"OPINION" PRESS ARTICLE

Some of you may have seen the "Opinion" article by Mari Carmen Lopez that was published in various local Spanish newspapers recently. Joan Carles has written a reply to it – also to be printed as an "Opinion" column (which usually means that it is not edited or cut). The first article was a slightly enlarged version of what the Mayoress had replied on the occasion of the Council Meeting called by the CDP to censure the PP handling of affairs in Parcent. Here is a translation of what JC has written:

WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF GABRIEL MIRÓ
CAME BACK TO PARCENT?

What would happen if today the gentleman Sigũenza, the alter ego of Gabriel Miró – traveller, lover of the countryside and local customs – returned to Parcent?  What story would he tell afterwards in "Del Vivir" (On Life, that novel about our village) and in "Años y leguas" (Years and leagues – the second of his books that refers to Parcent, written 20 years later)? How would he describe this time a morning walk up the Carrascal, the "smoky mountain" that looks like "a good man, plump, dressed in grey, lying down with his stomach in the air"? What would he say these days about people's problems?

It would not now be 20 years that separate us from his first journey, but a whole century and all that that century has brought about.

Today he would no longer find lepers hiding themselves away from the local people, but neither would he find the same serenity in the countryside.  He would know that now, for many citizens, the fear is not of the ancient illness but of the new "masters", those that rule, those who, when they have the power, think that Parcent is theirs and they can do what they like with it. The menace at present is speculation, an overwhelming speculation, that wants to convert the Carrascal, our legendary and loved mountain, into an warren of houses, flats and semi-detached buildings. Pure cement. Need for it? None.

They say it is progress but it is just the zeal of a few to fill their pockets. "The great pines were marked for the merchant's axe" (Años y leguas). As for the mountainside, as always, who has asked its opinion? Or the people's either, the ones who live here. They at least have changed; they are no longer resigned to defending their land by spitting as the leper Batiste tried to, when in "Del Vivir", they threatened to up-root his miserable but admirable tobacco plants.

Nowadays they speak out, demonstrate, complain, and know how much their signature is worth, especially if they all sign together. But the authorities listen more to money that to the citizens. It makes no difference whether they are in the majority, whether they have demonstrated many times, whether it will destroy the evolution of the sort of life style that delighted Sigũenza so much. They threaten to make us put up with a sea of concrete that will remain for all time and be lived in by who knows who, people who, in the improbable best of situations, will be from the north and seeking a peaceful life in a village that in the past inspired a writer, and which, if all goes ahead, will certainly never again inspire anyone. And those who come looking for the good life, will feel disillusioned and deceived. And they will end up going back to where they came from, leaving us, the natives, who live in a place that is at once real and fantastic, in a most pitiful state of anxiety over our uncertain economic, social, cultural and environmental future. Or perhaps, horribly and irreversibly certain.

A little while ago, the Mayoress of Parcent wrote an article giving her opinion on the recent motion of censure by the Coalición Democrática de Parcent (CDP), the only opposition party. It is obvious that the governing body of the Town Hall is not doing things well and her given opinions tried to dodge the issue, manipulate and deflect attention from what is important. According to her there is no public movement, that we are "four cats". Not at all, madam Mayoress, for you have more than half the villagers against your concept of development and how to govern. And the facts back us up: a demonstration with 2000 people according to all the media, petitions with 1700 signatures to the Spanish ombudsman and the same again to the Valencian one, and nearly 3400 to the European Parliament. Yes, we know that many of these people are not from Parcent; but take note of how serious our problem is that everyone wants to help us. But what do you say about the 528 complaints {about the draft General Plan] from the adult population of Parcent and those who have houses and/or land here? Remember that there are not even 1000 inhabitants and the electoral roll only has 520 people on it. [this is the figure for Spaniards only – there will be 2-300 Europeans with the right to vote]. These are the "few, very few"?

Well, let's go bit by bit. We realise that we are not sure when we reply to you in this article of opinion if we are referring to the same Council Meeting. Was only town planning discussed, as you claim? We thought that it was mainly about management. But as you thought that it would be about town planning, you brought a nice speech from home and simply read it out without realising that you were answering a different matter.  This is the danger of making a written reply before you have heard the question. It also seems that you did not understand what the opposition councillor said to you. You only understood that, if they won the election, they would "take on the PAIs". What he actually said was that they would have to take on the consequences of this disastrous (according to public opinion) administration. In other words, if in the future the public wanted to overturn decisions taken, they would do so whatever the final consequences.

In your opinion column (nearly a copy of your Council Meeting speech) you say that we are the CDP. Madam, we are an association with no political links. Remember, please, that among us are PP voters, from your party. We are appreciative people and we support those who support us: here, the CDP; in the Valencian Cortes, the EU and PSOE; in Europe, mainly the Greens, etc. As you see, everyone except the PP as a party; and again we remind you that so do many of your voters. We hope that this gives you pause for thought.

You also said that we base our criticism on insults and that we are vandals. We remind you that we condemn any action that is not peaceful and so we cannot understand where you got this from. What you are trying to do is turn yourself into a victim and deflect attention. As always. You accuse us also of being manipulators. Concerning us you state "that no one wants development, that no one wants to legalise the still illegal houses, and that no one wants the services and infrastructure which, through the pressure of the Town Hall, the developers will have to carry out" (to this sentence you have forgotten to add "as is their obligation under the law".)  Stupid comments. Is this not manipulation? We have many times suggested alternatives. Your problem is that you do not understand the concept of sustainable development or at least you want to cover it over. "Change the word destruction for modernity and progress and everyone will back you". This could be your slogan. But here things have turned out badly for you. Look, you converted this article of opinion and the Council Meeting into a speech on the supposed achievements (one notices that we are in the pre-election period….). But you forgot to add you have generated the largest social movement in all the democratic era, a concept that we do not know if you understand properly. Remember that you threw a journalist out of a Council Meeting for taking photos and recording a public meeting? There is no need to say that we manipulate the press. They can see for themselves what is happening.

Madam Mayoress: that of "in Parcent everybody knows each other" sounds pretty bad. It only needs your councillors to say: "I know where you live, who you work for and at what time your children come out of school". Please, change your tune. Do things as they should be done. Do not change the order of the steps to follow to make them seem ethical and legal. Yes, we are referring to Local Agenda 21, the draft plan, the General Plan and the wretched PAIs. Come down from your ivory tower, open up your ears and listen to the people, act with common sense and work for the public interest. It's about time you did.

It is undeniable that if certain people had been born before Miró, he would never have written "Del Vivir". Madam Mayoress and company, it is good that you have bought the house where this writer stayed (a hostel in which, I am sure, one can now find no trace of that stay). But we wish to ask you a question. What would be his priority if, to pay him homage, we said to him: shall we preserve the house or the mountain? We quote once more his own words: "Yes, the countryside looked at him sorrowfully; they were going to take away its peacefulness, its uniqueness, its dream",  "- Love me, understand me! – it asked". (Del Vivir)