RESPOSTA A THE ECONOMIST

Resposta del col·lectiu Emma (intel·lectuals catalans) a la portada de The Economist que tenia per titular "Tauromàqua a Catalunya, la terra de les prohibicions"

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.

Signed

Víctor Alexandre, Writer and journalist
Iñaki Anasagasti, Member of the Spanish Senate
Helena Buffery, Lecturer at Birmingham and Cork Universities
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, Professor of Politics, Queen Mary (University of 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