We feel like wrecks of the Government, Madam President!
When the news of the train to Sa Pobla arrived, we were unaware of the summer that awaited us. That's life. If the study and the train layout had been carried out with care and sensitivity toward the people and the territory, surely no one would have said much, but no, that wasn't the case. Two red lines crisscrossed and ruthlessly dissected the flat lands of Marjal. At any price? We said no on the first day. The Government hadn't brought us the train we needed; it had presented us with what it wanted us to have. No one from the Directorate General for Mobility or the SFM, during this term, was interested enough to conduct a review and realize the dangers this study entailed. The paradox is that the work was contracted to Ayesa in January 2023, incredible but true.
We spoke with the municipal government team and for weeks we listened to their silence and that of the opposition... they only began to understand us after the tense meeting at Vialfàs school. We came to think we were speaking different languages. Their words were superficial and in the limited key of a local political party. If you want to understand better, listen to the programs and statements the spokespersons made on Sa Pobla Ràdio in June regarding the train. They had the flavor of a poorly crafted pose; they hadn't done their homework. Our language emerged from inner strength and disbelief. We were afraid and felt alone. In the 21st century, we're used to it. father state or father municipality He gave us almost everything ready and blessed. We saw our world threatened and about to collapse. In the first weeks of July, we felt like the wreck of the municipal government, without support or direction... abandoned. The "No This Train!" platform had just been born.
We could have kept quiet and then gotten sick. We didn't have much time to make decisions; deadlines were dictated by the Balearic Government and administrative law. Without notifying the public, without any opportunity to give their opinion, they—who are the ones who look out for the common good and the general interest—had taken our lives. plagueWhat could we do? Looking back, it's clear: speak out, denounce, criticize, come out... make ourselves visible and channel our anger and frustration. This has been the essence of the platform: to preserve and provide a healthy outlet for the citizens who were falling ill and suffering due to decisions made by people who don't know us or love Marjal. For a train born with the will to serve opaque interests. We didn't want to be anyone's wreck. Obviously, we also pushed forward with the sanity of an old codger.' We did everything we could to make them listen to us. In the early days, I remember the faces of the people affected by the route. They felt crushed by the system. The people of Levante have been demanding the return of their train for 25 years, and they haven't listened. We, who showed indifference... we're almost here.
Talking about language and how we communicate, Sebastià Bottle He explained it clearly in the plenary session on August 7, when he told the spokespersons for the PP and MÁS: "I listened to you for an hour and I didn't understand a thing. He speaks clearly, he speaks like us. Why doesn't he speak like us?" Sebastià has specialized in the cultivation of artichokes on his dream Tut farm in La Marjal. Over the last twenty years, he has purchased agricultural machinery worth 400,000 euros, he told us on the day of the plenary session. He was hurt, sad, and angry, and spoke out loud: "Now the train people come and tell me the land is theirs and that I should go and be a gardener for the tourists. Oh, well, let the train run inside the hotels, let's see if the hoteliers like it. The city people and those from the Catalan government don't speak the same language as the Marjal people."
If you've read this far, you already know the meaning of 'delecto.' Just in case, it's worth clarifying that it's usually used in terms of shipwrecks or sailors, but in literature it gives a special meaning to abandonment.
October 24, 1878, was a big celebration in Sa Pobla. The town's streets and squares, the Casa de la Villa, and the parish church displayed their finest damasks and bowers. The town's authorities dressed in their new clothes and well-starched shirt collars to greet them at the station and witness, with their hearts racing, the arrival of the first train to the town. They planted myrtle in the streets and built triumphal arches. Nine townspeople bought the necessary shares to pay for the cost of the railway from the connection to Sa Pobla. Personally, I think the cleverness of the engineer Waring and the owner of the New Mayorca Land Company, John La Trobe Bateman, who had just drained the Albufera meadow, was behind it. The friendship of these Englishmen with the urban planner Eusebi Estada and the town politician Miquel Socies was no coincidence. The fact is that now the train metaphorically returns to the village platforms, and they want to take us a train bound for Ciutadella and Barcelona; a train that the Popular Party did not vote on the Mobility plan approved in 2019.
The legal deadline for objections ends on August 18th of this year. We will surely have far exceeded 300 objections in Sa Pobla alone. From now until Christmas, they will have their first opportunity to start doing things much better, and after the Three Kings' Day, when they show us a new route, we will know how sensitive they are to the townspeople. One of the many proposed alternatives would be to bury the train for two or three kilometers under the Ronda, and try to cover as few properties as possible. While we wait, we must be aware of the involvement of the Sa Pobla Town Council, especially the group of Popular Party, because in the following stages it will play a key role.