Man on hunger strike in Mallorca to defend Catalan language

Jaume Bonet, a retired 64 year old man from Mallorca has now lost 22 kilograms and his health has seriously deteriorated since he went on a hunger strike on March the 1st as a protest for the campaign against Catalan culture (the local culture in the Balearic Islands since the 13th century) started by PP’s Spanish nationalist government at the Balearic Islands.

The measures taken against Catalan since 2010 include closing down the only public TV which broadcasted Catalan content in the islands, a law which allows civil servants to not need to prove knowledge of Catalan to be eligible for a position and the plan to change the names of Balearic towns to Spanish.

These measures are even causing division within the Balearic PP franchise as they obey not the feeling of the locals but the dictate from Madrid from where the relentless offensive against Catalan culture on its weaker sides (the Balearic Islands and the Valencian Country) is orchestrated.

The Facebook page “Jubilats per Mallorca!” is the official source of information on Mr Bonet’s hunger strike.

And you can join an initiative started by Quim Torra to plea Ms Irina Bokova, the UNESCO general director, for an international mediation on this conflict. You can send a copy of this letter to i.bokova@unesco.org