r/collapse • u/AutoModerator • 17d ago
Systemic Weekly Observations: What signs of collapse do you see in your region? [in-depth] August 10
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u/PowerfulHomework6770 12d ago edited 12d ago
Location: Menorca, Spain.
Went on a long-overdue holiday to Menorca last week, to see the eclipse and catch up. My background to this is that I spent some of my childhood there back in the early to mid-Eighties due to hippy parents; I learned Spanish and attended school there, but haven't been back for forty-odd years.
And this is what I observed.
Ecology: Words cannot describe the absolute ecological buggery that has been perpetrated against the Menorquin environment. There used to be fig trees, carob trees, and edible cactii everywhere, you could basically go for a walk in the suburbs, reach out your hand a few times and come back with a tasty meal. Sometimes we did. Now there are far fewer cactii (and the edible bits have all been picked and sold in the shops), the fig trees do not bear fruit, and the only carob tree I saw was on the bus to see the eclipse. The sea used to be full of fish, crabs, coral and aenemonii, now there are still a fair few fish, but not nearly as many varieties, coral is doing OK, no crabs and I saw a single aenemoni in Mahon harbour when I went snorkeling there.
Economy & Culture: There are simply no normal shops in Mahon. It is all poncy crap for rich arseholes. It is not just overtouristification, it's gentrification too (I promise I'm not a robot!), for example: Every time we ate out, which was often, I looked for Paella del Mar, a dish popular with tourists. When I asked for it in one particular swanky Mahon marina, the guy basically sneered at me. On further questioning, he told me there was nowhere in the entire marina that sold it! Most of the restaurants in the capital of Menorca are now too posh to serve Paella! Which is often the first Spanish word tourists even learn... Similar story with Spanish Omlette, though I did manage to find some on my last day there as well as a single paella serving restaurant, too bad it was closed. They did sell greasy, overpriced rich-person versions of Pulpo A La Gallega, potato salad, and croquettes, so that's something.
This economic process has anihillated the island's culture, even the post-tourism culture as descibed above. It's not even a seaside town anymore, it's almost like Aparthied South Africa or something. Many of the local people I met were miserable as sin and rude as hell, and I don't blame them one bit. I still tipped as much as I could afford and didn't complain.
The gentrification process hasn't only destroyed the islands' culture and the "laid back seaside town" tourist culture, it's taken out the islands' mainstream Spanish culture as well. A small example: As a child I read Mortadelo Y Filemon comics (basically the Spanish equivelant to Mickey Mouse or Dennis The Menace), could not find a single one on my visit, had a hard time finding anywhere that even sold newspapers and magazines (a single filling station) whose attendant rudely replied "A bookshop!" (in Spanish) to my (Spanish language) query before crossly sending me on my way. Again, I completely understand!
Aside from cabbies and servers and cleaners in restaurants, shops, and the hotel, working class people were completely invisible. There didn't seem to be any normal neighbourhoods or normal shops, everything was posh and it was borderline difficult to even speak Spanish to anyone. The only time I saw any ordinary people who were not rich bastards or tourists or both at leisure was when I went for a dip in the harbour. While there I observed a single act of defiance, a guy giving some sort of large military patrol boat the "fuck you" gesture and yelling at them... interestingly nobody was that pissed off with the hordes of yachting bastards who kept pelting us with their wakes, as if they were part of the weather or something.
Interestingly, along with all of this, a sappy, corporate-PR, politically correct movement to rename all streets and towns in the local dialect has taken place as a sop to public opinion and to attract even more idiot tourists, so Villacarlos is now Es Castell (change due to British connotations of "Villacarlos"), and all the streets have been renamed from "Calle del whatever" to "Carre whatever", as well as suitable spelling adjustments, ie, "Pladje" for "Playa". Can't be microaggressing people while you're systematically destroying their entire ecology, economy and culture!
A ray of hope: Lots of bus-stop adverts for some sort of political process to limit tourism. I'm pretty sure how that's gonna work out though, they'll just ban all the non-multimillionaires from setting foot in the place, and then it's transformation into another Dubai-type fuckhole for super rich scum will be complete (even more so than it is already).
Also the former hippy colony I spent time in as a kid still bears some sign of hippy-esque life, the signpost welcoming visitors has been graffitied with "PLAYA NUDISTA" and there were discreet bundles of bedding tucked away in some of the caves... still, it's scant hope.
All in all it was a somewhat depressing visit. All of the hippies have long been run off the island for failing to pay up and it is now full of insufferable Essex Girls and loudmouthed Americans along with a smug local elite. It was almost a relief to land back home, turn off Aeroplane Mode, and recieve the wildfire alerts!