''Let Catalans Vote'' (in

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

: ''Deixin votar els catalans'') is an international support manifesto to the Catalan independence referendum. The manifesto points out that the best way to solve legitimate internal disputes is to employ the tools of

democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which people, the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation ("direct democracy"), or to choo ...

and calls on the

Spanish Government gl, Goberno de España eu, Espainiako Gobernua , image = , caption = Logo of the Government of Spain , headerstyle = background-color: #efefef , label1 = Role , data1 = Executive power , label2 = Established , da ...

and its institutions, and their Catalan counterparts, to work together to allow the citizens of Catalonia to vote on their political future and then negotiate in good faith based on the result. The manifesto declares that the fact to prevent the Catalans from voting seems to contradict the principles that inspire democratic societies. The manifesto has been signed by several personalities of international relevance, which include the following five

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

winners: Rigoberta Menchú, Desmond Tutu, Adolfo Pérez Esquivel,

Dario Fo Dario Luigi Angelo Fo (; 24 March 1926 – 13 October 2016) was an Italian playwright, actor, theatre director, stage designer, songwriter, political campaigner for the Italian left wing and the recipient of the 1997 Nobel Prize in Literature. ...

and

Jody Williams Jody Williams (born October 9, 1950) is an American political activist known for her work in banning anti-personnel landmines, her defense of human rights (especially those of women), and her efforts to promote new understandings of security i ...

Signers

The signers of the manifesto come from different professional and labour fields. In the field of art and culture:

Joan Baez Joan Chandos Baez (; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing more ...

, Mārtiņš Brauns,

Andrea Camilleri Andrea Calogero Camilleri (; 6 September 1925 – 17 July 2019) was an Italian writer. Biography Originally from Porto Empedocle, Girgenti, Sicily, Camilleri began university studies in the Faculty of Literature at the University of Palermo, ...

, Peter Gabriel,

Saúl Hernández Saúl Alfonso Hernández Estrada (born January 15, 1964), is a Mexican musician, writer, poet, songwriter and the lead singer of Jaguares and Caifanes, two prominent Mexican rock en español bands. Biography Saúl Hernández was born in t ...

Ken Loach Kenneth Charles Loach (born 17 June 1936) is a British film director and screenwriter. His socially critical directing style and socialist ideals are evident in his film treatment of social issues such as poverty ('' Poor Cow'', 1967), homelessn ...

, António Lobo Antunes, Hélder Mateus da Costa,

Viggo Mortensen Viggo Peter Mortensen Jr. R (; born October 20, 1958) is an American actor, writer, director, producer, musician, and multimedia artist. Born and raised in the State of New York to a Danish father and American mother, he also lived in Argent ...

, Yoko Ono Lennon,

Silvio Rodríguez Silvio Rodríguez Domínguez (born 29 November 1946) is a Cuban musician, and leader of the Nueva Trova movement. He is widely considered Cuba's best folk singer and arguably one of Latin America's greatest singer-songwriters. Known for his in ...

Peter Sís Peter Sís (born Petr Sís; May 11, 1949) is a Czech-born American illustrator and writer of children's books. As a cartoonist his editorial illustrations have appeared in ''Time'', ''Newsweek'', ''Esquire'', and ''The Atlantic Monthly''. For his ...

Colm Tóibín Colm Tóibín (, approximately ; born 30 May 1955) is an Irish novelist, short story writer, essayist, journalist, critic, playwright and poet. His first novel, '' The South'', was published in 1990. '' The Blackwater Lightship'' was shortlis ...

Pēteris Vasks Pēteris Vasks (born 16 April 1946) is a Latvian composer. Biography Vasks was born in Aizpute, Latvia, into the family of a Baptist pastor. He trained as a violinist at the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music, as a double-bass player wi ...

Irvine Welsh Irvine Welsh (born 27 September 1958) is a Scottish novelist, playwright and short story writer. His 1993 novel '' Trainspotting'' was made into a film of the same name. He has also written plays and screenplays, and directed several short fil ...

and

Tsering Woeser Tsering Woeser (also written Öser; ; , Han name Chéng Wénsà 程文萨; born 1966) is a Tibetan writer, activist, blogger, poet and essayist. Biography Woeser, a quarter Han Chinese and three quarters Tibetan, was born in Lhasa. Her grandfath ...

. In the academic and university field:

Zygmunt Bauman Zygmunt Bauman (; 19 November 1925 – 9 January 2017) was a Polish sociologist and philosopher. He was driven out of the Polish People's Republic during the 1968 Polish political crisis and forced to give up his Polish citizenship. He emigrat ...

Harold Bloom Harold Bloom (July 11, 1930 – October 14, 2019) was an American literary critic and the Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. In 2017, Bloom was described as "probably the most famous literary critic in the English-speaking worl ...

Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American public intellectual: a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky i ...

Angela Davis Angela Yvonne Davis (born January 26, 1944) is an American political activist, philosopher, academic, scholar, and author. She is a professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz. A feminist and a Marxist, Davis was a longtime member of ...

, Susan George, Costas Lapavitsas, Adolfo Pérez Esquivel,

Paul Preston Sir Paul Preston CBE (born 21 July 1946) is an English historian and Hispanist, biographer of Francisco Franco, and specialist in Spanish history, in particular the Spanish Civil War, which he has studied for more than 30 years. He is the win ...

Saskia Sassen Saskia Sassen (born January 5, 1947) is a Dutch-American sociologist noted for her analyses of globalization and international human migration. She is Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology at Columbia University in New York City, and Centennial ...

Richard Sennett Richard Sennett (born 1 January 1943) is the Centennial Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics and former University Professor of the Humanities at New York University. He is currently a Senior Fellow of the Center on Capitalis ...

and

Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht Hans Ulrich "Sepp" Gumbrecht (born 15 June 1948) is a literary theorist whose work spans philology, philosophy, semiotics, literary and cultural history, and epistemologies of the everyday. As of June 14, 2018, he is Albert Guérard Professor E ...

. In the field of civil and institutional policy:

Gerry Adams Gerard Adams ( ga, Gearóid Mac Ádhaimh; born 6 October 1948) is an Irish republican politician who was the president of Sinn Féin between 13 November 1983 and 10 February 2018, and served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for Louth from 2011 to 2020. ...

Tariq Ali Tariq Ali (; born 21 October 1943) is a Pakistani-British political activist, writer, journalist, historian, filmmaker, and public intellectual. He is a member of the editorial committee of the ''New Left Review'' and ''Sin Permiso'', and con ...

José Bové Joseph "José" Bové (born 11 June 1953) is a French farmer, politician and syndicalist, member of the alter-globalization movement, and spokesman for Via Campesina. He was one of the twelve official candidates in the 2007 French presidential elec ...

Piedad Córdoba Piedad Esneda Córdoba Ruiz (born 25 January 1955) is a Colombian lawyer and politician who served as Senator of Colombia from 1994 to 2010. A Liberal Party politician, she also served as Member of the Chamber of Representatives of Colombia for ...

Heiner Flassbeck Heiner Flassbeck (born 12 December 1950) is a German economist and public intellectual. From 1998 to 1999 he was a State Secretary in the German Federal Ministry of Finance (german: Bundesministerium der Finanzen) where he also advised former f ...

, Ahmed Galai, Peter Jambreck, Hu Jia, Wuer Kaixi, Ronald Kasrils, Rigoberta Menchú, Ambler Moss, José Shulman,

and Jason Y. Ng. In the field of sport:

Eric Cantona Eric Daniel Pierre Cantona (; ; born 24 May 1966) is a French actor, director, producer, and former professional footballer. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of his generation, Cantona is credited as having made Manchester United a d ...

Johan Cruyff Hendrik Johannes Cruijff (, internationally known as Johan Cruyff; 25 April 1947 – 24 March 2016) was a Dutch professional football player and manager. As a player, he won the Ballon d'Or three times, in 1971, 1973 and 1974. Cruyff was a ...

and Hristo Stoichkov. Also signed by:

Ignacio Ramonet Ignacio Ramonet Miguez (born 5 May 1943) is a Spanish academic, journalist and writer who has been based in Paris for much of his career. After becoming first known for writing on film and media, he became editor-in-chief of ''Le Monde diplomatiq ...

Bill Shipsey Bill Shipsey (born 22 June 1958) is a human rights activist, barrister (retired), artist event promoter, producer and consultant. He is the founder of Art for Amnesty, Amnesty International's global artist engagement programme, and the co-founder ...

, Bořek Šípek and Desmond Tutu.

References

External links

Let Catalans Vote
{{Catalan nationalism Politics of Catalonia Political manifestos July 2017 events in Spain 2017 in Catalonia 2017 documents