Pablo Iglesias: The Left Must Stop Francoites From Returning to Power
- David Broder
In his first article since withdrawing from frontline politics, Podemos founder Pablo Iglesias argues that Spain's resurgent nationalist right is a threat to basic democratic freedoms.
Podemos founder Pablo Iglesias: “We are faced with a reactionary project that will combine the most ferocious neoliberalism with an assault on the autonomous governments’ powers and the persecution of pro-independence activists.” (Europa Press via Getty Images)
It hasn’t happened in any of the four general elections held since 2015. For a long time, I didn’t think it could ever happen. But now I think it’s possible. The Partido Popular and Vox could get more than 175 MPs — a majority in the Spanish Congress.
Following the collapse of Ciudadanos, the Right will enter the next general election running as just two tickets. Leaving aside the credibility of the polls currently saying the Right and extreme right could win, this fact alone makes such a victory more feasible.
But there’s also another factor — one that I think is the crucial one, which has shifted the ideological bases of a considerable part of Spanish society. And that factor is the balance of forces in the media. Outside of the Basque and Catalan media ecosystems, the right-wing media based in Madrid enjoys absolute cultural dominance. And it has an enormous capacity to determine and condition what millions of citizens think.
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