Abascal calls for unity between "Catalans and Castilians" against Islam

BarcelonaThe leader of Vox, Santiago Abascal, has decided to begin the electoral pre-campaign for the Spanish elections in Catalonia. He had not come since the 2024 Catalan elections, but the political scene is beginning to be mature enough to think that Pedro Sánchez may soon press the electoral button. This Thursday he passed through Lleida and on Friday he was in Tarragona and Barcelona. "Abascal is starting the pre-campaign in Catalonia because of the importance it holds and above all because it is one of the places where there is the most room for growth along with Ceuta, Murcia, and Valencia". This is how Vox sources consulted by ARA defend this strategic choice, and they argue that among the factors for the surge is the support captured from traditionally socialist areas and the dual vote with Aliança Catalana, which, they point out, benefits them significantly in the general elections. In this context, Abascal stated from the Catalan capital that unity is needed between "Catalans and Castilians" to fight against Islam –similar to what he said in Lleida.

In fact, in the middle of an operation to seduce the swing voter with Aliança, he has asked to set aside "small folklore differences," such as the use of languages: "There is no room for the controversy of Catalans against Castilians or Basques, Catalan society has understood it [...] Today we are playing the most important battle, against Islamization," he defended. In the same vein, the secretary general, Ignacio Garriga, has asserted that due to immigration there will soon be "neither botifarra, nor the Tura festivities, nor the Catalan language in our beloved land". Hundreds of anti-fascists demonstrated against the Vox act, separated by a police cordon. Despite this, there was tension at the Plaça de la Marina de Sants, where the rally was held, due to the confrontation of some attendees with an apartment that was playing revolutionary music and the national anthem of Catalonia –they threw tomatoes at them–. In fact, a party sympathizer tried to assault a journalist and was separated by the police.

A definite plan

Abascal is very clear about the roadmap, which involves reproducing across Spain the strategy that has been applied in recent years in Catalonia, with which they have been able to penetrate working-class neighborhoods based on anti-immigration discourse. According to sources from the radical right-wing group, "Catalonia has been the vanguard of the consequences of the migratory policies of recent years" and allows us to see the need to "reverse with policies" the course throughout the State. For this reason, they emphasize national priority in public aid – the cornerstone of the legislatures in the autonomous communities – and remigration, a concept coined by the international extreme right that refers to mass deportations which, in the case of Vox, they limit to criminals and those who "do not adapt" to Spanish laws, customs, and "way of life".

It is not anecdotal that Abascal landed in Lleida just two days after the demonstration organized by the party against "mass" immigration and "Islamization", nor that he came to Barcelona when the "green belt" campaign begins – a play on words with the socialist red belt – throughout the Principality, holding micro-events in favor of mass deportations, national priority, and deregulation – the business touch. According to Vox sources, the strategic line of the "green belt" is to promote throughout Spain the hunting of the socialist and abstentionist vote with the same anti-immigration workerist style, which in Madrid is fully represented by the deputy spokesperson in Congress, Carlos Hernández Quero. The diagnosis is that "fed-up-ness subtracts from the PSOE and adds to Vox". The message intends to focus on humble neighborhoods by pointing out that the money that goes to foreigners does not go to Spaniards.

Orriols' help

They are also closely following the Aliança Catalana phenomenon, which they believed from the beginning would be favorable to them. At the headquarters on Bambú Street in Madrid, they have long had clear conclusions: "In Catalonia, there are those who will vote for Aliança in the regional elections and Vox in the general elections. Sílvia Orriols is focused on the single theme and so are we: civilization or barbarism," they state. With the goal of "cleaning house," they are aware that neither does Aliança speak of independence nor do they focus on the 'Procés' because the struggle is different now. In their view, "Aliança amplifies Vox's discourse" and this will "make them grow," regardless of the impact they may have on the Catalan elections. They even accept that Aliança will take votes away from them in Parliament, but, in return, it will give them votes in the general elections, in which Sílvia Orriols' party refuses to run: "The dual vote has a lot of room for growth."

In the latest polls in Catalonia, such as the CEO, the flight of votes from Vox to Orriols' party reaches one in every five supporters. Be that as it may, in the Spanish elections 21.8% of Orriols' voters would opt for Abascal, a fact that helps explain the projection of 6-7 Vox deputies in Congress estimated by the CEO, triple the current two. Thus, Aliança and Vox in a certain way feed off each other.

The goal of Abascal's leadership is to convey to citizens that they must have "enough strength" to make the great change they intend, especially regarding migration, and the objective is to double their deputies in Catalonia, although they see it as "possible" to triple them. And what Vox wants to do is take the examples of the "work done" in the regional governments; there, the basic axes are beginning to be applied, such as national priority, which is their particular Overton window for a far-reaching struggle.

Lleida, Tarragona, and Barcelona in two days, but Abascal's arrival will still have a future episode in this pre-campaign because he has reserved the city of Girona.