The Spanish legislature is running out and the left is not prepared. Whether in the summer, when four years will have passed since the last elections, or at the end of November in case Pedro Sánchez presses the electoral button this Monday, Comuns, Sumar, IU and Més Madrid have not yet defined the structure or the candidate. The failure of the housing decrees has shaken the political board and this Saturday Ada Colau activated the electoral mode with an urgent call. "It is the moment for great alliances. The citizenry would not understand if everyone went their own way," she exclaimed at the inauguration of a conference of the School of Political Imagination organized by the Sentit Comú Foundation, which is presided over by Colau herself.

In current politics, hyper-leadership proliferates, but what is valued most is a personal brand that exceeds the party brand. This is what characters as disparate as Gabriel Rufián, Carles Puigdemont, Ada Colau, or Juanma Moreno Bonilla have in common.

The figure of Ada Colau emerged in the fight for decent and affordable housing for everyone. A youthful activism that eventually led her to become the first female mayor of Barcelona when she was 41 years old. From the position (2015-2023), despite two terms in power, the progress in housing policies was limited, frustrating. It remains the great problem in the Catalan capital and in all large cities. One only needs to look at the promises that have led to the victory of Zohran Mamdani in New York and Elif Eralp in Berlin: access to housing is marking the emergence of a new progressivism. The phenomenon is making its way into the urban world, where the problem is bleeding and where the left-wing vote usually carries more weight. Madrid, so tilted towards populist right-wing, is a global exception.

Ada Colau is willing to take a step forward within the space to the left of the PSOE ahead of the next general elections. According to knowledgeable sources, the former mayor of Barcelona has changed her mind over the last few weeks and, after ignoring the siren calls of her party colleagues on several occasions, she has agreed to start working to promote a broad left-wing front in the State and to position herself as one of the main leaders, at a time when the post-Yolanda Díaz left is short on references.

We read in ARA that the former mayor of Barcelona Ada Colau “has reappeared this Monday as a housing activist at the eviction of a vulnerable neighbor in Barcelona”. It seems the Mossos took her away. Reappear: the verb is used for movie stars.

The arrival of summer is the arrival of the main festivals and, with them, the same ritual: the mayor goes out onto the balcony at the moment of the proclamation. But increasingly often this ritual also becomes a headache: the moment when organized citizens take advantage of the most media-friendly stage of the municipal calendar to express their discontent with those in power or the politician who shows up. It repeats year after year, and takes different forms depending on who is on the balcony, who is shouting from below, and what is at stake.

Oriol Junqueras has spent weeks actively and passively rejecting the project of left-wing unity that ERC spokesperson in Madrid, Gabriel Rufián, is trying to promote at the state level. The republican leader, however, went a step further this Monday with a more than clarifying sentence about his position: "I went to prison for Catalonia, not because Colau is a deputy on an Esquerra list," he summarized in the context of the presentation of the book by deputy Francesc-Marc Álvaro. A statement for which the former mayor of Barcelona has accused him of doing mansplaining.

The debate about unity to the left of the PSOE has resurfaced strongly in recent days. Gabriel Rufián's call on Wednesday not to split the progressive vote The prospect of running together again in the upcoming general elections resonated this Saturday at another event in Madrid. Comunes, Más Madrid, Izquierda Unida, and Movimiento Sumar staged a demonstration that they will once again contest the elections scheduled for 2027, amid heightened anticipation. because of the Republican's proposalWhile these groups' approach differs from that of the ERC spokesperson in Congress, and there are no realistic expectations of bringing the pro-independence parties on board, the new electoral coalition—still in its very early stages—has emphasized the need to be as many actors as possible within a single candidacy. "We won't close the door to anyone," they stated. This appeal does reflect a desire—currently a pipe dream after the traumatic split at the beginning of the legislature—to attract Podemos. They have also included other parties with which they have previously joined forces, such as Compromís and Més per Mallorca. the Aragonese UnionOf these, only the Valencia fans attended the presentation, in which Yolanda Díaz was notably absent.

The debate surrounding broad coalitions has shaken the left since Gabriel Rufián brought it to the forefront. The proposal has engaged the Comuns, who are working in discreet meetings to revive their coalition to the left of the PSOE with Izquierda Unida, Más País, and Sumar, after Yolanda Díaz's party lost momentum following successive electoral defeats and the conflict declared against it by Podemos. With this new coalition, sources within Comuns assert that the Catalan party will have a "more prominent role" in the new project, which aims for greater "horizontal" collaboration among the member parties now that there is no longer a nationally representative force, as Podemos was until 2019 or Sumar at its inception. The ultimate goal remains to find a "winning formula" to re-establish the coalition government and avoid a PP-Vox coalition.

"It would be unacceptable if, in future elections, progressive democratic forces were unable to organize themselves in whatever way possible to build broad democratic popular fronts capable of stopping the right and the far right." These are the words Ada Colau spoke in OctoberJust after returning to Catalonia from participating in the flotilla to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, which was ultimately detained by the Israeli government, these statements already hinted at a veiled endorsement of Gabriel Rufián's proposal for a plurinational left-wing front. Now that the ERC spokesperson in Congress has taken a further step in defending this project, with a joint event with a spokesperson from Más Madrid, Colau explicitly endorsed Rufián's call for left-wing unity.

In his office at the Congress, Gerard Pisarello keeps three objects: a photograph of Frederica Montseny, an anarchist minister of the Second Republic; a portrait of Pi i Margall, Catalan president of the First Republic; and a Barcelona flag. These three symbols represent the values ​​with which the now-Congressman and former right-hand man of Ada Colau in the City Council identifies: grassroots left-wing movements, republicanism, and municipalism. The former deputy mayor of Barcelona is now taking the step to become a candidate for Barcelona en Comú in 2027 after several voices from space asked him to, when no one could yet foresee that they would end up testing each other's strength in a primary election with the writer and comedian Bob Pop. At the official launch of the candidacyOrganized hastily when the party realized it would have to fight for the mayoral nomination, Pisarello appeared flanked by Colau and Ernest Urtasun. A message that made it clear he is the official candidate of the party leadership.

ARA's director, Esther Vera, had promised a "fiery" conversation, and it delivered. The quintessentially Barcelona-centric clash of titans between former mayor Ada Colau and economist Miquel Puig on the housing crisis did not disappoint. Let's start with the end: when, at the last minute, journalist Eva Arderius asked them for a reason for optimism, Puig mentioned the promise to eliminate tourist licenses and Colau the initiative for a law prohibiting speculative purchases. But this was in the pre-farewell relaxation. Behind them lay a battlefield of dialectical clashes, passionate arguments, and, in short, pure enjoyment for an audience that didn't lose focus for a moment.

British journalist John Carlin; the editorial director of Le MondeSylvie Kauffmann; the American historian Mark Bray; the economist Miquel Puig; and the former mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, are some of the prominent names who will participate in the conference. We focus: the solutions forumA conference organized by the newspaper ARA will be held on January 23 and 24 at the Centre for Contemporary Culture in Barcelona. Its aim is to debate, reflect on, and seek answers to humanity's greatest challenges: climate change, democracy, housing, and human relationships.

Barcelona En Comú is holding its first leadership primaries in its eleven-year history. Never before have two lists competed to lead the party, which faces the post-Ada Colau era with its sights set on the 2027 municipal elections and the big question mark of who its mayoral candidate will be. Until December 15, two candidates are vying to lead a party that aims to To forge alliances with the left in the city with the dream of regaining the mayoralty (a dream that, for now, faces opposition from the polls). Neither Colau nor Janet Sanz, the most visible figures in recent years, are running, nor is Gemma Tarafa, the number two in the BComú city council, who is now focused on her role as coordinator of Comuns.

June 2017. Catalonia is in turmoil amidst the independence movement, on the cusp of a summer that would mark a turning point in Catalan politics. But while the discussion focuses on the October 1st referendum, Barcelona En Comú, led by then-mayor Ada Colau, organizes a municipal summit that brings together 180 cities and some 700 activists from the international left in the Catalan capital. This is Fearless Cities, an event that will later expand to the United States and Europe. There, a connection is forged that will be key to BComú's mobilization strategy from then on: that of the Working Families Party (WFP), a like-minded organization. to the new mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdaniand a new hope for the left in a time of rising far-right sentiment. The first contact occurred when Colau became mayor, at the request of this party, due to the victory of the BComú candidacy in the 2015 elections. However, the relationship between the two groups grew even closer in the lead-up to the 2019 campaign, when Colau managed to retain her position thanks to the PSC's Ernest Maragall.

Following her expedition with the Flotilla to denounce the genocide in Gaza, former Barcelona mayor Ada Colau reappeared at an event organized by the Common Sense Foundation. In her inaugural address at the political training school of Comuns, the former leader of Barcelona en Comú and president of the party delivered a message focused on the importance of social justice. think tank He was clear: "It would be unacceptable if, in upcoming elections—we're not talking about the immediate future, because there's still some time to go—progressive democratic forces are unable to organize themselves in whatever way necessary to build broad democratic popular fronts capable of stopping the right and the far right." This is a message that Barcelona en Comú... It was put into circulation in the summer, with the idea of trying to bring positions closer with ERC and the CUP. looking ahead to 2027. The proposal, however, arouses suspicion among Republicans, although a similar one has emerged from their ranks: The proposal by the ERC spokesperson in Congress, Gabriel Rufián, to create a plurinational front of the left in the State which the party leadership itself has ruled out.

At home, I was taught a value that seems out of this world: if you do a good deed selflessly, bragging about it takes away all its value. If you give alms, or do a gift, or perform a favor, bragging about your generosity automatically turned it into what we would call today. self-promotionThat is, in personal promotion, investment in one's own reputation. That is, in publicity and, in the case of power, in pure and simple propaganda. That's why even the bloodthirsty Hassan II occasionally granted a handful of pardons and presented himself to his subjects as clement and merciful (which are the two most repeated attributes when referring to God in Islam). In the age of social media and virality, the ethic of altruism instilled in me by the women in my family seems completely obsolete. In politics, social movements, and activism, we see sincerely committed people who dedicate their time, energy, and efforts to transforming the world they live in out of deep conviction. You'll recognize them because their vocational involvement probably doesn't pay off, and they'll surely often wonder if the daily confrontation with much more powerful forces is worth it. But the thought quickly dissipates because there's so much work to be done, and doubts are left for private conversation. I think of so many feminist organizations working from the grassroots, so many organizations dedicated to child poverty, all those doctors who go to remote areas to practice their profession, but also of the teachers, social workers, and nurses who care for forgotten people in forgotten neighborhoods that no one cares about. Of course, it's their job, but it's not the same thing for a family doctor to answer "I don't know what you're talking about" than for her to listen to you with her full attention, even if it's only for five minutes. I have placed all my hopes for humanity in these tremendously useful people who never appear on television or make a living. tiktoks showing his heroism in the office, in the classroom or wherever he is.

Writer and communicator Roberto Enríquez Higueras (Madrid, 1971), known as Bob Pop, wants to be mayor of Barcelona. He explained this in his segment on the program. Today from Cadena SER, in which he stated that he is "considering" running "for real" in the upcoming municipal elections as a candidate for the Comú party. He said that he will submit "to all of the organization's participatory processes." He also explained that he has "always" supported Ada Colau and that, after the former mayor "maybe considered not running again," he considered running himself. "I would love to be in a mayoralty with Ada. But if Ada isn't there, why don't I go and run?"

Today, the world's eyes are on Egypt, where Israeli, Palestinian, and American negotiators are meeting to decide whether or not to sign Donald Trump's peace plan for Gaza. The United States is pressuring Hamas to sign. Netanyahu bombs Gaza to get Hamas to sign, and Hamas must quickly say whether it accepts the 20-point plan agreed upon by Trump and Netanyahu.

Of the more than 500 activists from 44 countries that make up the Global Sumud Flotilla, intercepted by Israel as it approached GazaThere are up to fifty who have Spanish nationality. And of these, fifteen are Catalan. Most confirmed that they were traveling aboard ships attacked in international waters by Israeli soldiers and are currently detained incommunicado.