"The homeland is joy, pain and heaven for all and not a fiefdom or chaplaincy of anyone." José Martí.
Beyond the date on which it is celebrated, Canary Islands Day should be a day of celebration. An anniversary in which the citizens of the Canary Islands feel proud of what we are, of what we were, of what we will be and of what we have left to build.
But unfortunately, it is not like that. Thanks to the frivolity of CC and Mr. Clavijo, this day once again becomes a celebration of the political class rather than a celebration of the people.
We believe that the homeland is not built by waving flags, but by building a country that we can be proud of. A country where no one is left behind. It seems just the opposite of what those who have governed and govern this land have understood for some time.
We cannot celebrate Canary Islands Day while thousands of young people have to emigrate in forced exile, because here they have no possibility of finding a decent job.
We cannot celebrate Canary Islands Day while the waiting lists in Healthcare exceed 160 days for surgery.
We cannot proudly celebrate Canary Islands Day when we are the place in Spain with the lowest salaries and the longest working hours.
We cannot celebrate anything when 1 in 3 Canarians is at risk of social exclusion, and when we are ashamed to have the highest rate of child poverty.
Clavijo and his partners will accuse us of demagoguery. But we are not even going to enter into the well-worn debate about whether spending 450,000 euros on a gala is right or wrong.
But we are not going to remain silent when it comes to saying that this celebration should be by and for the people. Because the Canary Islands that Podemos would like to boast about is not one that looks like its politicians, it is a Canary Islands that looks like its people.
The Canary Islands that we would like to celebrate is a Canary Islands that is proud of itself, an inclusive Archipelago, where we all fit, fairer and more equal Islands, where no one is left behind, Islands where work is decent, and where corruption is persecuted. And a Canary Islands with public services, healthcare and education that we can be proud of.
It does not seem coherent to us that a president of the Canary Islands, with a nationalist discourse, celebrates Canary Islands Day after supporting a government like that of Mariano Rajoy, which is the government that has mistreated the Canary Islands the most in democracy.
Calling yourself a nationalist and supporting governments of the Popular Party is like being a pacifist and having a weapon at home. Electoralist hypocrisy wrapped in disposable flags. The same one that Nueva Canarias has exhibited these days, which with its favorable vote to the General Budgets will endorse, in exchange for crumbs, the cuts and corruption of the PP. Hopefully, both Coalición Canaria and Nueva Canarias, would be as nationalist in Madrid negotiating budgets as they are in electoral campaigns.
The dignity of our people does not fit in luxurious auditoriums for galas broadcast on television for everyone. The dignity of our people was demonstrated in the streets, when we said NO to the explorations or when we shouted NO to NATO, and on many other occasions.
The Canary Islands is built by the people who work in hospitals, each time with fewer resources and more work. The Canary Islands is built by our teachers. The people who work in the fields, accustomed to seeing aid pass by. The Kellys, leaving their health cleaning hotel rooms with increasingly worse working conditions. Our grandparents, who fought to build a Welfare State to which the word "welfare" is getting worse every day. And of course, our young people who had to leave one day to look for a better future. Those who are far away build the Canary Islands much better than some of the politicians we have here nearby.
We don't want these Canary Islands. We return it. Our Canary Islands is in the street, where the people are.
Happy day to all the people who really build the Canary Islands.
And smile, you don't have much left.
Noemí Santana, spokesperson for Podemos in the Parliament of the Canary Islands