Xosé Manuel Hixinio Beiras Torrado (
Santiago de CompostelaSantiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Located in the north west of Spain in the Province of A Coruña, it was a "European City of Culture" for the year 2000...
, Galicia, 7 April 1936) - commonly known as
Xosé Manuel Beiras or simply
Beiras - is a
GalicianThe Galicians are an ethnic group or nationality whose homeland is Galicia, which is a historical region in Southwestern Europe, embracing a territory situated in the north-west of Spain...
politician, economist, writer and intellectual. He is professor of Structural Economy at the Faculty of Economic Sciences of the
University of Santiago de CompostelaThe Royal University of Santiago de Compostela is a public university located in the city of Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain. A second campus is located in Lugo, Galicia.The university traces its roots back to 1495, when a school was opened in Santiago...
. Former member of the National Council of the Galician Nationalist Bloc (BNG in the Galician acronym), he is at present leader of
Encontro Irmandinhohttp://www.encontroirmandinho.org/, an organization within BNG.
Beiras graduated in Law in 1958 at the
University of Santiago de CompostelaThe Royal University of Santiago de Compostela is a public university located in the city of Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain. A second campus is located in Lugo, Galicia.The university traces its roots back to 1495, when a school was opened in Santiago...
.
Xosé Manuel Hixinio Beiras Torrado (
Santiago de CompostelaSantiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Located in the north west of Spain in the Province of A Coruña, it was a "European City of Culture" for the year 2000...
, Galicia, 7 April 1936) - commonly known as
Xosé Manuel Beiras or simply
Beiras - is a
GalicianThe Galicians are an ethnic group or nationality whose homeland is Galicia, which is a historical region in Southwestern Europe, embracing a territory situated in the north-west of Spain...
politician, economist, writer and intellectual. He is professor of Structural Economy at the Faculty of Economic Sciences of the
University of Santiago de CompostelaThe Royal University of Santiago de Compostela is a public university located in the city of Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain. A second campus is located in Lugo, Galicia.The university traces its roots back to 1495, when a school was opened in Santiago...
. Former member of the National Council of the Galician Nationalist Bloc (BNG in the Galician acronym), he is at present leader of
Encontro Irmandinhohttp://www.encontroirmandinho.org/, an organization within BNG.
Academic life
Beiras graduated in Law in 1958 at the
University of Santiago de CompostelaThe Royal University of Santiago de Compostela is a public university located in the city of Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain. A second campus is located in Lugo, Galicia.The university traces its roots back to 1495, when a school was opened in Santiago...
. That same year he moved to
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
to study economics. He also studied French literature at the University of the Sorbonne (1960). In 1961 he joined the
London School of EconomicsThe London School of Economics and Political Science, commonly referred to as the London School of Economics or LSE, is a specialist constituent college of the University of London in London, England....
to further expand his knowledge on the field of economy. In 1966 he completed a research course on economics with François Perrou at the Institut de Sciencie Economique Apliquée (Paris). While in France, he became acquainted with
Robèrt LafontRobèrt Lafont is an Occitan intellectual from Provence and more specifically a linguist, an author, a historian, an expert in literature and a political theoretician. He's one of the greatest figures of activism in Occitania...
's concept of "
internal colonialismInternal Colonialism refers to political and economic inequalities between regions within a single society. The term may be used to describe the uneven effects of state development on a regional basis and to describe the exploitation of minority groups within the wider society...
", a concept that would embed his political discourse in the years to come.
He was the vice-director of the
Revista de Economia da Galiza ("Galician Journal of Economics") from 1963 to 1968. In 1967 he was granted with a prize from
Casa Galiza of
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
for his book
O problema do desenrolo na Galiza rural (
The Problem of Development in Rural Galicia). In 1968 he moved back to Galicia permanently, where he took up a job as
lecturerLecturer is a term of academic rank. In the United Kingdom lecturer is the name given to those who teach in their first permanent university position. That is, lecturers are academics early in their careers, who lead research groups and supervise postgraduate students as well as lecture courses...
in economy at the University of Santiago de Compostela. In 1970, while spending a few months in
MadridMadrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. It is the third-most populous municipality in the European Union after Greater London and Berlin, and its metropolitan area is the third-most populous city by urban area in the European Union after Paris and London.The city is located on the river...
, he published his doctoral thesis with the title
Estructura y problemas de la poblacion gallega ("Structure and problems of the Galician population"). This thesis granted him the post of associate-professor in Structural Economy.
In 1972 he published one of this key works:
O atraso económico da Galiza (
The Economic Underdevelopment of Galicia"), and he was offered the post of temporary Dean, a position he eventually accepted in 1975. While still publishing books, he directed a research project on the modernization of Galian agriculture sponsored by the Pedro Barrié de la Maza foundation and the University of MontpellierThe University of Montpellier was a French university in Montpellier in the Languedoc-Roussillon région of the south of France. Its present-day successor universities are the University of Montpellier 1, Montpellier 2 University and Paul Valéry University, Montpellier III.-History:The university...
. In 1977 he was invited to join the Real Academia GalegaThe Real Academia Galega is an institution dedicated to the study of Galician culture and especially the Galician language; it promulgates norms of grammar, spelling, and vocabulary and works to promote the language. The Academy is based in A Coruña, Galicia, Spain.- History :In 1905 the Galician...
(The Royal Galician Academy)the institution he would leave in 1982 as he disagreed with the linguistic policies endorsed by the Academy (and following the example of Carvalho Calero). In 1980 he became head professor of Strucural Economy at the University of Santiago de Compostela, where Beiras still remains today. The 1980s were prolific in publications not just related to economics or politics, but also literary. He would even publish translations from French classics into Galician.
Life in politics
As a politician he was one of the founding members of the clandestine Galician Socialist Party, in 1963, still during the
Franco dictatorshipFrancisco Franco became the dictator of Spain when he defeated the Republican government in the Spanish Civil War. Franco declared an official end of hostilities on April 1, 1939, and reworked the name of the republic into the “Spanish State,” a new moniker attempting to distinguish the new regime...
. In 1964 he took on the role of International Relations, a position which would grant him access to a number of European
SocialistSocialism refers to various theories of economic organization advocating public or direct worker ownership and administration of the means of production and allocation of resources, and a society characterized by equal access to resources for all individuals with a method of compensation based on...
organizations. He would eventually become Secretary General of the party in 1971. Yet, he resigned in 1977 due to the bad results in the first democratic elections of
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
after the death of
FrancoFrancisco Franco Bahamonde, commonly known as Francisco Franco , or simply Franco, was a military general and dictator of Spain from October 1936, and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in 1975...
.
In 1982 Beiras takes part in the foundation of the
BNGThe Galician Nationalist Bloc is a Galician nationalist coalition of political parties. It is self-defined as a "patriotic front"....
(Galician Nationalist Bloc) as member of the National Directive Board. In 1985 he gained a seat at the Galician Parliament and gradually became the indisputable leader of
Galician nationalismGalician nationalism is a political movement claiming for the recognition of Galicia as a nation. The political movement referred to as modern Galician nationalism was born in the beginnings of the twentieth century from the idea of Galicianism....
. Beiras took the party to its best results ever in 1997, receiving the support of almost 25 per cent of the electorate. In 2004 he established a number of pacts with nationalist parties from
CataloniaCatalonia is an Autonomous Community in northeast Spain. The capital city is Barcelona.Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an official population of 7,364,078. It borders France and Andorra to the north, Aragon to the west, the Valencian Community to the south, and the...
and
Basque CountryThe Basque Country is an Autonomous Community of northern Spain.The Basque Country was granted the status of historical region within Spain with the Spanish Constitution of 1978...
in order to gain greater media coverage and, most importantly, joint political weight in the Spanish Parliament. That same year, 2004, he decided to renounce to the candidacy for the
Galician presidencyThe President of Galicia is the head of the government of the Spanish autonomous community of Galicia. Namely, he/she is the president of the executive body of the Galician government, the Xunta de Galicia....
for the next elections and gradually leaves active politics. However, being unhappy with the internal dynamics of BNG shortly after he yielded leadership, he fostered a critical organization within it - the Encontro Irmandinho - in order to promote party transparency and internal democracy.
After abandoning the first line of BNG, Beiras has been actively involved in
anti-globalizationCriticism of globalization is skepticism of the claimed benefits of the globalization of capitalism. Many of these views are held by the anti-globalization movement however other groups also are critical of the policies of globalization....
movements such as Altermundo and the
World Social ForumThe World Social Forum is an annual meeting, based in Brazil, that defines itself as "an opened space – plural, diverse, non-governmental and non-partisan – that stimulates the decentralized debate, reflection, proposals building, experiences exchange and alliances among movements and...
(WSF)
http://www.anosaterra.org/nova/beiras-no-debate-para-espallar-o-foro-social-mundial.html. In 2008 he was invited to join the Council of the WSF
http://firgoa.usc.es/drupal/node/40670/print. Beiras is also the co-founder and president of the politically-oriented foundation Galiza Sempre, since 1999.
Beiras as an author
He has published a large number of books and articles in politics and economics, but as an
intellectualAn intellectual is a person who uses his or her intelligence and analytical thinking, either in a professional or a personal capacity.-Terminology and endeavours:...
Beiras has also shown an interest in literature and music (he is an accomplished pianist). He contributed to the creation of publishing houses such as Editorial Galaxia and Edicións Laiovento. At present he is a regular
columnistA columnist is a journalist who writes for publication in a series, creating copy that can sometimes be strongly opinionated. Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs on the Internet....
of newspaper
Galicia HoxeGalicia Hoxe is a Galician newspaper from Santiago de Compostela written in Galician. Founded in January 1994, it was formerly called O Correo Galego. It changed its name to Galicia Hoxe in May 2003....
. Occasionally he publishes in the newspaper A Nosa TerraA Nosa Terra is a Galician weekly newspaper founded in 1977 and published in Vigo. It is known for its leftist stance and its closeness to Galician Nationalism....
and in the prestigious Galician cultural journal Grial.
Selected works
- Antígona (translation into Galician of Jean Anouilh
Jean Marie Lucien Pierre Anouilh was a French dramatist.-Early years:Anouilh was born in Cérisole, a small village on the outskirts of Bordeaux and had Basque ancestry. His father was a tailor and Anouilh maintained that he inherited from him a pride in conscientious craftmanship...
's
Antigone, with Xosé Luís Franco Grande), 1959
O problema do desenrolo na Galiza rural, 1967
Introducción á economía galega de hoxe (Beiras et al.), 1969
Estructura y problemas de la población gallega, 1970
O atraso económico de Galiza, 1972
A Galiza rural na encrucillada, 1975
Contaminación industrial e desenvolvimento, 1975
O atraso e Nós. Aportación para un debate encol o atraso económico, 1982
Dende Galiza: Marx. Homenaxe a Marx no 1º centenario da súa morte (Beiras et al.), 1984
Por unha Galiza liberada, 1984
Constitución española e nacionalismo galego: unha visión socialista, 1985
Cartas a un amigo alemán (translation into Galician of Albert CamusAlbert Camus was a French author, philosopher, and journalist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957. He is often cited as a proponent of existentialism , but Camus himself refused this particular label...
' Lettres à un ami allemand), 1987
Os xustos (translation into Galician of Albert CamusAlbert Camus was a French author, philosopher, and journalist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957. He is often cited as a proponent of existentialism , but Camus himself refused this particular label...
' Les Justes), 1987
Prosas de combate e maldicer, 1991
O estado da nación, 1996
A poboación galega no século XX (et A. López Rodríguez), 1999
External links
See also
- Galician nationalism
Galician nationalism is a political movement claiming for the recognition of Galicia as a nation. The political movement referred to as modern Galician nationalism was born in the beginnings of the twentieth century from the idea of Galicianism....
- Galician Nationalist Bloc