The first voices of independence in the Balearic Islands

The origins of nationalism in the Balearic Islands are rooted in the 19th century with the Renaixença, a cultural revival movement born under the influence of English and German Romanticism. One of its leading intellectuals was the bell-maker Miquel dels Sants Oliver. In *La cuestión regional* (1899), he proposed a federalism based on historical regions, in which Mallorca would fit within the Catalan nationality. This hope was dashed by the military uprising of 1936. Throughout almost 40 years of dictatorship, linguistic advocacy became an important tool in the anti-Franco struggle. In 1962, some thirty dissidents, led by the philologist Francesc de Borja Moll, founded the Obra Cultural Balear (OCB), which revived the spirit of the Association for the Culture of Mallorca (1923-1936). In 1967, the politician from Artà, Josep Melià Pericàs, published the influential book The MallorcansIn it, he urged the people to "remedy the defeat we are experiencing today as a nation," alluding to the defeat of the Revolt of the Brotherhoods (1521-1523). That was the largest popular uprising ever seen on the island known as the island of calm. Thousands of islanders died for rebelling against the corrupt and privileged caste of Charles I's administration. In 1715, the defeat would worsen with the Castilianization imposed by the Nueva Planta decrees.

The priest's

In January 1975, with Franco still alive, different sectors of civil society promoted the Congress of Catalan Culture, which would last two years with activities in all Catalan-speaking territories – in the Balearic Islands they would take place in 1976. On January 25, 1976, two months after the dictator's death, the Congress of Catalan Culture was held in Catalonia, the Valencian Community and the Balearic Islands. A roadmap was agreed upon with the following demands: amnesty for political prisoners, freedom of political and trade union association, the right to self-determination of the peoples of Spain and the co-official status of the Catalan language.

A month later, some of those who had attended Cura's meeting created the PSI (Socialist Party of the Islands), which should not be confused with the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party). Among them were Sebastià Serra, Celestí Alomar, Antoni Tarabini, and Francesc Obrador. That same year, 1976, the writer Antoni Serra and the teacher Joan Quetglas promoted the Mallorcan branch of the Socialist Party of National Liberation of the Catalan Countries (PSAN). This communist-inspired party had been created in Catalonia in 1968 by young people from the historic National Front of Catalonia (FNC). It was the first strictly pro-independence organization to appear in the archipelago. Others would follow. In 2012, historians Joan Pau Jordà and Miquel Amengual cataloged them in the book Catalan independence in the Balearic Islands (Documenta Balear).

Draft Statute of Autonomy

In 1977, the PSI and PSAN joined forces to promote the Popular Assembly of Mallorca. On March 13, three months before the first democratic elections, the organization presented the draft Statute of Autonomy for Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza, and Formentera in Cura, before 400 attendees. The document rejected the notion that the archipelago should be relegated to the status of a folkloric people. Instead, it advocated for absolute autonomy for each island, a coordinating supra-insular body, the right to self-determination, and the official status of the Catalan language. In December 1977, the PSI changed its name to PSM (Socialist Party of Mallorca) and defined itself as progressive, nationalist, and environmentalist. The new party included some members from PSAN, such as Pere Sampol. In the first regional elections of 1983, it won two seats (another two went to the PSM of Menorca). However, Fèlix Pons's PSOE tied with Gabriel Cañellas's Popular Alliance at 21 seats each. Cañellas would ultimately become president of the Balearic Government thanks to the support of the six seats held by Jeroni Albertí's Unió Mallorquina.

In April 1986, Parliament approved the Law of Linguistic Normalization. At the end of the month, Cañellas was able to present it like a trophy at the opening ceremony of the Second International Congress of the Catalan Language in the Palma Auditorium. In this context, the Movement for the Defense of the Land (MDT), created in Catalonia in 1984, appeared in Mallorca—Bernat Joan would be one of its driving forces in Ibiza. The following year, the party would split in two.

In the civic sphere, in 1986 a group of young people also established the assembly "Call for Solidarity in Defense of the Catalan Language, Culture, and Nation" in Mallorca. The organization, which would remain active until 1992, had been created in 1981 in the Principality as a response to the Manifesto of the 2,300In this event, residents of Catalonia, led by intellectuals such as the journalist Federico Jiménez Losantos, denounced the discrimination against the Spanish language. Other youth organizations included the Revolutionary Independentist Youth (JIR), the Independentist Student Bloc (BEI), and the Maulets (now part of Arran). Some of their members participated in the national debate sessions organized in Lluc since 1985 by the Blanquerna Group under the leadership of Climent Garau, the second president of the OCB (1970-1976).

First day of protest

In 1987, the Balearic branch of the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) emerged. That year, the MDT-PSAN (Movement for the Defense of Mallorca - Socialist Party of the Balearic Islands) took it upon itself to redefine Mallorca Day on December 31st. This date commemorates the mythical entry of King James I into Muslim Madina Mayurqa in 1229, which gave rise to the Feast of the Standard—celebrated since the 13th century and the oldest civic festival in Europe. This redefinition involved organizing a demonstration with a strong pro-independence tone, a tradition that continues to this day, although it now takes place a day earlier to avoid coinciding with New Year's Eve. In the first edition, some 200 people gathered under the slogan "For One Land." The following year, with the slogan "We are not Spanish. Independence," about fifty far-right extremists unsuccessfully attempted to block the demonstrators.

In the 1989 European elections, the MDT-PSAN joined the Catalunya Lliure candidacy alongside the Catalan National Front (FNC) – the bloc obtained some 20,000 votes, 666 of which were from the Balearic Islands. That was the year in which the only two attacks claimed by Terra Lliure, an armed pro-independence organization with a Marxist ideology, founded in 1978 – took place in Mallorca. Terra Lliure would dissolve itself in 1995. On February 27, a device exploded at the Tax Office in Palma. On May 23, the target was the monument to those who died for Franco's regime in Portocristo. This was in response to the attack on the TV3 repeater station in Alfàbia, perpetrated on April 22 by the anti-Catalan leader Jaime Martorell. Those two actions, carried out at night, resulted in no injuries, only property damage. Two months later, the young man from Montuià, Macià Manera, was arrested and tortured. A member of Terra Lliure, he was charged with terrorism, for which he served three years in prison.

Lobby for Independence

In 1991, former members of the MDT, JIR, Maulets, and Catalunya Lliure launched the Casal Independentista de Mallorca (Mallorca Independentist Center), which operated until 1993. In 1994, Tomeu Martí and Pere Muñoz created Jóvenes de Mallorca por la Llengua (Youth of Mallorca for the Language), which in 1995, following the example of the Conda de Korrika (Korrika Campaign), became the OCB (Organization of Balearic Citizens), now boasting nearly 4,800 members. In 1997, the organization held its first Acampallengua (Language Camp). During those years, the PSM (Socialist Party of Mallorca) also took it upon themselves to denounce state tax extortion with an original campaign featuring a cow. The message was clear: while the Balearic Islands fattened the animal, Madrid milked it.

In 1995, the teacher Jaume Sastre, along with Josep Palou, launched the Lobby for Independence. One of its first major issues was the public funding of the April Fair in Palma. To protest this, each year a group would arrive at the fairgrounds dressed as peasants, riding donkeys and playing traditional instruments. In 2004, the Lobby began mobilizing against the illegal swimming pool in Costa de los Pinos (Son Servera) owned by Pedro J. Ramírez, the director ofThe World –Its Balearic edition, directed by the far-right activist Eduardo Inda, had a markedly anti-Catalan slant. In 2024, the National Court would eventually order the demolition of the facility. Jaume Sastre's organization would also promote the Llaüt and 'Grid boat'for those individuals or institutions that act for or against the country's culture, respectively.

In 2014, the Sovereign Assembly of Mallorca was founded. The group periodically organizes dinners and discussions with prominent figures in the independence movement and publishes reports on state tax extortion. This year, 2025, the island's sovereignist landscape has gained a new voice: the Por Mallorca coalition. Its promoters come from diverse backgrounds and, as they stated on the day of its presentation, share the desire to "move beyond ideological blogs to place Mallorca at the center of political debate."