YOUR LETTERS

THIS is obviously a subject which interests many of your readers, so I will put forward my further opinions on the matter.
Firstly, I get the impression that many people seem to think that when Franco was alive, anybody caught speaking Mallorquin was thrown into jail and possibly shot at dawn. This was absolutely not the case. We must remember that until the late 60´s most of the population had been born here, and those who wanted to converse in Mallorquin were able to do so. In many villages, most of the older generations could barely speak Spanish. If you made an attempt to speak to them in this language, they very politely made their best attempt to answer you in the same one. The only thing Franco insisted on was that education, newspapers and all documents should be in Spanish, as well as plays, films and other entertainment. He was basically making sure that the prevalent language of the land was learnt and used by everybody. What people did in their private and social lives was up to them.

This is not the case today. Mallorquin is being forced on the general public, whether they like it or not. Franco was an un-elected dictator. The people in charge today are elected dictators, who are willing to risk the health of the population by an insisting that all doctors, even mainlanders, should speak it in hospitals and b) grading this knowledge higher than their medical one. How stupid can you get? The end result is that highly trained medical staff, many of whom have had to learn a foreign language anyway for their studies and degrees, and who were considering coming to the islands to live and work are not coming, and the ones already here are thinking about leaving. This is just the beginning.

As I mentioned in another letter, this has nothing to do with culture and tradition. It is all about political dogma. The readers who think that it has nothing to do with them should begin to understand how much of their tax money is being spent and wasted in applying these laws, such as TWO local TV stations, both massively in debt, and hardly watched, when, for instance, money cannot be found for homes for retired people and abandoned animals, to name just two. When they do, they may start questioning the wisdom of what is taking place and their and their children's future here if common sense is not applied.

Your sincerely, Simon Tow
Santa Ponsa