Blossom and pain in Alcalali, Costa Blanca

ALCALALI’S annual Feslali festival, held when the almond trees blossom in the Costa Blanca, included a play titled Xylella Fastidiosa. The drama, created by Teatreres pel Mon especially for Feslali’s fifth edition, started out in the Town Hall Square before spectators moved on to the terraced groves of almond trees on the outside of town where the performance took place. The presentation conveyed the violence that agricultural land and crops are subjected to, which also assists desertification, explained its director Nydia Crespo.
“The play is a cry for help,” she explained beforehand, conveying the “institutional violence” of the harsh measures that regional and EU regulations imposed on growers to eradicate the deadly bacterium, Xylella Fastidiosa. These require the uprooting of infected almond trees and all those within a 100-metre radius, a drastic solution has been opposed from the outset by the growers. It has also been questioned by town halls like Alcalali’s, as well as neighbouring Jalon and other picturesque inland municipalities whose economies depend on weekend tourism.
“Nor should the growers’ emotional pain be overlooked,” Crespo said.