In the survey by the Sociological Research Centre (CIS) last June, Gabriel Rufián first appeared as one of the names Spaniards considered as a candidate for the presidency of the State. The percentage was very low, 0.6%, but what was significant was that a leader of ERC, specifically the party's spokesperson in Congress, appeared in the predictions. The Rufián phenomenon has been growing over the months – in this March's survey the percentage had grown to 5.8% –, spurred on by his campaign for a left-wing front. All the sovereignist left-wing parties, starting with his own, ERC, turned their backs on him and the feeling was that Rufián was rowing against the current, even though he never tires of saying that what he defends is what he hears on the street and what the left has always been criticized for: lack of unity. And especially at a time of rising right and far-right. Sumar welcomed Rufián's proposal, but invited him to join the coalition that was already negotiating with Esquerra Unida, Comuns, and Més Madrid. A project in which Podemos, incidentally, is not involved. It is precisely for this reason that the person who has taken up Rufián's challenge is Irene Montero, the number two of the purple party.

Gabriel Rufián and Irene Montero have been summoned on April 9th in Barcelona to hold a joint event, moderated by Xavier Domènech, which will serve to defend a left-wing front for the upcoming general elections. They will finally do so at Pompeu Fabra University, organizers announced this Wednesday. It will be the second stop on the ERC spokesperson's tour in Madrid, which aims to convince citizens and parties that the best way to combat the far-right is through electoral unity of the left.

Gabriel Rufián and Irene Montero have metApril 9th ​​in Barcelona to hold a joint eventThe event, moderated by Xavier Domènech, will serve to advocate for a left-wing front in the lead-up to the next general elections. It will finally take place at Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), organizers announced on Wednesday. This will be the second stop on the tour of the ERC spokesperson in Madrid, who aims to convince the public and political parties that the best way to combat the far right is through electoral unity on the left.

Gabriel Rufián and Irene Montero have met April 9th ​​to hold a joint eventThe event, moderated by Xavier Domènech, aims to promote a united left-wing front in the lead-up to the next general elections. So far, the exact location has not been made public; organizers had only stated it would be in Barcelona. According to ARA, it will definitely not be held at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), despite the organizers' initial wish. The UAB has rejected the request. The reason? The university does not lend its spaces for events that are not "academic," according to sources at the institution. Organizers are now exploring alternative venues and expect to announce the final location in the coming days.

"Teaming up with Gabriel [Rufián] seems like a great idea to me," Irene Montero said a few days ago, in a significant change of attitude. In Sumar, Montero's most hated enemy, Yolanda Díaz, has withdrawn from the front lines, making it clear that she will finish her current term as Vice President of the Spanish government, but will no longer run as a Sumar candidate. It was also a few days ago that Yolanda Díaz made clear her willingness to consider the possibility of uniting (or subsuming) Sumar into a broader project of the left—to the left of the PSOE—to run in the general elections, as proposed by the ERC spokesperson in Congress, the aforementioned Gabriel Rufián, now the white mermaid ( white blackbird(You'll have to excuse me) of the left, of what Salvador Espriu called the bull's hide. That is to say: Catalan, Galician, Basque, and Spanish leftists, pro-independence and pro-union leftists, united to stop the shift to the right and the far right. This was largely the subject of some of Espriu's major works, such as the play Esther's First Story or the poems of The bull's hideWe are in the vicinity of Iberianism, the idea of ​​an Iberian Peninsula formed by a set of cultures and languages ​​(Portuguese, Castilian, Basque, Galician, and Catalan, which includes Catalonia, the Valencian Community, and the Balearic Islands) that should coexist in peace, respect, and mutual understanding. This is an idea that Espriu took up from Joan Maragall and that has been defended by other intellectuals: more recently, the Portuguese José Saramago and the Asturian Xuan Bello.

"A party that has had Francesc Macià, Lluís Companys, Josep Irla, Josep Tarradellas, and Pere Aragonès is above all else." The president of ERC, Oriol Junqueras, asserted this Friday the importance of his party, above any specific dispute, including regarding the candidates. "We are not afraid of anything," he responded in an interview with Ser Catalunya when asked if he feared that Gabriel Rufián might leave ERC in search of a national left-wing front. "ERC goes far beyond all of that," he insisted, adding that "if we weren't afraid of prison, how can we be afraid of anything else, much less this?"

After the blow to the left in the Castille and Leo elections, where Podem and Sumar were left out of the regional chamber, ERC spokesperson, Gabriel Rufián, stated: "Seats to the left of the PSOE. Doing nothing (or the same old thing) is pure negligence." Given the proliferation of regional governments with a PP and Vox majority and the more than possible alliance of these two forces in the next general elections, the Esquerra leader does not tire of demanding a united left-wing front in Spain.

First stop, Madrid, and now it's Barcelona's turn. Gabriel Rufián will return to the campaign trail on April 9th ​​to defend his proposal for a national left-wing front. He will do so alongside Podemos MEP Irene Montero, at an event in Barcelona moderated by former Comuns leader Xavier Domènech. feeling The relationship between Rufián and Montero is well-known, and, as happened with Emilio Delgado in Madrid, similar speeches will likely be heard. This Thursday, in fact, Podemos's next candidate for the general elections considered it "a very good idea" to team up with Rufián in the elections. In an interview with RTVE, Montero stressed the importance of citizens knowing that there are people "willing to play and win the game" against the far right. The general secretary of Podemos, Ione Belarra, also celebrated the alliance between Montero and Rufián: "I can't think of a better team to give people hope that we can govern from the left," she also told RTVE. Rufián's views, however, are not so well received within his party. The ERC leadership has repeatedly distanced itself from the left-wing unity project, and internal criticism is mounting, to the point that some members are demanding that the "disobedience" of the party's spokesperson in Madrid be addressed by the party's disciplinary committee.

The division of the left is as old as the left itself. Ideological purism, doctrinal rigidity, and poor tactical ability, sometimes compounded by a personalism they theoretically reject, are characteristics historically associated with the groups and factions that have positioned themselves to the left of the "official" left. These conditions often lead them, almost inexorably, to dissent and fragmentation, ultimately resulting in political impotence inversely proportional to the ideological virtue they preach.

Clash on social media between Elon Musk and Irene Montero: the tech magnate has accused the Podemos MEP of being a "genocidal maniac." She responded by calling on "decent people" to "replace" the billionaire – who has appeared in the Epstein files– so that she stops “raping” and “killing.” However, it all began with statements by the left-wing leader in which she defended the extraordinary regularization of migrants in Spain.

Yolanda Díaz or Irene Montero. Sumar or Podemos. This seems to be the dilemma for the left of the PSOE ahead of the upcoming Spanish elections. The purple party has already formally announced that The former Minister of Equality will be her candidate and has invited parties that are now part of the Sumar coalition, such as Izquierda Unida, to renounce Díaz and ally with them. The party of the second vice president of the Spanish government has not made this official, but its constitution as such is linked to the objective that Díaz has a structure behind him that allows him to continue leading the space and repeat as head of the list.

In response to Sumar's offer to form a unified list, Podemos responded a week later by naming Irene Montero as its candidate for the next general elections. This choice is no surprise, but it is significant that it was announced two years—theoretically—before the elections. Not even Pedro Sánchez has confirmed his candidacy. The former Minister of Equality and current MEP is considered the main political asset and leader of the purple party, even though Ione Belarra is its general secretary. The veto that Yolanda Díaz imposed on the elections of July 23, 2023, due to errors in the law of only yes is yes It grants Montero special status, and now all the pressure is on the Sumar leader in the face of a possible negotiation. "Those who share a government should run together in the elections because they are the closest in terms of their program," Montero noted in an interview on RTVE. In other words, she has "sent" Yolanda Díaz to the PSOE.

Yesterday there were demonstrations in Catalonia and all over the world to mark International Women's Day, and the thousands who took to the streets protested in a festive atmosphere. They made demands that have been dragging on for years and will not be settled overnight. In the run up, the Catalan and Spanish governments have put in place some measures that show to what extent discrimination against women is so deep-rooted that sometimes it is difficult even to identify it. This is the case, for example, of the initiative by the Department of Equality to encourage the Catalan Consumer Agency to inspect fashion stores to ensure that they comply with European regulations on sizes. The idea is, on the one hand, to ensure that sizes meet standards set by European regulations, avoiding a size L which is actually an S or an M, with the frustration that this causes. But also to avoid chains that only sell sizes XS or S, which in reality are an almost childish size sold for mature women. It seems an anecdotal issue, but this aesthetic pressure is of paramount importance in the fight against eating disorders and also psychological disorders and in the way women, especially teenagers, perceive their bodies.

The trans and equality law for the LGTBIQ community will be approved in the ordinary Council of Ministers, which has to close years of demands and months of negotiations between the two partners of the Spanish government. The law recognizes what some regional laws already recognize: the free determination of gender. That is, it makes it official that transsexuality is not a mental illness and from now on it will only require an administrative procedure in the offices of the Civil Registry. Also minors, from 14 to 18 years old, will have the same requirements but only if they are accompanied by their parents or legal guardians.