Ayuso against progressivism: the keys to her cultural war

MadridThe cultural battle is a concept that in the last decade has been inherent to the rise of the global far-right. In Spain, Vox has been fighting it for years to try to change the debate framework on issues such as feminism, environmentalism or LGTBI rights and to normalize discourses that were not previously acceptable. An example of this is the media coverage that the euthanasia process of Noelia Castillo has had this week and, in this context, the statements of the Madrid Minister of Health, Fátima Matute, talking about the importance of institutions also focusing on "healing the soul" are striking. As the elections in the Community of Madrid, scheduled for 2027, approach, its president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, and her executive are increasingly adopting elements of the cultural war against progressivism. Ayuso has recently asked her supporters to exercise extreme vigilance to avoid losing the absolute majority, with an eye on Vox.

It is this competition with Santiago Abascal's party for the same Madrid electorate that explains, in part, her discursive radicalization. This is how Steven Forti, author of the book Extrema dreta 2.0 and professor of contemporary history at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), interprets it. "Formally, Ayuso is not part of what I consider far-right 2.0", but "she is increasingly pulling the strings as a free agent trying to outflank Vox on the right", says Forti in a conversation with ARA. "She, unlike the vast majority of traditional right-wing parties, has given the cultural battle the same centrality [as the far-right] and the tactic of cultural wars has been one of the pillars of Ayuso's communication for years", he adds. These are the elements that underpin Ayuso's discourse:

Feminism and abortion

Among Ayuso's latest high-profile clashes with the Spanish government and the Madrid left is the one focusing on abortion. The Madrid president opposes the creation of a register of conscientious objectors, which all autonomous communities are legally obliged to establish. The Madrid representative is the only Popular Party president who has fought this battle against a right whose elimination is one of the main ideological pillars of the far-right. Ayuso did this with provocative reasoning –"go somewhere else to have an abortion", she insisted in response to demands from PSOE and Més Madrid– which is typical when she talks about feminist flags. It was also interpreted as a provocation that she announced the creation of the first center for male victims of sexual violence.

Hispanicism and historical narrative

Both in the educational and cultural spheres, Ayuso has made it one of her priorities to exalt Hispanidad and the celebration of October 12th. The Madrid president took advantage of the controversy over Felipe VI's statements directed at Mexico to disseminate a historical narrative that omits the violence, abuse, and exploitation of the conquest of America. "We arrived, those of the cross, and we established a new order [...], it was necessary to civilize," she defended, in line with Vox, with whom she also shares ties with Latin American far-right leaders, such as the Argentine Javier Milei. The Madrid president also agrees with them in their disdain for democratic memory and the victims of Francoism. The refusal to recognize with a plaque that the headquarters of the presidency of Madrid was a place of torture during the dictatorship has led her to confront the executive of Pedro Sánchez in the courts.

The signage to institutions

UAB professor Steven Forti also cites the withdrawal of funding from cultural institutions in a more "blatant" way than traditional right-wing parties as one of the far-right's cultural battle strategies. Ayuso's Ministry of Culture has drastically cut funding to Madrid's Círculo de Bellas Artes (CBA). The Ministry of Culture, led by Sumar, has responded by increasing its contribution to the CBA and, according to sources consulted by this newspaper, has framed this action within the same "anti-censorship line" it has followed in response to actions promoted by Vox, with the PP, in the Valencian Country or Aragon. In this year's budget, however, Ayuso has increased funding for "bullfighting affairs" or the Spanish Ballet of the Community of Madrid, created by her executive in 2024 to be a "cultural benchmark of Hispanicity", and which has been surrounded by controversy.

Immigration

Despite the claim of brotherhood with Latin Americans, Ayuso has brotherhood with Latin Americans, Ayuso has radicalized the discourse on immigration driven by the growth of Vox and the attacks they have directed against her for being, in her opinion, too permissive. The Madrid president has embraced one of the far-right's obsessions to criticize Sánchez's extraordinary regularization of migrants by linking it to a supposed desire by the left to commit electoral fraud. "To avoid being cannibalized by the far-right, one acts like them," concludes Forti.