Climate activists attack Leo Messi’s mansion in Ibiza
On Tuesday, climate activists from Futuro Vegetal vandalized the façade of footballer Leo Messi’s mansion in Ibiza with red and black paint to protest the “responsibility of the rich” in the climate crisis. In a statement, the group explained that this act of “non-violent civil disobedience” was meant to denounce government policies that exacerbate the climate crisis and highlight the unequal responsibility for it.
The activists displayed banners on the facade and in the garden with slogans in English, urging to “help the planet, eat a rich person, and abolish the police.” They referenced the 2023 Oxfam report, which indicates that the richest 1% of the global population generated as much carbon emissions in 2019 as the poorest two-thirds of humanity, despite the most vulnerable communities bearing the brunt of the crisis’s worst consequences.
According to Futuro Vegetal, Messi’s mansion is an “illegal” construction that he purchased for an “exorbitant” 11 million euros. Spokesperson Bilbo Bassaterra remarked that “the law does not work the same for everyone,” noting that nearly 200 workers were evicted in Ibiza this week, while the Partido Popular, along with Vox, is planning to legalize illegal buildings for payment.
The organization also criticized the police as a “repressive tool” that maintains an order allowing the ruling classes to go unpunished, and condemned the Balearic government’s promotion of tourism as a supposed solution to the islands’ problems.
This marks the second summer Futuro Vegetal has chosen Ibiza for its protests. Last summer, they sprayed black paint on the cherries of the Pacha discotheque and stormed the luxury beach club Blue Marlin in Cala Jondal with banners proclaiming, “Your luxury, our climate crisis.”
They also threw paint at a private jet, a Lamborghini, and the mega-yacht Kaos, owned by Nancy Walton Laurie, the billionaire heiress of the Walmart company.
