"Children of Tomorrow: Born Here, Belonging Where?"
While I was walking through the streets of Palma today, I couldn't help but thinking about the deep changes the urban landscape in the city has gone through in the past years. Majorca was once this paradise island with lots of virgin areas and wonderful beaches that in the 60's opened herself to the first arrival of tourism, mainly German and British travelers who came to praise the wonders of the sun and the sea....
50 years later, the island is an over-built, not so virgin anymore (in more than one sense) melting pot of a place, who reluctantly had to open its doors to people from all over the world.... and you know what they say about islanders who have never left their island... they tend to be overprotective, wary of strangers and not very prone to accepting change.
A recent poll I read on the paper last week claimed that 75% of Balearic citizens have a negative opinion on immigration, claiming those who have arrived later to the islands get more jobs and better care by the government.
Needless to say, this troubles and saddens me, as an immigrant myself (living far from home in New York as a foreign citizen without all the possibilities or opportunities, with all the difficulties and worries it carries). These opinions by Balearic people don't differ that much from the ones of the bigots in Texas and many other US cities who claim against giving any rights to immigrants, legal or not.
And then, I stop myself for a second and see examples like this. These Arabic women pushing baby strollers with the "children of tomorrow" in them. These kids probably have been born here, in a place where 75% of the people claim they don't like what they represent... They might have been born in Majorca, and when they go to school they might learn the language, they may learn some traditions and cultural items, and food products, etc. At the same time, they will grow up in a home where very different values and traditions will try to be bestowed upon them by their parents. Who could blame parents who try to keep the little they have left of their origin in a foreign, sometimes hostile land?
These Arabic, Latin, African, Chinese children, in the future, will have been born here... but will they feel FROM here? What will they say they are? Will they ever call themselves Majorcan? Will the next generation of islanders, who grow up in schools besides these newcomers, be more accepting and all together help build a better future for a new society?
One can only hope...
Palma de Majorca
Spain.
Taken with a 3Gs iPhone using Hipstamatic app (John S lens + Blanko film)
"Children of Tomorrow: Born Here, Belonging Where?"
While I was walking through the streets of Palma today, I couldn't help but thinking about the deep changes the urban landscape in the city has gone through in the past years. Majorca was once this paradise island with lots of virgin areas and wonderful beaches that in the 60's opened herself to the first arrival of tourism, mainly German and British travelers who came to praise the wonders of the sun and the sea....
50 years later, the island is an over-built, not so virgin anymore (in more than one sense) melting pot of a place, who reluctantly had to open its doors to people from all over the world.... and you know what they say about islanders who have never left their island... they tend to be overprotective, wary of strangers and not very prone to accepting change.
A recent poll I read on the paper last week claimed that 75% of Balearic citizens have a negative opinion on immigration, claiming those who have arrived later to the islands get more jobs and better care by the government.
Needless to say, this troubles and saddens me, as an immigrant myself (living far from home in New York as a foreign citizen without all the possibilities or opportunities, with all the difficulties and worries it carries). These opinions by Balearic people don't differ that much from the ones of the bigots in Texas and many other US cities who claim against giving any rights to immigrants, legal or not.
And then, I stop myself for a second and see examples like this. These Arabic women pushing baby strollers with the "children of tomorrow" in them. These kids probably have been born here, in a place where 75% of the people claim they don't like what they represent... They might have been born in Majorca, and when they go to school they might learn the language, they may learn some traditions and cultural items, and food products, etc. At the same time, they will grow up in a home where very different values and traditions will try to be bestowed upon them by their parents. Who could blame parents who try to keep the little they have left of their origin in a foreign, sometimes hostile land?
These Arabic, Latin, African, Chinese children, in the future, will have been born here... but will they feel FROM here? What will they say they are? Will they ever call themselves Majorcan? Will the next generation of islanders, who grow up in schools besides these newcomers, be more accepting and all together help build a better future for a new society?
One can only hope...
Palma de Majorca
Spain.
Taken with a 3Gs iPhone using Hipstamatic app (John S lens + Blanko film)