The words and the actions. The eternal dialectic between statement and action will be very important in the legislature that now begins, with thunderous noise in Madrid DF.
The seismograph on María de Molina Street, where the La Vanguardia editorial office is located in the capital of Spain, has recorded four major earthquakes in the last twenty years. The strongest and most dangerous took place during the tragic week of March 11, 2004. The political tensions that we have experienced during these last twenty years largely originated at that moment. At first it was a lie. Two decades later, the debate continues to revolve around truth and lies.
The needle shot up again, and in what way, with the approval of the new Statute in the Parliament of Catalonia, in September 2005. Twelve years later, in October 2017, there was another strong shock with continuous aftershocks that lasted weeks and filled of flags on the balconies. The fourth shock is occurring now.
We can certify that the seismograph did not register so much agitation when same-sex marriage was approved (2005); when the negotiation for the end of ETA took place, with that chilling attack in the parking lot of T4 in Barajas (2006), nor on the occasion of the 15-M camp in Puerta del Sol (2011). An important change in social rules, the tense negotiation with a terrorist organization in a terminal phase and a strong outbreak of social discontent as a consequence of the last economic crisis have not shaken the spirits so much in Madrid DF – in the Madrid above, in the Madrid that rules –, like the Catalan question. These are the facts and then come the words.
“The room for statements by those who really oppose this indignity is already more than exhausted. "Only facts can be judged, not words." This is how the latest statement from the FAES foundation on the Catalan amnesty is expressed. We must move from words to actions. To what facts? The PP manifesto for the rallies that will take place today in front of town halls throughout Spain exudes FAES philosophy. He pushes the language to the limit of the right wing in search of those Vox voters who have demonstrated this week in front of the socialist headquarters on Ferraz Street in Madrid and have not started shouting “Bourbons to the sharks!” (slogan chanted by many of those gathered).
José María Aznar has taken charge. His schemes are clear. He believes that the amnesty will be Pedro Sánchez's Iraq war. He never forgot 2004. The risky step taken now by Sánchez could allow the PP to regroup the entire electorate that had eluded it since 2015.
The amnesty amnesties the PP from all its sins and allows the media system to turn into an anecdote an event as significant as Jorge Fernández Díaz's request that his party also sit on the dock for the Kitchen case. A former Minister of the Interior pointing out his party for the alleged use of the Police and reserved State funds to cover up an illegal financing scandal. In Portugal, where they are treading water and Prime Minister António Costa has just resigned because he is being investigated for corruption, the Kitchen case would be considered a scandal of the first magnitude. The assumption of responsibilities would have reached higher. In Spain, the words no longer refer to those events.
The words and the votes. The CIS points out a growth of the PP at the expense of Vox, without the collapse of the PSOE, in the midst of the debate on the amnesty. It is interesting to see how the CIS is once again the main demographic reference point after the failure of private companies on July 23. In the midst of the maelstrom, the PSOE would remain at the level of 120 deputies. By raising the tone, the PP takes away space from Vox. The question is how long you can maintain that dynamic without being devoured by it. Protest or uprising. The battle against the amnesty will be long.
The words and the bullets. We will have to closely follow the police investigation into the hitmen who tried to kill Alejo Vidal-Quadras in Madrid last Thursday while the investiture pact was being announced.
The words and the bases. The Podemos leading group has asked its members to vote yes to Sánchez's investiture, despite their anger with the PSOE and Sumar. The results of the consultation will be known on Wednesday. In the last Podemos consultation, some 27,000 people participated, a more than appreciable number. The purples opened a gap in 2015 and now feel marginalized by the established left. The leading group plans to appear alone in the European elections in June 2024 to reaffirm itself as the left wing of Parliament. In the acute phase of the Spain crisis, a Podemos torpedo to the investiture would be an atomic and lysergic event.
The Magariños moment (foundation of Sumar sin Podemos on April 2, 2023) was a mistake and its consequences have not yet ended. The left pillar will be one of the weak points of a legislature in which the relationship between actions and words will be very important.
