José Chulvi, The Mayor of Javea, has written a statement that he is sharing through social networks via his personal Facebook profile
Dear Friends,
I have been Mayor of XÃ bia for eleven years and during this time I have experienced very good and very bad moments dealt by the hand of politics. Some days are full of satisfaction and others of frustration.
Governing on behalf of everyone is not easy, at least for those of us who embrace it with an attitude of great responsibility, ethics, and a vocation for public service.
Those who are close to me, know the time and energy I dedicate to my work. Too much, many say to me, and they also know that I suffer when I am unable to respond quickly to demands made on me, such as the feeling of impotence in having to deal with companies that you know from the beginning are not going to comply or of seeing how endless procedures eat up the energy of our councillors on a daily basis.
Not to mention my indignation when four disreputable egoists smear the efforts of the great majority of the people in our town, in maintaining clean public areas and living in peaceful coexistence… And yes, it also bothers me to have to issue decrees or ordinances prohibiting things that, if we had some common sense and empathy, wouldn’t be necessary.
At the same time having to cope with laws that make everything even more complicated. In a situation where the bureaucracy appears illogic, and contrary to my personal wishes… and inhibits the speed and simplified explanations that today’s society asks for.
I take being Mayor of XÃ bia very seriously. I know that when I speak, I represent, for better or for worse, an entire town and that my words can impact the image of XÃ bia and that of the Town Council.
I am explaining all this to you in the hope that you will understand that the assumption that the mayor “neither feels nor suffers” could not be further from the truth. It’s hard for me at times to bite my tongue (or take my fingers off my keyboard) almost every day and it hurts me to see other people who do nothing to dignify either politics or our institutions.
But what I am not going to put up with anymore is the rubbish and lies that are spread on social networks, taking advantage of the lack of self-regulation and the apparent impunity that false statements are made.
I owe it to myself as a person; to my family who suffer considerably, and to you as part of a society that looks the other way in the face of the normalisation of insults, fake news and hate on the internet.
The longest road begins with the first step, and I am willing to take it and denounce it. To those who see it as normal for me to suffer these defamations and insults because I dedicate myself to politics, I ask you just to reflect on this. Any day it could affect you due to any reason or a misunderstanding. At that moment you will see that the “professional haters” have no logic or reason and that those who spread “hoaxes” do not even bother to verify if they are true, nor repair the evil when they realize that the news, they have spread were lies.
PS: I attach a photo of XÃ bia, for you, such a wonderful place.
Everyone chooses what he wants to see and how they want others to see their town.
