"Our children have had Biniaraix stolen from them": the village that the residents no longer recognize

PalmaThe same doorway, two photographs separated by more than a century and the same square that today is hard to recognize for those who grew up there. The comparison was made on social media by a resident of Biniaraix, following the controversy caused by a private party at the Bar-Bodega which ended up occupying a large part of the square during the village festivities.The old image shows the building at the beginning of the 20th century. As the author of the publication explains, it was sent to him by Joan Marroig Piu and it corresponds to the mother of his great-grandfather from Can Piu, who managed the grocery store that was in that same premises before the Bar-Bodega was installed there. Next to the historical photograph, there are others of the bar and the square in ancient times, and two current images.The assembly has served to bring to the table a feeling that is repeated in many of the comments: that the conflict this summer is not just a matter of a party, but the symptom of a deeper transformation of what had been for decades one of the meeting places of Biniaraix."I was born and raised in Biniaraix. I have stepped into this bar thousands of times, since back when it was run by Madò Antònia and her son, Pedro Antonio," explains another neighbor in a post that has also gone viral. She remembers the ice creams she used to buy there during summer afternoons, the games in the four corners of the square, and the parties. "She feels Biniaraix is like our home," she states. And she adds that what saddens her most is "seeing what is happening," because she believes it is no longer just a question of having a menu in Catalan or not, but of feeling that "the people from here no longer count."

A square that used to be a meeting point

The memories of the former clients of the Bar-Bodega depict an establishment very different from the current one. One of the comments even recalls an anecdote told to him by his mother, who had worked for years with Pedro Antonio. When they saw many hikers coming down after doing the Biniaraix ravine, he remembers, Pedro Antonio would say: "Well, close it, close it, because many are coming".The phrase summarizes, for this neighbor, a business model that had the inhabitants of the village as its main clientele and that fled from massification. "They liked to serve coffee and juice calmly to the people of the town," she explains.Now, several neighbors lament that that relationship between the bar and the village has been lost. "We have lost what is ours. Going to Biniaraix and having a coffee or a cold drink at the Bar-Bodega is over," writes another user.Another one of the comments speaks directly of "gentrification," while there are those who lament that from their children "Biniaraix has been stolen." The majority agree, with different nuances, on the same perception: the core they remembered has changed and the lifelong inhabitants have less and less weight in their own space.The party conflict

The discussion has regained strength after the episode experienced this month of August at the Bar-Bodega. A private party held at the establishment caused complaints from neighbors because the activity extended to the square and coincided with the Biniaraix festivities. The City Council of Sóller intervened and drew up a report, while those responsible for the bar apologized and assured that the situation "got out of hand".For the neighbors who have now recovered the old photographs, however, the episode is only the latest chapter of a transformation that goes back further.The discussion also has a linguistic dimension. Several witnesses assert that the new reality of the premises and the square makes them feel like strangers in a space they identified with their daily lives and with Mallorcan. "It is not just a question of whether or not to have a menu in Catalan," insisted one of the neighbors. "It is seeing that the local people no longer matter, that our language is a nuisance"."I don't know if it's possible to turn back"

The publication of the photographs has also opened a debate about to what extent these changes are reversible. "I do not know if this paid invasion that has been forced upon us can be reversed," writes the author of the comparison of the photographs. And he asks who allowed it to reach this point."If it is not reversible, we are doing a real disservice to our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren", he concludes.The debate, in any case, no longer revolves solely around a bar. Photographs of the same doorway separated by a hundred years have ended up becoming the symbol of a much larger question that the residents of Biniaraix are asking themselves: what should remain of a village when the place where its inhabitants once met stops functioning as a meeting space for them?