Faith and geopolitics: how the future of Ceuta and Melilla is debated
The tug-of-war over Ceuta, Melilla and the Canary Islands is being fought between providentialists and skeptics, with no economic data on the ground.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
The loss of Ceuta, Melilla and the Canary Islands: faith or residence, never figures
It is rare to find a territorial controversy where nobody mentions GDP. The hypothetical cession of Ceuta, Melilla and the Canary Islands has reignited a tug-of-war between those who entrust the defense of the territory to divine intervention and those who demand a physical presence on the ground. In between, the most talked-about proposal is a gem: selling the two autonomous cities to China to unsettle the United States and Segarro.
One camp demands concrete facts: who is going to defend the territories, who is going to take up residence there to anchor their Spanish identity. The providentialists' answer leaves no room for nuance: faith is enough. Their skeptical counterparts point out that rosaries have not recovered a single flag.
The problem is that the debate is playing out on symbolic ground. There are no reports on the cost of a withdrawal, on the commercial impact in the Strait, or on the strategic value of the position in the Strait. The paradox is that a matter with such economic potential is being argued with reasoning that belongs at an altar rather than in a ministry.
What if the only real tool for keeping the territories were demographics? Nobody has put it on the table.
It is rare to find a territorial controversy where nobody mentions GDP. The hypothetical cession of Ceuta, Melilla and the Canary Islands has reignited a tug-of-war between those who entrust the defense of the territory to divine intervention and those who demand a physical presence on the ground. In between, the most talked-about proposal is a gem: selling the two autonomous cities to China to unsettle the United States and Segarro.
One camp demands concrete facts: who is going to defend the territories, who is going to take up residence there to anchor their Spanish identity. The providentialists' answer leaves no room for nuance: faith is enough. Their skeptical counterparts point out that rosaries have not recovered a single flag.
The problem is that the debate is playing out on symbolic ground. There are no reports on the cost of a withdrawal, on the commercial impact in the Strait, or on the strategic value of the position in the Strait. The paradox is that a matter with such economic potential is being argued with reasoning that belongs at an altar rather than in a ministry.
What if the only real tool for keeping the territories were demographics? Nobody has put it on the table.
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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 (11 replies).
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