Tourists visiting Palma are being given a leaflet in English by activists of the Assemblea Sobiranista de Mallorca (ASM) independence movement denouncing that “Spain is exploiting us” and condemning the island to “tourist monoculture”. “Wellcome (sic) to Mallorca (Welcome to Mallorca), An occupied territory fighting for its independence”, reads the leaflet distributed by the pro-independence organisation to tourists visiting the most popular attractions.
“Since Spain exploits us and condemns us to a tourist monoculture, we at least take (sic) advantage of the presence of visitors from other countries to inform them of our reality so that they don’t leave with the false image that Spain is trying to portray”, explained the Mallorcan pro-independence organisation.
The leaflet explains that Catalan is spoken in Mallorca, that instead of chorizo, sobrasada is eaten, that flamenco is not an island dance, that the typical dance is the “ball de bot”, and that it is not a land of bullfighters, but of slingers. It also shows a photograph of King Felipe VI upside down and next to it another of Jaume I, the first king of Mallorca, and the same on the flag, which distinguishes the “cuatribarrada” from the “rojigualda”.
The leaflet, of which the Assemblea Sobiranista de Mallorca has not indicated the number of copies printed, gives its version of what it considers to be the “consequences of the War of Succession, the persecution of the Catalan language and Spanish fiscal plundering”.
As the organisation explains, “Mallorca and the Catalan Countries lost their independence in the War of Succession (1701-1715). Since then, Spain has tried to eliminate the Catalan language and has applied a discriminatory taxation system without parallel in Europe. 14.20% of our GDP goes to Madrid and does not come back (data from the Spanish Ministry of Economy). Thank you for your attention!”