78 heritage elements from all over Mallorca will be lit up on 14 January for human rights at 1 pm and 6.30 pm.

The vice-president of the Consell de Mallorca and councillor of Culture, Heritage and Linguistic Policy, Bel Busquets, this week presented this year’s edition of the Ignition of Towers, Watchtowers and Talayots of the Mediterranean for Human Rights, scheduled for Saturday 14 January at 1 p.m. and 6.30 p.m., with smoke signals on the first date and light signals on the second. Busquets stressed that “with the lighting of the towers, watchtowers and talayots, we want to give voice and light to all those people who risk their lives fleeing from despair, violence and injustice”.

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The Lighting of Towers

This seventh edition will have 78 confirmed ignition points all over Mallorca, 20 more than last year. In addition, there will be points in all the Balearic Islands and also in Catalonia, Valencia, Murcia and Andalusia. Some thirty heritage elements will be lit up in the Mediterranean area of the peninsula, as well as some in Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia.

“This is an initiative born in Mallorca and with the support of the Consell that we have exported to more and more corners of our sea. The message of welcome, peace and vindication of historical heritage are ideas with which we want to be identified when people look at us from abroad, and it is the way to twin ourselves with lands and people who defend a similar message,” concluded the First Vice President of the Consell.

The Direcció Insular de Patrimoni will once again lead the Lighting of the Mediterranean Towers and Watchtowers for Human Rights, which will take place on Saturday 14th January 2023, thanks to the collaboration of the Consell de Mallorca, Amnesty International, the Institut de Marratxí and the Fons Mallorquí de solidaritat i Cooperació, as well as the 112 Emergency Service and the town councils that have joined in. So far this year, 66 organisations have joined the initiative.

Josep Lluís Pol, the representative of l’IES Marratxí, recalled at the presentation that the initiative began at the school in 2017 and thanked the Direcció Insular de Patrimoni for taking on the coordination. She also had words of praise and gratitude for the people who volunteer to make the lighting possible.

On the other hand, Montse Ferran, Amnesty International’s representative in Mallorca, acknowledged that events such as the Ignition of Towers, Watchtowers and Talayots of the Mediterranean for Human Rights encourage and give her organisation enough to continue its work.

Catalina Socies, manager of the Fons Mallorquí de Solidaritat i Cooperació, also took part in the press conference, considering that this event represents the union of the peoples of the Mediterranean. Her wish was for Palestine to join this initiative, but for security reasons this has not been possible. He also made special mention of those people who seek a better life on the other side of the Mediterranean, where too many often lose their lives.