The protests against tourism massive convened by the associations gathered on the platform The Canary Islands have a limit have arrived this Sunday at several of the main tourist centers of the archipelago with the participation of at least some 8,000 peopleaccording to the first count of the Government Delegation at 1:30 p.m.
Thus, the around one twenty associations gathered under this seal have promoted these new demonstrations that directly target tourism because they understand that it is the epicenter of the “unfair and unsustainable” development model that they denounce.
In this way, the protests took place in the central hours of this Sunday in the tourist centers from Maspalomas (Gran Canaria), Las Américas (Tenerife), Corralejo (Fuerteventura), Puerto del Carmen (Lanzarote), Los Llanos de Aridane (La Palma) and Valverde (El Hierro). They have also been called on the Peninsula in the Plaza de Colón in Barcelona; the Valencia City Council Beach; the Plaza Nueva in Granada; Opera in Madrid; and they have even scheduled another protest in Berlin.
During them, chants such as “Clasp Listen, the Canary Islands are in the fight“, “The Canary Islands are not for sale, they are loved and defended”, and posters advocating “work and dignity”, in addition to slogans such as “We are foreigners in our land”, “The Canary Islands are not a theme park” or “My home is not It’s a business.” Likewise, there were messages critical and ironic with speculation and the housing situation with “Rents are higher than Teide” or “Foreigners buy one in three houses in the Canary Islands.”
Among the crowd of banners too ecological slogans have been seen and defense of the territory (“Fewer Hotels and more trees”), as well as posters against several of the projects planned in the archipelago. For their part, in the case of Tenerife, the protesters have taken their protest to the sand of the beach where the tourists were spending the day, although no incidents have occurred.
A system that is “destroying” the islands
“We will go out to the tourist areas because there it is where injustice materializes that we are denouncing and because that is where we want to stand up to the system that is destroying our islands,” the argument states.
‘The Canary Islands have a limit’ has insisted that tourist areas are the core of the developmental model that is destroying the territory. “Speculation is concentrated there – he adds -, the unbridled construction of hotels and large infrastructures, and the exploitation of our natural resources for the benefit of a few.”
In addition, the platform indicated that the current development model that the archipelago has “materializes the most extreme inequality“, since “while tourist areas prosper at the expense of our landscapes and resources, many local communities suffer the consequences: increased cost of living, loss of housing for residents, job insecurity and environmental deterioration.”
Likewise, the organization has highlighted that the objective of these new demonstrations being in tourist areas seeks to tourists also be aware of the real impact of their presence on the islands and what is happening and not only that the rulers and businessmen listen to us. “By protesting in tourist areas,” he continues, “we are directly communicating to those who visit the Canary Islands that the current tourism model is unsustainable and harmful to our land and our lives.”
However, the argument of ‘Canary Islands has a limit’ sees tourism as “the center of precarious work”, clarifying that its fight is not against people who depend on tourism to earn a living, but against a model that exploits both the territory and the workers themselves.
“Taking our protest to the heart of mass tourism is a clear sign that we are not afraid to raise our voices where it hurts most to those who perpetuate this system. We want make our rejection visible to the model that continues to prioritize economic benefit over the life, nature and well-being of our people,” the platform noted.
A ‘table of experts’ after 20A to “appease” them
On the other hand, he indicated that after the demonstrations on April 20, the institutions created a ‘table of experts’ to “appease” them, although he clarified that the change must come “from the hand of the people that fights in the streets and of its organization and not of empty pacts promoted by those responsible for the collapse.
“Our land and our people cannot take it anymore. The current development model is unfair and unsustainable and is taking the Canary Islands to the limit: more roads, more hotels, more tourists, more environmental destruction, more drought, more climate change, more precariousness… we are fighting against an unjust system that endangers the present and future of the islands and we will not stop until we stop it,” they said.
“Tourist areas are the symbol of the abuse of our resources and the speculation that is destroying our territory. Every hotel, every road, every golf course is a wound to our future and a threat to those of us who defend a sustainable and fair Canary Islands”, highlighted ‘The Canary Islands have a limit’.
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