<![CDATA[Ara Balears in English - Vox]]> 10 <![CDATA[Demonstrating with neo-Nazis]]> A graphic example of what the expression ‘cringe’ means is to see your own institutional representatives walking the streets alongside far-right and neo-Nazi groups, in a demonstration where racist and hateful shouts are uttered, and where the preferred chant includes the expression ‘son of a bitch’, in this case directed at the President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez. The President of the Government of the Balearic Islands, Marga Prohens, participated in a demonstration with these characteristics, and immediately afterwards she posted a funny tweet, because it explained another demonstration that had not happened. In the original version, President Prohens tweeted the following: “Ceuta is not alone. [Dramatic pause]. Thousands of us have taken to the streets to convey all our support to the people of Ceuta and to say loud and clear that Ceuta is not for negotiation and that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Spain are not for sale. [Dramatic pause]. We are all Ceuta”. The tweet did nothing more than reproduce the Partit Popular's talking points just as they had sent them from Madrid, which is the speech that President Prohens usually offers. This time, without translating it, or anything. Very well. It is a pity that reality has nothing to do with all of this. What is happening in Ceuta is a deep migratory, humanitarian, and political crisis, in which Spain's unity and territorial integrity have nothing to do with it, except for those who actually believe that the seventy thousand people who entered on July 30th and 31st from Morocco are an “invasion”. They must be Boabdil's troops, returning to reconquer Granada five hundred years later. What is happening in Ceuta, also, is a geopolitical conflict in which the main objective (of powers like Russia, Israel, or Trump's USA) is the destabilization of Europe, and in which the Spanish border is used to achieve it. The border and the Moroccan civilian population, with more than 140 dead and hundreds or thousands of people abandoned to their fate.The demonstration that President Prohens attended was not about any of that. It was a demonstration, by the way, in which the Police refrained from striking a single blow with a baton, despite the decidedly aggressive manners of many of the participants. The demonstration, in fact, should not be considered as such: the ‘demonstrations’ attended by the far right and neo-Nazis use one of the fundamental rights of democracy, which is the right to demonstrate, to make a public exhibition of brute force. An exercise in intimidation: shouts with insults, racist proclamations, and the demand to put an end to those considered “enemies of the fatherland” are nothing else. Fascism (which in Spain is cloaked in neo-Francoism) has always functioned in this way: seeking intimidation through hatred and brute force. The Popular Party no longer flirts or dallies with fascism, but has joined it definitively, has adopted its discourse as its own, and strives to whitewash and normalize it. President Prohens, as she has always done otherwise, obeys orders and, if she must let herself be photographed next to individuals with their arms raised in the Roman salute or next to individuals who exhibit the neo-Nazi imagery of groups like Plus Ultra, she does so. If anyone ever takes the trouble to remember Prohens' term (some idler with an interest in insignificant things will have to do it), these photos will look very bright in her biography.

]]> <![CDATA[The PSIB accuses Prohens of "lying" when she speaks of "massive" arrivals in the Islands: "She wants to harden the discourse"]]>

The PSIB spokesperson in Parliament, Iago Negueruela, reproached President Marga Prohens this Friday for her clash with the Spanish government. After the conservative leader said that President Pedro Sánchez hid a report on the risk of migrant arrivals to the Islands, Negueruela accused her of "lying". "She talks about massive arrivals of migrants" by boat, he denounced: "She wants to harden her discourse".

]]> <![CDATA[Prohens shoots against Sánchez and calls citizens to demonstrate for Ceuta]]>

The President of the Government, Marga Prohens, joins the PP's state war against Pedro Sánchez. In a media briefing, she encouraged the citizens of the Balearic Islands to participate in the demonstration called for this Wednesday in support of Ceuta, and accused the Spanish government of "hiding information" about the massive entry of migrants into the autonomous city.

]]> <![CDATA[Social rights against hate: the failure of Galmés's invisible shield]]> Global geopolitics has the capacity to shake the most everyday reality of our homes. The consequences derived from the unjust war in Iran that we are suffering in this 2026 are not abstractions; they translate into suffocating inflationary pressure, rising prices in the shopping basket, and difficulty filling the fuel tank. Faced with this unforeseen vulnerability, citizens have the right to expect their institutions to act as a safety net. The clearest example was the Government of Spain, which applied measures such as the reduction for 6 months, on fuels and energy. But the reality of the Consell de Mallorca shows us that, instead of a protective shield, what we have is a wall of propaganda, blame-shifting, and intolerable ideological concessions.Months ago we have been hearing the grand headlines from President Llorenç Galmés. We were promised the mobilization of a historic social shield, which in the case of the IMAS was endowed with 9 million euros to mitigate the effects of this economic crisis. Today, what is the reality? The counter for citizens is at zero. Instead of managing and directly executing the aid, the Council has opted to unload the work and responsibility onto the shoulders of the Town Halls. A decision made unilaterally, without speaking with the mayors, assuming they will take on a new bureaucratic burden when municipal social services are already overwhelmed with their day-to-day. Today, local administrations find themselves having to manage this task without knowing how much, what, or how.But if this dereliction of duty is already serious, the political price paid is even more worrying: the Popular Party has bought Vox's discourse of "national priority" hook, line, and sinker, and has imposed a five-year residency requirement on municipalities to access aid that should be for emergencies.With this hatred, this racism, and this xenophobia that Vox exudes, Galmés's government seems not to see that it is cracking Mallorca's social cohesion. Vox does not hide that it wants to exclude migrants, and that alone is serious enough. But the problem is even greater: this filter ends up excluding anyone who experiences a situation of vulnerability if they do not meet a requirement as arbitrary as having resided on the island for five consecutive years. In short, they are turning a social right into a privilege reserved only for some.Excluded are people who work and sustain essential services, but who have not been able to establish themselves long enough due to precariousness, cost of living, or residential instability. Excluded are families who have had to start from scratch and who, despite making an enormous effort to get ahead, remain trapped in situations of sudden poverty. And also excluded are all those people who need occasional support to avoid falling further down, but who encounter an administrative filter that does not respond to any criteria of social justice. For the Galmés government, need is no longer enough: first, an ideological filter must be passed.The cruelty of this imposition reaches its extreme with the groups that suffer the most. This measure leaves many people in situations of homelessness or with life paths marked by instability, breakdown, and exclusion completely helpless. People who have been left out of the system for multiple reasons and who, precisely because of this, should find an outstretched hand from the administration and not a new barrier. With this ideological filter imposed by the Council, it is materially impossible for many of them to meet the requirement of five years of continuous residence. This social shield does not protect those who need it most: it precisely leaves out those for whom it should exist.The Galmés government has become a voluntary hostage to exclusion. To maintain the stability of the office, they prefer to transfer the pressure to the town councils and apply identity filters to vulnerability rather than confront their governing partner. Conditioning economic support in times of crisis on a count of years is to empty the concept of human dignity of its content.Governing requires broad vision, institutional respect and humanity. Galmés' social shield has turned out to be a propagandistic fiction that has crumbled at the first dictate of the far-right. We need it to be rectified, for municipalities to be heard, and for resources to be made available to people without exclusions. Faced with the cruelty of their national priority, we respond with firmness: social policies; faced with their national priority, social rights always.

]]> <![CDATA[We are an angry people: the time to take action!]]> After indignation comes the time for proposals. A few days ago in this same media, our comrade Margalida Ramis, an environmental activist with a long trajectory and a reference person for Less Tourism, More Life, asked in her opinion article And now, what? Impossible to be clearer. A key question.

]]> <![CDATA[The Prosecutor's Office is investigating Pedro Bestard for embezzlement in the use of official cars]]>

The Prosecutor's Office of the Balearic Islands has opened proceedings against the second vice-president of the Consell de Mallorca, Pedro Bestard (Vox), for alleged embezzlement in the use of the institution's official cars, as reported by Última Hora and confirmed by ARA Balears after accessing the public ministry's proceedings. The socialist group filed a complaint after it became public that Bestard was using these vehicles for his personal use, considering that he could have committed continuous embezzlement of public funds, prevarication, and document forgery.

]]> <![CDATA[What do these people want]]>

We already know what these people want, as we know from Maria del Mar Bonet's great song denouncing fascism, which in these times resonates in our heads too often. Now they want the photograph of a young woman with a hijab to weigh more than an academic record, for prejudice to prevail over merit, and to turn a university graduation into an identity battleground, because that is where they feel most comfortable, stirring up fears even if they are the most unfounded.

]]> <![CDATA[El Trenc is not touched... by a 'like']]> Last Sunday, July 5, we lived another historic day. El Trenc must not be touched. Not before, not now, not ever. On the way there, past Son Catlar, a devastating string of chalets follows every two quarters, all cut from the same pattern. Already in La Ràpita, the terraced houses link up so cyclically that they seem infinite. Cranes are in operation. And in between, plots of land in a chapel waiting patiently for the arrival of developers while they see their immediate surroundings destroyed. But it seems even that is not enough.10,000 people joined hands on the beach of La Ràpita. And of course, when so many people gather, it's normal for many things to happen. The most striking, without a doubt, was the presence of Francisca Porquer, the mayor of Campos, who wanted to be physically present at the gathering. She could have chosen to blend in with the crowd, or to stand in the front row and listen carefully to the reading. But it seems the mayor is naturally meddlesome and wanted to place herself right next to Sebastià Alzamora and Tonina Siquier during the reading of the manifesto. We already knew that in Campos they are close-knit, but not that they had such an eager mayor. Like.The machine gun nests painted with verses that have served as a backdrop for thousands of ‘selfies’ in recent years, now appeared with graffiti in favor of the defense of this natural space as valuable as it is emblematic. It is already known that the PP and Vox are parties very sensitive to historical memory and their followers have raised hell over these acts which they have described as vandalism. In fact, our public television only found it pertinent to publish a short video with the graffiti, without mentioning that exactly 10,000 Majorcans had passed by there to form a human chain for nothing. Like.And even more things happened, such as the presence of Madò Farta, this Mallorcan peasant woman, with a skirt, bodice and overskirt and a plastic skull face that looks like it was bought at a Chinese bazaar, who walks in front of the Cathedral, sings La Balanguera and cleans the dirt from the Mallorcan beaches. The protesting bathers recognized her and petted her. Many knew her from the Instagram network, where with more than 5,000 followers she has become visible and viral. Like.But neither the Obregonian performance of Mayor Porquer, nor the graffiti on the bunkers that served as a finger to avoid looking at the moon, nor the originally rebellious Mallorca of Madò Farta managed to alleviate the most important absence of the day. We did not expect President Prohens, so sure of wanting to protect Trenc. Nor Councillor Simonet, who warned us with a funny cap from the water that the left is a manipulative and malevolent entity.The youth was missing. There were plenty of historic, endearing, gray-haired, hat-wearing, pot-bellied, and wrinkled people. More or less everyone greeted each other. It is a singular community, this one of counter-current Mallorca that feels so comfortable when it comes to firmly opposing the policies of the Mallorcan right. Gabriel Cañellas, Jaume Matas, José Ramón Bauzá, and now Marga Prohens, are people before whom it has always been good to stand up.But where were the young people? Not the forty-somethings (each time there are people who feel young at 40), nor the thirty-somethings. Where were the 20-year-olds who are supposed to change tomorrow's world? Where were the university and high school kids who are starting to walk within the world of militancy and revolution? It would be very easy for the writer to fall into the framework of customs and caricature. We could say ‘selfie’, ‘swimming pool’, ‘sailboat’, ‘bikini’, ‘Much’ and ‘wow’. We could also say ‘mediterraneously’, to encompass it all. Or ‘the island’, to deconstruct ourselves definitively. But we won't say it.The physiognomy of Mallorca has changed from green to blue. And so have the interests and idiosyncrasies of Majorcans. Beyond that, however, there is a tangible generational bias. 65% of young people in Mallorca are "little" or "not at all" interested in institutional politics. Only 10% of young islanders have participated in demonstrations and protest events in the last year. It is perceived that continuous militancy (periodic assemblies, maintenance of structures, organization of actions and events of various kinds, payment of fees...) is not used today. On the other hand, this protest is raised on social networks, either by publishing directly, or by republishing or liking. And if they have to participate in anything outside of virtuality, they do so punctually and always from outside any organizational structure.The delay we all have is whether this new form of militancy will be enough to confront the policies of the right in the country and the world, to position ourselves forcefully against actions that we may consider excessive, unjust, racist, destructive of the territory, anti-Mallorcan, and xenophobic. Or if we are facing another tool of the system to keep us fooled in front of screens and far from the reality that crushes us every day.

]]> <![CDATA[Jorge Campos (Vox) generates controversy by questioning a UIB student for wearing a hijab]]>

The Vox deputy in Congress Jorge Campos has generated a strong controversy after publishing a message on social networks questioning that a student with a hijab was one of those in charge of speaking during the graduation ceremony of the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB).

]]> <![CDATA[Galmés "does not share" Bestard's private use of cars but keeps him in office]]>

The vice-president of the Consell de Mallorca Pedro Bestard (Vox) used three cars for his exclusive use throughout his term, lied about their signage, and refueled on days when he had no agenda, according to technicians' reports. according to technicians' reports. But the president of the Consell, Llorenç Galmés, will keep him in office. "I do not share Mr. Bestard's conduct, but a report prepared by the general secretary and the general auditor concludes that there has been no irregularity," he assured in an extraordinary plenary session this Thursday.

]]> <![CDATA[Bestard remarks that the tons of manure coming from Ibiza are not "shit"]]>

Pedro Bestard defended himself this Thursday against criticism from the PSIB for the transfer of waste from Ibiza to Mallorca, assuring on repeated occasions that "it is waste, not excrement" and insisting that the pilot test will have no impact on Mallorca. The second vice-president and Minister of Environment of the Consell de Mallorca had a tense confrontation with the socialist deputy Juana María Adrover during the plenary session of the insular institution.

]]> <![CDATA[The transfer of waste from Ibiza to Mallorca will begin next July 16]]>

The transfer of waste from Ibiza to Mallorca begins next July 16. As reported by the second vice-president and Minister of Environment of the Consell de Mallorca, Pedro Bestard, the first shipment will consist of seven trucks with 24 tons of waste each. In this way, a total of approximately 3,000 tons will be transferred each month.

]]> <![CDATA[The Balearic PP: "No problem if the repeal of the Memory Law is suspended"]]>

The Balearic PP is indifferent to the suspension of the repeal of the Law of Democratic Memory by the Constitutional Court (TC). Sources from the parliamentary group have recalled that the PP voted in favor of the repeal to please Vox in exchange for its support for the 2025 budgets. "We always stated the same, that for us the repeal was not a priority and that it was also covered by state law," assures the party: "The PP fulfilled its agreements, and from here on out, no problem that the repeal has been suspended until the TC definitively rules on it".

]]> <![CDATA[The omnibus law also lowers environmental controls on rural land and sanctions on quarries]]>

The Omnibus Law also lowers the requirements for building facilities in rural land. The norm, which modifies more than 50 laws, mainly environmental and territorial management, excludes complementary activities of the primary sector for the transformation and direct sale of products from the same agricultural holdings from the simplified environmental assessment procedure.

]]> <![CDATA[Three cars, gasoline at six in the morning and no consequence: the Bestard case defies all logic]]>

It has been circulating for years. And there are already many rulings, appeals, statements of facts, reports, and a large amount of official documentation. And it is not the first time we have encountered a complicated case because a public official clearly abuses their position.

]]> <![CDATA[The PP and MÉS join forces in Congress to request the expansion of the Special Regime of the Balearic Islands]]>

The PP and Sumar-MÉS joined votes this Wednesday in the Congress's Territorial Policy Commission to request the expansion of the Special Regime for the Balearic Islands (REIB). In a text that has been validated in the Lower House, they have agreed to demand from Pedro Sánchez's government "the reform and updating of the REIB", as well as a review of the mechanisms that determine the insularity factor and the State's investments in the Balearic Islands, so that the floating population (tourists and seasonal workers) and the effective demographic pressure are taken into account. In the same vein, they demand to incorporate into the REIB specific instruments to boost economic diversification and ecological transition, as well as to guarantee the subsidy for public transport such as trains and buses in the Islands.

]]> <![CDATA[The PSIB invites the PP to present a motion of no confidence if it wants to bring forward the Spanish elections]]>

The statement by former Spanish president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero at the Audiencia Nacional has shaken the control session at the Congress of Deputies and the debate on an early election is once again hovering over Moncloa. After the Congress's Bureau rejected two texts from Junts and the PP requesting elections and the PP brought a similar non-legislative initiative to Parliament, the deputy spokesperson for the PSIB, Marc Pons, invited the PP to "present a motion of censure" if it is so clear that it is necessary to call elections. "These are the mechanisms that democracy has," he continued. Thus, he admitted that, if the situation were the reverse and the case affected the PP, this is what the socialist party would do, as, in fact, it already did in 2018 after the sentence in the Gürtel case, which affected the PP.

]]> <![CDATA[The PP and Vox leave the debate on vehicle limitation for autumn]]>

The left wing requested that an extraordinary plenary session be held to carry out the first debate on the limitation of vehicles in Mallorca in Parliament. Thus, the procedures to approve the law were accelerated, based on a text registered by the Council. But the PP and Vox have decided to impose their majority and postpone the debate until September.

]]> <![CDATA[New attack by Vox on the unity of the language: it wants IB3 to be done in "Mallorcan, Menorcan, Ibizan and Formenteran"]]>

Vox once again attacks the unity of language in Parliament. This time it has done so with a question addressed to the Director General of IB3, Josep Codony, registered with the table of the control commission on the Radiotelevision of the Balearic Islands. "When will we be able to see a news report on IB3 in Mallorcan, Ibizan, Menorcan or Formenteran?" is the request that the spokesperson for the far-right, Manuela Cañadas, will make next Thursday in the parliamentary session. A question that has been registered in Spanish (Vox asked Parliament to stop translating its parliamentary initiatives) and which, predictably, the deputy will also formulate in this language, the language she usually uses.

]]> <![CDATA[Prohens' last (failed) attempt to distance himself from Vox]]>

The parliamentary session period closes after some tactical moves. The PP has maneuvered to stage a distancing from Vox. With the approval of the Omnibus Law, the popular party considers the debts of the budget pact settled and believes they no longer have to pay further tolls on sensitive issues, such as language. This was made clear with a decision that is a message in itself: approving the limitation of vehicles in Mallorca with the left-wing party in the Council without waiting for Vox, to send the text to Parliament the very next day. The decision caught the far-right off guard, and they ended up abstaining, seeing that otherwise, they would be alone in voting against it. The Government has warned that it will do the same with the agricultural law, the coastal law, and the budgets. But Vox is not losing its composure and interprets the PP's gestures in an electoral context. "They want to appear as moderate centrists now that the legislature is ending, but it's a lie," criticizes a Vox source.

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