<![CDATA[Ara Balears in English - his town]]> 10 <![CDATA[The grammar of security]]> Donald Winnicott (1896-1971), a British pediatrician and psychoanalyst, intuited and studied that the need for security accompanies human beings from the first moment of life. He explained the need to feel "held" by the environment in order to grow and live with confidence.Literally ‘to hold’ in English means: ‘to sustain’, ‘to contain’, ‘to protect with the hands’. But Winnicott gave it a much deeper psychological meaning. When a small child is physically and emotionally held by the mother, is fed, protected, comforted and understood, they develop a basic sense of trust in the world. This is what Winnicott called ‘holding’. They have the intimate feeling that the world will not collapse under your feet. Thanks to this ‘held environment’, the child can play, explore, grow and build themselves. Without this ‘holding’, anguish, insecurity and emotional fragility appear. On a social and global level, societies also need a kind of ‘holding collective’. I mean that we like to feel that there is order, to have reliable institutions, accepted and shared norms, a certain stability and an invisible network that sustains this coexistence. If this support fails –or we perceive that it fails– then the obsessive demand for security arises. It may sound daring, but security is not just about having police or not having crime. It is also trust, cohesion, a certain credibility, a sense of identity belonging... It is having the perception that someone upholds the collective framework. Perhaps modern societies are not only seeking more security, but to recover the feeling of ‘holding’: feeling that the world is still capable of holding them.Why have I chosen The grammar of security as the title of this article? Well, because security is also a language. There are symbols, emotions, perceptions, narratives, and even scenographies of power. We must be able to talk about security without falling into alarmist discourse, nor into the naivety of denial. How can we reconcile the need for protection and the boundaries between freedom and control? I also chose the word 'grammar' because it was very recently that I discovered the figure and legacy of Gianni Rodari, and I have been fascinated by him. In confidence, The grammar of security transmits resonances of The Grammar of Fantasy. Winnicott fits in perfectly, and applying it to a social and contemporary topic seemed audacious to me.Let's refine a bit more; in sa Pobla –in any town– when we see a dirty square, a broken streetlight, a dark street, we observe how it is transmitting an emotional message to the population. And in the face of these real events that trouble us so much on social networks, the theory of James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling fits in very well, which more or less stated that small signs of disorder can generate the perception of abandonment and insecurity even if the real level of delinquency or criminality is low. Obviously, the use of current information channels can be manipulated and redirected towards the interests of corporations, political parties, etc. It is one of the important challenges facing current societies: the abuse of manipulation and easy populism. This abuse in order to achieve "power". It seems we have reached one of the most poignant paradoxes we have today: "The more protected a society is, the less tolerant it is of uncertainty"". But, deep down, in a very internalized space, over the years of my police activity I have observed that people do not just ask for physical protection. They ask to feel that the world is still understandable, orderly, and governable. We return to my town; last April, in sa Pobla, four low-intensity criminal acts, or minor delinquency, occurred. The perpetrator was quickly identified and brought before the judicial authorities; he was a repeat offender and quite well-known. Some of the affected parties and others used social media and amplified their fear. Some political parties saw an opportunity to gain visibility, increase their presence, and use it for political purposes. This happens every so often, almost cyclically. It is certainly legitimate, but in reality – dealing with a sensitive issue – they are 'playing' with the emotions and fears of the citizens. The result was that in the following weeks there was an increase in the perception of insecurity and fear among the townspeople. Evidently, political consensus among all forces on security matters has not yet matured enough and – at the municipal level – it is practically non-existent. The defense and joint work for the citizens will still have to wait.However, let's stop and get to the facts. The municipality of sa Pobla, its town hall, has allocated an average of between 10% and 11% of its initial budget to citizen security in the last five years. This is a relatively high ratio if we compare it to the rest of the municipalities in Spain. This means that – for the governing team – it has been an important priority when designing its municipal policies. Each inhabitant of Huialfàs spends approximately one hundred and five euros annually on local security. State-level security expenses are outside these figures. This would be an objective fact, but it is very far from the perception that many people from sa Pobla have.There is a lot of work to do and –above all– a lot of work to explain, to make understood. Personally, I would like to delve into the next article on the role played by the Local Police and our privacy that we are losing, in this complex and interesting mosaic. To summarize, we can conclude that the great drama of modern societies is not only real insecurity, but the constant need to feel protected. And the inevitable question that remains is: Why does an objectively secure society continue to be so afraid?Note: This week I have ended my labor and social contract with the Local Police of sa Pobla. It has been more than forty-four years of dedication. In the beginning, I was a young man with more curiosity than training, these were different times. I have tried to give back to my town all that it has given me. The feeling of gratitude is enormous. The finite landscape and the faces of the people who have already departed have also accompanied me. I have made mistakes many times and I apologize to those I may have hurt or harmed. Life goes on and we need to savor it and share it. Until the next article, thank you.

]]> <![CDATA[The theatre author who reinvented Sa Pobla]]>

Even today, the festival that remembers Alexandre Ballester in sa Pobla, of which the sixth edition has just taken place, is called Albopàs, the name of the town backwards: a term he coined, as a kind of magical recreaction of sa Pobla, and a country where he set many of his works. We remember this stage creator precisely when the Principal Theatre of Palma is about to premiere a new version of Un baül groc per a Nofre Taylor, one of his most outstanding works.

]]> <![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[A handmade television that a village sewed]]>

Every Thursday afternoon, sa Pobla would stop in front of the television. On the screen, there were the festivals, the news, the neighbors, the familiar faces. It was the town looking at itself.

]]> <![CDATA[The ship of l'Esplet, for sale for five million euros]]>

The sale of the warehouse and the rustic land exploited by the founding company l'Esplet is now the last chapter in the disappearance of a benchmark in the Balearic countryside. At the beginning of the month, the company's closure and the dismissal of its 19 workers due to economic problems were made public. Now, two weeks later, the company is selling the warehouse and land for five million euros.

]]> <![CDATA[IES Can Peu Blanc expresses its support for the teachers of Alcúdia following the attack on a teacher]]>

The Teachers' Assembly of IES Can Peu Blanc, in sa Pobla, has publicly expressed its support for the Teachers' Assembly of IES Alcúdia following the recent reported attack on a teacher.

]]> <![CDATA[Sa Pobla presents allegations against the sanctioning file of Salut for the control of drinking water]]>

The Sa Pobla Town Council will file an appeal against the disciplinary proceedings initiated by the Regional Ministry of Health regarding alleged deficiencies in the control and recording of drinking water analyses, arguing that there are grounds to justify the municipality's actions. The mayor of Sa Pobla, Biel Ferragut, along with several council members, met this week with officials from the Regional Ministry to personally address the issue, after reviewing the contents of the file and the documentation received. According to the Town Council, in response to specific spikes in nitrate levels exceeding the limit of 50 milligrams per liter, the Municipal Water Service took immediate action to correct the results and improve the quality of the supply, with the aim of ensuring compliance with health standards. The data from the analyses carried out, available in the National Drinking Water Information System (SINAC), show that the average nitrate level over the last five years has been 45.74 mg/L in the main reservoir and 49.55 mg/L in the second reservoir. In the case of the main reservoir, of the 39 samples collected between 2021 and 2025, only five exceeded the established limits for nitrates. According to the City Council, this demonstrates that these were isolated exceedances and that the overall trend remains close to the regulatory threshold and below the maximum permitted level. The local government has reiterated its commitment to public health, transparency, and continuous improvement of the service, and has maintained that water management has been carried out diligently and with corrective measures in place.

]]> <![CDATA[The Sufis of Sa Pobla. "A discreet presence"]]> At dawn, the first shadows fall on the train station plaza. They are cold and sleepy, their faces show it, their steps are slow. They look for a pebble to sit on or, standing straight ahead, they wait. To the left, the Amazigh of the Rift Valley; to the right, the people from Senegal. They all hope to find work in Marjal or in a garden by the bay. To work for a few coins they will shake with hands weathered by the desert.What time?The sound of a voice can be heard from further away. To avoid fights over a crust of bread, they divided up the space. Those who come to the plaza are almost always the newest arrivals. They don't speak, they don't understand; they say yes to almost everything, they don't complain. They have a gleam in their eyes, their hearts beat with anticipation of their uncertain future, while silently they think of their families, those they left behind at their parents' house.

]]> <![CDATA[Vox wants to ban the burka in municipal buildings in Sa Pobla, Manacor and Felanitx]]>

The Vox groups in the town halls of Sa Pobla, Manacor, and Felanitx have submitted a coordinated motion in their respective municipalities to prohibit the use of items that obscure facial recognition in public buildings, explicitly mentioning the niqab and the burka. In a statement released this Monday, the party indicated that concealing the face "with items not traditionally used in Spain hinders the performance of public duties and the prevention of identity theft." The councilors have requested that the legal departments of their respective town halls draft internal regulations implementing this prohibition to ensure the rule is clear and publicly available to all citizens.

]]> <![CDATA[While Vox counts books in Palma, Sa Pobla creates the first social library]]>

Libraries have once again made headlines, and this time, for reasons that have little or nothing to do with their function or operation. The latest issue is the report that the Palma City Council will produce—at the suggestion of Vox and with the support of the People's Party (PP)—to determine how many books in the municipal catalog are in Spanish and how many are in Catalan. According to the far-right party, Spanish books are in the minority in Palma's libraries, especially in the children's and young adult sections, an anomaly that should be corrected, they say, to protect users' linguistic rights. This is the same argument the PP has used to justify including Spanish in literary competitions, to guarantee "the freedom of local authors" who wish to participate. However, of the six prizes in Spanish awarded at the Palma City Awards since 2023, none have gone to a local author, and only one out of five in the Mallorca Prizes has been awarded.

]]> <![CDATA[Demons light up the witching night of San Antonio in Sa Pobla]]>

Sa Pobla once again came alive this Friday as the traditional epicenter of one of Mallorca's most deeply rooted and unique celebrations, the Sant Antoni festival. From early evening, the town's streets filled with fire, music, devils, local residents, and local authorities, all ready to experience a night that, year after year, reaffirms the collective identity of a town that has kept this tradition alive for over six centuries.

]]> <![CDATA[Sa Pobla is gearing up for the big musical show]]>

Sa Pobla will experience one of the most anticipated moments of its festive calendar this Friday night with a pyrotechnic and musical show that will fill the town with light, sound, and color. The event, which will take place at 9:45 p.m. in the town's main square, will bring together locals and visitors for an evening that promises to be one of the highlights of the Sant Antoni program and will be presented by Pirotecnia Jordà.

]]> <![CDATA[Is San Antonio only for the Crespí and Socias families, or also for the Hamdaoui or Saidi families?]]>

Crespí, Soler, García, Socias, Martínez, and Gelabert are the surnames of the six young men who will play the role of devils for the Sant Antoni festivities in Sa Pobla in 2027. Their public selection is one of the events that kick off this year's celebrations and is the result of a raffle that attracted around eighty candidates. Most of the lucky winners have lineages linked to the municipality of Sa Pobla since ancient times; others, a smaller number, are of Castilian origin. But do the surnames of these six young men reflect the reality of Sa Pobla's social composition, which, as throughout the Balearic Islands, is increasingly diverse in terms of origins? Considering that the first Moroccans arrived in the first half of the 1980s, has no devil yet been chosen who is of Hamdaoui or Saidi lineage?

]]> <![CDATA["I don't feel any less Moroccan for celebrating Saint Anthony"]]>

Nordin, a 24-year-old Moroccan, arrived in Sa Pobla almost three months before Sant Antoni in 2007. On January 16th, he wasn't yet in school, and his parents told him not to go out too much because he didn't know anyone in town. However, for the Sant Antoni festival, he went to the main square and saw "caparrots, devils, and a huge crowd," he recalls. The following year, he was already playing at stealing the devils' brooms and running off without fear. Since then, he has felt part of the festival and celebrates it year after year.

]]> <![CDATA[Prosecutors are seeking a two-year prison sentence for the former head of the ENT department at Son Espases hospital in connection with the death of the former mayor of Sa Pobla following an operation.]]>

The prosecution accuses the former head of the Otorhinolaryngology Service of the Son Espases University Hospital in Palma of manslaughter due to gross negligence and requests a two-year prison sentence for the death of Joan Comes, the former mayor of Sa Pobla, following an operation.

]]> <![CDATA[Those affected by the Sa Pobla railway route are asking the City Council for a project without expropriations.]]>

The "Save Sa Marjal" platform has reported that the Balearic Government has launched a new route for the train that will connect Sa Pobla and Alcúdia. This, they explained in a post on their Facebook account, would not involve expropriations, as the route would run through public land.

]]> <![CDATA[React: Catalan as a tool of resistance]]> Unfortunately, speaking Catalan in the Balearic Islands is still a protest movement. According to data from the Platform for the Language, only 20.4% of young people aged 15 to 34 have Catalan as their first language.

]]> <![CDATA[We feel like wrecks of the Government, Madam President!]]> When the news of the train to Sa Pobla arrived, we were unaware of the summer that awaited us. That's life. If the study and the train layout had been carried out with care and sensitivity toward the people and the territory, surely no one would have said much, but no, that wasn't the case. Two red lines crisscrossed and ruthlessly dissected the flat lands of Marjal. At any price? We said no on the first day. The Government hadn't brought us the train we needed; it had presented us with what it wanted us to have. No one from the Directorate General for Mobility or the SFM, during this term, was interested enough to conduct a review and realize the dangers this study entailed. The paradox is that the work was contracted to Ayesa in January 2023, incredible but true.

]]> <![CDATA[The route of the Sa Pobla train that Friends of the Railway want]]>

The Association of Friends of the Balearic Islands Railway has submitted a document with various allegations regarding the extension of the train from Sa Pobla to Alcudia, presenting route proposals to minimize its landscape impact.

]]> <![CDATA[Nearly 400 objections have been filed against the Sa Pobla train project in Alcudia.]]>

The "Este tren no!" platform has estimated that at least 400 objections have been submitted to the planned extension of the train from Sa Pobla to Alcúdia. This figure, according to a report on social media this Monday, was recorded in the Sa Pobla Town Hall registry as of last Thursday. These objections must also be added to those submitted to other town halls and regional departments, both on paper and online.

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