Well I’ve been invited to leave the island for supporting a non-approved football team. Somebody calling him/herself “The voice of the Awara” emailed their list and said “We invite all foreigners who shout ‘Spain!’ to pack their cases and leave for the Peninsular.”
Nobody I’ve asked knows who this person is, much less remembers electing them as the island’s spokesperson. Most of them support the national team too.
I’ve had emails from this self-appointed “leader” before. What the history books call the conquest of the island, he calls an invasion and armed robbery. I find this refreshing, since I agree (although most people seem to have regarded it as normal at the time.)
S/he wants independence from Spain. I can see all sorts of problems with that – very small countries tend to get pushed around – but everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
S/he refers to La Palma as a colony of Spain. Nope. It certainly used to be a colony. A colony, by definition, is ruled from outside, and has no say in the matter. We get to vote in national elections, same as everywhere else in Spain. Not everybody likes the result, of course, but they’re real elections, not like Zimbabwe.
But the bit that really annoys me is the attitude to people from mainland Spain. Now I don’t know about you, but I judge people by their actions, especially towards the powerless. I look at the way they treat slow old ladies and stray cats.
Not this person. The entire population of mainland Spain is guilty of invading La Palma. The invasion was a crime, and therefore the Spanish football team are criminals.
Of course it’s obvious that the Spanish football team didn’t invade personally. (Did they have a time machine or what?) No, they’re judged guilty because they’re the same race as the guilty person.
In other words, this self-appointed “voice of the Awara” is a racist.
And I’ll support whatever football team I damn well like.
