Alberto Rodríguez turns against European residents in the Canary Islands
Alberto Rodríguez criticises European residents in Spain's Canary Islands. Population data: the islands have grown 50% since 1990. Hypocrisy or evolution?
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Alberto Rodríguez denounces tourist overcrowding: conversion or hypocrisy?
Alberto Rodríguez, former secretary general of Podemos in the Canary Islands, is back in the media spotlight with remarks about the presence of European residents on the islands.
According to population data, the Canary Islands have gone from roughly 1.48 million inhabitants in 1990 to more than 2.25 million today, an increase of over 50%. The Balearic Islands, for their part, have grown by 77% over the same period, from 708,917 to 1.26 million. Rodríguez's message suggests that demographic pressure and rising housing costs are linked to the arrival of EU citizens, a discourse that contrasts with his earlier track record, which was open to non-EU immigration.
From multicultural left to identity politics?
Rodríguez's shift is not an isolated case. On the alternative left, criticism of mass tourism and wealthy European residents has intensified, often branded as "reaccionariopobre" (poor-bashing class resentment) or xenophobic by sectors that once shared political space with them. The former Canary Islands leader illustrates how the ideological pendulum can move a politician from globalist positions towards a discourse that some describe as defending the territory against foreign capital.
The paradox is that Rodríguez, once a symbol of anti-racism, is now attacked by his own former colleagues as a "rojipardo" (red-brown, a slur for left-wingers with nationalist views). The underlying question is whether he has genuinely changed his mind, or whether the housing and gentrification crisis has reached a point that forces old slogans to be reconsidered.
With the debate over tourist overcrowding deadlocked, Rodríguez's position reflects a tension running through Canary Islands politics as a whole: how to reconcile solidarity with human mobility and the protection of the local social fabric? The pendulum keeps swinging.
Related discussions in the forum
Alberto Rodríguez, former secretary general of Podemos in the Canary Islands, is back in the media spotlight with remarks about the presence of European residents on the islands.
According to population data, the Canary Islands have gone from roughly 1.48 million inhabitants in 1990 to more than 2.25 million today, an increase of over 50%. The Balearic Islands, for their part, have grown by 77% over the same period, from 708,917 to 1.26 million. Rodríguez's message suggests that demographic pressure and rising housing costs are linked to the arrival of EU citizens, a discourse that contrasts with his earlier track record, which was open to non-EU immigration.
From multicultural left to identity politics?
Rodríguez's shift is not an isolated case. On the alternative left, criticism of mass tourism and wealthy European residents has intensified, often branded as "reaccionariopobre" (poor-bashing class resentment) or xenophobic by sectors that once shared political space with them. The former Canary Islands leader illustrates how the ideological pendulum can move a politician from globalist positions towards a discourse that some describe as defending the territory against foreign capital.
The paradox is that Rodríguez, once a symbol of anti-racism, is now attacked by his own former colleagues as a "rojipardo" (red-brown, a slur for left-wingers with nationalist views). The underlying question is whether he has genuinely changed his mind, or whether the housing and gentrification crisis has reached a point that forces old slogans to be reconsidered.
With the debate over tourist overcrowding deadlocked, Rodríguez's position reflects a tension running through Canary Islands politics as a whole: how to reconcile solidarity with human mobility and the protection of the local social fabric? The pendulum keeps swinging.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (38 replies).
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