The delivery ceremony of the Creus de Sant Jordi 2023 has called for hope to overcome the "fragility" of democracy with the rise of extreme right formations in the State. One of the winners, the former president of Òmnium Jordi Cuixart, has acknowledged that the public has reasons to be "annoyed" but that they cannot afford to be "hopeless". The singer Gerard Quintana has claimed culture, knowledge and science as "tools to achieve the impossible". He has also referred to the political situation in the Valencian Country and the Balearic Islands and has lamented that languages are perceived as "enemies" when in reality they are "wealth". Vicki Bernadet has called for speed in the protection of children.
The president of the foundation focused on combating sexual abuse of minors committed in the family environment, has called on the public powers and citizens to "put fear aside" and "assume the responsibility that falls to us as adults and society and protect our childhood".
During the ceremony at the Teatro Juventud de l'Hospitalet de Llobregat, apart from Bernadet and Quintana who spoke on behalf of the winners, Cuixart also spoke as representative of the winners.
After saying that the Creus de Sant Jordi help to reconcile with the "beauty of humanity", he has warned that democracy "is always in danger".
The former president of Òmnium has dedicated his Creu de Sant Jordi to the former president of the Generalitat Carles Puigdemont and to the general secretary of ERC, Marta Rovira. “And to all the people who suffer repression, exile and oppression to defend freedom of expression. Like Pablo Hasel”, added Cuixart.
“Fighting for Human Rights and the freedom of the Catalan Countries is also doing it for all the peoples of the world”, he pointed out. "I ask you to persist, that each one from where you think it can be useful and that we do not lose hope," Cuixart concluded.
The Minister of Culture, Natàlia Garriga, opened the event by recalling that the people awarded the Creu de Sant Jordi 2023 "are examples" of entities and people who need to be admired and listened to in order to understand current times. "You make our society great through generosity, knowledge and respect", she celebrated.
Finally, the President of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, closed the awards ceremony with a speech in which he claimed Catalonia as a "civic nation that strives for rights and freedoms". That today more than ever wants to defend and share in Catalan. We clearly express that we have our doors open to everyone from anywhere on the planet who wants to make the country their home. We want to share the language and culture with everyone, from the first day they participate in society, ”he said.
In this sense, Aragonès has said that the country will continue to build a land of freedom and that Catalonia is and will be a land of freedom”. “Especially at a time like the present where we see that many of the rights and freedoms that we have achieved are being questioned all over the planet. Today more than ever we have to defend individual and collective rights ”, he recounted. "Given the threat and the situation that the planet and Catalonia are experiencing, we have to continue weaving citizenship and a shared nation," he concluded.
Aragonès has affirmed that the award-winning dreams are “references” in Catalan collective life and has wanted to recognize those people and groups that have helped Catalonia to “be who it is”. “It is the day to recognize the citizenship that has helped us to be who we are. That Catalonia wants to remain a land of freedom, in a country that beats," said the head of the Government.
The delivery ceremony of the Creus de Sant Jordi has had a performance by the Municipal School of Music Center of the Arts (EMMCA) of l'Hospitalet, a brief appearance by Tortell Poltrona and the music of the singer Alfred García who has interpreted the song 'Any night the sun can come out' by Jaume Sisa and 'El loco de la ciudad' by Sopa de Cabra, two award-winning groups. The presentation of the act has been in charge of Fàtima Ahmed and Sol Picó, Creus de Sant Jordi 2022 and 2020.
The filmmaker Agustí Villaronga -posthumously-, the Sónar festival, the Cena de Cabra group, the social activist Vicki Bernadet, the painter and sculptor Antoni Miró, the actress Julieta Serrano, the activist and former president of Òmnium Cultural Jordi Cuixart, the musician Jaume Sisa, the lawyer and writer Antoni Gelonch and the painter Joan-Pere Viladecans are some of the twenty personalities and ten entities that have been awarded the Cross of Sant Jordi 2023.
The Creu de Sant Jordi is one of the highest recognitions granted by the Generalitat. It was created in 1981 with the purpose of distinguishing natural or legal persons who, due to their merits, have provided outstanding services in Catalonia in defense of identity or in the civic and cultural plan.
The choice of personalities has wanted to respect, as in recent editions, gender parity. In addition, the selection of award-winning people also reflects the diversity of fields in which the people and entities distinguished with the creus work, as well as the territorial representation.
