Memory of Mallorca asks for help to pay for the judicial process of the Feixina monument

PalmThe Memory of Mallorca Association has been working for years to demolish the Francoist monument of Feixina that honors those "fallen" on the cruiser BalearicsThe organization has exhausted all legal avenues in its fight, and in October 2022, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of protecting the monolith and ordered the organization to pay €3,223.71 to cover legal costs. The Association must pay this amount soon but lacks the necessary funds. Therefore, it is appealing for help and has launched a fundraising campaign to solicit voluntary contributions and raise the money it owes. The organization expressed in a statement its "profound disagreement with the judicial protection of a fascist monument inaugurated by the dictator Franco, which continues to occupy a public and democratic space." The president of Memoria de Mallorca, Maria Antònia Oliver, stated that "it is a disgrace that a democratic society condemns an organization for trying to keep a space free of Francoist symbols."

Memoria de Mallorca turns 20

This Tuesday marks 20 years since Memoria de Mallorca was formally established as an association. They celebrated in the Sa Riera building, the same place where, in 2006, the organization officially became a democratic memory association. The anniversary coincides with "a very significant date in Mallorca: the assassination of Mayor Darder of Palma, Mayor Mateu of Inca, Socialist MP Alexandre Jaume, and the founder of Esquerra Republicana in Alcúdia, Antoni Maria Ques." To commemorate this, they have created awards that will be distributed in December, recognizing contributions to the defense and recovery of democratic memory in the fields of human rights, education, research, public policy, social activism, resistance, art, and outreach. Oliver explained that the Association has requested a theater from the Palma City Council to be named after an important figure in the struggle for democratic memory: the Jaime Bueno Award for Democratic Memory and Human Rights; a special award that will recognize democratic memory projects created by students from different schools. Oliver announced that this award aims to "stimulate democratic memory in schools," since, as he asserted, the organization has "detected anomalies in the "Francoist" schools are not included in the compulsory education curriculum, and many young people drop out of school early without ever encountering these terms or knowing who Franco was."

Furthermore, Oliver reviewed the milestones the organization has achieved over the past 20 years, including its work on Francoist judicial processes and its efforts to promote laws regarding mass graves and democratic memory, such as maps of mass graves. In fact, Oliver emphasized that the organization opened the first mass grave in Mallorca, specifically in Sant Joan, "without any resources or legal backing."