<![CDATA[Ara Balears in English - Youth for Language]]> 10 <![CDATA[The Correllengua Agermanat, ARA Balears Guillem Frontera prize for commitment to Catalan]]>

The Correllengua Agermanat has been distinguished with the ARA Balears Guillem Frontera Award for Commitment to Catalan, an award convened for the first time in 2025 that pays homage to the Majorcan writer and recognizes initiatives that make the language a pillar of cohesion and the future.

]]> <![CDATA[New sap]]> Next weekend, ‘Ferreries floreix’ returns, and it’s already the fifteenth edition. As every year, the streets of the old town will once again be covered with floral arrangements, and residents will adorn their facades with bouquets, handicrafts, and imaginative manual work. As every year, more than one will admire the great effort that has been made to prepare this ephemeral work of collective creation. For Bep, the best part of ‘Ferreries floreix’is precisely the preparations: “What I like most are the days before the inauguration, when we neighbors almost live on the street. They are the days of the year when we see and talk to each other the most. That makes a village!”. And he adds, still: “If necessary, I would tell you the same about Sant Bartomeu: more joy from the days we prepare the festival than from the festival itself. Perhaps it is age.”.It is possible that age makes you see and live the party in a different way, but Bep's comments have revived me following the experience of other people who are not old, and who were the protagonists of another civic festival just two weeks ago: the group of young people from Ferreries who organized the passage of the Correllengua Agermanat through the town. They got involved months ago, responding to the invitation from Joves de Mallorca per la Llengua. As preparations advanced and the goal came closer, their enthusiasm, confidence, commitment, energy, courage, and desire to do it well so that everything would turn out well grew. And they have achieved it. My goodness, have they achieved it.The first of May's event began early, with children's games prepared by the Agrupament Escolta Sant Bartomeu. Afterwards, there was a popular dance with the folk group Aires des Barranc d’Algendar. At twelve, the glosat, until the flame of the language arrived from Ciutadella, celebrated by the songs of the students from the School of Adults and the veterans of the Club of Retirees. At half past one, a good paella, cooked by the people of Cas Vesins, which was very tight indeed: the success was so great that if they had prepared fifty more, they would have sold out. After lunch, musical bingo and a truc championship, and at five, the concert by the group Res a dir, while the flame of the language continued its journey to Maó. Bravo for weaving multiple collaborations with other groups and entities. To rally together, to add for the language, to make a community. The success of the event, well-deserved, was the crowning of the work done long before. A lot of work, and very well done. To love the language is a craft, says Antoni Bassas in the manifesto he has written for this year's Correllengua Agermanat, dedicated to Josep Maria Espinàs. Like any craft, it requires learning, it takes hours in the workshop, it asks to learn how to pick up the tools and how to use them. In Ferreries, the youth have picked up the tools with a naturalness and drive that has left us admiring. In Ferreries, as throughout the fifteen hundred kilometers covered, the Correllengua Agermanat has been a festive and resounding demonstration of the vitality of the defense of the Catalan language, and of the generational change of those who champion the fight: like the torch with the flame of the language, which passed from hand to hand, the commitment to the language also passes from generation to generation and silences the siren songs of the prophets of doom. The most important thing is that this celebration has not been a flash in the pan. Correllengua has been the trigger for Ferreries to flourish all year round. I insist: the months of prior work have created a community, they have initiated a complicity among the involved youth that, now that Correllengua Agermanat is already history —and what a history—, the desire to continue is irrevocable. We can't leave it here, they say. One girl says she knew that other one from high school, but they had never exchanged more than two words, and that now it will be different. Another one says he works in Girona, but asks to be taken into account if they organize another party: they reply that they are already talking about doing something this summer. And another, who is now a trainee teacher at the town's high school, has become, probably unintentionally, an example and a benchmark for others to emulate. Let's say it loud and celebrate it: from Salses to Guardamar and from Fraga to Maó there is a new spirit that does not understand administrative borders, nor generational breaks, nor nostalgic discouragement. Young people who look each other in the eye and recognize themselves as part of a common project, for whom language, more than grammar, is a brotherhood.

]]> <![CDATA[A Correllengua for history: "They will not kill Catalan"]]>

The Correllengua Agermanat 2026 reached its end with a resounding success, that of becoming a historic mobilization in defense of the Catalan language. During the two weeks of its duration, more than 180,000 people have participated in this first edition, covering 1,500 kilometers, passing through 500 municipalities, and 30,000 people have been torchbearers. The spokesperson for Correllengua Agermanat, Pau Emili Muñoz, assures that the event's success is "a demonstration of strength" and emphasizes it as follows: "As a society, Catalan-speaking territories have regained the enthusiasm to fight for the Catalan language and demand its real normalization".

]]> <![CDATA[The Correllengua Flame fills the Plaza de España and reclaims Catalan in Mallorca]]>

The central reception event of the Flama del Correllengua Agermanat in Mallorca, organized by Joves de Mallorca per la Llengua and l'Obra Cultural Balear, filled the Plaza de España in Palma this Sunday, highlighting "the commitment" of Mallorcan society to the Catalan language. This year marks the tenth edition of the Correllengua passing through Mallorca since the first one in 1995.

]]> <![CDATA[The Twinned Correllengua fills the Llevant region of Mallorca with culture and language]]>

There are days when the street stops being just a passageway and becomes a thread of complicities, symbols, and shared language. This Saturday, the Llevant of Mallorca experienced one of these days with the arrival of the Correllengua Agermanat, which filled towns and public spaces with popular culture, protest, and massive participation in defense of Catalan.

]]> <![CDATA[The Correllengua Agermanat arrives in the Balearic Islands: Schedules, activities, and everything you need to know]]>

The Correllengua Agermanat 2026 arrives in the Balearic Islands to light the Flame that crosses the entirety of the Catalan-speaking territories in a symbolic chain that unites towns, islands, and cities in a single celebration of language and culture. After having traveled through Catalonia and the Valencian Country with a massive response and a multitudinous participation, the project arrives this year in the Balearic Islands to continue an itinerary that has already consolidated itself as one of the most transversal cultural mobilizations of recent years.

]]> <![CDATA[Manacor rewards Joves' three decades of commitment]]>

Manacor will this year recognize the trajectory of Joves de Mallorca per la Llengua as part of the School of Mallorquí Merit Awards, which will take place on June 11. An award that “aims to be a tribute to more than three decades of work, and for this reason we will fill the Manacor Auditorium to recognize this tireless work for our own language and culture,” states the mayor of Manacor, Miquel Oliver, who recalls that on the 11th there will be a show created especially for this milestone.

]]> <![CDATA[The Acampallengua will return to Manacor in 2026 “in a time of putrid airs of the extreme right”]]>

Acampallengua, the youth-led initiative for social cohesion and advocacy for the Catalan language in Mallorca, returns to Manacor after 14 years. Jóvenes por Mallorca (Youth for Mallorca), the organizing body, announced today in the Manacor cloister that the 2026 edition will take place on the weekend of April 11th and 12th in Na Molla Park. "For three decades, Acampallengua has established itself in the collective consciousness as a national tool that is more than a festival, more than a camping trip, and more than a concert; it is the place to experience the Mallorca we desire. A commitment that is both activist, festive, and critical," stated Maria Maians, coordinator of Jóvenes por Mallorca. The announcement was made at a joint press conference with the Manacor City Council, which highlighted its institutional support for an event that is now firmly established on Mallorca's cultural and activist calendar. As the mayor of Manacor, Miquel Oliver, recalled, "Back in 2012, Manacor hosted Acampallengua at a crucial moment, during José Ramón Bauzá's term; now that the putrid winds of the far right are returning with attacks on our language and culture, we must once again demand the use of our language, which is not guaranteed." Maians celebrated Acampallengua's return to Manacor in 2026, after its last appearance in 2012: "We are very happy to be able to hold Acampallengua in such a vibrant municipality, one that lives and breathes culture and is committed to the language." He also highlighted that Manacor "has a very active network of associations, with which Acampallengua aims to join forces and build spaces for culture and advocacy together." A strong recovery

The first edition of Acampallengua was held in 1997 in Inca. It was held continuously, alternating with Correllengua, until 2012, the year it moved to Manacor. After a decade-long hiatus, it returned in 2023 with the Sa Pobla edition, which welcomed over 6,000 attendees and featured Antònia Font as the headliner. Last year, the festival took place in Felanitx, with a confirmed edition featuring more than 30 activities and a massive concert in the Torre municipal park, one of Mallorca's largest concert venues.

]]> <![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[The Consell eliminates direct aid to the OCB and Jóvenes por la Lengua from the 2026 budget]]>

During the processing of the 2025 budget for the island council, Vox had already stated its objective was to eliminate all funding for organizations that fight for the protection and promotion of the Catalan language. And it has succeeded. The Consell de Mallorca has eliminated the earmarked (direct) funding for the Obra Cultural Balear (OCB) and Jóvenes por la Llengua (Youth for the Language) for the first time in its history. This was a demand that Vox had repeatedly made to its governing partners since the beginning of the legislative term. In the first budget, the far-right party managed to get the People's Party to reduce... 25% of these grants benefit both entitiesIt's worth remembering that, after agreeing to this reduction, Vox voted against these subsidies, and the left, despite disagreeing with the cuts, saved the funding for both organizations that defend the Catalan language on two occasions. Thus, Jóvenes por la Llengua (Youth for the Language) went from receiving €60,000 and the OCB (Catalan Cultural Organization) €50,000 in 2023, to receiving €45,000 and €35,000, respectively, in 2024. The far-right spokesperson criticized the Council of Mallorca for both organizations and also for this type of subsidy. In fact, he accused his government partners of allowing...a linguistic apartheid"Seeing that the Popular Party was supporting these entities, I said, 'It's just as immoral for the PSOE to spend money on prostitutes and cocaine as it is for you to vote in favor of these subsidies,'" he said in a plenary session of the island institution that took place in July of this year.

]]> <![CDATA[The OCB, CineCiutat, Jóvenes por la Lengua, and Casa Planas will receive 430,000 euros from the Ministry of Culture.]]>

The Balearic Cultural Work (OCB), CineCiutat, Jóvenes por la Lengua, and Casa Planas will receive €430,000 in aid from the Ministry of Culture. Specifically, the OCB will receive a total of €300,000 for promoting its "essential work" for the Catalan language and culture in the Balearic Islands at "a particularly delicate historical moment." This was stated by Vicenç Vidal, a member of Congress for Sumar MÁS, who highlighted the "good work" carried out to secure the Ministry's award of this money to various cultural entities in the islands, according to Europa Press.

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