Most typical or most representative, however one chooses to translate the slogan of Santa Margalida's La Beata procession, its typicalness or representativeness is now very much more contemporary than its telling of a legend from the mists of time. It is the political-statement procession for the current day, a parade of causes and interests, and all of them ones that would find favour with the independent socialist republic of Santa Margalida, which did after all invite their standard bearers.
Santa Margalida's town hall administration is one of Mallorca's finest examples of anti-Bauzáism. It is splendidly antagonistic towards the Partido Popular regional government. Anything the government does or says, and the town hall will disagree. It hasn't always been so, but when the Suma pel Canvi stormed to election victory in 2011, a very different tone was set at the Casa Vila. The Suma, a coalition of independents and PSOE, had at its head the battling veteran hardman of the left, Miguel Cifre, who has since handed the mayoral wand to his Dave Spart protégé, Toni Reus.
The tone under Toni has not changed, and it was evident from those who attended this year's most typical procession. Among its number were the now-restored-from-hunger-strike Catalan independentist and teacher Jaume Sastre, one of the key members of the Assemblea de Docents teachers' organisation. Others included representatives from the eco warriors GOB and the Consell de Joventut de les Illes Balears, a youth organisation which was once given an award for its promotion of Catalan language and culture.
Most typically for this most typical of processions, one would expect the numbers to be swelled by very important persons of Balearic political high command. They were conspicuous by their absence. There was no José Ramón Bauzá. There was no president of the Council of Mallorca, Maria Salom; there was no tourism minister, Jaime Martínez; there was no minister for education, Joana Camps. They all thought it wise not to attend. Neither Bauzá nor Camps was exposed, therefore, to the prospect of attempting small talk with Sastre during the embarrassing period prior to taking the walk behind La Beata when they have to sit next to each other on the temporary terraced seating reserved for dignitaries. There have been deliciously awkward moments in the past when rivals have been forced by protocol to shake hands or do the two-kiss thing through clearly clenched teeth. But they would not have been as awkward as if Camps had felt obliged to engage Sastre in the double-peck treatment.
Martínez probably felt that it was for the best for him and Reus not to have had to have pressed sweaty palms together. Reus doesn't think much to the tourism law, having invoked human rights as a reason why the ordinary people of Can Picafort should be able to rent out their holiday properties to whomsoever they want to. Salom has butted heads with the town hall over various matters, such as the dump for waste in the town, access to which the town hall had threatened to block.
No, it was sensible for them all to have discovered that they had other more pressing engagements. Their absence, though, meant that someone had to draw the short straw and put in an appearance. And so poor old (young) Marti Sansaloni, the health minister, was instructed to turn up. He must have been horrified at the prospect. The town hall has not forgotten the Alpha Pam affair. The name of the Senegalese illegal immigrant from Can Picafort who died as a result of having been denied treatment at Inca hospital is still very much remembered in Santa Margalida. There are still those who believe that Sansaloni should have resigned or have been brought before a court.
Fiestas can be occasions for protest. The Festival of the Standard in Palma at New Year is an event which is particularly vulnerable in this regard, and there has been unpleasantness and violence. It is a festival which encapsulates much of the anti- and pro-Catalan sentiment on the island. The Sant Antoni fiesta in Sa Pobla is another potential flashpoint, and President Bauzá has not been made to feel too welcome. Perhaps the most serious incident was that in Felanitx at the Sant Agustí fiesta in August 2011 where tear gas was used during the supposedly humorous "palio" by which prominent politicians run a gauntlet. Bauzá has never attended it, but Salom was there in 2011.
La Beata, though, has become the most politicised of the fiesta occasions. It is unlikely that any serious disturbance would have occurred this year had Bauzá shown up (he did go last year and there wasn't trouble), but things have moved on since last year. Divisions are even more in evidence, and so they proved to be, as demonstrated by those who didn't attend.
Showing posts with label Protest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Protest. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 09, 2014
Sunday, December 01, 2013
The Carnival Of Protest: Spain's Citizen Safety Law
General Franco had an inconsistent policy towards traditions. Advocate as he was of strict Catholicism, he didn't much care for some of the traditions of religious fiestas. One which he was particularly unkeen on was the tradition of Carnival. Celebrated just prior to Lent, Carnival was not originally a Spanish tradition but it was one that came to Spain from Venice. This said, the celebration of Carnival has very much older origins than that of the mediaeval masquerade of Italy.
For Franco, Carnival was all a bit too decadent and a bit too much like good fun. He banned it in 1937, taking aim in particular at the Cadiz Carnival, the most decadent of all the Carnivals. Though the ban was primarily imposed in order to deal with Cadiz, it was applied universally. Towns across Spain had, therefore, to pull the plug on the Carnival, even if some managed to keep the tradition going in a somewhat different form.
But Franco wasn't only concerned with decadence. He also didn't like the fact that people wore masks at Carnival time. This disguise, so his regime believed, would allow all manner of miscreants to go without being apprehended, and included among these miscreants might be opponents of his regime with one eye on causing bother and protest while all the time being in disguise.
The traditionally satirical nature of Carnival meant that it was not fully restored until censorship in Spain was lifted after Franco died. When the newly democratic Spain finally abandoned censorship, Carnival became a huge demonstration of liberated expression, and in its satirical guise, it remains such a demonstration.
In September 2011, Sa Pobla became the first town in Mallorca to ban the wearing of the burka. It is still the only town to have introduced such a ban. While it was the burka that caught the headlines, the ban was rather more wide-ranging. Probably in an attempt to not make the burka ban appear to be discriminatory or anti-Muslim, Sa Pobla town hall also banned the wearing of anything which obscured the face. In theory, therefore, a balaclava became illegal. The local by-law made it clear that this banning was on the grounds of public safety.
The Spanish Government is now in the process of passing a law which imposes stricter controls on protest and other forms of street behaviour. Included among the prohibitions under this law will be the wearing of anything which covers the face when a protest is being staged. Fines for doing so could be as high as 30,000 euros. The bill, known as the Citizens Safety Law, is expected to be approved by Congress in the new year.
There is a world of difference between a by-law in a small Mallorcan town and a national law, but there is a strong similarity, and it lies in the justification for the legislation. Public safety has been invoked in both instances but this is not the main reason for the legislation. Where the national law is concerned, the main reason is an attempt to limit protest and to exert governmental control and power. Safety is a convenient argument, because the general public might be willing to swallow something couched in safety terms. If the bill were to have been called Anti-Protest Measures Law, then the public reaction would be different.
As it is, anti-protest measures is just how the law is being described. And the criticism goes further. It is undemocratic. It also seems like an over-reaction. Protests there have been in Spain, but generally speaking, austerity and other aspects of government policy have not provoked extreme protests. So, the question is why does the government feel it necessary to introduce stricter controls? Does it fear that it is in fact losing the battle where austerity is concerned? Does it fear that something will provoke more extreme protests than have thus been witnessed?
Or is the law just the case of another government flexing its muscles and exerting ever more control over the people? It has been a disturbing trend over the past few years for governments which ostensibly operate under a democratic system to do so. Citing safety makes the law appear "democratic" in upholding order for the majority but can all too easily be seen as "undemocratic" as it imposes greater restrictions on the right to protest, and in Spain, the right to protest since Franco's day has been a fundamental means of liberated expression, just as the restoration of the Carnival tradition was.
And indeed, where does this law leave something like Carnival? What happens if there are protests at Carnival time with people wearing masks?
The law could in fact create all sorts of problems that might not be envisaged. One of its provisions is the banning of outdoor drinking parties, i.e. the botellón street parties. Fair enough perhaps, but so widespread are these parties and so inadequately controlled are they, that it is impossible to see how local police forces can really prevent them. They can't at present, even with local by-laws in place. So, one ends up with a national law which, in certain instances, will be ineffective and which, in others, will be used to limit protest against a government which even one conservative commentators has condemned for the "stigma of authoritarianism", an observation which carries a reminder of the days when Carnival was banned.
For Franco, Carnival was all a bit too decadent and a bit too much like good fun. He banned it in 1937, taking aim in particular at the Cadiz Carnival, the most decadent of all the Carnivals. Though the ban was primarily imposed in order to deal with Cadiz, it was applied universally. Towns across Spain had, therefore, to pull the plug on the Carnival, even if some managed to keep the tradition going in a somewhat different form.
But Franco wasn't only concerned with decadence. He also didn't like the fact that people wore masks at Carnival time. This disguise, so his regime believed, would allow all manner of miscreants to go without being apprehended, and included among these miscreants might be opponents of his regime with one eye on causing bother and protest while all the time being in disguise.
The traditionally satirical nature of Carnival meant that it was not fully restored until censorship in Spain was lifted after Franco died. When the newly democratic Spain finally abandoned censorship, Carnival became a huge demonstration of liberated expression, and in its satirical guise, it remains such a demonstration.
In September 2011, Sa Pobla became the first town in Mallorca to ban the wearing of the burka. It is still the only town to have introduced such a ban. While it was the burka that caught the headlines, the ban was rather more wide-ranging. Probably in an attempt to not make the burka ban appear to be discriminatory or anti-Muslim, Sa Pobla town hall also banned the wearing of anything which obscured the face. In theory, therefore, a balaclava became illegal. The local by-law made it clear that this banning was on the grounds of public safety.
The Spanish Government is now in the process of passing a law which imposes stricter controls on protest and other forms of street behaviour. Included among the prohibitions under this law will be the wearing of anything which covers the face when a protest is being staged. Fines for doing so could be as high as 30,000 euros. The bill, known as the Citizens Safety Law, is expected to be approved by Congress in the new year.
There is a world of difference between a by-law in a small Mallorcan town and a national law, but there is a strong similarity, and it lies in the justification for the legislation. Public safety has been invoked in both instances but this is not the main reason for the legislation. Where the national law is concerned, the main reason is an attempt to limit protest and to exert governmental control and power. Safety is a convenient argument, because the general public might be willing to swallow something couched in safety terms. If the bill were to have been called Anti-Protest Measures Law, then the public reaction would be different.
As it is, anti-protest measures is just how the law is being described. And the criticism goes further. It is undemocratic. It also seems like an over-reaction. Protests there have been in Spain, but generally speaking, austerity and other aspects of government policy have not provoked extreme protests. So, the question is why does the government feel it necessary to introduce stricter controls? Does it fear that it is in fact losing the battle where austerity is concerned? Does it fear that something will provoke more extreme protests than have thus been witnessed?
Or is the law just the case of another government flexing its muscles and exerting ever more control over the people? It has been a disturbing trend over the past few years for governments which ostensibly operate under a democratic system to do so. Citing safety makes the law appear "democratic" in upholding order for the majority but can all too easily be seen as "undemocratic" as it imposes greater restrictions on the right to protest, and in Spain, the right to protest since Franco's day has been a fundamental means of liberated expression, just as the restoration of the Carnival tradition was.
And indeed, where does this law leave something like Carnival? What happens if there are protests at Carnival time with people wearing masks?
The law could in fact create all sorts of problems that might not be envisaged. One of its provisions is the banning of outdoor drinking parties, i.e. the botellón street parties. Fair enough perhaps, but so widespread are these parties and so inadequately controlled are they, that it is impossible to see how local police forces can really prevent them. They can't at present, even with local by-laws in place. So, one ends up with a national law which, in certain instances, will be ineffective and which, in others, will be used to limit protest against a government which even one conservative commentators has condemned for the "stigma of authoritarianism", an observation which carries a reminder of the days when Carnival was banned.
Wednesday, July 03, 2013
The Strange Case Of The Muro Bullfight Protest
I have had cause to mention protests on many an occasion. Apart from the large protests, those connected with major strikes or the "indignados", there have been more local affairs. Recently, and just to take one example, there was a protest in Puerto Alcúdia against the new beach path.
The Spanish Constitution defends the right to protest, but Spanish law places certain limits on this right, these limits being not dissimilar to other countries. A plan to stage a protest has to be given in advance and permission sought. The minimum period is ten days, the maximum is thirty days. In the case of what is called "emergency", the period can be as short as 24 hours, and I can think of one example of when permission would have been granted very swiftly - the protest against terrorism that followed immediately after the Palmanova bomb and the death of the two Guardia Civil officers.
This permission has to be sought from the government's delegations, so in the case of Mallorca, this means Teresa Palmer and the government's delegation in the Balearics. There are reasons why a demonstration can be refused, and they are pretty obvious ones - incitement to cause crime and the carrying of weapons, the presence of those wearing paramilitary uniforms (so, by implication, extremist groups), and the potential for there to be a risk to members of the public or property.
This sounds perfectly reasonable, but then one comes to protests which, for whatever reason, don't go ahead and to protests which do go ahead but without having complied with requirements. In Muro town, there has been an example of both of these, and they both relate to the town's bullfight.
PACMA is a political party that defends animal rights. It was due, as it has in the past, to have staged a protest in Muro against the bullfight during the recent Sant Joan fiestas. It didn't. As I understand reports (well one, because there has been little obvious other reporting), PACMA cancelled the protest, as opposed to having had it cancelled. I am not entirely sure why it cancelled the demo. Its website and Facebook page seem to make no reference to the Muro bullfight this year, to a protest or to its cancellation. It is said, though, that the original request for the protest was put in as it should have been, i.e. in accordance with the time frame.
For whatever reason, PACMA pulled out, which is something of a mystery. In its stead, another organisation, ICA, decided to stage its own protest. However, it didn't receive permission. Indeed, the day after it did stage a protest, it received notification that the protest had been denied. Because the protest was not approved, the Guardia Civil deemed it to be illegal, took details of four protesters and they will be subject to fines (which will probably be 301 euros; and no, I don't know why it is 301 euros).
There is due to be a music benefit event to raise funds to pay these anticipated fines, assuming they are levied. An example of a 301 euros fine for an unauthorised protest in Mallorca was that handed to the then president of the local television and radio station IB3 in December last year (which is why I know the 301 euros sum).
A number of issues arise from all this. One is why PACMA apparently cancelled its protest. A second is why ICA went ahead with its, knowing it was not authorised. A third is why the protest was subsequently found to have been refused, and a fourth is why fines might be levied. As far as the latter is concerned, well this is the strict letter of the law, but one must ask: have there been other unauthorised protests of a different sort which have escaped sanction? Perhaps there have been, but then one comes to the second point. Did ICA go ahead with its protest expecting what has resulted?
In the past, there has been evidence of different animal-rights groups not singing from the same hymn sheet. This happened, for instance, with a protest in Fornalutx against the bull run. So, might it be that there is some sort of battle between these different groups?
While ICA's protest might, I say might, have been a publicity stunt, one that was undertaken with full knowledge of the consequences, there is still the matter of the government's delegate having refused permission. On what grounds? Yes there have been incidents in the past, amounting to little more than insults being hurled, but could an anti-bullfight protest be truly looked upon as posing a safety risk?
It's a strange one. On the face of it, and despite the lack of authorisation, sanctions against the protesters seem a bit harsh. But otherwise, there is much about the whole affair that doesn't quite make sense.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
The Spanish Constitution defends the right to protest, but Spanish law places certain limits on this right, these limits being not dissimilar to other countries. A plan to stage a protest has to be given in advance and permission sought. The minimum period is ten days, the maximum is thirty days. In the case of what is called "emergency", the period can be as short as 24 hours, and I can think of one example of when permission would have been granted very swiftly - the protest against terrorism that followed immediately after the Palmanova bomb and the death of the two Guardia Civil officers.
This permission has to be sought from the government's delegations, so in the case of Mallorca, this means Teresa Palmer and the government's delegation in the Balearics. There are reasons why a demonstration can be refused, and they are pretty obvious ones - incitement to cause crime and the carrying of weapons, the presence of those wearing paramilitary uniforms (so, by implication, extremist groups), and the potential for there to be a risk to members of the public or property.
This sounds perfectly reasonable, but then one comes to protests which, for whatever reason, don't go ahead and to protests which do go ahead but without having complied with requirements. In Muro town, there has been an example of both of these, and they both relate to the town's bullfight.
PACMA is a political party that defends animal rights. It was due, as it has in the past, to have staged a protest in Muro against the bullfight during the recent Sant Joan fiestas. It didn't. As I understand reports (well one, because there has been little obvious other reporting), PACMA cancelled the protest, as opposed to having had it cancelled. I am not entirely sure why it cancelled the demo. Its website and Facebook page seem to make no reference to the Muro bullfight this year, to a protest or to its cancellation. It is said, though, that the original request for the protest was put in as it should have been, i.e. in accordance with the time frame.
For whatever reason, PACMA pulled out, which is something of a mystery. In its stead, another organisation, ICA, decided to stage its own protest. However, it didn't receive permission. Indeed, the day after it did stage a protest, it received notification that the protest had been denied. Because the protest was not approved, the Guardia Civil deemed it to be illegal, took details of four protesters and they will be subject to fines (which will probably be 301 euros; and no, I don't know why it is 301 euros).
There is due to be a music benefit event to raise funds to pay these anticipated fines, assuming they are levied. An example of a 301 euros fine for an unauthorised protest in Mallorca was that handed to the then president of the local television and radio station IB3 in December last year (which is why I know the 301 euros sum).
A number of issues arise from all this. One is why PACMA apparently cancelled its protest. A second is why ICA went ahead with its, knowing it was not authorised. A third is why the protest was subsequently found to have been refused, and a fourth is why fines might be levied. As far as the latter is concerned, well this is the strict letter of the law, but one must ask: have there been other unauthorised protests of a different sort which have escaped sanction? Perhaps there have been, but then one comes to the second point. Did ICA go ahead with its protest expecting what has resulted?
In the past, there has been evidence of different animal-rights groups not singing from the same hymn sheet. This happened, for instance, with a protest in Fornalutx against the bull run. So, might it be that there is some sort of battle between these different groups?
While ICA's protest might, I say might, have been a publicity stunt, one that was undertaken with full knowledge of the consequences, there is still the matter of the government's delegate having refused permission. On what grounds? Yes there have been incidents in the past, amounting to little more than insults being hurled, but could an anti-bullfight protest be truly looked upon as posing a safety risk?
It's a strange one. On the face of it, and despite the lack of authorisation, sanctions against the protesters seem a bit harsh. But otherwise, there is much about the whole affair that doesn't quite make sense.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Sunday, May 26, 2013
MALLORCA TODAY - Protest against Alcúdia's blue asphalt
Some 50 people or so staged a protest yesterday against the laying of the blue asphalt over the beach path in Puerto Alcúdia. The protesters were from youth groups, one of them being Arran, the left-wing independentist movement. The town hall is led by the right-wing Partido Popular.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
Monday, March 11, 2013
Ich Bin Ein Berliner Protester
The Berlin travel fair is over for another year. It is an event which attracts much media attention in Mallorca because of the importance of the German tourism market. This year's event has attracted the attention of the German media; Mallorca's presence at the fair has been news.
Of Mallorca's big-two tourism markets, the German relationship with the island is different to that of the British. It is a deeper relationship to that of the British, for whom the island is primarily and only a holiday destination. The Germans are more students of Mallorca than the British. The association is so strong, it is as though there were an imaginary land connection between Mallorca and Germany. Weather forecasts specifically feature Mallorca and German newspapers from Mallorca are widely available in Germany.
It was once said by a Mallorcan politician that the British have Mallorca "in their genes". If they do, then these genes are partly German. Mallorca is a holiday birthright for the Germans as much as the Chiemsee, South Tyrol and the islands of Sylt and Rügen are.
The participation of Mallorca and the Balearics at the Berlin travel fair has been news in Germany in a way that would be unimaginable in the UK; unimaginable, because events at the Berlin travel fair wouldn't have occurred at London's travel fair. And they wouldn't have occurred because of the different nature of the relationship.
The environmental pressure group GOB chose the Berlin fair to draw attention to concerns it has with policies of the regional government. It was chosen because, more than any other audience, GOB wanted to hammer home its message to the Germans. GOB will know that German environmental consciousness has traditionally been stronger than in other European countries. When TUI, a German company of course, makes the big deal that it does about ecologically sound hotels being an important sales point, it is referring mainly to the German market. Green matters were matters in Germany well before they were in the UK.
What happened in Berlin last week has not, however, put Mallorca in a terribly good light. Neither GOB nor the Balearics government (for which, read the Partido Popular) covered itself in glory in Berlin in what was a follow-on from a video that GOB had launched just prior to the fair. This video, which features the Mallorcan artist Miguel Barceló, is one in which GOB denounces the import of waste and developments such as Es Trenc. It denounces the government and so the PP.
The tourism minister Carlos Delgado had already criticised GOB for releasing the video and for presenting it at the travel fair. He said that it was irresponsible and could cause harm to the islands. But it was what then happened at the fair that caught the attention of the German media, and it did so because both GOB and the government grossly exaggerated what happened. GOB's representatives planned to raise questions at a press conference which President Bauzá was to attend. It was thought that GOB might also stage a protest. As a consequence, the organisers were told of the possibility and they in turn informed the police who did what police normally do, which is to attend the scene and to ensure control and to keep the peace.
The exaggerations then started to fly. GOB claimed the government had called the police in, when it hadn't. GOB also claimed that there were police "cordons" created at the request of the government and implied that there was some aggression by the German police. There were no cordons and there was no aggression. Had the government then kept quiet and let the matter rest, it might have come out of Berlin with its public relations intact, but it didn't. It insisted that GOB had planned "violent" protests; all three of its representatives. The accusation was exaggerated, hysterical and downright wrong.
GOB may believe that it has succeeded in publicising its gripes with the PP, but, and regardless of what one thinks about waste imports and Es Trenc, Delgado was not wrong in suggesting that its stunts could be harmful. In fact, it probably won't make any difference to German tourism, despite the coverage in the German media, but it might make Germans look askance at politics of the environment in the Balearics. Germans like consensus, it is the cornerstone of their political philosophy. In the Balearics there is no consensus. There never is. And the environment is a subject about which the polemic has no end and which has become as tedious as it is divided. Perhaps it would be better if mouths were just kept shut for a change.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Of Mallorca's big-two tourism markets, the German relationship with the island is different to that of the British. It is a deeper relationship to that of the British, for whom the island is primarily and only a holiday destination. The Germans are more students of Mallorca than the British. The association is so strong, it is as though there were an imaginary land connection between Mallorca and Germany. Weather forecasts specifically feature Mallorca and German newspapers from Mallorca are widely available in Germany.
It was once said by a Mallorcan politician that the British have Mallorca "in their genes". If they do, then these genes are partly German. Mallorca is a holiday birthright for the Germans as much as the Chiemsee, South Tyrol and the islands of Sylt and Rügen are.
The participation of Mallorca and the Balearics at the Berlin travel fair has been news in Germany in a way that would be unimaginable in the UK; unimaginable, because events at the Berlin travel fair wouldn't have occurred at London's travel fair. And they wouldn't have occurred because of the different nature of the relationship.
The environmental pressure group GOB chose the Berlin fair to draw attention to concerns it has with policies of the regional government. It was chosen because, more than any other audience, GOB wanted to hammer home its message to the Germans. GOB will know that German environmental consciousness has traditionally been stronger than in other European countries. When TUI, a German company of course, makes the big deal that it does about ecologically sound hotels being an important sales point, it is referring mainly to the German market. Green matters were matters in Germany well before they were in the UK.
What happened in Berlin last week has not, however, put Mallorca in a terribly good light. Neither GOB nor the Balearics government (for which, read the Partido Popular) covered itself in glory in Berlin in what was a follow-on from a video that GOB had launched just prior to the fair. This video, which features the Mallorcan artist Miguel Barceló, is one in which GOB denounces the import of waste and developments such as Es Trenc. It denounces the government and so the PP.
The tourism minister Carlos Delgado had already criticised GOB for releasing the video and for presenting it at the travel fair. He said that it was irresponsible and could cause harm to the islands. But it was what then happened at the fair that caught the attention of the German media, and it did so because both GOB and the government grossly exaggerated what happened. GOB's representatives planned to raise questions at a press conference which President Bauzá was to attend. It was thought that GOB might also stage a protest. As a consequence, the organisers were told of the possibility and they in turn informed the police who did what police normally do, which is to attend the scene and to ensure control and to keep the peace.
The exaggerations then started to fly. GOB claimed the government had called the police in, when it hadn't. GOB also claimed that there were police "cordons" created at the request of the government and implied that there was some aggression by the German police. There were no cordons and there was no aggression. Had the government then kept quiet and let the matter rest, it might have come out of Berlin with its public relations intact, but it didn't. It insisted that GOB had planned "violent" protests; all three of its representatives. The accusation was exaggerated, hysterical and downright wrong.
GOB may believe that it has succeeded in publicising its gripes with the PP, but, and regardless of what one thinks about waste imports and Es Trenc, Delgado was not wrong in suggesting that its stunts could be harmful. In fact, it probably won't make any difference to German tourism, despite the coverage in the German media, but it might make Germans look askance at politics of the environment in the Balearics. Germans like consensus, it is the cornerstone of their political philosophy. In the Balearics there is no consensus. There never is. And the environment is a subject about which the polemic has no end and which has become as tedious as it is divided. Perhaps it would be better if mouths were just kept shut for a change.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Saturday, January 12, 2013
MALLORCA TODAY - 350 cars in Palma protest over hire-car tax
A parade of some 350 cars that was designed to bring Palma to a standstill yesterday passed off with relatively little disruption. The action was staged by associations representing the hire-car sector which is opposed to the introduction of a so-called eco-tax on the hire of vehicles.
See more: Ultima Hora
See more: Ultima Hora
Friday, December 14, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - 500 people in Pollensa protest against education policy
Some 500 people - teachers, pupils and parents - took part in a demonstration in Pollensa's Plaça Major last night, protesting against the education policies of both the regional and the national government.
(Photo courtesy of the Alternativa per Pollença.)
Thursday, November 15, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Thousands protest in Palma at end of general strike
The unions say 60,000, the government 50,000, the police between 35,000 and 40,000. Whatever the actual figure, there were more people protesting in Palma yesterday evening than during a similar protest to mark the last general strike in March. The day passed with little by way of incident other than a couple of arrests during an earlier protest and some charges into demonstrators by police.
Saturday, August 11, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Protests against Bauzá in Alcúdia
A small group of protesters greeted President Bauzá when he came to Alcúdia on Thursday evening for a presentation of the Via Fora theatrical show around the town's walls. There were no incidents during a peaceful demonstration.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
Friday, July 20, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Large Palma protest against cuts
As part of a series of protests in major cities across Spain, 20,000 demonstrators (50,000 according to the unions) took to the streets of Palma to voice their opposition to government cuts and to the government. There were no obvious incidents, unlike in Madrid where rubber bullets were fired.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
Saturday, June 30, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - 150 protest in Pollensa against the PP
The Pollensa platform of left-wing parties and the Catalan Lands Students Union, together with teachers from the local secondary school, staged their first protest yesterday against the policies of the Partido Popular.
See more: dBalears
See more: dBalears
Saturday, June 23, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Protests at Muro's bullfight
As is traditional at Muro's traditional annual bullfight as part of the town's Sant Joan fiestas, animal-rights protesters (some one hundred or so) gathered by the gates of the bullring this evening to voice their opposition to the bullfight.
Friday, June 22, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Pollensa protest against the Partido Popular
Parties from the left, the PSM socialists, the Republican Left and the Alternativa, are to join with the "indignados" and the "union of students of the Catalan lands" in forming a platform against the Partido Popular and staging a protest against the PP in Pollensa on 29 June. Partly, this is coming about because of the fines levied against protesters when President Bauzá visited in May, but it is also a consequence of government cuts and "rights to public space" (which may relate to all the Plaça Major rumpus). The protest is being described as a "cacerolada", and I confess I don't know what this means, or rather I do because the word is more or less the same in English - casserole, or more specifically a casserole event. Perhaps they're planning on cooking a PP politician.
Friday, June 15, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Pollensa restaurants to close in protest this Sunday
A group of bar/restaurant owners with businesses in and by the Plaça Major in Pollensa plan to close this Sunday (until four in the afternoon) in protest at the town hall's insistence on applying a local by-law from 2002 which determines the exact amount of space their terraces can occupy. They also intend staging a protest in front of the Hotel Juma (owned by the mayor's family) as they consider the law benefits this establishment. There is concern regarding discrimination between bars and restaurants (all establishments are officially classified in certain ways), with bars assigned more space than restaurants.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Pollensa PSM member fined over Bauzá protest
The former secretary of the PSM (Mallorcan socialists) in Pollensa, Miquel Amengual, is one of those who has been fined on the instruction of the Balearic Government's delegate for actions during the protest staged against President Bauzá in the town. He has received notification of a 3,000 euro fine but rejects claims that he acted violently and says that he gave his name to police (he is charged also with not identifying himself). Meanwhile, opposition parties in the town have been swift in supporting Amengual and condemning the fine.
Saturday, March 03, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Local police protest at job losses
Balearics Day didn't see only celebrations, there were also protests, one of them by over a hundred unemployed local police officers. A spokesperson said that at a time when crime was on the increase, it was "surreal" that town halls should use the excuse of economic crisis when the police were needed more than ever.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Ambulance workers protest over non-payments
More problems for the heavily indebted Balearics health service IB-Salut. Ambulance drivers and personnel attached to the company SSG protested yesterday over payments not made by the health service, which include the Christmas bonus.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Thousands protest against labour reforms
Palma today has been one of 57 major towns and cities across Spain where a protest has been staged against labour reforms announced by the Spanish Government. More than eight thousand are said to have taken part in the Palma protest against reforms described as unfair, ineffective and useless.
Spanish premier Marian Rajoy, meantime, has addressed the Partido Popular congress in Sevilla and said that the reforms are indeed fair as well as being good and necessary.
Spanish premier Marian Rajoy, meantime, has addressed the Partido Popular congress in Sevilla and said that the reforms are indeed fair as well as being good and necessary.
Wednesday, March 09, 2011
The Bars' Big Day Off
What on earth is everyone going to do? A day with no bars or restaurants. We'll all have to do some work for once. And re-arrange the location for all our meetings. Where? Nary a café nor bar with its doors open, we'll have to use things like offices. We'll have to make our own coffee and, so, rather than complaining about the cost of a café's cortado, we'll moan about the price of a packet of molido from the supermarket. Life will simply be unbearable.
The bars and restaurants of the Balearics are planning on taking a day off. All of them. Ha-ha-ha. As if. One day in the not-too-distant future, in an act of protest against the smoking ban, the coffee machines will lie idle, the tapas will be taped up and the cañas will be canned.
One supposes that the bar owners will hope that this decaffeinated day will prompt an uprising of the dislocated populace, wandering aimlessly like the lost tribes of Israel in vain search of a welcoming terrace. Government buildings will be stormed. Riots will ensue. "We need our coffee!" will shout the dispossessed. Spain's "coffee revolution" will occur.
Will it? Hardly. First problem is going to be getting all bars and restaurants to agree as to the day. What about a Sunday? You must be joking. Busiest day of the week. Erm, so how about a Tuesday? Are you kidding? It's market day in ... (add as applicable). Tell you what. A Saturday. 9 April. You what? It's the first day of the boat fair in Puerto Alcúdia.
The bar and restaurant owners aren't totally stupid, unlike the airport workers. They intend to have their day of protest before the tourism season kicks in. Of course they will. They're not going to close once the punters start streaming in from the easyJets.
But getting agreement or universal support for a day's closure sounds as unlikely as the local population announcing a collective abstinence from coffee, regardless of whether it's inspired by bar closure or not. There's one very good reason why it will be hard to agree to. Self-interest. Takings may, allegedly, be down by 20, 30, 40%, but mass action by a suddenly co-operative union of bar and restaurant owners would reverse the tradition of looking after number one. If this day does go ahead and is a success, I'll eat my coffee machine.
This is not the first time that a protest of this sort has been considered, albeit that previously it was for an altogether different reason. In Alcúdia, rather than a pointless street demo, the idea was floated of a mass closure - during the tourist season - as a way of voicing discontent with the effects of all-inclusives.
Damaging though this might have been, in various ways, it would have been intended to show the damaging, long-term impact of all-inclusives - a resort with no bars or restaurants open, because they no longer have the business. Over-dramatic perhaps, but, as demonstrations go, it would have been powerful. But it would never have happened and never will happen. It's all down to self-interest.
If the bar and restaurant owners' day of inaction does get agreed to, what would happen were some bars to ignore it? Are there going to be pickets flying around, trying to prevent customers getting in?
Assuming that the bars and restaurants are prepared to forego a day's business, what about effects to other businesses? The hard-pressed ensaïmada industry, sales already generally down, will suffer a day's loss of fresh lard being scoffed. Newspaper publishers will also suffer, because there will be no bars to buy their papers for the clientele to read, though they might also benefit as said clientele would have to actually fork out for a paper for once.
There would be ripples in the wider economy from a bar's day of inaction, but these ripples would be nothing compared with the floods that might occur. No bar open. Where the heck do you go for a pee?
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
The bars and restaurants of the Balearics are planning on taking a day off. All of them. Ha-ha-ha. As if. One day in the not-too-distant future, in an act of protest against the smoking ban, the coffee machines will lie idle, the tapas will be taped up and the cañas will be canned.
One supposes that the bar owners will hope that this decaffeinated day will prompt an uprising of the dislocated populace, wandering aimlessly like the lost tribes of Israel in vain search of a welcoming terrace. Government buildings will be stormed. Riots will ensue. "We need our coffee!" will shout the dispossessed. Spain's "coffee revolution" will occur.
Will it? Hardly. First problem is going to be getting all bars and restaurants to agree as to the day. What about a Sunday? You must be joking. Busiest day of the week. Erm, so how about a Tuesday? Are you kidding? It's market day in ... (add as applicable). Tell you what. A Saturday. 9 April. You what? It's the first day of the boat fair in Puerto Alcúdia.
The bar and restaurant owners aren't totally stupid, unlike the airport workers. They intend to have their day of protest before the tourism season kicks in. Of course they will. They're not going to close once the punters start streaming in from the easyJets.
But getting agreement or universal support for a day's closure sounds as unlikely as the local population announcing a collective abstinence from coffee, regardless of whether it's inspired by bar closure or not. There's one very good reason why it will be hard to agree to. Self-interest. Takings may, allegedly, be down by 20, 30, 40%, but mass action by a suddenly co-operative union of bar and restaurant owners would reverse the tradition of looking after number one. If this day does go ahead and is a success, I'll eat my coffee machine.
This is not the first time that a protest of this sort has been considered, albeit that previously it was for an altogether different reason. In Alcúdia, rather than a pointless street demo, the idea was floated of a mass closure - during the tourist season - as a way of voicing discontent with the effects of all-inclusives.
Damaging though this might have been, in various ways, it would have been intended to show the damaging, long-term impact of all-inclusives - a resort with no bars or restaurants open, because they no longer have the business. Over-dramatic perhaps, but, as demonstrations go, it would have been powerful. But it would never have happened and never will happen. It's all down to self-interest.
If the bar and restaurant owners' day of inaction does get agreed to, what would happen were some bars to ignore it? Are there going to be pickets flying around, trying to prevent customers getting in?
Assuming that the bars and restaurants are prepared to forego a day's business, what about effects to other businesses? The hard-pressed ensaïmada industry, sales already generally down, will suffer a day's loss of fresh lard being scoffed. Newspaper publishers will also suffer, because there will be no bars to buy their papers for the clientele to read, though they might also benefit as said clientele would have to actually fork out for a paper for once.
There would be ripples in the wider economy from a bar's day of inaction, but these ripples would be nothing compared with the floods that might occur. No bar open. Where the heck do you go for a pee?
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Town Without Pity: Pollensa
Pity Pollensa. A town of genuine artistic and cultural heritage. A town of churches and squares, of 365 steps, of the brooding presence of the Puig Maria. A town with a resort, Puerto Pollensa, which holds a place in early Mallorcan tourism of the last century and which has brought out the inner poet in visitors who have stopped to marvel at the bay and who have crowned the port (the "moll") with the jewels of the grandest majesty among Mallorca's resorts.
Pity Pollensa. A town of debt, of protest, of division.
Rare is the day when there is not some news of trouble in Pollensa. The latest, that regarding the lack of funds to kit out a day centre or to open a new pre-school nursery, is just another day in Pollensa. Pity Pollensa and pity its poor mayor. Beleaguered is an overused word, but it can apply to the mayor. Literally on occasions. What are alternatives to beleaguered? Beset, harassed, besieged. In June this year the mayor was besieged. He was in an elevated bunker in the town hall building in Puerto Pollensa while demonstrators shouted outside and at one point scaled the rampart steps to the balcony next to the office.
Pity the poor mayor. He has the look of someone beset by problems. He carries a sense of awkwardness, gaucheness perhaps, in a body he doesn't seem to quite fit. It's not his fault, like many of Pollensa's problems aren't actually his fault, but no one seems much inclined to excuse him. I passed him one day in Pollensa town and said hello. He smiled cautiously. Perhaps he was just happy, surprised even, that someone had given him the time of day. He had his hands in his pockets, labouring on the incline up to the town hall building, newly restored at a cost of over two million euros. He wouldn't have remembered me, or maybe he had, as the one who had taken a photo of him in that Puerto Pollensa bunker, one that had hinted at anxiety. Or the photo of him as he had laughed when confronting the demonstrators on the balcony. A militant next to me said, "look, he's laughing, laughing at us". I didn't think so. It was the laugh of nervousness.
The awkwardness of Joan Cerdà, as much as the awkwardness of the difficulties Pollensa has been encountering, contrasts with the assertive tallness of the basketball-playing mayor of Alcúdia, a neighbouring town which, to the bemusement of many in Pollensa, appears to benefit from infrastructure improvements and political calm, notwithstanding some awkward "questions" regarding the construction of the new Can Ramis building. Alcúdia's advance rankles with the backward-stepping pollencins.
The mayor inherited problems when he came into office in 2007. Go back to a period soon after he had first plonked himself in the mayoral seat and you will find that the newly opposition Partido Popular was denouncing the state of cleanliness and maintenance of streets in Puerto Pollensa. This was one of the grievances of the protesters of early summer. It's an old problem, one that the mayor is actually seeking to rectify with a new cleaning contract.
This might sound as if I am acting as an apologist for the mayor. Not so. He hasn't helped himself. He didn't help himself by a failure to consult when attempting to push through a pedestrianisation scheme in 2008, one that had to be abandoned. He didn't help himself earlier this summer, after the protest, by seemingly seeking to create division amongst associations in the port, each with a competing agenda that he successfully exposed.
Inadvertently though, he has also succeeded in creating a realisation that consensus, rather than division, is necessary amongst those in the port who represent opposition to the town hall's failings. La Veu d'eu Moll (voice of the port) is a new association and campaign that will hope to bring consensus to bear on the mayor. Its website will invite participation, but, in so doing, it too runs the risk of division. A Facebook campaign, highlighting examples of uncleanliness, rubbish and other issues in the port and in the town, has not met with universal approval. It has been accused of creating a negative image, just as this article might meet with the same accusation or the new website be similarly criticised.
Such defensiveness, such protectiveness of the refulgent splendour of Pollensa and the port is understandable. But some of those who do the defending will have been on the protest in June, a protest that was hardly the best image for the port, one that may be repeated at the end of the season, doubtless with the same dual-standard protesters. Moreover, presented with what is portrayed, rightly or wrongly, as an inept town hall administration, what should people who care for their town do, especially if they perceive inertia or intransigence? The directness of internet campaigning can be persuasive in a way that a caveat-loaded denial - "I know there are problems but" - is not.
Pollensa is not unique in Mallorca in being indebted and in being confronted with issues of faltering tourism, anti-social behaviour, inadequate provision of services. Perhaps the problems it faces, as in other towns, are too big for the local politicians to handle, too demanding of an old style of local nepotistic politics to solve. The issue for those who may or may not protesteth too much is what they would do that would be any better. Faced with certain realities, it might seem a whole lot less straightforward. Pity Pollensa.
QUIZ -
Ok, this song goes back a long way. 1961 to be precise. "Town Without Pity" by ...?
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Pity Pollensa. A town of debt, of protest, of division.
Rare is the day when there is not some news of trouble in Pollensa. The latest, that regarding the lack of funds to kit out a day centre or to open a new pre-school nursery, is just another day in Pollensa. Pity Pollensa and pity its poor mayor. Beleaguered is an overused word, but it can apply to the mayor. Literally on occasions. What are alternatives to beleaguered? Beset, harassed, besieged. In June this year the mayor was besieged. He was in an elevated bunker in the town hall building in Puerto Pollensa while demonstrators shouted outside and at one point scaled the rampart steps to the balcony next to the office.
Pity the poor mayor. He has the look of someone beset by problems. He carries a sense of awkwardness, gaucheness perhaps, in a body he doesn't seem to quite fit. It's not his fault, like many of Pollensa's problems aren't actually his fault, but no one seems much inclined to excuse him. I passed him one day in Pollensa town and said hello. He smiled cautiously. Perhaps he was just happy, surprised even, that someone had given him the time of day. He had his hands in his pockets, labouring on the incline up to the town hall building, newly restored at a cost of over two million euros. He wouldn't have remembered me, or maybe he had, as the one who had taken a photo of him in that Puerto Pollensa bunker, one that had hinted at anxiety. Or the photo of him as he had laughed when confronting the demonstrators on the balcony. A militant next to me said, "look, he's laughing, laughing at us". I didn't think so. It was the laugh of nervousness.
The awkwardness of Joan Cerdà, as much as the awkwardness of the difficulties Pollensa has been encountering, contrasts with the assertive tallness of the basketball-playing mayor of Alcúdia, a neighbouring town which, to the bemusement of many in Pollensa, appears to benefit from infrastructure improvements and political calm, notwithstanding some awkward "questions" regarding the construction of the new Can Ramis building. Alcúdia's advance rankles with the backward-stepping pollencins.
The mayor inherited problems when he came into office in 2007. Go back to a period soon after he had first plonked himself in the mayoral seat and you will find that the newly opposition Partido Popular was denouncing the state of cleanliness and maintenance of streets in Puerto Pollensa. This was one of the grievances of the protesters of early summer. It's an old problem, one that the mayor is actually seeking to rectify with a new cleaning contract.
This might sound as if I am acting as an apologist for the mayor. Not so. He hasn't helped himself. He didn't help himself by a failure to consult when attempting to push through a pedestrianisation scheme in 2008, one that had to be abandoned. He didn't help himself earlier this summer, after the protest, by seemingly seeking to create division amongst associations in the port, each with a competing agenda that he successfully exposed.
Inadvertently though, he has also succeeded in creating a realisation that consensus, rather than division, is necessary amongst those in the port who represent opposition to the town hall's failings. La Veu d'eu Moll (voice of the port) is a new association and campaign that will hope to bring consensus to bear on the mayor. Its website will invite participation, but, in so doing, it too runs the risk of division. A Facebook campaign, highlighting examples of uncleanliness, rubbish and other issues in the port and in the town, has not met with universal approval. It has been accused of creating a negative image, just as this article might meet with the same accusation or the new website be similarly criticised.
Such defensiveness, such protectiveness of the refulgent splendour of Pollensa and the port is understandable. But some of those who do the defending will have been on the protest in June, a protest that was hardly the best image for the port, one that may be repeated at the end of the season, doubtless with the same dual-standard protesters. Moreover, presented with what is portrayed, rightly or wrongly, as an inept town hall administration, what should people who care for their town do, especially if they perceive inertia or intransigence? The directness of internet campaigning can be persuasive in a way that a caveat-loaded denial - "I know there are problems but" - is not.
Pollensa is not unique in Mallorca in being indebted and in being confronted with issues of faltering tourism, anti-social behaviour, inadequate provision of services. Perhaps the problems it faces, as in other towns, are too big for the local politicians to handle, too demanding of an old style of local nepotistic politics to solve. The issue for those who may or may not protesteth too much is what they would do that would be any better. Faced with certain realities, it might seem a whole lot less straightforward. Pity Pollensa.
QUIZ -
Ok, this song goes back a long way. 1961 to be precise. "Town Without Pity" by ...?
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
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