Chomsky, Giddens, Keating, Zizek among 250 personalities who sign a manifesto asking Spain to dialogue and find a political solution with Catalonia

About 250 personalities have signed the manifesto, including the American linguist and philosopher Noam Chomsky, epidemiologists Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett; the psychologist Steven Pinker; the sociologists Anthony Giddens, and Boaventura de Sousa Santos; political scientists Jane Mansbridge and Michael Keating, and philosophers Slavoj Zizek, Philip Pettit and Gianni Vattimo, among others.

The manifesto that asks the Spanish government to start a negotiation with the Catalan one to find a "political solution" to the conflict in Catalonia. The manifesto regrets that since the publication of the 1-O ruling "the political situation in Catalonia has worsened in a worrying way" with the altercations in the protests. He points out that, given this situation, the Government has repeatedly and unsuccessfully requested to establish a negotiation with the Government, and they consider that it is time to do so: "We cannot stand idly in front of what is happening in Catalonia."

Therefore, the paper asks that "all the actors involved in the conflict, on one side and the other, make an effort to de-escalate social tension" and stop what they qualify as a spiral of violence. They also demand that "the strategy of judicializing a conflict of a clear political nature be abandoned", and that both governments agree on a round of negotiations to resolve the situation.

For the signatories, "these negotiations should be carried out in good faith and should seek a reasonable solution that can minimally satisfy the interests of each of the parties."