Showing posts with label Violence. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Violence. Show all posts
Thursday, March 23, 2017
Another First For Alaró
Alaró. What do we know of it? It has a castle. It was the first place in Mallorca to get electricity. The citizens not so long ago took part in a referendum to allow women to be part of the cossiers folk dance troupe. Its first woman mayor took office in 2015. It will have the Balearics first black mayor - Guillem Balboa - later this year. A municipality of firsts, it generally, one might suggest, has a fairly genteel image, as in being free of any associated vulgarities as opposed to being populated by the gentry (save some maybe).
Alaró is therefore not a Magalluf. It would be impossible for it be anyway, given that it doesn't have a coast. Instead, it nestles quietly by the Tramuntana, which cliché demands that it should do. Villages overlooked by mountains are required to nestle. That's all they do.
Unfortunately for Alaró, this carefully carved-out reputation has been shattered. It has joined the ranks of Magalluf (of which one must say, of course, that this is pre-transformation Magalluf). It has attained a new first. It is the first village nestling in the Tramuntana foothills to grab the attention of The Sun and The Daily Mail, except when either of these may have published a travel article describing the pleasures of Mallorcan foothill nestling. The genteel, free of vulgarities image has been destroyed by scenes reminiscent of most nights in Magalluf (sorry, pre-transfomation Magalluf).
The Sun usefully informed its readers of the "shocking moment" that a mass brawl broke out between parents at a kids' football match. Mums screamed "in horror" and scrambled "to protect children from fighting dads". Goodness me, Alaró, what have you done? There's Biel Barceló going on about non-beach tourism, lauding the alternatives of cultural, heritage and nature tourism, facilitating the arrival of inland holiday rentals, and what happens? A village symbolic of all this alternative tourism has threatened the promotional drive by engaging in a re-enactment of Punta Ballena. One thing's for sure. If Alaró signs up to the sports tourism niche as a means of tackling seasonality, it'll carefully sidestep any mention of football.
This is of course greatly exaggerated, as was perhaps a headline in the local press which referred to a scandal with global repercussion. This repercussion will mostly have involved avid social network users having a good laugh. Which isn't to condone what happened, just that values are what they have become. Moreover, it's not as if it is unheard of for parents to get out of hand at kids' football matches. The difference in this instance is that parents behaving badly has gone viral.
The immediate victims of the "mass brawl" (what actually constitutes a mass?) were the Alaró boys. The team has been withdrawn. There again, the boys aren't entirely victims. Certain players face expulsion from the team, such as one seen kicking a man who was on the ground. It might be noted that the whole incident kicked off when an Alaró player chased a Collerense youngster and kicked him. Alaró had already had a player sent off as well as their trainer. The referee had apparently asked for the police to be called fifteen minutes before the brawl broke out. He sensed that there was an inflamed atmosphere.
As a consequence of what took place the public prosecutor is involved, as is the Guardia Civil, the national government's delegation to the Balearics as well as the Balearic Islands Football Federation's Anti-Violence Commission. Fines of up to 10,000 euros could be handed out. There is the threat of possible custodial sentences. And all because of a football match involving 12 and 13 year olds in the Regional Second Division, Group E.
The government and the Council of Mallorca both rushed to condemn Sunday's events. "Values" to be acquired through sport are important, said Biel Barceló in his vice-presidential guise. The Council was at pains to explain that it has a whole project aimed at inculcating these values through sport and at holding workshops to try and prevent violence.
Values, and good ones, are there to be attained, but there are other values being pursued - monetary, fame and celebrity. When the likes of Talk Sport, rather than indulging in shouting, stop and have sensible discussions about football, a subject that comes up is the behaviour of parents. When did they start behaving badly? Around the time when big bucks for junior players loomed. Allied to this are the values displayed on football pitches. Jamie Vardy has been praised in some quarters for having been cute enough in ensuring Samir Nasri was sent off. There are so many other examples.
As a local journalist has written, none of the kids last Sunday will become Messi. But such are the distorted values, that is the parental ambition. Poor Alaró. What had it done to deserve its global repercussion?
Tuesday, July 12, 2016
See No Evil: Magalluf crime
The July-August 1989 issue of a publication devoted to Palmanova and Magalluf offered its thoughts about Magalluf. The publication was "Entre Tots". The main article had to do with "everything being in a mess". There was building work going on in the middle of summer. The then deputy mayor was quoted as saying that the town hall (Calvia) was wanting to "beautify" Magalluf. The plan was for a transformation into green areas with a boulevard of fountains, new street lighting, more trees, more benches within three years. That would have meant 1992.
It may not have escaped your attention that there has been a transformation in Magalluf. It started to take place nineteen years after the previous one was meant to have been completed. You surely have to know about this transformation, because it is constantly referred to. The town hall and hoteliers, a mix of public and private sector, have brought into being the "new" Magalluf.
That same edition in 1989 also featured an interview with the local police. There was a reference to there being a "restructuring of the force". Sounds familiar? Yes, because there's now another one. This restructuring, as with the current one, was in response to specific needs. In 1989, these were identified, inter alia, as illegal street selling, the activities of PRs ("tiqueteros"), night-time noise and public order and security on the beaches. The police would not be engaging in "repressive" action, it was said, but with "preventive" action.
Twenty-seven years on, and what has changed? Well, as part of the transformation into "new" Magalluf, bylaws and commands are issued with regularity. Together with police restructuring, these will deal with anti-social behaviour and the sort of petty illegality, such as street selling, that had existed well before "Entre Tots" was talking about it in 1989. Bylaws are made. Enforcing compliance is another issue.
There have been big changes since the late 1980s. Back then in what was still a pre-internet era, there were no videos of sexual activities to be disseminated via YouTube and other social networks. There was no specific talk of the phenomenon of "balconing". If there was prostitution, then it was prostitution as it was described on the tin: selling sex and that was all.
If you consider these three aspects, you get a clear impression of how the "new" Magalluf is working, or isn't working, and of what the main messages from the town hall (and others) have focused on and are focusing on. One of the latest attempts is "#Magalive". How to be responsible (young) tourists, how to have fun without getting totally bladdered or totally off the head on drugs or both. Well intentioned enough, but there will have been those not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
The petty illegality is as it was in 1989, but since then something very much more sinister has emerged. Everyone knows what it is, and yet the town hall (and others) bang on endlessly about anything but. Behind the campaigns to stop the use of laughing gas or people falling off balconies, there is the very much darker side - the muggings, the violence, the drugs.
I once wrote that there was a situation of the three wise monkeys' see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil in Magalluf: a situation of heads in sand, hoping that no one pays any heed to people being assaulted by violent prostitutes and others. Amidst all the campaigns and notices that have emanated from the town hall in recent months, where have been ones addressing the prostitutes and the other attendant sinister aspects of the resort? Three wise monkeys. The question is: who are they?
There is a new Facebook page (see how things have changed since 1989). It is called Calvia Crimewatch. Essentially, it is Magalluf with some Santa Ponsa thrown into the mix. Since being launched last Friday, it has at time of writing (Sunday lunchtime) almost 500 group members.
It would be easy for me to simply quote from this page, but to do so would not do justice to the overwhelming sense of outrage and to the numerous anecdotes related to violence, theft and more, or to some of the photos that are appearing and the threats targeted at those who attempt to photograph acts of criminality. No, it would be far too simple. You can see for yourselves anyway. So can the town hall, were it of a mind to. So can foreign media. So can police, so can the national government's delegation to the Balearics. So can anyone who might want to actually gain an appreciation as to realities in "new" Magalluf.
We've heard the excuses, we've heard the announcements of action to be taken which seem rarely or ever to materialise. Excuses, reasons are no longer acceptable. What does it take? People to get killed?
It may not have escaped your attention that there has been a transformation in Magalluf. It started to take place nineteen years after the previous one was meant to have been completed. You surely have to know about this transformation, because it is constantly referred to. The town hall and hoteliers, a mix of public and private sector, have brought into being the "new" Magalluf.
That same edition in 1989 also featured an interview with the local police. There was a reference to there being a "restructuring of the force". Sounds familiar? Yes, because there's now another one. This restructuring, as with the current one, was in response to specific needs. In 1989, these were identified, inter alia, as illegal street selling, the activities of PRs ("tiqueteros"), night-time noise and public order and security on the beaches. The police would not be engaging in "repressive" action, it was said, but with "preventive" action.
Twenty-seven years on, and what has changed? Well, as part of the transformation into "new" Magalluf, bylaws and commands are issued with regularity. Together with police restructuring, these will deal with anti-social behaviour and the sort of petty illegality, such as street selling, that had existed well before "Entre Tots" was talking about it in 1989. Bylaws are made. Enforcing compliance is another issue.
There have been big changes since the late 1980s. Back then in what was still a pre-internet era, there were no videos of sexual activities to be disseminated via YouTube and other social networks. There was no specific talk of the phenomenon of "balconing". If there was prostitution, then it was prostitution as it was described on the tin: selling sex and that was all.
If you consider these three aspects, you get a clear impression of how the "new" Magalluf is working, or isn't working, and of what the main messages from the town hall (and others) have focused on and are focusing on. One of the latest attempts is "#Magalive". How to be responsible (young) tourists, how to have fun without getting totally bladdered or totally off the head on drugs or both. Well intentioned enough, but there will have been those not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
The petty illegality is as it was in 1989, but since then something very much more sinister has emerged. Everyone knows what it is, and yet the town hall (and others) bang on endlessly about anything but. Behind the campaigns to stop the use of laughing gas or people falling off balconies, there is the very much darker side - the muggings, the violence, the drugs.
I once wrote that there was a situation of the three wise monkeys' see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil in Magalluf: a situation of heads in sand, hoping that no one pays any heed to people being assaulted by violent prostitutes and others. Amidst all the campaigns and notices that have emanated from the town hall in recent months, where have been ones addressing the prostitutes and the other attendant sinister aspects of the resort? Three wise monkeys. The question is: who are they?
There is a new Facebook page (see how things have changed since 1989). It is called Calvia Crimewatch. Essentially, it is Magalluf with some Santa Ponsa thrown into the mix. Since being launched last Friday, it has at time of writing (Sunday lunchtime) almost 500 group members.
It would be easy for me to simply quote from this page, but to do so would not do justice to the overwhelming sense of outrage and to the numerous anecdotes related to violence, theft and more, or to some of the photos that are appearing and the threats targeted at those who attempt to photograph acts of criminality. No, it would be far too simple. You can see for yourselves anyway. So can the town hall, were it of a mind to. So can foreign media. So can police, so can the national government's delegation to the Balearics. So can anyone who might want to actually gain an appreciation as to realities in "new" Magalluf.
We've heard the excuses, we've heard the announcements of action to be taken which seem rarely or ever to materialise. Excuses, reasons are no longer acceptable. What does it take? People to get killed?
Friday, June 06, 2014
This Is Not Magalluf
Puerto Alcúdia. Puerto Pollensa. Can Picafort. Playa de Muro. What do they have in common? If you answer that they are all resorts in the north of Majorca, then you would be right but you would also be wrong. The real answer is that they are not Magalluf. In just the same way as Port Sóller, Cala Millor and Cala d'Or are not Magalluf.
The Mallorca world revolves around a sun of Magalluf obscured by darkness that stalks the night and only around this sun. Am I right or am I right? You would be right, too. Magalluf, always Magalluf. Never here, there or everywhere else. The body of Magalluf is picked over by a scavenging and voracious press endlessly hunting for the bones of a story, one that is preferably sordid, sensational, sad or all three. A plague on both the houses of Magalluf itself and the media it fattens.
I am right but I'm not right. You would be right but you would not be right. The northern resorts, as with more or less all other resorts in Mallorca, may have little more than walk-on parts as extras in the tragi-comedy that has been playing to packed media audiences in Magalluf, but there is something to be said for playing a bit part: no spotlight turned on means no blemishes to be noticed, real or imagined, minor or rather more than minor. Be careful what you wish for by way of attention.
The prostitute thing is not a phenomenon in the northern resorts. Thank God for that. But Magalluf serves as a warning. As perhaps do solutions to its troubles. If not Magalluf, then where? The prostitute thing would be unlikely to gravitate north because of logistics. Where are the women based? Palma. Distances are short to the places of their violence. Besides which, the north's resorts are unlike Magalluf and parts of Playa de Palma that offer fertile drunken, youthful pickings for the women of the night mugging patrols. But there again, it isn't only the drunken and the youthful who fall prey. And also there again, it isn't accurate to suggest that northern resorts are solely "family", a branding which somehow seems to imply that they are spared the worst excesses that Mallorca can offer.
Things do gravitate though. Remember the problems caused by the scratch-card touts? The story went that they had been hounded out of Calvia and so switched operations to Alcúdia, which also meant the other northern resorts. Which year would it have been? 2008 maybe? The office in Puerto Alcúdia suddenly closed towards the end of July. They all disappeared. There was never an adequate explanation as to why, though it was believed to have been because the fines had reached such a level that they had to shut up shop (fines for illegal street touting, that is). A new operation appeared the next year but the worst had passed. There was no longer quite the harassment and the abuse that tourists had been subjected to, and what there has been by way of touting in the past couple of years has been low-key compared to what it once was. But though there were supposedly the fines, it wasn't really police action that stopped the worst of the scratch-card operators. It was more because the level of business wasn't good enough.
The looky-lookies are something else. They have been a feature for years, and complaints against them, as in Magalluf, are increasing. And just as in Magalluf, there are occasional police actions, and they're back on the streets in no time. There are bar owners who are sick and tired of them, but there are some bar owners who have to look at themselves. Those ones who have encouraged the lookies. And we all know that it is not just fake goods that they sell. They've been selling other stuff for years as well, and if a tourist doesn't happen to know what else they sell, there is always someone on hand to tell that tourist. I shan't identify the shop, but let me just say that I overheard its owner telling a couple of Swedish lads the other day about the lookies. "The black guys?" asked one of the Swedish boys. "They sell gear?" "Yes." It's always nice to be helpful to tourists.
We may feel in the north that it's all about Magalluf, but then we have to ask why that is the case. The concentration on Magalluf may offend as much as the negative nature of the reporting offends and so doesn't reflect all that is positive, but again one has to ask why. There are serious issues in Magalluf. Be thankful that it is Magalluf which gets the attention. But also wish Magalluf well.
The Mallorca world revolves around a sun of Magalluf obscured by darkness that stalks the night and only around this sun. Am I right or am I right? You would be right, too. Magalluf, always Magalluf. Never here, there or everywhere else. The body of Magalluf is picked over by a scavenging and voracious press endlessly hunting for the bones of a story, one that is preferably sordid, sensational, sad or all three. A plague on both the houses of Magalluf itself and the media it fattens.
I am right but I'm not right. You would be right but you would not be right. The northern resorts, as with more or less all other resorts in Mallorca, may have little more than walk-on parts as extras in the tragi-comedy that has been playing to packed media audiences in Magalluf, but there is something to be said for playing a bit part: no spotlight turned on means no blemishes to be noticed, real or imagined, minor or rather more than minor. Be careful what you wish for by way of attention.
The prostitute thing is not a phenomenon in the northern resorts. Thank God for that. But Magalluf serves as a warning. As perhaps do solutions to its troubles. If not Magalluf, then where? The prostitute thing would be unlikely to gravitate north because of logistics. Where are the women based? Palma. Distances are short to the places of their violence. Besides which, the north's resorts are unlike Magalluf and parts of Playa de Palma that offer fertile drunken, youthful pickings for the women of the night mugging patrols. But there again, it isn't only the drunken and the youthful who fall prey. And also there again, it isn't accurate to suggest that northern resorts are solely "family", a branding which somehow seems to imply that they are spared the worst excesses that Mallorca can offer.
Things do gravitate though. Remember the problems caused by the scratch-card touts? The story went that they had been hounded out of Calvia and so switched operations to Alcúdia, which also meant the other northern resorts. Which year would it have been? 2008 maybe? The office in Puerto Alcúdia suddenly closed towards the end of July. They all disappeared. There was never an adequate explanation as to why, though it was believed to have been because the fines had reached such a level that they had to shut up shop (fines for illegal street touting, that is). A new operation appeared the next year but the worst had passed. There was no longer quite the harassment and the abuse that tourists had been subjected to, and what there has been by way of touting in the past couple of years has been low-key compared to what it once was. But though there were supposedly the fines, it wasn't really police action that stopped the worst of the scratch-card operators. It was more because the level of business wasn't good enough.
The looky-lookies are something else. They have been a feature for years, and complaints against them, as in Magalluf, are increasing. And just as in Magalluf, there are occasional police actions, and they're back on the streets in no time. There are bar owners who are sick and tired of them, but there are some bar owners who have to look at themselves. Those ones who have encouraged the lookies. And we all know that it is not just fake goods that they sell. They've been selling other stuff for years as well, and if a tourist doesn't happen to know what else they sell, there is always someone on hand to tell that tourist. I shan't identify the shop, but let me just say that I overheard its owner telling a couple of Swedish lads the other day about the lookies. "The black guys?" asked one of the Swedish boys. "They sell gear?" "Yes." It's always nice to be helpful to tourists.
We may feel in the north that it's all about Magalluf, but then we have to ask why that is the case. The concentration on Magalluf may offend as much as the negative nature of the reporting offends and so doesn't reflect all that is positive, but again one has to ask why. There are serious issues in Magalluf. Be thankful that it is Magalluf which gets the attention. But also wish Magalluf well.
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Unbelievable Remedies: Magalluf
Incidents centred on Magalluf's Punta Ballena have decreased considerably. Thus spake a newspaper report of 15 August. "Great evils" require "grand remedies", it was said. These great evils were implied rather than defined and they were hyperbole; the committing of great evils in modern-day Mallorca is a rare occurrence.
But never let it be said that exaggerated words cannot exaggerate situations. This is why there is such a thing as exaggeration. Its purpose is distortion or disproportion. From great evils do grand or great remedies come. The greater the evil, the grander the remedy and so therefore the greater the rejoicing at deliverance from evil.
The grand remedies (equally disproportionate insofar as there can be such a thing as an equal measure of disproportion) can be counted. Counted on fewer than the total number of fingers on both hands. Take away the thumbs and you have the numerical value of the remedies. Eight. Eight local police officers. The magnificent seven plus one. Incidents have decreased considerably.
It would be nice to believe that Punta Ballena has been or is being delivered from evil. Or evils. Nice to believe, but there are plenty of unbelievers. Decreased considerably? Depends. The report's evils were related to the great drunken unwashed. The lesser of evils in that remedies are less grand. They don't have to be super-grand where youthful tourists who are off their faces are concerned. It is, nevertheless, reasonable to ask why the not so grand remedy of a few more cops to tackle the lagering, Jägerbombing, shot-shooting, laughing-gassing invasion force took as long as it did to occur to anyone. Not, or so it would seem, that the eight make a great deal of difference. Despite what the considerable-decrease report suggests to the contrary.
Four days before this report, Javier Pierotti posted again on his "Magaluf Caos" blog. His video with this post was as troubling as the one he had originally posted of a driver trapped by a mob along the strip. It would take far too long to summarise what Javier said in his entry for 11 August, but if you go to the bottom of it, you will see that, in addition to Calvia town hall, he has sent his complaint to television and other media organisations in Spain as well as to the Spanish Government, the Interior Ministry, police agencies, the regional government in the Balearics, the courts in Palma, the Attorney-General, the British Consulate and the Complaints Office of the European Community.
Four days later came the report in the local press. Not about Javier's complaint but about incidents having decreased considerably, a considerable decrease that appears at variance with what is being said by those who aren't in positions of authority. The considerable-decrease report, moreover, did not mention the problems of prostitutes, looky-looky men and violence. There are plenty of people who have mentioned them. Before and since the report of 15 August. Are these the greater evils; greater because they go un-decreased?
Javier Pierotti does not seek to attach blame to the local police. Others do. It is wise that I don't repeat some of the things said on social media, but from what is said, there is clear frustration and anger in Magalluf. The police are one target for this discontent but the greater one is the body politic, in particular that which, to paraphrase some of the sentiments, lies inert in a bunker in Calvia.
What happens in Mallorca stays in Mallorca. It's a ridiculous saying because nothing can stay in Mallorca any longer. The reactions to Stacey Dooley (and to "Bild" on Playa de Palma) were absurd for various reasons, one of which was that they neglected the fact that conventional media are only one part of the story. Through social media, nothing stays in Mallorca. Regular on-the-spot reports by those who have not taken the media shilling and who have no axe to grind other than that they have had it with all the problems are constantly reinforced and added to: hourly, daily, weekly. They too can be prone to exaggeration or distortion. They can be and often are far more accusatory than conventional media. There may be exaggerations, but why would people who work and live in Magalluf invent things? They stand to lose, which is why they draw attention to what they see as inertia and indifference. And why when, four days after Javier Pierotti* posted that he had notified who he had notified, the report of incidents decreasing considerably was greeted with disbelief.
* http://javierpierotti.blogspot.com.es/2013/08/magaluf-caos-ii.html
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
But never let it be said that exaggerated words cannot exaggerate situations. This is why there is such a thing as exaggeration. Its purpose is distortion or disproportion. From great evils do grand or great remedies come. The greater the evil, the grander the remedy and so therefore the greater the rejoicing at deliverance from evil.
The grand remedies (equally disproportionate insofar as there can be such a thing as an equal measure of disproportion) can be counted. Counted on fewer than the total number of fingers on both hands. Take away the thumbs and you have the numerical value of the remedies. Eight. Eight local police officers. The magnificent seven plus one. Incidents have decreased considerably.
It would be nice to believe that Punta Ballena has been or is being delivered from evil. Or evils. Nice to believe, but there are plenty of unbelievers. Decreased considerably? Depends. The report's evils were related to the great drunken unwashed. The lesser of evils in that remedies are less grand. They don't have to be super-grand where youthful tourists who are off their faces are concerned. It is, nevertheless, reasonable to ask why the not so grand remedy of a few more cops to tackle the lagering, Jägerbombing, shot-shooting, laughing-gassing invasion force took as long as it did to occur to anyone. Not, or so it would seem, that the eight make a great deal of difference. Despite what the considerable-decrease report suggests to the contrary.
Four days before this report, Javier Pierotti posted again on his "Magaluf Caos" blog. His video with this post was as troubling as the one he had originally posted of a driver trapped by a mob along the strip. It would take far too long to summarise what Javier said in his entry for 11 August, but if you go to the bottom of it, you will see that, in addition to Calvia town hall, he has sent his complaint to television and other media organisations in Spain as well as to the Spanish Government, the Interior Ministry, police agencies, the regional government in the Balearics, the courts in Palma, the Attorney-General, the British Consulate and the Complaints Office of the European Community.
Four days later came the report in the local press. Not about Javier's complaint but about incidents having decreased considerably, a considerable decrease that appears at variance with what is being said by those who aren't in positions of authority. The considerable-decrease report, moreover, did not mention the problems of prostitutes, looky-looky men and violence. There are plenty of people who have mentioned them. Before and since the report of 15 August. Are these the greater evils; greater because they go un-decreased?
Javier Pierotti does not seek to attach blame to the local police. Others do. It is wise that I don't repeat some of the things said on social media, but from what is said, there is clear frustration and anger in Magalluf. The police are one target for this discontent but the greater one is the body politic, in particular that which, to paraphrase some of the sentiments, lies inert in a bunker in Calvia.
What happens in Mallorca stays in Mallorca. It's a ridiculous saying because nothing can stay in Mallorca any longer. The reactions to Stacey Dooley (and to "Bild" on Playa de Palma) were absurd for various reasons, one of which was that they neglected the fact that conventional media are only one part of the story. Through social media, nothing stays in Mallorca. Regular on-the-spot reports by those who have not taken the media shilling and who have no axe to grind other than that they have had it with all the problems are constantly reinforced and added to: hourly, daily, weekly. They too can be prone to exaggeration or distortion. They can be and often are far more accusatory than conventional media. There may be exaggerations, but why would people who work and live in Magalluf invent things? They stand to lose, which is why they draw attention to what they see as inertia and indifference. And why when, four days after Javier Pierotti* posted that he had notified who he had notified, the report of incidents decreasing considerably was greeted with disbelief.
* http://javierpierotti.blogspot.com.es/2013/08/magaluf-caos-ii.html
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Monday, June 17, 2013
MALLORCA TODAY - Just another crazy night in Magalluf
A report of just one night (presumably Saturday) in Magalluf, the Guardia Civil having intervened when a group of four Britons were attacking and beating people up for no reason. This led to a pitched battle (possibly an exaggeration), one officer injured and the arrest of the four "hooligans". Added to this were sexual assaults and robberies with violence.
See more: Ultima Hora
See more: Ultima Hora
Friday, April 19, 2013
MALLORCA TODAY - Pollensa's violent past
A report about a new book which is to be presented tomorrow at the Guillem Cifre de Colonya cultural centre in Pollensa and which charts the violence that characterised Mallorca in the seventeenth century. This violence was the consequence of there having been little by way of established law and order and of two clans dominating the island - the Canamunt and the Canavall. Pollensa was the centre of much of this violence which, astonishingly enough, seemed to have endured for the most of the century until repression under a viceroy brought some order. (There had been viceroys representing the state from the previous century but seemingly they had been largely incapable of establishing order on Mallorca.)
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Violent Times They Are A-Changin'
Valtònyc's back in the news. Mallorca's youthful, radical rapper has been accused of assaulting a young conservative, the representative of the Partido Popular's Nuevas Generaciones in Sineu, Marc Álvarez Gelabert. The rapper insists that he hit no one and had merely intervened in an argument. The PP has, nevertheless, called in the cops and President Bauzá has condemned the aggression and demanded that there be punishment.
The alleged assault by Valtònyc coincided with a speech at a gathering of Toledo's young conservatives that was given by the national secretary-general of the PP, María Dolores de Cospedal, in which she accused PSOE and other parties of inciting violence among the nation's youth. PSOE has responded by saying that Cospedal's accusations are "unfounded and malicious".
It hasn't, it must be said, been obvious that PSOE has been going around inciting anyone to violence, but there is form between Cospedal and PSOE when it comes to such accusations. In July last year, the spokesperson for the PP in Castilla-La Mancha, the region for which Cospedal is president, attacked PSOE for having orchestrated protests and incited "verbal violence" directed against Cospedal during the opening of a festival of theatre.
Cospedal's speech has not only attracted PSOE's rejection of her accusations. It has been interpreted as an attempt to raise a smokescreen to obscure the various woes that currently plague the PP. Cospedal is one of those who was named in the Bárcenas ledgers of allegedly suspicious payments to members of the PP. The ledgers, with their implication of corruption, are an example, so any number of commentators on the internet would have it, of the "violence" perpetrated by the PP. Others include other corruption allegations, cuts to public services, unemployment ... the list goes on.
As ever when youthful violence with a political dimension raises its ugly head and takes to the streets (and to be fair, there hasn't been a great deal of it and there wasn't a great deal of it even when the "indignados" were in full public-square occupancy mode), politicians reel off the it's only a small minority cliché. True to form, Cospedal has done just this, neglecting the fact that while a small minority may act in a violent fashion a much larger minority or even a majority may feel that it has a legitimate beef, as in the 50%-plus unemployed youth of the country.
Addressing a bunch of young conservatives is not the best way to show that she might be wanting to engage with disaffected youth. Nuevas Generaciones represent only one part of that youth and are therefore not representative of younger people as a whole. She was speaking to the converted, those likely to end up in a confrontation with more radical youth elements, as would appear to have been the case in Sineu.
It is the failure of politicians to appear to be inclusive that helps to fan the flames of frustration. And by firing off accusations against PSOE, Cospedal has managed to fan these flames further, as her speech has been interpreted as a diversionary tactic. She does, she will argue and did in her speech, understand the frustration. Sort of. There was frustration before, she said. In the 1990s when Spain was in recession. But the country came out of that, and it will again and so, rather than there being no hope and no future, there will be both (I'm paraphrasing slightly). What she of course ignored was that the 1990s recession was quite unlike the current situation. And then, to make matters far worse, she went on to commit the cardinal sin of any politician who wants to try and come across as being vaguely "hip" and falls flat on his or her face. She resorted to mentioning a figure from popular youth culture, albeit one who is now well past pensionable age. She quoted Bob Dylan. In 1963, Dylan sang about how the times were changing, she pointed out. And my, how the times have changed since then. Internet, Twitter, a contract signed with a company in China only that very day; Cospedal cited them all as evidence of change and so, by implication, of a bright, technological future.
Why did she mention Dylan though? Did she not realise what Dylan was singing about? That Dylan was the voice of protest for a generation, one of civil rights, of anti-war demonstrations? That where that protest generation led was to deaths at Kent State University, students shot dead by the National Guard?
I've got a suggestion for Valtònyc's next release. Rap Dylan.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
The alleged assault by Valtònyc coincided with a speech at a gathering of Toledo's young conservatives that was given by the national secretary-general of the PP, María Dolores de Cospedal, in which she accused PSOE and other parties of inciting violence among the nation's youth. PSOE has responded by saying that Cospedal's accusations are "unfounded and malicious".
It hasn't, it must be said, been obvious that PSOE has been going around inciting anyone to violence, but there is form between Cospedal and PSOE when it comes to such accusations. In July last year, the spokesperson for the PP in Castilla-La Mancha, the region for which Cospedal is president, attacked PSOE for having orchestrated protests and incited "verbal violence" directed against Cospedal during the opening of a festival of theatre.
Cospedal's speech has not only attracted PSOE's rejection of her accusations. It has been interpreted as an attempt to raise a smokescreen to obscure the various woes that currently plague the PP. Cospedal is one of those who was named in the Bárcenas ledgers of allegedly suspicious payments to members of the PP. The ledgers, with their implication of corruption, are an example, so any number of commentators on the internet would have it, of the "violence" perpetrated by the PP. Others include other corruption allegations, cuts to public services, unemployment ... the list goes on.
As ever when youthful violence with a political dimension raises its ugly head and takes to the streets (and to be fair, there hasn't been a great deal of it and there wasn't a great deal of it even when the "indignados" were in full public-square occupancy mode), politicians reel off the it's only a small minority cliché. True to form, Cospedal has done just this, neglecting the fact that while a small minority may act in a violent fashion a much larger minority or even a majority may feel that it has a legitimate beef, as in the 50%-plus unemployed youth of the country.
Addressing a bunch of young conservatives is not the best way to show that she might be wanting to engage with disaffected youth. Nuevas Generaciones represent only one part of that youth and are therefore not representative of younger people as a whole. She was speaking to the converted, those likely to end up in a confrontation with more radical youth elements, as would appear to have been the case in Sineu.
It is the failure of politicians to appear to be inclusive that helps to fan the flames of frustration. And by firing off accusations against PSOE, Cospedal has managed to fan these flames further, as her speech has been interpreted as a diversionary tactic. She does, she will argue and did in her speech, understand the frustration. Sort of. There was frustration before, she said. In the 1990s when Spain was in recession. But the country came out of that, and it will again and so, rather than there being no hope and no future, there will be both (I'm paraphrasing slightly). What she of course ignored was that the 1990s recession was quite unlike the current situation. And then, to make matters far worse, she went on to commit the cardinal sin of any politician who wants to try and come across as being vaguely "hip" and falls flat on his or her face. She resorted to mentioning a figure from popular youth culture, albeit one who is now well past pensionable age. She quoted Bob Dylan. In 1963, Dylan sang about how the times were changing, she pointed out. And my, how the times have changed since then. Internet, Twitter, a contract signed with a company in China only that very day; Cospedal cited them all as evidence of change and so, by implication, of a bright, technological future.
Why did she mention Dylan though? Did she not realise what Dylan was singing about? That Dylan was the voice of protest for a generation, one of civil rights, of anti-war demonstrations? That where that protest generation led was to deaths at Kent State University, students shot dead by the National Guard?
I've got a suggestion for Valtònyc's next release. Rap Dylan.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Friday, March 30, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Thousands stage demonstration against labour reform
60,000 people, according to union sources, took to the streets of Palma yesterday evening in a protest against labour reform as a culmination to the general strike. Across Spain, 861,150 people took part in protests, according to government figures. The day's protests led to 116 injuries, the majority of them to police. The unions say that over 10 million people supported the strike, the government insisting that participation was very moderate compared with the 2010 strike. Only two people were arrested in the Balearics where the protests went off with little incident. The worst incidents were in Barcelona where police and radical youths engaged in a battle late yesterday evening.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Eyesight To The Blind: Youth drinking culture
On the same night as Alcúdia was celebrating the harmless Miss Drag parade, something else was being celebrated - something rather less harmless.
For some years, Puerto Alcúdia has been the location for a vast gathering of island youth, coming together at the end of the school year. In itself this may seem harmless enough, but the event has got completely out of control. It has become a massive botellón (street drinking party), accompanied by fights, vandalism, robberies; one played out on the beach and around what is the main "local" night area, that of the Magic Centre.
Organised with the aid of Facebook and other social networking sites, the "party" is not all bad news. It does, after all, bring to Alcúdia a fair amount of business. But it degenerates as the night goes on. Arrests and injuries follow.
With ages ranging from 14 to 18, the Alcúdia school-end bash gives lie, once more, to the absurd argument that Mallorcan and Spanish youth have a respect for alcohol and do not engage in the level of anti-social behaviour that their British counterparts do. This is a view perpetrated by some visitors but also by some Brits who live locally and who either haven't a clue what life is really like outside their make-believe, expattery "paradise" worlds or who would rather not know, preferring to justify their existences in the "paradise" worlds by ignoring what goes on or by pulling the ah, but it's all so much better here, it's just a small minority and the UK is so much worse line. Sorry, but it's only partially true. One reason why things seem much worse in the UK is that there are an awful lot more people to make them worse.
Perhaps the main difference, though, is that - for the holidaymaker or resident - trouble from events like the botellón is easily enough avoided. They tend to be confined to certain areas, while rarely do they give rise to the more British desire to have a go at anyone who might be in the vicinity. Random attacks on people in the streets are not unknown (a gay couple were attacked in Alcúdia recently, for example), but to over-emphasise them would be quite wrong; the streets are generally safe, so long as certain places are avoided at certain times.
Violence there is, and there were of course two deaths early in the season last year, but it isn't extreme and is just as likely, more likely perhaps, to occur within the confines of certain hotels and to be solely the action of holidaymakers (and not just the British). However, the drink (and drugs) element, among local youth, cannot be brushed aside as though it were not an issue, as it most certainly is. One wishes, once and for all, that some would remove their tinted-the-turquoise-of-sea Raybans and see local society for what it really is. But they won't, because they need justification and also a need to lambast a home country for societal ills that they pretend do not exist in Mallorca. They are blind. Deliberately and delusionally.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
For some years, Puerto Alcúdia has been the location for a vast gathering of island youth, coming together at the end of the school year. In itself this may seem harmless enough, but the event has got completely out of control. It has become a massive botellón (street drinking party), accompanied by fights, vandalism, robberies; one played out on the beach and around what is the main "local" night area, that of the Magic Centre.
Organised with the aid of Facebook and other social networking sites, the "party" is not all bad news. It does, after all, bring to Alcúdia a fair amount of business. But it degenerates as the night goes on. Arrests and injuries follow.
With ages ranging from 14 to 18, the Alcúdia school-end bash gives lie, once more, to the absurd argument that Mallorcan and Spanish youth have a respect for alcohol and do not engage in the level of anti-social behaviour that their British counterparts do. This is a view perpetrated by some visitors but also by some Brits who live locally and who either haven't a clue what life is really like outside their make-believe, expattery "paradise" worlds or who would rather not know, preferring to justify their existences in the "paradise" worlds by ignoring what goes on or by pulling the ah, but it's all so much better here, it's just a small minority and the UK is so much worse line. Sorry, but it's only partially true. One reason why things seem much worse in the UK is that there are an awful lot more people to make them worse.
Perhaps the main difference, though, is that - for the holidaymaker or resident - trouble from events like the botellón is easily enough avoided. They tend to be confined to certain areas, while rarely do they give rise to the more British desire to have a go at anyone who might be in the vicinity. Random attacks on people in the streets are not unknown (a gay couple were attacked in Alcúdia recently, for example), but to over-emphasise them would be quite wrong; the streets are generally safe, so long as certain places are avoided at certain times.
Violence there is, and there were of course two deaths early in the season last year, but it isn't extreme and is just as likely, more likely perhaps, to occur within the confines of certain hotels and to be solely the action of holidaymakers (and not just the British). However, the drink (and drugs) element, among local youth, cannot be brushed aside as though it were not an issue, as it most certainly is. One wishes, once and for all, that some would remove their tinted-the-turquoise-of-sea Raybans and see local society for what it really is. But they won't, because they need justification and also a need to lambast a home country for societal ills that they pretend do not exist in Mallorca. They are blind. Deliberately and delusionally.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Ashes To Ashes
It should probably come as no real surprise that young (and not so young) tourists rock up in Mallorca for a bit of a bundle, or at least find themselves involved in bundling. "The Diario" reports on a study by the "European Journal of Public Health" which, taking data from summer 2007, finds that one out of ten young tourists (defined as those between 16 and 35) ends up in a fight or is attacked. Perhaps the surprise is that the number is not higher.
The study compared the situations in Ibiza and Mallorca and found that violence is twice as likely to occur in Mallorca. Maybe that's because more tourists are stoned in Ibiza, where the consumption of drugs is higher. Despite the British origins of the study, it does not confine itself to British tourists; three groups were considered - Brits, Germans and Spanish. No conclusions seem to be drawn in respect of different nationalities; they are equally capable of getting paralytic and out of their heads. Indeed, this is a major reason for the holiday, during which the levels of alcohol and drugs imbibed and taken are higher than they would be "at home". In something of the bleeding obvious but with a rather bizarre description of differences, fights are more likely to occur in places with cheap booze, easy pick-ups and loud music as opposed to those with an "agreeable" atmosphere and "clean toilets".
What may be interesting about all this is the fact that violence, heavy drinking and drug abuse is not the preserve just of the Brits but also of the Spanish. One comes back to this rather misguided impression that many have of the civility and respect among Spanish youth when compared to their British counterparts. It is a bit of a myth, and this study seems to confirm this. Recently, there was another study, one of Spanish university students, conducted by the Galician university of Santiago de Compostela. It was interested in discovering the impact of alcohol and substance abuse on memory and attention, but it also found a significant number of students to be pretty much chronic alcoholics or those who would take on-board copious amounts at the weekends. Sounds rather familiar in terms of binge drinking, does it not? Furthermore, it should also come as no surprise to anyone familiar with student campuses in the UK to realise that Spanish students are as capable of getting tanked up as those in the UK.
But just to come back to the drinking and fighting clans of youth tourists, last year there was another study, one from the European Commission. It found that 12 per cent of Brits got into a scrap, mainly in "places of night entertainment" (with or without clean toilets, it wasn't made clear), and that the Brits were indeed league leaders in the bundling stakes. So the Spanish still have a way to go, it would seem.
Meanwhile over in Sa Pobla ...
Los Ashes
On Saturday evening there was the now traditional annual open-air supper in numerous streets of the town, but there were greater festivities on Sunday evening when the "Palmy Army" at the SPCC (Sa Pobla Cricket Club) celebrated England's famous Ashes victory with the now equally traditional burning of a potato, the remnants of which are deposited in a small terracotta urn (available from all good souvenir shops) on which is scratched "los Ashes" (there is some discussion as to whether the Mallorquín usage "els" should be used instead of "los"). The association between the SPCC and The Oval, scene of England's victory, is short but memorable, marked by one member of the SPCC who made a pilgrimage to the ground, couldn't find it and asked, with poor pronunciation, for directions to "The Offal". The president of the SPCC has sent his warm wishes to England's captain who can be assured both of a cheery welcome when he is next in Sa Pobla and of a bowl of eels. We understand that he is yet to take up the offer. Well done and play up, England, say the gentlemen of the SPCC.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - "Groovin' ", The Young Rascals: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x15pd5_the-young-rascals-groovin_music
"Summertime", Fresh Prince (Will Smith) and DJ Jazzy Jeff: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_W9kcxdPPjk
Today's title - easy, and brilliant.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
The study compared the situations in Ibiza and Mallorca and found that violence is twice as likely to occur in Mallorca. Maybe that's because more tourists are stoned in Ibiza, where the consumption of drugs is higher. Despite the British origins of the study, it does not confine itself to British tourists; three groups were considered - Brits, Germans and Spanish. No conclusions seem to be drawn in respect of different nationalities; they are equally capable of getting paralytic and out of their heads. Indeed, this is a major reason for the holiday, during which the levels of alcohol and drugs imbibed and taken are higher than they would be "at home". In something of the bleeding obvious but with a rather bizarre description of differences, fights are more likely to occur in places with cheap booze, easy pick-ups and loud music as opposed to those with an "agreeable" atmosphere and "clean toilets".
What may be interesting about all this is the fact that violence, heavy drinking and drug abuse is not the preserve just of the Brits but also of the Spanish. One comes back to this rather misguided impression that many have of the civility and respect among Spanish youth when compared to their British counterparts. It is a bit of a myth, and this study seems to confirm this. Recently, there was another study, one of Spanish university students, conducted by the Galician university of Santiago de Compostela. It was interested in discovering the impact of alcohol and substance abuse on memory and attention, but it also found a significant number of students to be pretty much chronic alcoholics or those who would take on-board copious amounts at the weekends. Sounds rather familiar in terms of binge drinking, does it not? Furthermore, it should also come as no surprise to anyone familiar with student campuses in the UK to realise that Spanish students are as capable of getting tanked up as those in the UK.
But just to come back to the drinking and fighting clans of youth tourists, last year there was another study, one from the European Commission. It found that 12 per cent of Brits got into a scrap, mainly in "places of night entertainment" (with or without clean toilets, it wasn't made clear), and that the Brits were indeed league leaders in the bundling stakes. So the Spanish still have a way to go, it would seem.
Meanwhile over in Sa Pobla ...
Los Ashes
On Saturday evening there was the now traditional annual open-air supper in numerous streets of the town, but there were greater festivities on Sunday evening when the "Palmy Army" at the SPCC (Sa Pobla Cricket Club) celebrated England's famous Ashes victory with the now equally traditional burning of a potato, the remnants of which are deposited in a small terracotta urn (available from all good souvenir shops) on which is scratched "los Ashes" (there is some discussion as to whether the Mallorquín usage "els" should be used instead of "los"). The association between the SPCC and The Oval, scene of England's victory, is short but memorable, marked by one member of the SPCC who made a pilgrimage to the ground, couldn't find it and asked, with poor pronunciation, for directions to "The Offal". The president of the SPCC has sent his warm wishes to England's captain who can be assured both of a cheery welcome when he is next in Sa Pobla and of a bowl of eels. We understand that he is yet to take up the offer. Well done and play up, England, say the gentlemen of the SPCC.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - "Groovin' ", The Young Rascals: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x15pd5_the-young-rascals-groovin_music
"Summertime", Fresh Prince (Will Smith) and DJ Jazzy Jeff: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_W9kcxdPPjk
Today's title - easy, and brilliant.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
When Tears Roll Down
With a different meaning, one more perhaps in keeping with the film, yesterday's title of "Mean Streets" could have been as appropriate today. There was another demonstration in Alcúdia at the weekend; a demo and sobbing and wailing. I had known about it, but had been in two minds whether to mention it, but as it made the press then ... . This was the second demo in response to the violence that claimed the lives of Gabriel Marquet ("Gaby") and a British tourist in separate incidents a month or so ago. Actually, it had everything to do with Gaby and little to do with the tourist, but the latest demo, on the Sunday of the first weekend of the season, was surely not coincidental. Nor will future demonstrations be. Give a dog a bad name, or give a resort a bad name ... . Not that there should not be demos, not that they should not be reported, but what actually do they achieve? The first one could be viewed as an outpouring of grief and anger, as much as anything else, and so be it. But to do it all over again, and then again?
When the first march - against violence - was announced, one of the aspects that was highlighted was the "impotence" of the local community in the face of violence. Demonstrations are an expression of this impotence. They may appear to be doing something, but what? Let me say that I am not objecting to demonstrations. I am firmly in favour, and it is a shock to me that the growing passivity and complacency of the British have not produced more marching against encroachments on all manner of liberties. God knows, I had little sympathy with the Countryside Alliance, but at least they were willing to take to the streets. That, though, is an entirely separate subject. However, take away the anger and the frustration, what is there?
The violence that has occurred, and it is not, it must be stressed, a specific Alcúdia issue, is as a consequence of a social condition - of disaffection and alienation, lack of control and of alcohol and of drugs. It is a universal problem. To march against it is to march against society as it has become. It's a tall order. Ramón Socias, who is the delegate for the Balearics to the central government, spoke after the Marquet incident about people who cannot control themselves when drinking. He said that they shouldn't do it - drink, that is - if they can't maintain control. What world is he occupying? If nothing else, though, the drinking, the violence and the demos are all a bit of a shock to the cosy and unrealistic impression of a Mallorcan society in which everyone, well the indigenous Spanish at any rate, respects alcohol and does not indulge in the British-style disease of so-called bingeing followed by bundling. It's rubbish.
The fact that violence may be connected to the street-drinking parties (the "botellones") that have occurred at weekends by the Magic roundabout is something which should have a practical solution. In this regard, the demonstrators are surely right to draw attention to the problem. What then did the mayor of Alcúdia, who was on the first demo, plan to do? Was he simply there for form's sake? The town hall has a law against all street drinking. In which case, why does it not seem to be effected? A heavy clampdown would not end drinking or violence, but it would be an attempt to remove the circumstances which can result in violence.
Tears for Gaby and for the violence that took him, but tears and marching are the emasculation and pathos of what went wrong. Island paradise, anyone? Sad.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Harvey Keitel and Robert De Niro. Today's title - the sub-title of one of the most remarkable songs with a "violence" theme. Huge favourites of this blog.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
When the first march - against violence - was announced, one of the aspects that was highlighted was the "impotence" of the local community in the face of violence. Demonstrations are an expression of this impotence. They may appear to be doing something, but what? Let me say that I am not objecting to demonstrations. I am firmly in favour, and it is a shock to me that the growing passivity and complacency of the British have not produced more marching against encroachments on all manner of liberties. God knows, I had little sympathy with the Countryside Alliance, but at least they were willing to take to the streets. That, though, is an entirely separate subject. However, take away the anger and the frustration, what is there?
The violence that has occurred, and it is not, it must be stressed, a specific Alcúdia issue, is as a consequence of a social condition - of disaffection and alienation, lack of control and of alcohol and of drugs. It is a universal problem. To march against it is to march against society as it has become. It's a tall order. Ramón Socias, who is the delegate for the Balearics to the central government, spoke after the Marquet incident about people who cannot control themselves when drinking. He said that they shouldn't do it - drink, that is - if they can't maintain control. What world is he occupying? If nothing else, though, the drinking, the violence and the demos are all a bit of a shock to the cosy and unrealistic impression of a Mallorcan society in which everyone, well the indigenous Spanish at any rate, respects alcohol and does not indulge in the British-style disease of so-called bingeing followed by bundling. It's rubbish.
The fact that violence may be connected to the street-drinking parties (the "botellones") that have occurred at weekends by the Magic roundabout is something which should have a practical solution. In this regard, the demonstrators are surely right to draw attention to the problem. What then did the mayor of Alcúdia, who was on the first demo, plan to do? Was he simply there for form's sake? The town hall has a law against all street drinking. In which case, why does it not seem to be effected? A heavy clampdown would not end drinking or violence, but it would be an attempt to remove the circumstances which can result in violence.
Tears for Gaby and for the violence that took him, but tears and marching are the emasculation and pathos of what went wrong. Island paradise, anyone? Sad.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Harvey Keitel and Robert De Niro. Today's title - the sub-title of one of the most remarkable songs with a "violence" theme. Huge favourites of this blog.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Saturday, April 25, 2009
She Read Me Like A Book
The victim of the attack that led to the demonstration against violence in Puerto Alcúdia has died. He had been in a coma since the incident nearly three weeks ago that occurred by the Magic roundabout. There's not a lot more to be said. Or rather, there is a load that could be said, and this will doubtless revolve around uncontrolled drinking and violent and disaffected youth. It all sounds vaguely familiar. This can happen anywhere, and has happened here.
The Alcúdia train debate, some might say debacle, goes on. The "mobility" department of the Balearics Government (mobility equates to transport in this sense) has come out in favour of the so-called northern route alongside the main road from Sa Pobla and terminating, in all likelihood, close to the centre of the old town. This is opposed by, among others, Alcúdia town hall, landowners - the ones who staged the recent tractor protest - the highways department at the Mallorca Council and some elements of the environment ministry which say that it will affect certain species. The environmental lobby is generally in favour. A greater number of species, it is said, would be potentially harmed were the southern route - with a terminal by Albufera - adopted. The other option, of siting the line so that it finishes up near the Magic roundabout is one now currying favour within Alcúdia town hall. Yet, this one might be a non-starter owing to the wetlands that exist in the area. Confused? It is.
That was a couple of days ago, and then the environment ministry, which seemed to be in general agreement with the mobility people (save for those voices which were not) came out with a statement that the mobility department was not taking account of the views of the town hall, a point - naturally enough - echoed by the town's mayor. The head of the environment ministry and the mayor are from the UM; the head of the mobility ministry isn't.
The other day was one of those days - a day of. It was the day of the book. The origins of this day are Catalonian. And the original day marked the birth of Miguel de Cervantes. The day was changed to 23 April in 1930 and has since been internationalised. There is a strong book tradition that comes out of Catalonia. Anyone who has ever been to the book market in Barcelona will know this. The day was duly celebrated in, among other places, Alcúdia.
Periodically, the local press reports on the level of book reading in the Balearics. This is not a mere study of how people use their leisure time; it is a cultural issue. And the worry is that reading is in decline. Maybe this is so everywhere. Yet, reassuringly, despite new technologies, the book still holds an important role in our lives, be we Catalan or other nationality. Never let J. K. Rowling be criticised. She has been one of the more significant educative influences in contemporary society; educating the young to want to read.
Though the book day is essentially a Catalan thing, there was an advert for the day in the "Ultima Hora" newspaper, which is published mainly but not exclusively in Castilian; there are also contributions in Catalan. The advert was from the department store El Corte Inglés. It announced book signings. All the authors and titles listed were Catalan, but otherwise the advert was in Castilian. How strange.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - "Boys From The Black Stuff". Bernard Hill (Yosser). (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmu3Rn6Vp_s). By the way, don't be fooled by the strange intro from Top Of The Pops. Today's title - a line from? Mandy.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
The Alcúdia train debate, some might say debacle, goes on. The "mobility" department of the Balearics Government (mobility equates to transport in this sense) has come out in favour of the so-called northern route alongside the main road from Sa Pobla and terminating, in all likelihood, close to the centre of the old town. This is opposed by, among others, Alcúdia town hall, landowners - the ones who staged the recent tractor protest - the highways department at the Mallorca Council and some elements of the environment ministry which say that it will affect certain species. The environmental lobby is generally in favour. A greater number of species, it is said, would be potentially harmed were the southern route - with a terminal by Albufera - adopted. The other option, of siting the line so that it finishes up near the Magic roundabout is one now currying favour within Alcúdia town hall. Yet, this one might be a non-starter owing to the wetlands that exist in the area. Confused? It is.
That was a couple of days ago, and then the environment ministry, which seemed to be in general agreement with the mobility people (save for those voices which were not) came out with a statement that the mobility department was not taking account of the views of the town hall, a point - naturally enough - echoed by the town's mayor. The head of the environment ministry and the mayor are from the UM; the head of the mobility ministry isn't.
The other day was one of those days - a day of. It was the day of the book. The origins of this day are Catalonian. And the original day marked the birth of Miguel de Cervantes. The day was changed to 23 April in 1930 and has since been internationalised. There is a strong book tradition that comes out of Catalonia. Anyone who has ever been to the book market in Barcelona will know this. The day was duly celebrated in, among other places, Alcúdia.
Periodically, the local press reports on the level of book reading in the Balearics. This is not a mere study of how people use their leisure time; it is a cultural issue. And the worry is that reading is in decline. Maybe this is so everywhere. Yet, reassuringly, despite new technologies, the book still holds an important role in our lives, be we Catalan or other nationality. Never let J. K. Rowling be criticised. She has been one of the more significant educative influences in contemporary society; educating the young to want to read.
Though the book day is essentially a Catalan thing, there was an advert for the day in the "Ultima Hora" newspaper, which is published mainly but not exclusively in Castilian; there are also contributions in Catalan. The advert was from the department store El Corte Inglés. It announced book signings. All the authors and titles listed were Catalan, but otherwise the advert was in Castilian. How strange.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - "Boys From The Black Stuff". Bernard Hill (Yosser). (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmu3Rn6Vp_s). By the way, don't be fooled by the strange intro from Top Of The Pops. Today's title - a line from? Mandy.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Monday, September 15, 2008
Lights Going Out And A Kick In The Balls
Follow the leader. Or something like that. No sooner has Puerto Alcúdia had its day of the tourist than Calvia is going to do likewise. 25 September and it will be a day of fun, fun, fun and thanks to the visitors who fill the coffers of Palmanova and Magalluf licensed premises. Worryingly, the whole thing is set to end with performances by groups doing "internationally known songs", to quote "The Bulletin". Sounds like more Beatlejuice to me. Whatever.
Tourist days. Sounds all well and good, but why are they taking place in September? And with this in mind, what about thanking all the other tourists? Those who will be around and who were around in Alcúdia will be and were the unwitting representatives of a whole season's tourist humanity. I hope they feel suitably honoured. But it is a bit undemocratic. Having a tourist day seems like a tautology. Every day is a tourist day during the season, is it not? One day among the 184 of the official season when the tourist is lauded; the other 183 when he is not. Are all tourist establishments to be given smile lessons and hand out "I Love Tourists" badges? And what of the ents to be staged? Where are the drink as much as you can until your head expands and projectile vomiting contests? No true day of the tourist would be complete without them. 183 days of the year they take place, so why not the 184th? What they should do is make the tourist day a national holiday, not tell any tourists and then close everything for the day. That would be more like it.
Or perhaps a tourist day should involve a good old, healthy punch-up, especially for the Brits; or at least some 12 per cent of them. "The Diario" today reports on findings from a body of the European Commission which say that this percentage was engaged in street or "places of night entertainment" scraps during 2007. It will surprise few to learn that the Brits head the league table. That 12 per cent may be a tad on the conservative side. It does not seem to include incidents that occur within the confines of hotels. Having a bundle is, for some, all part of the holiday experience and entertainment - "lights going out and a kick in the balls".
The fisherman's fair in Puerto Pollensa that occurred over the weekend, decreed a success, would probably not have attracted many who prefer a touch of violence to some samples of Mallorcan produce and gastronomy. Ostensibly a fair to celebrate all things sea-going, this event also embraces the land, in the form of information regarding things such as honey and almonds as well as "show cooking" of different dishes. The fair takes its place alongside others on the island which do similar; all part of a hoped-for spin-off into a different form of tourism.
"Show cooking" is something one stumbles across quite a bit here. There is a place in Puerto Alcúdia, for example, that advertises itself as a show cooking location. The restaurant, Pippers, shows off a grill and the cooking of meat. The term appears to be a translation of "muestra" ("mostra" in Catalan), to mean show or demonstration. As such, it has crept into general usage and has moved away from the mere sense of a demonstration to become a "show" - the preparation of a meal as a spectacular, if you like. But also as such, although the individual words - show and cooking - are clearly understandable, the concept may not be. The anglicisation as a promotional device may, ironically, make sense to the Spanish but may mean less to the Brit, or indeed other nationalities. Expect, therefore, there to be more and more restaurants engaging in it.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - The Undertones. Today's title - this has been a question before; well worthy of repetition though; where's it from?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Tourist days. Sounds all well and good, but why are they taking place in September? And with this in mind, what about thanking all the other tourists? Those who will be around and who were around in Alcúdia will be and were the unwitting representatives of a whole season's tourist humanity. I hope they feel suitably honoured. But it is a bit undemocratic. Having a tourist day seems like a tautology. Every day is a tourist day during the season, is it not? One day among the 184 of the official season when the tourist is lauded; the other 183 when he is not. Are all tourist establishments to be given smile lessons and hand out "I Love Tourists" badges? And what of the ents to be staged? Where are the drink as much as you can until your head expands and projectile vomiting contests? No true day of the tourist would be complete without them. 183 days of the year they take place, so why not the 184th? What they should do is make the tourist day a national holiday, not tell any tourists and then close everything for the day. That would be more like it.
Or perhaps a tourist day should involve a good old, healthy punch-up, especially for the Brits; or at least some 12 per cent of them. "The Diario" today reports on findings from a body of the European Commission which say that this percentage was engaged in street or "places of night entertainment" scraps during 2007. It will surprise few to learn that the Brits head the league table. That 12 per cent may be a tad on the conservative side. It does not seem to include incidents that occur within the confines of hotels. Having a bundle is, for some, all part of the holiday experience and entertainment - "lights going out and a kick in the balls".
The fisherman's fair in Puerto Pollensa that occurred over the weekend, decreed a success, would probably not have attracted many who prefer a touch of violence to some samples of Mallorcan produce and gastronomy. Ostensibly a fair to celebrate all things sea-going, this event also embraces the land, in the form of information regarding things such as honey and almonds as well as "show cooking" of different dishes. The fair takes its place alongside others on the island which do similar; all part of a hoped-for spin-off into a different form of tourism.
"Show cooking" is something one stumbles across quite a bit here. There is a place in Puerto Alcúdia, for example, that advertises itself as a show cooking location. The restaurant, Pippers, shows off a grill and the cooking of meat. The term appears to be a translation of "muestra" ("mostra" in Catalan), to mean show or demonstration. As such, it has crept into general usage and has moved away from the mere sense of a demonstration to become a "show" - the preparation of a meal as a spectacular, if you like. But also as such, although the individual words - show and cooking - are clearly understandable, the concept may not be. The anglicisation as a promotional device may, ironically, make sense to the Spanish but may mean less to the Brit, or indeed other nationalities. Expect, therefore, there to be more and more restaurants engaging in it.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - The Undertones. Today's title - this has been a question before; well worthy of repetition though; where's it from?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
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