From accusing the Mossos d'Esquadra of carrying out "racist raids" to comparing the independence movement to ETA: Podemos's snobs and Catalonia

BarcelonaThe secretary general of Podemos, Ione Belarra, opened a can of worms a few weeks ago in an interview in the newspaper ARA when she reiterated the opposition of the purple party to the transfer of immigration powers in Catalonia because she considered that if the Mossos took over these functions they would do "racist raids"This isn't the first controversy Podemos has generated in Catalonia, despite its commitment to the plurinational state. One of the most notorious was when the then-Secretary General of Podemos, Pablo Iglesias, declared that the independence movement had awakened fascism in the wake of the Trial, just before the start of the 21-D campaign in 2017. "I seek to awaken the greatest threat to democracy: the specter of fascism." At an event in Sant Adrià de BesòsIglesias lumped together Espanyol supporters and separatists, accusing them of seeking "the vote of revenge." In an uncompromising speech, he criticized the separatist movement for making "grandiose promises that they knew were lies," refusing to admit that the state had refused to seek a democratic solution and had opted solely for the path of repression.

This wasn't the only controversy that campaign experienced. Juan Carlos Monedero, former number three of Podemos and the party's ideologue, went so far as to compare the pro-independence forces to ETA. "Except for the violence," he retorted. Monedero pointed out that the separatist movement had tried to provoke "disproportionate responses" from the state to justify its political struggle, reproducing a tactic reminiscent of "ETA's strategy."

The 2017 referendum was a real disaster for Podemos Catalunya in Catalonia. Despite respecting the position of Podemos Catalunya, which, under the leadership of Albano Dante Fachin, agreed in July to participate in the consultation and call for a vote, the leader of the Catalan party defended the very next day that his party wanted an agreed-upon referendum with guarantees. But to remain legitimized in the vote, Iglesias went further and revealed that he would not vote if he had the opportunity: "We think we shouldn't criminalize, but if I were Catalan, I wouldn't participate."

Ridiculing the referendum

A few months before the 1-O referendum, Podemos's organizational secretary, Pablo Echenique, said that his party had no problem with Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau placing "little boxes" (in reference to ballot boxes) on election day, thus minimizing the day's work. Echenique, like the rest of the leadership, viewed the referendum as a legitimate but non-binding mobilization.

The fallout from the 1-O referendum did not motivate a change of course. A few weeks after the vote, Carolina Bescansa, founder of Podemos and one of the most respected voices in the party at the time, opened an internal crisis by questioning the leadership's political strategy. Bescansa denounced the party as lacking "a political project for Spain" and that it was only addressing the pro-independence movement. "I would like a Podemos that speaks more to Spain and to the Spanish people, and not just to the pro-independence movement," she stated. The MP believed that the party had not explained convincingly enough that it would not support independence "either unilaterally or bilaterally," thus contradicting the postulates of the purple party, which at the time advocated an agreed referendum.

A few weeks later, she questioned whether Catalonia and the Basque Country had more rights than the rest of the Spanish territories. She stated that the central debate was whether a territory's status as a nation "generates more political and economic rights or not." "I think this is what we need to discuss, not so much what we consider a nation. In Spain, people are very tolerant and understand very well that there are nationalities, regions, communities, and countries in our country. The question is what this means in terms of economic and political rights. And that is what lies at the heart of this debate," she said.

Long-standing leaders of the party have also disparaged former President Carles Puigdemont. Echenique mocked the issue by sharing information about an establishment that an Andalusian businessman and Vox activist had dubbed Pig Demont, which used a caricature of a pig with a hairstyle and glasses similar to the president's. "Humor stemming from disagreement also means building bridges. If they had put a tail on the pig, would Pablo Iglesias have been angry? I'm sure he wouldn't," he said in a tweet, participating in the collective mockery suffered by Puigdemont.

Podemos also made statements about the origins of Catalans during the 2015 September 27th campaign. "These neighborhood people who don't vote should show their teeth; those neighborhood people who aren't ashamed of having Andalusian grandparents or Extremaduran parents should show their teeth. Vote on the 27th. These working-class people should show their neighborhood pride," Iglesias exclaimed. The same argument had been used two days earlier by the then vice president of Congress, Celia Villalobos (PP), who called on the children and grandchildren of Andalusians in Catalonia to rebel against the Process.

Support for the accusations against Trias

Iglesias has been very harsh in recent years regarding the state's sewers. But a few years earlier, his position was very different. In the 2015 municipal elections, Iglesias did give credibility to the information he published. The World about the supposed multi-million dollar accounts of the candidate for re-election, Xavier Trias, which were later shown to be false.

During that campaign, Podemos and Iglesias took advantage of the accusations against Trias, who was Ada Colau's great rival, to reinforce their discourse against the "caste" and corruption. At an event in Nou Barris, the secretary general of Podemos explicitly referred to politicians with accounts in Andorra or Switzerland as "thieves" and "riffraff", a clear allusion to Trias.

The new leadership that emerged from the June primaries, led by María Pozuelo, considers both the Process and the differences that 1-O generated between the party in Catalonia and the leadership in Madrid to be a stage overcome. In this regard, sources within the party affirm that the current alignment with Podemos at the national level, led by Ione Belarra, "is complete," because they share a common understanding of the state as a "contingent of nationalities." "Podemos has always defended the people's right to decide," affirm Podemos Catalunya, but they believe there is no "open" political conflict over Catalonia's place within Spain. "The narrative of the conflict only serves to hide the lack of real solutions to citizens' everyday problems, such as housing, job insecurity, and the climate emergency," they conclude.