Baltasar Picornell Lladó, better known as Balti Picornell, was the second president of the Parliament of the Balearic Islands in the ninth legislature, after Xelo Huertas had to leave this position after having caused a considerable mess. Both Huertas and Picornell were presidents of the Parliament for Podem, which in that legislature (the first with Francina Armengol as president of the Government of the Balearic Islands) was a governing partner along with the PSOE and MÉS. Podem found it appropriate to appoint people for this position who, according to them, represented the people, in opposition to the more usual profiles of the political 'caste' (it was the time when from Podem they spoke a lot about and against 'the caste'). Picornell was ideal: when he took office, in February 2017, he was not yet forty years old, he worked as a metal carpenter, and he had long hair down to his upper back. From the PP and its allied media, he was received with contempt and condescension: they caricatured him to exhaustion and dedicated all sorts of epithets to him, with that vigorous insulting wit that the right wing usually exhibits. 

‘Malle’ is Mallorca. Thus, with this word, ‘Malle’, the slogan of a huge advertising billboard that you can see on the facade of the Son Sant Joan airport car park refers to the island, and which has caused disgust due to the idea it conveys about Mallorca, as a place of uncontrolled tourism where anything goes and one doesn't need to be picky about anything. You can read in ARA Balears's chronicle by Aina Vidal about the billboard and the controversy it has generated.The slogan in question is written only in German: “Was auf Malle passiert, wird auf Malle beglichen”, that is, “What happens in Mallorca is settled in Mallorca”. The reference to “settlement” is understandable because the advertising company is Wero, a digital payment service —like PayPal and Bizum— designed to operate within Europe. The advertisers' ingenuity cannot be disputed. What they are trying to tell German tourists (who are the target audience of the advertisement) is: “pay for your parties in Mallorca with Wero”. Pardon: not “in Mallorca”, but “in Malle”. What does “Malle” have to do with Mallorca?” It has to do with the fact that it is a diminutive, a kind of nickname that aims to be affectionate and at the same time roguish, for a place of ill repute. It plays on the reference to Las Vegas (the famous phrase ‘what happens in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas’) and simply starts from the idea that Mallorca is a destination for beach, sex, and drunkenness tourism. It is not the equivalent of Mallorqueta or sa Roqueta, bland and prim denominations, which the most smug Majorcans still use to reduce themselves to a commonplace (which is not the same as a toilet). Malle has a resonance more of party, more nocturnal, more rowdy. It is the diminutive that the vicious but not very vicious, those who allow themselves an excess from time to time because they can afford it, give to the place they go to be naughty without having to give explanations. This is Malle: an island where it doesn't matter if it's five or fifty, where you don't have to worry about anyone being offended by your behavior, because what they want is for you to go there to lose yourself. All you need is money in your current account and a digital platform for small payments to cover the cost of your vice. The rest is secondary, starting with the native population of Malle, a completely irrelevant and despicable people, starting with their language. It is possible that you may encounter some of these natives, but do not pay the slightest attention to them.All this is also stated by Wero's sign on the facade of the Son Sant Joan car park: not in the text but in the subtext and context, which are equally important. To advertise like this (without even respecting that signage, by law, must be at least in Catalan, and also in Spanish) is an act of arrogance and contempt for which Aena is also responsible, allowing its advertisers to advertise in this way (the same Aena that also wants to double the capacity of Ibiza airport, because it is the main competitor in the race to finish squeezing the Balearic Islands and the Pitiusas until the last drop of juice they can give). The main responsible parties, however, are we Majorcans ourselves, who for decades have persisted in presenting ourselves as an island of greedy people fascinated by easy money, to the point of allowing anyone who fancies it to advertise at the airport —the gateway to the island, the first thing anyone arriving finds— saying that this place here is ca na Brutes and that it doesn't matter to suffer for anything, the only thing to do is pay and no one will say a peep. The saddest thing is that they are right. Welcome to Malle, Majorcans.

The Correllengua Agermanat was an undeniable success, a new demonstration of the appreciation of the people of the Balearic Islands for their language and culture, and of the defense –energetic, festive, unrenounceable– that Mallorcan society, especially (and this is more than important, it is decisive) young people, carries out. The Plaza de España in Palma was packed to the brim, just as the Plaza Mayor was two years ago, with thousands of people who shouted a civic, inclusive, hopeful, and, above all, massive ‘Yes to the language’.So massive that the very next day the Government spokesperson, Sebastià Sagreras, with his particular oratory, was struggling to avoid being completely left behind. After congratulating the organizers of the Correllengua Agermanat (there were reasons to do so, even more so after the institutions governed by them had turned their backs on them), he said: “The PP of the Balearic Islands is the father and protector of the Linguistic Normalization Law”, Sagreras stated improperly, because the Linguistic Normalization Law was approved with a PP government, yes (they wouldn't do it today), but in no way can it claim a paternity that was much broader, nor a protection that, over these forty years, civil society has too often had to provide. And he added, in Peixet, referring to this same law: “Throughout the entire legislature we have defended it, supported it, and marked it as a red line in all negotiations, despite the left's intentions to use our language to confront us with the citizenry”.This is what Sagreras said on Monday. The following day, Tuesday, in the Parliament, the PP supported a series of amendments by Vox to the law on strategic projects, the sieve law. The approved amendments eliminate the Catalan requirement for teachers and professors from outside who occupy “difficult to fill” positions, without any obligation or subsequent deadline to prove knowledge of the language. They also exempted “temporary” students, who reside for a limited time in the Balearic Islands, from the Catalan subject. In other words: for the umpteenth time, an attack against the own language of the Balearic Islands (and also of the PP leaders, such as Sagreras himself, or Prohens, or Vera) perpetrated by the Government. An attack, incidentally, which constitutes a serious violation of the Linguistic Normalization Law, and also of the Statute. The PP does this to please the obsessions and hatreds of its Vox partners. Among the measures, it was also approved that local police officers can carry taser guns, and pigeon shooting was legalized: weapons, and killing animals, are things that the right also tends to like very much.Proclaiming oneself one day as the father and protector of the Linguistic Normalization Law, and the next day getting rid of it without any qualms in the company of fascism and Spanish ultranationalism, is no longer just cynicism: it is a strange dysfunction that indicates an extremely weak government, without leaders capable of negotiating anything, without principles and without dignity, completely surrendered to the far-right and with no other course than to exhaust the legislature with the strategic project of giving the green light to all the speculators who happen to come by. There is something curious about Sagreras's little speech about the PP's paternity and protection of the Linguistic Normalization Law, and that is that he says they have defended it “during the entire legislature”, and they have barely (not yet) been in office for two years. It is known that it feels long to him: imagine the rest of us.

An exhibition of spacious boats is being organized these days at the old pier in Palma (or has been organized, depending on when you read this), which, as expected, carries a very pompous English title: International Boat Show, as befits one of those events –or, in the good Mallorcan of our rulers, events– designed to please the numerous population of foreign millionaires who live or holiday in Mallorca, and to attract more, if possible. At this fair, as explained on IB3 Ràdio's Téntol, you could buy a 45-meter yacht for the price of 21 million euros. This is not an exceptional occurrence, but one of the many offerings that can be found in Mallorca in the high-luxury market.The International Boat Show coincided with a significant round anniversary: the 40th anniversary of the approval in the Parliament, on April 29, 1986, by unanimous vote, of the Law for Linguistic Normalization. Many have wondered what has happened in these four decades for the situation of Catalan to have advanced so little, despite a legally and politically powerful instrument like this law, and in fact, to have regressed in key aspects such as social use and the consideration it receives from broad sectors of the population. Is it the fault of immigrants, many say, because they don't integrate, don't learn, or don't want to learn the language. Perhaps it would make more sense to look at ourselves: in these 40 years, the citizens of the Balearic Islands, and Mallorcans in particular, have literally sold everything. What we had and what we didn't have. Including the language, of course. The fairs have English titles out of pure provincialism: they think that, this way, they will sell more. More of what? More boats, more helicopters, more mansions, more land, more experiences (pronounced in English, please), more of everything. It happens that, in most cases, neither the buyers nor the beneficiaries of the purchase are Mallorcans. Mallorcans are only there to act as smiling and grateful natives if they get some commission. That the tourists or buyers are rich does not mean in any way that they are quality tourists or buyers. Where does their money come from? How did they obtain it? Mallorca is disfigured because we have sold it to people loaded with money, very often dirty money. The luxury offering is a sign of a mature market, they say. It's possible the market is mature, but those who manage it show signs of radical immaturity.Nevertheless, the fair of the very expensive boats and the melancholic fortieth anniversary of linguistic normalization have coincided with another milestone (event?): the Correllengua Agermanat, a great mobilization in favor of the Catalan language that has enjoyed the enthusiastic participation of thousands upon thousands of people throughout the Catalan Countries. A crowd, predominantly young people, who are not resigned to the fatalism of those who claim we no longer have a place in this world. All these thousands of people say yes, we do have a place, and that this place and the future that awaits us, which young people embody, is in Catalan. We thus have three juxtaposed realities. On one hand, the obscenely wealthy foreigners who completely ignore the reality of islands that for them are merely a fantasy backdrop. On the other, the mourners of frustrated normalization who claim there is nothing more to be done. And yet, a huge number of citizens, mostly young, eager to believe and strive for the future of these Islands and their language, culture, and landscape. If you'll allow me, I will join the latter.

This week in Parliament, the Minister of Tourism, Jaume Bauzà, exclaimed with strong words at the fact that the opposition (in this case MÉS per Mallorca, through its spokesperson, Lluís Apesteguia) expressed the idea that public services should be prioritized for residents, over promotions for tourists. “They want to pay for their bicycles too”, the minister scandalized, and he sarcastically remarked: “If they are locals, if they vote here, red carpet. They don't overcrowd, they don't saturate, they can run everywhere. Beware, though, if they are from northern countries!”. He said all this with shouts that wouldn't have needed a microphone, and he finished it off with a very typical outburst: “Coño!”. Like other members of his executive, Bauzà seems to have trouble distinguishing when he is in Parliament or when he is at a picnic with friends in the countryside. It is said, incidentally, that this man is also the Minister of Culture.The idea that Minister Bauzà was trying to express is not exactly new either: it boils down to the fact that prioritizing the needs of residents over the leisure of tourists is a sin of selfishness. “Mallorcans, you live in paradise and you want it all to yourselves”: this phrase was often repeated during the SOS! Turisme campaign, in the years of the pandemic. The minister has added a quality touch, which consists of lamenting the good life that we residents enjoy, in contrast to the contempt suffered by the poor people who come to visit us from “northern countries”: these, as is well known, do nothing but endure impertinences, scowls, and tourismphobia. However, they continue to come, because they are selfless and good people, and they do so in ever-increasing numbers each year. All this, according to the minister, would have a clear electoral motivation, because –attention– residents vote here, these bastards. They do so, as can be seen, to maintain their status as an unjustly privileged caste, to the detriment of the suffering people “fro  northern countries”, who are always left in the corners. A tourist is no longer a friend, as in the old slogan. Now it would be: let us pity the tourist, to whom we owe everything and in return has nothing.On the other hand, immigrants who already live in the Balearic Islands and can now benefit from the regularization legislated by the Spanish government do not deserve such consideration. According to the denunciation of the Popular Party of Madrid, and as the Popular Party of the Balearic Islands obediently repeats, this regularization is once again an electoral maneuver, this time by the perfidious Pedro Sánchez, to win the votes of supposed grateful immigrants. This idea is misinformation, since regularized immigrants do not acquire the right to vote until they obtain Spanish nationality, a process that can be delayed for up to ten years. Worse than inventing false voters, however, is that the PP wants to spread the suspicion that all these regularized immigrants are potential criminals, “victimizers of women”, as Feijóo said, a man always overwhelmed by the circumstances. The criminalization of immigrants is, as everyone knows, a typical slogan of the far-right.The ranking of citizens, however, is clear. The worst are immigrants from the south, who are criminals, followed by residents, who are spoiled. Those, on the other hand, who have been underestimated, despite all they have done for these Islands, are our brothers from the northern countries. For them will be the attention of the Government and the promised land (served in succulent real estate promotions).

When Israel and the US began the Iran war, last February 28, the whole world shuddered, but in Mallorca the shiver had a particular tone: “Will this affect the tourist season?”, was the question that the businessmen of the tourist sector and their servants, also known as elected rulers, were anxiously asking themselves. And many ordinary citizens, pure and simple taxpayers, were asking themselves the same question, because they have internalized an ancestral fear similar to that of the small Gallic village in the Asterix comics. Indeed, if those warriors of the Gallic forests lived in fear that one day the sky would not fall on their heads, many Majorcans today anxiously think about the possibility that one day tourists will stop coming. They have assimilated the idea that tourism is their source of sustenance (“tourism feeds us,” they repeat, like a responsorial psalm) and that dedicating themselves to economic activities other than tourism is equivalent to a return to a life of scarcity and deprivation. (Due to age, most have not experienced scarcity or deprivation, but within the repertoire of prejudices they have incorporated, it also includes intense aporophobia).Since then, the Iran war has continued its course, becoming more uncertain and alarming each day, and yet, tourists have come. With Easter, the tourist season properly begins: this year we can say, therefore, that the season runs from March 31 to October 31. That's seven full months, in contrast to the three months that the traditional summer season lasted (which was limited to the two strict months during which people usually took vacations, July and August, with the addition of the second fortnight of June to open and the first of September to close). Now it lasts more than double, and the long-standing objective is to make the tourist season last twelve months. Indeed, before we learned to say ‘de-seasonalization’’ without stumbling, reality has made it clear that it was a mirage: we will not manage to distribute tourists better across the different seasons of the year, in order to avoid overcrowding, but rather we will have overcrowding all year round. De-seasonalization was another self-deception (in this case, of progressive origin) on par with ‘cultural tourism’: by promoting this, we have not obtained tourists who come to participate in our reading clubs and buy season tickets for the Principal Theatre and the Manacor Auditorium, but rather tourists who visit prefabricated exhibitions, susceptible of being set up and visited in interchangeable destinations: be it Malaga (the model to be followed by our current rulers) or Palma, for buyers of the holiday package for lovers of cultural and gastronomic experiences.When Iran began to fire its long-range missiles, a local media outlet published a report trying to warn that these rockets have enough power for one of them to fall on Mallorca. And much worse, it could fall in the middle of the tourist season. There is a not very subtle (but well-rooted form of self-hatred), which consists of believing that we are too small to be affected by what happens in the world, or that our lamentable condition as a mature tourist destination makes us sweet and harmless. Neither is true: Mallorca, although a significant number of Majorcans find it hard to believe, is part of this convulsive, violent and unpredictable world that appears in the news. It is not only part of it, but it is a strategic point in the middle of the Mediterranean. And its tourist season is too.

If the PP leaders are bothered by being labeled the ideological heirs of Francoism, they'd better get used to it. They will be considered as such, and more than deservedly so, as long as they make such government decisions. anti-democratic, vengeful, and painful like the one that prevailed, with the votes of Vox and the PP itself, in the plenary session of the Catalan Parliament on Tuesday, March 10. democratic memory lawThe law, finally repealed in this session after several back-and-forths of low-level politicking, was not a law against anyone, but a reparation law that offered, after more than eighty years of pain and oblivion, recognition to the victims of Francoism and their families.