Òmnium Cultural is a Catalan NGO based in Barcelona with more than 190.000 members and 60 years of history working for culture, social cohesion and civil rights. Historically, it has been a pillar for the promotion of Catalan culture and language and, over years, it has also become one of the main actors in the defense of civil, political and cultural rights in Catalonia. Through cultural activities, social cohesion projects and awareness campaigns, we also want to contribute to building a diverse, fairer and more democratic society in Catalonia and Europe.

Over the last years there has been a worrying increase in fundamental rights violations in the framework of the EU, and civil society can't watch these challenges without doing anything. This is why Òmnium Cultural has had an increasing international activity, mainly at the European level, promoting democratic values out of Catalan borders and internationalizing its projects.

Culture

We promote culture as a means to boost social cohesion in our society

Since its inception, Òmnium Cultural is committed and devoted to the spread of Culture at all levels. For this reason, we carry out cultural projects in order to boost social transformations and support social cohesion through education. Its many initiatives to promote the Catalan language as well as the literature, its recognized literary awards, performing arts, fine arts, architecture, cuisine, sports and specially popular culture are proof of this.

Social Cohesion

Around the world, societies with higher rates of literacy and with a strong and respected cultural sector tend to be consolidated democracies with a robust welfare system. In turn, this translates into higher rates of social mobility, thus lower rates of poverty and inequality. That is why Òmnium Cultural’s main goal is to encourage the socialization of cultural assets and the democratization of the ways of accessing them is the main reason to strengthen its role as a cultural articulator and reach new audiences through its projects.

Civil Rights

We advocate civil rights such as freedom of speech and the right to peacefully protest

We defend an amnesty for all victims of reprisals for exercising human rights in Catalonia

We believe in Catalonia’s right to decide its future in a referendum

We cannot take our civil rights for granted and have to work every single day to protect them. In the last few years, we have seen a worrying rise in the number of human rights violations in western and democratic societies. It is particularly alarming that many of these violations have taken place in Europe, so far a continent seen as a beacon of democracy.

Hungary, Poland and Spain are worrying examples of this. For this reason, in our changing world, we need to stay vigilant and denounce each and every attack to our fundamental rights. Thus, Òmnium Civil Rights Europe has been created to reinforce the shared struggle with many other NGOs around the continent that work tirelessly to defend culture and civil rights

Òmnium Civil Rights Europe has been created to reinforce the shared struggle with many other NGOs around the continent that work tirelessly to defend culture and civil rights