Sánchez denounces the attacks on the UN: "It is a planned demolition attempt"

WashingtonThe Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, has taken to the podium of the United Nations General Assembly to defend multilateralism at a time when "different governments, present here, despise or intend to dismantle" the organization that hosts them. Without explicitly mentioning him, the socialist referred to Donald Trump, who was already back in Washington this Wednesday. Before Sánchez spoke, the American president had received his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, who preferred the White House to the UN headquarters.

"I come to vindicate the principles and ambitions that inspired the creation of this organization 81 years ago," stated Sánchez, who lamented that since then "the world has not changed for the better, but for the worse." The socialist described the economic cuts by the Trump administration to the bodyas "a planned and coordinated attempt at demolition."

The Spanish Prime Minister evoked the approval, in 2018, of the 2030 Agenda as a moment when the majority of countries saw sustainability and equality as an integral part of the future of humanity and not as "ideological positions." Ideas that now, according to him, "are not only questioned: they are attacked" by governments that "want to take us back to a dark past."

As expected, the Spanish leader took advantage of the UN loudspeaker to stand as one of the last champions of progressivism amidst the rise of the far-right. Sánchez highlighted how Spain is swimming against this reactionary current that seeks to undo the international order established after the Second World War.

"We have refused to increase our military spending to 5% of GDP and have done everything in our power to prevent aggressions contrary to the United Nations Charter, by sanctioning the Russian aggressors, imposing an arms embargo on Netanyahu's government in Israel, preventing our territory from being used to deploy an aggression contrary to international legality, and condemning without nuance the genocide that Netanyahu continues to perpetrate in Gaza," the Spanish Prime Minister enumerated.

Sánchez has recounted each of these milestones as proof of his left-wing pedigree while today in Madrid Maricarmen, an 87-year-old neighbor with reduced mobility, was evicted from her home. The eviction was carried out after the property owner rejected an anonymous person's offer to pay the difference of the rent increase demanded from the elderly woman. The investment fund Urbagestión proposed a hike of 1,650 euros, compared to the 500 euros that the woman had until now paid religiously. In the press conference prior to the speech at the UN, the socialist blamed the city council and the Community of Madrid for the eviction, both in the hands of the PP.

In national terms, Sánchez also mentioned the migration crisis in Ceuta, which he cited as an example of prioritizing human rights over fear. Although the leader acknowledged that the city is suffering "one of the most significant crises of recent years," Spain will not give in on the defense of its principles and will not fall into the temptation of "turning the migrant into an enemy."

A woman's turn at the head of the UN

To conclude his speech, which lasted a little over fifteen minutes, Sánchez called for the next UN Secretary-General to be a Latin American woman. "The time has come," he stated, pointing out that, in 80 years of history, the UN has never had a woman at its helm, an inconsistency for an institution that aims to represent all of humanity.

The Spanish president framed his proposal within a broader defense of feminism and as another response to the reactionary wave. In making this call, Sánchez championed the Costa Rican Rebeca Grynspan, one of the main names currently being mentioned to succeed António Guterres once his term ends in December.