The president of the Government of Catalonia, Quim Torra, received Nobel Peace laureate Jody Williams today at the Palau de la Generalitat and thanked her for “standing by those who defend the right to have rights – Catalonia’s right to self-determination as an absolutely democratic solution in the 21st century”.

 

In a joint appearance in the Sala de Torres Garcia, Torra said: “Our rights are being violated: individual rights  – rights to opinion, freedom of expression, the freedom to demonstrate and protest – but also collective national rights; namely, the right to self-determination”.

 

Jody Williams said her visit to Catalonia had been “interesting” because “I’ve been able to see with my own eyes a trial that is not a trial and ‘justice’ that is not justice.” The Nobel Prize laureate said the Spanish state made a “big mistake” when it tried to stop Catalans from voting in the 1 October referendum and questioned why the Spanish government had been unwilling to take the kind of approach seen in Scotland and Quebec. “I’m ready to help, because if they’re oppressing the human rights of Catalans, they’re oppressing me too,” she said.