No to war (but let's not go crazy either)

The cave is tense, nervous. “False «No to war»”, it exclaims in grave capitals theAbc from its front page. It refers to the fact that Pedro Sánchez's words can be as mild as we want, but that facts partially contradict him, since he collaborates in NATO and EU operations. No matter how he puts it, dusting off the “No to war” has been a master (more) communicative move by Pedro Sánchez. The slogan is empty of content, because hardly anyone would march behind a banner that said “Yes to war”. But this phrase, in Spain, inevitably refers to the opposition against the disastrous Aznar, who, to overcome his complexes of a Lilliputian statesman, put Spain in an uncomfortable spotlight of jihadist terrorism in exchange for a photo next to George W. Bush and Tony Blair. 

But the great Sanchista success, from a political communication point of view, is to make the opposition (including the media) dance to the music he decides. And this is a winning strategy. From time to time, the left wonders how to fight dialectically with a right and far-right that shoot falsehoods, manipulations, and demagoguery that travel well through social networks. Here's how. Only Sánchez and Rufián seem to find the way, in Spain. In Catalonia, on the other hand, the left is still bogged down with the discourse of its moral superiority, which, paradoxically, is a losing narrative. Or, at least, I don't observe a politician with the necessary communication skills to be competitive in today's digital arena. And this is also valid, by the way, for quota pundits. In Madrid there are great demagogues on both sides of the spectrum. Here the right is more measured than its counterparts in the Villa y Corte, but the left is also more meek. In any case, no to war (the real one and the demagogic one).