'Anarchy' = Absence of government in Spain?

THE word 'anarchy' in its dictionary definition is often defined as 'an absence of government'.  Though pedantic thinkers, including anarchists, will often rely on narrow dictionary definitions of the meaning of words, modern philosophers like Ludwig Wittgenstein have discredited this approach to the pursuit of meaning.  Those of us come from a Wittgensteinian or ethnomethodological tradition consider the meaning of a word to be in its use.
Ironically the reality of the present situation in Spain is that for the first time since January 1492, when Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon – the Catholic monarchs – occupied Granada completing their conquest of Moorish Spain, Spain has always had a government.  Even at the time of the Spanish Civil War in 1936-37 when the Spanish anarchists were at their strongest, their was a government in Spain (actual there were two if we count the Nationalist one and even the anarchists ultimately accepted the invite to join the governments in Madrid and Barcelona).
And yet, since December 20^th, last year., when the elections failed to give any party a necessary majority to form a government and attempts to form a coalition failed, Spain has had no effective government.   Under the Spanish system a Spaniard votes for 'diputados' (MPs) who elect the prime minister.  Then with a parliamentary majority, the winning party proclaims its leader, but without a majority, the parties need to negotiate.  This means a voter may end up supporting positions he/ or she would not normally support.  Today voting for the Socialist Party may mean a leftist coalition if the Socialists join with the Podemos Party, or a vote for the centre-right may involve voting for the conservative Popular Party (PP) and then get an alliance of the PP and the Ciudadnos Party.  It offers a blank cheque to the parliamentary parties, but even then the Spanish parties have not been able to get any agreement.  
Because of this failure to get agreement a second election had to be called on June 26^th, which ended in a very similar result to the one last December.  For more than 250 days Spain has been unable to elect a government. 
As things stand a 'caretaker' government is in place: the Partido Popular.  But it can't appoint new ministers, and from its original 13-member cabinet, only 10 are left.  The caretaker government has no authority to approve next year's budget, a basic tool of government and which should be in place by October; as you read this experts in constitutional law are pouring over the legal texts to search for a line that suggests authority in the current situation.  It has been nine months since the government enacted any laws:  its members are too busy campaigning and negotiating. 
Martin Caparrós, a journalist on the New York Times writes:
'These days, the “meanwhile” government manages everyday matters, and not very well.  In a situation that lacks legal status, no one wants to be in charge of important decisions, affairs are delayed and decisions never made...'
The life of ordinary people continues much as always, and Seňor Caparrós continues:
'In everyday life, a country without a government looks dangerously similar to one with one. ...  There are those who wonder if governments are so necessary and seem uninterested in any attempt to form one.'
This week, Mariano Rajoy of the PP will try to be reinstated as qa fully functioning prime minister.  But his option are limited.  If he fails, his party will probably call for new elections to be held on the 25^th, December.  If so that should give a boost to any latent anarchism in Spain, because Seňor Ranjoy and his party will be hoping the by calling an election during Navidad will benefit the right with a low turnout, but it will merely deliver a death blow to any vain expectations in elections whatever the outcome.  Especially since the Spaniards have a long history of distrust of governments.

Squaring the Spanish Circle

SPANISH politics is in a state of shock following the latest elections which some now ask if this 'is the dawn of a new era?'    Following the result of the regional elections earlier this year it was not unexpected that the ruling conservative Popular Party (PP), which won a landslide victory four years ago, would suffer.  In the event it has now lost more than three million votes, leaving the PP of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy with the most votes at 29% of the total turn out, and 123 of the 350 seats in the Spanish Parliament, but well less than an overall majority.  

The alternating big two-party system of the PP and the Socialist Party (PSOE) which has dominated Spanish politics since the death of Franco in 1975, could now be on its last legs.   

The main reason for this political 'ruptura' being the rise of the Podemos meaning 'We can' led by 37-year-old Pablo Iglesias, which got 20% of the vote just behind PSOE.  Podemos was founded as a far-left party by a group of university professors, and it went on to accuse not just a particular Government but what it called 'the regime of 1978' (the year of the Spanish Constitution). 

In a way the socialist PSOE suffered more tellingly than the conservative PP, for while the PP was hit after having implemented years of unpopular austerity policies, after years in opposition the socialist PSOE lost more than a million votes in the election, mostly no doubt to Podemos.   

Given the history of Spain with its roots in the Civil War and anarchism it is probably not surprising that what some are calling the 'new politics' is being pioneered in Spain and southern Europe.  With over 20% unemployment and the young hit hardest, it is surprising that the established parties didn't get a worse result given their involvement in cases of widespread corruption, cronyism, scandals and political incompetence. 

Yet, the old parties, both the PP and the PSOE, seem determined to hold out against the shock of the new.  The Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy in the run up to the elections refused to share a platform on TV with the new parties of Podemos and the Ciudadanos (Citizens), a kind of centre-right Podemos.  And, last Saturday in El Pais, the socialist general secretary of PSOE, Pedro Sánchez  was adamant that his party would not  unite 'the PSOE with a pact of the Left that respete the integrity of the Spanish territory' and if Podemos wanted a referendum for Catalan independence, a pact with them would not be possible:

'If Podemos insists on its condition of celebrating a referendum in Catalonia, an accord will not be possible.' 

The socialist PSOE won 90 seats against the 123 seats that went to the conservative PP, but Podemos got 69.and the centrist new party Ciudadanos had 40 seats.   

The Spanish economy is the forth-largest in the eurozone, yet it is hard to see how with a election result like this that it will be possible for any possible coalition of the parties to hold the fort without another election that can give a clearer result.  For the Spanish socialists their share of the vote has crashed by half from 44% to 22% in only two elections.  Yet this would still be enough to make them the King-makers but the two alternative choices for coalition with the PSOE are toxic:    the PSOE has made it clear it would not support the re-election of Mariano Rajoy, the prime minister and PP leader which would split the leftist elements of the party who would then turn to Podemos; and Pedro Sanzchez has said that he would not go into alliance with Podemos so long as it remains committed to an independence referendum in Catalonia, the north eastern Spanish region, historically anarcho-syndicalist, that has long been the centre of  secessionist aims.

Our New Spain is Different!

by Carlos Beltran Buitrago     ( 21/06/2015 )                                                                                     

OUR new Spain is different! 

When in the majority of European countries the political parties are xenophobic, ultra nationalist, or simply Neo-Nazi, having lots of votes cast in favour of the traditional parties, in Spain the vote for change is clearly for the left and has components of the tradition of the 'libertarianism [anarchism] of Spain. 


It is necessary to offer some qualifications to this:  a few of the municipal candidates that have gone on to govern in the large towns and cities are candidates of the 'Unidad Popular' (Popular Unity) formed not just by Podemos, but by other parties of the left (Izquiera Unida [United Left], Equo, nationalist parties of the Left in Galicia, Baleares, Navarra, and the Basque country...) and citizen's movements (against the eviction of tenants from their homes; for the defence of public services in health, and education etc.).  Another thing is that the government of these towns it is necessary to seek the help of the P.S.O.E. (traditional Socialist Party).


For me the most important thing is that there is no group of the extreme Right that can capitalise on the discontent of sectors of the population, and the castigation which was received by the P.P. (Partido Popular- Conservative party) has robbed them of power and they will take years to recuperate.


So as Bob Dylan sang:  'The Times Are Changing', and everything started on 15M, and the movement of general resistance.

Spain: 'Alternative Left Govern in Big Towns'!

Podemos Party's Priority to Displace the Partido Popular

 

MADRID, Barcelona, Valencia and Zaragoza were the four cities were the party of the alternative left parties, including Podemos*, are now in control of municipal councils:  representing more than six million inhabitants.  The traditional socialist party, PSOE, and the conservative, PP, are in front in only four of the ten most populated towns. 

 

The traditional far left party, Izquierda Unida (United Left Party), including the old Communist Party (Partido Communista España), has now been largely swallowed-up by the alternative Podemos party. 

 

Last Saturday, the Spanish newspaper El País even ran a piece entitled 'Qué le ha ocurrido a   Izquierda Unida?'  ('What has happen to the United Left?').  One commentator told El País 'IU (Izquierda Unida)  is on the floor.'  There is now talk of a merger between IU and Podermos.

*  Wikipedia entry:

Podemos (Spanish: [poˈðemos], translated in English as "We can")^[a] is a left-wing political party in Spain, founded in March 2014 by Pablo Iglesias.
Iglesias was a lecturer in political science at the Complutense University of Madrid and is a member of the European Parliament. In the 2014 European Parliament elections on 25 May 2014, Podemos received 7.98% of the national vote, with 1,200,000 votes cast, electing 5 MEPs.^[6]
Podemos was founded in the aftermath of the 15-M Movement protests against inequality and corruption.^[7][8] It is considered by some^{[according to whom?]} as a left-wing populist party that seeks to address the problems of inequality, unemployment and economic malaise that followed in the wake of the European debt crisis. Podemos has called for a renegotiation of austerity measures and seeks to curtail the Treaty of Lisbon.
Podemos is the second largest political party in Spain by number of members after the People's Party (PP);^[9] it became the third largest party within the first 20 days it allowed membership, with 100,000 signing up in that period,^[10] and it currently has over 350,000 members.