Òmnium Cultural


Òmnium Cultural is a Catalan association based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was originally created in the 1960s to promote the Catalan language and spread Catalan culture.
Over the years it has increased its involvement in broader social issues; in 2012 it committed itself to Catalan independence, specifically demanding the right of self-determination for Catalonia.
Currently Òmnium has more than 145,000 members organised in 40 regional offices besides the headquarters in Barcelona.

History

Òmnium Cultural was created on 11 July 1961 in the context of Francoist Spain when the institutional use of Catalan was forbidden. In 1963 the Francoist authorities closed down the association. Òmnium had to continue to exist as a clandestine association between 1963–1967. In 1967, after a long legal case before the Francoist courts, the association won its right to exist and was once again authorised.
In order to promote Catalan culture within the many limits of Francoism, Òmnium was the main creator and sponsor of various awards and literary contests for works published in Catalan, such as the Premi d'Honor de les Lletres Catalanes. In the early 1970s it established the Nit de Santa Llúcia a festival of Catalan literature where three prizes are awarded: the Premi Sant Jordi, the Premi Mercè Rodoreda and the Premi Carles Riba.
After the Francoist dictatorship ended in 1975, Òmnium continued its work promoting Catalan language and culture. Once democracy was restored, Òmnium supported and defended Catalan self-government.
It was awarded the Creu de Sant Jordi by the Catalan government in 1984 and named a public interest body in 2009.
After the Spanish Constitutional Court's rejection of the new Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia in 2010, one million people marched in Barcelona calling for national self-determination in a 2010 Catalan autonomy protest organised by Òmnium.
In December 2015, Jordi Cuixart was elected president by a large majority, in elections in which 5,719 members participated out of a total of 50,000.
Òmnium was one of the main organisations, together with Assemblea Nacional Catalana, supporting the Catalan self-determination referendum in 2017. After Operation Anubis, both the president of Òmnium, Jordi Cuixart, and the president of ANC, Jordi Sànchez, were sent to jail. Since then, several organizations including Amnesty International, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, PEN International, the World Organisation Against Torture, Front Line Defenders and the International Association of Democratic Lawyers have asked for their release.
Since Cuixart's arrest, the most important public figure of Òmnium has been the spokesman Marcel Mauri.

Structure and funding

Òmnium Cultural is one of the biggest organizations in Catalonia with more than 145,000 members. It's based in Barcelona with regional offices in 40 other municipalities.
Òmnium Cultural cooperates with other organizations that share similar goals in other Catalan-speaking territories: Acció Cultural del País Valencià and Obra Cultural Balear.
Between 2005 and 2012 the association received up to 13 million euros in different grants from the Catalan regional government. from which 1.4 million were received in 2012 alone.
In November 2015 Òmnium was condemned by the Audiencia Nacional for the unauthorised use and deficient custody of personal data, after its data had been stolen by a hacker. This led to a €200,000 sanction imposed by the Spanish agency responsible for data protection.
In 2013 the association announced that it would no longer receive funding from the Catalan government. In 2016, different local authorities gave grants to Òmnium, basically for local cultural activities, for a value of €144,404.12, out of a total income in 2016 of €4.4 million.
According to the Spanish Civil Guard in 2018, 98% of Òmnium Cultural's budget comes from private contributions and it didn't receive funding from the Catalan government in relation to the 2017 independence referendum.