Housing and class interests

Spanish and Catalan reactionaries rejected last week the emergency housing decrees that could have mitigated, if not resolved, the residential emergency situation that a significant part of the population is suffering. There was a social outcry for it to be addressed. Junts has adopted the narrative of large property owners and real estate speculators, as well as that of small and medium-sized rentiers who have contributed to straining, and in what way, this market. With their position, they have not defended the interests of their voters nor of those who own their own homes, but rather those of speculators with tourist apartments and large apartment owners. They present it as a mere technical issue, but the matter is radically political. Either we defend private interests or general ones, this is indisputable. When someone questioned the existence of class struggle, the great financier George Soros said: “There is indeed a class struggle, and the one that is winning is mine”. Soros is a speculator who was sensible enough to say that he does not understand why a tax rate lower than that of his secretary is applied to him. There are those who are in politics to defend lobbies, vulture funds, and extractive minorities. It does not hide the fact that they wrap themselves in flags or falsely technical speeches. Experts claim that the agreement to validate one of the decrees was done, and that it was Puigdemont and his unpleasant representative in Madrid who threw it back.

However, this goes beyond housing and was part of a broad strategy to bring down Pedro Sánchez's government, an objective for which the Catalan right, the Hispanic right, and those beyond are willing to do anything. This is where Junts has played its part. The employers' association and the major economic sectors, as well as the media, have been clamoring for this for months, and they demanded that the ex-convergents align themselves accordingly. They have done so. Puigdemont also wanted this situation of apparent chaos and confrontation with the PSOE in order to return to Catalonia, where he believes he is still eagerly awaited. Those who were calling for a return to moderation and Pujolism on the part of Junts can keep waiting. It seems that the 'juntaires' are the first to be convinced that this political space no longer exists, that political Catalanism has been consumed by pro-independence frustration. The choice is to align with extreme reactionarism and to surf the Trumpism that is triumphing globally, trying to ensure that Aliança Catalana does not eat into their electoral pie and the representation of the most spurious interests of a Catalan bourgeoisie that long ago lost the greatness it had in the 19th century.

In the hasty calling of elections by Pedro Sánchez, the best option he had, there is a certain recognition that the forced pact of 2023 with Junts was a mistake. It was evident that the cost would be very high and that the political benefits would be very meager. Those of us in Catalonia who knew the score knew that there would be no loyalty to the pact and that the demands would result in an unacceptable level of wear and tear, as has indeed been the case. The Spanish government complied with the amnesty law, which was not understood by everyone and has negatively marked the legislature. The hand that paid a high price for this condonation of criminal convictions has been bitten repeatedly. Furthermore, they have obtained well-paid positions in public companies and, in Catalonia, they have even been given space on public radio and a television channel so they could maintain the mantras of the 'Procés', while incomprehensibly handing them cultural hegemony. It was not enough because they carry supremacism and disloyalty in their political DNA. The fable of the frog and the scorpion would be appropriate here, although, unlike Aesop's tale, the scorpion does not drown here.

The climate of mobilization in the progressive world surrounding housing provides possibilities for a new victory for the Spanish left. Despite the global trend in favor of the far-right, if the progressive voter mobilizes, nothing is set in stone, even if the right-wing parties, all now extreme, start with an advantage. What is evident is that any progressive majority must be real, and that one cannot count on Junts, a party which, by the way, seems likely to lose a good part of its electorate, who, when choosing between extreme right-wing options, will prefer the originals rather than the poor imitations. It will have to be done without them and against them, because they represent neither a solution nor any change, only regression and self-interest.