Balearic identity and richness of languages
The question of Balearic identity is a hotly debated topic, just as it is in Catalonia and the Basque Country. In fact, it is strongly linked to language. Since the Balearic Islands became an autonomous community, Catalan has been the archipelago's official language. Accompanied by Castilian (Spanish), it is, in fact, a co-official language, according to the terms used in the legal texts. The majority of islanders claim to understand Catalan, but around 30% do not speak it. In reality, the use of Catalan is limited to political institutions. State schools are supposed to offer teaching in both languages from nursery school onwards, which would make it easier to find a job in Catalonia, or to continue university studies on the mainland. But once again, the reality is different: in schools, Castilian is the majority language in the classroom, and local dialects (Ibicenco in Ibiza) are mainly spoken in the playground. The latter have even become symbols of nationalism for the older generation.
However, from 2013 onwards, this official model was threatened by the José Ramón Bauzá (PP) government's reform of the education system, which proposed a trilingual Catalan-Castilian-English system, reducing Catalan hours in favor of English. Despite its annulment by the Supreme Court in 2014, this reform has been the subject of much debate. Currently, with the Socialist Party in government since June 2015, tempers have calmed and the two languages are set to regain a balance within schools. As a result of highly developed tourism, some foreign languages (English, German, Italian and French) are spoken quite fluently in certain areas of Ibiza (and Mallorca). On a Balearic scale, however, Catalan remains the most widely spoken language (in Menorca and Formentera in particular): 73% of the population can speak it and almost 90% understand it, making Catalan a true linguistic mainstay. Despite this attachment to a traditional identity cradled in centuries-old habits and customs, the population has changed dramatically in recent years. Ibiza is particularly cosmopolitan, with foreign residents accounting for 7% of the total population (and 1/3 of the population of Formentera!).
In addition to the foreign population permanently settled on the island, there are a good number of emigrants who come to work on the island during the summer season. In 2009, the Balearic Islands were listed as Spain's autonomous community with the highest percentage of foreigners, with over 20% immigrants. Ibizans distinguish between locals and forasters (foreigners): the latter adjective refers to Spanish families originating from the peninsula. Strangely enough, tourists are better accepted than Spanish immigrants: a Madrilenian, even one who has lived on Ibiza for more than ten years, will always remain a foraster . Among the main nationalities represented on the island, Italy comes first (around 5,000 people), followed by Morocco, Germany, France and the UK. Since 2010, Ibiza has seen a sharp drop in immigration, a direct consequence of the crisis. This trend was reversed in 2017, with a 33% increase in the number of foreign immigrants, not to mention the many foreigners who came to telework in 2020 as a result of the pandemic.
Brief history of the hippy movement in Ibiza and Formentera
Although Ibiza gained international renown with the arrival of large numbers of hippies in the 1960s, the island had already enjoyed a reputation as a sanctuary of the good life since the 1930s. Indeed, many avant-garde European intellectuals and artists, forced to flee authoritarian regimes (notably the Spanish Civil War), found refuge on the White Island. After the Second World War, the world was gradually rebuilt, and creativity and freedom became increasingly important values, so much so that many artists already accustomed to the island began to flock here again, soon joined by young Europeans and Americans, followers of the nascent hippie movement. For these souls enamored of freedom and peace, of a healthy relationship with nature, Ibiza - but also its small neighbor Formentera - offered all the ingredients for happiness, so much so that hippie communities quickly formed in the early 1960s, mainly in the rural areas in the center of the island.
While San Francisco is considered the cradle of the movement, London and Amsterdam, with their cosmopolitan, bohemian atmosphere, are also important hotbeds of this emerging culture. Nepal and India are also top destinations for meditation. What Ibiza offers hippies is direct, uncomplicated contact with nature, a mild climate and an area still untouched by mass tourism. The island's inhabitants received this new population with curiosity and kindness, calling them "peluts" ("hairy" in Catalan) because of their shaggy hair, and coexistence was quite good. During Ibiza's golden age of hippies (1965-1975), thinkers, artists, idealists and back-to-the-land dreamers helped popularize the island, and soon tourism began to gain ground, gradually diluting the authentic hippie spirit of the early days...
But you can still get a taste of those days at the Sant Joan Sunday market, where the stalls of craftsmen are perhaps the most authentic on the island. The small coves of Atlantis and Punta Galera are also spots that still retain some of the psychedelic magic of the 1960s. Also worth seeing is the gathering of drummers on Benirràs beach, every Sunday at dusk during the summer months. In 2016, a bronze sculpture of a hippie and his child (inspired by a famous photograph of the period) was inaugurated in the Marina d'Eivissa, as a tribute to this fundamental episode in Ibiza's history and culture.
