Latest news with #ErnestUrtasun
The Guardian
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Sónar festival hit with artist boycott over alleged links to Israel
Sónar, one of Europe's leading electronic music festivals, is under threat after dozens of musicians and DJs announced a boycott over the event's parent company KKR's alleged links to Israel. More than 70 artists signed an open letter to the festival, which is due to take place in Barcelona from 12-14 June, stating that 'we oppose any affiliation between the cultural sector and entities complicit in war crimes'. The boycott from artists such as Kode9, Lolo & Sosaku, Juliana Huxtable and Sunny Graves comes amid claims that KKR is linked to housing developments in the illegally occupied West Bank, in addition to other business interests in Israel. This claim is based on the fact that KKR is a major investor in the German media company Axel Springer, which runs ads for developments in the occupied territories on Israel's Yad2 classified ad site, owned by Springer. In June 2024, KKR, a US investment company with an estimated $710bn (£526bn) in assets, paid €1.3bn (£1.09bn) to acquire the entertainment company Superstruct and with it a controlling interest in 80 music festivals across 10 European countries and Australia. KKR's portfolio includes energy companies, the US publisher Simon & Schuster and Thames Water. Spain's culture minister Ernest Urtasun said that KKR is 'not welcome in Spain', adding that 'for many years it's been policy that companies with economic interests in illegal settlements in Palestine cannot operate normally in the European Union'. Sónar issued a statement in which it dissociated itself from KKR's financial activities, over which it has no control, and reaffirmed its commitment to diversity and human rights. KKR declined to comment on the allegations of its links to Israel and referred the Guardian to Superstruct's statement in which the latter company says it is 'horrified by the scale of suffering' in Gaza, adding that, despite KKR's acquisition, Superstruct remains 'independently run, making its own decisions based on what is in the best interests of our fans, artists and colleagues'. Asked what more Sónar could do, given that it didn't choose its owner, Lolo of Lolo & Sosaku, said: 'What I don't get is people who defend Sónar saying it isn't KKR when in some sense it is, because Sónar was a family and now it isn't. When you sell yourself to something like Superstruct you know what's going to happen and you've lost touch with the essence of what you were about to begin with.' The Netherlands-based Animistic Beliefs cancelled their Sónar show because they claim KKR profits from 'war, climate destruction and systems of oppression', adding that 'we know no space is free from contradiction but somewhere the line has to be drawn'. The band La Élite say they are boycotting the FIB festival in July which is held in Benicassìm, near Valencia, because of its association with KKR. 'People are frustrated and feel a need to dissociate themselves from these festivals and obviously no one wants their money to go directly to these bastards,' the band told the Guardian. 'The ways things stand, the mere fact of calling things by their name, that is, genocide, amounts to making a stand,' they said. 'Beyond that, it's up to everyone and their conscience to do what they can.' At least 15 artists have also pulled out of this weekend's Field Day festival in London, also owned by Superstruct. In a statement, Field Day, which says it had no say in the KKR takeover, said: 'We would like to say, clearly and directly, that we stand with the people of Gaza and support the peaceful aims of the Palestinian civil organisations and everyone working tirelessly to give them a voice.' Last year Sónar+D, a programme that runs alongside the festival dedicated to innovation and technology, received around €880,000 (£740,000) in subsidies from the Catalan government, Barcelona city council and the EU. Neither the regional government nor the city council subsidises the music festival.
CNA
6 days ago
- Politics
- CNA
Spain returns artwork seized during Civil War
MADRID: Spain on Thursday (May 22) returned paintings belonging to a former Madrid mayor that were seized for their protection during the 1936-39 Civil War and never returned under Francisco Franco's dictatorship. The seven paintings had been kept in several museums throughout Spain, including the Prado Museum in Madrid, where the handover ceremony to the family of Pedro Rico, Madrid's mayor as the Civil War broke out, took place on Thursday evening. In 2022, the Prado published a list of artworks that had been seized during the war and set up a research project to track down their legitimate owners. The government has identified more than 6,000 items, including jewellery, ceramics and textiles, as well as some paintings, sculptures and furniture, which were safeguarded during the war by Republican forces fighting Franco's Nationalists and never returned by Francoist institutions when he came to power. "It's a very important moment of justice and reparation that the Spanish government is doing for their families," said Culture Minister Ernest Urtasun. The paintings returned to Rico's family nine decades later were mainly scenes of everyday life by 19th-century artists such as Eugenio Lucas and his son Lucas Villaamil. Francisca Rico said she was very moved by the restitution of the paintings belonging to her grandfather, who was mayor between 1931-1934 and then in 1936 and who died in exile in France.
Reuters
6 days ago
- Politics
- Reuters
Spain returns artwork seized during Civil War
MADRID, May 23 (Reuters) - Spain on Thursday returned paintings belonging to a former Madrid mayor that were seized for their protection during the 1936-39 Civil War and never returned under Francisco Franco's dictatorship. The seven paintings had been kept in several museums throughout Spain, including the Prado Museum in Madrid, where the handover ceremony to the family of Pedro Rico, Madrid's mayor as the Civil War broke out, took place on Thursday evening. In 2022, the Prado published a list of artworks that had been seized during the war and set up a research project to track down their legitimate owners. The government has identified more than 6,000 items, including jewellery, ceramics and textiles, as well as some paintings, sculptures and furniture, which were safeguarded during the war by Republican forces fighting Franco's Nationalists and never returned by Francoist institutions when he came to power. "It's a very important moment of justice and reparation that the Spanish government is doing for their families," said Culture Minister Ernest Urtasun. The paintings returned to Rico's family nine decades later were mainly scenes of everyday life by 19th-century artists such as Eugenio Lucas and his son Lucas Villaamil. Francisca Rico said she was very moved by the restitution of the paintings belonging to her grandfather, who was mayor between 1931-1934 and then in 1936 and who died in exile in France. "(They're ) finally doing what should have been done long ago," she said.
Euronews
26-02-2025
- General
- Euronews
Spanish government removes mummy remains from museum view
The Guanche mummy went on display at Madrid's National Archaeological Museum (MAN) in 2015. It is the preserved remains of a 35-40-year-old person who it is believed lived between the 12th and 13th centuries and was laid to rest in a cave in the Herques ravine in Tenerife. A member of the Guanches, the mummy belonged to the indigenous people who inhabited the Canary Islands from the first millennium BC alone until Spanish colonialism conquered the archipelago in the 15th century, killing many and assimilating the rest into Spanish culture. Until this week, the Guanche mummy was on display in the MAN's area dedicated to the Canary Islands and protohistory. It has now been removed as part of the Ministry of Culture's new letter that requires human remains 'must be treated with respect and dignity, and in accordance with the interests and beliefs of the communities and ethnic or religious groups of origin.' It's part of a move by Minister of Culture Ernest Urtasun to 'decolonise' the state's museums. Last year, his department commissioned a report on the treatment of human remains, a document which stated the Guanche mummy had been put on display 'with a brief label that does not justify its presence'. Urtasun told El Pais that 'it would be possible' for MAN to put the mummy back on display as long as it is accompanied by labels 'that add value'. As it stands, the mummy is set to be moved to the museum's extensive warehouses. However, since 1976, the Canary Islands have campaigned for the return of the mummy. Rosa Dávila, president of the government of Tenerife, says the mummy should be housed in Tenerife's Museum of Nature and Archaeology, saying it is a 'a symbol of our ancestral culture … with an incalculable historical and cultural value for our people, which we have been claiming for more than 50 years.' In 2010, Spain approved the request to return the mummy. The government later rejected the request twice on the grounds that it was too fragile to be moved. The report on the Guanche mummy details its provenance. Discovered in 1763-1764, it was one of at least a thousand mummies in the cave wrapped in 'exquisitely sewn skins'. Of the discovered bodies, the best preserved one was sent to Madrid and has passed through multiple institutions before coming to MAN. It concludes that the mummy should remain in MAN for preservation reasons: 'It is the responsibility of the Museum to try to maintain it in the best possible conditions so that future generations can continue to admire this legacy of the Guanches, always taking into account the respect that the mortal remains of someone who in distant times was a person integrated into that society deserve.' As a result, the mummy's lack of visible presence in the museum continues to aggravate Canary Island politicians. Lope Afonso, the Canary Islands tourism minister, said: 'The return of the mummy would not only correct a historical debt, but would also strengthen culture, pride in the Guanche heritage and respect for ancestral traditions.'
