CIEMEN presents the 2026 Aureli Argemí Awards in a ceremony of advocacy, commitment and solidarity

“To defend Palestine is not only to defend a people, but to defend the very meaning of justice,” declared the Palestinian activist and trade unionist Sousan Tayseer Abdel Salam as she received an award recognising her struggle – and that of her people – at a ceremony held on 6 February at the Ateneu Barcelonès in Barcelona. Her words resonated throughout the 2026 Aureli Argemí Awards, dedicated this year to solidarity among shared struggles, the defence of collective rights and the protection of linguistic rights so often under threat. The ceremony also honoured the Catalan Association of Friends of the Sahrawi People (ACAPS) for its solidarity with Western Sahara, and AEK, the Basque organisation devoted to promoting the Basque language.

The Pompeu Fabra hall of the Ateneu was filled with embraces, congratulations and knowing glances during a long-awaited revival of the awards, relaunched in a new format in tribute to the founder of CIEMEN (the International Escarré Centre for Ethnic Minorities and Nations). Before a period of suspension, the CIEMEN awards had for many years been a social, political and cultural reference point, recognising the tireless defence of peoples’ rights by both organisations and individuals.

That evening, CIEMEN once again took centre stage to acknowledge the essential work of activists and organisations including Sousan Tayseer Abdel Salam, AEK and ACAPS. In what he described as a moment when core democratic values have “been blown apart” by the current global climate, CIEMEN’s president, David Minoves, insisted that defending the rights of peoples, linguistic rights and international solidarity is more necessary than ever. Such defence, he argued, is “the best response we can give to the authoritarianism and supremacism spreading alarmingly across the world”. The awards, he added, seek to highlight the decades-long efforts of people and organisations who have often worked against the tide to defend fundamental rights and freedoms that unite communities across borders.

Palestine: a voice that speaks for a people

The Aureli Argemí Award for Collective Rights went to Sousan Tayseer Abdel Salam, a women’s human rights activist and a member of the Presidential Council of the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU). In her address, she repeated that “to defend Palestine is not only to defend a people, but to defend the very meaning of justice”.

Her speech underscored the weight of defending collective rights in contexts of occupation, repression and systematic restriction. At a time when violations of international law are frequently justified in the language of security or stability, her words were a call for shared dignity and common humanity.

In awarding her the prize, the jury highlighted her work as both a trade unionist and a human rights defender committed to her country’s freedom, linking national liberation with social emancipation. They referred to a context that numerous international organisations have described as one of military occupation and genocide, a situation that has generated waves of indignation and solidarity in Catalonia and around the world. In honouring Sousan Tayseer Abdel Salam, the jury said, they also wished to symbolise Catalan society’s support for the Palestinian people and CIEMEN’s commitment to a free and peaceful Palestine.

Accepting the award, the human rights defender presented herself not simply as an individual but as a representative voice: “This is a tribute to the Palestinian people before it is a personal recognition,” she said, extending it to “all those around the world who fight for justice and human dignity”. Being present in Barcelona, she added, was “a profound honour, but an even greater responsibility”, “symbolising that the struggle transcends borders.

She dedicated the award “to all the free voices who have refused to turn away from injustice, and to all those who believe that defending justice is not merely a political stance but a courageous humanitarian act”. The prize, she concluded, “is a responsibility: the responsibility to raise our voices against injustice and to illuminate the path when darkness attempts to become normality”.

AEK and language as a collective soul

In the field of linguistic rights, the jury honoured AEK, the Basque organisation founded in 1976 and rooted in earlier clandestine literacy campaigns launched during the final years of the Franco dictatorship. Those campaigns built on efforts initiated in the late 1960s to teach Basque to adults, encouraged by the activist Ricardo Arregui.

Representatives Lurdes Etxezarreta and Maialen Begiristain said they hoped that “beyond the Basque Country, speakers of minoritised languages across the world might be able to live freely and comfortably within communities where their language is central”. For them, the award recognises not simply an institution but “a collective struggle for linguistic rights”.

Today, AEK operates more than 100 centres across the Basque Country, employing around 600 teachers and serving thousands of adult learners. It also organises Korrika, the biennial mass relay run in support of the Basque language, which has become one of Europe’s most visible grassroots mobilisations in defence of a minoritised language. Over the past 45 years, Korrika has held 24 editions, and on 19 March 2026 a new one will begin. For 11 consecutive days, the relay will travel more than 2,500 kilometres in support of the Basque language, mobilising hundreds of thousands of participants from across generations and communities.

The jury highlighted the organisation’s immense work since its inception, recognising more than 50 years of sustained commitment dating back to the final years of the Franco dictatorship, when it operated clandestinely. Over the decades, AEK has worked consistently across the whole of the Basque Country, overcoming administrative divisions and successfully combining academic teaching with language promotion, outreach and advocacy.

ACAPS and the Sahrawi cause: solidarity in the absence of political solutions

The Aureli Argemí Award for Solidarity was presented to ACAPS, founded in 1983 to coordinate political, humanitarian and civic support from Catalonia for the Sahrawi people.

Its president, Xavier Serra, described Catalonia as “a land of welcome and a people of solidarity”, and argued that “the cause of the Sahrawi people is also the cause of justice, of human and national rights, of peace and coexistence”. The award coincides with the 50th anniversary of the proclamation of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic on 27 February 1976.

In a context of what organisers described as illegal occupation and international complicity – including that of the Spanish state – which has left the issue largely marginalised in major diplomatic forums, the jury said it was vital to recognise ACAPS’s efforts to ensure that this injustice does not fade from public consciousness.

For more than four decades, ACAPS has played a key role in mobilising cooperation and humanitarian assistance for Sahrawi refugees in the camps around Tindouf, Algeria, while also promoting Sahrawi culture and history. It works in coordination with the Polisario Front’s delegation in Catalonia, as well as with municipal solidarity networks and the Catalan parliament’s Western Sahara intergroup, to keep the issue of self-determination on the political agenda.

Its trajectory is a reminder that solidarity is not a one-off act of charity, but a sustained commitment over time.

The legacy of Aureli Argemí

During the ceremony, Anne Degenève, the widow of Aureli Argemí, recalled that the awards represent “an act of fidelity to a trajectory oriented towards new ambitions” – one grounded in knowledge, education and international solidarity.

CIEMEN’s director, Jordi Garrell, stressed that the awards are not a static recognition but a call to continue the struggle for collective rights, linguistic diversity and international solidarity. The best way to honour Argemí’s intellectual and moral legacy, he argued, is “to keep advancing towards the full achievement of our rights, to contribute to theoretical and political debate – and above all to do so together, not alone”. In this regard, Garrell defended CIEMEN’s work “in building a theoretical framework for the assertion of the rights of stateless nations and minoritised languages such as our own”.

On the artistic and cultural front, Carles Belda and Anna Roig entertained the audience with a specially created recital of vibrant, life-affirming songs for the Aureli Argemí Awards ceremony – a sensitive and committed artistic contribution. The awards themselves were designed by the visual artist Glòria Giménez Carrillo, who, as part of her creative project entitled Conec el patiment que no conec (“I know the suffering I do not know”), produced a series of engravings symbolising solidarity between people in adverse and hostile contexts.

A ceremony of commitment

In this sense, the ceremony held on 6 February was far more than an awards presentation. It was a call to action and reflection at a time when, as Minoves reminded those present, the law of the strongest appears increasingly to shape international relations. The defence of collective rights, language and solidarity — as reaffirmed by the organisations and individuals honoured — remains an urgent and shared task.

The tribute paid in 1988 by CIEMEN to Joan Fuster and Miquel Martí i Pol marked the beginning of the original CIEMEN Awards. Since then, figures such as Gerry Adams, Joan Francesc Mira, Paulo Agirrebaltzategi, Umar Khanbiev and Jordi Vila-Abadal, among many others, have received the distinction. With the Aureli Argemí Awards, the organisation has now revived the spirit of those historic honours.

From Palestine to Western Sahara, from the Basque Country to Catalonia, the ceremony traced a common thread: the conviction that the struggle for collective rights is not fragmented or isolated, but shared. At a time when the law of the strongest threatens to prevail, the Aureli Argemí Awards reaffirm that solidarity between peoples remains a vital instrument of resistance and hope.

https://www.nationalia.info/new/11741/from-palestine-to-western-sahara-from-the-basque-country-to-catalonia-solidarity-between-p