In an interview with a Catalan public radio network, the Government of Catalonia’s Delegate in France, Martí Anglada, made a brief analysis regarding Wednesday’s attack on the Charlie Hebdo headquarters. “France has the largest Muslim community in Europe” stated Anglada, “in Great Britain there is a large Pakistani community and the same goes for Germany and the Turkish community, but the country with the largest Muslim community in Europe is France”. “If France” he continued “enters into a conflict with Syria - or Iraq, which it did alongside the United States –it puts itself on the frontline of this conflict” declared Anglada.

“What happened [on Wednesday] was not simply an attack, but an act of war” asserted Anglada. “They responded to French bombs being dropped on Syria and attacked one of the main pillars of French society: freedom of speech. They took on one of the most sensitive pillars of French society which is freedom of expression” he explained. Anglada, whom was appointed as Delegate to France and Switzerland in September, described the conflict as “a meticulous war” and “because of this, they struck against freedom of speech and committed monstrosity”. The Catalan delegate also made reference to the front page in yesterday’s “Le Monde” newspaper as it published the title “Le 11-septembre français” or  “The French September 11^th”, affirming that it was “precisely that [the French September 11^th]; in New York, the attack was on the Twin Towers, the symbols of power in the United States, in France, the symbol was Charlie Hebdo”.  

Martí Anglada gradutated from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) obtaining a degree in Journalism and Law. In 1977, he began working as Middle East correspondent for the Barcelona-based newspaper La Vanguardia. He covered the Lebanon civil war from Beirut, and was stationed in both Cairo and Baghdad.

 

Mr. Anglada later became La Vanguardia‘s correspondent in Italy and the Vatican City and eventually left the newspaper in 1983 after several years as correspondent in the United Kingdom.

 

In 1984, Anglada started working for the Catalan Radio and Television Corporation (Televisió de Catalunya or TVC) as correspondent in Madrid. He was also its correspondent in Washington, D.C. during the final years of the Reagan Administration and the beginning of George H.W. Bush’s presidency (1987-1990). Finally, Mr. Anglada concluded his work with TVC as European correspondent based in Brussels and Berlin (2009-2011). In 2011, he received the Ernest Udina Award (Premi Ernest Udina) in recognition of his work.

 

Martí Anglada has written extensively on foreign affairs and has published three books: (Not So) Foreign Affairs, 2008 (Afers (no tan) estrangers, Ed. Mina, Grup 62, 2008), Four Roads to Indpendence: Estonia, Latvia, Slovakia & Slovenia, 2013 (Quatre vies per a la Independència: Estònia, Letònia, Eslovàquia i Eslovènia, Ed. Pòrtic, Grup 62, 2013) and The German Way, 2014 (La via alemanya, Brau, 2014).