Nelson Mandela said that "Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world." I firmly believe in these words that have driven me in one way or another to participate in politics with Nueva Canarias and the Isla-Hogar project that they have been designing for Lanzarote and La Graciosa.
I always had an educational vocation, proof of this is my training and career focused on education since I was 16 years old. Before becoming a Teacher, I already dedicated my time to volunteering in various youth associations and NGOs. During this time, I learned about some of the most complex realities of our Canary geography.
When I finished my university studies, I joined teaching while continuing my training (I currently teach at the CEIP La Asomada-Mácher). As I learned about the functioning of the educational system both in the public and private spheres, the new currents of teaching and the importance of neuroscience, I became increasingly involved in social issues. But the idea that something was not working well always lingered in me. The Canarian educational system, based on the Spanish educational system, was outdated and lacked meaning without a teaching staff and a system focused on the closest environment, completely different from a peninsular and continental European territory that does not meet the demands of our people or provide real answers to the needs of island students.
Canarianism and Canarian politics were always present in my life through my father, my mother, and my brother. I had a childhood where the feeling of being Canarian and the defense of our land were the main arguments at home. But it was when I met Yoné Caraballo and the NC Lanzarote project, Isla-Hogar, that I was encouraged to actively participate in public and organic political life. I could not and did not want to say no to such a project. Furthermore, I had been wanting to recover that vocation of service to others that always accompanied me during my youth and, to this day, continues to motivate me.
Everything happened quite quickly, and suddenly, I found myself writing articles, going to radio talk shows, and organizing the NC Local Committee in Tías. But I was not alone, along with me, a team of people who felt the same vocation of public service as I were creating a common project, an idea of island and country that forces us to imagine a better future for our people from well-being and the common good.
The Isla-Hogar that we imagine is being built municipality by municipality, town by town, with proposals and projects that take care of our people, our environment, and preserve our culture. In Tías, we also imagine and work to make them a reality.
It is obvious to everyone that the main economic sector of the municipality of Tías is tourism, however, this was not always the case. A few decades ago, the primary sector was the largest source of income for the municipality, and its activity gradually ceased with practically abandoned crops where buildings for tourism were built in the grazing areas. Among other legacies, the Matagorda salt flats disappeared.
This is the recent past of the municipality of Tías, and although it is obvious that we cannot change the mistakes made, it is possible to learn from them to build a better future. Therefore, from the new Local Committee of Nueva Canarias in Tías, we propose a basic program with three lines of action:
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Promote sustainable tourism that focuses on the rehabilitation of what we already have; on the diversification of the tourism offer and on the need to prioritize quality over quantity. If someone takes a walk around Puerto del Carmen and analyzes how it is planned, they will realize that it is an urban and demographic nonsense.
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Promote a diversification of the economy that includes the reactivation of the primary sector that allows increasing the consumption of products from the country, with proposals that make employment in these sectors attractive and viable, thus stimulating creativity and entrepreneurship in the training of young people in the municipality. We need the wealth generated by tourism to be well distributed among all sectors and the resident population. That a young person trained in communications or business also has a job opportunity according to their training.
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Transform the spaces of coexistence such as our towns, turning them into environments where people of all ages and conditions can create community, accompany each other in their life process, access quality public services, share spaces for leisure, sports, culture and education, feel included and interconnected with other towns through a quality public transport system, create green and sustainable spaces, and promote the "walking economy" that generates a true transformation in urban mobility habits. It is not about eliminating or restricting vehicles, but about adapting to the demands of climate change that is already among us. A resilient and entrepreneurial municipality that plans in the medium and long term.
The Italian educational psychologist Francesco Tonucci in his book "The City of Children" tells us that the most important things in the education of children happen "outside and together." Outside of school and homes and together with other people. Thus, cities, towns, and neighborhoods are the space where the school and the family must enable other learning. For Tonucci, "cities are not worth as much for what they offer but for what they allow." It allows us to go out, walk, live together, and be happy. That is what we want for Tías: "a municipality for everyone is a municipality that takes care of us."
*Arminda Barreto, spokesperson for the Local Committee of NC in Tías and teacher at CEIP La Asomada-Mácher.
