Marta Corbal
Updated Saturday, February 3, 2024-01:52
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The brain drain from Operation Democratic Tsunami continues. Like Carles Puigdemont, Marta Rovira or Clara Ponsatí,
Ruben Wagensberg
(37) has joined the club of those
who fled the judiciary
. Although unlike them he does not have a Catalan surname, he has been for years one of the politicians who have fought the most for
the independence cause.
He did it from his seat in the Parliament, as a
deputy for Esquerra Repubicana since 2017.
His struggle continued in the streets and reached its climax with
the riots of October 2019.
However, it was his digital activism that made him hit the wrong button. Wagensberg has been identified as
the person behind Konan
, alias of one of the main organizers of
the Tsunami Democràtic app.
Through which he orchestrated the homonymous movement that incited road blockages and riots as a
way of protesting the
procés trials.
For this reason, in November 2023, the judge of the National Court Manuel García-Castellón asked the Supreme Court to investigate him for
a possible crime of terrorism.
Faced with this situation, the pro-independence politician
decided to put his foot down by
settling in Switzerland during his Christmas holidays. Something that
he himself revealed in an interview on RAC1 radio.
Carlos Saura with Eulalia Ramón and his daughter AnnaGTRES
"I suffered episodes of anxiety,"
commented the politician, who is on sick leave today and
is healing his sorrows in Geneva.
In the Swiss city he is preparing his judicial defense.
He has not renounced his deputy status
, so he will be able to continue collecting his salary.
"I can only say that he is my nephew
, I love him very much and I totally respect his decision
," his maternal aunt tells LOC. These statements might seem like what
any aunt would make about a nephew.
However, these are the words of actress Eulalia Ramón (64), widow of filmmaker Carlos Saura. Known for films such as
Matar al Nani
(Roberto Bodegas, 1988) or
El mar y el tiempo
(Fernando Fernán Gómez, 1989), Laly Ramón has preferred
not to participate in this report.
Rubén is for her the dearest son of her sister Nuria and
he does not reveal any information about her private life.
Born in Barcelona in 1986, Ruben Wagensberg Ramón expressed his social concerns at a very young age.
A professor and music producer
, he founded the
Indian Runners
record label , an independent label that promotes the Catalan-language music scene and
activism through art.
Although over time he preferred to take the lead outside of classrooms and recording studios. For example, he devised and directed the
Extend Life
campaign in 2016
to
promote organ and tissue donation.
The Catalan politician Ruben WagensbergERC
The action that made him most popular was the creation of
the organization
Casa nostra, casa vostra
together with his partner, the illustrator Lara Costafreda. Both activists enrolled as volunteers in several refugee camps in Greece and came into contact with the drama of thousands of
immigrants displaced from areas of conflict and poverty
. Upon returning to Barcelona, they promoted a whole series of activities and demonstrations defending the reception of refugees. Under the motto
We want to welcome
,
concerts and a massive protest were held.
They were publicly supported by the TV3 network, Barça and other related brands.
The until now fourth secretary of the Parliament table is not the only politician in his house.
Her mother, Nuria Ramón (69), was the fourth substitute on the ERC list
for the Cantallops City Council (Girona) in the 2019 elections. She was successful. Her candidate, Joan Sabartés, is the mayor of the small town of
just over 300 residents
from 2011 to the present.
Also his maternal uncle,
the textile businessman Isaac Ramón,
ran for election that year. In his case, he did so with
an independent candidacy
, in seventeenth place on the CUP list and for the Calonge City Council, a town of 12,000 inhabitants located an hour and a half by car from Cantallops.
The popularizer, professor and scientist Jorge WagensbergDOMENEC UMBERT
Both towns run from
Alto to Bajo Empordá,
a Girona region bordering Andorra where Ruben grew up. He did it with his sister, Laura, who preferred to follow in his aunt's footsteps instead of his mother. Born in 1989, she has worked behind the cameras for
production companies such as Netflix or Movistar +
and in some films.
Despite his relationship with Eulalia Ramón and Carlos Saura, it is his paternal family that really has a movie life.
His father
, the mathematician and businessman Mauricio Wagensberg,
is
the son of Polish Jewish emigrants
who fled to Barcelona in the 1930s. In Barcelona
they founded the company Bolma,
dedicated to the manufacture of bags and suitcases. The business prospered, although it eventually closed and today its items are sold as
vintage.
But, without a doubt, the most prominent member of the clan was his uncle
Jorge Wagensberg
, founder of the Museum of Science in Barcelona, now known as
Cosmo Caixa
. He died in 2018, he was an important physicist and scientific communicator.
"All the memories I have of him are in the museum,"
Ruben said of him after his death.