“We don’t like all these tourists!” A quick glance at the newsfeeds show mass protests against tourism and all its works breaking out across Spain, from the palmy island of Mallorca to stylish Barcelona, all the way out to the breezy Canary Islands. And it’s not just in Spain either. Venice was one of the first to start restricting access to the new breed of huge cruise liners that plough the sunnier waters of the world. And even in UK hotspots like Cornwall, some locals break out their tractors in high season and drive them slowly around country lanes with the deliberate aim of making life difficult for hated holiday visitors, whom they term “grockles” in the local dialect (we have been personally informed of this).
What on earth is going on? Students of Hispanic history and culture were long taught that the arrival of mass tourism not only brought floods of money, it also began to eat into the stifling repression of Franco‘s Spain, long before the arrival of democracy. Downsides like the ugly high rise sprawls of hotels and bars were glossed over. Also that whole areas could be taken over by hostile tribes of tattooed thugs, high on a sleazy culture of cheap beer, cocaine and promiscuous sexual encounters. And that’s just the women. We dare not name certain resorts where we have seen this this occurring on a daily basis . But we can understand why these protests are so strong in Mallorca.
Progressives need to confront a highly uncomfortable truth. Ramming people of very different cultures, languages even, together into tight spaces will ignite the oil wells of fear, mistrust and suspicion which lie latent in us all. And this will be so whatever the economic benefits the new arrivals bring. Ever since the Enlightenment, progressives of all types, from Adam Smith style ultra-marketeers to far-left Marx fans have asseverated that the spread of economic and intellectual advances will be irresistible. And that we thereby held the winning hand. Perhaps. But the natural instincts and impulses of most people seem to be very different. A truth which we have acknowledged before on these pages, in our posts on People like David Rofeldt, Amy Chua and Eric Kaufman. (LSS passim)Unless we think how to confront this tribal instinct, it will be used to Trump our project. And this time there will be no coming back.
[3]https://www.bbc.com/mundo/articles/cw884y73j4do
#tourism #mallorca #barcelona #protest #free market
Learning, Science and Society 