Spain's political climate is warm at the best of times: the division between left and right is significant and has been ever since the beginning of the 20th century. But the current behaviour of the PP (Partido Popular, or Popular Party) - especially its repeated ideological attacks on the Socialist coalition are concerning.
From the moment they realised that they had thrown away a possible victory in 2004's general election - the result of an unpopular war and an attempt to mislead the public - the PP have made it clear that they were unwilling to work with the Socialists on any piece of legislation. They lied during congressional investigation into their handling of the Madrid bombings. They have attempted to prevent the restoration of papers stolen from Catalonia by fascist forces in the Civil War. They have refused to assist in inquiries into their conduct when in government - especially concerning the deaths of dozens of Spanish troops in an aircrash. they refuse to even discuss increasing elements of Catalonia's Estatut of autonomy. But more than anything else, the PP have engaged in a single-handed and dangerous war of slander, name calling, racism and bizarre accusations against all the parties of the left wing.
As soon as Acebes referred to the Socialist party as 'communists and anarchists', many have been aware that this was going to be the PP's strategy. Furious that their long term plans for Spain (further weakening of Barcelona as a financial capital, theft of water from northern provinces, increasing liberalisation of labour markets, etc) had been stopped (and in some cases, reversed), the PP clearly made a decision that they would exact revenge on the left wing coalition that had defeated them. And, to be fair to them, they've done extremely well.
Today, El PaÃs reports that after an ERC protest against ultra-right wing Catholic radio station COPE, the PP issued a statement accusing the Socialist party of perpetuating a "climate of tension and threats". When the inheritors of the fascist dictatorship's political philosophy start making accusations like that, all the while accusing everyone else of 'attempting to destroy the nation of Spain' - you know they've upped their game.
tombcn.com - my blog posts about travel, books, food and music
...a blog by Tom Clarke in Barcelona, Catalonia, covering politics, culture and society
December 2nd, 2005 - 12:46
Good post mate. Fascism has left a strong legacy on Spain that even today, is barely concealable in party politics. Slightly off topic but on a similar theme, that Spain Herald newsletter you mentioned to me a while back is indeed rabiedly ultra-right as you said. There's an opinion piece today that compares Maragall with Stalin and Pinochet! Its a very nasty piece about Catalan politics:
http://www.spainherald.com/2187.html
By the way, I only just realised that the big number next to the title of every post on your blog is what you need to click on to make comments. I previously thought you had disabled the comments feature in some kind of Spain Herald democractic tactic
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December 2nd, 2005 - 16:14
Thanks, Nick.
Yes, the Spain Herald is a disastrously biased publication. In the article you posted, Jorge Vilches makes a series of vague claims about totalitarianism and Maragall, but never once mentions that Spain has already experienced totalitarianism. The 35 year fascist dictatorship did everything he talks about and much more besides. Tens of thousands of Spanish citizens were murdered for political reasons under Franco – a critical point which Jorge fails to observe. Actually, I think the Spain Herald could just be an elaborate joke: how could anyone seriously write that sort of tripe and not consider his lack of reason laughable?
As to the comments, yes I might change the way they're presented.
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