ECOLOGISM
Who vandalized Lionel Messi’s mansion in Ibiza?
The Inter Miami and Argentina superstar’s house was targeted on Tuesday, along with a powerful message from the perpetrators.
This morning, Lionel Messi woke up to the unpleasant news that one of his properties had been vandalized. Several activists from the environmental organization Futuro Vegetal defaced the facade of his mansion in Ibiza with red and black paint to protest the responsibility of the wealthy in the planet’s climate crisis.
Why was Messi targeted by protests?
According to the environmental group, this act of “non-violent civil disobedience” aims to draw attention to the government’s continuation of policies that exacerbate the climate crisis and the role of the wealthiest population, whose responsibility, they believe, is greater in this regard. They referenced a 2023 Oxfam report, which highlighted that the richest 1% of the global population generated the same amount of carbon emissions in 2019 as the poorest two-thirds of humanity, despite the most vulnerable communities suffering the “worst consequences” of this crisis.
‘WE ACT,’ the post accompanying the video of the vandalism read. ‘We are taught that the powerful are untouchable. It is true that policies are written and interpreted to serve those who have the most, directly attacking the rights of the rest of the population. But they are only 1%.
In addition to spraying paint on the facade, the activists placed banners in the footballer’s garden, with messages in English reading: “Help the planet, eat the rich, and abolish the police.”
Messi mansion deemed “Illegal”
Futuro Vegetal claims that Messi’s construction is “illegal.” The Argentine player allegedly acquired the property for the “exorbitant” sum of over $11 million.
This action is not the only one carried out by Futuro Vegetal in Ibiza. Last year, they also sprayed black paint on the cherries of the Pachá nightclub and stormed the luxury beach club Blue Marlin in Cala Jondal with protest banners reading: “Your luxury, our climate crisis.” They also threw paint on a private jet, a Lamborghini, and the mega-yacht Kaos, owned by Nancy Walton Laurie, the billionaire heiress of the Walmart company.