International sheepdogs competition in Catalan Countries

Catalan sheepdogs (gossos d’atura) are the dogs which help sheperds in the work of bringing cattle. They are used all over the Pyrenees (Aragonese, Basque, Catalan and Occitan parts).

Every year an international competition is organized in eight rounds. The fifth round was played yesterday in Castellar de N’Hug. The last one will be held in Felanitx (Mallorca’s island). Castellar de N’Hug is a small and beautiful village in the Catalan mountains. It is placed in the Berguedà region.
All dogs follow a unified regulation, which governs the area, laid out the evidence and gives a score according to the jury, usually composed of veterinarians. Obedience is first valued in the ability to drive sheep. The first contest was played in 1962. A Catalan federation organizes the competition. Josep Armengou, a shepherd from Castellar de N'Hug, once more won the first place. The second one was for Juli Bayoy from Ares del Maestrat (Castelló) and the third one for Miquel Adrover, from mallorca. The public was formed by more than six thousand people.

A Catalan Man in court over Northern Ireland riots

Roger Jorro i Costa, from Barcelona, has been charged with 'riotous assembly' by the British police. The 28-year-old Catalan man has appeared in court in Belfast accused of attempting to murder a policewoman during the Twelth July rioting in Ardoyne, Belfast. The PSNI had issued a photograph of a man investigators wanted to question in connection with an incident in which a policewoman suffered head injuries when a concrete block was dropped on her.
He went to a police station after a photo was released of a man police said they wished to question.

First meeting for independence to be held in September

On September 12 will be held at Arenys de Munt a big meeting (Aplec in Catalan) “for independence”. It will be a festive event coinciding with the first anniversary of the first consultation on independence from Spain organized by civil society. It was on 13thj September 2009. The organizers invite all promoters of consultations on the independence of the Principality to participate, and all the Catalan separatists in a meeting that will pay tribute to the organizing committee, will encourage consultation and decides Barcelona will coincide with the opening the 'Monument to Independence', in homage to the historic launch of the consultations.

The promoters are preparing a lot of festivities with a load of emotion and demands for independence, the desire to make the day 'shaken' again the foundations of current political structures. The celebration will be on September 12 and not 13 because this year falls on Monday, and want to use the conference to bring together the best of separatist movements and to become a day participatory at all levels', according to the Mayor Arenys de Munt, Carles Móra.

Summer Catalan University 2010

From August 16th to August 24th Prada de Conflent will host the Catalan Summer University. Prada is a village under French administration but a Catalan one. It is placed in Northern Catalonia.

Catalan Summer University (UCE) arises from the festivities organized in 1968 in Prada along the Catalan Youth Cultural Group and the Group of Catalan Studies Roussillon, after May 1968. From this successful experience, and the interest of the people of Northern Catalonia to promote and advance the language and culture and the need of the people of the Principality, the Islands and Valencia to find a space of freedom at a time when Franco was very alive in the summer of 1969 emerged the first UCE.

It atracts about about two thousand people and members of tha main national parties visit it and gave speeches. CiU, ERC and Reagrupament members are expected this year. CUP will pay homage to the patriot and well known painter Manuel Viusà.

International meeting of Corti: hope instead of resentment

The ghjurnate di Corti are a gathering of national movements throughout the world. This weekend was celebrated the 29th edition. It is a meeting point by national liberation movements.

This year there were delegations of Ireland (Sinn Féin), Catalan Countries (Catalan Solidarity for Independence, State Catalan, Catalan Committee of Internationalist Solidarity), Euskal Herria (Construction of Autonomy, Askatasuna, Batasuna), Sardinia (Sardinia Natzione, Independentzia Repùbrica di Sardinia), or New Caledonia (FLNKS, USTKE, and Parti UNPK Travaillistes Kanak). The organizers were Corsica Libera. Other years there has been Occitan, Welsh, Breton, Alsatian or Scottish delegations.

The program included several activities: a workshop for young people, the first assembly of elected councilors for independence, the projection of the film "Bloody Sunday" and a debate on "land". Corsica is experiencing a very tough because the pressure of real estate speculators trying to build. It is always easy to get a permit. The national movement opposes to the island filled with cement. A space was devoted to Corsican political prisoners .

Years ago, these days we lived in a climate of resentment. Even there had been shot submachine guns. Now the national movement hearts just get the best results in its history. Within the independence of these have exceeded the 10% barrier. They are in parliament. And the guests also come with progress under his arm.

Days of Corti: the voice of the international delegations

The Basque delegation with Maite Goientxe of Batasuna has emphasized that "these meetings are an asset because you learn and make known the conflicts that we suffer." In an optimistic tone believes "there are real conditions to win the right to self determination." Precisely Kanak delegation explained that a maximum of three years the nation will convene in the Pacific "a local referendum for self-determination" according to agreements between the independence movement and the French government (Noumea agreement).

Also optimism in the Catalan delegation where Uriel Bertran, former ERC MP and a promoter of the new movement Solidaritat Catalana per la Independència, said that "the popular movement for independence alive a force unprecedented in our country". It is prepared on a "big coalition" for independence. Sardinia was represented by Gavino Sale, from IRS, who is a newly elected provincial. Their movement is inspired by Gandhi and opposed all forms of violence. Its growth has been steady in recent years with a very successful work. For Sale "accepting the hypothesis of independence has become a reality." And this is already a victory. "It takes the example of Catalonia, or the case of recognition of Kosovo by the Hague tribunal.". Sale was one of international observers to consultations on independence held in Catalonia.

Finally there was an Irish delegation. It was led by Paul Fleming, Mayor of Derry and POW from 1974 to 1990. "Today, he says, Sinn Féin has assimilated the idea of discussion abandonment of armed solution." The policy is the way that favors the party that keeps growing in every election and have on the horizon the achievement of an unification with the rest of Ireland. Fleming and the language is' an important vector. Northern Irish government has just announced it will open four Gaelic schools next September.

Letter from 28 intelelctuals (from 6 states) to The Economist about bullfighting

The next letter has been sent by 28 intellectuals from 6 states to 'The Economist' for its tendentious treatment about the question:

Sir, We strongly disagree with your treatment of the Catalan Parliament's decision to prohibit bullfighting in Catalonia ("The land of the ban", July 29th 2010).
We find the title itself tendentious, and several other phrases appearing in the article (for example, 'What will Catalonia outlaw next?'; 'a taste for outlawing whatever irks them'; and 'spasm of intolerance') are inaccurate, offensive, and out of place in a publication of The Economist's caliber.
As people who know Catalonia well, we fail to recognize in those expressions what we have always found to be a progressive, open-minded and welcoming society.
We would expect The Economist to be able to offer its readers a more truthful account of the state of things in Catalonia today.

Víctor Alexandre, Writer and journalist


Iñaki Anasagasti, Member of the Spanish Senate

Helena Buffery, Lecturer at Birmingham and Cork Universities

Montserrat Armengou TV documentary-maker

Salvador Cardús i Ros, Dean, School of Political Science and Sociology, UAB, Barcelona

Eugeni Casanova, Author and journalist

Josep Cruanyes, Lawyer and President of Plataforma pel Dret a Decidir, Barcelona

Francesc de Dalmases i Thió, Director, Catalan International View

Susan M. DiGiacomo, Professor, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona

Henry Ettinghausen Emeritus Professor, University of Southampton.

Armand de Fluvià, Genealogist and heraldist, University Professor, Barcelona

August Gil Matamala, Lawyer

Montserrat Guibernau Pofessor of History, Queen Mary's London

José Luis de las Heras, Professor of History, Salamanca University

Cristina Lagé Manich, Espai Catalunya Topalekua

J.C. Major, Col.lectiu Emma, New York

Joan M. Minguet Batllori, Art History Professor, UAB, Barcelona

Pedro Morón de la Fuente, Journalist, Sant Boi de Llobregat

Oriol Pi-Sunyer, Emeritus Professor, University of Massachusetts at Amherst

Jordi Porta, Ex President of Òmnium Cultural, Barcelona

Francesc Ribera, Musician, Berga

Isabel-Clara Simó, Writer, Barcelona

Toni Strubell, Coordinator of the Comissió de la Dignitat, Girona

Víctor Terradellas i Maré, Editor, Catalan International View

Josep Maria Terricabras, Professor of Philosophy at Girona University, Girona

Colm Toíbín, Writer, Dublin

Quim Torra, Publisher and writer

Amèlia Trueta, Historian, Oxford