How to stop the rise of the far right in Catalonia
The rise of the authoritarian far right is putting democracy and coexistence on the ropes. It is a very worrying global phenomenon that is being given wings by the American president, Donald Trump, side by side with the technological magnate Elon Musk. The wave has been growing for some time now in Europe, where it already governs in Italy and is growing in almost all countries. Catalonia and Spain are not exempt. In the State as a whole, Vox is the third parliamentary force, and here the far right has made holes in both the Spanish and the pro-independence camps with Vox and Aliança Catalana, two parties that, beyond their national affiliation, share with the entire European far right – Le Pen, Orbán, Weidel, Wilders, Meloni… and the island – the social and economic weaknesses of families and people often forced into illegality and precarious jobs. These are parties that, far from seeking the civic, linguistic and cultural integration of newcomers, directly reinforce their stigmatisation and suggest expulsion as a solution. Precisely, their discourse can be a breeding ground for radical attitudes. Intolerance generates intolerance.
This Tuesday we witnessed the failure of the attempt to implement a cordon sanitaire against the leader of Aliança Catalana: the motion of censure against the minority mayor of Ripoll, Sílvia Orriols, has not prospered. The leadership of Junts has derailed the pre-agreement assumed with ERC and the PSC by the local team of its party. Juntos has so far used the idea of a cordon sanitaire at a national level, in the Parliament of Catalonia. Suddenly, however, he has made a turn at a local level, even violating his own Ripollan bases, increasingly distanced from the style, messages and specific policies of Orriols, which far from solving problems – it would be absurd to deny that the complex Catalan social reality does not generate tensions – entrenches and aggravates them. There are many towns where difficult situations arise, and with levels of diversity much higher than those of Ripoll, but neither now nor historically has the way been to point the finger and blame, nor to play the victim. In the Candel year it is easy to find good references to add, and not to divide and confront.
Allowing the far right to govern is legitimising it. The PP is doing this in Spain for electoral reasons, and other conservative European parties are considering it. It is a danger, not only because of what it means on a day-to-day basis – in addition to xenophobia, climate denialism, sexism, anti-vaccines, etc. – but also because those who make pacts end up ideologically contaminated by incendiary and exclusionary speeches. Stopping it and marking distances allows us to speak clearly to citizens about the inconsistencies and social poison that they represent. It allows us to say without hesitation that they are a very serious threat to the future of democracy and to social cohesion. In short, to the aspiration to integrate a population that, despite the proclamations of these parties, will continue to live here, among other things because our economy needs them.
