Housing and class interests

Spanish and Catalan reactionarism rejected last week the emergency decrees on housing that could alleviate, if not resolve, 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 holders 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 are owners of their own homes, but rather those of speculators with tourist apartments and large flat holders. They present it as a mere technical issue, but the subject is radically political. Either we defend particular interests or general ones, that is indisputable. When someone questioned the existence of class struggle, the great financier Warren Buffett said: “There is class struggle, and the one winning is mine”. Buffett is a speculator who was sensible enough to say that he does not understand why a tax rate below 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 it 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 backed out.

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 the right beyond are willing to do anything. This is where Junts has played its part. The employers' association and 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 Junts members themselves are the first to be convinced that this political space no longer exists, that political Catalanism has been swallowed up by independence-seeking frustration. The choice is made to align with reactionary extremism 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 way things work knew that there would be no loyalty to the pact and that the demands would result in an unacceptable level of attrition, as has been the case. The Spanish government complied with the amnesty law, which was not understood by everyone and which has negatively marked the legislative term. The hand of the one who was paying a high price for this condonation of criminal convictions has been bitten repeatedly. Furthermore, they have obtained well-paid positions in public companies and, even in Catalonia, they have been given spaces on public radio and a television channel so that they could maintain the mantras of the 'Procés', while incomprehensibly handing them cultural hegemony. It has not been enough because they carry supremacism and disloyalty in their political DNA. The fable about the frog and the scorpion would apply here, although, unlike Aesop's tale, here the scorpion does not drown.

The climate of mobilization in the progressive world surrounding housing offers 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 written, 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, incidentally, 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 copies. 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.