The Latin American boom was born in Barcelona and, based on this premise, Minister Miquel Iceta has stated: "I would like Madrid not to be the only bridge to Latin America." And he has added that at no time should it be to the detriment of the Catalan language, for which he has called for "a fierce defense".
These statements have been produced in the context of the issues that he has addressed this morning on the cultural co-capital of Madrid and Barcelona, in the Barcelona Tribuna forum, where the Minister of Culture and Sports has delivered a conference and has answered the questions conveyed by Miquel Molina, deputy director of La Vanguardia.
Organized by the Societat Econòmica Barcelonesa d'Amics del País, with the collaboration of the Spanish Association of Directors (AED) and La Vanguardia, Miquel Roca has acted as master of ceremonies and has joked about the fact that, to intervene in this forum, you had to be called Miquel.
"Iceta knows and loves Catalonia", he declared, before a large audience that included former President José Montilla; the president of the Barcelona Provincial Council and mayoress of l'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Núria Marín; the president of the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Salvador Alemany; the president of Agbar, Ángel Simón; the politicians Salvador Illa and Jaume Collboni, and numerous representatives of Barcelona's civil, economic and cultural society.
Iceta has not shied away from any question, and in some cases he has even expressed himself openly, acknowledging that he would be scolded for having said according to what. For example, when Molina asked him for the name of the future public library of the State, in the França station. The minister has recognized himself as an admirer of Salvador Espriu, he has also declared that there are many writers who could give him a name, and finally he has stated that in Barcelona there is no facility that reminds us of the politician Jordi Solé Tura. "I'll leave it here, because I'll get into trouble," he said, after acknowledging that the name will be proposed by the Generalitat and it will be agreed.
The minister has been very critical of victimhood: “My most important political enemy is not a person, it is victimhood. Not going well". And he has remarked: “Without everyone's help and coordination and burden sharing, we will not advance far enough. We are missing the Mare de Déu de l'Empenta, and I entrust myself to her”. And he still had time to joke about the cultural situation in Barcelona: "I didn't know it would be easier for Bagdad to survive than Arnau."
Asked about artificial intelligence, Iceta has been against stopping technological advances, but has clarified: “Citizens have the right to know if something has been done by a machine or a person. It is a fundamental issue, which leads us to copyright. We will have to have a good diagnosis, what rights will we have. You have to know who has done it, in the same way that we have to know if an image is virtual reality or is directly false”. And he has concluded: “Technology opens up immense possibilities for us. We have never advanced on the basis of stopping progress, but if it is progress without a soul, it must be prevented or corrected.
“I am from Barcelona and my passion colors any comparison, but Madrid has an enviable cultural and economic drive. We have to take advantage of the ticket”, he expressed when asked about the joint capital. “There are many works from the Prado Museum scattered throughout Spain, and that is not known. So now they have made a program. If we want work from the Prado in Barcelona, it's about wanting it. We have sometimes been a bit surly, ”he said, referring to the Catalans.
Iceta celebrated the incorporation of Manuel Borja-Villel to the MNAC board of trustees. “Are we risking it only in large equipment or are we risking it in areas of culture or in collaboration between artists and managers?” He asked himself. “We have to think about it without ideological prejudice, for the good of the citizenry. The pitas pitas have prevailed more than the big projects”.
Iceta boasted of the 20 million that Barcelona has received each year in the last three years as co-capital, and Molina recalled that the ten years that the co-capital had been stopped are 200 million that the city has lost. "You have to maintain the claim and see the opportunity, as they have done in A Corunya with Picasso," replied the minister.
Molina stated that it would be logical that, although a personal file has been given to the State, this material could be deposited in Barcelona, in a place like the future library. “If we have to recover momentum, we also have to recover meaning and that everything connects and adds up. The first thing is to love it." And he concluded: "Cooperation between institutions is greater than you think and less than it should be."
