The ideology behind the DANA catastrophe

BarcelonaThe lockdown decreed during the pandemic for health reasons created a huge divide between the left and the right. Generally, for the left, the restriction of movement was justified because it was done in the name of a greater good: saving as many lives as possible. However, for some on the right, that decision represented an unacceptable intrusion by the state into individual liberty, which at that time was reduced to a kind of Orwellian dictatorship. Isabel Díaz Ayuso, the president of Madrid, spearheaded the institutional opposition to the lockdown, refusing, for example, to close bars and restaurants as the other regional presidents, including Núñez Feijóo, were doing. To such an extent that the Spanish capital became a magnet for young Europeans seeking parties and entertainment. In the streets, however, it was Vox that led the protests under the banner of freedom. The far right, which voted in favor of the first state of emergency, quickly distanced itself and decided to challenge the Spanish government's decision before the Constitutional Court, which at the time had a conservative majority. The Constitutional Court declared the lockdown decreed under the state of emergency illegal and stated that a state of exception, a measure intended for armed conflicts, should have been approved to make a decision of that magnitude. This ruling, written by Justice Pedro González Trevijano, who stated that during the pandemic "the restriction of rights was extremely intense," profoundly affected the most conservative sectors, which have since equated lockdown with socialism/communism.

This is the ideology that permeated the atmosphere on October 29, 2024, among the leaders of the Valencian PP, especially those close to Carlos Mazón, who was closer to Díaz Ayuso than to Feijóo. To such an extent that it has become ingrained among conservatives that confining the population without a state of emergency is illegal, which is false because emergency legislation provides for this measure when there is danger, for example, in the case of a toxic cloud. That is why José Manuel Cuenca, Mazón's right-hand man, considers the word lockdown It's a taboo subject when she speaks with Pradas. "No lockdown," she insists, "get it out of your head." Salomé Pradas herself feels like she's playing with fire and hesitates about what the experts are asking for, even requesting a legal report to determine if a lockdown is permissible (until they clarify that it is). It's this ideological prejudice—that the population couldn't be confined—combined with the fear of disrupting the tourism sector on the eve of a long weekend, coupled with the indifference of an absent president, that creates the terrifying cocktail that led the Generalitat to a disastrous handling of the storm that caused 230 deaths. If we also add the time wasted trying to ensure the message didn't sound too Catalan, then we can conclude that a certain ideology can indeed have a cost in human lives.