Four islands, one way of being
Today, as every March 1st, we celebrate Balearic Islands Day. We commemorate the approval, 43 years ago, of our Statute, which recognizes our autonomy and establishes our islands – Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza, and Formentera – as an autonomous community.
In these 43 years, much has undoubtedly changed in the Balearic Islands. Over these four decades, we have witnessed our islands opening up to the world, accelerating their dynamism, and modernizing. We have moved from discussing growth to discussing restraint, sustainability, and transformation. We have shifted from talking about volume to talking about value; from talking about wealth to talking about well-being. We have seen the face of our cities and towns change, and our society evolve.
We have seen our population double in this time. This population growth is a challenge we cannot ignore, an unsustainable growth pattern for our territory, our public services, and our identity.
We have seen changes in the way we relate to each other, or even in the way we communicate, or how collective goals and challenges have changed.
But today, we celebrate that there is something that doesn't change, something that remains unaltered. It is what identifies us, what makes us unique; it is what allows us all to recognize each other as a people even now: it is our character and our idiosyncrasies, the fruit of our history and roots. It is our way of being.
This way of being, so typical of us, of being quiet people who don't like to bother others, but who also don't want to be told what to do, who measure time in little by little and strip by stripHardworking, brave, and enterprising people. In fact, we are leaders in the growth of self-employed workers, because now, moreover, they are no longer alone.
Men and women who have never been given anything for free; everything they have is the fruit of their labor and effort. And that fruit is passed down from generation to generation, from parents to children, like a legacy, an inheritance that no one has the right to lay hands on.
Because family, our understanding of it as that safe space, that refuge to which we can always return, is also part of this way of being. A land of free and courageous women. This has always been a land with a matriarchal culture, of our mothers and godmothers, who paved the way. Women who managed, who made decisions, who led, even when no one recognized them.
A way of life where our home is sacred, where private property is unquestioned. And that's why we uphold legal security, which protects those who own their homes and evicts squatters, those who seize what isn't theirs, without hesitation. And that's why we're working tirelessly to provide all the necessary tools and resources to change the housing situation on our islands, offering more affordable housing, finally, for the people who live here. Because housing on our islands must be for the people who live in it.
This way of life also reflects our understanding that the greatest legacy we can leave to our children and grandchildren is our natural environment, our landscapes, and our sea, which we have learned to love and value. That is why we are investing like never before in the care and preservation of our natural environment, with more resources and the purchase of new public lands, and also in the conservation of our sea, following the roadmap of the Marine Conservation Plan.
A way of being recognizable in our most ancestral traditions, which we still live today with joy and passion in moments of faith, and of remembering and commemorating our history; in our culture and in the fact of having our own language, which we learned to speak, chat or scribble from our parents and godparents, and which we must preserve by being able to charm and seduce in our language, and avoid confrontations or attempts to appropriate it.
Our islands are also shaped by those who have come to contribute, to work, to integrate, to respect our traditions and our way of life; all those who make these islands not only our home, but also their home, enriching them and making them better. Yes, we are peaceful people, but we don't allow anyone to touch what is ours, nor to trample on us, nor do we bow our heads to what we consider unjust. That is why, on the day we celebrate our Statute of Autonomy, as president of this Autonomous Community, it is my duty to raise my voice against a funding proposal that continues to punish us, that despises us, and that disregards our reality. A funding system proposal negotiated with the same old players, and which, as always, we end up paying for. A proposal that ignores our population growth, the cost of living, that diminishes the importance of our insularity, and that threatens our autonomy by lowering taxes. And we will not stand for it. Here, you will find us standing firm. Defending, as always, the people of this land.
Because this is just who we are.
Our essence, our soul, who we are. Because a people is defined by its people, its culture, and its way of being. This is what we celebrate this first of March: the way of being of Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza, and Formentera, the way of being of all the citizens of the Balearic Islands. Four islands, one way of being.
