The Tribunal de Cuentas is the Spanish equivalent of the UK's Audit Commission, meaning that it vets government and public sector accounts. Its members are voted on to the tribunal by Congress and by the Senate. Their appointments are, therefore, not totally independent of political power, but once appointed they are meant to be independent.
Earlier this month the tribunal released a report which was so damning that it should have caused a massive outcry. Somehow, it didn't. This report detailed cases of tax fraud and financing irregularities committed by mostly all of Spain's leading political parties, which therefore included both the Partido Popular and PSOE. These irregularities amounted to offences in respect of false accounting (not showing real income and expenses), unlawful debt cancellation and donations received and loans to other organisations. They related to the financial year 2012. Accounts for 2013 and 2014 are to also be placed under scrutiny, though when reports might be issued isn't known.
The tribunal's findings support much of what is said about the lack of transparency of party funding and about what has been styled as the corrupt nature of the political system and of the leading parties in particular. That the report didn't cause the massive outcry which might have been expected could be put down to the fact that no one was in the least bit surprised. It might also be attributable to the difficulties which any of the parties would have faced in being critical. As they are more or less all fingered, it is impossible to seek political advantage by accusing rivals of allegedly corrupt activity.
As damning as the report is, why has the tribunal not taken action before against political parties? The constant claims of irregularities in their financing would surely have required that it should have. One reason may have something to do with the nature of the make-up of the tribunal's board and of appointments at the tribunal. Among the directors is the brother of the former Partido Popular prime minister, José María Aznar. There is also Javier Medina, the president of the audit section, who has been associated with the tribunal since the late 1970s and is linked to the PP. His wife, brother and sister all work at the tribunal. In addition to these individuals, there was - as an El País blog reported last February - the wife of the Spanish Ambassador to the UK, while a PSOE appointee at the tribunal had his sister-in-law working there.
Spanish media have been clear in pointing out the nepotism as well as implying that the tribunal's independence has not been as it should. Getting to grips with political party financing, therefore, was potentially only ever going to be a sham or cosmetic exercise, as one report styled it. However, it could well be that the charges of nepotism shook the tribunal into action and perhaps they shook the political parties up as well. Would the parties have known what the tribunal was going to report? They may well have done. Just before Christmas, and so a couple of weeks before the report came out, a third meeting of parliamentary representatives of various parties agreed several measures to be placed in front of Congress for approval. These included banning corporate donations altogether and putting an end to the practice whereby banks would write off debts held by political parties, a practice which has been common for years. They also agreed that illegal party financing would be included as a crime in the penal code. Why hadn't it been before? A very good question.
So, the agreement was made and then the report appeared, echoing much of what had been agreed. The tribunal's report was damning and also unique in issuing such a "reprimand". A reprimand!? Is that all?
The timing of the parliamentary agreement and of the report have to be questioned for more than just the short period between them. There was surely another dynamic compelling some rapid response. In one word ... Podemos. The main political parties, and to the PP and PSOE have to be added the likes of the Basque National Party and the two parties in Catalonia which form Artur Mas's CiU, are running scared. Podemos's assault on corruption, which includes the corrupt nature of the political system and apparatus, has made them act in the hope that they can staunch the flow of support towards Podemos.
It's all a bit too late though and has the feeling of attempts to save skins, those of the main parties and of the tribunal. There wasn't a massive outcry over the report because it simply confirmed what everyone knew or suspected, while, unless it is reformed, the tribunal's credibility is too enfeebled for there to be more than a suspicion of a belated cosmetic exercise by a body controlled by the very forces it is supposed to control.
Showing posts with label Political parties. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Political parties. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 13, 2015
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Altered Minds: Innovation in Mallorca
It was informative to hear an interview for the BBC with Brent Hurley, one of the founders of YouTube. His business was a product of California's Silicon Valley, where he still believes, despite the emergence of serious technology leaders such as YouTube, that young entrepreneurs can make it if they have the right products and are able to draw on the right talent pool. Hurley described Silicon Valley as a "state of mind", one which allows new businesses, even when confronted with what might seem obstructive taxation (as there is in California), to breakthrough. It is all a question of mentality, and this mentality can permit similar technology-based clusters to rise up elsewhere.
Hurley's views are, however, ones predicated on a particular culture. The American business culture has long hailed the risk-taker and the entrepreneur, it has long been aided by risk capital, it has long been one of the "can-do" rather than the cannot. The American business culture also underwent a seismic shift in its attitudes when the realisation was made as to the competitive nature of Japanese corporations. From the late 1970s onwards, this culture was transformed within organisations. Hierarchies became less the order of the day. Participation, empowerment, flat structures all found their way into the management and organisational lexicon.
In Mallorca, ambitions are harboured for something along the lines of Silicon Valley. It would be more of a Silicon Hollow, one fancies, but there are certain factors which could allow such ambitions to be realised. Well, one in particular; the climate. Mallorca's a nice place to live and work, it has a nice lifestyle, it has a Mediterranean climate (obviously), one similar to Californa's. This climate-lifestyle axis has brought interest in terms of business location from overseas, while the technological infrastructure, notably Palma's ParcBit, does offer some grounds for being optimistic that a technological new age dawns in Mallorca and helps to move the island's economy away from its dangerous and lop-sided dependence upon tourism.
But initiatives such as ParcBit can only go so far. The vision, albeit an unclear one, for a more technological future is obscured by the existence of elements that California does not suffer from. There is, for example, a very different business culture, both generally and within organisations, one that is partially a reflection of what remains a societal culture: one of the hierarchy.
This hierarchy can often come in the form of a patriarchy or matriarchy. Families have a tendency to dominate the business culture and so the culture mirrors the deference shown within the family structure. It might be a culture which is healthy for continuity but it is rarely a culture which fosters free thinking, challenges to decisions, innovation. It is also a culture which can breed one of the most pernicious elements of the family organisation, that of nepotism, and this nepotism is something else which manifests itself in wider business and governmental society. Friendships, family ties, networks, who-you-know count for more than merit, talent and what you know. Nepotism and "amiguismo" are regularly cited by younger Spaniards as being reasons why they all but give up on finding decent employment and so help to fuel the brain drain heading abroad.
The hierarchy is everywhere. It exists in different types of business - from multinationals to the small business - in government "companies" (albeit the number of these are being reduced) and in political parties. Along with the omnipresence of the hierarchy comes the nepotism and the power of the network, and there is an example of just this which has seemingly been at work in Mallorca, an example right at the heart of business innovation.
The IDI is a Balearic Government "company". The acronym stands for Institute of Business Innovation. It should, therefore, be an agency for good in pursuit of a goal of greater economic diversification. But the IDI has been savaged by cutbacks under the current government. Jobs have gone, but there are also accusations flying as to the basis upon which job elimination has been made. They centre on political bias, i.e. employees with sympathies for parties (most obviously PSOE) were let go in favour of those who are supporters of the Partido Popular.
There may well of course be very valid reasons unassociated with political affiliation for employment decisions having been made, but if affiliation was a real factor then it confirms the power of the network being commanded by the hierarchy, in this instance one political party and that party's leadership.
Mallorca has a disadvantage in the technological stakes which comes from its less than satisfactory educational system, but this cannot be wholly blamed for a lack of innovation. After all, for any group of underachievers there will always be one overachiever and potential business genius. Mallorca also has a history of entrepreneurialism. It is not as if, therefore, there aren't elements in Mallorca which could make a success of a new technological age. But paramount to this success is the need for a change in culture at governmental and corporate levels. The eradication of hierarchies and the doffing of the cap are as necessary as the elimination of the network and the nepotism.
Brent Hurley believes that Silicon Valleys can be replicated anywhere. If the talent exists, then maybe so. But they won't be if the culture doesn't allow them to flourish. The state of mind that needs to alter is that of the keepers of the hierarchies - the political parties and the corporations. Alter minds, and the entrepreneurial spirit in Mallorca might just fly.
Hurley's views are, however, ones predicated on a particular culture. The American business culture has long hailed the risk-taker and the entrepreneur, it has long been aided by risk capital, it has long been one of the "can-do" rather than the cannot. The American business culture also underwent a seismic shift in its attitudes when the realisation was made as to the competitive nature of Japanese corporations. From the late 1970s onwards, this culture was transformed within organisations. Hierarchies became less the order of the day. Participation, empowerment, flat structures all found their way into the management and organisational lexicon.
In Mallorca, ambitions are harboured for something along the lines of Silicon Valley. It would be more of a Silicon Hollow, one fancies, but there are certain factors which could allow such ambitions to be realised. Well, one in particular; the climate. Mallorca's a nice place to live and work, it has a nice lifestyle, it has a Mediterranean climate (obviously), one similar to Californa's. This climate-lifestyle axis has brought interest in terms of business location from overseas, while the technological infrastructure, notably Palma's ParcBit, does offer some grounds for being optimistic that a technological new age dawns in Mallorca and helps to move the island's economy away from its dangerous and lop-sided dependence upon tourism.
But initiatives such as ParcBit can only go so far. The vision, albeit an unclear one, for a more technological future is obscured by the existence of elements that California does not suffer from. There is, for example, a very different business culture, both generally and within organisations, one that is partially a reflection of what remains a societal culture: one of the hierarchy.
This hierarchy can often come in the form of a patriarchy or matriarchy. Families have a tendency to dominate the business culture and so the culture mirrors the deference shown within the family structure. It might be a culture which is healthy for continuity but it is rarely a culture which fosters free thinking, challenges to decisions, innovation. It is also a culture which can breed one of the most pernicious elements of the family organisation, that of nepotism, and this nepotism is something else which manifests itself in wider business and governmental society. Friendships, family ties, networks, who-you-know count for more than merit, talent and what you know. Nepotism and "amiguismo" are regularly cited by younger Spaniards as being reasons why they all but give up on finding decent employment and so help to fuel the brain drain heading abroad.
The hierarchy is everywhere. It exists in different types of business - from multinationals to the small business - in government "companies" (albeit the number of these are being reduced) and in political parties. Along with the omnipresence of the hierarchy comes the nepotism and the power of the network, and there is an example of just this which has seemingly been at work in Mallorca, an example right at the heart of business innovation.
The IDI is a Balearic Government "company". The acronym stands for Institute of Business Innovation. It should, therefore, be an agency for good in pursuit of a goal of greater economic diversification. But the IDI has been savaged by cutbacks under the current government. Jobs have gone, but there are also accusations flying as to the basis upon which job elimination has been made. They centre on political bias, i.e. employees with sympathies for parties (most obviously PSOE) were let go in favour of those who are supporters of the Partido Popular.
There may well of course be very valid reasons unassociated with political affiliation for employment decisions having been made, but if affiliation was a real factor then it confirms the power of the network being commanded by the hierarchy, in this instance one political party and that party's leadership.
Mallorca has a disadvantage in the technological stakes which comes from its less than satisfactory educational system, but this cannot be wholly blamed for a lack of innovation. After all, for any group of underachievers there will always be one overachiever and potential business genius. Mallorca also has a history of entrepreneurialism. It is not as if, therefore, there aren't elements in Mallorca which could make a success of a new technological age. But paramount to this success is the need for a change in culture at governmental and corporate levels. The eradication of hierarchies and the doffing of the cap are as necessary as the elimination of the network and the nepotism.
Brent Hurley believes that Silicon Valleys can be replicated anywhere. If the talent exists, then maybe so. But they won't be if the culture doesn't allow them to flourish. The state of mind that needs to alter is that of the keepers of the hierarchies - the political parties and the corporations. Alter minds, and the entrepreneurial spirit in Mallorca might just fly.
Monday, November 11, 2013
A New Image For A New PSOE?
Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, the loser in 2011, who continues to guide his party with a benign, uncle-like presence, has not ruled out running again for leadership at the party's primaries. He can currently count on the backing of former PSOE prime ministers, Zapatero and González, both of them hauled out in Madrid, González more symbolically so, as it was he, when elected party leader way back in 1974, who represented the ideological shift with PSOE's old socialism; there was a new labour movement in Europe long before New Labour. The Madrid conference has been a talking shop for how PSOE can now make itself new, new PSOE, a PSOE Mark III for the twenty-first century. And Rubalcaba has hinted that he will be the man to take the party to a new promised land.
What this PSOE Mark III might end up looking like is anyone's guess. Will it be a bright, shiny, dynamic new model for a new age or a rusty recycled model of one-time socialist principles, a camel of compromise manufactured by committee? There was talk in Madrid of getting back in touch with the people on the streets, which could mean anything but which, for any political party, should actually be a priority. There was further talk of regaining the party's origins, and if this were the case then PSOE would collapse in a heap of quasi-communism. I suspect that this was not what was meant.
Rubalcaba has begun to put some flesh on the bones of what might be the next manifesto. Tax reforms would be on the agenda and would include scrapping income tax for the unemployed (who do actually pay income tax - two per cent of benefit payments) and for families earning less than 16,000 euros a year. Rubalcaba also wants constitutional reform, something that would potentially open up an enormous can of worms and would also be hard to achieve without the support of the Partido Popular. As one element of such reform might centre on the Catalonia question, i.e. greater autonomy for Catalonia and other regions, a move to a genuinely federal state or even independence, the reform would probably be dead in the water and would probably not even have widespread PSOE support; PSOE has typically been as opposed to threats of the break-up of Spain as the PP has been. But such reform may in the meantime have been overtaken by events, if Catalonia does press ahead with its independence referendum.
A new image for PSOE, one to be presented to the electorate in two years time, will not just depend on policies. Can a new image truly be presented by a leader who has lost an election and can it be carved when PSOE, as with the PP and with the political class in general, is so despised and mistrusted? The inherent corruption of the political system, brought about by an absence of transparency especially regarding funding, has been exposed ever more thanks to the Bárcenas affair. This may be an affair that the PP has to contend with but it has served to highlight the secrecy that surrounds both main political parties.
Spain, since the establishment of democracy, has had a handful of prime ministers. Of these, and in terms of their public face, Rajoy has been the worst by some considerable distance; a monotonous, monochrome premier of mind-numbing dullness. Of others, Zapatero was likable enough, while Aznar was essentially a technocrat with one hand on his accountancy bible and the other on his bottle of hair dye. González shines out among them. When he was elected in 1982, there really was a new image.
For PSOE, and the same can be said for the PP, it needs a new face for whatever new image it creates. Rubalcaba would struggle to take PSOE to victory and he would have an even greater battle in attempting to do so if the real economy does actually show signs of improvement and if, as may happen, Rajoy cuts IVA and income tax (the rises were only meant to have been temporary). Rubalcaba was also a minister in the Zapatero government. A key issue for the electorate will be, new image or no new image, whether it could trust PSOE with the economy again.
But a new face could work wonders for PSOE. Might that new face be a woman's? Carme Chacón's perhaps? Or has her failure to beat Rubalcaba in the past ruled her out? It would be intriguing were there to be female leader and so possibly a female prime minister, but the male order may have its own champion. Watch out for Eduardo Madina, the secretary-general of the socialist group in Congress. Zapatero did once suggest that he would one day like to see Madina as leader. When he said this, Madina was only 33. Two days before the cut-off date for the next election he will be 40. New image, new face, new PSOE Mark III. Is Madina the coming man?
* Photos from Wikipedia.
Saturday, March 16, 2013
The Conservative Alternative: Pastor and El Pi
Mallorca's politics are rarely dull and they are so because, for a place as small as Mallorca is, its politics are disproportionately large, the consequence of so many parties, factions, self-interests and not infrequent silliness. These politics have been given a new shot in the arm by the announcement that one of the more interesting political figures on the island, Antoni Pastor, has joined the El Pi party.
Pastor, you might need reminding, is the mayor of Manacor. He is a former member of the Partido Popular who was excommunicated by the PP papacy for daring to disagree with the party's orthodoxies, primarily those to do with less than positive attitudes towards Catalan and the concept of regionalism, i.e. autonomous regional government. El Pi is the party formed from the johnny-come-latelys of Mallorca's politics, La Lliga (in existence for only a year or so prior to its merger) and the Convergència, the renamed, the rebranded, the remade former Unió Mallorquina (UM), the source of so much corruption head shaking.
El Pi's lords and masters are Jaume Font, like Pastor a former member of the PP and also like Pastor not exactly a great friend of the Balearics president, José Ramón Bauzá, and Josep Melià, who became leader of the old UM during its last, painful dying days, mainly because there wasn't anyone left or anyone who wasn't facing a rap and an appointment with m'lud. To these lords and masters must now be added the name of Pastor. Together they are a troika of political alternativism, albeit an alternativism that is inherently conservative in a Mallorcan style.
This conservatism has compelled the troika to make clear that, despite the presence within its midst of two prominent ex-PPites, El Pi is not some spin-off from the PP. It differs in its attitudes towards regionalism and Catalan. It supports both, and the PP doesn't, or doesn't appear to.
Pastor's teaming up with Font and Melià is not a complete surprise. In terms of the regionalist and Catalanist philosophies, it makes sense. In the political wilderness and due to remain there during his four years of expulsion until after the next regional elections, Pastor had nowhere to go if he wanted to really make his voice heard on the tiny Mallorcan political stage, crammed to overflowing with politics and politicians.
Joining El Pi is not a statement of personal ambition, says Pastor. All he is doing is joining, even if he is to be a vice-president of the party (Font is its president) and even if he might, though this is being denied, be being lined up as a candidate for the Balearics presidency in 2015. There is surely some ambition.
With all the travails that President Bauzá is currently enduring, those that might find him having to resign because of the alleged incompatibility between his business affairs and his position, the post of leader of the PP may well come up in the not too distant future. It had occurred to me that Pastor might just be recalled from the wilderness to fill that post. Though of different opinions to Bauzá on regionalism and Catalan, Pastor's opinions would tend to be those shared by a majority of Mallorcans. They are opinions of a conservatism that has existed since autonomy in 1983; they are ones that the PP used to hold and are ones that its veteran members still do hold.
It will not happen now, but Pastor as PP leader would, in my opinion, have given the PP a serious boost at the next elections. At present, it cannot guarantee that it will do as well as in 2011. It may even lose, though with the main PSOE opposition as toothless and leaderless as it is, this would be hard to imagine. With Pastor, it would have provided a more sympathetic face. That chance has now gone.
My guess would be that Pastor will be a presidential candidate. He is charismatic without being populist. His opposition to Bauzá has done him no harm. Quite the contrary. He has become something of a folk hero. The PP would of course diss him for having attempted to undermine Bauzá and for having been a traitor, but I doubt many would buy this. His problem though, and it is the problem for El Pi full stop, is that the "alternative" in Mallorcan politics has never been king but only ever kingmaker. The UM was the perpetual group of Nick Cleggs, forever the makeweights in coalition. A similar role would probably await Pastor and El Pi. An alternative it may be, but it is only an alternative of conservatism.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Pastor, you might need reminding, is the mayor of Manacor. He is a former member of the Partido Popular who was excommunicated by the PP papacy for daring to disagree with the party's orthodoxies, primarily those to do with less than positive attitudes towards Catalan and the concept of regionalism, i.e. autonomous regional government. El Pi is the party formed from the johnny-come-latelys of Mallorca's politics, La Lliga (in existence for only a year or so prior to its merger) and the Convergència, the renamed, the rebranded, the remade former Unió Mallorquina (UM), the source of so much corruption head shaking.
El Pi's lords and masters are Jaume Font, like Pastor a former member of the PP and also like Pastor not exactly a great friend of the Balearics president, José Ramón Bauzá, and Josep Melià, who became leader of the old UM during its last, painful dying days, mainly because there wasn't anyone left or anyone who wasn't facing a rap and an appointment with m'lud. To these lords and masters must now be added the name of Pastor. Together they are a troika of political alternativism, albeit an alternativism that is inherently conservative in a Mallorcan style.
This conservatism has compelled the troika to make clear that, despite the presence within its midst of two prominent ex-PPites, El Pi is not some spin-off from the PP. It differs in its attitudes towards regionalism and Catalan. It supports both, and the PP doesn't, or doesn't appear to.
Pastor's teaming up with Font and Melià is not a complete surprise. In terms of the regionalist and Catalanist philosophies, it makes sense. In the political wilderness and due to remain there during his four years of expulsion until after the next regional elections, Pastor had nowhere to go if he wanted to really make his voice heard on the tiny Mallorcan political stage, crammed to overflowing with politics and politicians.
Joining El Pi is not a statement of personal ambition, says Pastor. All he is doing is joining, even if he is to be a vice-president of the party (Font is its president) and even if he might, though this is being denied, be being lined up as a candidate for the Balearics presidency in 2015. There is surely some ambition.
With all the travails that President Bauzá is currently enduring, those that might find him having to resign because of the alleged incompatibility between his business affairs and his position, the post of leader of the PP may well come up in the not too distant future. It had occurred to me that Pastor might just be recalled from the wilderness to fill that post. Though of different opinions to Bauzá on regionalism and Catalan, Pastor's opinions would tend to be those shared by a majority of Mallorcans. They are opinions of a conservatism that has existed since autonomy in 1983; they are ones that the PP used to hold and are ones that its veteran members still do hold.
It will not happen now, but Pastor as PP leader would, in my opinion, have given the PP a serious boost at the next elections. At present, it cannot guarantee that it will do as well as in 2011. It may even lose, though with the main PSOE opposition as toothless and leaderless as it is, this would be hard to imagine. With Pastor, it would have provided a more sympathetic face. That chance has now gone.
My guess would be that Pastor will be a presidential candidate. He is charismatic without being populist. His opposition to Bauzá has done him no harm. Quite the contrary. He has become something of a folk hero. The PP would of course diss him for having attempted to undermine Bauzá and for having been a traitor, but I doubt many would buy this. His problem though, and it is the problem for El Pi full stop, is that the "alternative" in Mallorcan politics has never been king but only ever kingmaker. The UM was the perpetual group of Nick Cleggs, forever the makeweights in coalition. A similar role would probably await Pastor and El Pi. An alternative it may be, but it is only an alternative of conservatism.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Saturday, November 03, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - New political party gets a name
The new political party created by the merger of La Lliga Regionalista and the Convergència per les Illes is to be called Proposta per les Illes, or El Pi for short. Proposta is a Catalan word for proposal. El Pi means the pine, so it isn't short for the name as such, but the party's logo includes an image of the pine.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
Thursday, November 01, 2012
The Roots Of All Corruption
Here we go again. Some senior names in the Balearics Partido Popular have become embroiled in a scandal. Pity poor President Bauzá, as he had made a pledge to have a clean PP. Not all the names caught up in a new corruption investigation are of the past; there are names linked to the current PP administration, too.
But should we pity poor Bauzà or should we accept that he is a mere agent of a malaise that goes deep? It is not one of the Partido Popular in the Balearics or the rest of Spain. Not the PP alone. It is one of Spain's political party system.
The author Javier Cercas, in a recent English article for "El País", laid into the party system and into political parties for colonising everything and for being "nests of corruption" and "closed clubs that function in an undemocratic manner". Cercas was moderate, however, in his attack on the political parties; moderate by comparison with the Spain-based German journalist Stefanie Müller.
In September, an article by Müller caused an internet sensation. After I had read it, I replied to the person who had sent me a link to the article. All I said was "blimey". Müller's assault on the Spanish economic crisis went way beyond an analysis of deficiencies in the banking sector or with regional government. She laid the blame for Spain's problems at the door of the political system. "The reason for Spain's illness is a non-viable model of the state, the source of all nepotism and corruption imposed by an oligarchy of parties in collusion with financial and economic oligarchies."
Müller's article, it would seem, was assisted by a Spanish economics and politics writer called Roberto Centeno; Cristóbal Montoro, the current Spanish minister of finance, was formerly a student of his. Centeno is typically branded as being right-wing and ultra-conservative. Perhaps so, but with his help Müller launched an attack on the political system now echoed in some ways by Cercas, and "El País" is considered to be left-wing.
Regardless of ideology, therefore, the message is similar, and it is a thoroughly disheartening message. The reasons why Cercas describes the party system as undemocratic and Müller speaks of a non-viable model of the state lie with the way in which the tentacles of the political parties reach out and pull into their lairs everything around them. Their boundaries are all but limitless and they extend into banking, broadcasting and media, you name it.
Regional savings banks, loaded with toxic debt, have been at the centre of Spain's banking crisis. And these banks have been synonymous with political interference and cronyism. The crisis that engulfed Bankia might have been more swiftly resolved had the government taken a firmer stance with its now ex-president Rodrigo Rato. But who was it who got Rato appointed to Caja Madrid before it became part of Bankia? Mariano Rajoy.
The national, state-funded broadcaster, RTVE, has lost journalists who have been sacked as they seemingly had the temerity to question Rajoy's policies. When Catalonia staged its massive demonstration in favour of independence - a news item afforded prominence by the BBC - it merited only fifth place in the news running order on TVE1; the lead item was a meeting between Rajoy and the Finnish prime minister.
Banks and broadcasters are just two examples of the reach of the political parties. This reach goes wider, though. The parties are giant clubs, membership of which often owes little to political ideology but much to networks, families and the nepotism of "amiguismo". Their ranks are littered, as Javier Cercas points out, with the servile, and the parties "banish competition and punish dissidence".
Such punishment strikes a chord in Mallorca. Antoni Pastor, who has dared to oppose the PP's language policy, has been banished from the party. His expulsion was less an act of imposing discipline more one of immaturity that cannot countenance argument and debate.
It is not just the PP, though goodness knows the PP seems to find itself caught up in scandal with disturbing regularity. It is also PSOE and smaller parties. In Mallorca, one need look no further than the Unió Mallorquina. Everything it touched, certainly towards the end, seemed tainted with the odour of corruption.
Much of the scandal surrounding the UM has been to do with money diverted illegally to party funds. This is the same allegation now being made about the PP. Cercas calls for "clean and reasonable" financing of political parties, but funding is just one aspect of a system described by Müller as "corrupt and inefficient", one run by an "incompetent political caste ruining the nation for several generations".
*Javier Cercas' article: http://elpais.com/elpais/2012/10/29/inenglish/1351523226_339831.html
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
But should we pity poor Bauzà or should we accept that he is a mere agent of a malaise that goes deep? It is not one of the Partido Popular in the Balearics or the rest of Spain. Not the PP alone. It is one of Spain's political party system.
The author Javier Cercas, in a recent English article for "El País", laid into the party system and into political parties for colonising everything and for being "nests of corruption" and "closed clubs that function in an undemocratic manner". Cercas was moderate, however, in his attack on the political parties; moderate by comparison with the Spain-based German journalist Stefanie Müller.
In September, an article by Müller caused an internet sensation. After I had read it, I replied to the person who had sent me a link to the article. All I said was "blimey". Müller's assault on the Spanish economic crisis went way beyond an analysis of deficiencies in the banking sector or with regional government. She laid the blame for Spain's problems at the door of the political system. "The reason for Spain's illness is a non-viable model of the state, the source of all nepotism and corruption imposed by an oligarchy of parties in collusion with financial and economic oligarchies."
Müller's article, it would seem, was assisted by a Spanish economics and politics writer called Roberto Centeno; Cristóbal Montoro, the current Spanish minister of finance, was formerly a student of his. Centeno is typically branded as being right-wing and ultra-conservative. Perhaps so, but with his help Müller launched an attack on the political system now echoed in some ways by Cercas, and "El País" is considered to be left-wing.
Regardless of ideology, therefore, the message is similar, and it is a thoroughly disheartening message. The reasons why Cercas describes the party system as undemocratic and Müller speaks of a non-viable model of the state lie with the way in which the tentacles of the political parties reach out and pull into their lairs everything around them. Their boundaries are all but limitless and they extend into banking, broadcasting and media, you name it.
Regional savings banks, loaded with toxic debt, have been at the centre of Spain's banking crisis. And these banks have been synonymous with political interference and cronyism. The crisis that engulfed Bankia might have been more swiftly resolved had the government taken a firmer stance with its now ex-president Rodrigo Rato. But who was it who got Rato appointed to Caja Madrid before it became part of Bankia? Mariano Rajoy.
The national, state-funded broadcaster, RTVE, has lost journalists who have been sacked as they seemingly had the temerity to question Rajoy's policies. When Catalonia staged its massive demonstration in favour of independence - a news item afforded prominence by the BBC - it merited only fifth place in the news running order on TVE1; the lead item was a meeting between Rajoy and the Finnish prime minister.
Banks and broadcasters are just two examples of the reach of the political parties. This reach goes wider, though. The parties are giant clubs, membership of which often owes little to political ideology but much to networks, families and the nepotism of "amiguismo". Their ranks are littered, as Javier Cercas points out, with the servile, and the parties "banish competition and punish dissidence".
Such punishment strikes a chord in Mallorca. Antoni Pastor, who has dared to oppose the PP's language policy, has been banished from the party. His expulsion was less an act of imposing discipline more one of immaturity that cannot countenance argument and debate.
It is not just the PP, though goodness knows the PP seems to find itself caught up in scandal with disturbing regularity. It is also PSOE and smaller parties. In Mallorca, one need look no further than the Unió Mallorquina. Everything it touched, certainly towards the end, seemed tainted with the odour of corruption.
Much of the scandal surrounding the UM has been to do with money diverted illegally to party funds. This is the same allegation now being made about the PP. Cercas calls for "clean and reasonable" financing of political parties, but funding is just one aspect of a system described by Müller as "corrupt and inefficient", one run by an "incompetent political caste ruining the nation for several generations".
*Javier Cercas' article: http://elpais.com/elpais/2012/10/29/inenglish/1351523226_339831.html
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Saturday, September 22, 2012
A Circle Of Apathy: Mallorca's democracy
The Economy Circle is an organisation that through literal translation sounds slightly odd. In its original it is Cercle d'Economia de Mallorca, but in English it gives the impression of a group of prudent housewives swapping household tips while knitting. A different translation can be The Economy Society, which comes across as being careful with the pennies, but the society bit is rather more to the point as the circle or the society, which is made up of high-powered businesspeople and professionals, gets its teeth, from time to time, into matters of importance to local society. In the past, it has had its say on education, advocating regular assessment of teachers, greater autonomy in head teacher decision-making and improvements in the standard of English. It has also spoken about how a dependence on tourism will mean that the Balearics will be the last of the Spanish regions to get out of crisis.
It comes out with a great deal of common sense but it has now come out with a report that, while it might not surprise anyone, should shock Mallorca's politicians to their very cores. This is a report into the quality of democracy in the Balearics and its findings make for grim reading.
180 experts have considered fifty factors to do with local democracy and only eight of these factors warrant getting a pass mark. The worst aspects are an indictment of this democracy: the party system, government administration, political consensus, the transparency and examples of and set by political parties. But it is not only the politicians who get it in the neck, the report concludes by observing that a culture of democracy is lacking and that there is general apathy within civil society.
One could always argue that society's apathy is a product of a political system in which there is little trust. The same argument is made in the UK. But there is a different context in Mallorca. Apathy was something that Franco used to play on. He thought that the Spanish people were too thick to really understand democracy and he also believed that apathy legitimised his rule because the people weren't all that bothered.
It could indeed be that this old apathy prevails rather than it being a new one brought about the current political system. This might sound contradictory when one considers some of the more strident voices in Mallorca, but then are these only the voices of minorities, loud ones admittedly but of relative unimportance?
I'm not so sure that they are unimportant. The combination of a poor political system, in the view of the Economy Circle, economic crisis and increasing radicalism within younger sectors of society, provoked by those with a more radical agenda and by a government that seems intent on driving wedges into local society, is potentially pretty lethal. It is exacerbated by a fact that shouldn't be overlooked, which is that democracy is still only quite young (some thirty years or so). Is it strong enough to withstand tensions, therefore, when even politicians and political parties don't appear to really understand what it means?
The answer is probably yes, but it is a system of democracy that has yet to grow up and to shake off its obvious excesses, as evidenced by the corruption cases and by a party system which owes as much to personal loyalties, networks and indeed nepotism as it does to ideology.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
It comes out with a great deal of common sense but it has now come out with a report that, while it might not surprise anyone, should shock Mallorca's politicians to their very cores. This is a report into the quality of democracy in the Balearics and its findings make for grim reading.
180 experts have considered fifty factors to do with local democracy and only eight of these factors warrant getting a pass mark. The worst aspects are an indictment of this democracy: the party system, government administration, political consensus, the transparency and examples of and set by political parties. But it is not only the politicians who get it in the neck, the report concludes by observing that a culture of democracy is lacking and that there is general apathy within civil society.
One could always argue that society's apathy is a product of a political system in which there is little trust. The same argument is made in the UK. But there is a different context in Mallorca. Apathy was something that Franco used to play on. He thought that the Spanish people were too thick to really understand democracy and he also believed that apathy legitimised his rule because the people weren't all that bothered.
It could indeed be that this old apathy prevails rather than it being a new one brought about the current political system. This might sound contradictory when one considers some of the more strident voices in Mallorca, but then are these only the voices of minorities, loud ones admittedly but of relative unimportance?
I'm not so sure that they are unimportant. The combination of a poor political system, in the view of the Economy Circle, economic crisis and increasing radicalism within younger sectors of society, provoked by those with a more radical agenda and by a government that seems intent on driving wedges into local society, is potentially pretty lethal. It is exacerbated by a fact that shouldn't be overlooked, which is that democracy is still only quite young (some thirty years or so). Is it strong enough to withstand tensions, therefore, when even politicians and political parties don't appear to really understand what it means?
The answer is probably yes, but it is a system of democracy that has yet to grow up and to shake off its obvious excesses, as evidenced by the corruption cases and by a party system which owes as much to personal loyalties, networks and indeed nepotism as it does to ideology.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Friday, September 21, 2012
A League Of Their Own: Mallorca's centre politics
History is littered with the dead of failed new political parties. The gang of four of the Social Democrats didn't succumb to "anthrax" but they might as well have followed the title of this track by the post-punk Gang Of Four so little did they really achieve, other than paving the way for Liberals to become Democrats and to ultimately eat from the same table as the Conservatives.
Two-party politics tends to be the norm. In Mallorca it is no different. Of the two, PSOE is by far the older, reflecting its good and once genuine socialist worker roots. The PP is a phenomenon of the post-Franco era but it had a stuttering start in its original "alliance" guise as the electorate on the terraces were screaming "are you Franco in disguise?".
In the Mallorcan centre, kind of, was the old Unió Mallorquina before it was finally consumed by its rotten-to-the-core culture of corruption and consigned to the bin of political history. Except it didn't disappear completely. It acquired a new name, the Convergència. The electorate weren't really fooled and so at the last elections it was given a sound kicking. At the same time as the UM had been undergoing its transmogrification, another political kid arrived on the block - La Lliga Regionalista. It sprang from a source known as Jaume Font (and if you don't get the gag, let me tell you that font means both spring and source). He had fallen out big time with the now president of the Balearics, José Ramón Bauzá, and so went off and formed his own party. It fared equally as poorly as the Convergència at the elections.
To the uninitiated, it was hard to tell the two parties apart. They both claimed the centre ground and they were both in favour of differing degrees of regional self-government. There wasn't ever room for both and now, almost eighteen months after having failed to set the political world alight at the elections, they've decided to merge. The Convergència will converge with La Lliga in forming a league of their own.
On the face of it, the merger makes perfectly good sense, in that Mallorcan politics can ever be described as conforming to notions of good sense. In terms of the current political landscape, it has a lot going for it. The PP, apart from taking everyone's jobs and money away, has been doing a thoroughly decent job in attempting to appear as though they have no interest in regional autonomy or self-government in the Balearics. PSOE, ripped to shreds at the last election, has managed to keep up appearances of being totally useless. There is a fair old amount of political ground, therefore, for a likely lad party to gobble up, assuming anyone takes any notice and also assuming they don't all have lovers' tiffs more or less as soon as they have jumped into bed.
In this regard, things aren't too promising. Pollensa is one of the few towns where both parties have some sort of presence, so much so that La Lliga is part of the ruling coalition and the Convergència has a couple of councillors. Unfortunately, they can't stand each other for reasons that would take an entire article to explain and at the end of which you would still be probably none the wiser. As a consequence, there threatens to be a mini-Moors and Christians re-enactment with political blood spilt all over the nice new floors of the town hall building.
Local spats aside, there should in theory be some optimism for this new party. But then there are the skeletons that will continue to rattle. Font was once cited in a corruption case. It was one reason why he left the PP because Bauzá wouldn't sanction candidacies from anyone who was on a charge. The fact that the charge was archived (i.e. was not proven and was filed) probably won't prevent the dirty-tricks brigade from reminding everyone of the charge. Then there is the Convergència, a UM rose by any other name, some would argue. And all the time that Munar, Nadal and others from the old UM hierarchy are keeping the local beaks in gainful employ the misdemeanours of the past will hound it.
But lurking in the background, as he will be for the foreseeable future, is Manacor's mayor Antoni Pastor. He says he is giving no consideration to joining the new party. Exiled by the PP and so stateless in party terms, he would give the new party a massive boost, but then he knows this. He would probably want to be number one, but that would be difficult. My guess is that he still anticipates being welcomed back into the PP fold as its saviour and were he to be, he would shift the PP towards the centre and back to a position that is more favourable towards regional autonomy. At a stroke, the new party would be doomed.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Two-party politics tends to be the norm. In Mallorca it is no different. Of the two, PSOE is by far the older, reflecting its good and once genuine socialist worker roots. The PP is a phenomenon of the post-Franco era but it had a stuttering start in its original "alliance" guise as the electorate on the terraces were screaming "are you Franco in disguise?".
In the Mallorcan centre, kind of, was the old Unió Mallorquina before it was finally consumed by its rotten-to-the-core culture of corruption and consigned to the bin of political history. Except it didn't disappear completely. It acquired a new name, the Convergència. The electorate weren't really fooled and so at the last elections it was given a sound kicking. At the same time as the UM had been undergoing its transmogrification, another political kid arrived on the block - La Lliga Regionalista. It sprang from a source known as Jaume Font (and if you don't get the gag, let me tell you that font means both spring and source). He had fallen out big time with the now president of the Balearics, José Ramón Bauzá, and so went off and formed his own party. It fared equally as poorly as the Convergència at the elections.
To the uninitiated, it was hard to tell the two parties apart. They both claimed the centre ground and they were both in favour of differing degrees of regional self-government. There wasn't ever room for both and now, almost eighteen months after having failed to set the political world alight at the elections, they've decided to merge. The Convergència will converge with La Lliga in forming a league of their own.
On the face of it, the merger makes perfectly good sense, in that Mallorcan politics can ever be described as conforming to notions of good sense. In terms of the current political landscape, it has a lot going for it. The PP, apart from taking everyone's jobs and money away, has been doing a thoroughly decent job in attempting to appear as though they have no interest in regional autonomy or self-government in the Balearics. PSOE, ripped to shreds at the last election, has managed to keep up appearances of being totally useless. There is a fair old amount of political ground, therefore, for a likely lad party to gobble up, assuming anyone takes any notice and also assuming they don't all have lovers' tiffs more or less as soon as they have jumped into bed.
In this regard, things aren't too promising. Pollensa is one of the few towns where both parties have some sort of presence, so much so that La Lliga is part of the ruling coalition and the Convergència has a couple of councillors. Unfortunately, they can't stand each other for reasons that would take an entire article to explain and at the end of which you would still be probably none the wiser. As a consequence, there threatens to be a mini-Moors and Christians re-enactment with political blood spilt all over the nice new floors of the town hall building.
Local spats aside, there should in theory be some optimism for this new party. But then there are the skeletons that will continue to rattle. Font was once cited in a corruption case. It was one reason why he left the PP because Bauzá wouldn't sanction candidacies from anyone who was on a charge. The fact that the charge was archived (i.e. was not proven and was filed) probably won't prevent the dirty-tricks brigade from reminding everyone of the charge. Then there is the Convergència, a UM rose by any other name, some would argue. And all the time that Munar, Nadal and others from the old UM hierarchy are keeping the local beaks in gainful employ the misdemeanours of the past will hound it.
But lurking in the background, as he will be for the foreseeable future, is Manacor's mayor Antoni Pastor. He says he is giving no consideration to joining the new party. Exiled by the PP and so stateless in party terms, he would give the new party a massive boost, but then he knows this. He would probably want to be number one, but that would be difficult. My guess is that he still anticipates being welcomed back into the PP fold as its saviour and were he to be, he would shift the PP towards the centre and back to a position that is more favourable towards regional autonomy. At a stroke, the new party would be doomed.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Ciudadanos - Alcúdia Political Party
Oops. A bit of an oversight in "Talk Of The North" when listing the candidates for Alcúdia mayor. Missed out none other than Francisco of Don Pedro and the "Ciudadanos". So here's the poster.
Monday, February 07, 2011
The Return Of The Jedi: Spain's census
In March the UK will conduct its decennial census. In September Spain will conduct its own. Both are in line with the recommendation of the United Nations that censuses should be undertaken every ten years. The two are, otherwise, different. In the UK the census covers everyone. In Spain it does not. The Spanish census this year will be conducted in a different way to previous ones. In a bid to save money, the Spanish national statistics office (INE) will ask only 10% of the population to answer its questionnaire.
The UN's "bible" for conducting censuses stretches to 442 pages. I got about as far as page 10. One of the key principles is that of "individual enumeration", i.e. capturing information about everyone. How does the Spanish approach conform with this principle?
The statistics office believes that the 10% will give the same sort of information as to what was previously a system of making house-to-house visits, while costing 25% less. It's an ambitious claim when you consider that the statistics office also intends to use electoral roll information.
Censuses are not foolproof. Despite the UK's legal requirement for everyone to fill out a form, people slip through the net, either because they object to the capturing of information or because they don't want to reveal themselves. In Spain it would be hard to put a figure on quite how many might not want their existence to be known or how many would simply fall under the radar because they are neither registered as resident nor registered to vote. And the latest figures for foreigners who have registered to vote in the forthcoming local elections confirm that there is a vast number who, either because of inertia and apathy or for some other reason, are not registered.
The Spanish census will, even without electoral roll information, be a sample. Presumably, the statistics office has some statistical wizardry that will enable it to extrapolate data that will give a complete picture, but you might not be so confident that it does, given the record of some other exercises in statistics, tourism spend for example. Fundamentally though, it is difficult to see how this approach conforms with how a census should be conducted.
Does it matter? Perhaps it doesn't. In terms of core population data, this is pretty much available as it is, birth records adding to the information that is held on everyone through their ID cards or residency and NIE certificates, assuming they have one. Every year a report on population, by municipality, is issued. But population is only part of the census story.
In the 2001 census in the UK and other English-speaking countries, a great practical joke was played on the census compilers enquiring after religious inclination: the fourth-largest religious group in England and Wales was Jedi, as in Jedi Knight. With the emergence of social media to inspire them, what tricks might be played this time round?
The UK census has also captured information on such issues as whether a home has central heating and educational qualifications. The last Spanish census in 2001 wanted to know about matters as diverse as migration, type of home and, of all things, fertility.
The census does, therefore, attempt to try and get to know something about people. It may be no more than a glorified piece of market research, but the government does at least try to compile a picture of everyone, Spanish or non-Spanish. It's more than the political parties do.
Using the electoral roll in the census is doomed to fail the test of creating a Domesday, for the reasons I have noted above. It's far from surprising that there should be a damn great hole when it comes to those registered to vote. Mallorcans themselves, 68% of them, in a survey just released by Gadeso, the research organisation, consider the political situation on the island to be "bad". But being bad isn't a reason for not taking an interest, especially as Mallorcan politics has such high comedic, nay farcical, characteristics.
Apathy towards politics, regardless of whether it is British or Mallorcan, is understandable, but locally the apathy is heightened by a lack of appreciation among expats as to what the parties are and what they stand for and by any efforts by the parties to come to an appreciation of their foreign constituents.
The one and only time I have been "doorstepped" in Mallorca was when the local Partido Popular pitched up at the gate mob-handed. Five of them, grinning like religious zealots on a mission.
They were determined to tell me how good the then-to-be-built motorway extension from Inca was going to be for foreigners. It was a bizarre and somewhat patronising assertion. Though I didn't have much sympathy for the eco-warriors who had camped out to try and prevent the motorway, this opposition was a good enough pretext with which to tell the PP-ers I wouldn't be voting for them. They had made an assumption that, as a foreigner, I would be sympathetic to them.
If the political parties were serious about the foreign vote and if the census might achieve some semblance of electoral-roll completeness, then they should start by saying what they might, or would do for foreign voters. They should start by trying to understand the foreign-voter's motivation. But if they start asking about religion, they'll get one answer. I'm a Jedi.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
The UN's "bible" for conducting censuses stretches to 442 pages. I got about as far as page 10. One of the key principles is that of "individual enumeration", i.e. capturing information about everyone. How does the Spanish approach conform with this principle?
The statistics office believes that the 10% will give the same sort of information as to what was previously a system of making house-to-house visits, while costing 25% less. It's an ambitious claim when you consider that the statistics office also intends to use electoral roll information.
Censuses are not foolproof. Despite the UK's legal requirement for everyone to fill out a form, people slip through the net, either because they object to the capturing of information or because they don't want to reveal themselves. In Spain it would be hard to put a figure on quite how many might not want their existence to be known or how many would simply fall under the radar because they are neither registered as resident nor registered to vote. And the latest figures for foreigners who have registered to vote in the forthcoming local elections confirm that there is a vast number who, either because of inertia and apathy or for some other reason, are not registered.
The Spanish census will, even without electoral roll information, be a sample. Presumably, the statistics office has some statistical wizardry that will enable it to extrapolate data that will give a complete picture, but you might not be so confident that it does, given the record of some other exercises in statistics, tourism spend for example. Fundamentally though, it is difficult to see how this approach conforms with how a census should be conducted.
Does it matter? Perhaps it doesn't. In terms of core population data, this is pretty much available as it is, birth records adding to the information that is held on everyone through their ID cards or residency and NIE certificates, assuming they have one. Every year a report on population, by municipality, is issued. But population is only part of the census story.
In the 2001 census in the UK and other English-speaking countries, a great practical joke was played on the census compilers enquiring after religious inclination: the fourth-largest religious group in England and Wales was Jedi, as in Jedi Knight. With the emergence of social media to inspire them, what tricks might be played this time round?
The UK census has also captured information on such issues as whether a home has central heating and educational qualifications. The last Spanish census in 2001 wanted to know about matters as diverse as migration, type of home and, of all things, fertility.
The census does, therefore, attempt to try and get to know something about people. It may be no more than a glorified piece of market research, but the government does at least try to compile a picture of everyone, Spanish or non-Spanish. It's more than the political parties do.
Using the electoral roll in the census is doomed to fail the test of creating a Domesday, for the reasons I have noted above. It's far from surprising that there should be a damn great hole when it comes to those registered to vote. Mallorcans themselves, 68% of them, in a survey just released by Gadeso, the research organisation, consider the political situation on the island to be "bad". But being bad isn't a reason for not taking an interest, especially as Mallorcan politics has such high comedic, nay farcical, characteristics.
Apathy towards politics, regardless of whether it is British or Mallorcan, is understandable, but locally the apathy is heightened by a lack of appreciation among expats as to what the parties are and what they stand for and by any efforts by the parties to come to an appreciation of their foreign constituents.
The one and only time I have been "doorstepped" in Mallorca was when the local Partido Popular pitched up at the gate mob-handed. Five of them, grinning like religious zealots on a mission.
They were determined to tell me how good the then-to-be-built motorway extension from Inca was going to be for foreigners. It was a bizarre and somewhat patronising assertion. Though I didn't have much sympathy for the eco-warriors who had camped out to try and prevent the motorway, this opposition was a good enough pretext with which to tell the PP-ers I wouldn't be voting for them. They had made an assumption that, as a foreigner, I would be sympathetic to them.
If the political parties were serious about the foreign vote and if the census might achieve some semblance of electoral-roll completeness, then they should start by saying what they might, or would do for foreign voters. They should start by trying to understand the foreign-voter's motivation. But if they start asking about religion, they'll get one answer. I'm a Jedi.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
By The Left: PSM and nationalism
I guess I have always been a bit of a leftie. Not that I have ever taken it particularly seriously. At university it was more a case of playing. I haven't drifted as far though as a friend from those days who was a card-carrying Trot and nowadays reads "The Telegraph" and is some banking and economics expert. University is the playground of politics. Ultimately it doesn't really mean anything, other than as a launch-pad to a political career.
However, had I grown up in Mallorca, had I grown up in the past three decades in Mallorca, and had I gone to university, I can well believe that I would now be a Mallorcan leftie, suspicious of and antagonistic towards tourism, wedded to the beardie fringe of the environment, speaking only a Mallorquín Catalan and practising my Mallorcan bagpipes to the annoyance of the neighbours. I am actually full of admiration for those with ideals, even those that seem somewhat nuts.
There was this interview on Sunday in "The Bulletin". Chances are it won't appear on the paper's website** or if it does it will soon disappear from cyberspace, given a less-than-rigorous approach to archiving. Shame, it was not without interest. The subject of the interview was one Lucy Jane Collyer, British-born but Mallorcan-grown, so to speak. She is 27, became politically active at university and is now a member of the PSM Mallorcan socialists. I can, you might find this hard to believe, connect with what she has to say, the PSM standing for social justice, the preservation of the environment and the protection of the (Catalan) language and culture. I can also agree with what she says about tourism, inasmuch as she refers to the need for "sustainable development and the development of new and alternative industries to tourism on which we have become so dependent". I also agree with her when she dismisses the idea of President Antich calling an early election, even if there might be a touch of party self-interest here, given that the PSM has secured itself a couple of healthy ministries since the Unió Mallorquina (UM) were shown the door.
** It hasn't.
All of this is fine. Where I start to have problems though are with the fact that certain issues are simply not explored. Take this one. The PSM is a member of the European Free Alliance, a European grouping comprising some credible parties such as the Scottish National Party and others that are crackpots. Lucy is to present a motion to the alliance on something called "regional insularity". What on earth is this? Insularity, by definition, means inward-looking or narrow-minded. Is this what is actually meant? It seems to imply, and there is a later reference to the support for local produce and farmers and the like, something of a back-to-the-future autarky - self-sufficiency if you prefer. It is hard to know because the subject hasn't been explored. Raise the "insularity" flag and someone should be asking some tough questions.
Then take the issue of nationalism. Behind a photo of Lucy is the party's banner "PSM Entesa Nacionalista". The PSM is a nationalist party. All we get though is that nationalism doesn't mean what it means to the English (the BNP presumably) and that it is different to the nationalism of the PSM's great rivals, the UM. To the English, the nationalism of the lunatic far right is quite different to the sensible left-of-centre SNP. But there is still confusion. What actually is nationalism? And in the Mallorcan context, what does it mean? In one respect, it makes no sense. How can an island - an island, mind - with no sense of or aspirations to nationhood spawn not one but two "nationalist" parties? Or maybe there is such an aspiration. Who knows?
In the article, Lucy says that the PSM wants "to include all members of society ... regardless of there (sic) origins". In other words it is open to all. Great. But it is not good enough to declare this openness by pointing out that a Briton, albeit one brought up in Mallorca, enjoys a prominent position in the party or that the UM once spoke about Mallorca being for Mallorcans. The Catalan issue, for example, is one that can and does alienate and deter those who might have sympathy for the PSM's nationalism, whatever this is. Protecting the language, fine, but go to the PSM's website and it is all in Catalan. No nod in the direction of Castilian or English or German. Like so many other bodies, town halls for example, who might profess inclusiveness, the PSM fails on account of its linguistic dogma. And one keeps coming back to what is meant by its brand of nationalism. The interview missed a golden opportunity to explore this and its implications for those from other countries.
The PSM and the UM are far more interesting political phenomena than the national parties, the Partido Popular and the PSOE. Far more interesting because of trying to understand what they stand for (and in the case of the UM because it's currently up to its neck in the brown stuff of corruption) and because they have a mutual hostility in seeking to claim the nationalist ground. But it's still hard to really say what either of them truly represents. And what either of them means by nationalism. Regional insularity, anyone? Worrying. Or it might be if we knew what the hell it meant.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
However, had I grown up in Mallorca, had I grown up in the past three decades in Mallorca, and had I gone to university, I can well believe that I would now be a Mallorcan leftie, suspicious of and antagonistic towards tourism, wedded to the beardie fringe of the environment, speaking only a Mallorquín Catalan and practising my Mallorcan bagpipes to the annoyance of the neighbours. I am actually full of admiration for those with ideals, even those that seem somewhat nuts.
There was this interview on Sunday in "The Bulletin". Chances are it won't appear on the paper's website** or if it does it will soon disappear from cyberspace, given a less-than-rigorous approach to archiving. Shame, it was not without interest. The subject of the interview was one Lucy Jane Collyer, British-born but Mallorcan-grown, so to speak. She is 27, became politically active at university and is now a member of the PSM Mallorcan socialists. I can, you might find this hard to believe, connect with what she has to say, the PSM standing for social justice, the preservation of the environment and the protection of the (Catalan) language and culture. I can also agree with what she says about tourism, inasmuch as she refers to the need for "sustainable development and the development of new and alternative industries to tourism on which we have become so dependent". I also agree with her when she dismisses the idea of President Antich calling an early election, even if there might be a touch of party self-interest here, given that the PSM has secured itself a couple of healthy ministries since the Unió Mallorquina (UM) were shown the door.
** It hasn't.
All of this is fine. Where I start to have problems though are with the fact that certain issues are simply not explored. Take this one. The PSM is a member of the European Free Alliance, a European grouping comprising some credible parties such as the Scottish National Party and others that are crackpots. Lucy is to present a motion to the alliance on something called "regional insularity". What on earth is this? Insularity, by definition, means inward-looking or narrow-minded. Is this what is actually meant? It seems to imply, and there is a later reference to the support for local produce and farmers and the like, something of a back-to-the-future autarky - self-sufficiency if you prefer. It is hard to know because the subject hasn't been explored. Raise the "insularity" flag and someone should be asking some tough questions.
Then take the issue of nationalism. Behind a photo of Lucy is the party's banner "PSM Entesa Nacionalista". The PSM is a nationalist party. All we get though is that nationalism doesn't mean what it means to the English (the BNP presumably) and that it is different to the nationalism of the PSM's great rivals, the UM. To the English, the nationalism of the lunatic far right is quite different to the sensible left-of-centre SNP. But there is still confusion. What actually is nationalism? And in the Mallorcan context, what does it mean? In one respect, it makes no sense. How can an island - an island, mind - with no sense of or aspirations to nationhood spawn not one but two "nationalist" parties? Or maybe there is such an aspiration. Who knows?
In the article, Lucy says that the PSM wants "to include all members of society ... regardless of there (sic) origins". In other words it is open to all. Great. But it is not good enough to declare this openness by pointing out that a Briton, albeit one brought up in Mallorca, enjoys a prominent position in the party or that the UM once spoke about Mallorca being for Mallorcans. The Catalan issue, for example, is one that can and does alienate and deter those who might have sympathy for the PSM's nationalism, whatever this is. Protecting the language, fine, but go to the PSM's website and it is all in Catalan. No nod in the direction of Castilian or English or German. Like so many other bodies, town halls for example, who might profess inclusiveness, the PSM fails on account of its linguistic dogma. And one keeps coming back to what is meant by its brand of nationalism. The interview missed a golden opportunity to explore this and its implications for those from other countries.
The PSM and the UM are far more interesting political phenomena than the national parties, the Partido Popular and the PSOE. Far more interesting because of trying to understand what they stand for (and in the case of the UM because it's currently up to its neck in the brown stuff of corruption) and because they have a mutual hostility in seeking to claim the nationalist ground. But it's still hard to really say what either of them truly represents. And what either of them means by nationalism. Regional insularity, anyone? Worrying. Or it might be if we knew what the hell it meant.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
An Ice-Pick In The Head - Mallorca And Coalition Politics
At the risk of over-doing the political angle, when it appears that there is a collective failure to see the point, I feel I have to say something. It's this coalition politics deal, the one that is said to blight Mallorcan politics. I'll set to one side the corruption aspect, because it's irrelevant in this context - as I said the other day. The argument goes, in Mallorca, that the diversity of political parties that constitute governments is bound to lead to failure. The current regional government administration comprises three elements - the PSOE socialists (the coalition leaders and providers of the president), the left-wing Bloc (itself a mish-mash of minor parties) and the centre-right Unió Mallorquina, the ones who have caused the problems because of the corruption cases and not because of ... in-fighting.
It is this, in-fighting, which goes to the heart of the anti-coalition argument, and was one expounded in the weekly yes-no interlude in "The Bulletin" yesterday. The point of this debate was that both sides are missing the point, as do others who constantly harp on about the propensity for in-fighting caused by coalition. Let's get it clear. There is in-fighting, there is bound to be in-fighting. It may be exacerbated by having a collection of competing political ideologies defined along separate party lines, but coalitions are not the only forms of government which give rise to in-fighting. All forms of government do. Politics, by nature, is about in-fighting. Politics is the collision of ego and power-grabbing and therefore in-fighting.
Simple-majority governments are no less immune. Go ask John Major about the "bastards" or Michael Portillo and his rapidly created office when Major looked to be on the point of going. Ask the Tories about Europe. Ask Gordon Brown or Tony Blair about each other. All in-fighting. Blair attempted to impose discipline on New Labour and succeeded for a while, but gave rise to the obscenity of the set pieces at PMQs and the fawning of the Blair Babes; it was not democratic, but a form of brainwashed groupthink. Go back a bit further to Kinnock and his obscenity - of letters of redundancy being sent out by taxi, all to the background of Derek Hatton shouting his mouth off, Eric Heffer walking out and the Militant tendency being dispatched into oblivion.
Political parties are not uniform. The Conservative Party has long been known for its "broad church". Labour may have lost some of its more extreme elements, but is still a thing of left and right. In-fighting cannot be completely controlled out, whatever style of government obtains. Even totalitarian regimes can't manage it. Go ask, were you able to, Leon Trotsky. What did he get for his troubles? An ice-pick in the head. At least politics is a bit less violent these days; well, in the "civilised" world at any rate. Essentially, though, any political party exists as an artifice; one of a superficially shared value but one, nevertheless, exploited by its individual members for the gain of power and prestige. So also does a coalition or any form of government.
Democracies create imperfect forms of government. Yet there is no "perfect" form of government, just as there is no "perfect" electoral system. Coalition works reasonably well where the philosophy of consensus exists, such as in Germany. Coalition or majority, it is the art of compromise that is often its saviour. And compromise can only come from a mature and stable political mindset, that of the individual politician. It is this, the - if you like - psychological and philosophical capability to set aside ideologies in pursuit of the greater good that allows whatever form of government to function.
A more pertinent question, in the Mallorcan and Balearics context, is whether there exists sufficient maturity, on behalf of politicians from a multiplicity of parties, small and large, to allow for government to function effectively. It is not just personal maturity but also systemic maturity; democracy is still a relatively recent phenomenon. One might argue that 30 years is long enough. Perhaps so, or perhaps not. Perhaps they are still feeling their way towards a more effective management of the political system. Whatever the case, it is wrong to blame the style of government and therefore Mallorcan politics as a whole, or to use the convenient but largely misunderstood accusation of in-fighting as a reason for somehow dismantling the system. Let them get on with it. They'll get there in the end. Maybe.
QUIZ
Today's title - which group sang about Trotsky and an ice-pick? Very easy.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
It is this, in-fighting, which goes to the heart of the anti-coalition argument, and was one expounded in the weekly yes-no interlude in "The Bulletin" yesterday. The point of this debate was that both sides are missing the point, as do others who constantly harp on about the propensity for in-fighting caused by coalition. Let's get it clear. There is in-fighting, there is bound to be in-fighting. It may be exacerbated by having a collection of competing political ideologies defined along separate party lines, but coalitions are not the only forms of government which give rise to in-fighting. All forms of government do. Politics, by nature, is about in-fighting. Politics is the collision of ego and power-grabbing and therefore in-fighting.
Simple-majority governments are no less immune. Go ask John Major about the "bastards" or Michael Portillo and his rapidly created office when Major looked to be on the point of going. Ask the Tories about Europe. Ask Gordon Brown or Tony Blair about each other. All in-fighting. Blair attempted to impose discipline on New Labour and succeeded for a while, but gave rise to the obscenity of the set pieces at PMQs and the fawning of the Blair Babes; it was not democratic, but a form of brainwashed groupthink. Go back a bit further to Kinnock and his obscenity - of letters of redundancy being sent out by taxi, all to the background of Derek Hatton shouting his mouth off, Eric Heffer walking out and the Militant tendency being dispatched into oblivion.
Political parties are not uniform. The Conservative Party has long been known for its "broad church". Labour may have lost some of its more extreme elements, but is still a thing of left and right. In-fighting cannot be completely controlled out, whatever style of government obtains. Even totalitarian regimes can't manage it. Go ask, were you able to, Leon Trotsky. What did he get for his troubles? An ice-pick in the head. At least politics is a bit less violent these days; well, in the "civilised" world at any rate. Essentially, though, any political party exists as an artifice; one of a superficially shared value but one, nevertheless, exploited by its individual members for the gain of power and prestige. So also does a coalition or any form of government.
Democracies create imperfect forms of government. Yet there is no "perfect" form of government, just as there is no "perfect" electoral system. Coalition works reasonably well where the philosophy of consensus exists, such as in Germany. Coalition or majority, it is the art of compromise that is often its saviour. And compromise can only come from a mature and stable political mindset, that of the individual politician. It is this, the - if you like - psychological and philosophical capability to set aside ideologies in pursuit of the greater good that allows whatever form of government to function.
A more pertinent question, in the Mallorcan and Balearics context, is whether there exists sufficient maturity, on behalf of politicians from a multiplicity of parties, small and large, to allow for government to function effectively. It is not just personal maturity but also systemic maturity; democracy is still a relatively recent phenomenon. One might argue that 30 years is long enough. Perhaps so, or perhaps not. Perhaps they are still feeling their way towards a more effective management of the political system. Whatever the case, it is wrong to blame the style of government and therefore Mallorcan politics as a whole, or to use the convenient but largely misunderstood accusation of in-fighting as a reason for somehow dismantling the system. Let them get on with it. They'll get there in the end. Maybe.
QUIZ
Today's title - which group sang about Trotsky and an ice-pick? Very easy.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Monday, November 17, 2008
Heart And Soul
The town of Campos does not feature on this blog as a rule. You wouldn't necessarily expect it to. Campos, for those who don't know, is in the south-east of the island; the municipality includes Sa Rapita in its coastal areas. It is not a town of major tourism; what there is, is relatively low-key, though the municipality can boast what is one of the finest beaches on the island - Es Trenc.
Campos had put forward a plan for a golf development to include a hotel, apartments, swimming pool and tennis courts. The plan was to site this on an area of virgin territory called Son Baco. That was the plan. It has been rejected by the head of the Mallorca Council, the argument being that it was not something needed by the people of Mallorca. The mayor of Campos, Guillem Ginard, has denounced the decision, stating that the situation in Campos is critical in economic and labour terms, that the municipality is never allowed to do anything, and that the development was compatible with a drive towards quality tourism (to include golf) supported by the Unió Mallorquina (UM) party. The mayor is a member of this party, the head of the Mallorca Council represents the socialists. Golf, it should be remembered, is one of the key elements the Mallorca tourism authorities have in mind in promoting new forms of tourism.
This story throws up a whole host of issues. It highlights political divisions; it raises questions as to a commitment to a "different" type of tourism about which one hears so much; it appears to undermine the scope for individual towns to determine their own tourism futures; it raises doubts as to the possibility of using land for any really meaningful future tourism developments; it also highlights the influence of the environmental lobby. It is an important story, and it may also have consequences for the still ongoing debate regarding a similar development - that of the conversion of the Son Bosc finca by Playa de Muro into a golf course.
As far as the Muro course is concerned, I have argued here that it is unnecessary, simply because of the proximity of other courses. The Son Bosc plan has never been about a whole development (of hotel etc.), which was the case with the also rejected plan for a golf course on the Son Real finca next to Can Picafort. There is a question mark as to whether Mallorca does indeed need any more golf courses; there is also a question mark as to whether Mallorca is really a destination of choice for the golfing tourist who has facilities on the mainland and in other countries generally superior to those in Mallorca. But the Campos case is rather different in that it had been conceived as an integrated development that the likes of Portugal have and which do indeed attract a strong golfing tourism. The mere fact of isolated golf courses, such as those in Alcanada or Pollensa (or in Muro), is not a great argument for golf tourism; an integrated development, on the other hand, is. If golf is to be a way forward for the island, then a mix of leisure activities for a wider tourism base is more attractive than a course tucked away for a more exclusive and small-niched clientele.
It is hard to discern exactly from which hymn sheet the politicians are singing. President Antich (socialists) refers to new "attractions"; the UM leader, Miquel Nadal, the tourism minister, is party to the notion of "different" tourism; the godmother of the party, María Antonia Munar, once spoke, in unashamedly elitist terms, about the island being interested only in "wealthy" tourists; Francina Armengol (socialists), leader of the Mallorca council, rejects the Campos development; the mayor of Campos objects; in Muro, different factions have been warring over Son Bosc project. It is not difficult to conclude that, in the case of Sra. Armengol, the protestations of the environmental protest group, GOB, may have had a strong influence. Ginard argues that GOB speaks for a minority, that it has a negative impact on tourism and that, if it wishes to intrude onto the political agenda, it should form its own party. I alluded to such a development on 13 October (Bang Bang, You Shot Me Down), dismissing the idea, as the group would then be forced into becoming "less one-eyed". Sympathetic though I may be to much environmentalism, I am also deeply wary of environmental tyranny, and GOB can be accused of this and of distorting the political process.
When Armengol speaks of the needs of the people of Mallorca, which "people" is she referring to? Not, it would seem, the people of Campos; she accepts that the town does actually want this golf development. Ginard has a beef with what he sees as one rule for one, and one rule for another, by which he means the fact that developments can occur and have occurred elsewhere. Take a map of Mallorca and stick pins onto it that denote the island's attractions, and you will soon see the pattern - the cluster in Palma and its neighbour Calvia, and the sporadic ones in the rest of the island. In the north, Alcúdia can be said to have only one real "attraction" of anything like an important tourism nature - and that is its waterpark. Pollensa has none. Muro, despite the presence of the Albufera nature park, also has none. Perhaps this is why some at the town hall so badly seem to want a golf course.
The Palma- and Calvia-centricity of attractions has led to a disproportionality in tourism distribution and also to the economic benefits that could be derived from greater balance. When one hears calls for the town halls to be more proactive in tourism promotion, one is inclined to ask what would they be promoting. I continue to flatly reject the notion that Mallorca has a future in the various niches of tourism that get bandied about, other than as add-ons. The island's brand, and by extension that of its towns, is tied up with the trappings of mass tourism, and so is the island's future. It is necessary, therefore, to enable the town halls, if they so wish, to pursue developments in line with such a brand. The needs of the people of Mallorca, whether they truly appreciate it or not, or whether Sra. Armengol is willing to believe it, lie with mass tourism; they have for the past 40 years and will continue to do so.
The Campos golf plan may not have been tourism on a grand scale, but it was more in keeping with what one has come to understand is a golf development. But the principle of the development is as much the issue as what it is. Let us assume, for one moment, that, rather than golf, the plan had been for a theme park or a Center Parcs type development. It is doubtful that it would have ever got further than a town hall meeting room. Golf is the default "big idea", but the pursuit of ever more courses is not really what is required. The town halls, though, have become so neutered and deterred by another tyranny - that of golfing, cultural and other niche tourism - that they fall into the trap of "me-too" and groupthink plans. An altogether grander vision and altogether grander schemes are what are called for. And it seems not only to be me who is saying so. What are we to make of the strategy, as mentioned yesterday, by President Antich for more "attractions"? He surely doesn't have the odd golf course in mind; at least one would hope not.
There have been and will be more important stories to emerge this year, but the Campos case is important as it goes to the heart of so many issues, namely what sort of developments are needed, the intransigence of a non-pragmatic environmental lobby, the incoherence of political decision-making and the needs of local communities. It is important because it is a story, not just about a golf course, but also about the future soul of Mallorca - its abstract and its economic soul. It is not a story to be ignored.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Sade (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efdfGeUKXuU). Today's title - the one I'm looking for was by an American group that was big in the '80s.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Campos had put forward a plan for a golf development to include a hotel, apartments, swimming pool and tennis courts. The plan was to site this on an area of virgin territory called Son Baco. That was the plan. It has been rejected by the head of the Mallorca Council, the argument being that it was not something needed by the people of Mallorca. The mayor of Campos, Guillem Ginard, has denounced the decision, stating that the situation in Campos is critical in economic and labour terms, that the municipality is never allowed to do anything, and that the development was compatible with a drive towards quality tourism (to include golf) supported by the Unió Mallorquina (UM) party. The mayor is a member of this party, the head of the Mallorca Council represents the socialists. Golf, it should be remembered, is one of the key elements the Mallorca tourism authorities have in mind in promoting new forms of tourism.
This story throws up a whole host of issues. It highlights political divisions; it raises questions as to a commitment to a "different" type of tourism about which one hears so much; it appears to undermine the scope for individual towns to determine their own tourism futures; it raises doubts as to the possibility of using land for any really meaningful future tourism developments; it also highlights the influence of the environmental lobby. It is an important story, and it may also have consequences for the still ongoing debate regarding a similar development - that of the conversion of the Son Bosc finca by Playa de Muro into a golf course.
As far as the Muro course is concerned, I have argued here that it is unnecessary, simply because of the proximity of other courses. The Son Bosc plan has never been about a whole development (of hotel etc.), which was the case with the also rejected plan for a golf course on the Son Real finca next to Can Picafort. There is a question mark as to whether Mallorca does indeed need any more golf courses; there is also a question mark as to whether Mallorca is really a destination of choice for the golfing tourist who has facilities on the mainland and in other countries generally superior to those in Mallorca. But the Campos case is rather different in that it had been conceived as an integrated development that the likes of Portugal have and which do indeed attract a strong golfing tourism. The mere fact of isolated golf courses, such as those in Alcanada or Pollensa (or in Muro), is not a great argument for golf tourism; an integrated development, on the other hand, is. If golf is to be a way forward for the island, then a mix of leisure activities for a wider tourism base is more attractive than a course tucked away for a more exclusive and small-niched clientele.
It is hard to discern exactly from which hymn sheet the politicians are singing. President Antich (socialists) refers to new "attractions"; the UM leader, Miquel Nadal, the tourism minister, is party to the notion of "different" tourism; the godmother of the party, María Antonia Munar, once spoke, in unashamedly elitist terms, about the island being interested only in "wealthy" tourists; Francina Armengol (socialists), leader of the Mallorca council, rejects the Campos development; the mayor of Campos objects; in Muro, different factions have been warring over Son Bosc project. It is not difficult to conclude that, in the case of Sra. Armengol, the protestations of the environmental protest group, GOB, may have had a strong influence. Ginard argues that GOB speaks for a minority, that it has a negative impact on tourism and that, if it wishes to intrude onto the political agenda, it should form its own party. I alluded to such a development on 13 October (Bang Bang, You Shot Me Down), dismissing the idea, as the group would then be forced into becoming "less one-eyed". Sympathetic though I may be to much environmentalism, I am also deeply wary of environmental tyranny, and GOB can be accused of this and of distorting the political process.
When Armengol speaks of the needs of the people of Mallorca, which "people" is she referring to? Not, it would seem, the people of Campos; she accepts that the town does actually want this golf development. Ginard has a beef with what he sees as one rule for one, and one rule for another, by which he means the fact that developments can occur and have occurred elsewhere. Take a map of Mallorca and stick pins onto it that denote the island's attractions, and you will soon see the pattern - the cluster in Palma and its neighbour Calvia, and the sporadic ones in the rest of the island. In the north, Alcúdia can be said to have only one real "attraction" of anything like an important tourism nature - and that is its waterpark. Pollensa has none. Muro, despite the presence of the Albufera nature park, also has none. Perhaps this is why some at the town hall so badly seem to want a golf course.
The Palma- and Calvia-centricity of attractions has led to a disproportionality in tourism distribution and also to the economic benefits that could be derived from greater balance. When one hears calls for the town halls to be more proactive in tourism promotion, one is inclined to ask what would they be promoting. I continue to flatly reject the notion that Mallorca has a future in the various niches of tourism that get bandied about, other than as add-ons. The island's brand, and by extension that of its towns, is tied up with the trappings of mass tourism, and so is the island's future. It is necessary, therefore, to enable the town halls, if they so wish, to pursue developments in line with such a brand. The needs of the people of Mallorca, whether they truly appreciate it or not, or whether Sra. Armengol is willing to believe it, lie with mass tourism; they have for the past 40 years and will continue to do so.
The Campos golf plan may not have been tourism on a grand scale, but it was more in keeping with what one has come to understand is a golf development. But the principle of the development is as much the issue as what it is. Let us assume, for one moment, that, rather than golf, the plan had been for a theme park or a Center Parcs type development. It is doubtful that it would have ever got further than a town hall meeting room. Golf is the default "big idea", but the pursuit of ever more courses is not really what is required. The town halls, though, have become so neutered and deterred by another tyranny - that of golfing, cultural and other niche tourism - that they fall into the trap of "me-too" and groupthink plans. An altogether grander vision and altogether grander schemes are what are called for. And it seems not only to be me who is saying so. What are we to make of the strategy, as mentioned yesterday, by President Antich for more "attractions"? He surely doesn't have the odd golf course in mind; at least one would hope not.
There have been and will be more important stories to emerge this year, but the Campos case is important as it goes to the heart of so many issues, namely what sort of developments are needed, the intransigence of a non-pragmatic environmental lobby, the incoherence of political decision-making and the needs of local communities. It is important because it is a story, not just about a golf course, but also about the future soul of Mallorca - its abstract and its economic soul. It is not a story to be ignored.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Sade (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efdfGeUKXuU). Today's title - the one I'm looking for was by an American group that was big in the '80s.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Sunday, October 26, 2008
If The Summer Changed To Winter
The season is closing with the worst of weather; it's a shame for the last-dreg tourists who might have hoped to have caught a bit of decent sun. They are more likely to catch a cold. The shifts in weather in autumn are the originators of sniffles and sore throats; I should know, I had to get some antibiotics from the chemist yesterday. And resistance is lessened when sleep is disturbed, as it was two nights ago by a storm that came and then went on through most of the night and which deposited industrial quantities of rain. The forecast says it will get cold during the week. Snow (on the mountain tops) is not unusual this early; I mentioned such around the start of November last year.
The change in the weather brings with it a whole change in diet. Gone are the salads of summer, replaced by the "winter-warmers". It is possible to eat well and cheaply in winter if one opts for the staples of a Spanish diet that are often overlooked by the Brits. The chickpea, for instance, is an ancient part of Spanish cuisine. Go back to historical accounts around the time of the start of empire in the late fifteenth century, and you will discover that the nobility was eating chickpeas. While these and white beans and lentils can all be prepared, the easier route is the jar. They are dirt cheap; 60 centimos or so for a good-sized one. Chickpeas or beans or both with some pieces of local sausage or pork in a stew with stock or gravy, serve with some veg and you can even dispense with potatoes or rice, it's that filling. And it all costs very little. There may be a bit of a bowel attack later, but what the heck.
One thing you can get here easily is Bisto in its various flavours. This is a godsend. The alternatives - the Spanish or German gravies/stocks are either tasteless or are akin to eating your way through a salt mine. A cracking mix for taste is to add "tomate frito", a sort of halfway between a tomato sauce and a purée, and which is usually piled high in supermarkets. Without overdoing it, it is an excellent addition to most sauces or gravies. Cooking up a pea or pulse stew with the likes of broccoli or green beans (which can be quite dear at times) is about as healthy as it gets, except maybe the local sausage; broccoli and green beans, for instance, both rated 100 out of 100 in a recent listing of the most nutritious of food stuffs. Something else recent was a look at the Spanish menú del día by the equivalent of the Consumers' Association. It said that the menú was too heavily loaded in favour of carbs, if not necessarily of the legume variety. Hard for me to say, I've not had many, but when I have, they have usually always been good. One such at Bon Profit in Puerto Pollensa, to which I was taken by José at Bony, was difficult to get past the first course - the sopa mallorquina - which was that filling. Another goodie, as recommended by Seamus at No Frills, is Alhambra in Puerto Alcúdia. One of the most popular of all menús is that at Celler El Moli in Pollensa - a barn of a converted mill that is always full. These menús are never expensive, even if they are experiencing a bit of a slump just at the moment. I did, however, once have a menú which featured, as the main course, the local favourite of pork and cabbage. It was truly disgusting, unless, that is, you like pork with merely a hint of meat and cabbage that has been cooked into a yellow mush. "It's good for preventing cancer," said the lady owner who I know well and am very fond of and, for which reason, I am not going to mention the restaurant in question. Maybe so, but I can probably find other ways of avoiding it.
And as winter beckons, so there is something of a winter of discontent in the political ranks of the island. Following on from the sacking of the Unió Mallorquina's tourism minister from the Balearic Government, there are now not one, but two ministers involved with court cases involving alleged frauds. Of the three main parties, the only one that seems unaffected is the PSOE socialists (who lead the Balearic Government); the scandals relate to the nationalists and the Partido Popular. There is talk of an early election, as a consequence of these cases, but the president, Francesc Antich, is saying no - at the moment. An opinion poll suggests that, were there to be a snap election, the socialists would increase their representation. There is also talk of local rule being taken away and handed over to Madrid. I don't know how this could possibly be done; it would be a major constitutional crisis were it to be. Regional autonomy is enshrined in Spain's democracy; one disrupts it at one's peril, and it is most unlikely that it would happen. Yet, for all that, local democracy becomes imperilled by the accusations of corruption; they cut away at the basis of trust. But in truth, trust is not something that one can easily apply here. Scratch beneath the surface, and one fears that there is always something not quite right. Partly, one suspects, this is a hangover from the Franco days. Then, for instance, rules were there for the breaking, not least when it came to tax liabilities of the wealthy and powerful. There is also the incestuousness of an island community - the "networks" that existed and probably still do. Corrupt practices take time to be eradicated, especially when they were part of the fabric of public life. One might say, well it's been over 30 years. True, but attitudes can take a longer time to change than institutions or the law. There will be more cases, but they won't be a reason for centralising total political control on a remote part of mainland Spain.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - The Specials, "Ghost Town" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZ2oXzrnti4). Today's title - a line from a monster "prog" band; affirmative.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
The change in the weather brings with it a whole change in diet. Gone are the salads of summer, replaced by the "winter-warmers". It is possible to eat well and cheaply in winter if one opts for the staples of a Spanish diet that are often overlooked by the Brits. The chickpea, for instance, is an ancient part of Spanish cuisine. Go back to historical accounts around the time of the start of empire in the late fifteenth century, and you will discover that the nobility was eating chickpeas. While these and white beans and lentils can all be prepared, the easier route is the jar. They are dirt cheap; 60 centimos or so for a good-sized one. Chickpeas or beans or both with some pieces of local sausage or pork in a stew with stock or gravy, serve with some veg and you can even dispense with potatoes or rice, it's that filling. And it all costs very little. There may be a bit of a bowel attack later, but what the heck.
One thing you can get here easily is Bisto in its various flavours. This is a godsend. The alternatives - the Spanish or German gravies/stocks are either tasteless or are akin to eating your way through a salt mine. A cracking mix for taste is to add "tomate frito", a sort of halfway between a tomato sauce and a purée, and which is usually piled high in supermarkets. Without overdoing it, it is an excellent addition to most sauces or gravies. Cooking up a pea or pulse stew with the likes of broccoli or green beans (which can be quite dear at times) is about as healthy as it gets, except maybe the local sausage; broccoli and green beans, for instance, both rated 100 out of 100 in a recent listing of the most nutritious of food stuffs. Something else recent was a look at the Spanish menú del día by the equivalent of the Consumers' Association. It said that the menú was too heavily loaded in favour of carbs, if not necessarily of the legume variety. Hard for me to say, I've not had many, but when I have, they have usually always been good. One such at Bon Profit in Puerto Pollensa, to which I was taken by José at Bony, was difficult to get past the first course - the sopa mallorquina - which was that filling. Another goodie, as recommended by Seamus at No Frills, is Alhambra in Puerto Alcúdia. One of the most popular of all menús is that at Celler El Moli in Pollensa - a barn of a converted mill that is always full. These menús are never expensive, even if they are experiencing a bit of a slump just at the moment. I did, however, once have a menú which featured, as the main course, the local favourite of pork and cabbage. It was truly disgusting, unless, that is, you like pork with merely a hint of meat and cabbage that has been cooked into a yellow mush. "It's good for preventing cancer," said the lady owner who I know well and am very fond of and, for which reason, I am not going to mention the restaurant in question. Maybe so, but I can probably find other ways of avoiding it.
And as winter beckons, so there is something of a winter of discontent in the political ranks of the island. Following on from the sacking of the Unió Mallorquina's tourism minister from the Balearic Government, there are now not one, but two ministers involved with court cases involving alleged frauds. Of the three main parties, the only one that seems unaffected is the PSOE socialists (who lead the Balearic Government); the scandals relate to the nationalists and the Partido Popular. There is talk of an early election, as a consequence of these cases, but the president, Francesc Antich, is saying no - at the moment. An opinion poll suggests that, were there to be a snap election, the socialists would increase their representation. There is also talk of local rule being taken away and handed over to Madrid. I don't know how this could possibly be done; it would be a major constitutional crisis were it to be. Regional autonomy is enshrined in Spain's democracy; one disrupts it at one's peril, and it is most unlikely that it would happen. Yet, for all that, local democracy becomes imperilled by the accusations of corruption; they cut away at the basis of trust. But in truth, trust is not something that one can easily apply here. Scratch beneath the surface, and one fears that there is always something not quite right. Partly, one suspects, this is a hangover from the Franco days. Then, for instance, rules were there for the breaking, not least when it came to tax liabilities of the wealthy and powerful. There is also the incestuousness of an island community - the "networks" that existed and probably still do. Corrupt practices take time to be eradicated, especially when they were part of the fabric of public life. One might say, well it's been over 30 years. True, but attitudes can take a longer time to change than institutions or the law. There will be more cases, but they won't be a reason for centralising total political control on a remote part of mainland Spain.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - The Specials, "Ghost Town" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZ2oXzrnti4). Today's title - a line from a monster "prog" band; affirmative.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Monday, October 20, 2008
Viva La Vida
There was a piece in the "Diario" a few days ago that was accompanied by a photo. One has often to be careful with such photos - maybe they've been set up - but let's allow for authenticity. What it showed were people scavenging through large refuse containers near to the weekly market in an unnamed town in Mallorca. The current economic malaise of rising unemployment, allied to the credit crunch and the onset of recession is as evident here as it might be elsewhere. And in a few days, the queues for unemployment benefit and social security help will stretch further than they normally do at the start of November; the appalling caravans of humanity, shamed to having to stand outside the inadequate offices. I say this, yet, as I have noted before, there isn't quite the stigma here. People take the benefit as a right, and most arrive in the queues as though they were professional benefit-seekers, with files and documents neatly archived. But it only helps in emphasising the limits of seasonality, by which many live their lives. It is an untenable economic model.
The visitor to Mallorca, and quite a few expats cocooned from reality, never appreciate the other side of life here; the winter side. It's always been there, but as economic misery descends, the winter side's desperation is only exaggerated. And also exaggerated are the disparities. I'm beginning to get angry at the adverts in the likes of "The Sunday Times" for vast palaces at vast prices aimed only at the wealthy incomer. And I am an incomer. God knows what the average Mallorcan makes of it. I flatly refute the notion that just because Mallorca can attract some hyper-wealthy people to purchase some gated pile, that this is an indication of the island's enduring economic strength. It is nothing of the sort.
A while ago, a politician, demonstrating rather greater possible prescience than is normal for the local political class, was concerned enough by the deteriorating economic situation to suggest that it could give rise to more crime. It's hardly an earth-shattering prediction. Those scavenging through market rubbish containers might wish to embellish their "income" by means of a bit of breaking and entering, too.
In the past days and weeks, there have been stories of political corruption, major drugs busts, the pursuit of Russian mafia (a house was raided in El Toro the other day). There has also been much about immigration, the new limits to be imposed and the incentives for some to leave. Immigration is, as I've mentioned previously, the top issue of concern for most Mallorcans. There is a toxicity not just of debt in the financial markets everywhere but also in the juxtaposition of circumstances here. The only element missing from this potentially volatile cocktail is a populist voice that would highlight all these and perhaps make the Diario's scavengers look further afield for a different form of redemption.
A winter wonderland? It is if you keep your eyes closed.
THE IRON MAIDEN MASCOT STORY
Some of you may have missed the story of the town of Villava in Navarre where meetings at the town hall are conducted in a manner not far removed from the kindergarten. The socialist group, taking exception to a Basque separatist flag being displayed by those of a Basque separatist persuasion, have responded by bringing in the image of Iron Maiden's "Eddie" mascot, a skeletal figure of heavy-metal provenance. The other way of looking at this is that, far from childish, such displays should be a requirement of local politics. Engaging with the electorate on the basis of musical preference could make such politics far more open and accessible than it currently is. Accordingly, and assuming the socialists everywhere prefer heavy metal, then perhaps the Partido Popular could opt for being the party of Coldplay, or something equally as bland. The Mallorcan nationalists would doubtless wish to be the party of local folk music, but with a club dance dimension for the "yoof" Mallorcan populace. When it comes to elections, they could just set up a website with the musical offerings of each party, and whichever achieves the greatest number of downloads is the winner. Vota viva! Viva la vida! Or, on the other hand, maybe not such a good idea.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Buddy Holly. Today's title - don't vote for them.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
The visitor to Mallorca, and quite a few expats cocooned from reality, never appreciate the other side of life here; the winter side. It's always been there, but as economic misery descends, the winter side's desperation is only exaggerated. And also exaggerated are the disparities. I'm beginning to get angry at the adverts in the likes of "The Sunday Times" for vast palaces at vast prices aimed only at the wealthy incomer. And I am an incomer. God knows what the average Mallorcan makes of it. I flatly refute the notion that just because Mallorca can attract some hyper-wealthy people to purchase some gated pile, that this is an indication of the island's enduring economic strength. It is nothing of the sort.
A while ago, a politician, demonstrating rather greater possible prescience than is normal for the local political class, was concerned enough by the deteriorating economic situation to suggest that it could give rise to more crime. It's hardly an earth-shattering prediction. Those scavenging through market rubbish containers might wish to embellish their "income" by means of a bit of breaking and entering, too.
In the past days and weeks, there have been stories of political corruption, major drugs busts, the pursuit of Russian mafia (a house was raided in El Toro the other day). There has also been much about immigration, the new limits to be imposed and the incentives for some to leave. Immigration is, as I've mentioned previously, the top issue of concern for most Mallorcans. There is a toxicity not just of debt in the financial markets everywhere but also in the juxtaposition of circumstances here. The only element missing from this potentially volatile cocktail is a populist voice that would highlight all these and perhaps make the Diario's scavengers look further afield for a different form of redemption.
A winter wonderland? It is if you keep your eyes closed.
THE IRON MAIDEN MASCOT STORY
Some of you may have missed the story of the town of Villava in Navarre where meetings at the town hall are conducted in a manner not far removed from the kindergarten. The socialist group, taking exception to a Basque separatist flag being displayed by those of a Basque separatist persuasion, have responded by bringing in the image of Iron Maiden's "Eddie" mascot, a skeletal figure of heavy-metal provenance. The other way of looking at this is that, far from childish, such displays should be a requirement of local politics. Engaging with the electorate on the basis of musical preference could make such politics far more open and accessible than it currently is. Accordingly, and assuming the socialists everywhere prefer heavy metal, then perhaps the Partido Popular could opt for being the party of Coldplay, or something equally as bland. The Mallorcan nationalists would doubtless wish to be the party of local folk music, but with a club dance dimension for the "yoof" Mallorcan populace. When it comes to elections, they could just set up a website with the musical offerings of each party, and whichever achieves the greatest number of downloads is the winner. Vota viva! Viva la vida! Or, on the other hand, maybe not such a good idea.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Buddy Holly. Today's title - don't vote for them.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Vote For Me And I'll Set You Free
So, I had gone to pay for the coffees, and there was a familiar expat at the bar. He noticed the copy of "The Bulletin" and wondered what I was doing reading the paper, about which he was less than complimentary. The answer was because it has things in it that the Spanish or British press would not. And one of those things is its letters. This I explained to the chap at the bar. "A letter by Garry Bonsall." "Again!!?" was the response. It seemed somewhat surprising a response from someone who seemingly didn't read the paper, but be that as it may. The drift of the resultant argument was that there are certain expats who are driven by certain motives to appear regularly in the paper's letters section. The implication was that they should shut it - sending the letters, that is, as opposed to the paper.
It is fair to say that there are a few names that do appear regularly with their names appended to letters, but if they have something relevant to say, what is the problem? My friend at the bar considers it an exercise in oversized egos. One could take a different view, which is that they care, and are prepared to express this. The problem is that if someone sticks his or her head above the expat parapet, there are plenty who will delight in shooting it off. Perhaps this blog is merely an exercise in ego, too. If so, I shall, like the birds being hunted at the moment, watch out for rifles glinting in the autumn sun.
The English-speaking fourth estate in Mallorca, most obviously "The Bulletin", is the the most significant medium that British expatriates can use to voice their opinions. That only a few seem to choose to do so is neither their problem nor the paper's. But the question of motive is a fair one. And that brings me to what Dr. Bonsall had to say this time. In brief, his letter was a form of call to arms to expats to create associations (together with local people) in all the island's municipalities as a force to influence the local political process. The motive was political.
It is probably fair to say that the expat voice and vote is largely overlooked, and one reason for this is that the expat is generally apathetic. He is more interested in British politics than in a Spanish or local Mallorcan alternative. Even those who might be inclined to vote (as they can, assuming they are registered, in local and European elections) would probably find it challenging to know what the issues were. Certainly at a local municipal level, there is no mechanism to spell out in English what these might be, and, for most expats, that would be necessary, even for those with a reasonable grasp of Castilian or Catalan. The language effectively disenfranchises the expat, except where they choose on purely party grounds. And my guess would be that the favoured party would be the conservative Partido Popular. How many expats would vote for the nationalists, for example?
What Garry is arguing is that political parties prepared to support the agendas of these local associations would benefit from their vote. In certain instances, this might well prove to be decisive. His own association, the Gotmar residents in Puerto Pollensa, has a considerable beef with the nationalist-topped Pollensa town hall (it is actually a coalition). I don't know that it takes too much imagination to think which opposition party it may wish to talk to. There are, however, certain issues that this raises. Firstly, there are really only four municipalities in Mallorca where there is anything like a sizeable (UK) expat registered population. In order of size, these are Calvia (which includes the likes of Magalluf and Santa Ponsa), Palma (where the numbers are dwarfed anyway), Pollensa and Alcúdia. To give an example of the smallness in other towns, the figures for the start of 2007 showed that there were 2100 people from the UK registered in Pollensa and Alcúdia and five other places - Sa Pobla, Campanet, Búger, Muro and Santa Margalida. Of this total, only 17% reside in those five municipalities together. And these figures do not take account of those actually registered to vote; they are population statistics. In Pollensa and Alcúdia, the percentage of the town's populations made up of UK people is less than 10% in both cases. It is not insignificant, but would it ever amount to some sort of unified pressure group or voting bloc either municipal-wide or neighbourhood-based?
Even if one were to add on other expat nationalities, who is to say that there would be a harmonious and unanimous agenda? Take any group and rub them with politics and the likelihood is that they would form factions, whether on the basis of issues or nationality (if there were wider expat groups). With the Gotmar residents, who are multi-national, there are basically two issues - the town hall's apparent indifference to the state of amenities in the urbanisation and the perceived injustice of the pedestrianisation scheme as it affects them. They are issues around which unanimity can form. Yet is there not the potential for a certain bias to then be played out? Were a political party to say yes to their grievances, secure their vote and then win, what has happened to all the other issues in the municipality? The association may well be exercising a democratic right to press its claims, but at what cost to others? It would be a classic example of how single-issue (or double-issue if you prefer) politics can skew the practice of democracy. But this is to assume that the chosen political party would then indeed follow through. Promises and broken promises are the stuff of politics.
There is the potential also for this to be seen as the work of some uppity foreigners, even where the associations comprise Mallorcans as well. Let's assume that the Gotmar residents attracted the support of a party, voted for it, and it then won, with the Gotmar vote being seen as decisive in the election of a new mayor. It is not strange for self-interest to influence a vote and nor is it undemocratic, but Gotmar is recognised as an area of some affluence. Whether inclusive of Mallorcans or not, one could see the possibility of a degree of resentment among the wider electorate at the actions and influence of a vociferous and minted group that would inevitably be regarded as "foreign". A way of combatting this would be to present the Gotmar case in the context of a municipal-wide dissatisfaction with the present administration, though that would make what was just a neighbourhood group a de facto political entity. But effectively that is what it would have become anyway. Garry has said previously that his association is non-partisan in the political sense, but by auctioning off its vote to a particular party, does it not become partisan?
However, as a way of engaging the otherwise apathetic expat with local politics, there is probably merit in what is being proposed. There again, that chap at the bar. He turned back to his British newspaper and was going to head home for some bacon and eggs, and that would have been the end of the local politics for the day and probably the rest of the year. Just about sums it up.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Spandau Ballet (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLR9yyI9CHg). Today's title - line from something that shifted a famous record label towards a touch of psychedelia.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
It is fair to say that there are a few names that do appear regularly with their names appended to letters, but if they have something relevant to say, what is the problem? My friend at the bar considers it an exercise in oversized egos. One could take a different view, which is that they care, and are prepared to express this. The problem is that if someone sticks his or her head above the expat parapet, there are plenty who will delight in shooting it off. Perhaps this blog is merely an exercise in ego, too. If so, I shall, like the birds being hunted at the moment, watch out for rifles glinting in the autumn sun.
The English-speaking fourth estate in Mallorca, most obviously "The Bulletin", is the the most significant medium that British expatriates can use to voice their opinions. That only a few seem to choose to do so is neither their problem nor the paper's. But the question of motive is a fair one. And that brings me to what Dr. Bonsall had to say this time. In brief, his letter was a form of call to arms to expats to create associations (together with local people) in all the island's municipalities as a force to influence the local political process. The motive was political.
It is probably fair to say that the expat voice and vote is largely overlooked, and one reason for this is that the expat is generally apathetic. He is more interested in British politics than in a Spanish or local Mallorcan alternative. Even those who might be inclined to vote (as they can, assuming they are registered, in local and European elections) would probably find it challenging to know what the issues were. Certainly at a local municipal level, there is no mechanism to spell out in English what these might be, and, for most expats, that would be necessary, even for those with a reasonable grasp of Castilian or Catalan. The language effectively disenfranchises the expat, except where they choose on purely party grounds. And my guess would be that the favoured party would be the conservative Partido Popular. How many expats would vote for the nationalists, for example?
What Garry is arguing is that political parties prepared to support the agendas of these local associations would benefit from their vote. In certain instances, this might well prove to be decisive. His own association, the Gotmar residents in Puerto Pollensa, has a considerable beef with the nationalist-topped Pollensa town hall (it is actually a coalition). I don't know that it takes too much imagination to think which opposition party it may wish to talk to. There are, however, certain issues that this raises. Firstly, there are really only four municipalities in Mallorca where there is anything like a sizeable (UK) expat registered population. In order of size, these are Calvia (which includes the likes of Magalluf and Santa Ponsa), Palma (where the numbers are dwarfed anyway), Pollensa and Alcúdia. To give an example of the smallness in other towns, the figures for the start of 2007 showed that there were 2100 people from the UK registered in Pollensa and Alcúdia and five other places - Sa Pobla, Campanet, Búger, Muro and Santa Margalida. Of this total, only 17% reside in those five municipalities together. And these figures do not take account of those actually registered to vote; they are population statistics. In Pollensa and Alcúdia, the percentage of the town's populations made up of UK people is less than 10% in both cases. It is not insignificant, but would it ever amount to some sort of unified pressure group or voting bloc either municipal-wide or neighbourhood-based?
Even if one were to add on other expat nationalities, who is to say that there would be a harmonious and unanimous agenda? Take any group and rub them with politics and the likelihood is that they would form factions, whether on the basis of issues or nationality (if there were wider expat groups). With the Gotmar residents, who are multi-national, there are basically two issues - the town hall's apparent indifference to the state of amenities in the urbanisation and the perceived injustice of the pedestrianisation scheme as it affects them. They are issues around which unanimity can form. Yet is there not the potential for a certain bias to then be played out? Were a political party to say yes to their grievances, secure their vote and then win, what has happened to all the other issues in the municipality? The association may well be exercising a democratic right to press its claims, but at what cost to others? It would be a classic example of how single-issue (or double-issue if you prefer) politics can skew the practice of democracy. But this is to assume that the chosen political party would then indeed follow through. Promises and broken promises are the stuff of politics.
There is the potential also for this to be seen as the work of some uppity foreigners, even where the associations comprise Mallorcans as well. Let's assume that the Gotmar residents attracted the support of a party, voted for it, and it then won, with the Gotmar vote being seen as decisive in the election of a new mayor. It is not strange for self-interest to influence a vote and nor is it undemocratic, but Gotmar is recognised as an area of some affluence. Whether inclusive of Mallorcans or not, one could see the possibility of a degree of resentment among the wider electorate at the actions and influence of a vociferous and minted group that would inevitably be regarded as "foreign". A way of combatting this would be to present the Gotmar case in the context of a municipal-wide dissatisfaction with the present administration, though that would make what was just a neighbourhood group a de facto political entity. But effectively that is what it would have become anyway. Garry has said previously that his association is non-partisan in the political sense, but by auctioning off its vote to a particular party, does it not become partisan?
However, as a way of engaging the otherwise apathetic expat with local politics, there is probably merit in what is being proposed. There again, that chap at the bar. He turned back to his British newspaper and was going to head home for some bacon and eggs, and that would have been the end of the local politics for the day and probably the rest of the year. Just about sums it up.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Spandau Ballet (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLR9yyI9CHg). Today's title - line from something that shifted a famous record label towards a touch of psychedelia.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Friday, October 03, 2008
Bread And Circuses
My university had a collegiate system; it still does. What this meant was that, in addition to a central student union body politic, each of the college JCRs (junior common rooms) had a mirror political organisation. The "executives" typically comprised half-a-dozen elected "officials". Nowadays, I understand, these have more than doubled; there are even three social secretaries. How many social secretaries does it take to arrange a piss-up? Whatever.
As students, much of our politics was taken ultra seriously. Much of it was also interminably boring and utterly irrelevant. I was president of one of these JCRs. Occasionally, I would lapse into a bout of deranged seriousness before being dragged out of it by being reminded that I was also partly responsible for what was for those already politically correct days an outrageous alternative student publication. (And if one wonders as to some of the origins of contemporary British political correctness, the national student movement under Jack Straw and, in my time, Charles Clarke, is a good place to start.)
Student politics of that time were dominated by the Broad Left (anything from old-style Labour through to Marxist Communism), but the JCRs and the central union were pretty catholic in their executive make-up. Proportional representation and the single transferrable vote saw to it that the executives were coalitions of divergent political ideologies. One JCR was different; two to be exact. Both were "run" by a non-affilated grouping of which I was one. We had a hold over the two JCRs thanks to a wide network of mates, thanks to policies of "bread and circuses" to anaesthetise the masses, thanks to periodic character assassinations of opponents, thanks to the odd bit of manipulation here or there. We were, after a fashion, a nationalist local party who took power mainly for power's sake. We had fallings-out among ourselves, but never for policy reasons because there weren't any, other than making enormous amounts of alcohol dirt cheap. We did more or less as we liked. There were few checks and balances. General meetings that threatened censure were packed with supporters and the amenable, and the publications were under our control. In truth, we were probably more Stalinist than those who were card-carriers.
Local Mallorca politics is like student politics. It mirrors the real thing but is ultimately somewhat futile. Parties follow the mainstream and others are created out of perhaps honourable notions of representation of a people but are also the manifestation of power grab. For an island of some one million people, the number of "colleges" (the municipalities) is prolific; the smallness of the communities feeds the networks of mates who seek and support power. The municipalities can affect certain things, but they are also responsible for their own bread and circuses in the form of fiestas and fireworks; they are social secretariats writ large. There are questionable checks and balances, as the periodic scandals testify to. Ultimately, politics at town hall level and even island level defers to the centre when it comes to the really crucial issues, such as the current economic problems. At a practical level, the proliferation of centres of democracy and the existence of various party groupings spread whatever talent there is thin to the point of debatable existence.
Instinctively, I am drawn to the highly decentralised, local model of democracy, as it exists in Mallorca, but that is not to say that it doesn't have its faults. However, the party structure and the electoral system, which invariably results in coalition, make local politics a playground that imitates Madrid and give rise to in-fighting and cross-party fighting. Localness can lose a local focus when the politics becomes the main purpose. The checks and balances inherent to a coalition seem not to function when one party assumes and asserts greater power. Take the scandals. Theoretically, these should not arise under a system of cross-party executives, but they do. Even trifling matters, such as the use of Catalan only by the Pollensa town hall, as I mentioned the other day, should be challenged and prevented by non-nationalists, but they are not.
The alleged turmoil within the Unió Mallorquina, that has arisen because of the sacking of aides by the UM's tourism minister, and scandals, of which there are two more major ones floating around, have led some to question the purpose and sense of localism. While the party nature of local politics can undermine the credibility of the island's local democracy model, it is not necessarily the case that the scandals do. One reason for their arising is the greater force with which corruption is being tackled than used to be the case. It may once have been the case that those who acted in a corrupt or fraudulent manner would have believed that friends in high places would see to it that they were immune. Not any longer. The mates network is beginning to fall apart in this respect.
What needs to be taken into account is the youthfulness of Mallorcan and Spanish democracy. Thirty years and they are still finding their feet. Pollensa's engagement of an outside company to draw up its budgets may be an admission of lack of competence, but it is competent in admitting an independent analysis; it edges the town halls towards a system of external audit which would check not only the potential for misappropriation but also the dominance of one party's say-so.
There is much that is downright stupid about the island's local politics, but the hope is that, as the model matures and is shaped, that politics becomes less like that of the student JCR and more credible. In the wider scheme of things, it will always be "somewhat futile", but the closeness of democracy is a not unworthy aim and should not be swept away because of the apparent inability of some politicians to see eye to eye or because of scandals.
And still with Pollensa town hall, the pedestrianisation imbroglio now finds the Gotmar revolutionaries willing to indeed take legal action. Garry Bonsall may well feel that there is a chance of success; I hope he's right, it could be an expensive and lengthy process. The environmental pretext for challenging the town hall is one thing, the apparent lack of consultation is another. It is precisely this that should be a central plank of local democracy. If indeed it has not been conducted satisfactorily, then there is much to commend Garry's move. As a test case, it could help to define more clearly the responsibilities of town halls - all part of that maturing and shaping of the local political model.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - The Hollies. Today's title - English political folky.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
As students, much of our politics was taken ultra seriously. Much of it was also interminably boring and utterly irrelevant. I was president of one of these JCRs. Occasionally, I would lapse into a bout of deranged seriousness before being dragged out of it by being reminded that I was also partly responsible for what was for those already politically correct days an outrageous alternative student publication. (And if one wonders as to some of the origins of contemporary British political correctness, the national student movement under Jack Straw and, in my time, Charles Clarke, is a good place to start.)
Student politics of that time were dominated by the Broad Left (anything from old-style Labour through to Marxist Communism), but the JCRs and the central union were pretty catholic in their executive make-up. Proportional representation and the single transferrable vote saw to it that the executives were coalitions of divergent political ideologies. One JCR was different; two to be exact. Both were "run" by a non-affilated grouping of which I was one. We had a hold over the two JCRs thanks to a wide network of mates, thanks to policies of "bread and circuses" to anaesthetise the masses, thanks to periodic character assassinations of opponents, thanks to the odd bit of manipulation here or there. We were, after a fashion, a nationalist local party who took power mainly for power's sake. We had fallings-out among ourselves, but never for policy reasons because there weren't any, other than making enormous amounts of alcohol dirt cheap. We did more or less as we liked. There were few checks and balances. General meetings that threatened censure were packed with supporters and the amenable, and the publications were under our control. In truth, we were probably more Stalinist than those who were card-carriers.
Local Mallorca politics is like student politics. It mirrors the real thing but is ultimately somewhat futile. Parties follow the mainstream and others are created out of perhaps honourable notions of representation of a people but are also the manifestation of power grab. For an island of some one million people, the number of "colleges" (the municipalities) is prolific; the smallness of the communities feeds the networks of mates who seek and support power. The municipalities can affect certain things, but they are also responsible for their own bread and circuses in the form of fiestas and fireworks; they are social secretariats writ large. There are questionable checks and balances, as the periodic scandals testify to. Ultimately, politics at town hall level and even island level defers to the centre when it comes to the really crucial issues, such as the current economic problems. At a practical level, the proliferation of centres of democracy and the existence of various party groupings spread whatever talent there is thin to the point of debatable existence.
Instinctively, I am drawn to the highly decentralised, local model of democracy, as it exists in Mallorca, but that is not to say that it doesn't have its faults. However, the party structure and the electoral system, which invariably results in coalition, make local politics a playground that imitates Madrid and give rise to in-fighting and cross-party fighting. Localness can lose a local focus when the politics becomes the main purpose. The checks and balances inherent to a coalition seem not to function when one party assumes and asserts greater power. Take the scandals. Theoretically, these should not arise under a system of cross-party executives, but they do. Even trifling matters, such as the use of Catalan only by the Pollensa town hall, as I mentioned the other day, should be challenged and prevented by non-nationalists, but they are not.
The alleged turmoil within the Unió Mallorquina, that has arisen because of the sacking of aides by the UM's tourism minister, and scandals, of which there are two more major ones floating around, have led some to question the purpose and sense of localism. While the party nature of local politics can undermine the credibility of the island's local democracy model, it is not necessarily the case that the scandals do. One reason for their arising is the greater force with which corruption is being tackled than used to be the case. It may once have been the case that those who acted in a corrupt or fraudulent manner would have believed that friends in high places would see to it that they were immune. Not any longer. The mates network is beginning to fall apart in this respect.
What needs to be taken into account is the youthfulness of Mallorcan and Spanish democracy. Thirty years and they are still finding their feet. Pollensa's engagement of an outside company to draw up its budgets may be an admission of lack of competence, but it is competent in admitting an independent analysis; it edges the town halls towards a system of external audit which would check not only the potential for misappropriation but also the dominance of one party's say-so.
There is much that is downright stupid about the island's local politics, but the hope is that, as the model matures and is shaped, that politics becomes less like that of the student JCR and more credible. In the wider scheme of things, it will always be "somewhat futile", but the closeness of democracy is a not unworthy aim and should not be swept away because of the apparent inability of some politicians to see eye to eye or because of scandals.
And still with Pollensa town hall, the pedestrianisation imbroglio now finds the Gotmar revolutionaries willing to indeed take legal action. Garry Bonsall may well feel that there is a chance of success; I hope he's right, it could be an expensive and lengthy process. The environmental pretext for challenging the town hall is one thing, the apparent lack of consultation is another. It is precisely this that should be a central plank of local democracy. If indeed it has not been conducted satisfactorily, then there is much to commend Garry's move. As a test case, it could help to define more clearly the responsibilities of town halls - all part of that maturing and shaping of the local political model.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - The Hollies. Today's title - English political folky.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Monday, September 29, 2008
The Politics Of Dancing
Unless you happen to live here, and perhaps even if you do, you might have missed the fact that there is a little local difficulty for the Mallorcan national party (UM - Unió Mallorquina). In brief, the UM's minister for tourism in the Balearic Government sacked two aides (both also, as it happens, from the same party) without getting the ok from his party bosses. Quite why a minister, who one assumes to be responsible in various respects, has to have clearance from a higher authority over his own hiring and firing, I'm not sure, but be that as it may.
Given the coalition nature of Mallorcan politics, the sacking issue has caused something of a rumpus; the UM is part of the Balearic Government headed by the PSOE socialist party. This rumpus, apart from the internal aspect within the UM, has been placed in the political crisis category; at a time of economic difficulty and tourism uncertainty, the politicians should be focussing on these matters rather than their own positions - so it is argued. It is not a crisis; it is nothing of the sort. What it is, is a not untypical occurrence in politics, of an unexpected event then having political capital made out of it by opposition politicians and elements of the media who either have an alternative agenda or simply have nothing better to say. The tourism minister, Francesc Buils, seems to actually enjoy a degree of confidence within the industry he represents; and that is fairly untypical for many politicians, not least Mallorcan ones. For the time being, the minister and the aides have kept their posts (the aides having been bailed out of the dole queues by the party machine which had its collective nose put out of joint by Buils' action). Nevertheless, there is some justification to the argument that the UM should be pulling together rather than apart in helping the government during the present mess.
But what is the UM exactly?
Spanish and Mallorcan politics require coalitions to form governments. These do not always lead to natural bedfellows. The UM is the reason for the PSOE socialists holding ultimate power in Mallorca and the Balearics, yet its philosophy is to the right of centre. The UM is also a fractious band. When a new leader was being sought some months ago, there were three candidates, each representing a different sub-philosophy and - in general - a different region of the island. One of these candidates, Miquel Nadal, even took his bat home at one point and abandoned his candidature, only to make a comeback and finally become the party leader. His now second-in-command is another of those candidates, Miquel Ferrer, the mayor of Alcúdia, who, having failed in his leadership bid, was then to be photographed with a gritted smile through his gap teeth. The two Micks are not necessarily bosom buddies. Ferrer, it's not hard to imagine, looks to drop bombs from the north onto the southern Palma heartland of Nadal who could thank the outgoing leader for being her "boy" in securing the gig. The leadership election, though it may have been partly an ideological scrap, was as much about local power bases on the island; it was rather akin to warlords vying for mastery.
It is the case that any political party represents different strands of thinking - the "broad church" cliché - and these strands cause internal conflicts. But these are no more apparent in parties whose very existences are open to some question. What actually is the point of the UM? The simple answer, as implicit in its name, is that it is a national party - Mallorca for Mallorcans, or something like that. However, the UM does not possess a central rallying cry. It is not like, for example, the SNP in Scotland which has long held independence as a core objective. There is no independence movement in Mallorca or in the Balearics. The island has traditionally been conservative with both a small and a large "c". All the more surprising, therefore, that the socialists made gains during the last national elections. Perhaps this was a blip or perhaps it was an indication of a greater acceptance of more liberal social policies across the country that the PSOE represented. If so, it leaves the UM in even more a state of political vacuum than it already was.
The main raison d'être for the UM is one of preservation, that of small-c conservatism; this is preservation of language and tradition. It's a kind of politics of dancing; keep the ball de bot and the other folky stuff and the rest can look after itself. But for any political party in a modern-day economy, these are marginal matters. More important is the preservation of the island, and here the conflict of the inner mindset of the party causes the party's potential atrophy. By inclination, it may be pro market developments in advancing the island's economy but it is hamstrung by its disinclination to sanction anything that is seen to detract from the island "way of life" (define and discuss!). It tries to tread a balance between these competing objectives and ends up motionless.
In what is essentially a two-party democracy, which Spain, like the UK, is, other parties, including the regional ones, of which there are many, need an overarching sense of purpose. Though conservative, the Mallorcan people are not, as a majority, overly exercised by some of the marginal interests of the UM; the language debate, for example, is far less important to the average Mallorcan than it is portrayed by politicians. Yet the UM manages, at local level, to set an agenda through language that is both parochial and even in contravention of what is meant to occur. I was told a story about a complaint to the mayor of Pollensa regarding official documents being produced only in Catalan, as opposed to both Catalan and Castilian. This was met with the response that it was done this way because of nationalist pressure. It was a curious response in some ways, as the mayor, Joan Cerdà, is himself a UM member; he was a supporter of Ferrer's nomination as party leader. Maybe Cerdà is a realist, but he appears to bow to his party's myopia. Such things as the use only of Catalan may play well with a minority, but ultimately it appears rather petty and typically insular. Again, one comes back to the absence of some form of nationalist narrative that would make the UM a meaningful party, in the style, say, of the SNP. But this is beyond the UM as there is no demand for it, and the party knows that.
In a way, the UM is a political party by "me-too" default. It has been in existence since 1982, created, in part, as a result of the then collapsing national Union of the Democratic Centre (the shortlived post-Franco coalition that formed the initial democratic government) and also as the consequence of regional autonomy for the Balearics. It was as though, because there was regional government, it was felt there had to be a regional party. That it has had success is more the result of its merely being there as opposed to its serving any real need. The UM has not been a party of extremes, yet it has not been unknown to the occasional xenophobic outburst. "The Bulletin", in Ray Fleming's often interesting trawl through the paper's archives, refers to a comment nine years ago by María Antonia Munar, then head of the Mallorca council, now speaker of the Balearic Parliament and the former leader of the UM who supported Nadal's accession. She complained then of an "invasion of foreigners", and she seemed to have more in mind tourists than the more recent wave of immigrant workers and those from the expanded European Union.
The danger of a nationalist party that always lurks is of a shift further from the centre. Current economic problems, allied to issues regarding immigration, can be the fertile breeding ground of extremism. This is not to say that the UM would, as a party, countenance such a move - it is a party coloured by moderation - but it remains a possibility and would also address the apparent absence of an obvious narrative. The good news perhaps is that Mallorcan politics, like Spanish politics, does not tend to breed charismatic politicians. Nationally, since Gonzalez, there have been none. Locally, there are none. But it only takes one with a populist agenda.
For the time being, the UM acts as an alternative in local politics. As such, this is no bad thing, while it makes politics more homely for those who perceive the PSOE and PP as remote Madrid-based leviathans. It is also no bad thing that it seeks to defend things like the language, albeit that it can do so in a cack-handed fashion. There is nothing at all wrong with a local, nationalist party if its purpose is progressive and if it offers an agenda with which the franchised majority can empathise. But the Buils affair makes it look silly, as did the divisiveness of the leadership election. One is tempted to conclude that, at a time when the party should be pulling with rather than against, the very nature of the economic crisis consuming Mallorca demonstrates the party's inability to effect anything meaningful, save for its own wrangling.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - The Who (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0i7c8tjlIs). Today's title - one-hit wonders.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Given the coalition nature of Mallorcan politics, the sacking issue has caused something of a rumpus; the UM is part of the Balearic Government headed by the PSOE socialist party. This rumpus, apart from the internal aspect within the UM, has been placed in the political crisis category; at a time of economic difficulty and tourism uncertainty, the politicians should be focussing on these matters rather than their own positions - so it is argued. It is not a crisis; it is nothing of the sort. What it is, is a not untypical occurrence in politics, of an unexpected event then having political capital made out of it by opposition politicians and elements of the media who either have an alternative agenda or simply have nothing better to say. The tourism minister, Francesc Buils, seems to actually enjoy a degree of confidence within the industry he represents; and that is fairly untypical for many politicians, not least Mallorcan ones. For the time being, the minister and the aides have kept their posts (the aides having been bailed out of the dole queues by the party machine which had its collective nose put out of joint by Buils' action). Nevertheless, there is some justification to the argument that the UM should be pulling together rather than apart in helping the government during the present mess.
But what is the UM exactly?
Spanish and Mallorcan politics require coalitions to form governments. These do not always lead to natural bedfellows. The UM is the reason for the PSOE socialists holding ultimate power in Mallorca and the Balearics, yet its philosophy is to the right of centre. The UM is also a fractious band. When a new leader was being sought some months ago, there were three candidates, each representing a different sub-philosophy and - in general - a different region of the island. One of these candidates, Miquel Nadal, even took his bat home at one point and abandoned his candidature, only to make a comeback and finally become the party leader. His now second-in-command is another of those candidates, Miquel Ferrer, the mayor of Alcúdia, who, having failed in his leadership bid, was then to be photographed with a gritted smile through his gap teeth. The two Micks are not necessarily bosom buddies. Ferrer, it's not hard to imagine, looks to drop bombs from the north onto the southern Palma heartland of Nadal who could thank the outgoing leader for being her "boy" in securing the gig. The leadership election, though it may have been partly an ideological scrap, was as much about local power bases on the island; it was rather akin to warlords vying for mastery.
It is the case that any political party represents different strands of thinking - the "broad church" cliché - and these strands cause internal conflicts. But these are no more apparent in parties whose very existences are open to some question. What actually is the point of the UM? The simple answer, as implicit in its name, is that it is a national party - Mallorca for Mallorcans, or something like that. However, the UM does not possess a central rallying cry. It is not like, for example, the SNP in Scotland which has long held independence as a core objective. There is no independence movement in Mallorca or in the Balearics. The island has traditionally been conservative with both a small and a large "c". All the more surprising, therefore, that the socialists made gains during the last national elections. Perhaps this was a blip or perhaps it was an indication of a greater acceptance of more liberal social policies across the country that the PSOE represented. If so, it leaves the UM in even more a state of political vacuum than it already was.
The main raison d'être for the UM is one of preservation, that of small-c conservatism; this is preservation of language and tradition. It's a kind of politics of dancing; keep the ball de bot and the other folky stuff and the rest can look after itself. But for any political party in a modern-day economy, these are marginal matters. More important is the preservation of the island, and here the conflict of the inner mindset of the party causes the party's potential atrophy. By inclination, it may be pro market developments in advancing the island's economy but it is hamstrung by its disinclination to sanction anything that is seen to detract from the island "way of life" (define and discuss!). It tries to tread a balance between these competing objectives and ends up motionless.
In what is essentially a two-party democracy, which Spain, like the UK, is, other parties, including the regional ones, of which there are many, need an overarching sense of purpose. Though conservative, the Mallorcan people are not, as a majority, overly exercised by some of the marginal interests of the UM; the language debate, for example, is far less important to the average Mallorcan than it is portrayed by politicians. Yet the UM manages, at local level, to set an agenda through language that is both parochial and even in contravention of what is meant to occur. I was told a story about a complaint to the mayor of Pollensa regarding official documents being produced only in Catalan, as opposed to both Catalan and Castilian. This was met with the response that it was done this way because of nationalist pressure. It was a curious response in some ways, as the mayor, Joan Cerdà, is himself a UM member; he was a supporter of Ferrer's nomination as party leader. Maybe Cerdà is a realist, but he appears to bow to his party's myopia. Such things as the use only of Catalan may play well with a minority, but ultimately it appears rather petty and typically insular. Again, one comes back to the absence of some form of nationalist narrative that would make the UM a meaningful party, in the style, say, of the SNP. But this is beyond the UM as there is no demand for it, and the party knows that.
In a way, the UM is a political party by "me-too" default. It has been in existence since 1982, created, in part, as a result of the then collapsing national Union of the Democratic Centre (the shortlived post-Franco coalition that formed the initial democratic government) and also as the consequence of regional autonomy for the Balearics. It was as though, because there was regional government, it was felt there had to be a regional party. That it has had success is more the result of its merely being there as opposed to its serving any real need. The UM has not been a party of extremes, yet it has not been unknown to the occasional xenophobic outburst. "The Bulletin", in Ray Fleming's often interesting trawl through the paper's archives, refers to a comment nine years ago by María Antonia Munar, then head of the Mallorca council, now speaker of the Balearic Parliament and the former leader of the UM who supported Nadal's accession. She complained then of an "invasion of foreigners", and she seemed to have more in mind tourists than the more recent wave of immigrant workers and those from the expanded European Union.
The danger of a nationalist party that always lurks is of a shift further from the centre. Current economic problems, allied to issues regarding immigration, can be the fertile breeding ground of extremism. This is not to say that the UM would, as a party, countenance such a move - it is a party coloured by moderation - but it remains a possibility and would also address the apparent absence of an obvious narrative. The good news perhaps is that Mallorcan politics, like Spanish politics, does not tend to breed charismatic politicians. Nationally, since Gonzalez, there have been none. Locally, there are none. But it only takes one with a populist agenda.
For the time being, the UM acts as an alternative in local politics. As such, this is no bad thing, while it makes politics more homely for those who perceive the PSOE and PP as remote Madrid-based leviathans. It is also no bad thing that it seeks to defend things like the language, albeit that it can do so in a cack-handed fashion. There is nothing at all wrong with a local, nationalist party if its purpose is progressive and if it offers an agenda with which the franchised majority can empathise. But the Buils affair makes it look silly, as did the divisiveness of the leadership election. One is tempted to conclude that, at a time when the party should be pulling with rather than against, the very nature of the economic crisis consuming Mallorca demonstrates the party's inability to effect anything meaningful, save for its own wrangling.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - The Who (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0i7c8tjlIs). Today's title - one-hit wonders.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Monday, April 28, 2008
Can The Can
For an island that is literally built on construction (in addition to tourism), there is not always a glowing record in respect of public works. The Palma metro fiasco is perhaps the most prominent, but Alcúdia has also experienced its own little local difficulty.
The Can Ramis redevelopment was meant to have been something of a signature transformation, a statement of local, municipal pride. There were glossy brochures of what was to come - a new bus terminal, a new office for tourist information, a café (always a café). Well, they all might still yet come. But at present, all there is to show for the demolition of the old Can Ramis houses by the market square is a rather nice new pedestrianised "plaza" area and a building site, a building site which, apart from the presence of a couple of guys from Telefonica this morning, was singularly conspicuous by its lack of activity. This is not suspension-of-works-because-of-the-tourist-season lack of activity, this is lack of activity through ... well, through what exactly?
There is a fine old rumpus going on as a consequence of the way-behind-time re-development. From what I can make out from the local Spanish press and from what I've been told, the town hall had parted with a goodly amount of the final budget for the works, albeit that the Council of Mallorca is stumping up much of the ante. The money had gone to the builders, Crespi, a local firm and a not insignificant employer. Except they may no longer be. I was told, with a degree of certainty, that the company had gone bust, but the press reports of what is coming out of the town hall seem to infer these are rumours. I would have thought the town hall might have been keen to establish if there were real grounds to these rumours, given that the bulk of the 1.5 million euros had already been paid.
Needless to say, the opposition political party, the Partido Popular, blames the coalition of nationalists and socialists in the town hall. And there does at least seem to be some acceptance that the original budget was wrong. Wherever the responsibility lies for the mess that is Can Ramis, the fact is that it can't just be left as a building site. The mayor, while reminding everyone that the new plaza allows for an improved flow of tourists to the market each Tuesday and Sunday, admits that the works have to be finished and cannot be a building site all season. Well, it's going to be a building site all this season, that's for sure. As can be seen from the photo, there is nothing there at all. On closer inspection, there are some foundations but that's about it.
Still, I guess it's like this anywhere. At least, they are not building an Olympic village or Olympic stadia or any things as daft as those. Now there's real public works balls-up in the making.
QUIZ
Yesterday was Steppenwolf who took their name from which author? And because I still quite like the title as questions as well, who did today's title?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Monday, March 10, 2008
And The Winner Is ...
So in the end the economy and the shooting of Isaías Carrasco did not persuade the Spanish electorate to boot out the PSOE regime of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. The PSOE actually increased the number of deputies in Congress, as indeed did the opposition PP. The socialists now start the horse-trading with the minority parties, but they are assured of another coalition government and four more years in power.
The killing of the socialist councillor Carrasco, attributed to ETA, was, some said, likely to sway the voter towards the PP and towards its leader Mariano Rajoy who had made much of Zapatero being soft on terrorism. When the election was first announced and the potential threat of terrorism influencing the result was therefore raised, I argued that were there to be an act it might work in the PSOE's favour. If anything, this may indeed have happened. The electorate, this time round, has recognised the role of terrorists for what it is, a cynical means of attempting to undermine the democratic process, and the electorate has rejected this role, in the same way that it has rejected Rajoy's assertions regarding a lack of toughness on the part of Zapatero.
The failing economy gave the electorate a reason for booting out the PSOE, but it has stood by the party, which makes one wonder if the liberalism shown by the PSOE during its first four years is something that appeals to current-day Spain. Rajoy and the PP appear too much something of the past, of the Church and conservatism; the PSOE is more in tune with societal trends even if these bring it into conflict with the Church over issues such as divorce and same-sex marriages. The PP, despite spinning the result as being "satisfactory" in that they increased the number of deputies, has some soul-searching to do. Like its British Conservative counterpart, it needs to broaden its appeal and to find a leader who is more sympathetic than Rajoy.
That's the politics, but what of election night itself? The television presentation is, in some respects, similar to that for a UK election. Various graphics and computerised "swingometers", but two presenters who looked like they were presiding over the Eurovision Song Contest is not quite what one might expect of Dimbleby and Paxman. Then there were the abbreviations. They love abbreviations here. The election was therefore "E08" (elecciones 2008), the date was 9-M (9 March). The studio pundits were arranged in front of their own individual laptops, peering into them as though they were a bunch of people working in an estate-agent's office (what do estate agents find so vital that they have to look constantly at a PC screen?). The female moderator of the pundits had scrubbed up nicely. Looked a million dollars in fact. Perhaps she should have been presenting Eurovision.
There are none of the excruciating vote readings like in the UK, with the recording officer stumbling over the numbers and the nutter from the Monster Raving Loony Party wearing a Teletubbies outfit. Everything gets channelled through something called a data centre where another well-scrubbed female presenter reels off boring statistics and people mill in the background drinking beer. There are though gatherings of supporters at HQs, both in Madrid. But being Spain, the flag-waving supporters are all out in the street under huge posters of Zapatero and Rajoy with the inevitable DJ pounding out some music and a production cheerleader getting the masses to wave their flags more enthusiastically whenever the camera pans onto them.
Personally, it doesn't really bother me who has won. Most expats, I would guess, would have preferred a PP victory (if they had a view at all, which in most cases they would not have) and then only because of potential tax cuts. Impression is all important in politics, and it is impression that would have guided me had I had a vote. To this end, I am glad that Zapatero has won.
QUIZ
Yesterday - The Clash. Today's title - a line from a rather daft soul song.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
The killing of the socialist councillor Carrasco, attributed to ETA, was, some said, likely to sway the voter towards the PP and towards its leader Mariano Rajoy who had made much of Zapatero being soft on terrorism. When the election was first announced and the potential threat of terrorism influencing the result was therefore raised, I argued that were there to be an act it might work in the PSOE's favour. If anything, this may indeed have happened. The electorate, this time round, has recognised the role of terrorists for what it is, a cynical means of attempting to undermine the democratic process, and the electorate has rejected this role, in the same way that it has rejected Rajoy's assertions regarding a lack of toughness on the part of Zapatero.
The failing economy gave the electorate a reason for booting out the PSOE, but it has stood by the party, which makes one wonder if the liberalism shown by the PSOE during its first four years is something that appeals to current-day Spain. Rajoy and the PP appear too much something of the past, of the Church and conservatism; the PSOE is more in tune with societal trends even if these bring it into conflict with the Church over issues such as divorce and same-sex marriages. The PP, despite spinning the result as being "satisfactory" in that they increased the number of deputies, has some soul-searching to do. Like its British Conservative counterpart, it needs to broaden its appeal and to find a leader who is more sympathetic than Rajoy.
That's the politics, but what of election night itself? The television presentation is, in some respects, similar to that for a UK election. Various graphics and computerised "swingometers", but two presenters who looked like they were presiding over the Eurovision Song Contest is not quite what one might expect of Dimbleby and Paxman. Then there were the abbreviations. They love abbreviations here. The election was therefore "E08" (elecciones 2008), the date was 9-M (9 March). The studio pundits were arranged in front of their own individual laptops, peering into them as though they were a bunch of people working in an estate-agent's office (what do estate agents find so vital that they have to look constantly at a PC screen?). The female moderator of the pundits had scrubbed up nicely. Looked a million dollars in fact. Perhaps she should have been presenting Eurovision.
There are none of the excruciating vote readings like in the UK, with the recording officer stumbling over the numbers and the nutter from the Monster Raving Loony Party wearing a Teletubbies outfit. Everything gets channelled through something called a data centre where another well-scrubbed female presenter reels off boring statistics and people mill in the background drinking beer. There are though gatherings of supporters at HQs, both in Madrid. But being Spain, the flag-waving supporters are all out in the street under huge posters of Zapatero and Rajoy with the inevitable DJ pounding out some music and a production cheerleader getting the masses to wave their flags more enthusiastically whenever the camera pans onto them.
Personally, it doesn't really bother me who has won. Most expats, I would guess, would have preferred a PP victory (if they had a view at all, which in most cases they would not have) and then only because of potential tax cuts. Impression is all important in politics, and it is impression that would have guided me had I had a vote. To this end, I am glad that Zapatero has won.
QUIZ
Yesterday - The Clash. Today's title - a line from a rather daft soul song.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
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