Night falls slowly over the horizon. The sea breathes with that calm that only peoples accustomed to living before the maritime immensity know. At the water's edge, conversations quiet down as a guitar begins to strum the first chords, full of memories and longing. Someone hums a familiar melody. Voices join in almost without realizing it. For a few moments, time seems to slow down under the weight of each verse.The murmur of the sea accompanies the memory of people who crossed the Atlantic pursuing a better life. It is also the nostalgia of those who left their land behind and of those who, after many years, returned home carrying within them another light and another way of understanding the world. From this shared memory is born what we know today as havanera: a musical genre that has ended up uniting two lands separated by the ocean and by time. A round-trip story written in the journeys of entire generations. When the horizon led to America

During the 18th and 19th centuries, Cuba became one of the main destinations for Catalan emigration. Many young people set sail for the Caribbean with the hope of prospering in a land that, from a distance, seemed to offer infinite opportunities. Some made their fortunes there; others simply sought to fulfill their dreams. Between sugar plantations, commercial warehouses, and ports, an intense relationship was woven between the two shores of the Atlantic.The Catalan presence on the island was so significant that commercial, family, and cultural ties ended up shaping an authentic Atlantic network. Cuba became a familiar space within the Catalan imagination, almost an exotic extension of the land itself. But that relationship would also be marked by the contradictions of the colonial system, by the wars of independence, and by the tensions of a world that was beginning to transform.That transatlantic adventure, so present in the Catalan imaginary, cannot be separated from the colonial context in which it took place. A large part of the prosperity that some "indians" achieved in Cuba was linked to an economy sustained by the structures of the empire and by the plantations that fed Atlantic trade. Havaneres do not explicitly explain this reality, but they also form part of this same historical universe. Behind the nostalgia that these melodies exude, the contradictions of a past that today invites a more complex view also resonate.For decades, ships connected the two shores with a constant flow of people and hopes. On deck, many watched the Catalan coast slowly fade on the horizon, not knowing if they would ever see it again. Some never returned. Others did years later, carrying within them the imprint of two lands.When in 1898 the Spanish empire lost its last American colonies, many Catalans undertook the journey back. Soldiers, merchants, sailors, and "indians" were returning. With them traveled memories, objects, words, and melodies. Among all these legacies was a music that had been born on the other side of the Atlantic and that would eventually find a new home on the Catalan coasts.

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We live surrounded by notifications, photos that disappear in 24 hours, and messages that are forgotten in seconds. But this summer, we suggest you take a break. How? By sending us a postcard. We want you to write to us from wherever you are and tell us how you are experiencing your holidays. We will read them one by one.

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Extra range recital and return of the mattresses to the nine floors

The Plaça del Pou in Altafulla has once again become the epicenter of the casteller world with a top-level Diada de les Cultures, marked by the second major showdown of the season between the Colla Vella dels Xiquets de Valls and the Castellers de Vilafranca, as well as the return of the Xiquets de Tarragona to the nine-story castells. In a day commemorating the 25th anniversary of the diada, the four participating teams offered a high-voltage performance that confirms the excellent moment the casteller world is experiencing at the start of summer.

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There are seasons that are remembered for the castles achieved and others for the path that must be traveled to reach them. Els Sagals d'Osona wanted to record this journey with Aixecar-se, the documentary they produced together with Canal Taronja and which was presented on June 28 at Espai ETC in Vic. The audiovisual offers an inside look at one of the team's most special campaigns, in which collective effort, emotions, and perseverance culminate in a season that is already part of its history.

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Buying a flat is a decision made after crunching numbers and more numbers and weighing multiple variables. Among them, the money the buyer will have to disburse when the transaction materializes, which causes more than one or two headaches.

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New public housing developments and greener, more accessible streets designed for pedestrians. Also, facilities that recover heritage and reconnect neighborhoods. Around the Llobregat and Besòs rivers, riparian areas that are being renaturalized to gain biodiversity and resilience. These are some of the actions with which the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB) is shaping the metropolis of the future: a network of projects that not only build or renovate, but also adapt the territory to an increasingly demanding urban context.

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The Minyons de Terrassa are already an extra-category team this season after completing the 2d9fm this Sunday at the main festival day. In front of a full Raval de Montserrat, the purple team has met all its planned objectives by completing the year's first 4d9f, the 2d9fm, and the 3d9f, thus achieving the first nine-level triplet of the season. The chained tower rose with very good dimensions, although at the moment of loading the chains had to work hard to control the structure's movements. The speed and precision of the children, however, were decisive in achieving a solid completion. The day concluded with a solid pd7f, certifying the great moment of the Cal Reig team, who face the second half of the season with confidence. Alongside them, the Colla Vella dels Xiquets de Valls also met expectations with the 3d9f, the 4d9f, the 4d8a, and the pd7f. On the other hand, the Castellers de Terrassa could not complete their attempt at the season's first 4de8: after a dismantled attempt, the big tower remained an attempt. They managed to turn the day around by completing the 2d7, the 7d7, and the 3d7 raised from below.

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Els Minyons de Terrassa have been working for a long time to make castells an activity open to everyone. This commitment has now translated into the Acompanya'm project, an initiative developed jointly with Prodis and Escola Heura, which aims to make both the group's social headquarters, Cal Reig, and the experience of living a castells performance into fully cognitively accessible spaces.

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Currently La Guardiola has 139 members. The oldest is a 94-year-old woman; the youngest, a 20-year-old man.

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This June, the Obrador of Bloc4BCN has welcomed the first processing companies that have wanted to join the project. All of them will have at their disposal more than 100 m² equipped to test, promote, innovate or improve ideas related to food and committed to a quality, local and responsible food model, rooted in the territory and aligned with the values of the social and solidarity economy. “We want to offer them a shared workspace, fully equipped with industrial machinery and approved according to current regulations, and thus facilitate their leap to professional activity and their process of constitution as cooperatives,” says Oriol Rovira, coordinator of Bloc4BCN.

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The year 1939 not only meant the end of democracy, but the dismantling of Catalan cooperativism, one of the most solid traditions of popular self-organization in Europe. Despite the submission to which it was subjected by the Franco regime, the sovereign and solidarity spirit of the movement remained alive in clandestinity thanks to figures like Pérez Baró or Ventosa i Roig, making the spark arrive practically intact until 1976, the year the Roca Galès Foundation was established to take over from so many people who still believed in this self-management model. Its birth was not a mere institutional procedure, but an act of resistance and recovery of the political soul of Catalan cooperativism.

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With 4,843 active cooperatives in Catalonia, the model gains weight in key sectors, strengthens the generation of stable and quality employment, and is projected as a strategic piece of the productive fabric and the economic and social transformation of the country.

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Era Cooperativa Jurídica was born in 2021 from the concern of two lawyers who not only wanted to focus on the technical and strategic part of their profession, but also wished to give it a social imprint and, at the same time, humanize the figure of the lawyer. Anna Vallejo and Enna Vera have not only achieved this goal, but with the recent incorporation of Eloi Orihuela to the team, they have further consolidated the three areas that focus their activity: housing law, workers' rights, and the fight against gender-based violence.

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Just one year after formalizing their intercooperation agreement, the alliance between Som Energia, Som Connexió and Som Mobilitat –three non-profit cooperatives– already counts more than 12,000 user organizations. And of these, 1,435 trust at least two of the three cooperatives.

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Born more than 25 years ago as a non-profit social initiative associated work cooperative, DELTACOOP has consolidated its own model of support for children, adolescents, and families based on proximity, quality, and commitment to the territory. Currently, the entity is made up of professionals who actively participate in a horizontal, democratic, and people-centered organization.

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Five years after its birth, La Sembra has established itself as a communication agency that accompanies organizations with a strategic vision and commitment.

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We live in a context of global instability that is strongly felt among younger generations. In Catalonia, as in the rest of territories, the accumulation of economic crises in recent years has called into question an idea that for decades was not questioned: that institutions act with neutrality and watch over the general interest. For many young people, this trust has cracked, and a growing sense of precariousness is added, widening the distance from the system.

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Is it possible to innovate without investors and grow without losing control? Is it possible to create a start-up without relying on venture capital? The answer seems obvious: no. But what happens when the technological ecosystem rebels and aspires to reverse the economic order?

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In Catalonia, platform cooperativism has been seeking to consolidate its space for years. With the will to question a digital model increasingly concentrated in the hands of large technology corporations, initiatives such as Jamgo, FemProcomuns, or Coopdevs emerge as alternatives that place people and the community at the center. Faced with an internet marked by monopolies, data extraction, and economic dependence, these projects advocate for another way of understanding technology and a different metric of success, based on social impact, democratic governance, and collective return.

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Dr. Sacramento Pinazo-Hernandis has developed an extensive research career in the field of gerontology and collaborates with national and international organizations in analyzing the challenges arising from population aging. She is part of the board of directors of the Pilares Foundation, which works in the comprehensive care of the elderly. For decades, she has been researching how to build more inclusive societies for all ages and highlights the need to provide new solutions, such as those offered by care cooperatives.

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