I had prepared a post with some good news about the arts this week – I felt that we all need a drop of optimism. But oddly enough, it is politics that puts a smile on my face today. The facts are quite simple: the majority party, centre-right Convergència i Unió (winner of the last general election with 50 seats out of 135), and the leading opposition party, centre-left Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (21 seats), have reached an agreement. They will, one, make the winner rule over these difficult times; and two, work together to give the people a say about its independence, in a referendum to be held between 2014 and 2016. Since the Spanish central government in Madrid is not that happy with the idea, we are facing one of these calm revolutions we saw in Europe after 1989. So clear, so great, so difficult to achieve. Today is a day of celebration, so next week I shall return to art business as usual.
Picture: The Parliament of King James I (1208-1276), as illustrated in an incunabulum copy of the Constitutions, and other rights of Catalonia, published in 1495 (Arxiu de la Corona d’Aragó, Barcelona).
