All of the Canary Islands, except for La Graciosa, have already joined the mobilizations planned for this Sunday, May 18th. These marches have also been joined by six cities in peninsular Spain and one European city. The collective Canary Islands Have a Limit, formed by associations in defense of the environment from all the islands and by the local population, has issued a statement with the main demands.
"All the islands and the Canarian diaspora are uniting to reject an unsustainable economic model that is pushing the Canary Islands to collapse," the collective highlighted. Thus, the cities of Granada, Valencia, Barcelona, Madrid, Bilbao, Iruña, and Galicia, as well as Berlin, have joined the seven Canary Islands. All mobilizations will take place at 11:00 AM (Canarian time).
"The massive mobilizations, such as the one on 20-A, have demonstrated the rejection of the current economic model based on touristification, speculation, inequality, and infinite growth in a very limited land," the collective continued.
However, they have criticized that "the institutions have responded by ignoring these demands, manipulating, and with regressive regulations, deepening the social, economic, and environmental crisis." Thus, they have criticized that proposals such as the modification of the Land Law or the empty Residency Law "aggravate the problem instead of solving it."
"The citizens say enough is enough. If they don't listen in the streets, they will listen in the day-to-day. The fight will be taken to key areas of the predatory model: public acts, political events, and tourist symbols will be scenarios of protest until real change is achieved," they warned. "What change are we asking for?" they added.
The demands: "a fair, sustainable model for the people. The Canary Islands we deserve"
The collective Canary Islands Have a Limit has highlighted that "we demand a dignified future for those of us who live in the Canary Islands, a model that respects our territorial limits and improves the quality of life of the Canarian people." These are our demands:
1. Immediate halt to destructive projects and demolition of those already declared illegal.
Projects such as the Hotel de La Tejita, the Chira Soria power plant, Cuna del Alma, the Tenerife Motor Circuit, or the dozens of illegal hotels in Fuerteventura and Lanzarote, such as the Riu Oliva Beach and the Sandos Papagayo, are symbols of a model that prioritizes private profits over collective well-being. We demand their definitive cancellation, immediate demolition, and restoration of what has been lost.
2. Real hotel and vacation moratorium.
It is urgent to stop the construction of new tourist complexes and regulate vacation rentals. We need to rethink our economic model with a vision of fair degrowth, which respects the limits of the territory and guarantees an equitable distribution of wealth, prioritizing the local population over foreign interests. In addition, we demand measures to stop the touristification of our midlands, neighborhoods, and towns.
3. Residency Law.
We propose a Residency Law that guarantees fundamental rights such as housing, health, or social cohesion and that takes into account the carrying capacity of a limited territory like ours to protect natural resources, applied without discrimination of origin and containing humanitarian causes as an exception.
4. Renewables yes, but not like this.
The energy transition is essential, but it cannot be an excuse to perpetuate the plundering of the territory. We are committed to a model that prioritizes the needs of local communities, respects ecosystems, and avoids the concentration of profit in large corporations. It is not about filling the islands with macro wind and solar farms without adequate planning or citizen consultation, but about promoting decentralized facilities, energy self-management, and sustainable projects that harmonize with the environment. The defense of the territory involves a development that puts people and the environment above indiscriminate profit. Not one less thistle or garden, we must prioritize the use of unrecoverable anthropized areas, roofs, parking lots, etc.
5. Protection of our natural spaces and a REAL tourist tax.
The preservation of our natural heritage must be a priority, effectively avoiding acts that degrade our heritage. We ask for a tax paid by tourists whose funds are used exclusively for the conservation, surveillance, and recovery of natural spaces or social purposes.
6. Restoration of ecosystems and food and energy sovereignty.
Reforestation and ecological restoration projects that will not only help recover our environment but will also generate stable and sustainable employment. We consider it essential to move towards energy self-sufficiency, managed communally and decentralized, with respect for the territory; and towards food sovereignty, defending our primary sector, to reduce our dependence on the outside.
7. Unnecessary and devastating public infrastructures.
We reject macro-projects such as trains, road expansions, highways, ports, and airports, sized to continue increasing the tourist and population pressure on our territory. We demand to improve the quality of public transport and reduce the number of private and rental vehicles, promoting more sustainable and equitable mobility.
8. Defense of our cultural and social heritage.
It is urgent to protect the Canarian cultural heritage against the uprooting and acculturation suffered by our towns and promoted by wild touristification.
9. Discharges into the sea.
We demand immediate measures to stop the millions of liters of polluting discharges into the sea, which are endangering both marine biodiversity and the health of the population.
10. Creation of an environmental restoration law.
The creation of an environmental restoration law in line with the community legislation of the European Union is essential in the current context of crisis and social change in the archipelago. Abandoned monstrosities, areas of aggregate extraction, and degraded areas can become spaces for conservation. In the Canary Islands, ecosystems face threats such as massive urbanization, the introduction of invasive alien species, pollution, and climate change. This law must create a legal framework that promotes the restoration of degraded habitats and their natural dynamics. The changes that occur as a result of the previous points must avoid the trajectory that the management of degraded spaces in the Canary Islands has followed so far. We will not stop until we achieve the change of model we need.
These are the calls announced to date:
- El Hierro: Department of Tourism, Valverde. 11 a.m.
- La Palma: Plaza de La Alameda, Island Council, S/C de La Palma. 11 a.m.
- La Gomera: Plaza de Las Américas, in front of the City Hall, San Sebastián de La Gomera. 11 a.m.
- Tenerife: Plaza Weyler, S/C de Tenerife. 11 a.m.
- Gran Canaria: Alfredo Kraus, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. 11 a.m.
- Lanzarote: Arrecife, Music Kiosk. 11 a.m.
- Fuerteventura: Calle 1° de mayo, Plaza de la Iglesia, Puerto del Rosario. 11 a.m.
- Granada: Plaza Santa Ana (in front of Pilar del Toro and the Church of San Gil y Santa Ana). 12:30 p.m.
- Valencia: Plaza del Ayuntamiento. 12 p.m.
- Barcelona: Sagrada Familia. 12 p.m.
- Madrid: Puerta del Sol. 12 p.m.
- Bilbao: Plaza Teatro Arriaga. 12 p.m.
- Iruña: Plaza del Ayuntamiento. 12 p.m.
- Galicia: Alameda (As Dúas Marías), Santiago Compostela. 12 p.m.
- Berlin: Pariser Platz (Brandenburg Gate). 12 p.m.
