The Land Has Many Meanings
One of many privatized mountain trails in Mallorca.
One of my earliest memories takes place on a mountain in my homeland, Mallorca. I was 4 or 5 years old, sitting on my father’s shoulders. Around us, hundreds of people shouted, demanding that a barrier blocking a mountain trail be torn down. A man on the other side of the fence threatened to call the police. Eventually, people jumped the barrier and occupied the privatized trail. "Today, son, you are learning the most important lesson of your life," my father said when the crowd finally broke through. A man, jumping over the wall, shouted, “Visca la terra!” [For our land!] The crowd responded:
— “Lliure!” [Freedom!]
Many of you, readers, may know Mallorca for its stunning beaches and parties – a dominant narrative crafted through a history of privatization of space and exploitation of common resources. Behind this facade, there is also the story of its people—those who assert that Mallorca is much more than a tourist resort; it is a proud land of endurance, with an eye on the future.
Mallorca transcends the notions of a country or region. Above all, Mallorca is a fragmented and divided land, but one worth fighting for. The concept of “land” represents our cry for justice. Linking the idea of la terra—“land” in Catalan, our language—as an expression of love for Mallorca has become our tool to rally people in resisting the burdens of living in a place overwhelmed by waves of tourists, along with the deep social divisions and fragile environment that accompany it. For us, “la terra” [our land] unites many struggles and identities in the pursuit of a shared future.
The concept of “land” represents our cry for justice.
Many national liberation movements understand the importance of connecting the love of a territory to a political fight. Yet, while focused on building a nation for their people, some overlook that the real fight is about reclaiming sovereignty over your economy and your rights. This sovereignty is rooted in producing and defending a shared space—a land for all. Movements that grasp the importance of rethinking an economy and system for the people, forget that land is also its communities, a people identifying with a piece of territory. People fight for a landscape they see as threatened, one they love and want to protect for their future, one they see as a part of who they are. Articulating this love for a specific land propels us further. In this sense, land represents a non-essentialist—or post-national—way of understanding what we have in common. It embodies the struggles of our era and connects them to a community that lives and breathes within a specific territory.
Mallorca has taught me that land can be the central political subject in the fight for social and environmental justice in our era. We must acknowledge that what constitutes the land is open to many definitions. Land goes beyond the concept of nation, of ecosystems, of urban spaces, of virgin landscape – yet, at the same time, unites them all. The land links the everyday spaces of struggle with the emotional and political concepts of community or country. In Mallorca, "land" holds many meanings. It can signify limited and shared resources that the tourism industry privatizes. It can be a space of alienation, where you feel like an outsider in your own home, pushed out by gentrification from your neighborhood, town, mountains, or beaches. Land can also represent a culture and language under threat— if we lose our native language, the language we use to name our territory, we lose a part of our land as well. Our land symbolizes a love for who we are, for our people.
In the 19th century, the working class was called to fight because, after being dispossessed, all they had left was their labor. Their capital was in the hands they used to work and fight. Similarly, now, amid a climate emergency, all that remains for our people is their land. The land is our future. After years of over-tourism benefiting the few at the expense of the many, of coastal destruction, of attacks on the Catalan language, and the privatization of our trails, homes, water and ecosystems, the “land” is the popular fight of Mallorca. Shattered but worth-fighting-for, land is our central struggle. Land is the foundation of a country that preserves its culture, fosters a sustainable economy beyond capitalism, closes the social gaps of our time, and reclaims its sovereignty to determine a new future. As we build this future, I hear the cry of those few hundred people from my childhood:
For our lands, freedom!