The Spanish government has censored a recital by Catalan poets in favour of freedom of expression, which was to have been held this Friday at the building of the Catalan government delegation to Brussels, now overseen by the state.
Exiled minister Lluís Puig has complained about pressure from the Spanish government to cancel the event on Twitter: "An event full of prose and poetry, of Catalan literature, has also suffered [article] 155 censorship. It's done by those who don't like any literature, and for that reason they also censor teachers, ultimately, they don't like fostering free thinking among the public..."
Un acte ple de prosa i poesia, de literatura catalana, també ha patit la censura del 155. Ho fan els que no els agrada cap literatura, i per això també censuren els mestres, en definitiva, no els agrada el foment del pensament lliure de la ciutadania... https://t.co/O74JGtOoZn
— Lluís Puig i Gordi (@PuigGordi) 3 de maig de 2018
In the end, the recital, called "Too maig"1 and organised by the Association of Writers in the Catalan Language, will be held at the Casal Català de Brussel·les (Catalan Cultural House in Brussels), given the risk that trying to go ahead with it at the delegation could affect jobs.
It is expected that minister Puig will speak at some point during the event. Poems will be read by Jordi Martín Lloret, Bel Olid, Gemma Pasqual and Sebastià Portell, as well as Francesc Parcerisas representing Catalonia, Teresa Pascual, Valencia and Ismael Pelegrí, the Balearic Islands.
Translator's note: 1. The name Too maig is a pun. Maig, the Catalan word for the month of May, sounds similar to English "much".