<![CDATA[Ara Balears in English - 26J]]> 10 <![CDATA[And now, what?]]> 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.

]]> <![CDATA[How governments fall]]>

In democracies, governments begin to fall the day they decide to send the police to beat citizens. They don't fall that same day, nor the next, but when they make this colossal mistake, this unacceptable mistake, they are badly wounded. Beating citizens when they protest peacefully and legitimately is a sign of authoritarianism, but also of weakness. Of not knowing how to govern. They are very poor credentials to present themselves later at the polls.The direct political official responsible for the police charges against the demonstration —massive, historic— of July 26 is the government delegate Alfonso Rodríguez. Even if he did not order them and is against them, as he has declared, it is he who must assume political responsibility for them. Also, even if Pedro Sánchez has supported him with the disdain and ignorance that all Spanish presidents have always had in relation to the society, politics, and reality of the Balearic Islands. If it is true that delegate Rodríguez did not order the charges and is against them, then he must resign for not having known how to exercise his office and for having allowed the so-called security forces and bodies to act in the Balearic Islands outside or against his criteria (he was also against the detention of the activists from Santa Maria, but the detention did occur). Incompetence is also a reason to lose one's position.However, delegate Rodríguez is politically responsible for these events, but he is not the politician who benefits from them. Nor is he, for that matter, the one who enjoys them and even has fun with them. No: it is the politicians of the PP and Vox, who are in the Government and who have had a great time watching the government delegate do their dirty work. But the days have passed and things have become clear enough for those who want to see them. Going to Almudaina and explaining to Felipe VI (with the fake smile of the best occasions) that there is tourist overcrowding due to the socialists and then meeting with Pedro Sánchez making faces in the photos is not a solid argument. Nor are the sustainability tables that are born dead, nor the statements in which "saturation" is admitted while legislating to deregulate the protection of rural land and natural spaces. The PP and Vox would do well to advise some discretion to their domesticated journalists: some have even let slip, these days, that the baton blows of July 26 were "never better delivered". We have reasons to suspect that this is an opinion widely shared among the leaders of the parties that support the Government.The fact is that 70,000 Majorcans took to the streets on July 26 to say they are fed up with paying the consequences of the greed of a few. Police charges will only lead to more protests: the first, on Saturday, August 8 in Sóller, also convened by the platform Menys Turisme Més Vida, which will once again be a great success in participation and mobilization. Then there will be more, and all will be peaceful, civic, democratic, impeccable. Governments begin to fall like this. If President Prohens doesn't believe it, she can ask her friend M. Rajoy. The police charges in Catalonia for October 1 had something to do with the fact that eight months later a motion of no confidence against it succeeded. It also has to do with the fact that, even today, the PP has no political alliance with anyone other than the far-right Vox. It starts by hitting people, or laughing when they are hit, and ends up locked in a corner with fascists.

]]> <![CDATA[The contradiction of the Vaults: closed entrances with 500 protesters and 3,200 people at a concert three days later]]>

Les Voltes gathered 3,200 people this Wednesday evening during the event day of the Atlàntida Mallorca Film Fest. Three days earlier, the National Police had closed access to the same venue when there were only just over 500 participants in the demonstration against tourist overcrowding. The difference has raised questions because the closing of the gates was, according to the protest organizers, the origin of the tension that led to the police charges.

]]> <![CDATA[The Hotel Federation shares the protesters' requests and asks that they be heard "responsibly"]]>

The Federation of Hotel Employers of Mallorca (FEHM) has called this Monday to "act" and "leave polarization behind" after Sunday's massive demonstration against tourist overcrowding. The entity's executive vice-president, María José Aguiló, has assured that the sector shares the social concerns expressed by protesters during the demonstration, but has warned that the debate about the future of the Islands "should not be reduced solely to tourist degrowth".

]]> <![CDATA[A human wave overflows Palma to demand limits on tourist saturation]]>

Tens of thousands of people, up to 70,000 according to the organization and 25,000 according to the always conservative calculations of the National Police, have taken the center of Palma and have shouted all kinds of slogans against the excess of tourism, with one idea above all others: a significant part of the island's society is tired of the collapse. The end of the demonstration turned out to be a real chaos because the planned space, les Voltes, has absolutely insufficient capacity for such a massive demonstration. The Police have closed the accesses to les Voltes, which has caused a strong confrontation among the demonstrators, because, after walking for more than an hour, most of the demonstrators have not managed to reach the end and have been dispersed throughout the Parc de la Mar, which has been filled with banners.

]]> <![CDATA[New graffiti against tourist overcrowding appear in front of a real estate agency a few days before Sunday's protest]]>

New graffiti against mass tourism have appeared this Wednesday in front of a real estate agency in the center of Palma, amid escalating tension around the debate on Mallorca's tourism model and just a few days before the demonstration planned for this Sunday, which is expected to be massive, called under the slogan 'Mallorca is at its limit'.

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