Rafael Marques

He was born in Luanda in 1971 and is married. He began his career in 1988 working for Angolan National Radio but had to leave three months later because he had not done his military service. After the 1991 Peace Agreement signed by the Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola (MPLA) government and the UNITA rebels, the country was about to go through its first democratic elections; Marques left the institute to work for the only newspaper in the country, Jornal de Angola, where he covered political information.

After the elections, the civil war broke out, which he witnessed as a journalist, but with a critical attitude towards the government, so they moved him to the local news section.

In 1993, he was selected by the newspaper’s management team to join the army, but deserted after a month and remained hidden in a shelter for 6 months. At the end of 1993 he began working for Jornal de Angola again, this time in the culture section of the weekly supplement. Because of the terrible conditions under which he worked in the newspaper, he organised a strike and became a spokesman for the other employees. Not only did they achieve nothing with the strike, but his involvement led him to go into exile in England in 1996.

He soon began to publish articles in the press there about the situation in Angola. At the end of 1996 he returned to his country, where he began to collaborate with Reuters and numerous international media, as well as the controversial fortnightly publication Folha 8, to which he still contributes. He also represented the United States Library of Congress in Angola for three years. After meeting the philanthropist George Soros, he became the representative of the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa. In 1998 he was interrogated for the first time by the Criminal Investigation Police in connection with the article “The Cannon Fodder”, which spoke out against discriminatory recruitment to the army, where only the children of the poor and unprivileged serve the country.

On 16 October 1999, he was arrested at home for writing the article “The Lipstick of Dictatorship”, published in the weekly Agora. He was held incommunicado for a number of days, went on an eight-day hunger strike and at the end of November was released on bail. Pending trial, he was obliged to stay in Luanda, not make any type of declaration and not liaise with colleagues in the profession. His trial, in March 2000, ended in a six-month sentence for defamation, which he has still not served, pending an appeal by the defence for possible irregularities during the trial.

Paul Louis Nyemb Ntoogue

Born in 1968 in Cameroon, editor-in-chief of Le Messager Popoli (the satirical edition of the newspaper Le Messager) since its creation in 1993, Paul Louis Nyemb Ntoogue is one of the best African cartoonists, but also one of the most persecuted by those opposed to freedom of expression in his country.

Although he received the prize for the best Cameroonian cartoonist for five years running and the 1999 Courage in Cartooning Award from the Association of American Cartoonists, Paul Louis Nyemb has been convicted and jailed more than once because of his drawings. This persecution led him to live in exile in Johannesburg from December 1998 to April 1999.

Dieudonné Somé

An active member of the Burkina Faso Association of Journalists (AJB), he holds a degree in Audiovisual Science and Techniques and studied journalism in Paris, Montreal and Holland. He has worked for several newspapers in his country, including Le Journal du Soir and Le Pays, where he was editor-in-chief from 1991 until 1993.

Since last year he has been working for L’Indépendant, the paper founded by Norbert Zongo, a journalist famous for defending freedom of expression in Burkina Faso, who died in mysterious circumstances in December 1998.

Xavier Vidal-Folch de Balanzó

Qualifications in Journalism, Law and Contemporary History.

Studies: Degree in Law from the University of Barcelona (1976), Degree in Journalism from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (1977) and Degree in Contemporary History from the University of Barcelona (1984).

Career: Editor-in-chief of El País (1987), Deputy Director of El País (1988-1994), Head of El País correspondents in Brussels (1994-1999), Deputy Director of TVE information services (1985-1986), Head of the Economics section at El País, Barcelona (1982-1985), Head of the Economics section at El Periódico de Catalunya (1978-1982), Reporter for Diari de Barcelona (1977), Editor of the Politics Section at El Noticiero Universal (1976), Editor of the National News Section at Diari de Mallorca (1974-1975).

Ciutat de Barcelona Award for Journalism, 1983.

Ciutat de Palma Award 1975, for the book Hem marxat amb el temps (1976), Editorial Moll, Palma.

Salvador de Madariaga Award for Journalism, 1997.

Ortega y Gasset Award for Journalism, together with Walter Oppenheimer, 1999.

Josep Ramoneda Molins

Cervera, 1949. Philosopher and journalist. Degree in philosophy from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, lecturer in Contemporary Philosophy at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (1975-1990). Director of the Institute of Humanities (1986-1989). Director-founder of the Edicions 62 “Textos Filosòfics” collection and founder of Saber cultural magazine (1980). Contributor to La Vanguardia newspaper (1980-1996). He is currently Director of the Centre de Cultura Contemporània in Barcelona and contributes to El País newspaper and Cadena Ser (El Bestiari). He has published numerous books, the latest of which is Después de la pasión política (1999).

Other titles published: Apologia del present. Assaigs de fi de segle (1989), Mitològiques: crònica de les escissions socials contemporànies (1984), El sentit íntim: crítica del sentit comú (1982), contributions to Frontera i peril (1987) and Coneixement, memòria i invenció (1982). and other collective works. Introductions to works by Foucault, Locke, Nietzsche and Montesquieu in the “Textos Filosòfics” collection.

Tomás Delclòs i Juanola

He holds a degree in Law from the University of Barcelona and a degree in Information Sciences from the Autonomous University, where he taught Cinema History. He began working as a journalist writing about the cinema in Fotogramas.

He then worked for Tele/expres and El Periodico, where he headed the entertainment section. He has worked in the culture section of El País, since the Catalonia edition was launched, has been assistant director in Barcelona and is currently responsible for the CiberPaís supplement and the CiberPaís Mensual magazine.

Bernardo Pérez

Born in Madrid in 1956. Degree in Pharmacy from the Complutense University of Madrid.

He takes photomicrographs for the Faculty of Pharmacy. In February 1977, he joined the staff of El País. Before the appearance of the newspaper, he had helped to develop the photomechanics section. He worked for the magazines Personas and El País as graphic editor, having covered all the major national and international news events. He has been sent as special envoy to numerous conflict areas. His photographs have been published in various newspapers and magazines around the world. He has also produced covers for albums and done advertising work.

He has won five Fotopres Awards, participated in numerous individual and collective exhibitions, both in this country and abroad, and has published various books on photography, including Un día en la vida de España (1987).

Jordi Bartolí

A professional photographer since 1978, he has worked exclusively for the press since 1981.

He works as a photographer for L’Humanité newspaper in the south of France and was the correspondent for the Association of Professional Photographers in the region from 1989 to 1997. He subsequently worked as a correspondent for Reuter and the Maxppp agency.

In the last two years he has been following major world events and the struggle against globalisation (from Seattle to Quebec).

Specialising in social and political reporting, he has also covered armed conflicts in locations such as Yemen, Bosnia, Algeria and Latin America.

Miquel Ruíz Aviles

In 1979 when El Punt newspaper appeared he joined its team of photographers.

In 1982, he took a world-wide exclusive photograph of Salvador Dalí the day after Gala died.

From 1983 to 1987, he was graphic correspondent for El Periódico de Catalunya. He has also contributed to Avui, Lecturas, Interviú, Cambio 16, Bunte, Actual, Covert and to the book Els pobles de l’Empordà (1984).

In the years 1986-1988 he also worked as a graphic correspondent for El País, the EFE Agency and was the Head of Photography and a member of the editorial board of Empordà Federal. He spent 22 days travelling round Nicaragua in connection with the El Periódico de Catalunya report on Catalans in Nicaragua and created an audiovisual display with more than 1,200 slides.

1989-1991 He coordinated and co-organised the First Graphic Press Exhibition, Girona 89. He works for the magazine Set Dies and El Observador. He contributed to the books Barques i fogons. Del Ter a Portbou (1991) and Empúries/Olímpia (1992).

1992-1997 Head of Photography for the Olympic Games rowing events at Banyoles. Co-founder of Fotògrafs per la Pau, an association of which he is currently President. At the height of the Balkan war he entered Sarajevo and travelled through Bosnia. He contributes graphic material to La Vanguardia.

Associate member of UPIFC and a member of its Board of Directors. Since November 1999 he has been working for El Punt again.

Cristina Almeida

Degree in Law from the Complutense University of Madrid.

As a lawyer she specialised in the defence of workers and political prisoners under the Franco regime.

She joined the Spanish Communist Party in 1964 and was one of the founders of Izquierda Unida.

She was elected to Congress for Madrid in the General Elections of 1986 and 1996.

Since 1997 she has been President of the Democratic Party of the New Left.

She has been Vice-President of the Spanish Association for Human Rights.

She has worked hard to defend and promote women’s rights and equality, participating in numerous national and international initiatives, such as the World Conference organised by the United Nations in Beijing in 1995.

She is President of the PSOE-Progressive Parliamentary Group in the Madrid Assembly and a Senator for this Autonomous Community.

Lise London

The daughter of Spanish parents who emigrated to France (her father was a miner), she was born in Montceau-les-Mines in 1916.

At the age of 14 she joined the Venissieux Communist Youth Movement and later became Regional Secretary of the Lyon area. In 1934 she was sent to Moscow to work for the Comintern. There she also met the young Czechoslovakian militant Arthur London, the beginning of a long life and struggle together. She returned to France and worked for the French Communist Party. In the Spanish Civil War, she worked in Albacete as secretary to André Marty, head of the International Brigades, until 1938, when she returned to Paris. She worked for La Voz de Madrid newspaper and in the Spanish Republic Information Centre. When the Second World War began and France was invaded by the Germans, she worked in the Resistance and organised the women’s movement against the occupying forces, creating the Union of Women Patriots with Claudine Chomat and becoming Captain of the Forces Françaises de l’Intérieur. After a demonstration by women in Paris she was arrested, tried and sentenced to death. She escaped death because she was pregnant and her sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. Three months after the birth of her second child she was sentenced to forced labour and taken to the Ravensbruck concentration camp by the Nazis.

She has written two books of memoirs, under the general title L’écheveau du temps: Le printemps des camarades and Souvenirs de résistance.

Natàlia Molero

Graduate in Hispanic Philology.

Head of the Cabinet of the Minister of Culture of the Generalitat of Catalonia.

Director of the Generalitat de Catalunya film library (1997-2000).

Regional Coordinator of the Department of Culture in Girona (1995-1997).

Councillor representing the CiU municipal group in Girona City Council (1995-1998).

Secretary of Associació Gironina de Teatre (1991-1995).

Editor of Cultura (1990-1991) and writer of weekly opinion columns for El Punt and La Vanguardia.

Manager of the Prudenci Bertrana Literary Awards (1991).

Winner and runner-up of several literary awards.

Speaker at numerous conferences and congresses, contributor to TV3, TV Girona, Ràdio Girona and other media.

Author of several novels and short stories.