Spanish Political News

[J Ed]

Fav I find the truther stuff really weird to be honest. The article which you sent me a while back is really damning but what I don't understand about it is

1) Why don't the Spanish establishment bring it up constantly? IMO anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism are both a lot more common amongst Spanish intellectuals than here but trutherism is a bit beyond that. If you google the URL of the article it is only cited a handful of times, are people unaware of it? Given all the dirt digging that has been going on I doubt that we are a select few. If I were in the PP or PSOE I would push this non-stop.

2) If he is a full on truther then has he repeated these claims elsewhere? Usually truthers cannot shut up about it, but I cannot find any other instances of it. Does he repeat similar claims?

 

[Favelado]

Fav I find the truther stuff really weird to be honest. The article which you sent me a while back is really damning but what I don't understand about it is

1) Why don't the Spanish establishment bring it up constantly? IMO anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism are both a lot more common amongst Spanish intellectuals than here but trutherism is a bit beyond that. If you google the URL of the article it is only cited a handful of times, are people unaware of it? Given all the dirt digging that has been going on I doubt that we are a select few. If I were in the PP or PSOE I would push this non-stop.

2) If he is a full on truther then has he repeated these claims elsewhere? Usually truthers cannot shut up about it, but I cannot find any other instances of it. Does he repeat similar claims?

I got sent it by someone I really trust, so at the time I didn't ask any of the pertinent questions you're asking now. He seems to have 55 other articles attributed to him on the same site so I don't doubt the vailidity of the source. It's also available on Publico's blogs so he really did write it. http://blogs.publico.es/juan-carlos-monedero/2011/05/02/bin-laden-ya-no-vive-aqui/

Here on a popular (rabidly anti-left it would seem.) talk show they mention Monedero's theory about 9-11, so we know it's out there. It comes up at 5mins 8 secs.


Maybe the Spanish don't give a toss who did the Twin Towers, as they've got so much else on their mind. They might think he's a bit wacky for believing something so odd but it might not be as damaging as it would be in the UK. So, I'm confused as you to some extent, but I can only conclude that it's not worth pushing by PSOE and PP because they don't think it will hurt him that much. A shit load of dodgy tax returns in a country obsessed by corruption however............


With regards to him repeating the claims, I can't find anything but I'll dig around.

 

[JHE]

Monedero and Venezuelan money...

If Monedero turns out to have broken the law by not declaring income he should declare, I agree that will damage Podemos. Perhaps the stories already have damaged Podemos. The new party's great achievement is to have made itself the voice of many of the Spaniards who are sick and tired of the establishment crooks and their shitty way of doing things that leaves so many people unemployed and in poverty. If Podemos people seem to be up to the same tricks, obviously that undermines the party and some will conclude that Podemos are just like the rest: dishonest, greedy, in it for themselves...

Personally, I don't suspect Monedero of wanting yachts, Mercedes, Rolexes, Berlusconi-style parties, villas in Marbella or any of the rest of the weird luxuries the rich like to have and flaunt. If there were any chance of bribing someone like Monedero, it would be by offering him the prestigious Chair of Advanced Political Cogitations at the University of Kudos. If he has broken the law - and I'm not yet sure whether he has or not - he has done so as part of a lefty political project, not out of personal greed, I reckon.

I have little doubt that the money was supplied by the Venezuelan regime because they saw Monedero, who worked for the regime for several years, as someone who wanted to do, in Spain, political stuff they'd agree with.

But we can't make this only about Monedero. Monedero was not the only one who worked for the Venezuelan government. (So did Iglesias, Errejón and Alegre at the very least.) This is about a political project that became Podemos, but started before and has its best exponent in Pablo Iglesias. Before Podemos was formed, Iglesias and others, including Monedero, were engaged in pretty successful attempts to communicate politically with many people, using TV, including TV on the internet.

It is clear from recordings available on Youtube that the importance of communicating effectively in language which connects with people is Pablo Iglesias' hobby horse. In a nutshell, his view is that: the left must learn to win, communication is crucial to winning, mass communication costs a lot of money and, in order to communicate effectively and have the money to continue, you have to work with people you might not like, rather like the Bolsheviks accepting help from Imperial Germany. This involves "contradictions".

Unlike some obnoxious lefties in Britain (particularly Rees and Galloway) who see nothing wrong with Islamism, Iglesias is clear that he doesn't like the murderous Islamist regime in Iran. Nevertheless, he's willing to work for Iranian-run TV and take their money.

Here's Pablo Iglesias on 'riding the contradictions':

(If you want to hear his comments on working for Iranian TV, you could start at about 5:30 minutes in, where he's talking about Venezuela and moves on to talk about its ally Iran.)

He doesn't quite say he'd be willing to do a deal with the devil to be able to conduct politics as he sees fit, but I think his position approximates to that.

Is he wrong?

 

[J Ed]

Thanks for that JHE, he talks a lot of sense in that video, a level of honesty about expediency that we really are lacking on the 'left' here. I like Iglesias even more for watching that.

 

[J Ed]

A picture tells a thousand words. Iglesias, waiting for the metro, looks comfortable as a man of the people.

 

[Favelado]

That's the New York subway, not his local Puente de Vallecas metro station.

 

[DotCommunist]

well, he certainly has good taste in trainers.

 

[phildwyer]

A picture tells a thousand words. Iglesias, waiting for the metro, looks comfortable as a man of the people.

Is that a gun in his pocket?

 

[Favelado]

His girlfriend Tanía Sanchez is an Izquierda Unida politican with a very high profile. She regularly tears her opponents to pieces on political panel shows and is a real favourite of mine. Of course, the fact that she and Iglesias have a relationship means they're the focus of tonnes of plenty of idle gossip too.

Right-wing arsehole newspaper editor Enduardo Inda. "Tania, why are you always so angry?"
Tania. "What?...... Inda, what I am is a serious woman. For you it's difficult to imagine that women exist who can take a serious position on things, but you need to get used to the idea that we're in the 21st century and women aren't here just to joke around or make you feel happy....."

 

[J Ed]

These new coins are incredible

70 years of peace?! If that sounds like an endorsement of Francoism then that is because it is but it is also taken directly from a slogan on old Francoist coins.

 

[Lo Siento.]

Why do you suppose they picked 1945? The end of war they didn't participate in? Is the rest of Europe making them too?

 

[JHE]

The results of today's regional parliamentary election in Andalucia will be coming very soon. Initial reports of the exit poll suggest the following outcome in terms of seats.

PSOE 41-44 (down from 47)
PP 32-35 (down from 50)
Podemos 19-22
C's 6-7
IU 6-7 (down from 12)

We don't have the %ages of the votes yet, but will soon, I suppose.

The big question is going to be: with whom, if anyone, can PSOE do a deal? Susana Díaz called these elections early because she had had enough of the difficult business of co-operating with IU. I doubt she will have any more enthusiasm for trying to work with Podemos and it's not clear that they will want to work with her.

As for Podemos... Recently, Teresa Rodríguez, the Podemos candidate to be president of Andalucia (and possibly the world's best-looking Trot), said anything short of a majority that allowed Podemos to govern would not be a good result for Podemos. If she really thought she was going to win, her extreme optimism was despite the polls, which at their best (for Podemos) put Podemos at 19%.

 

[JHE]

With a little over half the votes counted, it looks as if the exit poll got it a bit wrong. The projection now is...

PSOE 50 (just 5 short of an overall majority)
PP 32
Podemos 15
C's 8
IU 4

If this turns out to be right, I suppose Díaz will look for some sort of deal with Ciudadanos.

 

[Favelado]

Bad result for Podemos in a left-wing region that. I know PSOE is strong down there but still...

 

[JHE]

If they were really hoping to win, yes, it must be very disappointing, but it's not far off what most of the polls in the months leading up to the election predicted.

*****

With 80% of the vote counted, the projection is...

PSOE 47 (same as last time)
PP 33 (down 17)
Podemos 15
C's 9
IU 5 (down 7)

Edited to add: with 99% of the votes counted, the figures for the number of seats remains as above.

 

[Favelado]

Is this frivolous or relevant? A bit of both.

Tania Sánchez has just posted on Facebook that she's split up with Pablo Iglesias. It will be big news in Spain this week. Translation in Spanish at bottom of quote.

Ojalá no tuviéramos que escribir esto aquí. Ojalá nuestra vida privada pudiera ser sólo nuestra, pero, para nosotros, eso dejó de ser posible.

Escribimos esto para evitar rumores y debates mal intencionados, y os pedimos respeto: los asuntos personales no deberían ser objeto de debate público, aunque los protagonicen personas públicas.

Ya no somos pareja; nos queremos mucho, nos admiramos, nos respetamos, somos compañeros y compartimos las mismas aspiraciones de cambio político, por las que seguiremos trabajando. Simplemente ya no somos pareja.

Esta nota contiene las únicas declaraciones públicas que habrá por nuestra parte sobre este asunto.

Tania y Pablo

Tania, la mujer más valiente que conozco y a la que más admiro

Pablo
Pablo, el hombre que lo cambió todo y al que más admiro.

Tania

We wish we didn't have to write this here. We wish our private life could be just ours, but this has ceased to be possible for us. We write this to avoid rumours and badly-intentioned debates, and we ask you for respect. Personal matters shouldn't be the object of personal debate, even though they are lived by public figures.

We're no longer a couple, we love each other very much, we respect each other, we're companions and we share the same aspirations for politcal change, and for this we'll continue working towards. We're just not a couple anymore.

This note contains the only public statements there'll be from us on this subject.

Tania y Pablo.

Tania, the bravest woman I know, and the one I admire the most.

Pablo, the man who changed everything and the one I admire the most.

 

[Lo Siento.]

If they were really hoping to win, yes, it must be very disappointing, but it's not far off what most of the polls in the months leading up to the election predicted.

*****

With 80% of the vote counted, the projection is...

PSOE 47 (same as last time)
PP 33 (down 17)
Podemos 15
C's 9
IU 5 (down 7)

Edited to add: with 99% of the votes counted, the figures for the number of seats remains as above.

Andalucia was always the place where the PSOE vote would hold up. Podemos' key areas are gonna be central areas I reckon.

 

[Favelado]

Andalucia was always the place where the PSOE vote would hold up. Podemos' key areas are gonna be central areas I reckon.

Surely Podemos have to cut some of that PSOE cake down there though? I know its the "socialist" stronghold but 15% seems pisspoor. They could have done better than that couldn't they? Voters in Andalucía are gagging for a leftist message.

 

[yield]

Any more news about the popularity of Ciudadanos?

 

[Spanky Longhorn]

Surely Podemos have to cut some of that PSOE cake down there though? I know its the "socialist" stronghold but 15% seems pisspoor. They could have done better than that couldn't they? Voters in Andalucía are gagging for a leftist message.

15% is hardly piss poor for a brand new left party in PSOE territory

 

[Favelado]

15% is hardly piss poor for a brand new left party in PSOE territory

In context it is. The momentum has definitely levelled off and I bet they're disappointed with that. It must have been at the bottom end of their spread of predictions.

 

[treelover]

The Podemos revolution: how a small group of radical academics changed European politics

Just 15 months after it was founded, Podemos now leads the polls in Spain. Can this grassroots party win power – or is its bubble about to burst?
http://www.theguardian.com/world/20...n-radical-academics-changed-european-politics

Major revealing article in the Guardian about the genesis of Podemos and its future.

At first glance, Podemos’s dizzying rise looks miraculous. In truth, the project evolved over a long time.

 

[treelover]

If Iglesias had long seen neoliberals as the enemy and social democrats as sellouts, he eventually came to view the traditional far left as well-meaning fools.

Oh and a right wing facsimile of Podemos, 'Ciudadanos' is creeping up the polls,

who is funding them?

 

[Fez909]

"You can't pepper spray a ghost"

 

[Favelado]

You're not even allowed to have a can of beer in the park in Madrid at the moment. It's ridiculous.

 

[J Ed]

Recent polling

 

[Favelado]

Weird left/right mirror there.

 

[Favelado]

Demonstration calling for the Third Republic in Madrid tomorrow. Not sure what numbers are being expected.

 

[treelover]

"You can't pepper spray a ghost"

Wow!

 

[Favelado]