Spain decides
The political system of Spain has been changed after the December 2015 elections.
A View of the Recent Unexpected Events in Spain
Ten Days That Changed Spain – Or How to Expel a Right-wing Government Through a No-Confidence Motion
- On 1 June, Pedro Sánchez, the Socialist Party’s (PSOE) General Secretary, who is not even a member of parliament, was proclaimed the new president of Spain after winning a no-confidence motion against the conservative Popular Party (PP) government of Mariano Rajoy. Ten days before nobody would have even dreamed that this was possible.
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Opinion
Catalonia: The Left Faced with Secession
- Identities are inseparable from political and social life, but we must learn to keep a short leash on sentiments that awaken identities and build barriers against reason in order to channel them towards an emancipatory sense of justice and solidarity.
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Analysis
What is Going on in Catalonia?
- Historian Enzo Traverso denounces the cultural supremacy of neo-liberalism imposing “presentism” on the narration of events, meaning that an event is always told in the present, as if there were no causes from which they originated or resulting consequences.
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Rethinking Sovereignty – A Quick Look at the Catalan Case
- At a glance, the Catalan case gives us a more precise understanding of how demands for sovereignty are being implemented in a stateless situation. The Catalan process has been recently interpreted and analyzed from a wide variety of political stands.
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Catalonia
A Question of True Democracy
- Images depicting the severe brutality of the Spanish police clashing with voters at the October 1st referendum in Catalonia spilled across social media and TVs around the world. Faced with these images, many asked: What is happening in Catalonia?
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Statement on Catalonia
Not enforceable through Compulsion
- On the actual developments in the conflict on the Catalan eagerness for independence, Gregory Gysi, president of the Party of the European Left declares:
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Spain: Unidos Podemos
50 Steps to Govern Together
- The coalition between Podemos and IU (called “Unidos Podemos” – Together We Can) is the only one that, on 26 June, could overturn the situation created by the 20 December Spanish election. In order to do that, Podemos and IU have agreed on a 50-point programme to end austerity and bring democracy to the country. Here we present transform!’s translation of said agreement.
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Spain
Podemos-IU Agreement: Good News from the South
- New elections on 26 June raise hopes for an unprecedented political scenario: As Podemos and Izquierda Unida (IU) have reached an agreement, this is the only coalition that could overturn the situation created by the 20 December election. All the polls currently attribute this coalition about 24% of votes – far more than PSOE.
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Spain
An Open Political Landscape, An Opportunity For The Alternative Left
- The recent general elections held in Spain have led to a completely unprecedented political situation in our young democracy: no party has a clear majority or enough seats to govern.
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Direct Observation
Visiting the Spanish Left During the Election
- Together with a delegation from the “Kalimera Brigade”, we followed the Spanish general elections held on the 20th December, just as we did in the case of Syriza, in Greece.
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Upcoming Legislative Elections in Spain
Spain in “Purgatory”
- An overview on the parties and political situation before the December 20th elections in Spain.
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Parliamentary election
What happened in Catalonia on 27 September?
- Social and democratic issues were completely overshadowed by the yes/no polarisation of the Catalan independence debate in the recent elections. Now, the Catalan political system is in deadlock until Catalonia and a Spanish government that is more open to political dialogue on the matter can arrive at a democratic solution.
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Discussion with Alberto Garzón and Íñigo Errejón
“If in Doubt: Populism”
- A discussion about Podemos and the dangers of populist politics.
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Trench Warfare and Electoral Strategy
- In the legendary paragraphs of his Prison Notebooks, Antonio Gramsci reflected on the war strategies of World War I, both position and manoeuvre warfare, to understand politics in the West. In Western politics, manoeuvre warfare (the assault) lost relevance in the face of complex position warfare in...
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Interview
Alberto Garzón: “The Elections sent us a message: we have to rebuild IU”
- Alberto Garzón, the Izquierda Unida candidate for the Spanish general elections, received eldiario.es for an interview in his office at the Spanish Congress, where he has accumulated letters and parcels after two intense weeks of election campaign. The interview was conducted by Aitor Riveiro.
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A “provisional report”
What’s going on in Spain
- By Martin Lucea. – I’m writing these lines days after the elections held in Spain on 24 May. Just to make it clear, we elected municipal councils for the whole of Spain and regional parliaments for all regions except Basque Country, Catalonia, Galicia and Andalusia. Mayors are elected by the councils and regional governments by their respective parliaments.
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Opinion
A Scenario of Political Change in Spain
- The most important and immediate conclusion of the local and regional elections that took place on 24 May in Spain is the creation of an unprecedented political scenario in our country; the new political and representational map has brought about realistic expectations for a real change in Spain.
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Municipal elections in Spain
Commons conquer Barcelona! A victory for David over Goliath
- Last Sunday the candidature “Barcelona in common” won the municipal elections (the option of 1 of each 4 people voting). “Now Madrid” – a candidature also connected to commons ethos – became a key force for the governance of Madrid city. Those are only two of the many surprises from the municipal and regional elections in Spain on 24 May.
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Women, Work, Economic Crisis and Labor Law in Spain:
From Bad to Worse
- As most people are well aware, Spain and the country’s labour market in particular have been deeply hit not only by the economic and political crisis but also by austerity measures. The rise in unemployment has been dramatic, as has the rise in social inequality and the growing risk of poverty: the rate of unemployment has risen from 8.2% in 2008 to 26% in 2013 and 24% in 2014.
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Spain
FEC launches Scientific Council and debate groups for Social Transformation
- In a social and political crisis situation as Spanish state is living today, the necessity of alternative proposals that determine the course towards a social exit of the current crisis and a deep transformation of the system, are more urgent than ever.
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Spain Gags Freedom of Expression and Assembly and Restricts the Right to Asylum
- Despite fierce opposition from civil society, all opposition parties, Spanish public opinion, as well as condemnation from the United Nations and the Council of Europe, Spain adopted on 26 March the Basic Law for the Protection of Public Security, considered by many as a black day for democracy.
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