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They can, whether they will or not we obvs don't know. Urban is a good case of how the UK left - wilfully - cannot reach a wider audience, how it refuses to do so, how it can't compromise even among itself. The UK left, broadly, are a shower of determined losers. Podemos has to attract people it might not really trust or even like or might have dodgy views on the potemkin whatsit. It has to be un-marginal if it wants power, court PP voters not just PSOE.
 
Spain has runaway youth unemployment and a proportionally much higher migrant labour force than the UK, and other European countries, alongside many other painful economic effects post-2008.
Does anyone have any insights as to why the far right haven't benefited more from this, as they have in other european countries?

...
*Actually I've just had a look around the Internet and found this article which seems to answer this question, but I'll post this anyway
Subscribe to read
Summary from that is:
Popular Anti-Franco sentiment keeps the far right toxic
Much of the migration to Spain has been by Spanish speakers from latin america, which has supposedly made it less of a culture shock to those who get shocked by migration
The Spanish far-right has up till now looked back to Franco...though that is changing, as with lots of the new european far right distancing themselves from the symbolism of fascism of old, and dressing it up in new anti-capitalist clothes...successfully.

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That link seems to have gone to subscription only - still have a working tab open so C&Ping it in case anyone is interested
JUNE 12, 2016 by: Tobias Buck in Madrid

Every Sunday, they are drawn here by the promise of free food. The handouts offered are basic — a loaf of bread, sausages, rice, pasta, beans, biscuits, oil and milk — but gratefully received. Even three years after the end of Spain’s recession, there is nothing unusual about such scenes, as the deep economic crisis has created demand for soup kitchens and food charities up and down the country.

What makes this particular programme remarkable is the politics that underpins it. Run by a group called the Hogar Social Madrid (HSM), it is one of the rare expressions of far-right political activity in Spain. HSM and its members advocate a strict Spaniards-first policy, and have launched a string of demonstrations and stunts to publicise their cause.

The group wants refugees out of Spain, and Spain out of the EU. Their food aid is available to Spanish nationals only. “Our main concern is the sheer number of migrants living in Spain now and the huge social benefits they receive,” says Melisa Ruiz, the 27-year old spokeswoman for HSM, who also presides over the food handout. “For Spaniards who are going through hard times, this is a massive injustice.” It is a political pitch that has entered conversations — and parliaments — across much of the EU. In Spain, however, anti-European and anti-immigration parties remain barely visible. There are none in Spain’s national parliament or any of its regional assemblies.

This month’s general election will once again be fought without a far-right party in serious contention. Spain’s political spectrum may have splintered in the centre and on the left — but on the right it ends, as before, with the conservative Popular party of prime minister Mariano Rajoy. Ms Ruiz and other activists are determined to change that — but they admit they have a mountain to climb. She points to the historical legacy of Spain’s civil war and four decades of rightwing dictatorship that lasted until the late 1970s. “This has left behind a revanchist mindset.

The politically correct and socially acceptable thing in Spain is to be on the left,” she claims. Foodbanks run by the Hogar Social Madrid group are for Spanish nationals only © Carlos Spottorno Political scientists agree that Spain’s fraught history is a big obstacle to any movement hoping to repeat the successes of France’s National Front or the Freedom party in Austria. But this is not the only hurdle — in other European countries, the far right has flourished partly due to popular anger with the EU and over migration, but in Spain these two issues have so far caused little controversy.

Related article Spain’s once-mighty Socialists set to be eclipsed by far-left Latest evidence of the deepening crisis facing Europe’s embattled social democrats Even at the height of Spain’s recent economic crisis — and despite an influx of migrants during the boom years — the country did not experience an anti-immigration backlash. “The blame for the crisis fell on the economic elites, on the banks, the IMF, the Troika and on the austerity measures. But not on migrants and foreigners,” says Sergi Pardos-Prado, a political scientist at the University of Oxford. It helped that a high proportion of the migrants who arrived in Spain before the crash were from Latin America — people who were foreigners by passport but who spoke the same language and worshipped at the same church as the locals.

“The experience of ethnic diversity for the average Spaniard has not been the same as for the French and British. It was less shocking,” says Mr Pardos-Prado. Spanish support for the EU has declined sharply as a result of the economic crisis — but only a fringe favours leaving the bloc altogether. Whatever misgivings Spaniards have about the European Commission in Brussels, they seem to mistrust their own political elite even more. Earlier attempts to forge a nationalist political platform failed partly because they were based on Franco-era nostalgia, says Rafael Ripoll, the leader of the far-right España 2000 movement, and a local councillor in the town of Alcalá de Henares.

“We were more concerned with reviving the past than with building the future. I think it is time for patriots in Spain to open a new chapter,” he says. In depth Europe’s migration crisis The EU is struggling to respond to a surge of desperate migrants that has resulted in thousands of deaths Mr Ripoll also presides over a newly formed far-right platform that hopes to run in the 2019 European Parliament elections.

“Our path will be long and arduous, but in 10-15 years I think we can establish ourselves as an organisation that is strong enough to influence the destiny of our nation,” he says. Back in Madrid, Ms Ruiz sees her movement as an even longer-term project, arguing that it is too early to think about elections and parties. “For a political party to exist we have to build a social movement first,” she says. With her bleached blonde hair, extensive tattoos and oversized neon ear studs, she presents — visually if not ideologically — an obvious break with the crusty image of Spain’s old-school far-right.

Her blend of social work and in-your-face protests, alongside her opposition to mass migration, economic liberalism and what she defines as “radical feminism”, make for an idiosyncratic political mix. Ms Ruiz points to Greece’s ultra-right Golden Dawn movement as a model, but she is quick to acknowledge that Spain remains a political outlier in Europe, at least for now. Spanish society, she says, “does not yet see us as a political alternative”.
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All the facists are too busy with football or supporting the PP. Also lots of the population grew up in or experienced the realities of a facist dictatorship and its aftermath.

Casual racism and bigotry is pretty common in Spain but in general people are quite 'live and let live' and dont harbour deep angry violent hatreds and fears like Brits, the French etc.

Also Spanish people in general and overall are more centre-left than other European countries. And the ones that are right wing arent extreme right facist loons generally. Most people, even right-wingers hold some liberal or more left wing values quite dear.

My best shot at answering. It's a very good question.
 
Former IMF chief gets four years in jail for embezzlement in Spain
23/02/17
The former International Monetary Fund chief Rodrigo Rato has been sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison for misusing corporate credit cards while in charge of two leading Spanish banks at the height of the country’s financial crisis.

Rato, also a former a Spanish economy minister and deputy prime minister, was found guilty on Thursday of embezzlement, at the end of a five-month trial at Spain’s national court.
Click to expand...
He had been on trial with 64 other former executives and board members at Caja Madrid and Bankia banks, whose near collapse sparked an EU bailout of Spain’s financial sector.

The defendants had been accused of spending a total of of €12m (£10.5m) between 2003 and 2012, using “black credit cards” to pay for hotels, parties and luxury goods. Prosecutors had claimed the executives used the cards issued to them by Caja Madrid and Bankia without justifying them or declaring them to tax authorities.
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Well it's a start. Will they actually go to jail? Plenty more rotten apples
 
We didnt have any Infanta update either, did we? Shocking form, Spain crew!

Hopefully he'll serve the full term next to Urdangarin, the dirty rotter.
 
Any Espanish know what's happening/going to happen with the Catalan independence referendum?

It sounds like it's not going ahead, but I'm not familiar enough with the politics to know for sure if it'll happen.
 
The postal votes are the referendum. Whether the vote officially goes ahead is moot but I seriously doubt Spanish threats will put off Catalan Nationalists going through with some sort of vote.
 
planetgeli said:
The postal votes are the referendum. Whether the vote officially goes ahead is moot but I seriously doubt Spanish threats will put off Catalan Nationalists going through with some sort of vote.
Click to expand...
"Officially" is a tricky concept in this, as the constitution says no, and the Spanish government says no, so it will never be "official" in the true sense of the word.

I don't think postal votes count in the spirit of the word, either. That's ex-pats only. Catalonia is not going to become independent through ex-pat votes: if there's no in-person ballot, then there never was a referendum, despite the votes already cast by overseas Catalans.
 
There are thousands mobilizing on the streets tonite in just about every sizeable town. Just returned from my local protest. My wife is an Independentista as are most people I know here.

A catalan politician called Ruffian gave a speech in the spanish parliament yesterday, which he ended with the words, "Rajoy, get your filthy hands off of Catalonia."

He left out the "you filthy ape" part. It's a speech lifted from Charlton Heston in Planet of the Apes
 
The Central spanish government have effectively moved in and taken control of the Catalonia's finances, cutting them off, and arrested a dozen assistants to ministers in raids which looks like a very dodgy path to follow, being described as a coup. Then again, the spanish governemt is composed of the sons and daughters of Franco's generals.

The equivalent would be arrests in scotland before their referendum which would have been declared illegal beforehand in the midst of a hate campaign orchestrated by the british government.

God knows how this is going to end. Catalonia does have a claim to Independence from Spain and it is something deeply rooted in the catalan mindset since hundreds of years ago. The spanish state has always reacted in an authoritarian manner to it.
 
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I'm no expert on Spanish politics, but it seems like the decision to prevent the referendum by force could backfire? According to the polls, remain was likely to win. Coming in so heavy handed seems like it will only increase and strengthen the desire for independence.
 
Rimbaud said:
I'm no expert on Spanish politics, but it seems like the decision to prevent the referendum by force could backfire? According to the polls, remain was likely to win. Coming in so heavy handed seems like it will only increase and strengthen the desire for independence.
Click to expand...

Yes, that's how it is. The rancid and corrupt central government have been putting fuel in the Independence motor for years by their aggressiveness.
 
Riklet said:
God the Spanish government are such a buch of twats.

Talk about stuck in 1977. Well, they bloody are.
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Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, Recent vicepresident of the PP central government, has an interesting family tree. Her father was a general in Franco's dictatorship and the officer responsible for the last death sentences to be passed in 1975. He also ran military campaigns against the Maquis in the post war period boasting that he couldn't have done it without first creating a network of informers. It turned out that they weren't informers but people who were admnistered with a drug called Sodium Thiopental.
 
Dockers in Barcelona have refused to handle two huge ships which are to be used as floating accomodation for thousands of spanish police. The decision was taken at 7 this morning in an assembly where they decided that they would act to defend civil rights. They also condemned the arrest of a dozen local government officials.

One of these officials is to be fast tracked, straight from the police cell to the courts to be tried for "Sedition". Politicians usually have to wait more than 10 years before being tried in Spain. 400 members of the ruling PP party are awaiting trial since years ago for corruption.
 
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I think they will be breaking away legally or illegally now, PP have lit the fuse and you have a well prepared activist and social base ready. Arguably much better prepared than Scotland in 2014 despite lack of full political devolution etc.

Spanish government is going to have to crack skulls and send in tanks (and how will that go down?) as theyre about to have a full on major civil uprising on their hands over the next few months IMO. They are effectively locking up the regional gov and suspending catalan autonomy.

Plenty of progressive forces there worth our support despite the loony nationalist angle, too.
 
Anudder Oik said:
Yes, that's how it is. The rancid and corrupt central government have been putting fuel in the Independence motor for years by their aggressiveness.
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The BBC journo that was chatting on the radio earlier made the point that both the Madrid and Catalonian government cement their support by riling their voter base up against the other. Sounds familiar.
 
the spanish government have surely fucked this now. Catalonia may well erupt. strikes, demos, non-co-operation, road blocs on the border. Mental. What is madrid going to do? Impose martial law? Send in the army? Fucking mental.
 
Mordi said:
The BBC journo that was chatting on the radio earlier made the point that both the Madrid and Catalonian government cement their support by riling their voter base up against the other. Sounds familiar.
Click to expand...

That journalist will have to provide some proof of that. As far as I can see there is no propaganda directed against spanish people from Catalonia, whereas the right wing spanish press: La Razon, ABC, and the media: Intereconomia, COPE, pour on hate against catalans as a people. Recently 30 catalan priests signed a manifesto demanding that the a church-owned TV channel stop broadcasting a debate programme filled with hate.
 
The spanish State is now going after several Independentista movement leaders from "Omnium" and "ANC", who are organizers of the referendum. The State Prosecutor wants them tried for sedition. Maximum sentence 15 years.

3 nights ago the Spanish police (policia nacional) tried to raid the headquarters of the CUP, an anti-capitalist municipal movement, looking for referendum posters and voting cards. They were seen off by about 2000 protestors. In the video warning shots are fired in the air, which is very very rare to see, so can be seen as proof of the prejudice of this police force.

 
The saying goes that the while the Mossos (catalan police) are hunting terrorists, the Guardia Civil are hunting ballot papers.

They have been raiding printing presses and warehouses on industrial estates looking for ballot papers.

 
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There's a struggle over control of the autonomous police now, the Mossos. The Spanish interior minister has moved to place their command directly from Madrid. The catalan government, who control these police, has said no to the move. This is not going to end well.

Anyone interested can follow this by putting it thru translate:
Últimas noticias del referéndum y los mossos, en directo
 
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