In recent statements, the president of the Government of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, stated, referring to the citizens' demands linked to the upcoming demonstration this Saturday, April 20, that a "scientific" conversation was needed, "hand in hand with the universities." Well, here comes the answer: about 450 voices, specialized in different areas of knowledge, converge in the diagnosis that the current development model "is failing and that there are well-founded alternatives to it."
The initiative, proposed by an independent group of university professors through a simple Google Form, has been overwhelmingly successful. The manifesto collects signatures from research staff from all the Canary Islands universities (public and private) and from about 30 universities outside the islands. From the ULPGC to Harvard, these voices converge on the idea that "the Archipelago is marked by a scheme of social and political organization that is predatory of the land, pollutes the waters, destroys cultural heritage and is generally detrimental to all the species that inhabit the islands."
In most cases, these are specialists from the islands who are dedicated to research, but it also "includes research staff from other countries who have the Canary Islands as an object of study." There are also highly recognized institutes and research centers, such as the Higher Council for Scientific Research or the Astrophysical Institute of the Canary Islands. From these spaces, they also question "an economy focused primarily on tourism" that subjects the population of the islands "to precarious and increasingly unhealthy living conditions."
A good part of the signatures also represents people who are dedicated to research independently, with trajectories linked to education, investigative journalism or artistic creation. Whether from the natural sciences, the social sciences or the humanities, the common idea is to advocate for alternatives that are "decentralized and diversified, detached from macro-infrastructures and consistent with the geographical and historical reality of the territory."
These signatures are joined by particular statements from groups and associations dedicated to research, such as the International Group of Canarian Studies, which declares "from abroad and the Canarian diaspora" its support "in favor of the mobilizations that fight for the present and the future of the Canary Islands." Or the Canarian Association of Anthropology, which calls for "an end to speculation and looting" and "respect for our culture, past and present."
In a critical situation like the current one, where even a group of activists has decided to go on a hunger strike to demand extremely urgent measures, the pronouncement of the research community is crucial. As the Canarias Se Agota collective has pointed out, channels of citizen participation are urgently needed where the different parties can contribute to building proposals. "The Canary Islands have a limit and only by adding the different knowledge can they be transformed. Will the president of the government of the Canary Islands be willing to establish this social dialogue?", the statement concludes.
