One Voice

GARRY BONSALL - THE GOTMAR RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION

One thing you notice about Garry Bonsall is his hand gestures. The fingers of both hands held tight together demonstrate unity; the fists pressed together denote divisiveness. Strong, certain body language is the sign of clarity of expression and of thinking. It is also the manifestation of purposeful communication. And communication is one of Garry's "big things".

The founder and president of the Gotmar Residents Association is sitting on a sofa in his clinic in Puerto Alcúdia. We are meeting for the second time in two days, finding time in a hectic schedule of dentistry and dealing with politicians. Garry may not be a politician, but he is a political animal, and it might just be that he has set in motion a process that could have a profound impact on the island's politics.

We have to go back in time. It just depends how far. Let's keep to the relative here and now, shall we, and a meeting just a few years back with Tomeu Cifre, one-time mayor of Pollensa, and now an opposition member in the town hall. It was Cifre who suggested the idea of the association as a means of channelling complaints and enquiries through to the mayoral office from the dissatisfied residents of Gotmar. There had been an association, but it had become moribund. It was re-formed with Garry at its head, and it is perhaps ironic that a suggestion from a former mayor should have led to a pressure group that is now prepared to take legal action against another.

Then we go back further, back over thirty years, during which time the Gotmar urbanisation has suffered from apparent inattention to its street lighting, its drainage, its roads. It was this combination of neglect over the years that brought things to a head and to the muscular residents association that is now fighting for improvements with what is becoming an ever more powerful voice. From the relative inconsequentiality of poor local amenities, that voice is being heard not just by the Calvari steps in the "ayuntamiento" of Pollensa but also in the Mallorca Council and, quite possibly and eventually, in all the municipalities of the island.

There is a still further step back in time; to 1967 when the plan for what this year became the new road into Puerto Pollensa and the pedestrianisation of the front line of the port was first presented. 41 years later, following an edict from Franco's time, the mayor pressed ahead with a scheme for pedestrianisation that has been greeted with widespread opposition and which has become a "cause célèbre" in the town and a clarion call for the Gotmar association.

Pressure can work. The mayor has conceded that there should be an architect's plan for the rehabilitation of Gotmar. Protestations of there not being any money have been met with a challenge to the mayor that it is his - and the town hall's - obligation to meet standards of service in Gotmar. The message is finally being accepted. And then there is the pressure regarding the pedestrianisation, and the not insignificant matter of European law that the town hall is now being made aware of. For it is this law which establishes the obligation on behalf of local authorities to consult with their constituents in respect of matters affecting the local environment. It is the apparent contravention of this law that may yet see the mayor facing a legal challenge brought by the association. The mayor is hinting at considering alternative plans for "mobility" in the town and these may help him to back down with grace. Otherwise, the legal action is likely to go ahead.

The improvements to Gotmar and the pedestrianisation case are only the first chapters in the story, for it is the nature of the residents association, the involvement of the Mallorca Council and the spreading of the word about the potential power of associations across the island that form the next parts of the plot, some of it yet to be written.

We come back to communication. If Garry's beef with the mayor is a lack of communication, consultation and accountability, his association is not similarly bereft, and this is an association that can now boast over one thousand affiliates and that is multinational in its make-up. How do you get everyone working together? The fingers lock together. "Unity through diversity". It sounds like a soundbite, but it emphasises the lengths that he has gone to in order to establish a common purpose within the association. The fists are pressed together. There are other associations that don't have such a singularity or such a unity, and that of the Gotmar association has been achieved through coaching, another of Garry's "big things". It is rare to encounter here, at least it is for me, the sort of personal development techniques that would be commonplace in the UK. The coaching, by a professional, has been instrumental in facilitating not just only a unity but also good communication within a multinational group. An aim now is to create a similar unity across the various associations that exist in Pollensa to form a sort of über-association.

It is important to understand that this is not just a bunch of stroppy foreigners making waves, though there is a clear sense of political empowerment for a foreign voice that would be unlikely to be represented through the normal political process. It is not impossible for a foreigner to aspire to or to gain local office, but the language, especially the dominance of Catalan, makes this a tough call. The association sidesteps this by becoming a separate voice in the local political scene, but one that is cross-national and cross-cultural; it's that unity through diversity. One that was solely British or German, you fancy, would be a source of antagonism, one that would make the fists be pressed together.

The success of the Gotmar association and the realisation that a European law exists in respect of consultation have been the springboard for the widening of the Gotmar experience. Garry is now talking with the Mallorca Council about its officially adopting this law for citizen participation, and he envisages a situation whereby all the municipalities on the island have associations that can act to hold their local officials to greater account. It is a sort of grassroots democracy in action if you like, and it is one that has clearly unnerved Mayor Cerdà in Pollensa and may just also unsettle a few other mayors in Mallorca.


QUIZ
Yesterday's title - "Consider Yourself" from "Oliver" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LzmdovYoAI). Today's title - large nose; from Garry, change one letter.

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