The foreign vote count has given another slight push to the right-wing process of Spanish politics, leaving the PP-Vox bloc four votes short of an absolute majority. Although insufficient for the expectations of Alberto Núñez Feijóo and the Madrid media right, 23-J culminates a swerve of the country towards conservative positions, very visible on the municipal and regional map.
The pacts of the popular with the extreme right and the radicalization of sectors of the PP itself have encouraged the drums of an incipient cultural war. In some municipalities and communities there have already been cases of ideological censorship.
In Madrid, where the PP has up to now displayed an open mind in the cultural field – spaces such as the municipal CentroCentro or Matadero follow avant-garde lines – worrying signs are detected, with episodes of possible censorship in the Teatros del Canal and in Valdemorillo , a municipality where the Culture portfolio has been taken over by an ultra-rightist.
It remains to be seen how this conservative tsunami affects Valencia, which in recent times had positioned itself as a first-rate cultural center. In some Valencian municipalities, decisions have been taken that cause alarm, with the language and culture shared with Catalonia as scapegoats.
That the community's Culture portfolio fell to a Vox politician who was once a bullfighter may seem anecdotal, but it can also be interpreted as another symptom of the cultural rearmament of Spanish nationalism around bullfighting, an industry that needs subsidies to survive (many young people, throughout Spain, are horrified by a spectacle that involves the torment and public execution of a defenseless being).
The contrast between the vote in Spain as a whole and that registered in the Basque Country and Catalonia is very relevant. Just for reference purposes, in the municipality of Barcelona, PSC, Sumar and ERC have achieved more than 60% of the votes, while in Madrid, PSOE and Yolanda Díaz's platform have remained at 44%.
Barcelona, with the capital and its metropolitan area largely controlled by left-wing parties, thus stands as a potential political reference for resistance for progressive people from all over the country. But it remains to be seen if, in this context, the city will also be able to establish itself as a cultural benchmark. Recovering the ascendancy lost during the years of the independence process will require a determined and continuous effort.
Jaume Collboni's government team has among its objectives to resume that leadership in culture that Barcelona had exercised before the conflict.
It is true that the détente fostered by the policies of Pedro Sánchez and the dynamism of the city have paved the way in recent years. This 2023, the tens of thousands of people who have had to travel to Barcelona from the rest of Spain to see their favorite musicians live have been able to verify that the city is far from the image of a self-absorbed city that is still spread in reactionary environments. from Madrid.
Some policies of the Ada Colau government also add to this image improvement. The city, for example, has established itself as an example of urbanism aimed at alleviating the climate catastrophe. And interesting steps have also been taken to reconnect Barcelona with the most open sectors of the Spanish capital, such as the joint celebration of the Ciutat i Ciència biennial.
But it is now when it is in a position to give a lasting impulse. And Barcelona has an underused instrument that allows it to exercise that leadership: the cultural and scientific co-capital agreement. It is about a framework of Barcelona-Spain relations recovered two years ago by Sánchez and Colau after it declined in the times of Mariano Rajoy and Xavier Trias (with a loss of around 200 million for the Catalan capital, when the contribution ceased for a decade annual state of 20 million).
It is true that it remains to be seen if a program that has always been viewed with suspicion by bodies of the central administration, as well as since the independence movement, is maintained. For co-capital status to continue over time, Pedro Sánchez would have to renew as president, since his continuity would not be clear at all with a PP government. Moreover, with the current coalition executive in office, it remains to be seen whether the contribution corresponding to 2024 can be approved.
But Barcelona City Council is already working to redirect this concept of co-capitality. The previous government team used the funds – with the exception of the commitment to thought and science – more to rebalance budgets than to lead areas. The sector emerged weakened from the pandemic and all help to return to activity was little. But now, in this new stage, the head of Culture, the socialist commissioner Xavier Marcè, is more in favor of concentrating efforts on those areas in which Barcelona stands out from the rest. As a strategy to strengthen leadership.
If they were able to materialize their intentions, these areas would be the publishing world; that of the new visual and technological arts –a commitment shared with the Ministry of Natàlia Garriga– and that of specialized training in creative industries. This week, Collboni and Marcè have already held a meeting with the managers of 18 city facilities to advance the lines of the mandate.
The priorities, in any case, should not be to attract more tourists or sell the brand, but to reposition Barcelona in a system of cities that it cannot ignore. The capitals to which the Barcelona metropolis aspires (Mediterranean, cultural, technological, scientific, urban...) will be more affordable if relations with the most advanced sectors of the rest of the Catalan and Spanish cities are intensified. Including those governed by the PP with an open mind.
