Taking A Festival To Court

There really are times when you wonder ... . I have a certain admiration for Ciudadanos in a similar way to having an admiration for Podemos. They occupy different political territories, but both are examples of how the status quo of a political system can be shaken up. Yet with both there are elements of the conservative and even the regressive. With Podemos, there is a Luddite tendency that wishes, for example, for "de-growth", an anti-capitalist return to an undefined era stripped of a great deal of the progress through tourism. For the C's, there is one great conservative non-negotiable - Catalonia. This is an essence of its being. Independence is a total non-starter, as is the advance of any Catalan nationalism beyond the borders of Catalonia.

The C's are doing rather well at present. In Catalonia they have secured the most parliamentary seats of any party. They have benefited, in part, from the electoral destruction of the Partido Popular, but more than this, they are solidly representative of the independence counterpoint. They have hung their hat on union, and there are very good numbers of Catalan citizens who agree with them.

Even before the Catalonia election, it was evident that the C's had been making ground in the Balearics. What happens in Catalonia has an impact here, even if this can at times be overstated. But the political atmosphere generated by Catalonia and by statements in favour of a Balearic independence by Més have done the C's no harm at all. Nor have their complaints about indoctrination in local schools.

The exporting of Catalanist nationalism that the C's attack comes in different guises. One of the more peculiar is what is due to take place on 31 December - Palma's Festival of the Standard. This is a fiesta deemed to be in the intangible cultural interest: not just deemed, is. The official nature of this interest was confirmed by the highest authority of making official - a statement on the Official Bulletin. It is there in black and white. In 2006, the Council of Mallorca declared the festival to be an asset of this cultural interest, and with this declaration came certain stipulations as to its maintenance.

The Council of 2006 was different in its political make-up to how it is today. It was still essentially the property of the subsequently disgraced Unió Mallorquina and Maria Antonia Munar. The UM, although ostensibly nationalist in a centrist sort of a way, was never strident in its ambitions, and its nationalism was one founded on its own version of history. Some years before the 2006 declaration, the Council had decided to make 12 September Mallorca Day. This was a recognition of the true founding of the old Kingdom of Mallorca. It was not a date for which there was wholehearted support. There was - in a Catalanist correct fashion - an alternative date: 31 December, the day in 1229 when Catalan culture can be said to have its origins.

Changing the date of Mallorca Day to 31 December was an obvious move. If there were to be a different date, then 31 December had far greater claim than any other. And so, for the first time, this coming New Year's Eve will be Mallorca Day as well as the Festival of the Standard.

For some, such as the C's, this combination was a form of pact between the nationalists of Més at the Council of Mallorca and at Palma town hall. It might not have generated overly much fuss, if it hadn't been for some consequent amendments to the festival protocol. Until now, and despite the 2006 declaration, the festival has been a Palma town hall occasion. In institutional terms, only the town hall has responsibility. Moreover, the declaration made clear that the responsibility for the maintenance of the tradition and guaranteeing the components of the festival was Palma's.

The pact between the Council and the town hall has, in the opinion of the C's, led to a unilateral decision to permit the Council to be represented in the official committee (retinue) for honouring King Jaume I and the Standard. Moreover, mayors from other parts of Mallorca are to be allowed to participate. The C's point to the fact that the 2006 declaration does not contemplate this additional institutional representation. Only the mayor of Palma and city councillors can form the retinue.

Because of this, the C's have taken the matter to court. They are seeking an injunction to prevent the protocol being altered. It is this that makes one wonder. How can a festival end up in court? Does it really matter who is represented in the retinue? It does if there are the politics of Catalan nationalism at play, which is what the C's are really concerned about. But they risk looking somewhat ridiculous and losing some of the admiration. They might disagree with the change to the festival, but going to court over it ... ?

The Re-Expanding Council

We need to talk about the Council of Mallorca. Expansionist tendencies have returned. Munarism, even Armengolism appeared to have been consigned to the empire-building waste bin, but only because of Salomism. And she - Maria Salom - now has to watch on from the national government's delegation building while the Council undertakes its 100% U-turn. Or more than 100%.

The Council president, Miquel Ensenyat, seems like one of those rare political beasts - a decent enough bloke. He has had his moments, such as the row over Extremadura farmers being paid to sit around in bars all day, but for the most part he's gone about his presidential business without courting any major controversy of copping for any great flak. He has also not been shy in attracting publicity. There was the visit to Greece to come to the aid of refugees, there has been the recent business about Saint Valentine's Day, there is the "rescue" of the Soller Tunnel, there was the meeting with the Pope to press the claims of Ramon Llull sainthood, and there is now the re-naming of the airport ... after Ramon Llull.

Taking the lead in calling for a new airport name, and insisting that Aena pays for it, speaks volumes for the way in which the Council has been adopting an agenda-setting profile. One might ask why it is doing so. The answer lies - or does it? - with wishing to promote Llull and an alternative image for Mallorca: alternative to sun and beach, that is. There is a good deal of scoffing at the idea, though it might be recalled that a poll indicated that some three-quarters of respondents thought Llull should be the name, if there is to be a new name at all, which is another matter.

Those three-quarters will have predominantly been Mallorcan. They confirmed what Ensenyat is pressing for, a symbol of Mallorcaness, which is reasonable enough, but such Mallorca-centricity overlooks the wider world which Llull would supposedly be exposed to. The wider world really couldn't care less, and it's worth asking what the now finished year of celebration of Llull has achieved. Is the world more knowledgeable of Llull as a result? Well, is it?

Llull, whether he becomes an airport or not, is thus principally for Mallorcan (and Catalan) consumption. Emblazoning his name across departures would be a deeply significant act of identity, and it would be the Council that promoted it. And the Council is all about embedding this identity - one that is Mallorca. But in order to truly establish this identity, more has to be done than adopting the name of a mediaevalist. There is political identity, and that means government.

Recently, Ensenyat was asked whether he might stand as a Més candidate for the regional parliament (and therefore possibly the regional government) in 2019. His reply was instructive. It sounds, he said, as though there is a division one and a division two, with the regional government the number one. That isn't how he sees things. It would be good, he intimated, if he could secure a second term at the Council, for which he envisages very much greater things. The regional government should be slimmed down. Responsibilities should be transferred to the Council (and to the councils on the other islands). Not just responsibilities, but also officials, buildings - the lot.

Ambitions for the Council as an institution are rooted in the fact that it pre-dated the regional government: the first elections were held four years before those for the government. As an entity it has historical antecedent - the great and general council of the island, which brought together institutions for Palma and the "part forana", was established in 1373. History, as if we didn't know, counts for an awful lot in current-day Mallorca politics, not least when it comes to assertions of island "nationalism".

Ensenyat and Més represent one particular take on this nationalism. The alternative, as in having been a centrist-right perspective, was that of the former Unió Mallorquina. Maria Antonia Munar was the UM president of the Council for twelve years, the longest serving president, and during her time the Council grew to a degree that it seemed to all but mirror the government. A consequence of this was the massive amount of duplication and no shortage of debate as to what the purposes of the two institutions were and as to whether one was dispensable.

It was Salom who took the knife to much of this duplication. She got rid, for example, of TV Mallorca, established by the Council under Munar. Ensenyat, acutely aware of the charges of duplication (and therefore additional cost), argues that transferring responsibilities to the Council will be the way to avoid duplications. He may be right, but at the heart of these ambitions is the Council as an expression of nationalism, for which Llull is symbolic.

In Search Of Mallorcan Nationalism

Més are starting a great debate. Another great debate. Coming hard on the heels of the great debate on tourist numbers and the notion of sustainability comes one even closer to the hearts of Més: nationalism.

As observed with the tourist numbers debate, timing is everything. That one was launched a year to the day that the Balearics registered a combined population of more than two million for the first time. The timing for this second debate has a different context. There is little happening politically in the Balearics because of the holidays. In which case, why not fill the void with the opening exchanges of a great political debate?

One also suspects that the timing has everything to do with events towards the end of June. The general election took place getting on for two months ago. There will have been sufficient time to come up with a response and to start the process for the next election (not, with any luck, another general election but the regional election in 2019).

The June election was a chastening experience for Més. The party decided to form an electoral alliance with Podemos (and the far less relevant United Left). This was a fraught alliance. Podemos, the far stronger of the two in terms of votes at the December election, insisted on filling the top three positions on the "list". The anticipation was that the number of seats in Congress would increase from the Podemos two to three. Més, not represented in Congress, felt hard done by. In the end, Podemos relented. The Més man, Antoni Verger, could be number three (if only for two years out of the four of the legislature). It made no difference. They still only won two seats.

In theory the alliance made sense. Based on December's poll, there would have been a combined vote of over 150,000 (around 40,000 more than Podemos on its own had secured in December). It would have been sufficient to have guaranteed a third seat in Congress. The practice was different. The combined total rose by only 6,000. It was impossible to say where voter sympathies lay, but a crude conclusion was that Més had seen its almost 34,000 votes in December wiped away.

There was some justification in drawing this conclusion. A new grouping (SI) had been formed shortly before the election. Its key theme was sovereignty for the Balearics. With increased support for the animal-rights party (which is hard to distinguish from other left-wing groups), inroads were made into the Més vote. SI made much of the fact that had Més not made an alliance with Podemos, it would never have been formed. It objected to an ostensibly Mallorcan (Balearic) left-wing nationalist party sharing a platform with a party (Podemos) created from intellectual circles in Madrid. Its message unquestionably had an impact.

This is the background therefore to why Més are starting the nationalism debate. They badly need to regain some lost credibility.

The basis for this debate is a document entitled "A draft for country: National construction in the Balearic Islands" - the use of the word country (país) is instructive in this regard. A symposium, based on contributions, is due to be held some time next year.

The questions being addressed are fairly open. One asks what the role is of nationalist parties and what it should be. Others refer to associations with Catalonia and the "Catalan nation" and to the impact of globalisation and immigration on nationalist ambitions. A further one is perhaps the most revealing. "Have we idealised our history?"

One answer to this question would be that they most certainly have. It would be a response largely from the right-wing, though not exclusively. To give an example, there are elements within Podemos which are supportive of a Catalonian referendum on independence, but they support this not for nationalist reasons but because of a principle of self-determination. It is the latter which guides their thinking more than nationalism per se.

In a way, the debate that Més want might seem curious. Is it evidence of a party seeking justification, of a party wanting to find out what (and who) it represents? Is it looking for some reassurance after that election result, some confirmation that it speaks for a significant constituency in Mallorca and the Balearics? To come to the question about an "idealised history", does the narrative of victimisation at the hands of, for example, the Bourbons three hundred years ago really carry great weight with contemporary society?

There has been precious little evidence of any groundswell of agitation for greater sovereignty. There is plenty of evidence that points to support for regionalism, and this is a very different issue. It is one that promotes regional identity and regional interests and owes little to thoughts of nationalism. It is one which dominates Balearic political and societal philosophies.

PSOE And The Puppet Masters

"Podemos is not advocating a government of coalition but a coalition of government." These were the words of the PSOE president of Extremadura, Guillermo Fernández-Vara, speaking at the party's federal committee at the weekend. They might sound like gobbledegook but their meaning was clear. A government of coalition means a government in which individual parties' agendas are subordinate to the will of the government as a whole. A coalition of government refers to individual parties having their separate responsibilities and agendas. There is not the same collective will or anything approaching it.

Vara went onto to say that under a PSOE government arrangement with Podemos, the party (his party) would be judged by what it does and what it is responsible for, while Podemos would be judged on what it does and its responsibilities. The semantics of his message might seem confusing, but what he was driving at was the potential to create what would be parallel governments. There may, ostensibly, be a coalition, but its paths would diverge, with one signposted PSOE, the other Podemos (together with its associates and, in all likelihood, the IU - United Left).

The Extremadura president is far from being alone in opposing any governmental tie-up with Podemos. PSOE leaders might want a government of the left, but it depends on what style of left. Javier Fernández, the president of Asturias, has branded Podemos bullies. Miquel Iceta, the secretary-general of PSOE in Catalonia (known as PSC), has spoken of Pablo Iglesias wishing to humiliate him. The bullies and the humiliation are things that PSOE should already be aware of: its members need only take a look at the Balearics.

The Vara argument is of course disputed by the present voguishness for everything apparently being agreed through dialogue and consensus, with component parts of pacts walking hand-in-hand in harmonious accord. This is fictitious dissembling. Had Francina Armengol's PSOE in the Balearics been in a position to, it would have repelled any half-thought of a pact involving Podemos. Why? Because of its disruptive capacity as much as any policies. Biel Barceló's Més on its own would have received houseroom in just the same way as one of the Més elements, the PSM Mallorcan socialists, had been by Francesc Antich. Left to their twosome devices, the dialogue and consensus spin might have some credibility. The ménage à trois leaves it incredible.

Yet even with Més, Armengol has been forced into giving up areas of responsibility. Tourism is most certainly one. It is now hypothetical what might have happened had PSOE been in a stronger position, but it was well known that PSOE had not been wholehearted in wishing there to be a tourist tax. This is a Més measure (with Podemos's full backing). The words of Armengol, her government spokesperson, Marc Pons, and her finance minister, Catalina Cladera - each of them from PSOE - in now supporting it are shallow.

The Balearic model of government is precisely what Vara was alluding to. The notion of consensus has the feeling of a sham, one perpetrated by Armengol and others as a means of justification for a government which could unravel under the tensions it has brought upon itself. Podemos, not even actually in the government (though it may reconsider this, with all the complications this would cause for responsibilities), has made play of the fact that it is now - based on general election results - the second force in the Balearics (behind the most-voted-for party, the PP). Armengol and PSOE were forced into having to accept an arrangement with Podemos, which has subsequently drawn greater strength from the national election. And with this force and strength, there is humiliation. The PP's accusations of Armengol being a Podemos puppet cut to the bone, and it is this that certain PSOE leaders want to avoid at all costs for national government.

Moreover, they want to avoid acceding to Podemos demands for control of, for example, defence and the economy. They most certainly want to avoid any referendum on Catalonia. Armengol seeks to soothe their nerves by saying that all is working well in government with nationalists. But which nationalists? Més has a nationalist agenda (for both the Balearics and Catalonia), but Més is irrelevant in the national government context: Podemos isn't.

Podemos backs a referendum but not because it is nationalist. It promotes the will of the people in deciding, to an extent that it can be described as anti-nationalist, which might be said to include Spain. This is its own spin. Podemos may be able to keep it up. It may even be sincere. But even allowing for a veneer of the popular will, there are precedents for subordinating the state to party interests, those of Podemos. You don't need me to tell you which ones. There are plenty in PSOE who will never forgive Sánchez if he prostrates himself in front of Podemos.

Mallorca Days

9 September. That's the one I'd go for. Tourism Day 1965. It won't win of course. The first Tourism Day had been the year before but I can't find the exact date. It may have been the same, but it wouldn't make any difference. Either year and it was a day of the times of El Moustachio, so that rules it out straightaway. And celebrating tourism? You must be joking. Mallorca Day, in honour of tourists?

Another problem with my day is that it's too near the current one. Only three days shy in fact. 12 September is currently Mallorca Day, but the problem with this current day is that no one takes any notice of it and they never have done. One could now, via a reinterpretation of historic memory law, make a case for its abandonment on account of it having been a Maria invention: the Maria who is at present at His Majesty's Pleasure. 12 September was Munar Day, one conjured up by the government-in-parallel, Maria's Council of Mallorca. When you have your own mini-me government, you need your own "day" as well. Jaume II was crowned on that day, 739 years ago (721 ago years when the first Day occurred in 1997). The Kingdom of Mallorca was firmly established, certain rights were bestowed, so 12 September it was to be then. 

As the new Council of Mallorca seeks to become its own government-in-parallel, Banbury's finest, Miquel Ensenyat, believes that the citizens should decide which day it should be. Given that the citizens appear to have been indifferent in the past, the chances are that participation in the planned referendum might just turn out to be a slight embarrassment. But you never know. Get a day for rejoicing by all Mallorcans, and they'll turn up at the polling stations and celebrate it like crazy for years to come.

The bookies' favourite would be 31 December. It is a date so obvious that it is worth being reminded why it isn't Mallorca Day. Firstly, it would seem that no one had really thought that such a day was necessary before Munar Day was announced. Secondly, it would clash with Palma's Festival of the Standard and thus become all a bit too Mallorcan, as in all of Mallorca and not just one chunk of it. Thirdly, most public institutions and thus politicians are on festive break, and they would have to be corralled into engaging in all the ceremonial palaver when they would prefer to already be half-cut before getting totally cut come midnight and choking on their twelve grapes.

And then fourthly, and most importantly, there's the nationalism thing.

As 31 December (1229) is the day when Jaume I finally took old Madina Mayurqa (aka Palma), put the Muslims to flight and started carving up the island's land for his mates, for Catalan nationalists, such as Miquel Ensenyat, and for many who are neither Catalan nor nationalists, 31 December appears a no-brainer. It was when Mallorca started: in a Catalan sense. There are probably, if one delves deeply enough, days from 123BC, the fifth century and 902AD when, respectively, the Romans began a-roaming, the Vandals came a-vandalising and the Muslims came an offshoot caliphating, that could also be suggested for a "Day", as in conquest and occupation, but then none of those spoke Catalan and all three were the bad guys.

Blindingly obvious though 31 December is, the Catalan nationalism thing is, for some (i.e. those to the right), just too Catalan. Jaume II and his coronation is far more acceptable to those of a purer Mallorcan nationalist tendency: typically, those more to the right.

If anyone can be bothered voting in this proposed referendum, the No to 1276 and Yes to 1229 Campaign should, you would think, win. There are, however, already other contenders. Some parts of PSOE seem to believe that 29 October, 1977 would get the locals excited. True, there was a demo on that day when some 20,000 called for autonomy (for both Mallorca and the Balearics). But given that there is a day for when Balearic autonomy was officially granted, i.e. 1 March, Balearics Day, then why would you need another one? And to be perfectly frank, Balearics Day is a holiday that doesn't inspire a great deal of passion either.

As they'd almost certainly reject my Tourism Day suggestion, let me make another one. When should Mallorca Day be? 12 September. Forget all about Jaume II (or Jaume I for that matter), 12 September is also the day of the Virgin of Lluc, when Mallorca's patron saint is honoured. For once, religion could have a compromise role.

Whatever dates make the shortlist though, I've a question. Do you reckon non-Spanish residents will get a chance to vote in the referendum? Miquel might just remember where he was from.

From Banbury Cross To Extremadura

Extremadura is a region of Spain north of Andalusia that nestles next to Portugal. The name comes from "extremo", the generally accepted view being that it was the land furthest from Castile and Leon at the time of the re-conquest and so the furthest but also first line of defence against the Islamic occupation. It is at the extremity of Spain, which implies a certain remoteness and distance, and, more than just geographically, it is. This is a land which is one of the poorest regions of Spain. Its population is roughly similar to that of the Balearic Islands (around 1.1 million), yet its area is vastly greater. Its economy is predominantly services based and great strides are being made to develop its tourism - it is actually one of the more innovative and proactive regions of Spain in this regard. But it is also agricultural, known for the production of tobacco and charcuterie. And its farmers have found themselves in the middle of one almighty great political spat.

Miquel Ensenyat, the president of the Council of Mallorca, was born in Banbury. It is unlikely that the infant Miquel ever became familiar with the competing versions of the Banbury Cross rhyme, but had he, then he would have known the one involving Tommy buying a penny white loaf, a penny white cake and a two-penny apple pie. In the rural Oxfordshire of the eighteenth century, they wouldn't have been reliant on handouts through a redistributive system of tax income, but were the rhyme to be updated and placed in a Spanish context, Tommy would be buying his penny white loaf with a penny derived from Balearic tax revenue, and Tommy, moreover, would have relocated: to Extremadura.

While the children of the Balearics go to school with colouring crayons of thirty-year vintage, the children of Extremadura arrive at their schools with brand new tablets. This was an observation made by Miquel in an interview for "El Mundo" which has blown up in to that almighty great spat. A further one had to do with the farmers of Extremadura. They get paid salaries so that they can go and sit in a bar. This was not an original observation, as some years ago the leader of the UDC (Catalonia Democratic Union), Josep Antoni Duran, had said this of the Extremaduran farmers.

In one respect, drawing on a remark by Duran, might seem odd. The UDC is not what you would call left-wing, unlike Miquel and his party (Més, aka the PSM, Mallorcan Socialists), but the UDC is a Catalonian nationalist party, and it is this nationalism which forms part of the row and the exchanges of opinion between Ensenyat and the PSOE president of Extremadura, Guillermo Fernández Vara, to which have been added the views of any number of other politicians, both in the Balearics and Extremadura.

The spokesperson for the Extremadura government, Isabel Gil Rosiña, has referred to the creation of "unnecessary tensions" raised by people who want to "separate", by which she means nationalism and independence - Catalonian independence, something which Ensenyat favours, as he also favours a political federation of the Catalan Lands of which the Balearics would be a part.

At the heart of all of this, as it has been for years and so since Duran made his original remark about the Extremadura farmers, is money. Nationalism aside, it is the system of financing which is what Ensenyat was referring to, one under which the Balearics (and Catalonia) end up in effect subsidising regions of Spain such as Extremadura. The Balearics, with an almost identical population, raises vastly more in revenues than Extremadura does.

Vara, for his part, says that the children's tablets are not paid for with Balearic money but with the region's own finances, part of which come from the fact that, for all that it isn't that wealthy, it creates more energy than it needs. It benefits from the tax pot, but it gives back in a different way. Regardless of this and regardless also of nationalism, the system of regional financing is one that generates considerable heat, which is why President Armengol is so keen to pursue a better deal from Mariano Rajoy.

Armengol and PSOE have been embarrassed by Ensenyat's comments, though they are saying very little about them. Biel Barceló of Més has said they were "unfortunate" but prefers to attach the blame to Madrid. The people of Extremadura and the Balearics are not responsible for conflict or disputes over financing, Madrid is.

The fallout from the spat is unlikely to claim Ensenyat, although Xavier Pericay of the anti-nationalist Ciudadanos has said that he should resign. Jesus Jurado of Podemos, represented at the Council of Mallorca, has been equivocal in his support of Ensenyat, but he says of him that he doesn't mince his words. Perhaps not, but sometimes they might be chosen with greater care.

The Big Fat One: Greater Catalonia

We all know El Gordo, the big, fat Christmas lottery with the interminable, monotonous infant chanting of the numbers. We don't all know Germà Gordó, but he wants us all to know him. He is Catalonia's minister of justice, and he believes there should be a big, fat Catalonia - the complete Catalan nation of Catalonia, Valencia, part of Aragon, Roussillon and the Balearics. (What have the Andorrans and the few knocking around in Sardinia done to deserve being excluded?)

El Gordó made his remarks at the weekend at the Catalan Summer University, a gathering held in the Roussillon town of Prades, west of Perpignan. The construction of a state, he said, in reference to an independent Catalonia, should not forget the entire nation, by which he meant the above listed regions. This "state" could grant its nationality on their citizens: the Catalonian nationality of a hypothetically independent Catalonia and an even more hypothetically Greater Catalonia, the sovereign nation of the mythical Catalan Lands.

To say that the suggestion has not gone down terribly well would be a massive understatement. The Valencians, in particular, are absolutely furious. If you think the linguistic wars of Mallorca are all a bit baffling not to say weird, these are nothing compared with Valencia's. As far as some Valencians are concerned, the Valencian language was formed separately from Catalan. Ultimately, everything, obviously including the notion of the Catalan Lands, comes back to language. Or not, as the case may be.

In trying to clear up the controversy that has been caused, the Catalonian government spokesperson, Neus Munté, has said that when El Gordó was referring to the entire nation, he was referring only to a strengthening of a common linguistic bond. In so doing, she has really only made matters worse as this clearly wasn't all that was being referred to, while the whole linguistic bond thing is wrapped up in regionalist sentiments, such as that in Valencia, which dispute the existence of such a bond.

But the issue does go wider than language, and it has to do with Catalonian ambition. For many, the Catalonian wish for independence extends beyond its borders and so not to the creation of a greater nation but something akin to a Catalonian empire, with Barcelona at its centre issuing commands.

Mallorca and Mallorcans are contrary. Many a Mallorcan supports Barcelona's football team, way more than support Real Mallorca. Many a Mallorcan clings to a Catalan heritage, bequeathed by Jaume I. But these same Barcelona-supporting, Catalan culturalists want nothing to do with Barcelona political dominance. They also, despite defending the teaching of Catalan and its preferential use in the public sector, say they speak Mallorquín and not Catalan. And they will say it with some intensity, just as they will be equally insistent in saying that they are Mallorcan. Despite all the history, which can get extremely tedious when it comes to arguments regarding linguistic roots, Catalonia's claim to one-time nationhood and so on, Mallorcans have a pick 'n' mix attitude: Catalonia and Catalan when they suit, Mallorca when it doesn't and, more often than not, Spanish as well. And just like the Valencians, there'll be arguments about separate language development.

So when a politician like El Gordó comes along and starts talking about Mallorca and the Balearics being part of a Catalan nation, the Mallorca part of the mix pulls the drawbridge up and repels the invader with its own volleys of rejection, almost as vociferous as those that have emanated from Valencia. The fact is, however, that there is not a cat in hell's chance that such a Catalan nation would ever be formed. President Armengol says that the debate kicked off by El Gordó is "sterile", and she's right, because there is no potency. Repeated surveys into identity have shown that support for the Catalan Lands is all but non-existent. Even some Catalan nationalists in Mallorca will admit that this is the case and that the notion simply would never fly.

This being the case, why is the suggestion even made? Partly of course it is all to do with history. But if history is so sure, why isn't it Aragon making the claim for nationhood, because that's where Jaume was king and that's what Mallorca (and Catalonia) were once a part of - the Crown of Aragon? The history, though, can get tedious. It can be interpreted and used to support whatever claim is being made. It can also, obviously, seem not of the present day or of the future.

But more fundamentally, and this is how the issue is perceived by many Mallorcans, it all has to do with Catalonia having ideas above its station, one that hasn't in fact yet been attained - an independent state. That, independence, does not have widespread support in Mallorca, while Greater Catalonia has virtually none.

We're Més. Fly Us?

There was a time, pre-Podemos, when Més was making a very good case for becoming a strong, third political force in Mallorca. Set against the repeated nonsenses emanating from the PP and the irrelevance of PSOE, here was an alternative, and it was doing quite nicely in opinion polls and being treated nicely by a media which was discovering that it might actually have something to offer. Then Podemos came along, feasted modestly on right-wing PP support and gorged themselves on a smorgasbord of preferences for leftist parties. As an example of how the left are consequently being squeezed around the political dining-table, a poll for the Council of Mallorca elections has Més losing at least one councillor, while Podemos are matching PSOE. Alas poor Més.

Responding to Podemos has not been easy for any party, but for one which might be considered to be similar ideologically it is a tough task. Perception is of course everything. Podemos differ in many ways to Més, but the public will find it hard to see where clear blue water of the Mediterranean might exist between them. For Més, with its environmentalist agenda, it will lie in making the water bluer still, but then aren't Podemos signed up to this as well? Probably, possibly, who knows for sure.

Més is its own range of tapas within that leftist smorgasbord buffet, though maybe, in keeping with the "new Europe" that has been born in Greece, it should be a meze. With dishes of Greens and of Mallorcan tradition, here is a feast of leftism but one in which the largest platter is that of the PSM: the Mallorcan socialists with their Mallorcan nationalist philosophy. This nationalism is a button for Més to press but good old Podemos (in the Balearics) seem to also believe in the same sort of self-government and Catalan linguistic immersion that Més espouses. No, it really isn't easy when some other lot come along and nick your reasons for being.

Undeterred, Més has announced various proposals which, rather than being bogged down in nationalist ideology, are more pragmatic. They are to do with generating employment and would, one presumes, be included in an election manifesto, and among them are a couple of proposals which are different (for the moment at any rate). One is that the regional government should establish an online system for the commercialisation of private holiday accommodation. This would naturally go down like a lead balloon with the hoteliers, but then Més believes that the PP "has governed for the hoteliers". It's hard to disagree.

Another proposal is the one that Més flagged up last November; that the Balearics should have its own airline. The proposal has been misinterpreted as it was originally (probably still is) not one for international flights. The principal reasoning behind it was in fact for inter-island flights plus perhaps some flights to Madrid and Barcelona. As such, it is now more difficult to make a case for such an airline than it was in November; Air Europa will enter the inter-island flights market in May and has announced that it will be competing hard on price with Air Nostrum. Més now says that an airline would lengthen the tourist season and would mean less dependency upon a few principal markets. Which is a pretty vague statement. Does it refer to existing, overseas airlines, to the current limited amount of off-season tourism from these principal markets, to domestic tourism, or what exactly?

Whatever it is that Més has in mind, it is the suggestion that public funds might go towards such an airline that probably renders the proposal a non-starter. There are several pitfalls with such a proposal. Would it exceed powers under the statute of autonomy? Would the national competition commission not block it? Would Air Europa and Air Nostrum see them in court? And, ultimately, would Europe say no?

The EU does permit state aid to airlines but normally only in return for restructuring if an airline is in difficulty. Air Malta is a case in point. It may be government-owned (though there is a move to partially privatise it) but government money it has received has come with the strings of cuts being made to personnel (and routes) in order to establish profitability. But even rescue aid can fall foul of Europe. Cyprus Airways has been shut down because EU rules on aid were broken. Consequently, it's hard to see how a start-up, publicly-funded airline in the Balearics could be allowed.

I noted above that Més was making pragmatic proposals rather than ones driven by nationalist ideology. Mainly so, but is it nationalism driving a dubious vanity airline project? It might appeal to nationalist sentiment and be an attempt at making Més seem different, but the proposal will surely never fly.

The Felanitx Theory: Columbus

At the end of 2011, I offered an annual award for the "historian of the year". To this day, I would imagine that Gabriel Verd remains blissfully unaware of this accolade but four years later he may be placing himself on the shortlist to pick up a far more celebrated prize. The citation in 2011 went along the lines of perseverance in the face of almost overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Verd is the Mallorcan historian who insists that Christopher Columbus was from Felanitx. His life's work has pretty much been devoted to proving this. In 2011 he was convinced. Now, he is on the point of producing evidence which will demonstrate definitively that Columbus was from Felanitx and not from Genoa or any other place which has laid a claim on him.

At the weekend at a restaurant (Son Colom) in Felanitx which doubles as an exhibition centre for Columbus, Verd was able to explain his theories to visitors who included the president of the Council of Mallorca, Maria Salom. He asserted that the "Felanitx theory is the most coherent that there is". The competing theories include Ibiza, Galicia and, of course, Genoa, which is the city that history scholars over the centuries have accepted that Columbus came from.

Having Maria Salom along for the day was understandable, as the Council is one of the keepers of Mallorcan culture and heritage and as it was the Council, in 2004, which forwarded a grant of over 50,000 euros for research into Columbus's origins and genetics; one of the biggest supporters of this research was Gabriel Verd. There have, subsequently, been DNA tests carried out which have sought to establish links between local populations and Columbus (certainly with his younger brother, Bartholomew). These don't, however, seem to have proved anything - definitively.

The research has been and is valid. Though it is the accepted version of history that Columbus came from Genoa, there have always been certain questions, e.g. why he himself made little reference to Genoa and, more importantly, why he spoke in the strange way he did. Linguistic research has held much of the key to resolving the arguments regarding Columbus's origins. It is this linguistic element, along with Mallorca's culture and heritage, which was what interested a former president of the Council, Maria Antonia Munar, who held this office when the 2004 grant was made. She admitted at the time that she had "a patent interest in Columbus being from Mallorca", and one suspects that this interest would have been partly kindled by nationalism. Munar's party, the Unió Mallorquina, was Mallorcan nationalist. Columbus a Mallorcan? The discoverer of America was Mallorcan all along and not an Italian and definitely not a Spaniard? It's the stuff of nationalist dreams and one, moreover, that features some version of Catalan as the mother tongue.

A further linguistic element is the name Porto Colom in Felanitx. Colom means pigeon in Catalan. In Italian the word is "colombo". In the Genoa region of the fifteenth century it was "corombo". There were people called Pigeon all over the western Med. Porto Colom, as in "colunbi", was noted on an Italian map of Mallorca from the thirteenth century, so it is perfectly logical that people might have adopted Colom as a surname because of the place name. Or alternatively, they were just named after a pigeon. Either way, as far as Columbus was concerned, Verd has maintained that his name came from his mother, Margarita Colom, who gave birth to the illegitimate son of Carlos, an Aragonese nobleman who was the brother of Ferdinand, later the husband of Isabel and so one half of the Catholic Kings. And the precise location of the birth was the Felanitx finca of s'Alqueria Roja.

Gabriel Verd believes that this year he will add to the celebrations of notable Mallorcans (Ramon Llull, 700th anniversary of his death, and Fray Junipero, his canonisation) by proclaiming that Columbus was definitively a Mallorcan. There is a part of me which really wants him to be right, for him to turn historical orthodoxy on its head and for history to therefore have to be rewritten. But despite his confidence that he will prove Columbus's Mallorcan birth definitively, unless it is in such a powerful way with new, previously unseen, original source documents that can substantiate the Felanitx theory and be scrutinised by peers who might be convinced of the arguments, the overwhelming evidence in favour of Genoa will remain.

Even if he were to provide definitive proof, would all Mallorcans be happy? History is less kind to Columbus than it once was. He is now accused of genocide and so of the extinguishing of Taino Indian culture in Hispaniola. The fact that smallpox and other diseases were largely responsible for the Tainos being all but wiped out doesn't stop contemporary views which portray a barbarous Columbus. Would Mallorca really want that legacy?

The Madness Of King James

The town hall in Sineu has been given the green light by the Council of Mallorca's heritage commission to locate a statue of King Jaume II (James II) in a place in the town in which it wasn't previously located. In May 2011 the statue was put up in the church square. Soon after, it was removed. The new location, according to a town hall technical report, "permits a view ... of the image of the king ... which does not impair views of any specific buildings and their historical and aesthetic values or interfere with special environmental values". Which is a longwinded way of explaining and admitting that the previous siting had impaired such views and interfered with such values.

The day after the statue was inaugurated, the Council let it be known that it considered the decision of the town hall to locate it where it was to be "very serious". The town hall had not been given permission by the Council for the siting of the statue, which violated regulations regarding the town's status as being in the "cultural interest" and in particular the church of Santa Maria. The town hall went ahead anyway, in full cognisance of the fact that it did not have permission.

The story of the statue might appear to have only been an example of how competing bureaucracies in Mallorca (the Council and the town hall in this instance) can go mad, pull in opposite directions and do things which contravene some arcane regulation or other. There was, however, very much more to it.

Jaume II plays a significant part in Sineu's history, as it was during his reign that the conversion of what had been the palace of the Emir Mobaxir into the Palace of the Kings of Mallorca was undertaken. On this count, plus the fact that it was Jaume II who had granted Sineu the status of a "royal village" in 1300, there should be little debate as to the merit of there being a statue to him. There was debate, however. And it was more than just debate. It had nothing to do with where the statue was sited or with whether there was permission or not; it had everything to do with conflicting attitudes towards Jaume II, and on 29 May 2011 these attitudes spilled over into a physical conflict.

At the ceremony, members of the anti-Catalanist Círculo Balear, who hadn't been invited but went anyway, unveiled a flag with three red bars. This was, if you like, a red-bar-too-few rag to the bull of Mallorcan nationalist sentiment; the official Mallorcan flag has four red bars in accordance with the original flag of Aragon and so King Jaume I. Insults flew, there was some jostling, and the police had to intervene. The Partido Popular, which had won five seats at the previous week's municipal election and was on the point of resuming its leadership of the town hall, initially attached blame for the incidents to "radical Catalanists" but then backtracked somewhat by also criticising the members of the Círculo Balear.

So, what had all this been about? Jaume II, for certain Mallorcan nationalists, is not revered in the way that Jaume I is. Despite having been crowned the first true king of Mallorca, Jaume II does not compare with the old man because it wasn't he who conquered the island and who introduced Catalan culture. Moreover, Jaume II was none too fastidious when it came to flags. He had different versions, one with three red bars (as flown by the Círculo Balear) and even one with only two bars. As such, therefore, he was betraying the legacy of the original flag, the "senyera". The left-wing nationalist Sineu Independent party was indignant about there being a statue at all: Jaume II did not represent Sineu, it said.

Nevertheless, there is the peculiarity that it was a nationalist party, the Unió Mallorquina when it was in charge of the Council of Mallorca, which established Mallorca Day on the anniversary of Jaume II's coronation in 1276. The conflict in Sineu in 2011 was styled as one between "nationalistas" and "españolistas", the latter personified by the anti-Catalanist Círculo Balear. Yet, the very fact that a nationalist party might have felt it appropriate for Jaume II to be the pretext for a Mallorca Day confuses an argument about the very origins of this nationalism.

Much as history is important and much as events of the thirteenth century moulded Mallorcan culture and heritage, the conflict in Sineu revealed just how mired current-day society can be in this antiquity. Should it really matter that much? To some it obviously does, but to others it seems crazy to constantly relive a long-ago past. And so what will happen when the statue is placed in its new location? More of the same probably. Madness.

Twelve Hours Of A Mallorcan New Year

New Year in a Mallorcan style. The bells will ring out, fireworks will go off, the cava will pop, the twelve grapes will be scoffed and DJ Deejay will prepare the decks for a sound avalanche erupting with 1980s nostalgia into the night skies of town centres. There is nothing specifically Mallorcan about this. The grapes are Spanish grapes. Tradition they may be, but they owe everything to the pursuit of commerce and to early twentieth-century vine growers in Alicante who picked up on what was then a recent but not widely followed practice and saw it as an excellent means of selling grapes from what had been an abundant harvest.

The grapes might be said to bring luck, but on New Year's Eve 785 years ago luck had run out for the Arabic occupants of old Madina Mayurqa. Jaume I of Aragon and his band of land-hungry followers from the mainland took what was to eventually be called Palma, completed the conquest of Mallorca, introduced Catalan and thus paved the way for 785 years of squabbles, primarily those to do with Catalonia and language.

It isn't everywhere that can tag the birth of nationalism onto its New Year celebrations. In Mallorca they can, assuming that is, that one adheres to a notion of nationalism as it applies to a small island in the Mediterranean which isn't a nation. But, and as is evident from a book by Antoni-Ignasi Alomar i Canyelles, 31 December is the date on which Europe's oldest national fiesta takes place. Its title says so: "L'Estendard, la festa nacional més antiga d'Europa". 

The fiesta (or festival) of the standard - the Catalan-Aragonese flag flown by the conquering army of Jaume I - is only truly celebrated in Palma, but as it is supposedly also a "national" event, there are mini-celebrations in the villages of Mallorca in the days before 31 December. Thanks to the Obra Cultural Balear, promoters of all things Catalan heritage, the festival has gone on tour. This evening, as an example, there will be a festival of the standard in Campanet.

It has become a fiesta that for some, as the title of the book suggests, is an occasion to assert Mallorcan nationalism, but over its centuries of celebration it has been interpreted in different ways, has been repressed and has gone through one lengthy period of decline, which followed the end of The War of the Spanish Succession and the passing of the Nueva Planta decree of the Bourbon King Philip V that dismantled the Crown of Aragon (of which Mallorca was a part) and did away with much of the associated ceremony. There still was a ceremony for the standard but it was far from being what it had been. It was hijacked by what some contemporary writers refer to as the "Bourbon occupation". In other words, it was made a "Spanish" celebration. So much so that the sermon - the fiesta has always been part religious, part secular - was delivered in Castellano, which mostly no one understood.

This decline continued through the nineteenth century and into the twentieth. During the Second Republic from 1931, the fiesta was repressed. It was considered symbolic neither of Mallorcan nationalism nor as an extension of Catalan nationalism (the somewhat mythical notion of the Catalan Lands) but of Spanish conservatism and monarchism. It was, curiously enough, during the Franco regime that the fiesta started its comeback. Though the regime looked upon it in the same way that the Bourbons had - as a means of incorporating Mallorca into Spain - something rather odd was added to the celebration in 1965. This was the reciting of the poem "La Colcada", written in 1861 by the Mallorcan Pere d'Alcàntara Penya i Nicolau. It was odd because the poem alluded to how the fiesta had once been before the years of decline started by Philip V (of whom it might be said that Franco was something of a political descendant) and so to the days when the fiesta was marked by its grand procession of knights on horseback. Its opening line recognised that "as no one knows the story of our great King James", the poem would have to tell the forgotten story of the festival of the standard.

Now very much fully restored, the festival has become an occasion when divisions reflected in its varying interpretation and treatments over the centuries come to the fore. For the left-wing nationalists (who strangely might be deemed to be heirs to the Second Republic which had been against the fiesta) there are those cries of nationalism: history and politics are never far from the surface in current-day Mallorca. But for most people the fiesta is just that, a fiesta, a celebration. On New Year's Eve at midday in the Plaça de Cort the "La Colcada" poem will be read. Twelve hours later, the bells will ring out, grape growers will be rubbing their hands and the DJ (Juan Campos) will take over. A difference of twelve hours which sums up a Mallorcan New Year.

Bullfighting Apologies And Apologists

One of the grandest fairs of a Spanish spring is that of San Isidro in Madrid. It is a fair which attracts visitors from across Spain and from overseas. As part of the promotion for this year's fair, the travel agency Nautalia Viajes had offered a package which included hotel accommodation and entrance to one of the main events of this grand fair: the bullfight in the Las Ventas bullring. The agency had offered this package; it now no longer does. Nautalia in fact withdrew this promotion almost two weeks ago. The withdrawal followed an avalanche of criticism from opponents of the bullfight.

Nautalia's explanation for dropping the promotion was posted onto its Facebook page. Its wording was such that it left no one in any doubt that it, Nautalia, recognised that a mistake had been made. "After listening to your petitions (and the informal 'vuestras' was used for 'your') and as a business which values opinions of its community, we have decided to cease selling the package." The explanation went on: "We are conscious of the argument with regard to bullfighting, so for this reason we apologise to people who may have been offended by the sale of this package ... At no time has Nautalia defended the mistreatment of animals." 

This was a strong statement of regret. It may have been for PR purposes, but it was PR that was necessary in the face of the onslaught of criticism and of the power of social media. The agency doubtless calculated that it stood to lose more custom by continuing to offer the package than by withdrawing it. Its Twitter account revealed that some supporters of the bullfight said that they would stop being clients. 

Spain.info is the website for the national tourism agency Turespaña. Under a heading, "Bullfights: the magic of Spain's 'national fiesta' ", the website talks about the "excitement" of this fiesta and says that "to discover Spain is to discover bullfighting culture". It refers to the San Isidro event as indeed it does to others. It makes one crucial mistake, though. It includes reference to the bullfight in Barcelona. There no longer is a bullfight in Barcelona. Catalonia has banned bullfighting.

The effusive description that Spain.info offers is probably to be expected. Even if there are those at Turespaña who are wary of being involved with the argument in the way that Nautalia has been, the agency could hardly not mention bullfighting or be critical of it. One could argue, however, that it goes over the top in seeking to convey the "excitement".

But Turespaña is of course a government agency, and the national government of the Partido Popular has made clear its commitment to and support of bullfighting. And there are others from the PP who are clear in this support. The party's president in Madrid, Esperanza Aguirre, is one of them.

On Sunday at Seville's April fair (where there is a bullfight), Sra. Aguirre issued her own strong statement as part of the oration for the bullfight, one that was very different to that which Nautalia had felt compelled to make. She spoke of how bullfighting was part of her family's tradition and had been since her great-grandfather's days. She placed her love of bulls alongside her Christianity and her love of country. She accused critics of bullfighting of being anti-Spanish and said that their arguments were of a much lower intellectual level than had been inherent to criticisms expressed a century ago. In other words, one has to conclude that opponents, in addition to being anti-Spanish, are little more than an unintelligent rabble.

Invoking being anti-Spanish and so also its opposite, being pro-Spanish, can be seen within the context of the Catalonian argument. The bullfighting ban, where many within the PP are concerned, was purely political. But this ignores the fact that the ban was the result of popular legislation through petition. Not all the thousands upon thousands who signed the petition could surely have been motivated solely by Catalonian nationalist sentiments and a desire to attack a potent symbol of Spanishness, i.e. the bullfight.

Spanish nationalism is quite clearly threatened by Catalonia's quest for independence, and this is a threat felt by those on both the right and the left politically (PSOE isn't in favour). But there is a crucial difference when it comes to the nationalist narrative. Elements within the PP are in tune with Sra. Aguirre's back-to-the-future model of nationalism. The Spanish people may still be Christian but they aren't necessarily staunch Catholics, as has been demonstrated, for example, by opposition to abortion reform. And nor are they necessarily defenders of the bullfight. None of this opposition makes them anti-Spanish.

If Sra. Aguirre and the PP were a travel agency, they might feel obliged to issue a retraction.

Back To A 1930s Future

The world of showbiz is inhabited by those who consider themselves well positioned to make pronouncements on matters far removed from the stage, the cinema or the rock-concert stadium. How many showbiz celebrities can you think of who have adhered to the corruption of the maxim of all the world being a stage and it being one from which they intend to pontificate, often repeatedly? Jane Fonda, Bono, George Clooney, the list is very much longer than these three alone.

Spain has its own celebrity activists. You may not have heard of them, but they are there nevertheless, and one of them is a leading actor called Willy Toledo. If Willy were British, his thoughts would be the target for ridicule by the "Telegraph" or "Daily Mail". Leftist loony, in other words.

Willy Toledo took part recently in an act of solidarity in the city of Gijón organised by something known as the platform against repression and for liberties. He fulminated against the actions of the current national government, one that, he claims, has converted Spain into a "pre-fascist country, if not already fascist".

The fascist narrative is overplayed in Spain. It is the consequence of historical memory in people's lifetimes, a narrative that is nuanced and moulded by this recent memory. It is one that the country cannot break out of. It lives in a fascistic past/present because the counter-narrative, that of a European, democratic, monarchical, free market but ideally egalitarian and clean society and politics, has struggled to consign it once and for all to the cesspit of history.

Toledo supports this fascist groove thing by styling the government as ultranationalist-Catholic, a descriptive picture of government that is suffused with dark colours on a Francoist canvas. It is more than a slight exaggeration. If Spain were either already fascist or pre-fascist, I think we might be more aware of the fact.

Toledo has also mused on the question of the monarchy. He is far from alone in wondering what will happen when the King dies or becomes too infirm to rule; the monarch's health is a subject to which an increasing amount of attention is being paid. Toledo is pretty clear in believing that the King's passing would mean the end of the monarchy. In continuing the historical narrative, he argues that the country should be preparing itself for the reinstatement of "that of which we were robbed", namely the Republic.

So there you have it. In Willy world, Spain is locked in a perpetual battle between a socialist-worker Republicanism and über-Nationalism, with the monarchy somewhere between the two, as, lest we forget, Franco was quite content for the monarchy to be sidelined.

Nevertheless, there are anxieties about the monarchy, and they come from elements of both left and right who have no desire to pursue a return to Republicanism and who are equally disquieted by an overtly nationalist agenda, one that embraces two competing forms of nationalism, one in a neo-Francoist fashion and the other, the nationalist separatism of the Catalans and the Basques. This is the broad centre of both politics and society which doesn't wish to keep re-living the 1930s and wants the European, democratic and, yes, monarchical model to prevail.

The trouble is that the 1930s won't go away. For all that Spain has achieved some sort of democratic modernity, the strains are evident. The position of the monarchy is just one, and it is a position that has deteriorated and may deteriorate further now that the previously dismissed could actually happen, namely Princess Cristina, the wife of the commoner Urdangarin and the King's daughter, being indicted on corruption allegations. Democracy doesn't demand monarchy, but in Spain, a virtuous and benign monarchy helps.

And then there is the economy. The journalist Javier González has made the point that Spain's unemployment is equivalent to the combined populations of its four largest cities - Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Sevilla. It is a point that is designed for effect, but the effect is striking, and it becomes even more so given the context in which González has written and for which newspaper he writes - "El Mundo". Right-wing, it, or González at any rate, invokes the same period of history as Toledo in further invoking the Great Depression and what came next in Europe. We are back to the same fascistic narrative.

One cannot and should not neglect the past. One learns from the past. But in Spain, there are some who want that past to reappear and others who have convinced themselves that it will reappear. This is a country stuck in the time warp of its collective memory. God help us.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

Language And Nationalism

Ed Miliband would, under a future Labour government, make it a stipulation that every Briton would have to speak English. He also would appear to want to stipulate that anyone who goes to live in Britain would have to speak English and that, to have a job which requires interaction with the public, staff would need to demonstrate proficiency in the English language. 

This may all seem like a sop to the right-wing, but it doesn't sound particularly unreasonable, especially where public-sector jobs are concerned. If you wish to create something of unified national identity, then language is as good a symbol as any for ensuring it.

Such language stipulation is not solely an issue for British politicians to have to consider. It is one, you may have noticed, that also taxes the minds of Spanish politicians. The Catalan-Castellano great bore aside, there have been thoughts about insisting that immigrants to Spain speak Spanish (as opposed to Catalan, though maybe they think differently on the matter in Catalan-speaking areas). The current prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, once said that he would make it a stipulation, much as Miliband appears to want to where English is concerned.

Rajoy was coming from the issue from a non-EU angle (and, one suspects, a non-EU angle that nevertheless placed certain EU nationals, the likes of the British, the Germans and the French, in a different category to, for example, Bulgarians). There has never been any enactment as such, but, and regardless of where an immigrant comes from, an inability to speak the language will be an obstacle. This much is inevitable. In Spain, in Britain, wherever you care to mention.

Requiring immigrants to speak the native-tongue takes on the not always healthy glow of nationalism and the somewhat specious concept of citizenship, whether a formal application for citizenship is made or not. Speaking the language (Spanish) demonstrates a willingness to be a good citizen. Or in theory, it does. But what is meant by this? For politicians, it means the same as embracing culture, given that language and culture are indivisible, but this is highly questionable; immigrants retain their old cultures, to greater or lesser degrees, even when able to speak a new language perfectly well, and indeed Miliband is not suggesting that immigrants should abandon the cultures of their birth, which is very noble of him.

By the same token, not being able to speak the new language does not automatically mean that someone is a bad citizen. There are plenty of British people in Mallorca who speak Spanish hardly at all or not very well but who are perfectly decent citizens (or rather members of local society).

A demand that language should be acquired also takes no notice of practicality. Again, in theory, it is possible for anyone of more or less any age to learn a new language, but any language teacher or linguistics expert will tell you that language acquisition becomes harder the older the person is. It isn't just age and linguistic conditioning that are drawbacks to learning, there are also linguistic rules. For the Briton in Mallorca (or Spain), one who has never really understood English grammar, coming to terms with what appears a far more rule-based language is a mammoth task. There is only so much language that can be acquired through conversation. It needs real teaching in order to explain why, for example, Spanish has two overtly past tenses, why the present perfect doesn't necessarily observe the same rules as in English or why the subjunctives are as they are. Put any of this grammatical stuff in front of your average English-speaker, and he or she wouldn't have a clue what you were talking about.

Language is one of the great bastions of nationalism. This much is evident in the Catalan argument, among those both for and against. It isn't unreasonable to expect or at least hope that immigrants can acquire proficiency. Not unreasonable but not easy. And the logic of this is that, because it isn't easy, the proficiency won't be attained, and so the immigrant should be shown the door. Hence, language becomes an arbiter of entitlement and an enforcement. It also becomes a mark of having obtained a state of those two cultural impostors, assimilation and integration; impostors because neither can be adequately or satisfactorily defined.

Purely personally, I believe that language should be acquired to at least a reasonable level, which means to a far higher level than being able to order "dos cervezas". I suspect that there will be those resident in Mallorca, British with negligible language ability, nodding in agreement with Miliband. They would be the ones, therefore, who have not only not acquired much Spanish (or maybe they have), they would also be the ones who are still firmly rooted in Britain. Language? Culture? So long as they are someone else's problem.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

Vandalism: Mallorca is neither Spanish nor Catalan

The history of Mallorca and its association with Catalonia has led us to today's obsession with which language should prevail and to vague notions of Mallorca as part of an independent Catalan Lands. Will Besga in "The Bulletin" (16 September) set out a case for debunking the notion of Catalonian nationalism. I'd like to go further and consider this nationalism within a Mallorcan context.

Will's article dismissed, quite rightly, the belief that there was ever any such thing as a Catalonian kingdom in the early Middle Ages. What there was, was a Count of Barcelona (Ramon Berenguer and successors) and this "crown" (it was granted principality status) was brought through marriage into the orbit of the kingdom which did exist, that of Aragon. It was Jaume of Aragon who gave Mallorca its Catalan history through virtue of his conquest of 1229.

One has to go back much further than this, however, to appreciate fully what Jaume's conquest represented. Mallorca had, prior to this conquest, little connection with mainland Iberia. When Mallorca was occupied by Islamic forces in the tenth century, it had been ruled not by a mainland authority but from Sardinia as part of the Byzantine Empire which otherwise had its hands on only limited territory in southern Iberia. But further back than this, the removal of the Romans in the fifth century had been marked by a division in invading forces. On the mainland, it was the Visigoths who took over parts of southern France, most of modern Spain (including Catalonia) and Portugal. In Mallorca it was the Vandals. They were two distinct tribes, but the distinction is important as it means that, except loosely in Roman times, there hadn't been an historical link between Mallorca and Iberia before Jaume appeared.

The story of 1229 and all that has something of the myth to it. Often styled as a "re-conquest", it wasn't. It was a conquest as there was nothing to actually re-conquer other than to eliminate the Arab occupation. The re-conquest to regain the Visigothic kingdom had been going on for five centuries. Jaume's invasion was  partly in response to this ongoing re-conquest, by then largely driven by the dominant kingdom of Castile, and to his own ambitions to expand the kingdom of Aragon to include Mallorca.

Aragon itself had become home to the Franks of Charlemagne who had moved southwards in the ninth century in helping to drive back the Arabs. As such, therefore, a separate people within Iberia had been created in Aragon and surrounding areas, a cross between Frank and Visigoth.

The Kingdom of Aragon became the Crown of Aragon and embraced not just Aragon but also Mallorca, Valencia and Catalonia. Though part of this Aragonese federation, Catalonia had its own legal and administrative systems even after the union through marriage of the Count of Barcelona in the first half of the twelfth century. One reason why was that in Catalonia they spoke a different language to the people of Aragon.

The Crown of Aragon survived the marriage between Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabel of Castile in the fifteenth century which ostensibly created a unified Spain. But there was no dismantling of legal and administrative systems. This only occurred in the eighteenth century when Philip V abolished the Crown of Aragon, did away with Catalan institutions and prohibited the official use of the Catalan language.

While the Catalonia of today has ambitions for independence and nationalism that are based on somewhat questionable foundations, what of Mallorca? Sympathy for Catalan, Catalonian nationalism or indeed independence for the Catalan Lands stems entirely from the invader Jaume who introduced the Catalan language despite being king of a land whose people spoke a variant of Catalan; just like the Mallorcans do themselves. This linguistic confusion is similar to that of the confusion caused by the manifestation of Catalan sympathy which hangs outside some public buildings - the senyera. This was originally the flag of the kings of Aragon; Catalonia borrowed it. 

Mallorca's historical association is with Aragon and not Catalonia, and even then it is partly through confused linguistics and certainly not through common tribal origins. What cannot be disputed, though, is the absence of an historical "Spanish" connection. Mallorca was not a part of the post-Roman Visigothic kingdom. It only came into a "Spanish" orbit because of an Aragonese king. But it might not have been had events turned out differently.

Over a hundred years before Jaume, an attempt was made to drive the Arabs out. The invasion force was led by Pisa in Italy, but it comprised Catalans from Catalonia, the first time such people and such a land had been identified in historical sources. If it had succeeded, Mallorca might now be Italian, or perhaps its Catalonian association might be that much more legitimate.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

Regional Differences: Mallorca's political centre

What's the difference between regionalism and nationalism?

I pose the question in the context of Mallorcan/Balearics politics. Nationalism has an unfortunate connotation, one of the extreme right, but this is not what we are talking about in Mallorca. In essence, nationalism and regionalism are one of the same thing. Both ideologies espouse regional government and autonomy (as is currently the case in the Balearics). The principle difference between the two is that nationalism implies a wish for greater independence. Regionalism, on the other hand, is federalism by another name.

Mostly all political parties in the Balearics have a regionalist philosophy, and they include a significant number of Partido Popular supporters and politicians. Of the nationalists, there are two parties, the PSM Mallorcan socialists and the Convergència, the former and disgraced Unió Mallorquina. There is a further nationalism, which is that founded on the notion of the independence of the Catalan lands, one commonly associated with the Republican Left (Esquerra Republicana) and one that has very little popular support. 

The Convergència was given a good old kicking at the regional elections last year. Despite its name change, it didn't fool anyone. It was still the corrupt UM. But it has attempted to distance itself from all the former UM politicians who are still being dragged through the courts and to try and re-establish itself as the third force in Mallorcan politics.

In seeking to do so, it has edged towards what may be a formal merger with La Lliga Regionalista. This party is headed by Jaume Font, a former PP politician who fell out with the current leadership over various issues, one of them being attitudes towards regionalism. It fared almost as badly as the Convergència at the last election, but as it was a new party, it was asking a lot for it to have performed any better.

Despite the difference in emphasis between the two parties, there is much common ground. The old UM, and thus the new Convergència, was barely distinguishable from the Partido Popular in many respects, except for the key issue of nationalism. It was, and therefore now is, a centre-right party in terms of many of its policies, and the same applies to Font and La Lliga. Where it did also distinguish itself from the PP was in the fact that it didn't have a nutty wing. The PP in the Balearics generally doesn't have a lunatic right, but nationally it does.

But it is what is perceived as a decidedly rightist agenda on behalf of President Bauzá and one of the local PP's main ideologues, tourism minister Delgado, in their being cool towards regionalism that gives a party of the centre-right with an identifiable regionalist identity the possibility of becoming something of a power. Bauzá's anti-regionalism is his Achilles heel (one of them), as regionalism enjoys popular support.

Could, however, a combined Convergència-La Lliga really hope to make significant inroads into the dominance of the two-party system of the PP and the Balearics version of PSOE? The old UM managed to up to a point, but whether the electorate can ever forgive them, even under a new name, has to be questionable. Much as the leaders of the two parties, Font and the Convergència's Josep Melià, may suggest that they are able to reconcile their ideological difference, a merger would seem like a marriage of convenience between two parties which, by themselves, would in all likelihood remain marginal players. Tensions over that difference might well emerge, just as they have emerged within the PP.

For the type of party Font and Melià envisage to succeed, much would depend upon what happens with the PP in the Balearics. Historically, the local PP has been supportive of regionalism, and the chances are that it might become so again. Were it to, then much of the point of La Lliga in particular would be undermined.

There is a political figure who may well hold the key, and this is Antoni Pastor. Formerly an ally of Font's within the PP, he opted to stick with the PP rather than sign up to La Lliga, and despite his differences with Bauzá, one fancies he will continue to stick with the party. One feels sure he has his eye on the leadership, regardless of his decision not to challenge Bauzá at next month's congress.

Regionalism, as much if not more than the Catalan question, is likely to be a huge factor at the next election (assuming the national PP hasn't scrapped it by then). It is supported by a majority of the population, whereas nationalism isn't, which makes it hard for a united La Lliga-Convergència to present a coherent message, one that would be made even more difficult were Pastor to head a pro-regionalist PP and to drag the party back from its movement off to the right.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

From Russia Without Love

At the end of the last century a mere 8,000 or so Russian tourists came to the Balearics. By 2010 the number had climbed to over 34,000. This year the total (taking in also visitors from the Ukraine) has been projected to rise to 90,000. It is still not an enormous number, but such growth has implications for all manner of reasons, not least for the demographic melting-pot that is the holidaymaking collective in Mallorca.

There are other implications, such as what the heck the Mallorcans will make of attempting to put everything into Cyrillic script and inevitably getting it wrong. And they are surely bound to get it wrong.

The Russians, as a rule, don't speak Spanish and they're not much better when it comes to English. And no one speaks Russian. Communication is going to be a big challenge, but not the biggest; and this brings you to the melting-pot, one that might just have the potential to boil over.

Let's cut to the chase. The Russians are not exactly well liked. Years of antagonism between different nationalities on holiday will draw to a close as a united, western European front is formed against the Russian invasion. Remarkably, the British are likely to be brought into a grand holidaymaker alliance, with their old foes the Germans calling on their one-time enemy to join in a whole new battle of the sunbeds.

The Germans have a deep-rooted dislike of the Russians, and the feeling is entirely mutual; Stalingrad and all that. Russian paranoia, a national trait and the one that for centuries has caused the Russians to be constantly seeking ways of repelling enemies, imagined or real, is now being reinforced by treatment that the Russian tourist receives.

Tensions with the Germanic peoples, and let us not forget that a certain German was actually born in Austria, has been evident in the Austrian ski resort of Kitzbühel, which decided to limit the number of Russian visitors to 10% of the whole. The decision was taken because of the Russians' loud and brash behaviour.

Anti-Russian feeling is certainly not limited to the Germans and Austrians. The British have been taking as hard a line, as can be seen in some comments emanating from Trip Advisor. Take these two for a hotel in Marmaris in Turkey. "Ignorant Russians can spoil the mood." "If you want to punch a Russian clap your hands." On another internet forum, someone wrote: "The problem is that they are not ordinary, decent Russians but crooks and apparatchiks who have come into money without doing an honest day's work."

The Dutch have a dislike of the Russians almost as strong as an historic loathing of the Germans, so much so that following huge numbers of complaints from Dutch tourists there is now such a thing as "tours without Russians" being promoted.

The mixing of cultures in Mallorca's resorts has not always gone smoothly, but for the most part there has been a tolerance bred from familiarity. Brits and Germans may have their differences but they have reached an accommodation over the years. They might even actually like each other now, and one would hope so. On the principle that travel broadens the mind, then going on holiday should break down the stereoptyping and the antagonisms. Which ultimately will be the case with the Russians, but for now, in addition to accusations of rudeness and ignorance, there is more than a suggestion that much of the negativity towards the Russians comes from resentment; that they have acquired wealth where they previously didn't have it and are not shy in flaunting it, especially the women.

The generalisation as to how this wealth has come about gives rise to the type of comment quoted above and to jibes of mafia and oligarchs. Put Russians together with Germans in Arenal, and the Germans will not like it not just because they simply can't stand the Russians but also because they know that an Abramovich could, were he minded to, come along and buy Arenal. It is the shifting of Europe's economic tectonic plates, however the money has been acquired, that lies behind the resentment.

The widening of Mallorca's tourism base should be welcomed by everyone, but such a development adds to the peculiar social phenomenon associated with holidays, that of nationalism and territorialism. The "old world" of western Europe's tourism - the Brits, the Dutch, the Germans and so on - have, grudgingly in many instances, come to accept each other, but acceptance of the "new world" of eastern Europe and of Russia in particular is going to take some doing. Mallorca's tourism industry should understand what it's letting itself in for.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

By The Left: PSM and nationalism

I guess I have always been a bit of a leftie. Not that I have ever taken it particularly seriously. At university it was more a case of playing. I haven't drifted as far though as a friend from those days who was a card-carrying Trot and nowadays reads "The Telegraph" and is some banking and economics expert. University is the playground of politics. Ultimately it doesn't really mean anything, other than as a launch-pad to a political career.

However, had I grown up in Mallorca, had I grown up in the past three decades in Mallorca, and had I gone to university, I can well believe that I would now be a Mallorcan leftie, suspicious of and antagonistic towards tourism, wedded to the beardie fringe of the environment, speaking only a Mallorquín Catalan and practising my Mallorcan bagpipes to the annoyance of the neighbours. I am actually full of admiration for those with ideals, even those that seem somewhat nuts.

There was this interview on Sunday in "The Bulletin". Chances are it won't appear on the paper's website** or if it does it will soon disappear from cyberspace, given a less-than-rigorous approach to archiving. Shame, it was not without interest. The subject of the interview was one Lucy Jane Collyer, British-born but Mallorcan-grown, so to speak. She is 27, became politically active at university and is now a member of the PSM Mallorcan socialists. I can, you might find this hard to believe, connect with what she has to say, the PSM standing for social justice, the preservation of the environment and the protection of the (Catalan) language and culture. I can also agree with what she says about tourism, inasmuch as she refers to the need for "sustainable development and the development of new and alternative industries to tourism on which we have become so dependent". I also agree with her when she dismisses the idea of President Antich calling an early election, even if there might be a touch of party self-interest here, given that the PSM has secured itself a couple of healthy ministries since the Unió Mallorquina (UM) were shown the door.

** It hasn't.

All of this is fine. Where I start to have problems though are with the fact that certain issues are simply not explored. Take this one. The PSM is a member of the European Free Alliance, a European grouping comprising some credible parties such as the Scottish National Party and others that are crackpots. Lucy is to present a motion to the alliance on something called "regional insularity". What on earth is this? Insularity, by definition, means inward-looking or narrow-minded. Is this what is actually meant? It seems to imply, and there is a later reference to the support for local produce and farmers and the like, something of a back-to-the-future autarky - self-sufficiency if you prefer. It is hard to know because the subject hasn't been explored. Raise the "insularity" flag and someone should be asking some tough questions.

Then take the issue of nationalism. Behind a photo of Lucy is the party's banner "PSM Entesa Nacionalista". The PSM is a nationalist party. All we get though is that nationalism doesn't mean what it means to the English (the BNP presumably) and that it is different to the nationalism of the PSM's great rivals, the UM. To the English, the nationalism of the lunatic far right is quite different to the sensible left-of-centre SNP. But there is still confusion. What actually is nationalism? And in the Mallorcan context, what does it mean? In one respect, it makes no sense. How can an island - an island, mind - with no sense of or aspirations to nationhood spawn not one but two "nationalist" parties? Or maybe there is such an aspiration. Who knows?

In the article, Lucy says that the PSM wants "to include all members of society ... regardless of there (sic) origins". In other words it is open to all. Great. But it is not good enough to declare this openness by pointing out that a Briton, albeit one brought up in Mallorca, enjoys a prominent position in the party or that the UM once spoke about Mallorca being for Mallorcans. The Catalan issue, for example, is one that can and does alienate and deter those who might have sympathy for the PSM's nationalism, whatever this is. Protecting the language, fine, but go to the PSM's website and it is all in Catalan. No nod in the direction of Castilian or English or German. Like so many other bodies, town halls for example, who might profess inclusiveness, the PSM fails on account of its linguistic dogma. And one keeps coming back to what is meant by its brand of nationalism. The interview missed a golden opportunity to explore this and its implications for those from other countries.

The PSM and the UM are far more interesting political phenomena than the national parties, the Partido Popular and the PSOE. Far more interesting because of trying to understand what they stand for (and in the case of the UM because it's currently up to its neck in the brown stuff of corruption) and because they have a mutual hostility in seeking to claim the nationalist ground. But it's still hard to really say what either of them truly represents. And what either of them means by nationalism. Regional insularity, anyone? Worrying. Or it might be if we knew what the hell it meant.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

No Particular Place - The Unió Mallorquina's internal strife

Politically, the English "ite" is a Spanish "ista". For Blairite or Thatcherite, read, within the warring ranks of the nationalist party in Mallorca, "Nadalistas" or "Munaristas" or indeed "istas" of no particular name. The no-particular-istas have won the battle if not necessarily the war, that of the heart and soul of the Unió Mallorquina party. They have got their man - Josep Melià - who has been confirmed as the new president of the party; the fourth in less than four years, following Mother Munar and two Micks, Nadal and Flaquer, all three of them implicated in corruption cases. Melià has hardly won a ringing endorsement; the vote in his favour was close. He has, as has his rival, one of the former tourism ministers Buils, made the right sort of noises regarding a new phase and stability for the party, but it is unlikely to be anything of the sort. The UM is ripping itself apart on the rocks of internecine strife and the fall-out from the corruption charges.

There is an ideological battle being waged within the UM, one that goes back to the succession process when Mother moved over to become speaker of parliament. It is one of Palma-ism versus the regions, one of right versus centre, one of old ways versus new and one of support for discredited politicians versus those not implicated by scandal. One has, of course, to be fair. No-one has been found guilty, but mud sticks, and the right of the party, identifiable with Nadal and Munar, is setting itself up for discredit by association by maintaining support for Nadal and Munar and for a political mindset that the "new way" wishes to sweep away.

It is never as simple as it might seem, given that the party's Palma-ism garners its own support in the regions, but the northern UM faction - that of former Alcúdia mayor Ferrer and his successor and of Pollensa's mayor Cerdà - represents a more modern form of Mallorcan nationalism, one of the centre and liberalism, that failed to win support when Munar stepped down, but that has now come to the fore. Ferrer, it should be recalled, was Nadal's opponent in the Munar succession fight. Nadal, a Palma councillor, had Munar's backing, as did Buils in the latest vote.

The "Diario" journalist Matías Vallés savaged Nadal and Munar in the paper yesterday. He described Nadal as "ineffable" and compared Munar to Gloria Swanson, hankering for a time when justice was "voiceless" in Mallorca and presiding over her own political funeral. Both have been charged with egoism by their opponents of the new way. It is hard to fathom quite how they can have been seen to have been taking active roles in the latest leadership election, given the ongoing cases against them. It is hard also to fathom the thinking of their supporters, who might be better advised to create some clear blue water. But there is always "innocent until proven guilty" as well as there are enduring motivations of power struggles that any political party is subject to.

Does the fighting have any real relevance though? The UM, though well represented at mayoral level across the island, only finds itself in the governmental spotlight because of the need for coalition. It does have a role to play, therefore. As tourism minister, Ferrer, it might be said, holds the second most important post in the regional government, after the president. But set against the two big parties - the PSOE and Partido Popular (which, some in the UM idiotically claim, have conspired to bring about the corruption charges) - the UM is something of a sideshow. The party has never truly succeeded in making itself a force, partly because it is has not always been clear what it stands for. There is more than a slight sense that it is a sort of flag of convenience for politicians disinclined to ally with the two main parties, especially with the PP which occupies similar political territory in certain respects; a flag of convenience that might be the springboard to satisfy political ambition that might otherwise not be available in a bigger party.

It is the striving for some clarity that is the political debate within the party, one overshadowed by the corruption cases, and the "big thing" informing this debate is to try and shape the UM in the mould of the CiU or PNV, i.e. the centrist and liberal nationalist parties in Catalonia and the Basque country. It is this, perhaps more than anything, that the no-particular-istas want to achieve. Though neither of these parties is militant, they do, nevertheless, herald from regions with a long history of nationalist sentiment; indeed the two regions most clearly associated with historical opposition to a unified Spain. This is not, for one moment, to suggest anything sinister, but it is to suggest that the UM may be willing upon itself a more assertive nationalist posture, albeit one moderated with the humanist tendencies of, for example, the PNV. But unlike Catalonia and the Basque country, there is not and never has been anything of a true nationalist desire in Mallorca. Despite the rise of Catalanism, Mallorca remains an essentially conservative and passive society. Moreover, when I asked Alcúdia's new mayor about "nationalism", he was quick to point out that it wasn't some kind of Little Mallorquínism. The ambition, though, to be something akin to the PNV is almost certainly far-fetched. The PNV is not only the second oldest political party in Spain, it has also been the dominant force in Basque politics.

In seeking a "new way", the UM appears to be embarking on the local road to Damascus in attempting a definition, but one of an abstract political ideology of questionable relevance to the majority of Mallorcans. Far more important is that it distances itself from its recent and current travails, those being played out in the courts in Palma, and ensures that it is not tainted by the Nadalista and Munarista associations. In this respect, it has taken the first step.


QUIZ
Yesterday: The Jam's second album ("This Is The Modern World") and their third single ("The Modern World"), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzSJY5AbEZo. Today: "no particular place to go"; who?

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

The Tractor Boys

The tractor boys were on the march yesterday. No, make that on a roll, crawling along the main Palma road from the Can Segue bar into Alcúdia for a spot of protesting - this time against the proposed siting of the train route. Ho hum, another day, another voice raised in opposition to something. Unlike public displays of unease at societal malaises, such as violence, those for or normally against developments get a tad wearisome. But then, there would have been a time when such gatherings would have been cracked down on, so maybe one shouldn't complain. The question is, though, will this damn train extension ever get built. And where?

The tractor protesters are not against the train as such; just that they want it sited to the south and not along the so-called northern corridor, which is the government's favoured option. However, there is an unmistakable tendency to want to put a halt to much that is new. It stands alongside that other tendency - Mallorca for the Mallorcans, and we can do without tourists, thanks very much. It was put to me the other day that, among some elements of the teens, twentysomethings and indeed oldersomethings, there is a discernible mass of opinion that there can be some sort of back to the future with everyone speaking Catalan and nary a tourist to be seen. It is hardly a unique phenomenon, be it in Mallorca or many other places. It may be purely idealistic and not pragmatic, but idealism rarely wins the argument. The cynical view is that this generation, comfortable as a consequence of the moolah that its parents and grandparents have derived from tourism, can call for some advancement of local nationalism and a return to the fields without having any sense of the practicalities or wisdom of doing so. Does this generation know how to sow potatoes? No, but it can find out, it replies, and then it discovers that the weather turns nasty and prevents crops from being sown, which is what happened during the soggy winter. Subsistence can become a struggle.

There is and always will be tensions between the needs of commerce, for which read tourism, and the desire for local expression and a prioritisation of localism over internationalism. One could, I suppose, perceive the Catalan debate and the global economic crisis as being a part of the philosophy that underpins such a desire. It is not wrong, but its consequences might, probably would, be far from what the idealistic tendency would wish for itself.


QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Rolling Stones (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_O_wRuxu14). Today's title - which football team is known by this name?

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