Much has been written about this last demonstration on July 26. Much was written before, with all the absurd controversy generated by the publication of the manual of non-violent direct action, which came to nothing, after the supposedly "educational" arrest of the Santa Maria comrades. And much has been written after the demonstration, in which the National Police gave us an eloquent and totally gratuitous demonstration of what violence really means. A demonstration that renders absurd and ridiculous the disassociations and public denunciations of some – everyone already knows who – of the supposed "incitement" to violence in the platform's manual and which, for many, also implicitly carried the educational message that the arrests of the activists a few weeks earlier also intended.Some commentators have said that Mallorca has finally rebelled. And it has not rebelled solely by taking to the streets en masse, as never before, in a historic demonstration in Mallorca, but rather it has rebelled precisely against attempts to lecture critical and dissenting voices about the model that, according to Ms. Prohens, still today, is what sustains us, when in reality it is a model that devours us alive, and that is why people are no longer silent. Despite the almost unanimous denunciation by public opinion of the arrests in Santa Maria, people took to the streets on the 26th with a reivindicative, but calm, spirit. The demonstration promoted by Less Tourism, More Life was the most multitudinous, diverse, and intergenerational that many remember in a long time. People expressed their rage with creativity and even humor. We all took to the streets to demand limits, for another year. And this mass of people, this increase in critical mass, is what is frightening. First, they try to divide, criminalizing and accusing of radicalization a platform that has been broad, diverse, and has worked on political objectives in an assembly manner since its beginnings as a platform in 2023. Let's see if by delegitimizing it, it loses the convocatoria power it has. Then, and to attack from another angle, they accuse and arrest two companions who did what many think but do not dare to do and which had already happened on other occasions. Now it turns out, however, that they are accused of criminal organization. An absurd like houses. As big and as many as we no longer have due to respectable real estate agencies. And, finally, and as if that were not enough, despite knowing that many people are reaching the limit of what is bearable, they instigated a few charges at the end of the demonstration to see if they can then say that “the radicals have taken over the fight against touristification”. Another absurd like houses —which we don't have—, because the other day, the National Police were not charging against radicals, they were charging against an entire society which the powers want to be submissive and which the law enforcement agencies intended to domesticate with beatings of “they won't return”.But they have made a mistake, and here and now no political or institutional representative can stand aside, because they are all part of the machinery that feeds the powerful, the untouchables, those who demand their interests be protected, if not directly part of it. 'What now?' many of us ask. Will we continue to see the shameful spectacle of passing the buck and washing our hands of it? Will we continue to hear cynical speeches saying they 'respect the right to demonstrate' and that 'they also share the platform's demands'? Will the repression by police forces escalate further, trying new strategies with the gag law in hand? Or will things simply calm down over time, we will have an eclipse of the Sun —and conscience—, and we will return to the same old dynamics until next summer's demonstration?This ‘and now, what?’ is a question that we must all ask ourselves, and especially those who, in one way or another, organize ourselves to confront and continue denouncing the social injustices and the environmental and territorial disasters of this disastrous social and economic model that has structured our island reality. What is our next step, regardless of the—more than predictable—political and institutional responses that may arise now and in the coming months? We know that we are starting to genuinely bother them, and what bothers them most is that right now we are no longer small, more or less organized groups, but rather a broad social majority that takes to the streets with a unanimous cry demanding dignity and justice. Because questioning the model of tourist economic specialization is no longer just a matter of criticism of the economic model or an expression of unease due to the pressure of the absolute touristification of our reality. It is, now and thanks to the violence exercised implicitly by the model itself and explicitly by the same institutions and “security” forces, a matter of justice and dignity.
