READ: 150 academics sign open letter criticising repression of rights in Spain

“We affirm our commitment to democratic principles and practice. We accept our responsibility to safeguard democracy, and promote a democratic culture, by supporting and advancing within higher education, as well as society at large, the principles of:

• Democratic and accountable structures, processes and practice

• Active democratic citizenship

• Human rights, mutual respect and social justice

• Environmental and societal sustainability

• Dialogue and the peaceful resolution of conflicts, ”

We, the academic community, consider that the constant violation of civil rights in Catalonia is threatening the foundations of democracy in this country. The signs of democratic involution ― such as the violence exerted on October 1 against people waiting to vote ― are becoming increasingly evident. Successive acts by Spain’s judiciary and government, such as the imprisonment and prosecution of social activists and members of the democratically elected Catalan Government and Parliament, have thrown into crisis the separation of powers, which is one of the pillars on which the rule of law is based.

Democracy is based on the recognition and defence of inalienable basic rights, including the right to dissent publicly. Judicialization of politics, violence and repression have been the response from the Spanish State to the demands of the Catalan people, instead of the dialogue necessary for any negotiation. We have thus witnessed a number of acts perpetrated by the Spanish institutional powers that do not befit the rule of law of a democratic State and are in breach of fundamental principles of international law.

Given the seriousness of this situation, silence on the part of the academic community is not an option. For these reasons, we declare that:

• Recovery of legal security is indispensable, and it is unacceptable that decisions of public authorities be arbitrary.

• It is essential that the fundamental rights of expression, assembly, demonstration and political participation be respected.

• Safeguarding rights and liberties is possible only by recovering democratic practices and solving political problems politically.

SIGNATURES:

Víctor Acedo-Matellán, University of Oxford, UK

Samuel Adams, University of Southern California, USA

Julia Aguade Gorgorio, UCLA, USA

Aamer Anwar, University of Glasgow, Scotland

Albert Arnavat,  Universidad Técnica Del Norte, Ecuador

Iker Arranz, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA

Marc Audi, Université Bordeaux Montaigne, France

Laia Bassaganyas, University of Cambridge, UK

Guillem Belmar Viernes         Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Netherlands

Josep Blanes Sala, Universidade Federal Do Abc - Ufabc    Brazil

Alberto Blasi, Samaritan Medical Center, USA

Silvana Bocanegra, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco      Brazil

Carles Boix, Princeton University, USA

Marcello Bonfe, Università di Ferrara, Italy

Michel Bourret GuastevÍ, Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3, France

Lucien Brown, Monash University, Australia

Grazia Busa, University of Padova, Italy

Martin Bustos, Universidad Nacional de Cordoba, Argentina

Francesc C. Conesa, University of Cambridge, UK

Carme Calderer, University of Minnesota, USA

Antoni Camprubí, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico

Jack Capener, University of Edinburgh, Scotland

Adrià Carbonell, Kth Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden

Albert Cardona, University of Cambridge, UK

Xavier Cassanyes, Max Planck Institut, Germany

Jordi Chanovas, Suny Downstate Medical Center, USA

Daniel Chomsky, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, USA

Núria Cid Puey, IRSTEA, France

Adriano Cirullo, La Sapienza, Italy

Monica            Clua Losada, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, USA

Marc Creus, University of Basel, Switzerland

Mercè Crosas, Harvard University, USA

Joaquim Cruz Corella, Université de Lausanne, Switzerland

Carlos  d'Abreu Machado, Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal

Noèlia Dana Farber Cancer Institute Harvard Medical School, USA

Javier del Campo, University of Miami, USA

David d'Enterria i Adan, CERN, Switzerland

Beniamino di Martino, Università della Campania “luigi Vanvitelli”, Italy

Anna Di Ronco, University of Essex, UK

Pietro U Dini, Università Di Pisa. Italy

Maria Domene-Danés, Indiana University, Bloomington, USA

Marc Domingo Gygax, Princeton University, USA

Mats Ehinger, Lund University, Sweden

Anna Ehinger, Lund University, Sweden

Marc Esteve, University College London, UK

Marcel A. Farinelli, Università di Corsica Pasquale Paoli, France

Sharon Feldman, University of Richmond, USA

Federico Fenaroli, University of Oslo, Norway

Moisès Fernández Via, Boston University, USA

Gennaro Ferraiuolo, Napoli Federico II, Italy

Daniel Figols-Cuevas, King’s College London, UK

Kate Fitch, Monash University, Australia

Kirsten Fleming           Edinburgh Napier University, Scotland

Luigi Foffani, Università di Modena E Reggio Emilia, Italy

Joan Freixanet, University of Saint Petersburg, Russia

Mauri Furlan, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Brazil

Elena Gajum Sorbonne, France

Gerard Gatell Fernandez, Schiller University, USA

Mailys Gauthier, IRSTEA, France

Margherita Gavagnin, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche CNR-ICB, Italy

David Gimeno Ruiz de Porras, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, USA

Anna Ginesti Rosell, Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Germany

Gonzalo Giribet, Harvard University, USA

Alba Girons, University of Chicago, USA

Lancioni Giuliano, Roma Tre University, Italy

Phillip J           Glenn, Emerson College, USA

Michael Golombok, TU Eindhoven, Netherlands

Aditya Goyal, Chitkara University, India

Ted Grantham, University of California at Berkeley, USA

Monica            Guillen-Royo, University Of Oslo, Norway

Jose Herskovits, UFRJ, Brazil

Julia Hirschberg, Columbia University, USA

Miquel Huix Rotllant,Aix-Marseille University, France

Scott Hurrell, University Of Glasgow, Scotland

Edgar Illas, Indiana University, USA

Pia Jardí, Universität Wien, Austria

Mireia Jofre-Bonet, City, University of London, UK

Georg Kremnitz          Viena, Austria

Jake Langham, University of Bristol, UK

Tom Leinster, University of Edinburgh, Scotland

Joseph Mandava, University of Stirling, UK

Marc Martinez Llordella, King’s Colloge London    UK

Gerard Masllorens Fuentes, Eth Zürich, Switzerland

Shaudin Melgar-Foraster, Glendon College, York University, Canada

Raymond Miralbell, University of Geneva,  Switzerland

Frederic Monier, Avignon Université, France

Marc Mora Hortal, King's College London, UK

Perry Moriearty, University Of Minnesota Law School, USA

Sampath Mukherjee, University Of Groningen, Netherlands

Calum Neill, Edinburgh Napier University, Scotland

Martin Neuhaus, Technische Universität Braunschweig       Germany

Geraldine Nichols, Univ. Of Florida, USA

Marty Nicolas, Université de Perpignan, France

Miquel Nicolau i Vila, Universitat d'Andorra, Andorra

Alexandre Nobajas I Ganau, Keele University, UK

Vítor Oliveira Jorge, Portugal, Portugal

Veronica Orazi            University of Turin, Italy

Sonia Oreffice University of Exeter, UK

Laura Orellana            Stockholm University, Sweden

Jordi París-López, University of Graz, Austria

David Pesetsky, Massachusetts Institute of Technology        USA

Mikel Petri, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA

Marta Poblet, Rmit University, Australia

Clara Ponsati, University of St Andrews, Scotland

Cristel Portes, Aix-Marseille Université, France

Maria Grossmann, University of l'Aquila, Italy

Mireia Pujol, University of Oulu, Finland

Nuria Querol, IHAC Denver University, USA

Climent Quintana-Domeque, University of Exeter, UK

Beatriz Quintos           University of Maryland          Mexico

Luz Rangel, Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico

Dan Rebellato, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK

Gabriel Rei-Doval, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA

Vincenzo Reina Li Crapi, Università Pasquale Paoli, Italy

Dolores Resano, University College Dublin, Ireland

Roger Revilla-i-Domingo, University of Vienna, Austria

Ignasi Ribó, Mae Fah Luang University, Thailand

Patrizio Rigobon, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia     Italy

Francisco Rojas Sateler, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Chile

Xavier Rubio-Campillo, University of Edinburgh, Scotland

Daniel Jose Salas Alvarez, Universidad de Córdoba, Colombia

Roberto Sani, University of Macerata, Italy

Mario Santana, University of Chicago, USA

Axel Schönberger, Universität Bremen. Germany

Thomas G. Schulze, Lmu Munich, Germany

Walter Seiler Zürich University of Applied Sciences, Switzerland

Rossella Selmini, University of Minnesota, USA

Mário Semião, Dalarna University, Sweden

Cátia Severino, Universidade de Lisboa,        Portugal

Pedro Silva, University of Porto,        Portugal

Heather Smith, University of Dundee, Scotland

Liliana Smith, University of Brighton, UK

Andre Castro Soares, Iscte-Iul/Cria,  Portugal

Joan Soler-Adillon, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK

Leonardo Soncini, Universi Degli Studi di Parma, Italy

Alessio Sozzi, Università Degli Studi di Ferrara, Italy

Shari r Speer, Linguistics Department, Ohio State University, USA

Marcin Stan, Queen’s University at Kingston, Canada

Mark Stephenson, University of Dundee, Scotland

Enric Stern Taulats, University of Cambridge, UK

Andrew           Street, London School of Economics, UK

Kristina           Strother-Garcia           University of Delaware           USA

José Guilherme Teixeira Machado, Universidade dos Açores, Portugal

Núria Tió, University of California at Berkeley, USA

Michael Tonry, University of Minnesota, USA

Alejandro Torres, ITESM, Mexico

Miquel Torres Oliver, SCK-CEN, Belgium

Luis Felipe Urquiza Aguiar, Escuela Politécnica Nacional   Ecuador

Jakob Utgård, Kristiania University College, Norway

Claudia            Vargas, Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Chile

Hugo Viladevall          Mcgill University, Canada

John Paul Vilaplana Cannon, NNUH, UK

Rafael Villarreal, Cinvestav-IPN,  Mexico

Alfons  Vinent, UCL, British International School Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia

David Whyte, University Of Liverpool, UK