<![CDATA[Ara Balears in English - Right]]> 10 <![CDATA[Joana Maria Socias, professor of Law and vice-dean of the UIB, dies]]>

The vice-dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB) and professor of Administrative Law, Joana Maria Socias, died this Saturday, as reported by the University. The university community and the rector, Jaume Carot, have expressed their condolences to the family, friends, and colleagues of the professor.

]]> <![CDATA[Hello, president]]> Perhaps only ETA and Catalans could compete with one of the common talking points in the discourse of the Spanish right and far-right: Venezuela. The land of Simón Bolívar is a cliché whenever the time approaches for the increasingly prolonged electoral campaigns, and it is easy for a PP or VOX politician, when at a loss for words, to resort to the disaster that Chavismo has entailed in that country. It is curious, however, to see that when it suits them, they also know how to take advantage of the resources of this banana republic regime, and a few days ago, the citizens of the Balearic Islands had a magnificent and very graphic example of this.Friday, July 3rd in the evening. Sílvia Pol, director of news at IB3, interviews the president of the Government of the Balearic Islands, Marga Prohens. And we must call it an interview because that's how the program was announced, but in reality, it seemed more like a 'Balearic style' adaptation of the famous and populist Aló Presidente, the program that Hugo Chávez hosted for more than a decade on Venezuelan state radio and television channels. Here, however, decorum prevails, and the president was kind enough to have an assistant in her conduction, who was responsible for passing the cards of the various topics and electoral proposals with a smile between admiration and understanding, all interspersed with effective and almost imperceptible dialectical massages.During the conversation, without any questioning from Pol, Prohens was able to unfold the arguments that the PP has repeated for years; that of "keeping their word" and "being the party that most resembles the citizens of these Islands". In fact, she felt so comfortable that she took a step further, in a gesture that shows how much her party takes for granted that they will continue in the Executive for at least four more years: she declared, without batting an eyelid, that she also believes that "El Trenc must not be touched", that they have advocated for the Decree of minimums and the Law of linguistic normalization "and that this annoys the left, because the PP is doing it". She even suggested, in response to a question from Pol, which was more like a pass to score a goal than a question, that the tourist overcrowding that our Islands are suffering from was the fault of Armengol and the Pact of progress that she led, that perhaps they did not do enough. She also stated that her Government has agreed on laws with all parties in the parliamentary arc, which is true, but it was a pity to see how Pol did not ask her about her main partner when it came to repealing the Law of historical memory, segregating children in schools for language reasons, and making the LGBTIQ+ collective invisible in the institutional sphere.They say that if it doesn't bother, it's not journalism, but advertising. And I think we have to take our hats off: on July 3rd, the citizens of the Balearic Islands were able to admire, paid for with public money, the first big campaign advertisement for the 'comandanta' Prohens.

]]> <![CDATA["Killing a cat from a feline colony can result in a fine of 100,000 euros"]]>

A Francisco Capacete life was changed by a case in Buenos Aires in which an habeas corpus –the right reserved for humans to appear immediately before a judge after being detained– was requested to free a female orangutan held in a zoo against her will. "I found myself with great apes, who think and feel", he recalls. A law graduate from the UIB, he specialized in animal law in 2012. "I have always liked animals", he admits. Today he lives by defending them.

]]> <![CDATA["Killing a cat from a feline colony can result in a fine of 100,000 euros"]]>

A Francisco Capacete had his life changed by a case in Buenos Aires in which a habeas corpus –the right reserved for humans to appear immediately before a judge after being detained– was requested to free a female orangutan held in a zoo against her will. "I encountered great apes, who think and feel," he recalls. A Law graduate from the UIB, he specialized in animal law in 2012. "I have always liked animals," he admits. Today he makes a living defending them.

]]> <![CDATA["Legalizing urban irregularities can generate a sense of injustice"]]>

Despite being a magistrate with a brilliant career, when he was just a Law student at the Complutense University of Madrid, where he graduated two years after the assassinations of the Atocha labor lawyers, Carlos Gómez (Madrid, 1957) did not know that he would end up dedicating his life to the judiciary. “I hadn't even considered it, because Franco was still alive and at that time being a judge meant being part of a repressive body”, explains the president of the Superior Court of Justice of the Balearic Islands.

]]> <![CDATA[The government extends an olive branch to Vox and promises to use all legal means to stop the regularization of migrants]]>

The Government has once again extended an olive branch to Vox to advance initiatives in this new political year, which it faces with "absolute tranquility," despite having extended the budget. "Neither the Government nor the PP will obstruct negotiations with Vox," stressed the Executive spokesperson, Toni Costa, at the press conference following the Cabinet meeting, as reported by Europa Press. The Minister of Economy, Finance, and Innovation also noted that Vox is the PP's natural partner and that, consequently, negotiations with this group will continue. Costa also maintained that the budget extension does not imply any parliamentary gridlock and expressed his confidence in approving the upcoming initiatives in Parliament "with considerable consensus." Regarding the tax deduction that the Government announced to prevent rent increases, the spokesperson indicated that negotiations are underway with Vox on an amendment to include it in the draft law for accelerating strategic projects, which is expected to be processed in the second half of February.

]]> <![CDATA[Anti-politics]]> Almost halfway through this legislative term, it seems the Balearic Islands have become, as has already happened with regions like the Valencian Community, Andalusia, Extremadura, and Murcia, a testing ground for the anti-politics that is looming at the national level. Or, in other words: the reality that arises when a liberal or conservative party, with a democratic bent like the PP claims, comes to need the votes of anti-establishment and far-right parties, with populist and anti-constitutional rhetoric, such as Vox. Few institutions are spared, and the Balearic Islands Government, the Council of Mallorca, and the Palma City Council serve as unfortunate examples of this.

]]> <![CDATA[Ideology and truth]]> Lately, especially in recent years with the rise of global Trumpism, it has come to seem that facts, simple facts, have become a form of ideology. We have become so confused that stating certain truths now seems like a political option, as if politics didn't have to start from truths, but could even be imposed upon them.

]]> <![CDATA[Fold]]> Many are now wondering what could have happened to cause the rise of right-wing national populism, which is currently jeopardizing the normal functioning of democratic institutions. There are fears that the triumph of these options will lead to an erosion of democracy, the rise of repressive and regressive policies, clearly anti-progressive, like those that propelled Donald Trump, or those currently being implemented in countries such as Hungary, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, etc., or, I would add, Cyprus, Scotland, or even Israel.

]]> <![CDATA[Priorities]]> The day after the COP30 summit, which was hastily wrapped up and as tense as previous ones, I wanted to know its conclusions. I searched for a while and consulted several reputable media outlets, both local and international. It was difficult, or rather, impossible, to find a concrete list of the agreements reached. Because they're strikes, and because they're no longer of much interest. Pretty wild, huh? Nanda Ramon nails it in her latest article in ARA BalearesWith climate change, the stakes are ever higher, yet paradoxically, we seem to care less and less. I get the impression that even—or perhaps as a starting point—the COP leaders, who have the power and resources to change the course of this race to nowhere, appear weary and apathetic. Could this apparent growing disinterest be induced, and perhaps the initial surge of interest when the climate crisis was the top priority was also deliberately fostered?

]]> <![CDATA[Your fear]]> Faced with the democratic crisis we've been experiencing in recent years, especially with the rise of the populist right—or pre-fascist populism—the question is more than obvious: how did we get here? The truth is, this crisis was foreseeable decades ago, and although there were always those who pointed to this problem, seeing fascism everywhere, it was the political class itself that cultivated the ground for all these poisonous fruits to now emerge. Democracy, as we know, is weak, or at least, to defend itself, it doesn't usually do the same things dictatorships do, even though it is the yearning for or nostalgia for dictatorship that has given wings to the neo-right: its discourse is older than walking.

]]> <![CDATA[Everything that doesn't move, breaks]]> In the spring of 2022, I had the opportunity to interview Oriol Junqueras. He had been released from prison just under a year before. I began the interview by addressing the division among pro-independence individuals and groups concerned with preserving the unique identity of Catalan culture. Junqueras suddenly alerted me: in Europe, discussing identity issues is frowned upon, especially now with the rise of the far right and the fear that we are regressing to the situation before the Second World War.

]]> <![CDATA[The fears]]> One of the most recurrent ideas of the European far right is that immigration has as its goal or more or less desired effect the consummation of a certain demographic replacement, which would lead us to a supposed Islamization of Europe. Needless to say, this right draws on the rhetoric and fears of an old Anglo-Saxon right, but also on certain populist slogans that fueled, among other horrible things, Nazism. Because that's what was called "de-Jewishness." This same right that fears demographic replacement, however, uses demography and internal immigration to erase the state's other languages.

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