Canarian identity: when a people remembers who they are

On the eve of the celebration of Canary Islands Day, I would not want to miss the opportunity to reflect, with a somewhat more distant view, on what happened a few weeks ago concerning the ship Hondius and the management of the health crisis. I believe now that it was not just a political controversy or another media dispute. It was, perhaps unintentionally, a mirror in which many Canarians, Lanzaroteños, and Gracioseros looked at ourselves again.

While some opted for caricature and contempt, the president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, managed to project an image that has transcended the Archipelago, defending this land with something that today is almost revolutionary in politics: moderation, intelligence, and institutional firmness.

But, above all, what he achieved, in my opinion, was something much more important: the awakening of something that perhaps had been dormant for too long in island society: the consciousness of belonging to a people with its own identity and pride of belonging, Canarian identity. Something less visible and, probably, much more relevant: a reaction to defend our dignity as a people, which united, across all eight islands, a widespread and shared feeling of identity and respect for who we are, beyond the party acronyms with which each Canarian identifies and the birthplace of all of us who are and feel Canarian. Without forgetting that we are a solidary people wherever you go, as we have well demonstrated in Lanzarote, so often turned into a gateway for immigration.

That feeling of Canarian identity already found solid expression in the past. There was a time when nationalist forces even had up to four deputies in Congress, with real capacity for influence in Madrid and for placing the Archipelago's interests at the center of decisive negotiations. That did not happen by chance. It responded, in large part, to a stronger collective consciousness, to a citizenry that understood that defending the Canary Islands—and, therefore, Lanzarote and La Graciosa—also required its own voice and political weight where decisions are made.

Therefore, as president of the Cabildo de Lanzarote, but also as a Canary Islander and a Lanzaroteño, today I consider it as urgent as it is necessary and unpostponable to recover and strengthen the feeling of identity, belonging, and pride. I appeal to and claim that "Canary way" of being and existing, which has so often resided in serenity, in the capacity for dialogue, in prudence, and in knowing how to resist without losing humanity or manners. And precisely because of this, when the Canary people speak loud and clear, they usually do so with a moral authority that is difficult to ignore. Because, sometimes—and I know this well as president of the Cabildo—true strength and determination consist precisely in not losing balance when others seek to drag you into the noise.

In this context, understanding the sociological transformation that our land has undergone in recent decades is also a reality that we cannot evade. In just 25 years, Lanzarote has experienced a population growth of nearly 70%. Today, approximately half of those who live here were not born on this island, but have decided to make it their home. Far from weakening our identity, this reality presents us with an exciting challenge: to build an open, inclusive, and strong Canarian identity.

And if there is a place where this Canarian uniqueness is expressed with extraordinary intensity, that place is Lanzarote and La Graciosa. We are a Biosphere Reserve. We are a Global Geopark. Recently, Lanzarote has been recognized by the United Nations, through the FAO, as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS), becoming the first European island to receive this recognition for an agricultural model unique in the world, the result of the ingenuity, effort, and adaptability of generations of farmers on a volcanic land as hostile as it is extraordinary and beautiful.

It is just one example, but it is not just any recognition. The world is telling us something important: precisely what makes us different is also what possesses universal value. It is the spirit of the visionary legacy of our universal Lanzaroteño, César Manrique, who understood like no one else that true progress is only possible when the soul of a territory is protected.

Alongside that attitude, today more than ever we must reclaim the recovery of our memory, our culture, our traditions, our autochthonous sports, our heritage, our way of speaking, our folklore, and our identity. This is where the commitment we promote from the Cabildo of Lanzarote fits in, with initiatives such as Raíces Atlánticas, the Lanzarote and La Graciosa Traditions Fair, which reclaims our popular culture, our crafts, our traditional games, our gastronomy, and our shared memory. Also the initiation of the procedure to protect the Juego del Palo of Lanzarote as a Good of Intangible Cultural Interest, understanding that preserving these traditional practices is also preserving part of our collective memory. Or the agreement signed with Lucha Canaria, which is filling the arenas.

Let's take advantage of the opportunity of something bigger that these times seem to offer us: a renewed collective consciousness of what it means to be Canarian. Because identity does not divide; identity coheses.

The Canary Islands will continue to change. Lanzarote and La Graciosa will continue to evolve. But hopefully, we will know how to do it without ever losing what makes us unique. And that depends on us: on the Canarians, on the people of Lanzarote, on the people of La Graciosa. Because peoples, when they remember who they are, stop asking permission to occupy the place that belongs to them.