The organizing groups of the massive demonstrations of last April 20 have announced "a large demonstration" in tourist areas after the summer due to the "continuation of the developmental model" of mass tourism and "the inaction" of the institutions in the face of demands for change.
The environmentalists behind Canarias tiene un límite have highlighted that last April 20 took place "the largest demonstration in the history of the Canary Islands." In the case of Lanzarote, around 10,000 people took to the streets against mass tourism. As a result of this mobilization, the organizers hoped that "a few months later" there would be a change of course by the governments at the head of the archipelago's institutions. However, this has not been the case. "On the contrary, they have further deepened the developmental and predatory model of the territory that they have been perpetuating for decades."
Far from attending to the more than 200,000 people who took to the streets demanding a change of economic and social model for the islands, the island governments "have not hesitated to systematically reject their demands (a tourism moratorium, measures to limit the purchase of housing by non-residents, an ecotax and the paralysis of projects that violate environmental and urban planning regulations), and have done so both in parliamentary votes and in their public statements."
The groups have pointed out that "abuses to the territory have continued, such as the approval of new hotel licenses, the repeal of the Climate Change Law or the advancement of the centralized energy model, as a reflection of the developmental model they perpetuate; they continue to see our natural spaces as places to exploit touristically, they continue with the expansions of the airports, they continue proposing more infrastructures such as trains, roads and a long etcetera."
In addition, they have pointed out that "April 20 does not seem to have had an impact on the drafting of draft laws such as the Tourist Use of Housing, an unrealistic regulation that is very permissive in terms of the percentages of vacation housing it allows and that does not even foresee an inspection and sanction regime to enforce it."
In this line, they have not been able to stop projects with clear irregularities such as Cuna del Alma, allowing sanctioning files to expire and favoring, in addition, a plot that allows it to continue."
Citizens have continued to mobilize after April 20 and materialize a participatory process, Canarias Palante, focused on continuing to collect proposals for the construction of the new model.
Despite having formally requested a negotiation table with the autonomous government, the groups have announced that no response has yet been obtained. In other territories of the state, the protests of April 20 "have served as an example to set limits, but in the Canary Islands our public representatives continue to despise and ignore the demands, while continuing to celebrate the tourist records month after month."
In this sense, they have added that "April 20 has been more listened to by institutions outside the Canary Islands than by our own."
To materialize the changes they have requested, "it is necessary that governments focus on the people, on the nature and on the heritage of these islands, and not on continuing to do business at the expense of the territory, taking away the quality of life of the people." The groups have assured that "this new model and the new policies that we ask for shake the privileges of a few, but with a lot of power."
That is why, they have pointed out that "a single demonstration is not enough to achieve the profound change we need, we must be constant and show them again something that they seem to have forgotten: we are more than you."
For all this, after conversations with groups from all over the Canary Islands and its diaspora, they have "decided to take to the streets again after the summer, in addition to an agenda of actions and protests until that moment. We will take to the streets in the very center of this developmental model: in the tourist areas."
Meanwhile, they have asked the population "to continue fighting from every corner of the islands against this unfair model that is destroying our life and our territory. Let's set an example once again and recover what belongs to us, with strength and dignity: the Canary Islands have a limit, and it is still not respected."
To conclude, they have warned the Government of the Canary Islands, island councils, city councils, the tourism lobby and other people and entities that benefit from the situation of the islands: "they are not going to silence us and our protests will only go further if immediate measures are not taken to stop the profound environmental and social deterioration that the Canary Islands are experiencing."
To which they have added "the sooner they stop the sociocultural degradation, the worsening of the quality of life and the generalized ecocide in which we live, the better we will get out of it. Get to work for the common good, and understand that they cannot continue to do it unilaterally and behind the backs of the people: we are going to be present in the design of the new model that these islands deserve, collectively and with real participation. There is no other way."
