Catalan is lived, danced, and defended: Manacor surrenders to Acampallengua

ManacorThe Acampallengua of Manacor forms a talent pool, and dances, and the desire to continue using Catalan as the usual language of Mallorcan life. This has been the first day of the annual meeting organized by Joves de Mallorca per la Llengua, which has brought together thousands of people around the different proposals that have been distributed in different spaces of the city.

Although the day began with the name; that is, with the campout. From 10 am, hundreds of young people began to arrive at the plot of land provided by the Manacor Town Hall between the Felanitx ring road and Na Molla Park, so that they could set up their tents in order to start the tour of the programmed activities from 11 am. People arriving from many towns on the island and from Catalonia, in search of being able to coexist and make new friendships with Catalan as a common social tool. Taking advantage, on this occasion, of the strong network of Manacor social collectives.

Francesca Mas de Son Serra and Irene Díaz, from Palma, agreed on the desire to "have a very good time above all, to reclaim Catalan and our culture, which is being lost and is important to maintain it, to enjoy and to meet people". Margalida Grimat, from Manacor, highlights that what she likes most is "being able to invite friends from Barcelona so they can see that Mallorca is not just sun, beach, and tourism, but also a place to defend our language". Marta Alvarado, from Palma, explained the day's plans: "We feel like going to the anti-fascist workshop... and then the dancing and the concerts".

"The desire to participate and the atmosphere have brought us here," said Clara Gaià and Marina Bordoi, volunteers from Santa Margalida. "In the end, these activities that gather so many young people serve to attract more people, we're posting it on social media to create a desire to come and get together. We want to go to the Espacio Rebel".

In the courtyard of IES Manacor, a series of basketball and football sports tournaments have been held, organized precisely by the main teams from Manacor. An activity that has had to share prominence with the successful theater workshop that began at the same time in Sala La Fornal, and with the Espacio Rebel in Font i Roig square, next to the baroque cloister, the true hard core of the protest, which has focused on militancy and agitation, whether through criticism of mass tourism, or to reclaim the figure of Guillem Argulló.

In common

In the Alcover Institution, about a hundred meters further on, the Violet Space has been set up, where activists from the Anti-patriarchal Assembly or island journalists have shared experiences and struggles from a female perspective. A talk followed by a feminist self-defense workshop and a vermouth with Unió de Pagesos.

Trunks of the same thing, as if it were a kaleidoscope. Claiming what we as islanders don't like, safe havens, and workshops to explain a reality that is not always pleasant, as presented in the roundtable on journalism organized by ARA Balears, or another on the collective response to the rise of racism in our society.

Thus, with the large mural in the camping area finished and the break for lunch taken, the Acampallengua has lightened the load and the glosa (Ramon Llull square) and ball de bot (Weyler Square) workshops have attracted lovers of popular culture, who from 5 PM and 6 PM have been able to apply what they learned with interest, before the parade that has brought all participants back from the Market to Na Molla, where, as darkness fell, the concerts began, this year with a luxury lineup and record premieres, such as those by La Ludwig Band, Maria Jaume or the local Plan-ET, who shared the spotlight with the folk electronics of Nastallat or Auxili.

For Sunday

For tomorrow, Sunday, and with bodies rested from music, in Sa Bassa square there is a prepared Memory Route through the sensitive spaces of Manacor's contemporary history and the impact of the Civil War, a castellera exhibition, at noon in Convent square, the Catalan Scrabble tournament in the municipal library, the tute tournament at Mig i Mig bar, or the Discoforum organized by Suralita, starting at 10:30 am at the Institució Alcover. All this mixed with musical alternatives for the little ones in Ramon Llull square, by Xic Xac Xou or Cucorba.