Jordi Porta i Ribalta (1936-2023) leaves an immense legacy in the field of management and social and cultural activism in our country. His trajectory is a man made of work and determination. The son of a large family, grown up in the post-war period, he combined his high school studies, and later the first years of university at the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, with the occupation of trade representative.
His social and national commitment is rooted in the scouting of the Minyons Escoltes, a movement closely linked to the Church in the sixties. At that time, he was imbued with the spirit of reform and social commitment of the Church represented by John XXIII and later Paul VI, and in a special way the entire process of the Second Vatican Council, which he kept alive until today.
In the sixties he came into contact with the Vilaseca-Roca family. He, Josep Maria Vilaseca, State lawyer and key man in the world of Catalan civil law and particularly in the field of foundations, and she, Theresa Rock, cultural promoter and enormous social sensitivity, were probably the essential references as patrons that allowed Jordi Porta to project his talent as manager and social and cultural activist.
Porta enjoyed a scholarship from the Jaume Bofill Foundation (created in 1968 by the Vilaseca-Roca couple) to complete his philosophy studies in Paris. From there he experienced firsthand the events of May 1968. The imprisonment in 1971 of the first director of the Jaume Bofill Foundation, Fèlix Martí, as a result of the creation of the Assemblea de Catalunya, brought the precipitous return of Porta from Paris to assume the direction of the foundation.
For 30 years (1971-2001), Jordi Porta he led the foundation with a strategic vision oriented to save the bases of the country and at the same time generous and committed to the wealth and the academic and social potential of the country. From the discretion that always characterized the performance of Jordi Porta The foundations were laid, from the Fundació Jaume Bofill and under his direction, for many projects in the field of social research and cultural action. There are many organizations -some public, others private, some from the university world and many from the associative fabric- that saw the light of day and found viability throughout the 1970s and 1980s thanks to the vision and way of doing things of Jordi Porta and the resources of the foundation.
He was especially proud of the contribution made to the Congrés de Cultura Catalana, in 1976. But the list would be endless and in many moments we would find ourselves before what we could define as authentic country structures in the cultural, academic and associative fields.
Jordi Porta was, along with Fèlix Martí or the already transferred Ricard Torrents or Enric Casassas, promoters of the Associació per les Noves Bases de Manresa with the desire to relaunch sovereignist social and political Catalanism again at the end of the 20th century.
Shortly after leaving the Fundació Jaume Bofill due to retirement, Jordi Porta took on the challenge of modernizing Òmnium Cultural in 2002. He was president of the entity from 2002 to 2010, becoming the essential pivot for transforming a historical association in defense of the Catalan language into an association capable of interpreting the baptism of Catalan society in the 21st century, as well as its political aspirations to become a an independent state. He was succeeded by Muriel Casals.
He assumed, among others, the responsibility of Síndic de Greuges of the Autonomous University of Barcelona and the presidency of the Fundació Enciclopèdia Catalana and the Unesco Center of Catalonia.
Author of several books, the most relevant is ‘Anys de Referència’ (Columna, 2010), an essay that sheds light on the experiences of the sixties and seventies, with May ’68 as the epicenter of reflection.
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Probably one of the most valued and felt recognitions for him was becoming an Honoris Causa doctor that the UAB awarded him in 2013. Previously he was also recognized with the Creu de Sant Jordi.
An accident, last Saturday, on the coastal path of his beloved Sant Feliu de Guíxols, closes an intense life full of effort, improvement, generosity, successes and complicity with the country and its people.