Referendum in Catalonia, not War

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• Supports
•                                                           ADHERE

Not so long ago the international public was being led to interpret the current Catalan conflict as a nationalist one connected to the most disastrous past in the history of twentieth-century Europe. The ghosts of past wars blurred the vision as to what was really at stake. The events of these last days have begun to dismantle this interpretative framework. They urge us to revise the dominant superficial interpretation which may have caused the troubling reticence of much of the international public to consider this case nothing more than a localized, domestic affair. What has become clear in the past few days, irrespective of the positions for or against the independence of Catalonia, is the tension between the authoritarian inertia of a certain understanding of state power, on the one hand and on the other – the existence of precarious but determined attempts to build political strategies oriented towards the normative horizon of our democracies.

Over the last years, the majority of Catalan society (60% according to the last 2015 elections; roughly 80% according to official surveys) has repeatedly expressed the will to decide democratically its own political status. Faced with this demand, the Spanish state, which can by no means be seen as either embodying or expressing the diverse sensibilities and political aspirations of Spanish society as a whole, has systemically neglected its political obligations.

1. The Spanish state has rejected all attempts at negotiations for holding a legal and mutually agreed upon referendum on self-determination, thus denying the depth of the conflict in Catalonia. Moreover, the same state now condemns this referendum for not being reliable or legally binding, but they have consistently opposed the possibility of providing the legal framework to make it so.

2. Despite the parliamentary impossibility of legally declaring a state of exception, as outlined in the Spanish Constitution of 1978, the Spanish executive power has undermined the rule of law by applying de facto measures fully consistent with a state of exception in order to prevent the October 1 referendum convened by the Parliament of Catalonia. This has effectively turned the Spanish state into what some contemporary thinkers have labelled a rogue or authoritarian state:

• The right of assembly and demonstration has been limited both in Catalonia and in Spain and civil organizations are prosecuted for sedition.
• Public officials and senior elected officials have been arrested for coordinating the logistics of the referendum.
• More than 700 mayors, out of 948 in total, have been summoned to trial that can result in their disqualification for the exercise of public office.
• The media have been registered by the police to limit the right to a free press whereas journalists and intellectuals are threatened by the Spanish state for having informed the public about the referendum.
• Parliamentary political parties such as the CUP (Popular Unity Candidacy) are under police surveillance.
• Voting materials (ballots, electoral information, etc.) have been confiscated and premises of private companies have been searched without judicial order.
• Public access to websites related to the referendum is censored.
• Freedom of political opinion and communication has been violated systematically and gravely.

The overcoming of the rule of law by the state power contradicts the founding principles of a democratic constitutional European state, which is the outcome of two processes: first, the fulfillment of the democratic aspirations of modern European societies and second, ending arbitrary state actions.

For all these reasons, we call on our fellow citizens in other countries to condemn the authoritarian logic and actions that are being mobilized in Catalonia at this moment. In particular, we urge our European neighbors to speak up in favor of holding a referendum in Catalonia to be both a concrete instrument to overcome the authoritarian logic that has so often destroyed the lives of modern political societies and, from a European perspective, a way to move towards a post-national political culture in which conflicts of this sort can be decided through non-violent procedures. 

Supports

1	Abat Ninet	Antoni	Law	University of Copenhagen	Denmark
2	Alberio	Marco	Sociologist	Université du Québec	Québec
3	Amoroso	Daniele	International Law	Università degli Studi di Cagliari	Italy
4	Bacci	Claudia	Sociologist	Universidad de Buenos Aires	Argentina
5	Balibar	Étienne	Philosopher	Université Paris-Ouest-Nanterre-La-Défense	France
6	Balibrea	Mari	Cultural and Language Studies	University of London	UK
7	Bégout	Bruce	Philosopher	Université Bordeaux III	France
8	Bekeris	Eugenia	Artist		Argentina
9	Belo	Fernando	Philosopher	Faculdade de Letras de Lisboa	Portugal
10	Benarroch	Jerôme	Poet & Photographer	Institut Universitaire Elie Wiesel	France
11	Benhabib	Seyla	Philosopher	Yale University	US
12	Bermúdez	Silvia	Iberian Studies	University of California-Santa Barbara	US
13	Bertomeus	Sara	Architecture	University of Illinois	US
14	Bertran-Xirau	Lluís	Musicology	Université de Poitiers	France
15	Blokker	Paul	Sociology	Charles University Prague	Czech Republic
16	Blusseau	Anne-Laure	Editor and Translator	Le Collectif et associés	France
17	Bognar	Botond	Architecture	University of Illinois	US
18	Bollack	Emmanuelle	Artist		France
19	Bomheker	Mario	Filmmaker		Argentina
20	Bookchin	Natalie	Artist	Rutgers University	US
21	Bou	Enric	Cultural and Language Studies	Università Ca’ Foscari	Italy
22	Braunstein	Néstor	Psychoanalyst		Argentina
23	Brown	Wendy	Political Theorist	University of California Berkeley	US
24	Brubaker	Rogers	Sociologist	UCLA Los Angeles	US
25	Bullock	Robert	Writer		US
26	Bullot	Érik	Artist	ENSA Bourges	France
27	Cahloun	Craig	Sociologist	President of the Berggruen Institute	US
28	Cantinho	Maria	Philosopher	Universidade Clássica de Lisboa	Portugal
29	Capdevila	Carlos Rubén	Journalist		Argentina
30	Carbonell	Adrià		KTH Royal Institute of Technology	Sweden
31	Castan Pinos	Jaume	Political Science	University of Southern Denmark	Denmark
32	Castro	Algusto	Philosopher	Pontificia Universidad Católica del Peru	Peru
33	Cataldi	Pietro	Literature	Rettore dell’Università per Stranieri di Siena	Italy
34	Celikates	Robin	Philosopher	University of Amsterdam	Germany
35	Centeno	Yvette	Poet & Essayist		Portugal
36	Chaparro Amaya	Adolfo	Philosopher	Universidad del Rosario	Colombia
37	Ciriza	Alejandra	Historian	Universidad Nacional de Cuyo	Argentina
38	Colazzo	Salvatore	Pedagogy	Universitá de Salento	Italy
39	Correia	Adriano	Philosopher	Universidade Federal de Goiás	Brazil
40	Cortés	Alexis	Sociologist	Universidad Alberto Hurtado	Chile
41	de Sousa Santos	Boaventura	Social Sciences	Universidade de Coimbra	Portugal
42	Delanty	Gerard	Sociologist	Sussex University	UK
43	Delgado	Elena	Literary Theory	University of Illinois	US
44	della Porta	Donnatella	Sociology and Political Sciences	Scuola Normale Superiore Firenze	Italy
45	Di Tullio	Anabella	Philosopher	Universidad de Buenos Aires	Argentina
46	Diani	Mario	Sociologist	University of Trento	Italy
47	Dlamini	Jacob	Historian	Princeton	South Africa
48	Dominijanni	Ida	Journalist/Independent Scholar		Italy
49	Doughney	James	Economist	Victoria University	Australia
50	Elalouf	Clara	Filmmaker		France
51	Epps	Brad	Modern Languages	University of Cambridge	UK
52	Fassin	Eric	Political Theorist	Université Paris VIII	France
53	Faver	Hector	Filmmaker		Argentina
54	Fedi	Beatrice	Literature	Università degli Studi “G. d’Annunzio”	Italy
55	Feldman	Sharon	Iberian Studies	University of Richmond	US
56	Ferraiuolo​	Gennaro	Law	Università di Napoli Federico II	Italy
57	Ferroni	Matteo	Artist		Switzerland
58	Fischer	Hervé	Artist		Québec
59	Forcini	Marisa	Philosopher	Università del Salento	Italy
60	Fornari	Maria	Philosopher	Università del Salento	Italy
61	Forti	Simona	Philosopher	Università del Piemonte Orientale	Italy
62	Fraisse	Geneviève	Philosopher	directrice de recherche émérite CNRS	France
63	Friis Hau	Mark	European Studies	Aarhus University	Denmkark
64	Gabilondo	Joseba	Romance and Classical Studies	Michigan State University	US
65	Gagnon	Alain-G.	Political Theorist	Université du Québec	Québec
66	Gallant	Nicole	Sociology	INRS Centre Urbanisation Culture Société	France
67	Glick	Thomas	Historian	Boston University	US
68	Godmilow	Jill	Filmmaker		US
69	Gómez	Patricia	Gender and Feminist Studies	Universidad de Buenos Aires	Argentina
70	Gondicas	Myrto	Poet & Translator		France
71	Greenberg	Michael	Writer		US
72	Greenfeld	Liah	Sociology, Political Science, and Anthropology	Boston University	US
73	Gregoratto	Federica	Philosopher	University of St. Gallen	Switzerland
74	Grossman	Évelyne	Philosopher	Université Paris VII	France
75	Grueso	Delfín	Philosopher	Universidad del Valle	Colombia
76	Guaraldo	Olivia	Philosopher	Università di Verona	Italy
77	Handelman	Marc	Arts	Rutgers University	US
78	Hardt	Michael	Political Theorist	Duke University	US
79	Harrington	Thomas	Hispanic Studies	Trinity College Hartford	US
80	Haug	Wolfgang	Philosopher	Free University Berlin	Germany
81	Higginbottom	Andrew	Political Economist	Kingston University	UK
82	Howard	Dick	Philosopher	Stony Brook University	US
83	Hroch	Miroslav	Historian	Charles University Prague	Czech Republic
84	Hutchinson	John	Historian and Sociologist	London School of Economics	UK
85	Ichijo	Atsuko	Sociologist	Kingston University	Japan
86	Illas	Edgar	Critical Studies	Indiana University	US
87	Ivekovic	Rada	Philosopher	University Jean Monnet – St.Etienne	Croatia
88	Jerez Farran	Carlos Jerez	Romance Languages	University of Notre Dame	US
89	Joaquim	Teresa	Anthropologist & Sociologist	Universidade Aberta	Portugal
90	Jugnon	Alain	Philosopher	Lycée La Prat’s de Cluny	France
91	Kaufmann	Eric	Polical Theory	University of London	UK
92	Kellerer	Sidonie	Philosopher	Universität zu Köln	Germany
93	Keown	Dominic	Modern and Medieval Languages	University of Cambridge	UK
94	Khomyakov	Maxim	Philosopher	Ural Federal University	Russia
95	Krauel	Javier	Iberian Studies	University of Colorado Boulder	US
96	Lagomarsini	Claudio	Philology	Università di Siena	Italy
97	Laks	André	Hellenist	Universidad Panamericana	France
98	Lanutti	Maria	Musicology	Università di Pavia	Italy
99	Larios	Jordi	Modern Languages	University of St Andrews	Scotland
100	Larrea	Ana Maria	Philosopher	Faculdad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales	Ecuador
101	Laurenzi	Elena	Philosopher	Università de Salento	Italy
102	Lazzarato	Maurizio	Sociologist and Philosopher	Université Pantheon-Sorbonne	Italy
103	Lecis	Luca	Historian	University of Cagliari	Italy
104	Lefèvre	Sylvie	Literature	Université Paris-Sorbonne	France
105	Leibovici	Martine	Philosopher	Université Paris Diderot-Paris 7	France
106	Leonardi	Lino	Literature	Istituto CNR Opera del Vocabolario Italiano	Italy
107	Levi	Giovanni	Historian	Università Ca’ Foscari	Italy
108	Liakos	Antonis	Historian	University of Athens	Greece
109	Lunati	Montserrat	Modern Languages	University of St Andrews	Scotland
110	Malabou	Catherine	Philosopher	Kingston University	France
111	Mayer Foulkes	Benjamín	Psychoanalyst	Instituto de Estudios Criticos	Mexico
112	Menon	Dilip	Indian Studies	University of the Witwatersrand	South Africa
113	Mezzadra	Sandro	Political Theorist	Western Sidney University	Italy
114	Mills	Charles W.	Political Theorist	City University of New York	US
115	Miorelli	Romina	Latin American Studies	University of Westminster	UK
116	Mota	Aurea	Sociologist	FP/Clacso	Brazil
117	Mouzakitis	Angelos	Political Theorist	Crete University	Greece
118	Moverman	Oren	Filmmaker		US
119	Nassif	Jacques	Psychoanalyst		France
120	Nedimovic	Svjetlana	Philosopher	Mirovna Akademija	Bosnia
121	Negri	Antonio	Sociologist & Philosopher		Italy
122	Neyrat	Frédéric	Philosopher	University of Wisconsin-Madison	US
123	Nossiter	Jonathan	Filmmaker		US
124	Olviedo	Alvaro	Anthropologist	Universidad Javeriana	Colombia
125	Ossman	Sussan	Anthropologist	University of California Riverside	US
126	Oxley	Lisa	Arts	University of California	US
127	Oyarzun	Pablo	Philosopher	Universidad de Chile	Chile
128	Porcel	Beatriz	Philosopher	Universidad de Rosario	Argentina
129	Quintyn	Olivier	Philosopher		France
130	Rabinovich	Silvana	Philosopher	UNAM	Mexico
131	Ramon Resina	Joan	Iberian Studies	Stanford University	US
132	Reeves	Eoin	Economist	University of Limerick	Ireland
133	Rei-Doval	Gabriel	Iberian Studies	University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee	US
134	Rigobon	Patrizio	Literature	Università Ca’ Foscari	Italy
135	Rodriguez	Eunice	Health Studies	Stanford University	US
136	Romano-Sued	Susana	Essayist and Poet		Argentina
137	Ross	Duncan	Social Scientist	University of Glasgow	Scotland
138	Rueda	Eduardo	Social Scientist	Pontificia Universidad Javeriana	Colombia
139	Saetta Cottone	Rossella	Hellenist	CNRS – Univ. Paris-Sorbonne	Italy
140	Safatle	Vladimir	Philosopher	Universidade de São Paulo	Brazil
141	Sahlins	Peter	Historian	Berkeley University	US
142	Salles	Walter	Filmmaker		Brazil
143	Santana	Mario	Literature	University of Chicago	US
144	Santos	Gonçalo	Philosopher	Universidade de Lisboa	Portugal
145	Särkelä	Arvi	Philosopher	University of Luzern	Switzerland
146	Segré	Ivan	Philosopher		France
147	Silva	Manuel	Musicology	Universidade Nova de Lisboa	Portugal
148	Sirczuk	Matías	Philosopher	Universidad de Buenos Aires	Argentina
149	Smit	Tanja	Artist		Holland
150	Song	Rosi	Cultural and Language Studies	Bryn Mawr College	US
151	Stegmann	Tilbert	Literature	Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main	Germany
152	Stimilli	Elettra	Philosopher	Università di Roma La Sapienza	Italy
153	Strong	Tracy	Philosopher	UCSD Distinguished Professor	US
154	Szendy	Peter	Philosopher	Brown University	France
155	Szentpéteri	Márton	Intellectual historian	Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design	Hungary
156	Tejel	Jordi	Historian	University of Neuchâtel	Switzerland
157	Todd	Jennifer	Political Scientist	University College Dublin	Ireland
158	Traverso	Enzo	Historian	Cornell University	Italy
159	Ventura	Simone	Philology	King’s College London	Italy
160	Venza	Claudio	Historian	Università di Trieste	Italy
161	Vilarós-Soler	Teresa	Iberian Studies	Texas A&M University	US
162	Villaviciencio	Susana	Philosopher	Universidad de Buenos Aires	Argentina
163	Wilson	Roderick	History and Cultural Studies	University of Illinois	US
164	Wögerbauer	Werner	German Studies	Université de Nantes	France
165	Wolin	Richard	Historian & Political Philosopher	CUNY	US
166	Zamboni	Chiara	Philosopher	University of Verona	Italy
167	Zelik	Raul	Political Theorist	Universität Kassel	Germany
168	Zengotitabengoa	Beatriz	Art historian	University of Michigan	US
169	Zerilli	Linda	Political Theorist	University of Chicago	US
170	Zertal	Idith	Political Theorist	Université de Basel	Israel
171	Zinelli	Fabio	Literature	Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes	France
172	Zurn	Christopher	Philosopher	University of Massachusetts	US

1	Aiestaran	Ignazio	Philosopher	University of the Basque Country	Donostia-San Sebastián
2	Alberni	Anna	Literary Studies	Universitat de Barcelona
3	Armanini	Stefano	Photographer		Italy
4	Artigas	Jordi	Musician
5	Balcells	Gerard	Glass Artist
6	Berlinguer	Marco	Political Theorist	Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
7	Birulés	Fina	Philosophy	Universitat de Barcelona
8	Bohigas	Maria	Editor
9	Bussières	Sylvie	Visual Artist		Canada
10	Canal	Sandra	Journalist
11	Cantarella	Laura	Researcher and Photographer		Italy
12	Casale	Roger	Founder of New Europeans and former MP for Wimbledon		UK
13	Casas Prat	Mercè	Environmental sciences	Environment and Climate Change Canada
14	Casassas	David	Sociologist	Universitat de Barcelona
15	Dardik	Alejandro	Editor
16	Dean	Mary Jean	Artist		US
17	Diez	Filipe	Professor & Researcher	Ensino Médio na Galiza/Universidade do Minho	Portugal
18	Díez	Xavier	Historian	Universitat Ramon Llull
19	Dobau	Antón	Writer
20	Eguía Lis	Alejandro	Professor	Instituto Universitario Kukulcan	Mexico
21	Elias	Marina	Sociologist	Universitat de Barcelona
22	Errasti Lopez	Ander	Political Philosopher	Globernance: Institute of Democratic Governance	Donostia-San Sebastián
23	Feher	Michel	Philosopher	Zone Books / Cette France-là
24	Ferrer	Cristian	Historian	Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
25	Ferrés	Miquel	Musician and Translator
26	Flaquer	Lluís	Sociologist	Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
27	Foguet i Boreu	Francesc	Philosophy	Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
28	Font	Laura	Secondary History Teacher
29	Fontcuberta	Joan	Visual Artist
30	Fuster	Mayo	Activist & Social Researcher	Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
31	Fuster Peiró	À. Lorena	Philosophy	Universitat de Barcelona
32	Gallardo	Laurent	Iberian Studies	Université Grenoble Alpes	France
33	Garcés	Marina	Philosopher	Universidad de Zaragoza
34	García Nogueroles	Juan	High School Teacher	Generarlitat de Catalunya
35	Georgiev	Iliyan	Economist	University of Bologna	Italy
36	González	Juan Carlos	Philosopher	UAB UB UNED
37	Gonzàlez Collantes	Carla	Journalist
38	González Fernández	Helena	Galician and Portuguese Studies	Universitat de Barcelona
39	Guillamet	Francesc	Photographer
40	Guillumet	Jordi
41	Jané	Oscar	Historian	Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
42	Jiménez Torregrosa	Lorena	Pedagogy	Universitat de Barcelona
43	Jujol	Anabel	Arts
44	Kremser	Stefanie	Writer		Germany
45	Laín	Bru	Sociology	Universitat de Barcelona
46	Ledo Andión	Margarita	Writer and Journalist
47	Llum Vidal	Blanca	Poet
48	López	Miguel	Chief Curator	TEOR/éTica	Costa Rica
49	Madaula	Aurora	Historian	Universitat de Barcelona
50	Martí-Jufresa	Antoni	Musician and Translator
51	Martí-Jufresa	Felip	Philosophy	École Beaux Arts Toulouse
52	Marzo	Jorge	Art Historian	BAU College of Design
53	Masó	Joana	Critical Literary Studies	Universitat de Barcelona
54	Miras Boronat	Núria Sara	Philosopher	Universitat de Barcelona
55	Moncusí	Albert	Sociologist	Universitat de València
56	Muñoz	Jordi	Political Theorist	Universitat de Barcelona
57	Muñoz	Gustau	Editor	Universitat de Barcelona
58	Olmos	Vicent	Editor	Afers Editorial
59	Paez	Roger	Architect and Researcher
60	Paez	Eze	Philosopher	University of Minho / Pompeu Fabra University
61	Pagani	Samuela	Arab Language & Literature	Università del Salento	Italy
62	Palouzie
63	Paluzie	Elisenda	Economist	Universitat de Barcelona
64	Pigem	Jordi	Philosopher		Catalonia
65	Poch	Julia	Cultural Studies
66	Pons	Arnau	Translator & Poet
67	Portabella Clotet	David	Engineer	EPFL	Switzerland
68	Pujol	Enric	Historian	Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
69	Raventós	Daniel	Sociologist	Universitat de Barcelona
70	Recasens	Josefina	Sociologist	Universitat de Barcelona
71	Ribó	Ignasi	Semiotics & Literary Theory	Mae Fah Luang University
72	Rivas	Manuel	Writer and Journalist
73	Romero	Lourdes	Historian	UNAM	Mexico
74	Rosado	Pilar	Artist & Researcher	Universitat de Barcelona
75	Rosich	Gerard	Musician and Philosopher	Universitat de Barcelona
76	Roumier	Théo	Labour Unionist
77	Salaberria	Ibon	Architect	University of the Basque Country
78	Salellas Bosch	Alfons	Philosopher		Brasil
79	Sanjaume	Marc
80	Santana	Sandra	Philosopher	Universidad de Barcelona
81	Scandurra	Rosario	Political Science	Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
82	Segarra	Marta	Critical Literary Studies	CNRS
83	Serrano	Just	Political Theorist	Institute for Social Research
84	Silber	Stefan	Theologist		Germany
85	Smit	Tanja	Artist		Netherlands
86	Straehle	Edgar	Philosopher and Historian	Universitat de Barcelona
87	Taibo	Carlos	Political Theorist	Universidad Autònoma de Madrid	Spain
88	Torrent	Lola
89	Trzaskalik	Tim	Translator		Germany
90	Ulibarri	Sergio	Receptionist and Cashier	CMI
91	Vega	Cristian	Musician and Philosopher
92	Velasco	Alberto	Art Historian	Universitat de Lleida

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