Baltasar Picornell, the former president (speaker) of the Balearic parliament, was in charge of reading the BUP manifesto. Now distanced from the Podemos hierarchy both regionally and nationally, he said that Covid had revealed how "the regime of '78 (a reference to the Constitution) is totally at the service of economic elites, even when it is led by a government that wants to sell itself to us as the most progressive of the false Spanish democracy".
Cuts have not been reversed, he stated, and the right to housing has not been guaranteed. "Only the direct action of the popular classes has prevented more families from being homeless."
Turning his attention to the regional government specifically, Picornell said that it was "completely submissive to the interests of the state and the tourism lobby". It will "never bite the hand that feeds it crumbs". "At no time has it had the courage or the intention to propose an alternative to the tourism monoculture, a model that does nothing more than make the life of the working class precarious through indecent salaries and hellish working conditions, while also destroying our territory. We want a sovereign Mallorca so that this crisis will be paid for by Iberostar, Meliá and Airbnb. Let those with the huge fortunes pay."
Among others who spoke at the event were Margalida Ramis, spokesperson for La Vida al Centre project and the environmentalists GOB. Representatives from Més attended, although the party isn't part of the BUP. They criticised the state's "mistreatment" of the Balearics and called again for the right to self-determination.
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These are the ramblings of communist zealots. Rights to ANYTHING are EARNED through hard work, social responsibility, respect for others and compliance with the wishes of the majority. No, elitism is not acceptable, but neither is dragging us all down to the lowest common denominator to accommodate the feckless and lazy potheads who believe it is their “right” to take things that are not theirs and that they have not earned. These calls for independence are simply what the extremists see as the quickest way to rule their own little empire under their own extremist agenda, and they must be rejected by anyone wh9 values their freedom.
It is a wonder how such agendas exists. It's a democracy so they sure have the right to, yet those pro catalán movements are responsible for the inequality much more than the their so called opponents.