Josep Solé i Barberà

Tribute

On 10th June 2013, five days before the centenary of his born, Josep Solé i Barberà has received a tribute. The event has been held at the Palau de la Generalitat and every political party has participated, with the exception of PP and Ciutadans.

Agustí Colomines, academic director of Josep Termes Chair, has dedicated him some words highlighting that the life of Josep Solé i Barberà could seem tragic because he was sentenced to death twice: once by the republicans and another time by the francoists. Indeed, he was sentenced to death by the republicans in the course of the Spanish Civil War because he didn’t come back on time after permission. This sentence was commuted to imprisonment. Later, during the post-war period, he was also sentenced to death by the francoists because of his communist activism. This time, the sentence was commuted to imprisonment and exile. Finally, he came back to Catalonia in 1950 and worked as a lawyer representing –in the francoist courts– people of all ideologies who were fighting against the regime. In the same way, politics of the most varied ideologies believe they are in debt to Josep Solé i Barberà, such as Miquel Roca, Joan Herrera, Artur Mas, José Montilla, Josep-Lluís Carod and David Fernàndez.

Following this link you can check the commemorative text by Agustí Colomines, a tribute video and the recording of the event [content in Catalan].

II Josep Termes Seminar

Memory and Politics

On 11th October 2013 has been held in La Fatarella the II Josep Termes Seminar, this year entitled Memory and Politics.

The event has been organized by La Fatarella Council and Josep Termes Chair, with the support of entities such as Centre d’Estudis de la Ribera d’Ebre (CERE), COMEBE, Òmnium de les Terres de l’Ebre and Institut d’Estudis Ilerdencs.

The speakers have been Mr. Jesús Ruana, Dr. David Tormo, Mr. Xavier Garcia Pujades, Mr. Francesc-Marc Álvaro and Dr. Agustí Colomines, academic director of the Chair.

It have been emphasized the contradictions emerged from ‘historical memory’ idea which is often understood in a really reductionist way. In the Catalan case, by instance, it is limited to the Spanish Civil War period. It has also been highlighted how important is who creates the historical memory, who pays it and which period is covered. In other words, it has been stated that frequently the historical memory is created in a biased way by political parties, re-reading the past according to present interests. One of the speakers has even denied the existence of a real collective memory. From this point of view, the attempts to legislate collective memory are a political atrocity. However, the same speaker considers necessary to boost the critical knowledge of history.       

In conclusion, has been stressed the idea that in Catalonia the political parties try to legislate the historical memory as a result of an ideological battle and, because of this, the collective memory has been reduced to a biased argument.