1. Slides. "Sánchez redoubles pressure on Israel and the right accuses him of political violence," headlines ARA. Truly, we have to see the world through a slit, and we already know that the Spanish right has a tendency to do so, attributing violence to those who protest with words and demonstrations against the genocidal cruelty to which Netanyahu has led Israel. Can one witness the destruction of a people without the right to protest, to express indignation, and demand that the international community stop the atrocity? We already know of Feijóo's limitations and his inability to construct discourses with ideas and proposals. But to see protest riots on the occasion of the Vuelta a Espana and call them a driver of violence at a time when the horror of Gaza is sending us impacts of mass destruction is at least ridiculous. But it shouldn't be minimized, because it comes at a precise moment when the European right is accelerating its recognition of the extreme right, which is limiting its space.
When neo-fascisms began to emerge on the European scene, it was a basic principle of democratic behavior to ignore them and stop them in their tracks. Now there are several in power. And the threat remains. The wear and tear of the democratic right, stuck in a certain conformism, is beginning to show holes. They were unwilling or unable to anticipate a change of era. Trailed by economic powers, they failed to sufficiently defend the interests of citizens, and now it seems everything is a matter of slipping into the net. And in this confusion, instead of rethinking the adaptation of their strategies to the current situation, they are opening up to the far right with complete impunity, almost on their knees.
2. Turn. We're seeing it in Spain. The regime built after Franco's regime—King Juan Carlos, standing before a picture of the assassination attempt on Carrero Blanco's life, told me: "If that hadn't happened, neither you nor I would be here"—with the predictable ups and downs, forged ahead with a system of alternation that, except for a few occasions when it was more exhausted, was based on a multiparty system requiring complex coalitions and majorities. The PSOE and PP have governed for many periods on this basis, with combinations in which peripheral nationalists (especially the PNV and CiU) were always ready to lend a hand. The current PP—with its warlike style, short on ideas and compromises—is finding it difficult to win. And Feijóo has ended the Vox taboo. Abascal sets the pace.
The latest strategic shift by the PP president is quite clear. The objective: for his party and Vox to achieve maximum support, and for the votes of the far right to be enough for him to become president. And here we are. Vox is no longer a nuisance; since it's increasingly taking more voters from the PP, it's become a problem, and Feijóo is on his knees. This poses a significant risk: that the trend continues, and no matter how hard the PP hardens its stance, the portion of its voters tempted by Vox will opt for the original rather than the copy, and the more sensible ones will stay home. And at the same time, in the same neighborhood as the PP, Ayuso, who never had any qualms about Vox, is throwing her weight around. Vox is family.
In this context, the Catalan right is beginning to feel challenged by the reactionary winds that are besieging us. And Junts has no problem voting with Vox to pinch the socialist government and satisfy a segment of the employers' association. The secret of Convergència and Junts was to be the balancing factor, just as President Pujol established it: to be in the middle and wait for the winnings to be announced in order to get the most out of them. Are the first steps toward the far right now, signs of recognition for the Catalan Alliance and the abandonment of the Vox taboo, to anticipate change or simply because they seek to acclimatize to the reactionary wave of the European right?
The facts are clear: the confusion of the working classes, who see the world slipping away from them, makes them sensitive—as at other times in history—to the apotheoses of nationalism that see democracy as an obstacle. And it is a critical moment, because it is not a delirium of the enlightened. It is behind the will of the great economic and communication powers of the moment. And according to the polls, it seems that the only ones who realize—and resist—by voting are women, especially those sixty and over. We have been warned.
