Footballer Aitana Bonmatí received the Creu de Sant Jordi this Monday, defending Catalonia and equality between men and women. In a speech on behalf of the individual winners, the Barça player claimed to have received “more criticism for speaking Catalan than for playing football”, although she assured that this situation had “never” conditioned her. This is why she asked the authorities to “take care to preserve the language, constantly under attack and in decline in social use” and to encourage the learning of Catalan among new arrivals as a tool for social integration.
Inequalities between men and women
Likewise, she regretted that “many inequalities persist” between men and women in areas such as wages, work and situations of violence.
The award ceremony took place during a ceremony at the National Theater of Catalonia, in Barcelona, inaugurated by the Minister of Culture, Sònia Hernández, and closed by the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, who qualified the winners as “references of the Catalonia we want”.
The greatness of Catalonia at the center of speeches
“A country that wants to be great, just, prosperous and cultured has the obligation to know how to recognize the people who do so,” declared the Catalan president. He also stressed that, in the midst of an avalanche of information, “some bad, others directly false”, the distinguished people of Creus de Sant Jordi are “islands of hope” who “inspire us to be better” .
Kossigan AGAMAKOU
