<![CDATA[Ara Balears in English - Open Forum]]> 10 <![CDATA[Water crisis or governance crisis?]]> Last Saturday, the new Law 4/2026 on urgent measures to accelerate strategic projects was published, which reduces water sufficiency controls on urban planning. It is another step in reducing controls and further promoting the urban growth initiated with the decrees on administrative simplification and urgent actions approved during the last two years. These regulations have been approved at a time when we were suffering one of the strongest droughts we remembered and in which urban development is the main cause of the overexploitation of aquifers, which reach 91% in Ibiza and 94% in Formentera of total water consumption, and up to 70% in Mallorca and Menorca. The island of Ibiza is a good example of this trend. In 1996, the main use was agricultural (54%) and to a lesser extent, urban and residential uses (45%). Thirty years later, agriculture has almost disappeared and its consumption now only accounts for 7% of the total. In contrast, urban development does not stop.

]]> <![CDATA[The crisis/the crises]]> The internal crises of social movements often generate a strange fascination. From the outside, they tend to be given simplistic and biased readings, and some even interpret them – conveniently – as definitive proof of their incoherence; from the inside, they are often experienced as a dispute between incompatible narratives and forms. But transformative organizations rarely enter into crisis for a single cause. And when we try to explain them based on good and bad guys and opposing factions, we almost always fail to understand what is really happening. Much honesty is needed to want to address the issue in all its diversity, complexity, and depth.In recent weeks, the crisis experienced at GOB Mallorca has caused a flood of comments, speculations, and positions. The resignation of ten women, members of the board of directors who had promoted an ecofeminist candidacy in 2023, has brought to light discrepancies regarding governance, occupational health, ways of understanding leadership, and organizational models. For all this, a broader and deeper reading is appropriate about what this conflict tells us in relation to the challenges that environmental organizations and many other social movements face today.Environmentalism is experiencing a paradoxical moment. Never has the validity, urgency, and necessity of its denunciations been so evident – the monster is growing larger, with more tentacles, refining its narrative and strategies, and accelerating devastation beyond the real capacity for impact of social movements – nor has the necessity of its proposals been so urgent. The climate crisis, the loss of biodiversity, touristification, and the depletion of resources, but also their vital consequences in ecological, environmental, and social justice terms, provide ever more arguments for decades of environmentalist struggles and lead us to the need to join forces from the grassroots and converge with other active struggles and demands (the struggle for housing, the union struggle, the struggle for public services, the feminist struggle, the anti-racist struggle, the anti-fascist struggle, the peace movements...) in order to drive the ecosocial transformations we desire. It is a confluence to which all transformative social movements tend, and proof of this are initiatives such as Revoltes de la Terra, the state Social Forum that works for the 'Beyond Growth' Eco-Social Pact, the meetings of international networks against touristification, the reflections at anti-capitalist summer universities, to which GOB has been invited in recent years as a benchmark, and the debates (and also conflicts) within reference environmental organizations such as Ecologistas en Acción and Greenpeace. We are no longer just in time to resist, but to go on the offensive and advance as a lever for change, and for this we need a broad and cohesive social base that works hand in hand with a common and transversal objective: to guarantee the sustainability of life in a world that ferociously attacks it from all sides. And, however, and perhaps precisely because of this, the movements that drive them, especially those with years of trajectory, as is the case with GOB, experience tensions, wear and tear, and difficulties in sustaining themselves.It is not just a confrontation between conservationists and those who defend social ecology (no one questions the defense of territory and biodiversity, as axes around which the entire environmental movement pivots; because without territory and its resources, no life is possible). It is not, only, a matter of clashing generational visions, of nostalgics versus young and critical visions, of reformists versus revolutionaries. Nor is it simply about clashes regarding governance models between those who try to incorporate the values of the changes and transformations we would like to promote externally, within organizations themselves, and those who would like a directive organizational model measured in terms of performance indicators. It is not just a question derived from the discomfort generated by critical review from feminisms of the structures, values, hierarchies, and objectives of entities that should be a lever and tool for social transformation and the furious reactions it generates. It is not just any of these questions on its own. It is all of them together and at the same time and amplified by the urgency to act in a world where the margins of possibility for the real changes we urgently need seem increasingly narrow.The challenge for social movements in general, and for GOB in particular, lies precisely in their capacity, or lack thereof, to incorporate all this complexity and dimension into their strategic reflections in order to become something useful to the society of these islands in the present and future scenarios that we will have to face, marked by the eco-social crisis and multiple uncertainties. Today we need all organizational structures and, even more so, entities with a track record and solvency like the GOB has been and continues to be –despite certain mantras that are repeated until they function as accepted truths (that the capacity for mobilization has been lost, that street presence has been lost, that what was done before is no longer done) even though major mobilizations have been driven, even though new fronts of struggle have been opened, even though the capacity for social and political impact has been expanded– to be the pillars for driving the changes we need, understanding the defense of the territory and the biodiversity that sustain us as another tool for social justice, democracy, and collective action.I believe this is a truly necessary reflection at a time when it is tempting to read any internal conflict as a demonstration of failure by some and victory by others, and to move forward without incorporating any element of critical review that conflicts oblige us to if the goal is to advance as a collective and as a society. If this is not done, we will not be facing progress, but a major setback that will eventually be regretted.

]]> <![CDATA[The immoral wars of our time]]> Be part of a generation that has grown up with the conviction that war was a defeat, a defeat for politics, for diplomacy, and above all, for humanity. Those of us who have been trained in the political culture of the late 20th and early 21st centuries have done so with the conviction that all war is an injustice, especially for the civilian population that suffers it, accepting, however, that there are international norms that, in situations of extreme gravity, can justify an armed intervention, approved and recognized by the international community.This was the moral and legal pact that emerged from the ashes of the Second World War. The world had known horror as never before, and that is why attempts were made to build mechanisms to prevent barbarism from once again becoming the ordinary way of relating between states. From this arose the United Nations Organization, international relations based on norms, and the idea that human rights constitute an upper limit to the political or economic interests of states.Undoubtedly, it was not a perfect system; there would be countless occasions when the UN acted conditioned by the influence of superpowers or was unable to enforce its resolutions. It is also true that numerous military interventions have been justified for humanitarian reasons, for justice, to protect threatened minorities, or democracy itself, but too often they have hidden real geostrategic objectives that had nothing to do with the speeches. However, even in these cases, a fundamental element was maintained: the need for military actions that went beyond the margins of diplomacy to have an appearance of legitimacy, within the legal and moral framework established by the international system. This is why "the Azores trio" saw it necessary to justify the invasion of Iraq by the existence of weapons of mass destruction that were never found. Even if it was a lie, it sought not to deviate from the legitimacy granted by the norms recognized by the states that make up the international community.Nowadays, even this minimum is alarmingly disappearing, because if before it was necessary to seek complex explanations for any military action, now everything seems valid. The big change is not the injustice of the wars that have been initiated, the profound change is that it is intended that the use of force no longer needs to be justified, or, in any case, the arguments that granted legitimacy seem secondary: they attack Venezuela in the name of democracy, but suddenly they admit that the important thing is oil and months later the transition to democracy remains in stand-by.Another case, Putin's invasion of Ukraine is a clear example of violation of international law, however, even Putin tried to build an alibi that would give him an appearance of legitimacy: the protection of Russian minorities or the security of Russia's borders against NATO expansion. There is no doubt that it is a questionable discourse and, in fact, incompatible with international legality, but even so, he maintained the need to justify the aggression with some type of legitimacy.The great danger right now is that after these arguments that have crossed the line of acceptable justifications, we find ourselves with other leaders who completely break with the previous paradigm, and this idea comes above all from the Trump administration. The current North American president represents this dangerous change in international relations like few others; he has sought to normalize politics based exclusively on immediate, economic, and national interest. He does not see the need to build a coherent narrative within the framework of international relations as we have understood them until now. This is a break with the norms and international relations built after 1945. With this new paradigm, wars cease to be considered an extreme evil justified only in exceptional circumstances to become simple (and destructive) tools of power.We cannot overlook the case of Gaza, which, like few others, reflects this crisis in international relations. Israel initially justified its military operations in the name of the fight against terrorism after the Hamas attacks, but this justification loses all meaning when it turns into the systematic destruction of an entire region, the expulsion of its inhabitants, the indiscriminate murder of civilians, attacks on basic infrastructure such as hospitals and schools, and humanitarian corridors. Attacks against international cooperation and solidarity organizations; actions, all of them, that can be considered war crimes, crimes against humanity, or genocide, and are so denounced at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Beyond the legal debate, the result of this unpunished aggression by the Israeli government of Netanyahu in Gaza, and now also in Lebanon, demonstrates the erosion and progressive destruction of a system of international relations based on norms and on the idea that the main goal of the international system is the maintenance of world peace.Therefore, we affirm that the wars of our time are, more than ever, immoral, because they have turned people, as has not happened since 1945, into expendable pawns in the service of economic gain, into simple figures, if political objectives are achieved from the most absolute selfishness. It is immoral because human life ceases to have value and remains subordinate to the interests of the powerful. For decades, the world at least tried to maintain the fiction that there were limits that democratic states in particular should never cross. Today we are witnessing the destruction of these limits, of a system of relations based on norms, a destruction that contemplates a public opinion saturated with information and that feels powerless, if not pushed to justify the unjustifiable according to an extreme polarization that some promote.In this context it is very important that voices opposing it are heard, loud and clear. One of these voices is Pope Leo XIV, who has repeatedly denounced the trivialization of war and the glorification of force. To him should be added political leaders from different countries, such as the Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez, who represent the democratic and internationalist response to the rise of new authoritarianisms, main promoters of the new culture of force.Here lies an essential part of the issue we are analyzing today: authoritarian governments exalt force over law, in line with how they manage their internal policies (let's recall Trump's anti-immigration policies, ICE, and the brutality they employ). Today it is once again time to demand the 'no to war', or the 'yes to peace', to advocate for pacifism, to reject those who treat peace as naivety. It is not naivety, it is a necessity. Defending peace, international law, and human dignity is once again an act of resistance. Being a pacifist is once again revolutionary.

]]> <![CDATA[Unity and courage. For a left-wing front in Palma]]> Often taking a step is not a simple task. However, doing so is necessary if we want to move forward collectively. Today, in Palma, in the Balearic Islands, and throughout the Catalan Countries and the state, we are living through difficult times. The threat of the far-right and an increasingly right-wing PP is absolute. That is why it is a moment for unity and courage, the terms that my tandem partner Xisca Mir and I have wanted to adopt as a slogan for the MÉS per Palma primaries. Unity and courage to win.We need the sovereignist left, represented by MÉS per Palma – the result of decades of work by different and valuable councilors: from Sebastià Serra, Nanda Ramon, Joan Perelló, Lila Thomàs, Tomeu Carrió, Maria Costa and Jordi López to Antoni Noguera, Marisol Fernández, Antoni Verger and Neus Truyol – to articulate an anti-fascist front that brings together all the Palma citizens who do not want our lives to be in the hands of characters like Fulgencio Coll and Jaime Martínez. I feel like an heir to the left-wing and green Mallorcanism people I have mentioned, yes, but also to wonderful anti-capitalist councilors who were part of Som Palma and Podem, such as Aligi Molina and Aurora Jhardi. I am presenting myself to lead a broad and generous candidacy where, precisely, Esquerra Unida, Sumar, Podem, the Socialist Movement and the Independent Left are also present in the form they deem appropriate. Because they are, fundamentally, our comrades. I want this list to be a starting point, a catalyst, embracing independent citizens who fight for housing, for the defense of small businesses, for the neighborhood movement – which I know well in the Santa Pagesa neighborhood –, for feminism, for the Catalan language movement, for culture, for unionism, and against social exclusion. There is room for everyone.Only with a brave, plural and united tool that generates enthusiasm can we focus the debate. And the debate is very clear: we must tackle people's real problems and their material solutions. If what affects us has collective causes, the response must undoubtedly be collective and in no case individual. The people of Palma do not make ends meet, they have nowhere to live, they suffer from precarious jobs, they see how the city and its corners no longer belong to them and they live with pain the linguistic, cultural, heritage and commercial depersonalization of the capital of Mallorca. We must fight with conviction the terrible effects that unbridled tourism and the business of a few friends of the right leave in our lives. The current critical situation of the city and the times we live in demand forcefulness and radicality in the etymological sense of the term that I know as a Latin professor. People need proposals and a hard, cheerful and uninhibited political action. To break free from the frameworks that the extreme right wants to impose on us: those who harm the people of Palma are not someone with an Arab, Asian or sub-Saharan name, poor and with dark skin, but vulture funds, international extractive capitalism and the worst rent-seeking tied to the PP and Vox, who have no empathy or sensitivity for families, youth and workers.There is hope. I see municipalist role models across Europe, in the south and the north, that inspire me: Die Linke, in German cities; Adelante Andalucía; La France Insoumise; Plaid Cymru, in Wales; Sinn Féin, in Ireland; and the Green Party, in England. Brave left-wing movements, rooted in the territory and that face 21st-century urban problems head-on. The historical moment demands courage and decisiveness from us.I am 45 years old. I have been active in social movements my whole life. I know the street. I know Palma and our neighborhoods. I will lead the MÉS per Palma candidacy, aware that it will be the first time an independent person does so in the long history of the parties that form this space. Someone who is not an organic part of MÉS nor of the traditions that compose it (PSM, Iniciativa Verds, and ERC). It is an opportunity to grow, to face the new times ahead with freshness, and to do so, in the words of Manuel Monereo, by confronting the great issue that will shape the urban future of our days: “What is at stake is the soul of the working class.” And if one thing is clear to me, it is that in May 2027, the soul of the popular classes of the city that saw the biographies of the neighborhood activist Rosa Bueno and the poet Josep Maria Llompart develop cannot, in any way, be conquered by the obscurantism of PP and Vox.

]]> <![CDATA[In defense of B. Picornell, anti-Nazi]]> These days it has emerged that Balti Picornell had been summoned to testify following a complaint filed by the Vox deputy in Madrid, Jorge Campos. The reason: having taken a photo next to a graffiti that read “J. Campos, fucking Nazi”.

]]> <![CDATA[To love Mallorca is also to take care of the GOB]]>

Surely these days you have heard about GOB Mallorca. This writing aims to explain why a group of 10 women resigned from the board of directors on May 22 at the extraordinary assembly of the entity: a resignation that does not respond to differences regarding the defense of the territory or environmental campaigns, but rather to a sustained internal situation of confrontation, personal wear and tear, and lack of respect that has made the continuity of the project we defended unsustainable.

]]> <![CDATA['Homo tecnologicus': owners of the tool or slaves of the algorithm?]]> In mid-March, from the CCOO Teaching Federation in collaboration with the Federation of Pedagogical Renewal Movements and Ecologists in Action, we held the congress Technology and Education: an Ethical-Critical vision with speakers of the highest level. This congress was not for simple academic inertia, nor just another date on the calendar, but the result of a growing concern about the direction that new technologies have taken in the last decade. As we are immersed in a digital revolution, comparable to the industrial revolution of the 19th century. A revolution that is reconfiguring the human being into what we could call an Homo tecnologicus. However, this evolution does not seem to be neutral, and we must ask ourselves the question: Are we the ones who handle the tool, or is it the tool that shapes us?It is fundamental to understand that nothing in the digital world is neutral, both on the internet and in new artificial intelligence, information biases occur. This means that the results we see depend on sources that are not always objective, and today this power is concentrated in the hands of a few private companies, which by chance or causality, are among the richest on the planet: Meta, Google, Apple, Microsoft and Amazon (AWS).Some companies whose business model is not service, but the extraction and storage of data susceptible to be sold; because we often fall into the trap of believing that their services are free. However, in the digital economy, if you don't pay for the product, it's because you are the product. These companies have created authentic 'information farms' through algorithms – these invisible codes that decide what we see and what we don't – where they collect each of our data, movements and tastes to then sell this data to third parties. Databases designed to control our tastes and direct our consumption in a continuous, induced and compulsive manner; taking advantage of the fact that practically everyone has a smartphone available 24 hours a day.The lack of transparency in algorithms is not just a commercial problem; it can pose a democratic risk. This digital surveillance can have real consequences in fields as sensitive as law, economics, the world of work..., areas that must be urgently regulated. We cannot allow computer code to be a source of discrimination; if we do not scrutinize these processes, algorithms can become weapons of manipulation and bias, instead of instruments of progress. We need a legal framework that ensures technological processes are transparent, controllable by the user, and, above all, respectful of ethical principles. The storage of our data must be under the surveillance of representative social institutions, and not exclusively in the hands of private interests.But the impact is not only virtual, it is physical and environmental; technological development does not only stay on our screens; it has a physical and painful footprint on our planet. This excessive development often ignores that basic resources like water and energy are limited. Thousands of square kilometers are needed to store servers connected 24/7 with the necessary cooling for these data centers to function, with the resulting CO₂ emissions and the necessary use of nuclear energy for continuous operation.To manufacture batteries and devices themselves, materials such as coltan, cobalt, nickel, lithium, and other 'rare earths' are exploited; materials that are mostly extracted in mines where child labor is encouraged and toxic waste dumps are generated that severely pollute the environment; a bill that is mainly being paid by underdeveloped countries. And it can only be a true evolution if it is sustainable and respectful of human rights throughout its production chain. It is essential to responsibly manage waste, resource consumption, and the water footprint. Digital ethics must necessarily be ecological ethics.One of the most critical points of this digital revolution is how technology affects the most vulnerable, and this vulnerability is most evident in minors and especially in childhood. Digital platforms use seduction to trap us, the design of the infinite scroll –this screen that never ends and that loads content non-stop– is designed to capture our attention and generate what we now know as digital addiction. This compulsive behavior makes us lose track of time, generates immediate reward stimuli, and abusive consumption of these. The symptoms are already contrasted: anxiety when not connected, social isolation, neglect of responsibilities, lack of sleep, behavioral disorders, learning problems, lack of concentration... more than enough evidence to address this problem immediately.As educators, we view with concern how these effects, derived from screen saturation, manifest in classrooms; global reports such as PISA or GEM confirm a widespread decline in student competencies since the massive implementation of technology in educational centers. By moving so abruptly from analog to digital, essential construction processes and neural relationships for developing cognitive abilities in childhood have been lost. In many parts of the world, the return to paper, pencil, and textbooks is already being considered. And it seems we have made a conceptual error: we have confused educating in digital competence with educating through digital competence.It is not about criminalizing technology, but about demanding that it be at the service of people, social justice, and cultural plurality. It is urgent to legislate, both nationally and internationally, so that our data is protected and processes are transparent. We need to reclaim the role of technology to build a better world, and not as a tool that conditions our freedom and future.It is imperative that we stop being passive spectators of this transformation, we need brave legislation and strict regulation that ensures that technology is a driver of social justice, plurality and sustainability, and not a tool for manipulation. Technology must be a bridge to knowledge and equality; it is time for the Homo tecnologicus to regain sovereignty over their data, to demand a digital environment that protects children and respects the planet's limits. Only then will we achieve machines working for us, being owners of the tool and not slaves to its algorithms.

]]> <![CDATA[Dystopian ecstasy]]> Will I be able to become a man one day, as Ursula K. Le Guin was in her nineties performances, when, with her genuine sense of humor, she said: “I was born before women were invented, and I have spent the last decades trying to be a good man and I forgot to stay young, so I got old. [...] I can't stop thinking that a real man would have been able to do something. [...] But I failed. I did nothing. I utterly failed to stay young”? Like Ursula, I too have aged; this year I am moving into my fifties and I want to dedicate myself to a kind of urea mediocritas horaciana and to an asceticism that distances me from the worldly noise. I find myself, therefore, in an icy void, not knowing which direction to take, adjusting the tone of this transition and making efforts to step into my mature gallantry in the most dignified way possible.After much meditation and reading Ursula, I have come to a conclusion: it is absurd to continue trying to be a good man. For a long time I have wanted to be one in order to exercise my inherited rights to splash the toilet bowl with yellow water without breaking down over it, to dominate public space and feel empowered. The intensity of my youth is coming to an end. I too have failed everywhere: I am neither a man nor have I been able to stay young; however, her gaze still corrodes me from within. Let's admit it: it happens to me and it happens to all of us.At almost fifty, I still put my sexual energy at the service of anyone who notices an aspect that I myself am unable to see or value. I am excessively complacent, submissively pleasant, I perceive the desires of others as a priority and I exploit myself to feel productive and useful as sexual capital in the market. It is impossible to get rid of it. Despite no longer being a man – although it is impossible not to be one – and no longer being young, I am still crossed by the same concerns of the heterosexual symbolic order: the fantasy of being the chosen one among the rest of the competitors, the value of my abilities placed above all in their verdict. I am, therefore, neither a man nor young; but I don't exist as a woman either. Forgive me if I don't explain myself completely well, but I am still learning to transform my phallic language into a more poetic one.To avoid falling into delirium, I will try to make the right decisions. Perhaps this perspective will bring me closer to myself. The inspiration for this maturational structural shift is Doctor of the Church Saint Teresa of Ávila, who in one of her ineffable and spontaneous ecstasies felt the presence of God, and “in no case could she doubt that it was within me or I all wrapped up in Him.”Much like the mystic, in a kind of escape or dystopian ecstasy that occurred in one of my meditations, I experienced myself – Margaret Atwood saw it clearly – as a ‘woman with a man inside observing a woman’’. The rapture had transformed the masculine gaze into an eroticism that desired my body with the same intensity and care with which the land of a garden is tilled and only the fruits that belong to the one who cultivates them and for whose taking there is permission are harvested. I saw myself with a man inside observing a complete woman, free and in control of herself. All the men who ever used me to satisfy their voids and exploited my body, like the master who with his extractivist logic exhausts the resources of the South, would cease to exist in my daily cognitive habits as a result of the phenomenological illumination.No longer mother, no longer secretary, no longer savior of lost egos. No longer waiting for male validation. I had completed the first dwellings of my decolonizing journey and the nun Teresa was calling me to deepen in contemplation: to soften the gaze of the inner dwelling, to understand it, to transform it. The following mansions took me even further from the conditioning world of heterosexual thought. The stillness of maturity moved me to transcend polarities and demands, to shed the 'heteroetheric' dandruff, to love and fuck without guilt; to finally leave the market of male desire. To no longer want to please, but only to be accountable to my body and make decisions beyond what is reasonable. Light as the arms of a child who simultaneously holds and plays with the weight of new words, and allows herself this poetic parenthesis.In the full 21st century, although one of the advantages of age and maturity is that one's own desire is freer and less conditioned, women have not yet been invented, but we don't care; or at least this embodied contemplative vision came to me in my particular rapture with the approval of the Carmelite mystic and the impulse of the writer of Earthsea. Both the poetic thought of Saint Teresa and the beautiful dystopian scenarios of Ursula are inspiring in my work with other women. All of them, young and mature, continue to be inhabited by the same patriarchal pressures that I include myself in. Relating to other socially feminized bodies and supporting each other in what we commonly experience is the only antidote I have discovered to become more sexually free. This and age, of course.

]]> <![CDATA[No to war: either we defend life or we become accomplices]]> There are moments when silence is not prudence but complicity. Moments when looking the other way is not neutrality but surrender. And this is one of those moments.

]]> <![CDATA[An ignored generation]]> In the last general policy debate of the Consell de Mallorca, the president dedicated only two sentences to an entire generation. Two sentences to talk about the present and future of thousands of young people who live with anguish today. And it is not an exaggeration. Anguish for not being able to access decent housing. Anguish for a labor market that does not guarantee stability or rights. Anguish for an education that could be much better, public and of quality. Anguish, in short, for an increasingly widespread feeling, that of expulsion from our own land. Faced with this reality, what do institutions offer? Self-satisfaction, empty headlines, and showy policies. It is no use talking about travel or leisure while an entire generation does not know if they will be able to build their life project in Mallorca. But the problem goes further. Not only is youth not heard, but their participation is not encouraged either. Cutting support for youth organizations like Joves de Mallorca per la Llengua is a political mistake and also a mistake for the country. We have seen it with the strength of Acampallengua and Correllengua Agermanat; there is a generation that is alive, active, and committed. It only remains for institutions to want to listen to it. It also happens with the social fabric of the towns. The quintos, the associations, the collectives that make a town. Perhaps because organized youth is also critical youth. And critical youth questions, proposes and demands. It demands decent housing, better public transport, labor rights, quality public education in Catalan. It demands, in short, a future. And when this space does not exist, when there are no real participation channels, when debates and active listening are not generated, some young people seek answers elsewhere. And this is dangerous. Because the feeling of abandonment is the best ally of far-right options. The Council of Mallorca may not have all the powers, but it does have a responsibility, to listen, to connect and to lead. It can meet with young people, understand what they think, what they need, what they propose. It can talk about mental health, social networks, training, the future. It can, if it wants to, be useful. The question is whether he wants to be. Because today, the feeling is clear, this generation is not a priority for either the PP or Vox. And this has consequences. But there is also a certainty. In 2027, this same generation will have its say. And it can decide whether to continue with governments that ignore it or bet on a future where, finally, it is taken into account. Because Mallorca has no future without its youth. And the youth are no longer willing to wait.

]]> <![CDATA[The mayor of Santa Margalida ignores the residents of Son Bauló]]> It is not the first time we have conveyed the discontent of the residents of Son Bauló to the mayor regarding the l’Espígol apartments, which have been causing us so many headaches for many years. Until now, neither the former mayors nor you yourself have deigned to take any steps to remedy this mess of apartments, a new Son Banya in Can Picafort.

]]> <![CDATA[Working and not making ends meet: the failure we cannot normalize]]> They had promised us that if we studied, worked, and did things "right," we would get ahead. That we would live with a certain security. But this promise was broken a long time ago. And today, in the Balearic Islands, we are no longer just talking about precariousness: we are talking about generalized impoverishment.

]]> <![CDATA[May 1st: The transformation of the economic model must not turn its back on the working class]]> The tourist season begins and with it comes May Day, a day of protest and struggle for the working class. A time when our islands begin to be full of tourists; there is a lot of work, but, even so, we must raise our voices to say that we have an economic model that suffocates us and expels us. There are many problems that we workers have, including precarious employment, temporality, workloads that make us sick, lack of economic resources, and our biggest problem, a housing market that is unaffordable for those of us who live on wages from work. All this, in an environment where year after year we break tourism records, have more spending per visitor, and business margins rise. We all know it, this model is over, it must be transformed to be sustainable. The question is: how? While our rulers tangle themselves by modifying their discourse according to the wind's direction in order to change nothing, at the union we have designed a roadmap to follow in order to move towards sustainable Balearic Islands. This is a proposal for action for a change in economic model that leads us towards Balearic Islands that are economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable. This transition must be orderly and just, and for this reason, it is important to anticipate.Given this complexity, it is necessary that the proposal be defined by a few simple, high-impact actions that foster the start of change quickly. In parallel, the labor area must be worked on, placing special emphasis on training and qualification as the backbone of the new economic model. Thus, if we want to transition to a model with more added value, focused on value and not on volume, we must start by reducing the number of visitors. For this reason, we propose an increase and revision of the tourist tax. This should be dissuasive, flexible, and temporary. It is also important to focus on tourist places and postpone the granting of new ones in any form in order to eliminate obsolete supply, pending an objective analysis of the Islands' carrying capacity, which takes into account the floating population. Regarding environmental management, it is necessary to monitor the circularity plans of tourist establishments, increase the percentage of commitment to local product consumption, and extend this obligation to other non-food products. All of this must be accompanied by the promotion of public transport, with increased frequencies and free travel, and a plan for fleet renewal with zero emissions.But all these changes are impossible without the support of working people, with the improvement of the quality of employment and the promotion and recognition of training adequate to the new challenges of the world of work. The changes will happen and we cannot allow them to be made without the involvement of working people. We must demand participation, recognition, and shared decisions. Capital cannot make decisions outside of the working class. For this reason, and because together we are strong, we must take to the streets this May Day.

]]> <![CDATA[Restoration of nature, shall we start?]]> It has been almost two years since the European Union approved the Nature Restoration Regulation after months of blocking by some countries opposed to this new legislation. Finally, on June 17, 2024, it was definitively approved at the last minute. Hungary changed its vote at the last moment and it was only achieved thanks to the positive vote of the Austrian minister, who even voted against the official position of her own government. This step has been decisive in making a leap forward in the environmental policies of the EU member states. Faced with a situation where nature conservation policies are no longer sufficient to stop the environmental degradation of our ecosystems, this regulation aims to restore at least 20% of the EU's terrestrial and marine areas by 2030 and all ecosystems that need it by 2050. And it does so with a stronger regulatory framework than European directives, such as those on water, habitats, and birds. This means that the regulation not only sets objectives like the directives, but all countries must obligatorily apply its entire content.

]]> <![CDATA[We protect today, we secure tomorrow]]> From the Government of the Balearic Islands, we want to start with a clear statement: we reject the conflict in the Middle East and firmly desire a swift resolution that ends a situation that causes suffering and instability worldwide.However, while this scenario persists, we have an obligation to act. Because, despite the geographical distance, the effects of this conflict are already being strongly felt in the Balearic Islands, especially through the increase in costs and economic uncertainty.From the first moment, the Government has responded with responsibility and dialogue. We have analyzed the impact of the situation and, above all, we have listened. We have met with social agents, with economic sectors, with island councils, with town halls, and also with parliamentary groups. We have done so with a clear will for consensus, because, in moments like these, it is essential to give shared responses.As a result of this work, we have approved Decree-Law 1/2026, with a package of measures that mobilizes more than 160 million euros to protect the economic fabric of the Balearic Islands. A package designed to act quickly and effectively in an exceptional situation.These measures are structured into five large blocks. Firstly, we are mobilizing 75 million euros in credit lines to guarantee the liquidity of companies and self-employed individuals. Secondly, we are allocating 36.75 million euros in direct aid to the most affected sectors: 13.5 million for the primary sector, 9.75 million for transport, and 13.5 million for industry, construction, and commerce. And we have introduced a deduction so that this aid remains exempt from taxation in personal income tax. Furthermore, the amounts are expandable according to the development of the conflict and take into account the double insularity of Menorca and Ibiza, and the triple insularity of Formentera.Thirdly, we are implementing measures to streamline administrative processing and ensure that these aids reach their recipients as quickly as possible. Fourthly, we are promoting fiscal measures with an impact of 4 million euros to alleviate the burden on families and businesses. And, finally, we are allocating 45 million euros to the review of public contracts to adapt them to the current increase in costs, thus ensuring the execution of infrastructures and the maintenance of services.As we already explained, the first impact of the price increase is felt by economic sectors. That is why it was essential to act with them. We also understand that this is the first step so that this increase does not reach families. In any case, we have already started working to promote social measures, listening to entities and seeking the maximum agreement in the coming days.This package of measures is also a necessary response to the inadequacy of the decisions adopted by the government of Spain. The state measures have overlooked a fundamental reality such as insularity. It is not the same to face a crisis from a continental territory as from an archipelago, where the costs of transport and energy have a much higher impact. This is the result of approving measures without previously listening to the autonomous communities or the economic sectors, which is what the executive of Pedro Sánchez has done.Therefore, from the Government of the Balearic Islands, we have assumed our responsibility. We have acted with speed, with dialogue, and with determination, and we will continue to claim the necessary compensation so that the Balearic Islands are not harmed.We are living in a complex moment that demands institutional stature and capacity for response. Today we protect our economic fabric, we protect jobs, and we do everything possible to contain the impact on families.Because protecting today is securing tomorrow.

]]> <![CDATA[When the DGT blames those who walk]]> The Directorate General of Traffic has launched an advertising campaign under the slogan ‘You look at your phone so you don't miss anything and you end up missing everything’. The video shows a pedestrian being run over at a crosswalk and builds an unequivocal narrative: the fault lies with the pedestrian who is distracted looking at their mobile phone. From Sineu en Bici i a Peu we want to explain why this campaign is not only wrong, but points in the exact opposite direction to what we need if we want safer streets for people.

]]> <![CDATA[The wolf sheds its teeth, but not its thoughts]]> Ludwig Wittgenstein once said that “the limits of my language mean the limits of my world”. A language is much more than a tool for communication; it is a cultural expression, a symbol, an identity. When a language dies, a way of understanding the world and a priceless cultural heritage disappear forever.

]]> <![CDATA[Mallorca, getting out of the labyrinth (The essential change of the productive model)]]>

The media play a primary social role and, moreover, hold high democratic value because they contribute to the formation of public opinion. Based on this premise, out of a sense of responsibility and moved by feelings of esteem, respect, and service to the land and citizens of Mallorca, a group of contributors from the three print dailies published on the island (ARA Balears, ‘Diario de Mallorca’ and ‘Última Hora’) have come together to publish this article. The aim is to call upon all political parties, the bodies with the power to modify the current state of affairs – particularly, self-governing institutions and town councils –, as well as, in general, all economic and social powers, capable of conditioning and influencing decision-making, for a radical, progressive, and measured, yet firm, change in the current economic model.

]]> <![CDATA[Memory cannot be repealed]]> On the 10th, the Balearic Islands Parliament repealed the Democratic Memory Law with votes from the People's Party and Vox. It is undoubtedly one of the saddest days in our recent history, because this decision stems not from consensus or historical rigor, but from the government's submission to the demands of the far right.

]]> <![CDATA[The single school zone: when 'freedom' becomes inequality]]>

There are moments in the day that define a town or city. In the mornings, when thousands of children and teenagers fill the streets on their way to school, they offer the truest reflection of our urban and educational model. Because school is not just a building: it is community, neighborhood, and equal opportunity. Now, the Regional Ministry of Education, controlled by the People's Party (PP) and supported by Vox, wants to dismantle this fundamental pillar of our society with a shocking lack of justification and recklessness. The proposal for a single school zone is not simply an administrative matter, but a direct threat to the true equity of the system.

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