The tandem Rufián and Montero debuts in Madrid against the useful vote for the PSOE

MadridThe Podem event in Madrid this Saturday had a bit of ERC in it. And not only because Gabriel Rufián, candidate for the Republicans on November 29th, acted as a warm-up act for Irene Montero —has been their first joint pre-campaign event in the Spanish capital—, but because both have coincided in the color of their sweater: yellow. "That's how connected we are," said Rufián, who assured that they had not discussed it beforehand. He also revealed that he had not held any pre-campaign rally in a circus. Militants and supporters of the purple group have been summoned to the show's tent The Island of Neverland that these days hosts the Espai Delicias of the city. A leisure proposal inspired by the Neverland, the island of Peter Pan where children do not grow up. Sources from the party explain that it is the only place they have found with so little time to spare: initially, Rufián and Montero were supposed to debut in Madrid last Saturday, but they suspended it due to the tragic train accident in Urda, in Toledo, in which 69 people lost their lives and for which three days of official mourning were decreed.

The other nod to ERC was Lluís Companys. Rufián cited a speech of his from 1936, he said, the same one he used in the first event with Montero in Nou Barris, in Barcelona, last October 24th: "Catalonia loves you. And I as a Catalan want the best for Madrid", said Rufián.

"Long live the struggle of the working class!", has been the main chant of the attendees who were able to enter the tent. Although some chairs in the stands remained empty, dozens of people were left on the street and Rufián and Montero promised them a second event in Madrid, in a more spacious place.

Quickly, the focus was already placed on the "mafia". Montero referred in this way to the right and the far-right, specifically to Isabel Díaz Ayuso and her policies which involve, said Montero, "ending" public education and healthcare: "They hand over the money to Quirón", she affirmed. But it was also placed on the PSOE and on Front Ampli. In fact, Rufián and Montero have once again established themselves as the only ones capable of "subduing" the socialists, against whom they raised their tone: "[The PSOE] If it can, it eats you up", warned Montero.

A way in which the PSOE, in the opinion of the Podemos candidate, wants to eat up the left is the useful vote. The head of the list for the purple party in the 29-N elections appealed not to fall into what she considers to be a trap: "And what is this? Voting for what you don't want? The only moment in which a person from Carabanchel or Usera [neighborhoods of Madrid] and Joan Roig [president of Mercadona] have the same power, they tell you to vote for the PSOE. As Vargas Llosa said: "The important thing in an election is not that they are free, but that you vote correctly"", ironized Montero. Furthermore, she reproached Pedro Sánchez's people for handing out lessons: "PP and PSOE are not the same, but being exemplary is not that in the week when everyone is talking about pain [due to the train accident in Toledo], the Front Ampli [Sumar] government and Pedro Sánchez spend 4 billion on weapons", denounced Montero. Podemos has labeled the socialists on more than one occasion as the party "of war".

Darts against Front Ampli

This, however, has not been the only moment in which Rufián and Montero have raised the decibels against the left-wing alliance led by Ada Colau, and with whom the agreement for a single candidacy at the State level did not ultimately come to fruition. "I want the best for the left, but this was not about submitting to the PSOE by joining the PSOE," criticized Rufián in reference to Front Ampli. Montero said there are three options on 29-N: either the "devolution" of PP and Vox; or "continuing [as until now]" and voting for the PSOE; or voting for the left, and that means Podemos.

Only afterwards did the republican candidate qualify his words: "I would like there to be a left-wing force in this country that beats the PSOE, but for the moment I want a government [at the State level] of the PSOE subject to left-wing, sovereignist forces. We have been much more patriotic people from BNG, Compromís, EH Bildu, Adelante Andalucia than some who call themselves convergents," he pointed out in a message —not the only one— towards Junts, his direct adversary in Catalonia and against whom Rufián has never hesitated to enter into direct clashes in his interventions in Congress.

"Fill the streets" on 11-N

In any case, Rufián and Montero leave Broad Front as just another arm of the socialists. Even on the eve of the general strike this coming November 11th, promoted by the Tenants' Union Confederation, Montero has positioned the candidacy of Podemos and ERC as the only one capable of resolving the housing crisis in Spain, and specifically the increase in rental prices: "The left that serves to lower rental prices is the plurinational republican alliance [between ERC and Podemos]," said Montero. The Podemos candidate for the Spanish presidency has called to "fill the streets" and "paralyze the country." "There is only one thing more powerful than the power held by [Isabel Díaz] Ayuso, [Santiago] Abascal, [Alberto Núñez] Feijóo, Repsol, Endesa, Mercadona or Banco Santander and that is the general strike [...] There must be no production, nor consumption," she exclaimed.