What Palma do we want?
Even though the calendar insists that the year begins in January, we all know that the true blank page has opened in September, with the start of the school year. Nerves, excitement, and the desire to do many things.
And this year that we have started is not just any year: it ends with a very important electoral event to decide what city model we want for Palma. What Palma we want and what role we want to have in it.
At an urban planning level, faced with a city-showcase model, which understands the city as a productive tool, a theme park transformable according to the client's will, at Més per Palma we bet on a city model to live in, a lively Palma with personality where housing is considered a fundamental right. It is often criticized that we are the party of "no", and, in this case, I give them reason: we are the party of no to empty apartments, no to tourist rentals, and no to speculation. Houses are for living in. That there are more than a thousand citizens living on the streets of Palma or in caravans or that our young people have to leave the city due to the impossibility of accessing housing should be the main concern (and shame) of the Cort Government team.
At an economic level, we will be able to choose between a model of monoculture and lack of control, with unlimited growth, saturated infrastructure, pressure on resources, the environment, and people, based on labor exploitation and from which only a few benefit, and a diversified and sustainable model, where limits are set and managed, where economic diversification, local and proximity commerce are prioritized, and, above all, improving the quality of life of the vast social majority. We are not afraid to talk about tourism degrowth. A change in the production model is necessary that bets on maintaining the idiosyncrasy of Palma, puts people at the center, and does not make workers precarious. The point of having rulers is for them to work to balance the differences between the powerful and the vulnerable.
At a democratic level, an individualistic and centralized model is promoted, where decisions are made in closed offices and with our backs to the people, often against the will of the neighbors, where obstacles and impediments are placed on any type of popular initiative and red carpets are rolled out for privatized events and large-scale tourism projects. Our city model is not only a Palma to live in, but also to live together in. Our model is based on transparency, participation, active listening, and the collectivization of decisions, on fostering organized citizenship, popular initiatives, and weaving networks in the neighborhoods. We are not afraid of a mobilized, articulate, and critical citizenry, a citizenry that loves and defends the city, its public space, and the people who live here.
We have not started just any school year. As the Amics de les Arts say, “it is decided whether tomorrow all this is ours or whether tomorrow we are nothing anymore”. On May 23rd, we will choose between a city model that wants to silence us and expel us and a city model that gives us a voice and listens to us.
