From concern to action: the fourth edition of the Antifascist Weekend arrives

PalmaMÉS per Palma, MÉS per Mallorca, the Coppieters Foundation, and the Darder-Mascaró Foundations presented this Wednesday the fourth edition of the Anti-Fascist Weekend, which this year will be held under the motto 'Building a democratic horizon. European proposals'. The sessions will take place on October 16th and 17th at La Col·lectiva in Palma, with debates and workshops to respond to the rise of the far-right and the reactionary wave in Europe.

The MÉS candidate for mayor of Palma, David Pujol, has claimed that the city should become "an anti-fascist benchmark". "We want a city that does not normalize hate speech, that defends coexistence, and that is capable of building democratic alternatives," he commented, and warned that "anti-fascism is not a slogan of the past, but a commitment to the present and the future". Pujol has claimed a city "where no one has to live in fear due to their origin, language, identity, or way of loving".

For his part, the MÉS candidate for the Council of Mallorca, Miquel Oliver, has placed the meeting within the European context. "The reactionary wave crosses borders and aims to roll back rights that have taken decades to conquer. MÉS per Mallorca wants to be at the forefront of the response, with more democracy, social justice, and organization," he remarked. "It is not enough to denounce the far-right. We must share experiences with other territories and offer concrete hope to the citizens," he added.

Debates and tools

The representative of the Darder-Mascaró Foundations, Lila Thomàs, has detailed the program. On Friday the 16th, the roundtable 'For an anti-fascist Mallorca and Europe' will be held (at 7 p.m.). Participants will include Claire Gago (Coppieters Foundation), MEP Vicent Marzà, Sicilian activist Francesca Butera, the coordinator of MÉS per Mallorca, Lluís Apesteguia, Corsican lawyer and politician Lívia Volpei, and David Pujol. On Saturday the 17th, Àngela Vázquez and Sara Riveiro (WOKE UP) will conduct the workshop 'Anti-fascism on social media: influencers for democracy' (from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.). Afterwards, former Palma City Council member Aurora Jhardi and philosopher Eudald Espluga will discuss the possibility of imagining futures and utopias (from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.). The final event will be a closing vermouth. "We want to move from concern to proposals, and from proposals to collective action," stated Thomàs.