<![CDATA[Ara Balears in English - Majorca]]> 10 <![CDATA[Perifèria Cultural arrives for the first time in Mallorca with an edition marked by memory and rooted culture]]>

Perifèria Cultural will land for the first time in Mallorca in 2026 with a program focused on historical memory, root music, and local gastronomy. The cycle will stop in Porreres and Mancor de la Vall on May 29 and 30 with a proposal that claims peripheral culture and narratives linked to the wounds of Francoism.

]]> <![CDATA['La Balanguera' makes us Mallorcan]]>

Mallorcans do not know our anthem. In our country, unless you are from Sóller or a slightly eccentric person, you do not know how to sing La Balanguera. And by knowing how to sing it, I mean the whole song, not just the chorus, and with the emotion it requires.

]]> <![CDATA[Gold bars and 12 luxury watches in the Mallorca home of the Dutchman investigated in Plus Ultra]]>

The Dutch citizen Simón Leendert Verhoeven, investigated in the Plus Ultra case for his loans to the airline through his gold and raw materials sales businesses, kept 2 gold bars, 12 luxury watches, and numerous jewels at his home in Mallorca, searched in October 2024. According to the summary of this case, Verhoeven, who currently has an international arrest warrant for extradition, acknowledged to the Geneva prosecutor the ownership of three companies (Allpa Wira Trading UK, Wailea Investment LTD, and Valerian Corporation) and that through them he had made loan agreements in favor.

]]> <![CDATA[The cake]]> If a society is aware of what demographic changes cause, this is island society. It has been said many times and it is very true: Mallorca, for example, has been a kind of social laboratory where many of the economic ideas that have ended up shaping many parts of the West could be experimented with. A small, closed society, immensely devoted to a survival or agrarian economy, suddenly entered into a cycle of expansion, construction, demographic change, massive arrival of immigration, tourists, etc., which undid old ties, hierarchies, and cultures. Literature has made enough echo of this problem, while politics was responsible for either denying that anything too serious was happening, or for trying to steer it for the greatest benefit, in theory, of everyone, but in practice, of the political and economic elites.A society that is not capable of guaranteeing its basic survival structures is doomed to suicide, or to a perpetual identity crisis, which is beginning to be noticed as a continuity crisis, and also obviously, as an economic crisis. It is now in the rest of the Spanish state that a brutal population growth is being experienced, especially in this last decade. The economic model needs a lot of labor, and an aging population, dependent on care and with a very low birth rate among us, have finished fixing the pie.The 2008 real estate crisis slowed expansion, but from 2015 it began to grow again, now with more Europeans, Ukrainian refugees (more than 300,000), digital workers, etc. At no point has there been an explicit manifestation of the political desire to increase the population, however; citizens have seen the wave arrive without having been consulted, or without it having been clearly politically planned.However, the reforms of the immigration laws in 2022, and the facilities required at the same time by the EU, which is aware that Europe is aging and that the economy needs new blood, have now led to a point where one gets the impression that collapse is imminent, and not just in communities with non-Spanish languages, but everywhere. Such a wave required planning, as well as the capacity to integrate people and make them speak the language of the host country. From Spain, they know that people end up speaking Spanish out of obligation, what choice do they have, while Catalan speakers bow their heads and give up their language, which in the long run only increases the number of Spanish speakers by millions. It is one way among others of putting an end to non-Spanish languages, diluting them, and denying that demographics is a tool to achieve this objective, more than recurrent in the history of Spanish nationalism, it is a way of playing into its hands or whitewashing it. Spanish nationalism itself throws its hands up in the air when it finds that Spanish is no longer heard in certain neighborhoods or areas of the big capitals, a scandal that when it came from Catalan speakers was always mocked and stigmatized. Now it will be seen more than ever in favor of which language – not of which languages – the Spanish state is. Money has always spoken the language of those who handle it.

]]> <![CDATA[Sa Pobla has the best vermouth in the world]]>

The Mallorcan brand Miss Vermut has once again been recognized at the World Vermouth Awards. After winning the award for the best vermouth in the world in the semi-sweet category in 2025, this year the company from sa Pobla has obtained the Gold 2026 medal in the same category with its most daring proposal: Miss Vermut Picant.

]]> <![CDATA[Yes, that they ask forgiveness]]> Today there is much talk of strained relations, areas, and societies. We must not forget that 'tension' is a natural fact of human coexistence. The struggle between those who hold the reins and those who feel like the oil that the master moves wherever he wants is a tension, once again, that extends beyond the most ancient times.From the time of Joanot Colom, from the time of Simó Ballester, lo Tort. From the time of the foreign revolts and the guilds, up to the Civil War that devastated the island during the 20th century, this tension, this popular nervousness, has been a constant. "This land is ours, let the lords know it," wrote Guillem d'Efak. "We do not need capes to lead us by the hand, we are not children of honey and sugar, and we know how to govern ourselves," sang the shack-dwelling sorcerer. Things have changed from green to blue, but, in the end, everything remains more or less the same, only perhaps with some of the goose's roles changed.Antoni Tugores has always explained that during the Civil War the most rabid right-wingers were not the lords, but the peasants who, pampered like lice in pasture, did not want to lose their nouveau riche status. At school, when we talk about the Middle Ages, we do so by remembering that it was a class-based society, with immutable categories and two large classes: the privileged and the non-privileged. The former were the landowners. The latter were those who worked them. The former did not work. The latter, bent their backs doing it. The former were rentiers. The latter, those who paid the rents, and moreover, the taxes.The land in Mallorca is no longer the pantry that directly feeds us. Neither grain, nor legumes, nor vegetables. Neither cows, nor sheep, nor chickens. Now food arrives in the form of brick and concrete. Every two "quarterades" (a Catalan unit of land measurement), a villa with a pool. And in the village, if you have a house, fix it up a bit, because you can still rent it for a young canary's price three or four months a year.These are the furious ones, now. There is a businessman from Manacor, very dynamic on social media, who day in and day out asserts himself: “I will not apologize, nor will I be ashamed to fight like a goat and have a good life.” Well, perhaps yes, many of these “small owners” do have to apologize. Well, perhaps yes, it is worth apologizing, without being ashamed of it, for asking for 1,500 or 2,000 euros for an ordinary rent, when the interprofessional minimum wage is 1,221 euros per month. Other standard-bearers of this fight appeal to the "mallorquinitat" of these 'small owners', as those most harmed by an eventual limitation of rental prices. A measure, on the other hand, that is a complete fantasy, as President Prohens has already warned us. Yes, very "mallorquin" are these 'small owners': there is data indicating that in Mallorca one in every four properties is already in foreign hands, and that there are municipalities like Calvià and Andratx where this percentage soars to forty percent. The majority of these properties, moreover, are destined for tourist rentals, for second homes, or are simply empty waiting for the speculative market to offer them the opportunity to be sold at a price unaffordable for the "mallorquins" who earn money by working.Because yes, that's what the topic is about. The conversion of housing into a business has allowed thousands of people in Mallorca to see the possibility of earning money without working, which is what landlords have done all their lives. The sick person has a bad wound, because there are few things sweeter than earning them sweet. And those who rent villas for 1,000 euros a weekend earn them just as sweetly, as do those who rent renovated flats to school teachers and healthcare professionals for 1,500 or 2,000 euros, as do those who put a kitchen in a stable and ask for 1,000 euros a month, as do those who charge 400 euros per room for sub-standard housing. We can no longer talk about supply and demand when talking about housing. We are talking about necessity, which is what exists. It is time to stop this shame.

]]> <![CDATA["Doing homework with candles is still part of many people's lives"]]>

Yúnez Chaib, a comedian born in Melilla and raised in Mallorca, has developed her career through wit, sensitivity, and social criticism. We talk about her beginnings at Trampa Teatre in Palma to her rise to popularity on shows like La Resistencia, channels like Comedy Central, and the book she has just published, Corderito (Aguilar, 2026), which she will present on May 16 in Manacor –12 p.m. at Món de Llibres– and on June 5 in Palma.

]]> <![CDATA[The origin of the art market in Mallorca]]>

The history of the art trade in Mallorca cannot be understood without the emergence, at the end of the 19th century, of a society that turned painting into an object of desire and a business capable of moving significant capital. We are talking about the Foment de la Pintura i Escultura, a social entity active in the city between 1876 and 1904, but about which little has been said until now. The restorer of works of art José María Pardo Falcón now reconstructs that collective adventure in the essay-book "La sociedad del Fomento de la Pintura y Escultura. Palma 1876-1904", edited by Ensiola and with a prologue by professor Catalina Cantarellas. The volume will be presented on May 7 at the Quars bookstore, in a conversation between the author and Cantarellas herself.

]]> <![CDATA[Would you buy a box without knowing what's inside? The phenomenon of lost packages arrives in Mallorca]]>

Mallorca has joined a phenomenon that has already swept through various European cities: the purchase of lost packages without knowing their content until after paying for them. The company King Colis opened a temporary store this Monday at the Porto Pi shopping center, where it is selling packages from online commerce that have not reached their recipients. The pop-up will only be on the island for five days, from May 5 to 9.

]]> <![CDATA[This is how the illegal rental party is made in Mallorca]]>

The idea of tourist rental emerged with a discourse of collaborative economy that would allow the democratization of income. In validating it, I don't know who the naive leftist was who ignored the voracity of man and capitalism. Over time, housing has been transformed into a financial asset, a professionalized business in which large conglomerates, vulture funds, and any greedy person has sunk their claws.

]]> <![CDATA[The purchase of housing falls 18.6% in February in the Balearic Islands and the price falls 1.4%]]>

Housing sales fell 18.6% in the Balearic Islands in February, despite a 1.4% drop in prices, according to data from the General Council of Notaries. Specifically, housing sales fell in a total of 14 autonomous communities, where the Islands rank third, only behind the Canary Islands (-21%) and Navarre (19.2%), while also being ahead of Asturias (-17.6%).

]]> <![CDATA[An accident near the airport causes traffic jams up to the ring road]]>

A collision between two cars near the airport on the Ma-19 towards Llucmajor caused several kilometers of traffic jams this Wednesday. According to information provided by the Directorate General of Traffic (DGT), the incident, which was minor, occurred around 08:06 this Wednesday towards Llucmajor.

]]> <![CDATA[The Alaró Castle hospitality will continue to offer service during the month of May]]>

The Board of Trustees of Alaró Castle has reported that the inn will remain operational during the month of May, despite being in the process of awarding the new concession for the donated property. The fact that the tender was declared void in the first instance has caused a delay in the awarding of the concession, which is expected to be made shortly to begin operating on June 1.

]]> <![CDATA[This is the best tapa with Majorcan oil]]>

The cook for the Aromata team, Daniela Reigosa, has won the award for the best tapa made with Mallorca Oil in the final of the Oleotapa competition, which was held at the Balearic Islands Hospitality School. She achieved this with the tapa called Tomato stuffed with Mallorca Oil with ice cream.

]]> <![CDATA[From Ghana to Mallorca to end up on the street at 18: "I just want a normal life"]]>

Musa's room always smells good. The air freshener sticks she has placed on a shelf anchor her to the new space. The smell calms her. It tastes like home. Where a month ago there was an office with a computer and a video game console, today there is a new mattress and bed. They are hers. She will no longer have to wander with her clothes in a sports bag, not knowing where she will sleep the following week.

]]> <![CDATA[Esporles, "little Russia" repressed]]>

Located at the foot of the Tramuntana mountain range, 14 kilometers from Palma, at the beginning of the 20th century Esporles was known as the 'little Russia' of Mallorca. Its six textile factories had managed to forge a strong proletarian consciousness. The inauguration in 1930 of the Casa del Pueblo would be a reflection of that class pride. Already in the municipal elections of April 12, 1931, the municipality would be one of the few on the island where the left triumphed. Two days later, King Alfonso XIII departed into exile and the Second Republic was proclaimed.

]]> <![CDATA[Exhumation work begins on two graves in Son Servera cemetery]]>

The Balearic Government has initiated excavation, exhumation, and identification of human remains in two mass graves located in the Son Servera cemetery (Mallorca), one situated in a flowerbed and another in the niche area, within the framework of the V Plan de Fosas of the Balearic Islands 2025-2026. The objective of the intervention is to locate the mass graves, recover the remains of the buried individuals, and advance their identification.

]]> <![CDATA[Bunyola promotes the construction of 10 public housing units to facilitate access to housing]]>

Bunyola takes a step forward in public housing. The Balearic Housing Institute has put out to tender the drafting of the project for the construction of ten public protection homes in the municipality, an action that aims to expand the public stock and facilitate access to decent housing, especially for young people and families.

]]> <![CDATA[The Mallorca Tenants' Union is born to combat speculation and the housing crisis]]>

The Mallorca Tenants' Union is born with the will to “canalyze social discontent into a tool for legal and political struggle”. As the organization has reported in a statement, the objective is to articulate a collective and organized response to the escalating rental prices and precariousness affecting thousands of people on the island.

]]> <![CDATA[Everything you need to know about Acampallengua 2026: schedules, concerts, and how to get there]]>

Manacor hosts this weekend, April 11 and 12, a new edition of Acampallengua, the youth gathering in Catalan that combines music, popular culture, and linguistic advocacy. Parc de na Molla will be the center of a program with more than 30 activities, camping, and concerts until dawn.

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