Ada Colau's new life and the left on the couch

BarcelonaA woman from Barcelona raises her hand at the first official event of the Common Sense Foundation. with Ada Colau as president (and protagonist). It's at the Comuns headquarters on Calle Marina, and has brought together around sixty people who have come to hear the former mayor and former minister Joan Subirats reflect on how to face a new political cycle marked by the rise of the far right around the world. A woman takes the floor to thank Colau for what she did during her years at the helm of the council. The series of talks launched by the foundation under Colau's leadership, which kicked off this Friday with this first event, is intended to be a highlight. Common Sense Friday, It is the attempt of the think tank of Commons to put the left "on the couch" after the loss of votes of the space in the last electoral cycle, a term that has been used by the journalist of Critical Sergi Picazo, moderator of the talk. The loss of the Barcelona mayoralty, the crown jewel of Comuns, left the space devastated.and even divided about whether or not it was necessary to invest Jaume Collboni to prevent the return of Xavier Trias, as effectively ended up happening. And here, the former mayor has given in to political psychoanalysis: she admitted that the right is "more skilled" at taking people's pulse and that we must find the target of "emotions, care, and skin." "We must provide data and manage, but it is not enough. We must appeal to emotions, which is what mobilizes people the most," she said.

Losing "a part" of the dream

Since leaving the City Council, Colau has recovered part of the activist side that led her to lead the Barcelona en Común candidacy in 2015, when she had made a name for herself among Barcelona's social movements as the visible face of the Platform for People Affected by Mortgages. She divides her time between the presidency of the Sentido Común Foundation and the networking International relations with entities and parties within the Comuns orbit. Nostalgia was palpable in the former mayor's speech when she recalled the era when the PAH was made up of "four inexperienced individuals" who began to make headlines during the 15-M movement, a rallying point for anti-establishment Barcelona that had already revolted against globalization in the early 2000s. "I think that focusing so much on management—and good management—has made us lose part of this dream," Colau reflected. The former mayor and Subirats were, along with Jaume Asens, the two ideologists behind Barcelona en Comú's leap to municipal institutions ten years ago. Only Asens is still active in politics, as a member of the European Parliament.

The concerns among the dozen attendees who raised their hands during the event's question period are also those that loom over Comuns as a party. For example, how to address the division of the left (with the split with Podemos as the most notable example), but also the lack of strength of social movements, the rise of militaristic discourse in Europe (and the discomfort this poses for the transformative left, as has been made clear by the crisis in the Spanish government over the purchase of ammunition from Israel), and the flight indignant) toward the far right. At the beginning of the event, Subirats warned of the dilemmas faced by governments that know that the decisions they must make in the face of major global crises are not electorally profitable. But he also admitted, quoting Gramsci and Bobbio: "As you can see, I haven't solved anything. I'll leave the solutions to Ada." She has fled: "We're not here to give any magic formula, I'll announce that." The investigation will continue next month, at the next edition of the Common Sense Friday.