Political Nature: GOB

In a recent article, I identified influential Mallorcans who were unlikely to be well-known to foreign residents. One of them was Margalida Ramis, spokesperson of GOB, the Balearics environmental pressure group. It was good, therefore, to read an interview with her in "The Bulletin" on Sunday.

The interview boiled down to four themes, two of them, the Sa Rapita development by Es Trenc beach and the import of waste for incineration at Son Reus, having been well-covered previously. The other two, the political environment (sic) and the nature of tourism, have also been well-covered but there were specific issues that cropped up with regard to these themes, and it is these I wish to address.

Sra. Ramis had a go at both the Partido Popular and the opposition. "Both sides of the house (the Balearic parliament) are totally inept." "The Balearics is not being governed and there is no proper opposition to hold the government to account." Neither of these statements brooks much argument, though when Sra. Ramis refers to the "opposition", does she mean all opposition parties or just PSOE? I wouldn't argue with her that PSOE is useless, but what of the PSM (the Mallorcan socialists) who form a pact with the Greens? Maybe she means them as well.

The point is worth raising because GOB, ostensibly a charitable organisation that devotes itself to a one-issue cause, has become a quasi-political organisation. The environment is a political issue, this much is undeniable, but GOB has gone well beyond this single issue.

A year or so ago, I suggested that the strongest voices of political opposition in the Balearics were, following PSOE's kicking at the polls, those of non-political parties, such as GOB. At the time, it had become involved in the campaign to keep TV Mallorca on air, a matter that wasn't its to become involved in. Prior to this, in March 2010, it had joined an anti-corruption "platform" alongside the OCB (Obra Cultural Balear). It does have an association, if not a formal one, with the Catalan language and culture promoters, the OCB.

This association was such that the two organisations were "overlooked" when invitations were being handed out for President Bauzà's inauguration last year. They were not overlooked by the UGT union in the Balearics when it was handing out its annual May Day "mentions" this year; they both received awards.

The two are not joined at the hip, but together they represent a loose union of similar interests. GOB is the environmental division of a broad, left-wing Catalanist movement. As such, it is an organisation that is poles apart from the Partido Popular. While GOB has strong arguments on environmental matters (and I don't necessarily disagree with GOB on either Es Trenc or Son Reus), one cannot lose sight of the political dimension or of its opposition to the PP. "Ultima Hora" once suggested that GOB had been "silent" when the Unió Mallorquina, Mallorcan nationalist if not left-wing, and PSOE had initially put forward the "decreto Nadal" which, among other things, was intended to allow hotels to build on their land. The paper implied that there would not have been the same "silence" had the decreto emanated from the PP. Yet, there are some similarities between this and the PP's new tourism law, to which Sra. Ramis voiced her opposition in the interview.

There has to be a trade-off between the economy and the environment. Ideally, there wouldn't be, but one will always tend to prevail, and it is usually the economy, which in Mallorca means tourism. And on tourism, Sra. Ramis came out with an extraordinary statement. I quote: "Eco and activity tourism has become big business", implying that eco tourism is a way forward for Mallorca. But what does this mean? Indeed, how can eco tourism be big business? Only if there are great numbers of tourists. And eco tourism ceases to be "eco" if there is human pressure. Moreover, eco tourism is more applicable to underdeveloped tourism economies, and Mallorca most certainly isn't one of these.

Let me say that I have much sympathy for what GOB stands for and for what it campaigns on. It is a vital voice in Mallorca, its conscience if you like. This is why Sra. Ramis is influential. But GOB has to decide what it really is. It was once challenged to put up or shut up by coming out as an explicitly political entity, which was harsh, as pressure groups can and should stand aside from the everyday political process. However, its political nature cannot be denied. There are other questions Sra. Ramis needs to be asked.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.