Rosana Bautista Benito & Ane Briones López Heartland

heartland

Europe in the World Exam Project

14th June, 2O19

TOPIC Inhabitants from and Teruel are at the forefront of the rural exodus, a demographic dynamic that threatens territories. But activists from the heartland of are trying to turn the tide against depopulation.

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Articles

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Editorial note Spain is being hollowed out. The populations of its inner provinces are shrinking and aging so quickly that more than half of Spain’s municipalities are at risk of extinction.

Inhabitants from Soria and Teruel are at the forefront of the rural exodus, a demographic dynamic that threatens territories. The heartland of Spain would become a ghost country if local heroes didn’t exist.

Throughout this issue, we tell the stories of those decided to turn the tide against depopulation. A curious way to ask for connections and infrastructures, the pledges that opposing political parties offer to rescue inland Spain, a phenomenon known as the sporting exodus, the difficulties to find women in the rural areas or a dystopian approach are the topics the reader will find.

Ranging from the nostalgia that the old times may evoke to more gloomy approaches, the whole issue should not leave any European concerned about sustainability indifferent.

The rural area is often initially an unattractive place to live. However, if one looks at its potential, these territories can become places of opportunity as the main characters of heartland narrate.

“The rural exodus is a drama for those who experience it. For those who are not confronted to it, depopulation is just a process.”

Letter to the editors

Soria I’m in love When I was an 18-year-old boy, I left Soria to study dramatic arts. My mum said goodbye to me as if she wouldn’t going to see me anymore, as if I was going

2 Rosana Bautista Benito & Ane Briones López Heartland away forever. I didn’t understand it at that time, I thought my mum was crazy because if I had something clear it was the fact that I was going to come back to the place where I learned to walk, read and love. However, now I understand it. A mother in Soria says goodbye to her son because she will most likely never see him living in the city again.

I am quite a unique case since I came back. I left my job at Paramount Comedy in Madrid to return to the city that had seen me grow. I know it may sound crazy to some of you, but I chose my life above my job. And I don’t regret it. If there’s a possibility of falling in love with a person and leaving everything behind for that one, I’m in love with my city so I chose to live here, to be happy.

What I don’t understand is why if politicians are so concerned about a national brain drain, they are the ones making youngsters leave their own cities to study. Soria, as surprising as it may seem, has the best scholar marks of Spain. Nevertheless, the university has only about five degrees. We have the best students. Students that have to leave because they don’t have the possibility to build a professional path here.

I reckon my decision of coming back is not made for everyone. That’s why I fight for a younger, a more connected Soria. A city where no one has to choose either developing a professional career or a harmonious life.

Kind regards from the Celtiberian Highlands, Sergio de Miguel Characters: 1642

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Article 1

A donkey, an old activist and an unattainable village

Margarita is small, she’s shaggy and soft. So soft to the touch, you’d say she was made of cotton with no bones. Only the jet mirrors of his eyes are hard –like two black crystal scarabs. I turn her loose and off she goes to the meadow and with his muzzle she barely brushes the little flowers of pink, and blue, and gold.

Adaptation of Platero and me by Juan Ramón Jiménez

Once upon a time there was an old humble man who lived in a small and almost empty village in the central plateau of the Iberian Peninsula, Torrubia de Soria. In order to travel to the capital of the kingdom, he asked for a donkey to one of his friends. Margarita, the four-legged companion, walked with the old man miles and miles carrying water and other essential belongings for the ride.

Four days, sixty kilometres afterwards, and once arrived at a train station in Calatayud, the old humble man caught the high-speed train and took a comfortable seat. One hour and over two hundred kilometres, he arrived in Madrid. Raimundo, feeling the adrenaline of an activist, was ready to attend the demonstration and protest against depopulation and the lack of infrastructure in his regions on the 31st March 2019.

Not only an old humble and proactive man, but a stockman and the major of his village is Raimundo Martínez. Due to his position in the public administration, Raimundo has been asking for a bus line connecting all villages in Soria with Calatayud, the closest town with a train station, for years. Silence has been the only reply.

Raimundo impressed the media with his feat. However, all he wanted was “showing the current situation in the rural areas of the .” And,

4 Rosana Bautista Benito & Ane Briones López Heartland as he complained, “politicians from the Central Government of Spain and the European Union should be the ones paying attention to this.”

Three years ago, Raimundo collected 15,000 signatures from citizens asking for a bus line that connected the different villages in Soria with Calatayud at least once or twice a day. Then, “as the major of Torrubia de Soria, I visited the Ministry of Development. But the only thing I have collected from the Central Government are broken promises,” Raimundo stated.

Citizens want to clarify expectations. As Raimundo condensed, “if long distances between settlements and the region’s dwindling population make it virtually impossible to envisage a public transport system to help residents get to work, study or attend a doctor’s appointment, I need politicians to say it loud and clear.”

As time goes by, the village becomes more and more abandoned and risks withering away. Basic services don’t arrive anymore. “The baker and the shopkeepers have stopped coming and the doctor only shows up if you make an appointment long beforehand,” said the major.

With only 60 people registered in the municipality, Raimundo claimed that “less than half of the people are actually established here.” On top of that, the average age of the citizens is 50 years old and the last time a child was born and raised in Torrubia de Soria was 35 years ago, according to the National Institute of Statistics.

This has not always been the case in the past. “Fifty years ago,” Raimundo remembered, “there were one hundred people living in Torrubia de Soria and the settlements around. The village was very lively with children playing and running on the streets.”

In order to understand the current situation, a throwback is required. The 1960s in Spain are known as the decade of the industry. The growth of the sector was skyrocketing, turning around the labour situation of the country that, until then, was in a downward spiral. Areas like Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Bilbao benefited the most from the arrival of the industry.

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However, as in every fight, there are winners and losers. While big cities enjoyed this new wave, the rural world suffered the consequences: small capitals like Soria, where agriculture and stockbreeding was -and still is- the main sector, were left out of this industrialization process.

“Human resources are the key to success,” Raimundo pointed out. “In the era of digitalization,” he added, “I can’t understand why companies are not willing to spread their workers around the national territory.” According to him, it would be a win-win situation. Employers would improve their quality of life and small villages would recover life in itself.

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Article 2

Two approaches for one same love

Both Juan Carlos García, from Podemos, and Yolanda de Gregorio Pachón, from the Peoples’ Party, are not willing to witness their land’s requiem. They both come from the province of Soria (listed as a NUTS III region by the EU). Along with Cuenca and Teruel, Soria has the lower population density and constitutes one of the largest demographic deserts in Europe.

Regional policy in Spain revolves on how to tackle territorial issues. Among the issues that raise the most concern, depopulation is a key subject for politicians that work at a local level. Different parties with different ideologies have different approaches to face a situation described as “extreme” by scholars. However, their beloved subject and their objective are the same: the province of Soria and its revival.

Juan Carlos García, Podemos.

He comes from one of the most unpopulated provinces in Spain and watches with sadness how young people leave Castile and Leon, in north-western Spain. As the new mayor of his hometown , Juan Carlos refuses to leave his village to demonstrate that young talent can stay in the region. However, he knows that in order to make young people stay, they need opportunities. At only 20 years old Juan Carlos has already been candidate to the National Senate, and he encourages people of his generation to be more active in politics, so no one decides for them.

What does the “emptied-out Spain” mean to Podemos? The emptied-out Spain is a territory with people willing to work and live following a different way of life from the one lived in big cities. This lifestyle is more connected to nature and its roots. However, it has traditionally been very stigmatized in the country. Anyway, I would like to highlight that the so-called “emptied-out” Spain is a place full of opportunities.

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Depopulation processes have been triggered on the European continent as a result of high migration rates from rural areas to expanding urban centres, phenomenon known as “rural exodus.” Which are the driving forces that make people move to big cities? The main reason why people have to move to bigger cities is the lack of basic needs in the rural area: the lack of communications, aid, incentives, services, internet connection and the existence of administrative obstacles. In some villages, just 15 minutes away from the capital of the province, there is no internet. Besides, services needed such as doctors, education or even bread are inexistent in these areas of the emptied-out Spain.

Can we consider urbanization as something negative? Podemos does not consider migration to urban areas as something necessarily good or bad. We are fighting so that everyone, no matter where they live, has the same rights. As stated in our Constitution, citizens should have equal rights. Then, let it be up to each of us to decide where we want to live.

Furthermore, regional disparities make it possible to identify the lack of employment opportunities outside the agricultural sector as one of the causes of the rural exodus. As a young person, I am forced to leave my province because of the lack of resources in Soria. I want it to be a decision, not an obligation.

Is it a state problem or does it also affect at a European level? Depopulation and the rural exodus is a territorial problem for both Spain and the European Union. Firstly, because it is common problem since several countries contain sparsely populated areas. Secondly, we can’t forget that 90% of the landscapes are in the unpopulated areas and they are also a source of income. Moreover, all places, tiny as they are, are integrated into broader dynamics, affected by globalization and are interdependent.

What are the measures proposed by Podemos to revert depopulation in Soria? Podemos is a tool that aims to achieve a lively rural world. Our key proposal is the greater development of renewable energies. By dynamizing the green economy and by making the change to renewable energies we could generate jobs. We believe in going for wind, solar and hydraulic energies, otherwise

8 Rosana Bautista Benito & Ane Briones López Heartland known as clean energies. The population must undergo this energy transition in order to have a less polluted world. Depending on the characteristics of the territory, the most convenient one would be exploited. As I mentioned before, Soria is a land of opportunities and this could be a way to benefit from the land.

Yolanda de Gregorio Pachón, Peoples’ Party.

Yolanda de Gregorio Pachón is the president of the Peoples’ Party (PP) in Soria and a woman eager to economically dynamize the region that saw her grow. After studying and working in different cities of the European map, Yolanda decided to go back home and actively build the land of possibilities she dreams for her family in Soria.

What does the “emptied-out Spain” mean to the People’s Party? The most important requirement to consider a region as emptied-out is the lack of population. In other words, the absence of human resources. The province of Soria is a landmark in demographic studies about depopulation. Castile and Leon didn’t give Soria the love this land deserves.

Which are the driving forces that make people move to big cities? Economic factors play a crucial role in the depopulation processes. Soria is scarcely dynamic in relation to other areas of Spain. In general, depopulation processes have been triggered on the European continent as a result of high migration rates from economically depressed areas to expanding urban centres.

There are various reasons that led so many people in most European countries to migrate to the cities, among them the greater job opportunities and better facilities or services. In short, people emigrated because of the city’s capacity to provide higher levels of material well-being.

Some experts see urbanization as a natural demographic process, but why is it a problem in this specific area? Urbanization leads to demographic desertification in the areas of origin –Soria in this case. Depopulation is a symptom of serious structural problems that can

9 Rosana Bautista Benito & Ane Briones López Heartland lead to the disappearance of rural communities, dashing personal projects and erasing communities backed by a long history and even with great potential.

Is it a state problem or does it also affect at a European level? Depopulation is a regional, a national and a European problem. In Spain, regional and national policies have failed. Providing efficient services to ensure the future of its citizens and its present welfare has been non-existent. This duty was led in the hands of Brussels, both by the central government and by the regions.

Nonetheless, I also believe that the European Union has not been supportive. If the European Commission accepted the challenge of depopulation fully as a European policy of smart, sustainable and inclusive cohesion, new opportunities would open up for all.

What are the measures proposed by the PP to revert depopulation in Soria? The People’s Party from Soria proposes a full package of measures to tackle depopulation. Some of the key points are implementing a tax discrimination that would attract new companies to set up in the region and increase the study options for the youngest.

Not all students want to continue their professional journey at university. Soria can become a centre of attraction for those interested in vocational training. That is to say, the education or training that prepares students for the day-to-day duties that will be doing in their specific trade, craft, profession, or role.

Moreover, opening new paths in medical studies like a specialization in telemedicine services and investing in research projects will attract new companies and create employment, the main reason why people leaves Soria.

Although Juan Carlos and Yolanda come from two completely different political parties, their goal is clear: build a better future for the province. When it comes to ending depopulation and providing isolated villages with the necessary services every party has something to say.

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Both Juan Carlos and Yolanda have ideas and initiatives that could help Soria grow: Juan Carlos opts for renewable energies and building a green economy while Yolanda focuses more on providing students with more education options. All in all, it seems like differences between parties are not as big when talking about one same love.

Fact box: Green economy: Low carbon, resource efficient and socially inclusive. Growth in employment and income are driven by public and private investments into such economic activities. Source: UN Environment

NUTS III: Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics is a hierarchical system for dividing up the economic territory of the EU for the purpose of: small regions for specific diagnoses.

Depopulation: Demographic territorial phenomenon consisting of a decrease in the number of inhabitants in a territory or nucleus relative to a previous period. Source: Centre for Studies on Depopulation and Development of Rural Areas

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Article 3

There is a volleyball court in the unpopulated desert of Spain

Those committed to sport stand at a crossroads, a turning point between their home or a professional career in the sporting world. Choosing between a gentle small land or the bustling city, where physiotherapists and technical installations are, is referred as the elite athlete’s drama.

This phenomenon, also known as the sporting exodus, takes place under the rural exodus’ umbrella. Athletes raised in the less populated start the race that requires the most stamina when the environment that has seen them play in the school yard can’t no longer meet their needs. However, that is not always the case. Volleyball has always been a pillar of hope in Soria.

Going against the flow Manuel Salvador turned the tide on the sporting exodus. He moved from Madrid to Soria as a late teenager in order to build a professional career in volleyball. When his sister encouraged him to join the club, Manuel didn’t imagine what awaited him. His story began at a volleyball court in Madrid fifteen years ago. His local team was playing against the award-winning team of Soria, Numancia Volleyball Club.

Once the match ended, the trainer from the opposing team, who saw potential in Manuel, offered him a vacancy in the successful club. Despite thinking “there was nothing else outside the capital city”, the young man accepted the proposal and started his journey to the smallest city in Castile and Leon.

Size does matter It was the small size of Soria what dazzled Manuel. He discovered a new way of building relationships with people and the environment. “Players and citizens are just numbers that get lost among the crowd. Soria embraced me very soon upon my arrival” he recognised. “I enjoyed the opportunity to fully develop as a player.” The volleyball club has always been something the citizens have been very proud of.

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“Volleyball was the most important sport in the city and so, the administration pampered the team. We had all the sport facilities available for the club.”

During the most economically robust years, Numancia Volleyball Club had an excellent youth academy full of international players, all gathered in the smallest city of Spain. “That was the time when we could afford to play in European competitions and qualified high in the rankings,” the player proudly talked about the golden days. The eternal reign Bearing in mind that football is the national sport, it is not surprising that this is the one stealing all the spotlights. The promotion of Numancia Football Club and the economic crisis triggered a shortfall in fund raising for the volleyball club. With the media focusing on the football team, volleyball fell into oblivion.

“Football is a media spectacle, against which no sport can compete, not even in Soria where volleyball is highly beloved,” Manuel noted.

Unfortunately, being a volleyball player is not enough to make ends meet; there is a life in tandem with the sport career. Manuel knew it and he started thinking about alternative paths to bring the bread to the table. “The same night of the last match of the season, I was in a bar as a waiter,” Manuel pointed out. “The volleyball competition season lasts seven or eight months and players don’t earn enough to live almost half of a year without any other earnings.”

Some years later, after seeing the club’s situation was not improving, he decided to study education as a supplementary occupation. Like a phoenix Numancia Volleyball Club had to rise from the ashes and eventually changed its name -it was baptised as Río Duero Volleyball, honouring the river of Soria. “We underwent harsh times when no company was willing to sponsor the club. Football hogged the limelight,” Manuel explained.

The lack of business in the area decreased the club opportunities to find new investors. As Manuel explains, “we first-hand experienced the consequences of

13 Rosana Bautista Benito & Ane Briones López Heartland living in the emptied-out Spain, business was disappearing and only the city council could help us.”

However, the volleyball club earned the city’s affection over the years. “A lot of people feel identified with us, perhaps as something parallel to the city; a small city, a small sport. A sport that has been mistreated,” explained Manuel.

That’s why around 70% - 80% of the budget now comes from the Provincial Council. It is expected that one of the symbols of the city will enjoy more benefits since Manuel Salvador has been elected as councilman of sport in Soria in the latest elections.

The future of the Río Duero Volleyball is yet to be written and even if the prospects are good, the team still needs a major investor. All in all, what will always remain in the DNA of the team it’s its oxymoronic character.

On the one hand, it seems paradoxical that when talking about one of the most unpopulated areas of the country it turns out it has one of the best volleyball teams with the biggest and more supportive fandoms.

And, on the other hand, Soria, despite its size, is the place were athletes like Manuel Salvador can better develop.

Fact box Río Duero Soria: Born in 2013, C.D.V.Río Duero Soria replaced its predecessors; C.D. San José and Numancia Volley in order to keep Soria in the national volleyball elite as it had been for the last 31 years, consecutively. Source: C.D. Río Duero Soria

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Article 4

Rootlessness is a woman

“I was crying because I had lost my child. He was crying because he had lost the heir.” Unknown

Women were and are always there: working the land, caring and being the invisible but essential root that kept the home standing. The rural world can’t be understood without the role women play on it. But the areas are suffering a process of masculinization. Due to their social position, women feel uprooted and migrate to urban centres.

“I am the sister of an only child,” said Portuguese writer Agustina Bessa Luís about her childhood. As accurate and painful as it may sound, this sentence reflects the reality of women in the Iberian Peninsula and many other countries.

In the urban-centric system of Spain, rural women have always been doubly marginalized, and doubly forgotten. Firstly, because they are women. And, secondly, because they belong to the stigmatized rural world.

(Wo)men’s land In our early years we learn from the ones who precede us by habit. In most cases, that admiration is directed to men who – especially in the rural world – are often seen as the voice of the house. They’ve always been the shepherds, the ones who brought the bread to the table and the ones who ploughed the field. All men.

Marta Chordá is 37 years old, she is mother to a child of 7 and has been living in Zaragoza for as long as she can remember. Nevertheless, she descends from the region of Molina of Aragon, one of the most unpopulated areas of Europe. She’s spent the last years working on a project called Serranía Celtibérica (or

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Celtiberian Highlands) that aims to raise consciousness about the rural realities of Spain and Europe.

One of the issues that worries Marta the most is the masculinization of the rural world. The traditional structure of the countryside life leads to think that sectors generating wealth and forming engagement are run by men. However, according to AMFAR (federation of women and families of the rural world) there are close to 6 million women living in the countryside of Spain. The federation argues they are essential for the creation of employment and wealth and so, they have to be at the centre of rural development politics.

Rural masculinization refers to a demographic imbalance based on a deficit of women in proportion to that which should exist naturally or for biological reasons between the two sexes. According to statistics, in 1991, in the Spanish countryside there were only 85 women per 100 men in the age group ranging from 35 to 39; in cities, this ratio was 105 women for every 100 men. At the beginning of the century, masculinization reached even greater proportions.

Rates of Masculinity Women per one hundred men

Municipal Register for 2007. By Camarero et al.

The lack of women in the rural areas triggered a demographic disequilibrium that resulted in not only economic consequences but also in social ones. Among

16 Rosana Bautista Benito & Ane Briones López Heartland the specific impacts on the social sustainability of rural communities, Marta highlighted that “women are an indispensable element in the formation of families. However, their importance is also based on the role that women traditionally play in the provision of care and attention to the dependent population and for their own economic activity.”

For Marta, one of the reasons why this masculinization still exists today is because of the capitalism. “Capitalism doesn’t take into consideration the cycles of nature,” Marta explained. “The only goal is explosive growth. But that’s not possible in the countryside. Even the female nature is cyclic!”.

According to her, villages in the hinterland never had high population densities. Nevertheless, the traditional economy allowed to maintain a certain demographic and social balance.

But women could not be rearranged in the new economic system and chose to run away from the countryside. Traditional agriculture and livestock existed alongside underemployment and low living standards. However, all these activities inserted in larger markets made small-scale sustainable, as well as preindustrial manufacturing, basic services, local craftmanship and basic services.

Sharing is caring In 2011 the Spanish government promulgated the “law of shared ownership.” It was a turning point for the visibility of women in the rural area who had been working the land as much as their husbands without the same rights and wages. This law turned to be a key aspect to guarantee the real and effective equality of women in the agricultural sector. But even if it is available, the majority of rural women don’t enjoy its advantages. According to AMFAR, this discourages women to start their own business, therefore they have to leave the rural area to live properly.

Marta is clear in her own mind: “When I, as a rural activist, see how we are dealing with the situation and how we are trying to help by all means but realise we’re not achieving anything… it’s frustrating.” She would love to move to a small village where she could make a living working in agriculture or taking care

17 Rosana Bautista Benito & Ane Briones López Heartland of the field. Nonetheless, the lack of help and the fact that her 7-year-old son would be the only child of the town stop her.

She dreams of the day when women have their place in a rural world, where their work is recognised and valued, but, above all, where all women are taken into account.

Women are (half of the population) everywhere. Let them tell, create and build.

Fact box: Will the countryside survive without a pair of hands taking care of it? Current environment surroundings in abandoned locations are deteriorating. Landscapes in the Iberian Peninsula are not virgin, they are of an anthropogenic nature. Therefore, residents are a key element for the balance of the ecosystems. Source: Centre for Studies on Depopulation and Development of Rural Areas & University of Zaragoza

Law of shared ownership: A voluntary choice made by married couples, domestic partners or people in a similar emotional relationship who jointly manage an agricultural holding. This title aims to give profesional status to women's agrarian activity - improve female participation in agrarian organizations -make women's work visible, foster equality and improve life quality in the rural world and helping the rural population to settle. Source: Spanish government

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Article 5

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Someone wants this land to be empty, non-existent for the public eye. They are sat on the political throne, pretending they listen to our protests, but they dismiss our claims because someone in Madrid has a strategy, an almost divine plan, that will make us disappear. Teruel may become the land where nuclear waste comes to rest. Or, maybe, it’s something even worse.

Despite sounding like the plot of a dystopia, the statement above belongs to Amado Godé, a former spokesperson from the platform Teruel Existe (or Teruel Exists). Surprisingly nonchalantly for some who lives in the territory concerned, Amado explained the conspiratorial theory quoting1 some politicians that, according to him, have shown a blatant disregard of sparsely populated areas.

I feel depopulated, Doctor. What’s my illness? “Depopulation is not an illness, but the symptom of deliberate decisions that politicians once took,” Amado stated. “Their choices are the disease that have provoked an aging and shrinking population in the hinterland.”

For instance, after Spain started operating a high-speed train network in the 1990s, national and regional legislators decided to circumvent Teruel, deepening its isolation. “The train could have connected us with the capital city of Madrid, opening up new horizons in the Western side of the Peninsula.”

A snake biting its tail The territory has fallen into a vicious circle. The diminishing population density has led to a shrinking infrastructure investment, causing, at the same time, a greater population decreased.

But the lack of infrastructures is not the main cause of the rural exodus for Amado. As he claimed, “building roads is not going to bring back population or help new families to settle down.” The phenomenon is undeniably logical and deserves serious thought for Amado. “Several factors and political decisions

1 Uncheckable.

19 Rosana Bautista Benito & Ane Briones López Heartland have contributed to the (almost) demographic deserts in the emptied-out Spain.”

No taxation without… Among these factors, Amado highlighted the incentives given to the main industrial poles of the country (e.g. Bilbao and Barcelona) due to Franco’s economic policy during the end of his dictatorship, forgetting the areas like the huge swathe of the central plateau of the country. Moreover, the imbalance in living standards between town and countryside continued to encourage displacement. “Nowadays, politicians need to be realistic. Social services, such as health and education, are unlikely to be profitable in provinces like Soria or Teruel. But citizens pay equal taxes.”

Honesty is the best policy Democracy and the European Union have changed Spanish economy. Nevertheless, Amado is also realistic about the situation. “I know people don’t longer live off the land as they did decades ago. Trying to go back to the old times is a quite unrealistic exercise of nostalgia. What activists are fighting for is honesty.”

The transparency this man is asking for refers to the demographical and territorial plan politicians design. “If Teruel is a land heading for extinction, I want politicians to be open and offer the remaining citizens an adequate resettlement. Now, I just feel as a terminal patient lacking palliative cares and any other way of pain reliever,” Amado concluded.

Fact box: Rural Sustainable Development Act: In 2007, the National Parliament passed the Rural Sustainable Development Act in order to provide territories affected by depopulation with several tools and instruments that could help to revert the regional imbalance of Spain. During the Peoples’ Party term in office, the budgets devoted to achieve the objectives of the Rural Sustainable Development Act (2007) were depleted. Source: Sosrural.org

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Teruel existe: Spontaneous, plural and independent citizen movement created in November 1999. They claim the need of investments and infrastructures in order to stop the depopulation of the province and calling for an equal and fair treatment for the citizens of Teruel. Source: Teruel existe

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Source list

General literature, used for background information

Pinilla, V. and Sáez, L.A. (February 2017). Rural depopulation in Spain: genesis of a problem and innovative policies. Centre for Studies on Depopulation and Development of Rural Areas (CEDDAR). Zaragoza. Retrieved from: http://www.ceddar.org/content/files/articulof_398_02_Informe-SSPA1-2017-2- EN-GB.pdf

Sáez, L.A., Ayuda, M.I. Pinilla, V. (June 2011). Public intervention against depopulation as a local policy: justifications from Spain. Centre for Studies on Depopulation and Development of Rural Areas (CEDDAR). Zaragoza. Retrieved from: http://www.ceddar.org/content/files/articulof_349_01_DT2011-6.pdf

European Commission. (N.D.) Agriculture and rural development 2014-2020. Brussels. Retrieved from: https://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/rural-development-2014-2020_en

Obra Social Fundación “la Caixa”. (September 2009). The rural population in Spain: from disequilibrium to social sustainability (Nº 27). Retrieved from: https://www2.uned.es/dpto-sociologia- I/departamento_sociologia/luis_camarero/vol27_en.pdf

Gobierno de España: Ministerio de política territorial y función pública. (29th March 2019). Estrategia nacional frente al reto demográfico: directrices generales. Retrieved from: https://www.mptfp.gob.es/dam/es/portal/reto_demografico/Estrategia_Nacion al/20190329_directrices_estrategia.pdf.pdf

Hogan. (14th May 2018). Answer given by Mr Hogan on behalf of the Commission. Parliamentary questions. European Parliament: Brussels. Retrieved from: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-8-2018-001590- ASW_EN.html

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Government offices of Sweden: ministry of enterprise and innovation. (25th March 2016). Sweden’s National Strategy for Sustainable Regional Growth and Attractiveness 2015–2020 - Short version. Retrieved from: https://www.government.se/498c48/contentassets/ad5c71e83be543f59348b5 4652a0aa4e/swedens-national-strategy-for-sustainable-regional-growth-and- attractiveness-20152020---short-version.pdf

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Specific sources by story

Letter to the editors

Spoken sources

Sergio de Miguel: Spokesperson of the platform SORIA YA. It is a platform formed by citizens of Soria who are not satisfied with how their province is being treated and who deny institutional forget. Contact: +34 618 21 00 00

Literature

Used to fact-check the scholar marks Capital. (25th February 2015). Soria, 'la pequeña Finlandia en educación', referente internacional en resultados académicos http://sorianoticias.com/noticia/2015-02-25-soria-la-pequena-finlandia- educacion-referente-internacional-resultados-academicos-22730

A donkey, an old activist and an unattainable village

Spoken sources

Raimundo Martínez: Old activist and major of Torrubia de Soria. He’s remarkable feat of walking 60km with a donkey as his unique companion put him on the spotlight. Raimundo’s goal was to show the Spanish government the current situation in the rural areas of the province of Soria; the lack of infrastructures. Contact details: +34 670 26 13 00

Literature

Not specified. (21th March 2019). Un alcalde de Soria irá en burra para coger el AVE a Madrid el 31M. [Europa press]. Retrieved from: https://www.europapress.es/castilla-y-leon/noticia-alcalde-torrubia-soria-ira- burra-pueblo-calatayud-coger-ave-madrid-31m-20190321110504.html

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Not specified. (28th March 2019). El alcalde de Torrubia (Soria) inicia su marcha junto a la burra Margarita para denunciar el abandono de la provincial. [Europa press]. Retrieved from: https://www.europapress.es/castilla-y-leon/noticia-alcalde-torrubia-soria-inicia- marcha-junto-burra-margarita-denunciar-abandono-provincia- 20190328175639.html

Villarroel, I.G. (28th March 2019). El alcalde de Torrubia y la burra Margarita inician su peculiar protesta por la España Vaciada. [El Norte de Castilla]. Retrieved from: https://www.elnortedecastilla.es/soria/raimundo-martinez-parte- 20190328140603-nt.html

Junta de Andalucía. (N.S.). La industria en España. (N.S.) Retrieved from: http://agrega.juntadeandalucia.es/repositorio/15052017/57/es- an_2017051512_9141232/13_la_industria_en_espaa.html

Colegio Oficial de Ingenieros Industriales de Madrid. (N.S.). Historia de la industria: Periodo 1950-2000 el Desarrollo de los años 60. Madrid. Retrieved from: https://www.webaero.net/ingenieria/varios/Expo%20Industria/Historia%20Indu stria/desarrollo_60s.htm

Two approaches for one same love Spoken sources

Juan Carlos García: Major of Fuentecantos from Podemos. He comes from one of the most unpopulated areas of Spain. As a young politician his point of view is quite unique since he’s fighting for young people to have the opportunity to stay in the rural world instead of moving to bigger cities. Contact details: +34 722 37 29 92

Yolanda de Gregorio Pachón: President of the People’s Party in Soria. Politically experienced woman who wants to build a better future for the city of Soria. Contact details: +34 649 82 77 06

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Both sources have the same aim but because they come from completely different political backgrounds, they have different ways to achieve it, this is what makes the election of the sources interesting and balanced.

Literature

Podemos election programme. 2019. Election programme leaflet. Soria. Retrieved from: handed in by the members of the political party.

People’s Party election programme. 2019. Election programme leaflet. Soria. Retrieved from: handed in by the members of the political party.

United Nations Environment Programme. (N.S.). Green economy. (N.S.). Retrieved from: https://www.unenvironment.org/regions/asia-and-pacific/regional- initiatives/supporting-resource-efficiency/green-economy

Eurostat. (2018). NUTS: Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics. Brussels. Retrieved from: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/nuts/background

There is a volleyball court in the unpopulated desert of Spain

Spoken sources

Manuel Salvador: Player of Río Duero Soria. He’s been on the team for 15 years and has experimented first-hand all the changes the club has gone through. Not long ago, he joined the socialists as the councilman of sports of Soria. Contact details: +34 665 45 98 87

Literature

(N.S.). (25th July 2019). Voleibol: Aficionados que deciden tomar las riendas de un club de Superliga. Desde Soria. Retrieved from: http://www.desdesoria.es/2013/07/25/52054/

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Díez, B. (30th April 2019). Soria la incuestionable sede de las grandes citas del voleibol. Soria Noticias. Retrieved from: http://sorianoticias.com/noticia/2019-04-30-soria-incuestionable-sede-grandes- citas-voleibol-57798

C.D.V. Río Duero Soria. (N.S.). Rioduerovoley: voleibol y Soria. Soria. Retrieved from: https://www.rioduerovoley.com/historia

Rootlessness is a woman

Spoken sources

Marta Chordá: Rural and feminist activist. Although she lives in Zaragoza, she comes from one of the most unpopulated areas of the province of Teruel: Molina de Aragón. She’s spent the last years working on a project called Serranía Celtibérica (Celtiberian highlands) in order to raise consciousness about the rural realities of Spain and Europe. Contact details:

Paula Delmas Biel: Young entrepreneur (28) living in Monforte de Moyuela, a small village from the province of Teruel. Paula is one of the youngest inhabitants of the town (there are 2 kids aged 11). Along with her boyfriend they own a pig farm. Contact details: +34 654 99 81 37

Literature

Mujer rural. [pdf]. (N.S.). Mujer rural: PAC, titularidad compartida y Desarrollo rural, retos del AMFAR para el 2019. Nº 57. Asociación de mujeres y familias del ámbito rural. Retrieved from: http://mujerrural.com/revista-html5/57/

Sánchez, M. (15th October 2018). Mujeres y medio rural: otra narrativa es possible. Retrieved from:

27 Rosana Bautista Benito & Ane Briones López Heartland https://www.eldiario.es/sociedad/Mujeres-medio-rural-narrativa- posible_0_825217764.html

Valiente, A. and García Ruíz, Á. (2nd February 2019). Zamora: mujeres en lucha contra la despoblación. Retrieved from: https://emptyeurope.cafebabel.com/es/zamora-mujeres-en-lucha-contra-la- despoblacion/

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Spoken sources

Amado Godé: Former spokesperson of the citizen platform Teruel existe. His point of view regarding the emptied-out Spain is quite unique comparing to the other sources of the magazine. He sees the rural exodus as something logical. However, as a citizen of Teruel (one of the most affected areas), he asks for a planning of resettlement. It’s interesting how he talks about the reasons why the government wants the land to be empty, it’s like a dystopia. Contact details: +34 605 57 72 76

Literature

Musgrave, R. Musgrave, P. (1992). Hacienda Pública. Teórica y Aplicada, 5th edition, Madrid: McGraw- Hill.

Sosrural. (N.S.). Mannifesto. (N.S.). Retrieved from: http://sosrural.org/index.php/manifiesto/

Teruel existe. (1999-2019). Teruel. Teruel existe. Teruel. Retrieved from: https://teruelexiste.info

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Reflection Report:

Understanding of relevance of the chosen topic, in all dimensions.

The rural exodus is a phenomenon that not only affects people from Spain, but the whole European Union. However, we found relevant to cover the topic in the mentioned country and, specifically in the provinces of Soria and Teruel, because of the importance it had in both national and international agendas due to last April and May elections.

Moreover, inhabitants from the so-called “emptied-out Spain” were ready to shake political agendas and on March 31st, around 50,000 citizens marched through the centre of Madrid demanding better internet connection, doctors and more services.

As we mentioned in our synopsis, Rural Requiem or Revival, Spaniards have clustered in Madrid and on the coasts and a huge swathe of the central plateau now has some of the lowest population densities in Europe, comparable only to Lapland and the Scottish Highlands. There are even municipalities in Spain whose population density is inferior to Siberia’s.

Activism of the so-called “emptied-out Spain” was a sign of the relevance of the phenomenon. And comparison between international data represented a starting point in our research.

Before starting the interviews, we read on several reports that underpopulated areas are in need of economic support, revitalisation and certain structural changes. Our aim was to discover both socially and economically how the affected territories in the hinterland are trying to turn the tide against depopulation.

In order to achieve the referred purpose, we selected a balance set of sources that could provide us with information and some clarity.

Reflections on another media coverage of the topic.

The Economist, The New York Times, Euro news and Forbes are all media outlets that covered the topic. However, they did it very briefly in the shape of a short article or a column, always linking the demographic trends with the upcoming elections.

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This led us to spot a market opportunity. We thought that explaining the phenomenon in depth, exemplifying it through specific cases and showing new approaches to tackle Spanish depopulation and the rural exodus could be innovative for European readers.

Considerations about target group, related to language, complexity, background info.

Our target group is quite wide because of various reasons. Among them: § Despite having a clear angle, we chose not to focus in one specific topic. In other words, we could have written five articles about the lack of infrastructures in the regions concerned and contacted citizens, engineers and ministerial delegations to talk about it. However, we chose to cover a bit of this and that to provide the phenomenon with more perspective and engage a wider segment of population.

§ Moreover, we aimed to attract people who appreciate design by creating a printed magazine with a simple but elegant style. Content shapes format. And the latter attracts a younger audience in the era of visual impacts.

We introduce the key information in the two first articles (A donkey, an old activist and an unattainable village & Two approaches for one same love). Both of them guide the read through the most important claims of locals.

Regarding the language and its complexity, the fact that our mother tongue is not English meant that we had to use simple constructions of the sentences, which makes our articles accessible even to people whose English skills are not advanced.

Assessment of sources; credibility, relevance, bias, value.

Due to our nationality, we were a bit sceptic about going to our own country for the final project of Europe in the World. However, we took the decision to do it because we thought the topic was relevant and newsworthy. Someone had to do it.

Other journalists who don’t speak Spanish may have come upon a language barrier. In fact, only one interviewee agreed on holding a conversation in English.

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But being Spaniards had both pros and cons. We could easily communicate with sources, read articles and do a detailed research. However, we were very cautious about not being bias or making cultural assumptions. Asking colleagues from overseas and collecting a balanced set of sources helped us to achieve that goal.

We believe all of our sources are reliable and well-chosen due to their direct connection to the phenomenon and their expertise.

Ethical considerations grounded on professional standards and relevant law.

According to the Press Ethical Rules provided by the Danish School of Media and Journalism, it is the duty of the media to publish information correctly, promptly and verified. That’s what we tried to do during our whole production.

We didn’t find any legal issue that deterred our work as journalists. However, we had an ethical dilemma in the last article of the magazine: Error 404 not fund. Amado Godé, the main source claimed that some politicians had stated that it was not worth the public investment in underpopulated areas. We checked the claim in various depositories, but could not find it. Eventually, we decided to add a note saying as journalists that the claim was uncheckable.

Use of professional terminology. Reflection on learning and content from the EitW year.

The Europe in the World programme has provided us with many skills, lessons and procedures that have helped creating this production.

From our first stage in Utrecht, we learnt the basics of politics and economy of the EU. Despite the different scope we covered in our project, knowing the basic of those sciences helped us to write with domain about the subjects.

Apart from the research skills that we learnt in the Thinking block (Regional Sustainable Development & Culture and Identity), the journalistic lessons of Bram and Elvira have greatly contributed to our articles.

In Århus we learnt to look happenings through international lenses thanks to Roger Buch and the guests’ lectures. We hope readers can find that touch of openness in our magazine. Furthermore, we learnt to present our information in an attractive way to our audience (our neighbours and our cousins, as Lars constantly reminds) thanks to his lessons.

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Insight in own process, notion of strengths and weaknesses. Explanation of and responsibility for choices made.

If we had to start the final project again, we would be more cautious about time management, we would add a piece with a foreign policy perspective on the topic and we would produce more multimedia content.

However, we believe that we have incredibly improved our writing skills, that we are less academic and that we provide the audience with a quality product -rich in written and visual information. It was not part of the main course, but we gave a big importance to photography and design in order to create a professional magazine.

Heartland is the result of a long journey that began in September. The Europe in the World programme has provided us with many skills, lessons and procedures that make us the journalists be are today. There is still a long journey of improvement, but we will be always thankful for the opportunity and the path we have made together in both institutions Hogeschool of Utrecht and the Danish School of Media and Journalism.

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Annex:

Pictures for Instagram: Some of the pictures are uploaded but there will be more. It makes no sense to upload many pictures at the same time so we will constantly update our profile. Link to the profile here: https://instagram.com/heartland.es?igshid=enjk95hl4se

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