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.

The Manifesto Of The Puerto Pollensa Party

More on the protest thing - the Puerto Pollensa one. There is a "manifesto" for this "manifestación" (which is Spanish for demonstration): a four-page document, outlining the gripes and fingering the town hall. The demo will coincide with market day on Wednesday next week. Don't try getting any petrol in Puerto Pollensa on Wednesday, as the petrol station's likely to be log-jammed with protesters.

The manifesto deals with the items listed on 26 May (Fix You?), to which has been added a further item regarding the state of the waste of space and money that is La Gola. "The state" pretty much sums the whole thing up. The state of Puerto Pollensa in different respects.

The second main point in this manifesto is telling. It refers to the fact that tourism is the "motor" of the local economy. Yes, we do know this, as the manifesto says. But let's just imagine, shall we, that Puerto Pollensa was currently flush with great hordes of tourists, flush with cash. Would this protest be going ahead? No, it wouldn't. Macroeconomic difficulties have created the micro-ist economic problems of Puerto Pollensa's tourism, not dog mess, rubbish collection or a lack of parking.

Then there is something even more telling. The manifesto refers to an abundance of domestic properties at the expense of hotels or residential areas of high social status. While the latter sounds - and is - appallingly elitist, it is the former that seems to give the game away. Separate to this latest protest (or is it part of the same thing?), the local hotels recently themselves complained about an abandonment and neglect. The manifesto appears to be supporting the hoteliers in calling for not just an appreciation of the apparent disregard of the Moll but also for more hotels. It, the manifesto, goes on to say that plots exist on which such hotels (or elitist residences) could be located. Maybe so. But the very presence of this "demand" confirms the impetus behind this manifesto: the parlous state of current tourism. It also flies in the face of that "guru" piece of the other day; that resources are stretched and that alternatives to tourism (and thus hotels) have to be sought. While the current town hall can be criticised, rightly, for all manner of things, it is not their fault that there are not more hotels; their lack is an historical fact of local planning.

This protest is a manifestation of the pain caused by recession. Let's not be fooled into thinking that it is anything else, except ...

There is justification for the protest. The lack of hotel stock has, arguably, held Puerto Pollensa back, even if the wisdom of building hotels now would be open to question; and such building would be most unlikely to occur. There is justification in there being a protest, period. In its organisation and publicity, it is an example to those elsewhere who voice discontent and then do precisely nothing, as in, most notably, the Bellevue area of Puerto Alcúdia. There is justification, though God knows where the money might come from to right the wrongs. There is justification, but of a different order to that which is being stated.

Mayor Cerdà is said to be "concerned". About what exactly? The fact that there are elections next year? One thing he should be concerned about is the structure of how the town, as a whole, is run. Let's just compare the situation in Puerto Pollensa with that in Puerto Alcúdia. There, the embellishments to the beach (costing some 700k) were recently officially "opened". Alcúdia has neither the psychological nor the physical distance problems I referred to the other day.

The justification, and if this protest is to achieve anything, and it probably won't, will be to highlight the deficiencies of the local political structure not the deficiencies with street lighting and all the rest. The perception of injustice towards the port has existed for years. It has come to a head. It needs sorting out.


QUIZ -
Yesterday: Saint Etienne, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OgV4F7JzVc


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

Fix You? Puerto Pollensa and protest

The protest season goes from strength to strength. A general strike, some time or other; Puerto Alcúdia, a petition against all-inclusives, possibly; now Puerto Pollensa. On 2 June, setting off from the petrol station, i.e. the one opposite the fire-fighter-roundabout Eroski, a thousand people, so it is hoped, will take to the streets. Why?

I am grateful to Zelda at www.puertopollensa.com for sending me the bits and pieces which come from Annika at Sail & Surf who seems to be the main organiser of this demo. I like Annika. Who wouldn't? I wish her success. But the question remains - why?

The litany of problems that the small businesses of the Moll want addressing are as follows: the lack of good parking; access ways from the by-pass to the front line of Puerto Pollensa by car and on foot; a lack of clear signing of the entrance to the port from the by-pass; lack of street lighting; rubbish and lack of cleanliness; a need for improved pavements and green area maintenance; the speed of traffic along the coast road into the port; the need for greater night-time security; the need for a general "beautifying" of the port and for public lavs.

Fine. Anything else anyone wants to add? Why not toss in the need to pedestrianise the whole of the front line? Oh, sorry, forgot. They did away with that because the small businesses didn't want it. You'd crack some of the above at a stroke if there were no traffic along the coast road into the port.

Look, there is nothing wrong with any of what is the target of this protest. Much of it is familiar in terms of gripes regarding Puerto Pollensa. But is this, will this protest be indicative of casting around for something, anything, to put into the gun sight as a way of voicing anxiety regarding the currently lousy state of tourism? I have a horrible feeling that it might be. In which case, it is irrelevant. There is also a worry that, as I have said elsewhere in respect of protest in Puerto Alcúdia, that some sort of demo is counterproductive. Don't, whatever you do, fool yourselves into thinking that the majority of tourists either know or care about what ever the problems in Puerto Pollensa might be. Go demo-ing and bring attention to the problems, and they soon will know. Thanks very much. Best go to Croatia next year.

There is, though, more to all of this. It isn't simply a case of protest for protest's sake. There are legitimate points being raised, but it is the ones who should be listening who are the problem. Those at the town hall.

Pollensa town hall is hugely in debt, and that debt is likely to rise. It sought credit this year, only a part of which was forthcoming. There is most unlikely to be any more in the short term, given that the Spanish Government has frozen town halls' credit. Want better street lighting therefore? Go wave a lighter, then. A thousand arms waving in a Coldplay "Fix You" style. But the town hall can't fix it. No money, chums.

Even more than all this is the fact that the protest would be a manifestation of the massive distance between Moll and town. Town and down - down there by the sea. Pollensa is not unique in this regard. Think Santa Margalida and Muro as well. Only Alcúdia escapes the problems of physical and psychological distance between town and down. Ask yourselves this question? Why is there a town hall "delegate" for the Moll? One who is widely held in contempt? What do you need a delegate for? It's the same town, for crying out loud. The very existence of such a delegate tells you all you need to know. The Moll, the port is the town's second-class citizen, down there, down by the sea. Not here. Up in the town.

Protest? Go ahead. Better still, declare UDI.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

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.

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The Tractor Boys

The tractor boys were on the march yesterday. No, make that on a roll, crawling along the main Palma road from the Can Segue bar into Alcúdia for a spot of protesting - this time against the proposed siting of the train route. Ho hum, another day, another voice raised in opposition to something. Unlike public displays of unease at societal malaises, such as violence, those for or normally against developments get a tad wearisome. But then, there would have been a time when such gatherings would have been cracked down on, so maybe one shouldn't complain. The question is, though, will this damn train extension ever get built. And where?

The tractor protesters are not against the train as such; just that they want it sited to the south and not along the so-called northern corridor, which is the government's favoured option. However, there is an unmistakable tendency to want to put a halt to much that is new. It stands alongside that other tendency - Mallorca for the Mallorcans, and we can do without tourists, thanks very much. It was put to me the other day that, among some elements of the teens, twentysomethings and indeed oldersomethings, there is a discernible mass of opinion that there can be some sort of back to the future with everyone speaking Catalan and nary a tourist to be seen. It is hardly a unique phenomenon, be it in Mallorca or many other places. It may be purely idealistic and not pragmatic, but idealism rarely wins the argument. The cynical view is that this generation, comfortable as a consequence of the moolah that its parents and grandparents have derived from tourism, can call for some advancement of local nationalism and a return to the fields without having any sense of the practicalities or wisdom of doing so. Does this generation know how to sow potatoes? No, but it can find out, it replies, and then it discovers that the weather turns nasty and prevents crops from being sown, which is what happened during the soggy winter. Subsistence can become a struggle.

There is and always will be tensions between the needs of commerce, for which read tourism, and the desire for local expression and a prioritisation of localism over internationalism. One could, I suppose, perceive the Catalan debate and the global economic crisis as being a part of the philosophy that underpins such a desire. It is not wrong, but its consequences might, probably would, be far from what the idealistic tendency would wish for itself.


QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Rolling Stones (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_O_wRuxu14). Today's title - which football team is known by this name?

(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)