University-society conferences

2ND UNIVERSITY-SOCIETY CONFERENCE

The second University-Society Conference organised by the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria’s Social Council dealt with “the political transition in Spain and the Canary Islands from the perspective of some of its protagonists”.

This event began with the presentation of Salvador Sánchez-Terán’s book La transición. Síntesis y Claves, published by Editorial Planeta.

The day concluded with a round table debating the political transition in the Canary Islands, with some of its protagonists invited to participate: José Miguel Bravo de Laguna, Miguel Cabrera, José Carlos Mauricio, Lorenzo Olarte, and Anastasio Travieso.

The political transition to democracy in the Canary Islands poses three key questions: Firstly the debate surrounding the economic model, which began years previously with the debate around the Canary Islands Economic and Tax Regime (REF) and, subsequently, with the process of inclusion in the European Economic Community. Secondly, Spanish decolonialisation of Western Sahara, which had wide-reaching effects on the Canary Island’s society and politics during the seventies and eighties. Among these effects were the economic and demographic impact of Canarians returning from living in the Sahara, the new nature of the islands in the middle of the Sahara-Morroco conflict, and the effects on the fishing grounds.

Following the implementation of the Spanish Constitution, the debate concerning the Canary Islands Statute of Autonomy began. This was finally approved in August 1982. That no statute bill had been put forward before Franco’s Coup d’État meant that the Canary Islands had to begin the process towards self-government from almost the beginning. This irrevocably put them on the path set out in Article 143 of the Constitution (the slow path) instead of that stipulated in Article 151 (the faster path). However, the desire of many sectors to transform the Canary Islands into one of the Spanish regions with the most powers, on par with the so-called “historic nationalities”, provoked tense debate among political groups across the islands. Through finding consensus, these political groups achieved the Ley Orgánica de Transferencias a Canarias [Canary Islands Devolution Act] (LOTRACA) which allowed for self-government on a similar level to that enjoyed by the historic nationalities.