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The new Via Menorca campaign kicked off this Saturday, June 13, under the slogan ESTEIM FARTES (WE ARE FED UP).
Around 1,200 people once again gathered in the square in front of the Menorca Island Council to express their dissatisfaction with the direction the island is taking.
The central action of the day was led by two large iron ants that burst into the square to the rhythm of percussion, in an almost processional entrance. Positioned in front of the island government building, one of them turned its back on it while the other faced it directly, symbolising two complementary ways of addressing the institutions.
The event brought attendees together in a large circle around the ants, from where a ritual of protest unfolded, focusing on the main problems facing Menorca: the housing crisis, water management, the labour model and tourist overcrowding. Various artistic expressions joined their voices to denounce that these issues, essential to life on the island, are in a critical situation.
From the ant that had its back turned to the Council, data and indicators were presented showing the seriousness of the current moment. It denounced a highly strained housing market as a consequence of an economic model that expels residential housing from the market in order to maximise profitability. It also warned about the situation of water resources, recalling that access to water is a basic right of the resident population and that the pressure derived from tourist overcrowding responds to an extractivist logic that puts the island’s aquifers at risk. All of this contributes to a progressive impoverishment of living conditions: while wages remain stagnant, the cost of living in Menorca continues to rise, slowly pushing out the people who live and work there.
From the second ant, facing the Council and looking directly at the public institution, a set of concrete proposals was presented to reverse this situation. The message stressed that solutions exist and that all that is needed is political will to apply them, with technical criteria, rationality and a shared vision for the future that guarantees the well-being of the resident population and the sustainability of the island.
In an event where people were dressed in black, the action closed with a collective chant that resonated throughout the square and marked the first step of this new campaign promoted by Via Menorca. A new initiative to seek a different path for Menorca, one that does not follow the footsteps of the overcrowding and gentrification seen in other places.
The GOB sincerely thanks everyone who attended the event and encourages people to sign up to the mailing list to receive further information about the campaign.
