New journal added to the Library's collection: La Maleta de Portbou
Subject: Multidisciplinary
It offers a forum that brings together two seemingly unrelated disciplines – the humanities and economics – to reflect on the world of today and tomorrow.
As Walter Benjamin said about his own project for a new publication on philosophy, "the aim of a journal is to make patent the very spirit of the era". But his idea was never to see the light of day. He committed suicide in 1940 in the Catalan town of Portbou while on the run from Nazi persecution. And all he had was his suitcase.
The name of this latest addition to the Library's collection, La Maleta de Portbou (“The Portbou Suitcase”) published by Galaxia Gutenberg, pays homage to Benjamin and his unfinished project. The journal comes out every two months and looks at today's world through in-depth articles. Its editor in chief is philosopher and journalist Josep Ramoneda.
Thinkers from around the world and from a variety of disciplines write essays for the journal on a wide range of topics. For example, Antxon Olabe, advisor to the Spanish Ministry of the Environment, wrote about economics and ecology in the November issue on ecological limits and economic dogmas. "The highly evolved and distinct biped simian, Homo Sapiens, has to understand and accept that it cannot prey on the Earth as if it were an infinite resource. Their own survival depends on it."
Other issues look at topics such as the mutations of capitalism or the new feminist paradigm.
