Thank you, Alfons!

Our friend Alfons Banda, vice-president of ICIP, founder of Fundació per la Pau (Foundation for Peace, now FundiPau), tenacious campaigner for peace, promoter of the importance of peace culture and of the leading role of public opinion in the fight for justice has just passed away. And he has done so today, the day we commemorate the death of Gandhi and the School Day of Nonviolence and Peace, two things he dedicated a lot of effort to for decades.
He died peacefully, after a short illness that did not respond well to treatment, with a serenity, dignity and courage to come to terms with his final days, guaranteeing human qualities that captivated and were admired by all.
Now we are overcome by sorrow although we can imagine that you are already chatting away with Gandhi, Joan Gomis or Sean McBride, all of whom you so much admired. But we also feel a great responsibility to continue your work, follow your lead and promote your legacy. And we will; we will do what you affectionately told us to do at the last ICIP Board Meeting: “I know that my convictions, ideas and actions will persist.”
We will miss your smile, of course, and we will miss your ability to combine conviction and analysis, which is rare. And we will also miss your firmness regarding minimal demands. You always said that dialogue and seeking out the other was necessary, but, like Walzer, the minimal demands, the red lines, had to be impassable and known at the beginning of the debate or dialogue. We will miss your constant perseverance, your infinite and tireless tenaciousness, without which ICIP would never have come into existence. But we are left with many, many things: memories, writings, gestures, examples, networks…
We will especially remember your demand to enlighten the shadow of peace, the title of your blog that you – always the professor, of course – clarified: peace is blurry, like the shadow of a ship in an image… vague outlines that fade away. What is needed, what you did with your blog, is to enlighten the shadow, to clarify the image of peace, to show its beauty and bring it to life.
We will continue to pursue, with your absent presence, the shadow of peace… so that shadow and reality can finally meet and become one.
Thank you, Alfons!
Rafael Grasa, President of the International Catalan Institute for Peace.