director of the Foundation for a Culture of Peace, Barcelona.

He has been special advisor to the Co-chair of the UN High Level Group for the Alliance of Civilisations, as well as advisor to the coordinator of the Secretariat of the World Forum of Civil Society Networks (Ubuntu Forum), which is a member of the International Council of the World Social 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.

1 It is no coincidence that when the Secretary General had to create a High Level Group to advise him about the Alliance, he asked Federico Mayor to chair it and President Khatami to be a member of it.

Nations Kofi Annan in July 2005. It was co-chaired by Federico Mayor and Mehmet Aydin. See: www.unaoc.org/repository/HLG_ Report.pdf

2 See the Declaration and Plan of Action for a Culture of Peace, which was approved unanimously by the UN General Assembly in 1999.

4 Which is promoted by the Philippines. See www.tripartiteinterfaithforum.org

3 This report was prepared by a High Level Group of twenty eminent personalities appointed by the Secretary General of the United

5 See: www.interculturaldialogue2008.eu 6 In line with intellectuals such as Ramin Jahanbegloo.

Catalan International View

49

Africa

KENYA the power of self-deception

By NicolĂĄs Valle*

Kenyans looking in the mirror in recent days are unable to recognise themselves. Their country was supposedly immune to the political crises that affect the rest of the continent. Kenya was supposedly a stable country, with a corresponding democratic system and a solid economy. They were well respected by the European Union and the United States. More importantly, it was believed that its tribes and nations were immune to the collective anger and indiscriminate violence which are all too common across the continent.

Kenyans fear they will discover they are like any other African nation, condemned to be forever plagued by corruption, despotism and ethnic tensions. Many Kenyans confess to being astonished by the scenes they witnessed in the first part of the year: a country with a government that is not recognised by half the population, a president embroiled in one of the most brazen electoral frauds of modern times and with international mediators from all over conversing with the political parties. Worse still: murders, burned houses, pillage and thousands of people who are addicted to the routine of revenge and counter-revenge.

Mwai Kibaki1 did not imagine that his gamble would turn out so badly and the opposition did not successfully calculate what could happen if tribal resentments were unleashed. The outcome was hundreds of thousands of displaced people accompanied by a thousand of the most brutal and macabre deaths, such as burning alive, machetteing or stringing people up from lampposts.

Observers from the European Union took less than four hours to condemn irregularities during the vote count following the general elections held on the 27th December (in some districts the government list obtained more votes than there 50

are voters on the electoral register), but the president was prepared. Kibaki rushed to be sworn into office some six minutes after the Electoral Commission awarded him the victory. This 76 year-old economist had spent more than half of his lifetime scaling the extremely vertical structure of Kenyan politics: he could not now renounce power, he had made too great a sacrifice. Kibaki, as the majority of his predecessors, had counted on the statistics on the makeup of the population and the support of the Kikuyus2, the country’s ruling majority party. His erratic political leadership, however, led him to lose this loyalty like never before. Kibaki won the 2002 elections leading the National Rainbow Coalition, a movement which aligned the principal parties that opposed the political traditionalism of post-colonial Kenya. His promise of change did not materialise: neither the labour reforms, the relaxation of the bureaucratic apparatus or the desire to give more representation to ethnic minorities. The honeymoon period with his coalition partners lasted only a few months. Kibaki did not wish to

Catalan International View

share power and placed his followers (all Kikuyus) in key government positions. This decision was to cause the rupture of the Coalition and the birth of a new opposition party, the Orange Democratic Movement, led by his old ally Raila Odinga3 of the Luo tribe4. Street protests continued, but Kibaki failed to see the signs. He even had the nerve to initiate a constitutional reform which in practice perpetuated his hold on power. The reform was rejected and produced a mass resignation of his ministers. This was surely the moment when Kibaki decided he needed to manufacture an electoral victory in order to continue.

Observers from the European Union took less than four hours to condemn irregularities during the vote count following the general elections held on the 27th December Kibaki had undoubtedly demonstrated he knew how to play hard. The problem is that the theft was so brazen and gross it awoke some old ghosts with lanterns lit and machetes at the ready.

The violence that ensued was not an irrational out-

Catalan International View

51

break however, as the Western media all too often conclude due to its ignorance of African conflicts.

Rather, the crisis and the subsequent killings were planned in order to force negotiations. Odinga, the leader of the opposition and supposed victim of the electoral fraud cannot be excused from blame. The confusion and ethno-political persecutions began immediately after members of the government and opposition announce the failure of the talks. Only a few minutes passed.

Mobile phones proved as deadly as machetes. The Kikuyus undoubtedly suffered the worst consequences. Odinga had an easy job of provoking a wave of reprisals against the tribe (comprising some 22% of the population) that had governed the country practically without opposition since the end of British colonialism. It is the tribe that has shamelessly benefited from Kenya’s great economic growth with the best agricultural land and 52

the exclusivity of the tourist industry. Up to now the Luos, Somalis and Samburus have faced only misery and political marginalisation. As a result the worst massacres this winter occurred in areas in the east of the country, in the Great Rift Valley, where the Kikuyus are in the minority and at their most vulnerable. They also occurred in the poorest neighbourhoods of Nairobi, such as Kibera and Mathare, where the relationship between the indigenous sectors of the two rival tribes reaches proportions of extreme promiscuity and rivalry.

The West has not contemplated the crisis from a distance this time. The African Union and the United Nations, in a mission headed by a ‘five-star’ negotiator, ex-secretary general of the UN, Kofi Annan, have worked hard for weeks to reconcile Kibaki and Odinga. It was not an easy job since the opposition leader refused to negotiate unless

Catalan International View

the president first gave up his post and admitted to electoral fraud. The efforts resulted in an agreement at the end of February to share power until new elections can be held. It is, perhaps, a temporary measure, but Washington and Brussel’s principal concern was not to prolong the political crisis in a country of great strategic importance to Europe and the United States. It is vital for large financial corporations and also, it is worth noting, it is important to the potent humanitarian industry based on the African continent. Modern Kenya has until now benefited from its geographical location, situated on the eastern coast of the continent, on the Indian Ocean, with secure commercial ports, situated a short distance from key regions, from the Red Sea and India. It has also somewhat paradoxically benefited from being surrounded by countries that are full of suffering and instability (Congo, Somalia, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, and Sudan). The millions of tourists that each year leave their dollars and euros in the national parks and popular tourist resorts of Malindi and Lamu are a result of Kenya’s image as a peaceful country. They are attracted by the superb spectacle of the African landscape, white sandy beaches and turquoise water. The same perception of prosperity and stability has seduced the multinationals into choosing Nairobi as a base for their regional headquarters. The convoys of goods and the oil pipelines that feed the centre of the continent originate from the port of Mombassa. Here can also be found the logistical headquarters of the main NGOs, where they keep the supplies for the refugee camps located throughout the region.

Kenya is also a vital key to the antiterrorist policies of the Bush administration. The White House’s ‘Global War on Terror’ gives special importance to Kenya. The Pentagon views the country as part of the forward trenches in its fight to stop Jihadism in Africa. Indeed, it shares its northern border with the fundamentalist dictatorship of Sudan and the chaos of Somalia, equally affected by lack of government as by the new Islamist militia. In fact, Al-Qaeda chose Kenya and Tanzania to announce itself to the world. The organisation, formed by the Saudi Arabian Ossama

Bin Laden, perpetrated the double attack against the U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam on the 7th of August 1998, just three years before the multiple attacks on New York and Washington on the 11th of September 20015. In Kenya a lot is at stake, therefore. If its stability and prosperity had collapsed, the victims would not have been the ‘caipirinha and safari’ tourists, but rather the Kenyans themselves, who are as dependent on foreign currency as foreign confidence. Without doubt, the region would also have paid the cost.

The domino effect would have been inevitable.

The African Union and the United Nations have worked hard for weeks to reconcile Kibaki and Odinga European and U.S. vested interests have saved Kenya from the crisis. This is a commitment that was lacking in the Ivory Coast, for example, a country of similar characteristics which has been dragging a political and social crisis behind it for the last four years. The only fear Kenya can have in the coming years is that it will someday lose its status as a privileged nation, an example of African potency which is vital to the West. Africa is a continent which is currently undergoing a spectacular dynamism after fifty years of being condemned to the inevitability of civil wars, poverty and authoritarianism. Its economic potential is currently unarguable and the global powers have set their sights on its ample energy resources. Kenya is no longer a unique case of stability and economic prosperity, a monopoly that attracted the interest of foreign capital and military strategists within NATO and the Pentagon. More than thirty African countries now benefit from more or less acceptable democratic systems. Kenya for example, competes with Uganda and Rwanda, America’s new allies in the region. They are equally stable, militarily powerful and situated strategically in the centre of the continent, acting as a block to Sudan and the gates of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the great African economic titan.

Tanzania and Mozambique are also gradually

Catalan International View

53

becoming incorporated into the club formed by prosperous countries. The ex-Portuguese colony in particular, a virgin country where everything lies in the future, has seen Maputo converted into Johannesburg’s port. It also has more than 2,000 kilometres of pristine coastline, unexploited by tourism, with beaches of a beauty unsurpassed by Zanzibar and the Seychelles. Kenya is faced by the possibility of ceasing to be the most valued

piece of the puzzle that is Africa. It may be that the current perception of a country of peace and prosperity will fall like a veil to reveal the reality that many Kenyans have up to now preferred not to see: a country with social inequality, nepotism and a vulnerablity to ethnic hatred. Perhaps it is time to look in the mirror without a mask of selfdeception. *Nicolás Valle

(Acehúche, 1964). Journalist for the foreign news desk of TV3 (Catalunya Television). Author of ‘Ubuntu. Estimada Terra Africana’ (Ubuntu. Beloved African Land. Published by Proa, 2008). He carries out a range of academic tasks at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and the Universitat Pompeu Fabra.

He previously worked on the foreign desk of the Avui newspaper. He specialises in African current affairs, a continent in where he has travelled extensively.

Photos: Paco Feria

1 Gatuyaini, Kenya (15th November 1931). Member of the Kikuyu tribe. Christened Emilio Stanley by Italian missionaries. He participated in the creation of KANU, the principal anti-colonial party.

Considered one of the fathers of the Kenyan constitution. A parliamentarian since 1963. He was minister in both the Kenyatta and Arap Moi administrations. Held post of vice-president between 1978 and 1988. Abandoned the KANU in 1991 with the imposition of a multiparty system. Founded the Democratic Party. He has been president of the Republic since 2002.

3 Maseno, Kenya (7th January 1945). Member of the Luo tribe.

Originally from a family closely tied to politics since colonial times.

He was minister during the first two years of Kibaki’s rule. Candidate for the opposition party Orange Democratic Movement since September 2007.

2 Kenya’s ethnic majority (6 million), of Bantu origin. They arrived in the area between the 13th and 16th centuries.

5 224 deaths. Two of the four accused admitted they were acting on orders form the most wanted man on earth.

54

4 Kenya’s second largest tribe (4 million members), belonging to the ethno-linguistic group with Nilotic origins that arrived in Kenya in the XVI century from the south of Sudan.

Catalan International View

EUROENERGY

It is clean energy EUROPEAN ENERGY SYSTEMS PO Box 295 E43280 REUS (BAIX CAMP) Phone: +34 977 323 838

Middle East

Lebanon at the crossroads of its destiny

By Zeina Mogharbel*

At one o’clock on a sunny afternoon that 14th of February, the former prime minister of Lebanon, Rafik Hariri, was assassinated on the shores of the Mediterranean, a few hundred metres from Beirut’s reconstructed downtown. Hariri had been one of the main promoters of its reconstruction.

His funeral, and the commemorative demonstration held one month later, became the most important public act in Lebanon’s history, with over a million Lebanese of all denominations taking part.

The Cedar Revolution was born. As a result of this popular movement and international and Lebanese pressure, Syrian troops hurriedly pulled out of the

Who forms the two Blocs?

The March 14 Alliance is the nationalist, anti-Syrian, pro-Western movement for independence and sovereignty which grew from the Cedar Revolution. It is a coalition of four principal parties: The Future Movement, led by the son of Rafik Hariri, the young and not very charismatic Saad; the Progressive Socialist Party, headed by the intellectual, eccentric Druze leader Walid Jumblat, (whose father was also assassinated in 1977, by the Syrians?); the Lebanese Forces, led by the articulate, astute Dr. Samir Geagea; and the historic Kataeb Party with the experienced, eloquent Amin Gemayel (father of Pierre, deputy and minister, assassinated in 2006) at the helm.

56

country after 29 years of occupation, ending one of the chapters of their iron grip over Lebanon.

Three years after the assassination that was to change Lebanon’s history, on an unusually cold and rainy day, a similar scene was repeated. However, the fourth ‘demonstration for freedom’ took place in much more complex and sombre circumstances.

This year the demonstration took on a new political dimension. The climate of uncertainty and volatility, as well as the profound dichotomy (which Small parties are also represented, such as the Lebanese National Bloc, the Lebanese Option and the Free Nationalists, among many other independent groups and political figures.

The March 14 Alliance is therefore composed of Sunnis, Druze, a growing number of Christians and a minority of intellectual Shia. The March 14 Alliance, also known as ‘the Majority’ or ‘the Loyalists’, dominate the government as a result of the 2005 parliamentary elections, although their numbers are being reduced by political assassinations of its parliamentarians and ministers.

The March 8 Bloc is strategically allied to the Iranian- Syrian axis. It is profoundly anti-American and has placed the fight against the West in general and Israel in particular as one of its top priorities. It is formed by three principal parties:

Catalan International View

for now is insurmountable) between the country’s two political poles, were ironically reflected in two parallel commemorations. Whether due to the vagaries of history or not, the homage to Hariri and others who died for independence coincided with another, to Imad Moghniyeh. This high level Hezbollah militant, wanted in 42 countries for terrorist activities, had been assassinated the day before in Damascus in circumstances that remain unclear.

Hezbollah, both a political party and an armed group, skilfully led by the charismatic, populist Cheikh Hassan Nasrallah; Amal, a militia-party, whose leader is currently the speaker of parliament, the sly old fox Nabih Berri; and the Christian members of the Free Patriotic Movement, followers of the megalomaniac, ambitious Michel Aoun, who abandoned the Cedar Revolution a few months after its inception to pursue his own presidential ambitions.

The Christian party El Marada, traditionally feudal and subservient to the Syrian regime, as well as other minority parties, are also aligned to the March 8 Bloc.

The allegiances of the two blocs also reflect the regional crisis that pitches the Iran-Syria and the Saudi Arabia-Egypt nexus against each other.

The image could not be more graphic or explicit.

In the morning, despite the inclement weather and the security threats that hung over that 14th of February, the Cedar Revolution headed towards the city centre. By midday it formed a human tide of close to a million people.

In the afternoon, another compact wave of people headed in an orderly fashion towards the suburbs of the capital, the so-called ‘security squares’, policed by Hezbollah.

For the Cedar Revolution, the 14th of February means a significant turning point, thanks to massive, popular commitment and participation In the morning, a disordered, plural, multicolour, multi-faith, gender-mixed, informal and noisy demonstration, where popular songs mingled with inflamed political speeches.

In the afternoon, a mono-chrome funeral, black (Hezbollah’s colour and the colour of death), rigorously masculine, disciplined, silent and religious. Pain and rage were apparent, while violence and vengeance were latent.

Catalan International View

57

Two antagonistic tributes, both in form and massive and committed popular support. Despite substance, to men of opposed worlds and the tensions and violent skirmishes that preceded the D-day, in spite of the sentiment of defeat and visions.

On one hand, a homage to those who died for independence, assassinated for their anti-Syrian stance and their fight for liberty. Businessmen, intellectuals, judges, journalists, imbued with Western liberal values, once so present in Lebanon.

These men were defenders of social, economic, and political rights, and committed to a democratic, pluralistic Lebanon.

abandonment due to the stagnation of the governmental and presidential crises and the systematic paralysis of the Lebanese institutions, the 14th of February marked the renewal of the impulse, credibility and legitimacy of the March 14 Bloc, altering the moral equation somewhat in their favour.

The abyss that divides the Lebanese population had never before been reflected so visibly. In just a few hours, more through acts than words, the fight between these two worlds, political projects, values and ways of life became clear. In a postwar, post-Hariri Lebanon, and in the midst of the Cedar Revolution (a long road still lays ahead) the cleavages are no longer only sectarian but rather ideological, strategic, social and cultural.

For although the numerical equilibrium is more or less evenly distributed between the two camps, this is not the case of the political equilibrium. Thanks to Hezbollah’s military superiority, the March 8 Bloc has a much higher deterrent power and therefore enjoys a proportionally higher political influence. This superiority is maintained thanks to the geographical proximity of Iran and Syria and the very efficient, concrete support they provide, whether economic, logistical, moral or military. Through its proxies, Syria hopes at the very least, to stop the International Tribunal which will sit to try those implicated in Hariri’s death and the political assassinations that have taken place since then. The evidence suggests a direct or indirect participation of the Syrian regime. At most, Syria hopes for a return to the era of control and subjugation. In addition, both Iran and Syria would achieve the consolidation of a frontline with Israel, out of their territory.

For the Cedar Revolution, the 14th of February 2008 marked a significant turning point, thanks to

The stalemate in the presidential elections is a good example of the current political panorama,

On the other, Moghnieh’s funeral, ‘the man in the shadows’. Glorification and apology for martyrdom, ‘al shahada’ (deep-rooted in the Shiia religious tradition) and the promise of a prompt vengeance, a threat that once again makes Lebanon the hostage of a party/military organisation that has given itself the right to declare war in its name.

In the Lebanese political system, the president is elected by parliament. The constitution favours a president elected by a minimum of two thirds of the votes. However, according to legal experts, it would not be unconstitutional to elect a president by absolute majority (50% + 1). In the current context, however, the latter alternative would jeopardize the fragile and very relative restraint of the constituencies of the two Blocs. Until now, the March 14 Alliance has refrained from going ahead with an absolute-majority election, to avoid an escala58

tion of violence, in particular between Sunnis and Shias.

After the ‘Lebanisation’ of Iraq, the ‘Iraqisation’ of Lebanon may well be one of the consequences. It is also feared that the opposition would not recognise a president elected by absolute majority, and would retaliate by forming a parallel government, for which there is the 1988 precedent, which had catastrophic consequences for the country.

Catalan International View

its imbalance, wars by proxy, regional stakes and internal anachronisms. The aforementioned deterrent power has allowed the March 8 Bloc to torpedo several initiatives by the Arab League to resolve the presidential crisis, and to hold the power to block any solution that does not count on its support. Since September 2007 there have been eighteen failed attempts to elect a president. These have mainly failed due to the boycott and conditions that the March 8 Bloc has tried to impose.

Ironically the debate does not centre so much on the candidate, since a theoretical consensus has been reached on General Michel Suleiman, the current head of the army, but on the allocation of key ministerial positions, presidential prerogatives and the renovation of the obsolete electoral law.

Strengthened by the support received on the 14th February 2008, March 14 Alliance does not wish to give in to political blackmail and maintains that constitutionally, these negotiations have to be carried out once the president is elected. On the other hand, the March 8 Bloc is taking advantage of the favourable regional situation, particularly in the aftermath of the war in July-August 2006, in order to maximize its political gains and achieve a formula which would give them the power of veto. However, this political landscape would generate an unprecedented incongruence in the democratic game: in practice it would allow the opposition / minority, to block any political initiative that did not have its support.

For the March 8 Bloc, putting an end to the presidential crisis is not a vital priority. It does them no harm that the presidency (a Christian position) remains unfilled, at least in the short term. This situation generates an instability from which they could benefit, and keeps the key to the resolution of the crisis in their hands.

The March 8 Bloc has also shown its will to replicate former presidential models, like that of Emile Lahoud (1998 - 2007), which were based on unconditional subordination to the Syrian regime and its interests. This is a model that the March 14 Alliance can no longer accept, given its commitment to the principles of the Cedar Revolution.

For the time being no end to the crisis can be seen. The political paralysis continues, dialogue is sterile and forced and the positions of both Blocs are equally entrenched.

The Land of the Cedars is going through the most crucial period of its history. It is at the crossroads of its own destiny: its future identity and the political system it will adopt are at stake. It remains to be seen whether a democratic, tolerant, plural and independent model is possible in a region where these same values are scarce. Whether indeed, an equitable, representative civil society is ever possible in the kaleidoscope that is Lebanon.

It is not possible to separate Lebanon’s crisis from two of the most crucial regional issues: the International Tribunal, which is imminent and potentially deadly for Syria, and Iran’s nuclear programme, which would consolidate its regional power and control over energy resources in the region. Both of these issues are being played out to a large extent in Lebanon, a battlefield par excellence.

It remains to be seen if it will be possible to share the prime minister’s optimism, when he recently stated that ‘Lebanon is too small to be divided and too big to be swallowed’.

*Zeina Mogharbel i Vallès Holds an M.A. in Political Science and International Relations from the American University of Beirut. Has worked at the European Union’s delegation in Jerusalem as head of NGO and humanitarian aid projects. Has been Operations Support Officer for UNRWA in refugee camps in the West Bank. Zeina has been head of the Mediterranean and Asian Region of the Catalan Agency for Cooperation Development. Currently in charge of the PNUD’s ART-GOLD programme, which is responsible for coordination between international aid agencies in Lebanon.

Catalan International View

59

Business and Economics

The internationalisation of business: the human factor

By Mireia Gimeno*

Within the world of people management there are multiple models and theoretical viewpoints that deal with any situation that a business finds itself in that make demands on its workforce. In reality, ours is a field in which management changes (by competency, value, knowledge, and so on) according to the model currently in fashion. We change priorities (the strategy, the policies or activities) according to the importance placed on them. We even change the name (‘personnel department’, ‘human resources’ and so on) according to the latest theory to have been published.

Some time ago I decided to adopt a phrase from someone I had the good fortune to work with. They reasoned that ‘the management of people is no more than knowing how to work with common sense, coherence and proximity. With these three premises, everything else follows’. This is how I function and this is why I would like to explain to you the importance of people in the internationalisation process that companies may undergo.

From my point of view there are three key elements in the internationalisation process of a business when it deals with people: how to carry out the selection of people who make the project possible in a new country, how to ensure they are incorporated into our organisation and, finally, understanding the cultural reality of the country we wish to work in.

The selection process At one time or another we have all taken part in the selection process and we all understand the significance of the ‘references’ of a company that offers us work. As the selection process advances 60

we begin to call friends and colleagues hoping to find information as to what the company is like, how it operates, if it is stable, if the staff are happy, if the company keeps them informed and so on.

Now imagine ourselves in the position where the company that is offering us a post comes from a country we hardly know, but that they are making an excellent offer. Are we tempted? Would we feel it is the project of a lifetime? Would we leave a secure job to take up this new position? I would venture to say we would not.

This is a much more serious problem to face when seen from the point of view of a company.

Even the best business plan can fail if a company finds that it is short of the professionals it needs to carry it out. This research is one of the critical points in the management of internationalisation, particularly if you do not have a well-known brand behind you.

The selection is without doubt converted into seduction. It is not simply a matter of seeing whether the candidate meets the requirements for the post in terms of the necessary experience and competencies. It is also a case of needing to

Catalan International View

explain who you are (as a company) and what you have to offer (professionally). As with any form of seduction, sincerity, accompanied by a dash of mystery, becomes the key to success.

country. Within this framework we must make a detailed description of the particular position to be filled, both in terms of what the candidate can bring to it and the difficulties they may likely face.

Even the best business plan can fail I am strongly of the belief that any other stratif a company finds that it is short of egy is bound to fail because the reality will more the professionals it needs to carry than likely not live up to expectations. it out It is absolutely essential that all your cards are placed on the table and that it is the employee (once they have been checked out) who makes the decision. It is necessary to explain the history of the organisation, to expose them to the economic implications, in order that the person can paint a picture of the future that awaits them in a new

Training: a key tool in the socialisation process.

Four phases can typically be identified in the selection process: recruitment, the selection itself, taking up of employment and socialisation. The socialisation phase (named the ‘induction process’ in some businesses) aims to oversee the assimi-

Catalan International View

61

lation of information about the company and to control the ‘normal’ motivation cycle of the employee.

The general rule is that when someone joins an organisation they undergo a process of progressive adaptation along two axes (as is shown in the graph): an excess of initial euphoria produced by the expectations resulting from any novelty, and the emotional let-down as a consequence of finding that a professional paradise does not exist. In reality, this failure to live up to expectations is one of the most common causes of employees voluntarily leaving a company in the first few days. For this reason, its careful management makes a difference to an organisation.

In the context of the internationalisation of a business, the cycle is accentuated. By not possessing all the relevant information about the company, expectations tend to be too high (otherwise, why would you dive head first into a project that is potentially risky?) and the distance from the headquarters of the company often makes it difficult to effectively monitor these expectations.

However, two tools do exist to reduce these extreme tendencies (which is not to say eliminate them): the induction plan and the initial training plan.

The first step involves the setting up of an induction programme that ensures the closest possible monitoring of an employee’s entrance into an organisation. What would we want to know 62

at the start of a business project in a new country, whatever position we might hold? What objectives does it have, what resources can I count on, who are my contacts, what are the basic working procedures and so on? This programme has to provide an answer to all these questions and, as mentioned previously, with absolute transparency.

It is the moment to give details of the organisation’s weak points and, therefore, of the main problems the employee will face when they begin to carry out their functions.

When we speak of the internationalisation of businesses we should question how we adapt to the cultural reality of the country in which we wish to establish ourselves The second element, which is fully complementary, is the initial training programme. The programme has to provide everything that the employee needs in order that a person who begins to work for the company can feel the necessary security. Every organisation is different and these differences need to be illustrated. It is not the position itself, but the position within the specific organisation that needs clarifying.

Of the diverse models that can be established when dealing with adequate training for new international teams, it is recommended that the displacement of personnel to the country of origin of a company be combined with the setting up of a support team to supervise their activities for as long as is necessary. If only initial training is given there is the risk that the feeling of isolation that typically accompanies such a project may not be adequately managed.

Clearly these two factors are no guarantee of success, but it is obvious that without them the chances of failure are much higher. We should never forget that organisations are made up of people. The majority need some support, except

Catalan International View

those clearly individualistic types who can fight alone against all adversity. Such help and information can help them to take the right steps to achieve their goal.

Should the company culture adapt to a country’s culture?

Finally, the third element we must not overlook when we speak of the internationalisation of businesses is how we adapt to the cultural reality of the country in which we wish to establish ourselves. Every organisation has its own culture and basic values which guide its activities. This culture is usually dictated by its history, its business plan and the people that work for the company (especially its leaders). What every business asks itself when it begins in a new country is whether it can maintain this culture. The first transnational organisations opted for a homogenisation policy. This assured the establishment of a uniform business model, without taking cultural realities into consideration. However, these models are increasingly in the minority as there is the ten-

dency to find a balance between business values and the cultural values of the country in which a company finds itself. Can we develop a business model without taking into account local buying patterns? Here the answer is obvious, is it not?

How is it that when we speak of ways of conducting business it is not equally obvious that every country is different and that this difference can enrich the organisation?

A short time ago I had the opportunity of attending a meeting of a Catalan company’s international teams. The objective of the meeting was to establish common work practices and consolidate the company’s vision. At each stage, the opinion of each individual was actively sought and each of its business practices was examined and adapted in relation to the reality of each country.

This adaptation served to strengthen the business’ vision and guaranteed that each team returned to its country clear on how it was to work as a group.

This difference does not distort a business model, rather it strengthens it. We simply need to think of a global strategy, but to act locally.

*Mireia Gimeno (Barcelona, 1972). Holds a degree and an MBA in business management from ESDAE (Escola Superior d’Administració i Direcció d’Empreses) with a specialisation in human resources. At present director of human resources for Stradivarius. She collaborates with the human resources department of ESADE, where she gives classes on both degree courses and the master’s programme.

Catalan International View

63

Science and Technology

Biotechnology and biomedicine in Catalunya, a window on the world

By Manel Balcells *

The birth of a cluster from a biomedical alliance The embryo of the BioRegion of Catalunya was the ‘Barcelona Biomedical Alliance’, an agreement signed on the 3rd of September 2003 by three of the main participants in the biomedical scene in Catalunya: two leading science parks and a research institute. Subsequently two Catalan universities have joined the initiative.

This first step towards a common, successful future of excellence in life sciences was sponsored by the ‘Generalitat de Catalunya’ (the Government of Catalunya) and the Barcelona City Council.

The purpose of the initiative was to organize public biomedical research in Catalunya and build up its competitiveness, according to the European policy of promoting environments of

scientific and technological excellence. The Government identified an area of future growth with enough potentail to compete at a global level. On the 14th of February 2006, Biocat was formally constituted as the organization that promotes the biotechnology and biomedicine in Catalunya.

Now, the BioRegion of Catalunya (the biocluster) is fully consolidated.

At the beginning of 2007, Dr. Montserrat Vendrell (as director) and myself (as president of the Executive Committee) took the lead of Biocat, with the goals of facilitating networking among the different stakeholders, fostering biotechnology and biomedicine as key economic motors for the country, promoting Catalunya on the world stage, and contributing to a better understanding and perception of life sciences in society. This commitment to competitiveness involves defining the right instruments, and the initiatives to be undertaken. This is the responsibility of Biocat.

The Catalan Government and the Barcelona City Council are not only continuing to explicitly support this platform, they also are providing impetus, through the regional Ministries involved (Health, Economy, Universities, Innovation and Industry, and the Vice-presidency). The president and vice-president of the Catalan Government are also president and vice-president of the Biocat board. The position of executive president of Biocat, which I currently hold, is designated by the government.

The Catalan reality: excellence in research and innovation Catalunya stands out in the field of clinical research and human health, with a network of 60 hospitals, six of which count among Spain’s most prolific hospitals in terms of scientific production.

Twelve universities and twelve science parks, six of them specifically dedicated to biomedical and agro-food research and development activities, host a network of services (technology platforms) in different areas (genomics, proteomics, crystallography, nanotechnology, fine chemistry and so on).

president, the leading Catalan expert on cancer metastasis, Joan Massagué, is also director of the Cancer Biology and Genetics Program at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre (Massagué has been one of the 50 most cited authors in all fields of science in the last twenty years). These and other excellence centres linked to universities, the Spanish Research Council (CSIC) and science parks, host more than 400 research groups in life sciences generating excellence projects that feed the biotechnology start-up companies and big pharmaceutical partners.

Barcelona hosts the ITER (‘Fusion for Energy’) headquarters, and will also be home to Alba, a new European Synchrotron (an electron accelerator that produces X-Rays used for research purposes).

The three existing biomedical science parks in Greater Barcelona are; the Barcelona Science Park (PCB), home to the first bioincubator in Catalunya; the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park (PRBB); and the UAB Science Park (Autonomous University of Barcelona), the latter being home to a group of centres created to respond to specific needs in research fields of great interest. The PRBB is one of the largest biomedical research parks in Southern Europe, home to several excellent research institutes, and forms a knowledge core for one of the main innovation assets of the city, 22@Barcelona, a technology district that integrates the different agents in the field of innovation.

Research in Catalunya

Catalan Biotech companies

The network of 150 research centres of excellence include; the IBM-UPC Barcelona Supercomputing Centre, with Mare Nostrum (the most powerful supercomputer in Europe) the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), with outstanding researchers such as Miguel Beato; the Barcelona Regenerative Medicine Centre (CMRB, whose director, Juan Carlos Izpisúa, is also professor of the Gene Expression Laboratory at the Salk Institute); the August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS); the research institute of Hospital Clinic in Barcelona, which, in terms of scientific production, is the most prolific hospital in Catalunya (and the Spanish state); and the Biomedical Research Institute (IRB), whose

About 250 companies are linked to the biotechnology sector (60 biotechnological, 60 pharmaceutical and around 120 using biotech or providing services to the biotech industry). About 800 people work in the Biotech sector, and 20,000 in the pharmaceutical.

Modern biotechnology is applied to medicine and health care in therapeutics, mainly for the discovery and production of new drugs

Biotechnology is the application of science and technology to living organisms, or to parts, products and models of them, for the production of knowledge, goods and services. Modern biotechnology is applied in medicine and health care in therapeutics, mainly for the discovery and production of new drugs, in preventives for the development of vaccines, and in diagnostic

Catalan International View

65

kits. Most of the biotechnology companies in Catalunya focus on drug development and diagnosis.

Catalunya also boasts four large domestic pharmaceutical companies that have evolved into mutlinationals: Almirall, Esteve, Ferrer and Uriach. Also subsidiaries of some of the main multinational companies in the sector have chosen Catalunya as a venue. Some examples are Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Novartis, Pfizer and Sanofi-Aventis. Together they account for about sixty percent of Spanish pharmaceutical production. The current trend in the Catalan biotech sector is to create new businesses at a rate of more than 10 companies per year. In 2006 and 2007 Catalunya was the most dynamic Autonomous Community in the Spanish state in terms of the creation of new biotech companies.

The international stage To attract international interest, Catalunya counts on some inherent assets, such as a strategic location and good quality of life, but also with unique assets, such as excellence in research and an entrepreneurial spirit. We must profit from the fact that Barcelona is considered a dynamic and innovative location, with the highest quality of life in Europe (according to Cushman & Wakefield’s 2006 European Cities Monitor Research), and the fourth best city in Europe for businesses.

Throughout 2007 Biocat coordinated the candidacy of Barcelona as European headquarters for the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI).

Despite the fact that the European Commission took the decision to establish the headquarters in Brussels, we are now obtaining the benefits of this previous work, in terms of Catalunya’s raised profile and the possibility of participating in European consortia. We are also facilitating the access of local institutions and companies to other European funding programs. We have also set the basis for the participation of Catalunya in the Eu66

robioregion project, beginning to work with our French counterparts in the design of the Southern Europe Biocluster.

All the structures in the bio sector need a brand in order to act collectively with enough critical mass to compete at all levels and to accede to global resources Exploring further afield, Biocat has signed a memorandum of understanding with the All India Biotech Association to favour the partnership between Catalan and Indian companies. While thinking globally but acting more locally, we are working with local institutions to identify and address internationalisation needs, such as the identification of geographic areas of interest, grants for missions, delegations and conferences, and so on. We coordinate the participation of the sector in international events, such as the BIO International Convention. In 2008 our BIO delegation to San Diego to attend the world’s premier biotechnology conference will exceed 70 people, more than two thirds of the participants from the Spanish state.

Future plans: boost Catalunya’s profile The months to come will be very busy for the BioRegion. Thanks to Biocat’s role as a catalyst, several major projects are in the pipeline.

The Industrial Innovative Clusters Project Biocat has led significant actions in the private sector, such as the presentation of two specific plans, for Biotechnology and for Medical Technologies, to the Spanish Ministry of Industry.

These seek to improve the international competitiveness of Catalan companies in terms of innovative capabilities.

Catalan International View

Biopol Health Park In terms of infrastructures, for both the public and private sector, we coordinate the Biopol Health Park project, a 300,000m2 Science Park near Barcelona, focused on human health and built to host hospitals, universities, research centres and companies. This project is aimed at leveraging the sector and surpassing the local stage to become an international hub, meeting quality standards in terms of advanced facilities, as well as urban image and design.

The European Institute of Technology The future European Institute of Technology (EIT) is a great opportunity for Europe to see innovation as the main driver to the European Community’s development. It represents a major European innovation project, relying on technological excellence and regional cooperation. This institute will be built around (and benefit from) relevant, already existing, development cores (Knowledge Innovation Communities or KICs), that will stimulate the necessary collaboration between industry and institutions, between public and private sectors. Biocat is leading the efforts towards the EIT initiative in Catalunya.

Training According to the general goal of recruiting top human capital to cover the biomedical and biotechnological sector needs, we are also promoting the creation of experienced pools of managers for the life science industry. The proposal involves recruit-

ing internationally, as well as training at local and European level. Programs for experts may require the establishment of specific grants to help entrepreneurs to achieve the mobility requirements to attend the different European modules on biotechnology industry management.

A brand: Catalan excellence Catalunya, its researchers and all the structures in the bio sector need a brand in order to act collectively with enough critical mass to compete at all levels, to accede to global resources, to international projects and to communicate with the world competitiveness clusters. The agreements we have established with India, Finland, the West Coast of the USA and the Midi-PyrĂŠnĂŠes and Languedoc-Roussillon French regions, must allow a fluent exchange of experience, expertise and partnerships on the international stage.

Acting jointly, we are strong enough to have a presence in a global world. This strength will enable us to form a spearhead towards a knowledgebased economy. This unified image will be made visible by means of collaborations in future issues of this publication. Relevant representatives and outstanding experts of the Catalan life sciences community will use this window on the world to disseminate the Catalan stamp of excellence, through diverse visions of this modern, competitive Catalunya.

*Manel Balcells (Ripoll, 1958). Doctor specialising in orthopaedics, traumatology and sports medicine. Holds a degree in Health Management from EADA and is a member of a number of scientific societies. In his long career in the health sector he has been medical director of Granollers General Hospital (Barcelona); both director and secretary of Coordination and Strategy for the Department of Health of the Generalitat of Catalunya; councillor for the Department of Universities, Research and Information Society; and consultant for the Catalan Hospital Consortium. Since the 27th of December 2006 he has been president of the board of directors of the Private BioRegion Foundation of Catalunya.

Catalan International View

67

Green Debate

Climate change is more than a change in the climate

By Pere Torres*

“It is natural for a country to want to be independent. We do not feel ourselves part of Europe - we are an Arctic people- but our way of life is changing and we have to change with it...Then, we could not strike out alone because we were so heavily dependent on Danish money, and we still are, but we can change that by exploiting our natural resources to achieve financial and political independence�. These are the words of Aleqa Hammond, member of the autonomous government of Greenland, quoted in an article published in the Guardian, the 7th of October 2007.

Is this a case of another political leader of a minority nation advocating independence for their people? It probably is, but this is a special case: the outcome depends on climate change. The sequence is clear: the increase in temperature leads to the ice melting and this allows the exploitation of new finds of oil and minerals. The profits from the activity will provide sufficient economic resources to allow for the independence of Kalaallit Nunaat (the country’s name in Greenlandic). Not everyone is so optimistic, however. There are those that warn that mining fever could attract so much immigration that the indigenous culture of its sixty thousand inhabitants would rapidly dissolve. Whatever happens, a new state could emerge thanks to climate change.

Let us travel to the other end of the world, in the middle of the Pacific, to Polynesia. Here we 68

find the tiny archipelago of Tuvalu, independent since 1978. The highest point is no more than five meters above sea level. Here too there is a clear sequence: melting of the ice caps and glaciers causes the sea level to rise. If the more pessimistic scenarios are correct, the whole of Tuvalu will be engulfed by the ocean. There is speculation that there are evacuation plans to send its scant population of twelve thousand people to Australia or New Zealand, but the government denies it. In any case, a young state could disappear thanks to climate change.

of the industrial mentality. Later, certain political parties that were orphaned by other inviting revolutions saw the opportunity to unite under the banner of ‘the new fight against capitalism’. It was a time in which this unexpected threat moved on the periphery of society, without actually penetrating it.

The sequence is clear: the increase in temperature leads to the ice melting and this allows the exploitation of new finds of hydrocarbons These two examples serve to illustrate how the and minerals vision of this phenomenon has evolved. It began as an academic curiosity, a working hypothesis of a handful of climatologists. Over time it began to be adopted by the ecological movement as definitive proof of their critique of the development

In the last two or three years the situation has changed. Now climate change has become the new creed and the new urgency, at least rhetorically. It is true that there are still voices that reject it in its entirety, but they are fed more on ideology than opposing arguments. For this reason, the politics of climate change are increasingly removed from environmental agencies and closer to the hands of economic bodies. It is no longer a case of caring for the environment, but rather of looking after the health of the economy, which may become a victim of global warming if we only limit ourselves to passively observing how the debate heats up. Since the Stern Review (2006), that estimated the costs related to climate change, calculations have shown that the effects of changes in the climate have economic costs that are much higher than investments in greenhouse gas reductions. Not all economists are in agreement with the analytical methods used in the study, nor with its conclusions, but an irreversible step has been made from a debate on environmental terms to a debate on economic terms.

69

At the same time it does not appear as if the economic focus is to be the final stage of this debate. Arguments based on the security question have been gaining ground. Perhaps the first example of this came from the Pentagon in 2004.

President Bush had not yet taken up his sceptical position when the military administration produced a secret document that was conveniently leaked to the press, as is common in such cases.

The Observer took notice on the 22nd of February of that year. Essentially it argued that the most serious consequences of climate change would arise from economic and political instability suffered by countries vulnerable to climate change. Alarming words such as ‘chaos’, ‘anarchy’ and ‘war’ stood out.

Will it also redraw political maps?

This is the great unknown At the recent European Union Spring Summit (13th – 14th March 2008), it was Javier Solana himself, as the High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy who presented the Climate Change and International Security report to the heads of state.

We should keep in mind that the sources of some 200 rivers are shared by two or more countries. There are a wealth of examples of the severe tensions that stem from the distribution of water when it becomes scarce within a state. It is easy to imagine, therefore, what would happen if those fighting over this resource are neighbouring states!

Another ‘threat’ comes from the massive human migrations brought about by the advance of desertification. Recently a lecturer in politics at the University of Indiana, Rafael Reuveny, published Climate Change-induced Migration and Violent Conflict (Political Geography, 26:656-673, 2007).

He listed 38 cases of migrations that occurred in the 20th century that can be directly put down to climate change. He concludes that half of them resulted in noticeable conflict between the receiving country and the displaced group.

70

Climate change is, therefore, starting to be seen as a security problem. To look ahead somewhat, it is also a factor that may influence the distribution of power in the future, which is to say the control of resources, commerce and political influence. There are a great deal of preparatory (and prophetic) movements in this sense.

There are movements by both large and small countries: Russia has sent a submarine to place a flag on the continental shelf beneath the Arctic ice, claiming the area as its own. Meanwhile, Iceland is calculating the profits it can expect from being more centrally placed with respect to the major maritime shipping routes.

These are movements that could bring collisions between friends and rivals: the US and Canada are playing a dangerous game to see who will dominate the Northwest Passage shipping route. It would be a clear alternative to the Panama Canal. Meanwhile, negotiations between Syr-

Catalan International View

countries that can see a window through which to breathe thanks to intelligent, timely policies that adapt to the new climatic conditions. In this way they will be able to continue generating wealth while the most reticent will be forced to take emergency measures.

The nations that are able to take agile decisions, with stronger social cohesion could emerge in a better position. Everything seems to indicate that it will be easier for the smaller countries than the larger, which are often prone to bureaucratic inertia and hampered by geo-strategic equations. In whatever case, it will be easier for those countries and societies prepared to act to meet this challenge than for those prone to the classical ‘wait and see’ response.

ia and Israel regarding the Golan Heights make no headway because, aside from the Palestinian conflict, water resources are in dispute (half of Israel’s water comes from this area).

At the same time we should not only look on the negative side, climate change is also a source of opportunity. It offers the possibility of a reshuffle in the global political arena.

There are countries which could learn to become more autonomous in their energy production and, through the application of new technology, reinforce their development and become a lot more internationally competitive. There are

It is clear that a new factor has been introduced that significantly alters the international rules of play. To ignore it or underestimate it would be a grave mistake. In fact, if we look at history, we will see that it is not a particularly new phenomenon. Many civilisations and cultures of the past have seen a reduction in their viability thanks to climatic changes that have threatened their social and economic organisation. Jared Diamond gathers many examples in his work Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or to Succeed (Viking Adult, New York, 2005). Learning from the past is a good piece of advice.

To summarise, climate change is redrawing classic reference maps (rainfall, crops, vegetation coverage and so on). Will it also redraw political maps? This is the great unknown. There are countries, however, that have chosen not to wait for someone else to solve the problem for them.

*Pere Torres Biologist and environmental consultant. After some time spent on research (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona), he joined the Government of Catalunya in 1991. He was in turn secretary of the Catalan Inter-university Council (1991-1993), head of the Environment Minister’s staff(1993-1995), general director of Environmental Planning (1995-2000) and secretary for Regional Planning (2000-2003). Since 2004 he has done consultancy work in public management, sustainability and land use planning and has been a regular contributor to the International Institute for Governability and the Cerdà Institute.

Catalan International View

71

The Artist

Enric Ansesa versus ‘Catalan Hills’

By Ricard Planas*

To represent and imagine ideas through black marks that symbolise both mountains of knowledge and magical mountains: this has been the structural objective of Catalan Hills, a work created by the Catalan artist Enric Ansesa to form the first cover of Catalan International View. They are the mountains that have given us our identity and whose blurred outlines represent the abstraction of a thought, concentrated in a series of brushstrokes generated by the hand of a creative man trying to articulate something superior to himself. It is a painting that is born from white and from white it becomes black, its opposite or counterpart. The colours also move, with the utmost subtlety, almost imperceptibly: the gold, the red and yellow of the senyera (the Catalan flag) and the blue of the European Union, other reference points placed with extreme deliberateness.

Catalan Hills is a work on paper that forms part of the latest series by this artist born in Girona in 1945. It is a non-representative piece that portrays the essence of universal thought with a dose of extreme reality.

72

Catalan International View

© BONART/ CLICK!ARTFOTO

SELECTED BIOGRAPHY

He has a deep conceptual and theoretical sense formed in the confrontation between the radicalism of a concept and the respect for historical knowledge. He adds an extreme sensitivity to a functional sense.

His work is conceived through the use and the investigation of black and its interrelations. He uses black like an energy field from which calligraphic elements, signs, textures, matter and collages arise. The reductionist elements alongside a rounded, finished, well taken-care-of execution, in the limited spaces of the work or in the limitless space of the installation, create a deep density of extremely conceptual sensitivity. It places us in a reflective state rather than in the presence of the work. He has been present in the process of democratic recovery and in

the normalisation of the Catalan identity. The artist is a founder member of the Democratic Assembly of Artists of Girona (ADAG, in Catalan) and the Catalan Association of Visual Artists (AAVC), among others. Alongside Faixó, Fuses i Viader he made and directed the Colour Project as part of the redevelopment of houses on the river Onyar in Girona. He also developed an industrial project involving new codes for colours. His work is held in both public and private collections in Europe and America. He is a point of reference for Catalan art and is considered one of the maximum exponents of the ‘hidden generation’.

*Ricard Planas (Girona, 1976). Journalist, art critic and cultural promoter. Studied Philology and the History of Art at the University of 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.

Catalan International View

73

A Poem

Just like he who sees himself near death, Going through hardships, through perils at sea, And sees a place where he can find his ease And cannot reach it for his evil luck, Like him I pass through these hard times And see you, who might cure all my ills: And now despaired of achieving my desires, I’ll circle the world, telling of your pride.

Així com cell qui es veu prop de la mort, corrent mal temps, perillant en la mar, e veu lo lloc on se pot restaurar e no hi ateny per sa malvada sort, ne pren a me, qui vaig afanys passant e veig a vós, bastant mos mals delir: desesperat de mos desigs complir, iré pel món vostre ergull recitant.

Ausiàs Marc was born in Gandia in 1397 and died in 1459 in Valencia. His poetry contains three influences: on one hand we have Provencal troubadour lyricism, while, in contrast to his predecessors, his prose is free from Provencalisms. The second influence is Aristotlean-Thomistic philosophy of which Marc demonstrates his thorough knowledge through frequent references to learned aphorisms on love and goodness. Finally there are influences form the Italians, especially Dante and Petrarca.

74

Catalan International View