Spain

Yearbook

    New Municipalism in Barcelona: A First Attempt at a Balance Sheet
  • To undertake a full appraisal of a government one needs more time than just a third of a mandate, but given the speed of political events in Spain since 2008, it is worth having a first look at the experience of the municipal government in Barcelona in the first third of its term. The relevance of...
    Europe’s Old and New Left and Its Constituencies (1)
  • The aim of this general reflection on the transformations undergone by Europe’s social and political left is to suggest strategies and tools for promoting a more just economic and social system. For analytical purposes I see three historical steps: The first stage, is from 1989 to the present. It...
    Austerity Measures and Labour Law Reforms in Spain: A New Standard?
  • The economic and sovereign debt crisis is having a particularly strong impact on Spain and its labour market. In comparison with other EU countries, Spain has lost more jobs, more rapidly, than other European economies, more than 3.5 million since the beginning of the crisis. The dramatic increase...
    The Left in the Storm: The Radical Left and the Elections in Spain
  • Six years after the beginning of the 2008 economic crisis, the 2014 European Parliament (EP) elections resulted in enlarged representation for the parties integrated in the group of the United European Left-Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL). This increase was very significant in a few countries where a...
    May 15 and the Spanish Revolution
  • In Spain the crisis of 2007/2008 marked the end of a long political cycle. Since the 1980s, a big centre coalition tried to build a modern welfare state on the ruins of a destroyed labour society and to finance it through speculation and debts. From a historical perspective, this project...
    Can PIGS Fly?
  • ”Thinking again?” the Duchess asked, with another dig of her sharp little chin. ”I’ve a right to think,” said Alice sharply, for she was beginning to feel a little worried. ”Just about as much right,” said the Duchess, “as pigs have to fly....” Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,...

Focus

    Resistance of the South
  • Report on the results of the European elections in Spain by our member organisation Fundació l'Alternativa
    Spanish Turmoil
  • Analysis from our member organisation ''Fundación por la Europa de los Ciudadanos'' for the European Elections in Spain, right after the national elections and the new framework that is being shaped.
    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.
    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.
    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?
    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.
    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:
    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.
    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.
    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.
    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.
    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.
    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.
    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...
    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.

Blog

    The New Left-Wing Coalition’s Challenge in the Spanish Elections
  • Marga Ferré, a passionate leader of the Spanish left and Co-President of transform! europe, is preparing for a crucial election in a few week’s time that could reinstate heirs to Francoism. Italy´s magazine “Left” interviewed her during her visit to Rome for the Future Factory Forum.
    The Spanish Labour Reform
  • Last month, Spain’s progressive government (Socialist Party and radical left Unidas Podemos) passed a comprehensive labour law that is in complete contrast to what neoliberal orthodoxy wishes to impose on labour market interventions. Spanish Professor of Labour Law Antonio Baylos gives an overview.
    Solidarity with Afghanistan
  • Read the statement of the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) on the current situation in Afghanistan, in which it condemns the military intervention as it serves to strengthen reactionary nationalist positions and calls for any foreign policy to be based on respect for human rights and the sovereignty of all states.
    'Fascism or Democracy'. Lessons Learned from Madrid Elections
  • On 4 May there were elections in the region of Madrid and its result, the victory of a trumpist right, has been lived and interpreted internationally as a painful defeat for the left, magnified by the departure of Pablo Iglesias of active politics. It was a defeat, but much more in terms of a cultural battle than in the electoral field.
    Good Bye, Julio.
  • The Collegiate Commission of Izquierda Unida (IU, United Left) remembers Julio Anguita, the former General Coordinator of IU, who passed away on 16 May.
    Madrid, dominated by the extreme right, continues to cry out No pasarán!
  • On 30 October the Madrid City Council approved the celebration on 23 August of the Day of European Remembrance of the Victims of Stalinism and Nazism to pay homage to the victims of the communist and National Socialist regimes and other totalitarian and authoritarian regimes’, following an initiative promoted by the ultra-right group Vox.
    Resume of the Water Project 2018
  • transform! europe supports the Water Project, organised by the Fundació l'Alternativa, to contribute through debate and reflection to the democratic impulse of decision-making in the management of water by the municipalities, promoting sustainable territorial planning, making use of green energies and proposing new forms of management of commons.
    The Situation in Catalonia
  • Because of the call for next October 1st to carry out a referendum for independence in Catalonia and due to the repressive and authoritarian reaction of the Government of Spain, Izquierda Unida states:
    In Defence of Democratic Rights
  • In Catalonia an important process of independence is taking place against Spain. At the request of the Popular Party (PP), the Spanish Constitutional Court declared the Catalan Statute of 2010, unconstitutional. This statute was negotiated between the Government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and later endorsed by the Spanish Parliament.
    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.
    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.
    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.
    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.
    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.
    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.
    Marches of Dignity 22-M
  • The Spanish and Catalunyan members of transform! europe support the Marches of Dignity taking place in Spain.
    Abortion Law in Spain: The Return of Francoism
  • The voluntary interruption of a pregnancy is a right that had for a long time been denied to women in Spain. With the exception of a short period during the second Spanish republic, abortion represented a crime until the year 2010. Now abortion is to be criminalised once again.
    Spanish Banks in Distress
  • Since the crisis began Spanish authorities have been denying emphatically any risk for the Spanish banking sector. In fact the reality was other and well known at least since May 2006 when a group of Bank of Spain inspectors warned of an insurmountable pile of debt growing behind the real-estate...
    A brief note on the mobilization of thousands of young people in Spain
  • “We, the unemployed, the underpaid, the subcontracted, the precarious, the young … demand a change towards a future with dignity. We are fed up of reforms, of being laid off, of the banks which have caused the crisis hardening our mortgages or taking away our houses, of laws limiting our freedom in...
    Financial Crisis and the Remaking of the Society of Labour in Spain
  • Despite unified visions shared by the European left, deeply unequal realities subsist in the continent. Understanding the specificity of the Spanish situation within the current crisis requires considering at least two key issues: first, the decline of the society of labour in the 80's amidst a...

Publication

Calendar

    "What Can Europe Do to Help Build Peace in Ukraine?"
  • International experts will analyse Europe's role in building peace in Ukraine on Tuesday 21 February in the Mirador Theatre in Madrid, at the event "What can Europe do to build peace in Ukraine?" organised by the newspaper Público and the Fundación Espacio Público. Co-President of transform! europe, Marga Ferré will also participate in the debate.
    15th Race and Walk Lluís Companys
  • XV Cursa i Caminada Lluís Companys (15th Lluís Companys Race and Walk) takes place as a tribute to the L’Olimpí­ada Popular de Barcelona (Barcelona People's Olympics), which was organised by civil organisations and actors as an alternative sporting event in response to the xenophobic and ugly nature of the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
    International Conference Constituting Democracies
  • International Conference with the participation of politicians, writers, social scientists from all over Latin America and Europe to discuss constituent processes, the emergence of fascism, art and politics, plurinationality, geopolitics, climate crisis and fake news, among other topics.
    A Century of Communism in Spain
  • On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party of Spain (PCE), transform! europe's Co-President Marga Ferré participates in the conference, organised by the PCE together with the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM).

Webinars