Gathering of "Canarias se agota"

The group 'Canarias se agotta' has organised a rally at the gates of Congress to demand a tourist moratorium in the archipelago and the suspension of the hotel facilities 'Cuna del Alma' and 'La Tejita', with the support of groups such as Sumar and Podemos. | EFE/J. P.Gandul

Andrew EdePalma26/04/2024 10:00
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Organisers reckoned that some 100,000 people (the lower estimate was 60,000) took to the streets in the Canary Islands in demanding change to a tourism model described as "predatory" and blamed for social and environmental ills. The president of the Canaries, Fernando Clavijo, has not dismissed the protests. “Things have to change.” But will they, despite the situation having gone beyond one of protest by usual-suspect agitators and embraced by a broader society?

In Mallorca, the largest demonstration of this kind was in 2007 - around 50,000 people. While there have been protests since, the largest was just 3,000 in September 2017. But as the Canaries have taken to the streets, will Mallorca follow? The elements are not dissimilar, but they do differ in certain respects. For example, socioeconomic conditions in the Canaries aren’t as good as in the Balearics; there is greater poverty. Tourism is all year in the Canaries; there isn’t a low season, so the pressures never ease.

Differences, but sufficient similarities to potentially provoke protests, especially as there is now no longer a government of the so-called progressive left, one now criticised by the usual suspects (e.g. the environmentalists GOB) for having indulged in smoke-and-mirror tourism policies. Perhaps so, but the left largely kept protest at bay, September 2017 excepted.

Clavijo has said that the protests represent a point of reflection. There is a need to reset. But how? There is a social malaise that runs deeper than merely blaming tourism - the structure of economies and deficient housing policies are clear conditions. Protest is possible in Mallorca. If there is, let there not be the patronising donkey-and-cart jibes. Dignity matters.